“Very wonderful if true!” he answered—­“But I cannot quite believe it!  I am too familiar with the ways of my own sex!  Anyhow, dear child, I should advise you not to make too many ideals apart from the characters in the books you write.  Fortunately your special talent brings you an occupation which will save you from that kind of thing.  You have ambition as an incentive, and fame for a goal.”

She was silent for a moment.  In relating the story of her life at Briar Farm she had not spoken of Robin Clifford,—­some instinct told her that the sympathies of her hearers might be enlisted in his favour, and she did not want this.

“Well, now you know what my ‘literary education’ has been,” she went on—­“Since I came to London I have tried to improve myself as much as I can—­and I have read a great many modern books—­but to me they seem to lack the real feeling of the old-time literature.  For instance, if you read the account of the battle of the Armada by a modern historian it sounds tame and cold,—­but if you read the same account in Camden’s ’Elizabeth’—­the whole scene rises before you,—­you can almost see every ship riding the waves!”

Her cheeks glowed and her eyes shone,—­Lord Blythe smiled approvingly.

“I see you are an enthusiast!” he said—­“And you could not have better teachers than the Elizabethans.  They lived in a great age and they were great men.  Our times, though crowded with the splendid discoveries of science, seem small and poor compared to theirs.  If you ever come to me, I can give you the run of a library where you will find many friends.”

She thanked him by a look, and he went on—­

“You will come and see me often, will you not?—­you and Miss Leigh—­by-and-by, when the conventional time of mourning for my poor wife is over.  Make my house your second home, both of you!—­ and when I return from Italy—­”

“Oh!” the girl exclaimed, impulsively—­“Are you going to Italy?”

“For a few weeks—­yes!—­will you come with me—­you and your godmother?”

His old heart beat,—­a sudden joy lighted his eyes.  It would have been like the dawn of a new day to him had she consented, but she shook her fair little head decisively.

“I must not!” she said-"-I am bound to finish some work that I have promised.  But some day—­ah, yes!—­some day I should love to see Italy!”

The light went slowly from his face.

“Some day!—­well!—­I hope I may live to be with you on that ’some day.’  I ought not to leave London just now—­but the house is very lonely—­and I think I am best away for a time—­”

“Much best!” said Miss Leigh, sympathetically—­“And if there is anything we can do—­”

“Yes—­there is one thing that will please me very much,” said Lord Blythe, drawing from his pocket a small velvet case—­“I want my friend Pierce’s daughter to wear this—­it was my first gift to her mother.”  Here he opened the case and showed an exquisite pendant, in the shape of a dove, finely wrought in superb brilliants, and supported on a thin gold chain.  “I gave it as an emblem of innocence”—­a quick sigh escaped him—­“I little knew!—­but you, dear girl, are the one to wear it now!  Let me fasten it round your neck.”