She was beloved, popular and admired; her husband worshiped her; her friends held her in highest honor and esteem.

To Lord and Lady Ridsdale she had grown dear as a child of their own.

She was at the height of human felicity; there was nothing on earth left for her to desire.

Sometimes, when she heard of the misery resulting from very unequal or loveless marriages, she would raise her beautiful face to heaven and thank God that she had been preserved from the snares of her youth.

She heard quite accidentally from some one, who had been purchasing a picture, that Allan Lyster was abroad, and she decided, in her own most generous mind, that when he returned he should have an order that would please him.