Oblige me by touching the bell, Mr.Carlyle." The servant entered.
"Inquire whether Mrs.Vane dines at home," said the earl.
"Mrs.Vane dines out, my lord," was the man's immediate reply.

"The carriage is at the door now." "Very well.

Mr.Carlyle remains." At seven o'clock the dinner was announced, and the earl wheeled into the adjoining room.

As he and Mr.Carlyle entered it at one door, some one else came in by the opposite one.

Who--what--was it?
Mr.Carlyle looked, not quite sure whether it was a human being--he almost thought it more like an angel.
A light, graceful, girlish form; a face of surpassing beauty, beauty that is rarely seen, save from the imagination of a painter; dark shining curls falling on her neck and shoulders, smooth as a child's; fair, delicate arms decorated with pearls, and a flowing dress of costly white lace.