Not a mother but what coveted him for her child, and not a daughter but would have said, "Yes, and thank you," to an offer from the attractive Archibald Carlyle.
"I never was sure, quite sure of it till to-night," murmured Barbara, caressing the locket, and holding it to her cheek.

"I always thought he meant something, or he might mean nothing: but to give me this--to kiss me--oh Archibald!" A pause.

Barbara's eyes were fixed upon the moonlight.
"If he would but say he loved me! If he would but save the suspense of my aching heart! But it must come; I know it will; and if that cantankerous toad of a Corny--" Barbara Hare stopped.

What was that, at the far end of the lawn, just in advance of the shade of the thick trees?
Their leaves were not causing the movement, for it was a still night.

It had been there some minutes; it was evidently a human form.