The room swam, but she bit her lip till the blood came, and her stout heart preserved her from falling.
"It is what I knew: they are engaged." But how was it that the manner of Lawrence Newt toward herself was never before more loyal and devoted?
How was it that the quiet hilarity of the morning was not gone, but stole into his conversation with her so pointedly that she could not help feeling that it magnetized her, and that, against her will, she was more than ever cheerful?
How was it that she knew it was herself who helped make that hilarity--that it was not only her friend Hope who inspired it?
They are secrets not to be told.

But as they all sat around the table, and Arthur Merlin for the first time insisted upon reading from Byron, and in his rich melancholy voice recited "Though the day of my destiny's over," It was clear that the cloud had lifted--that the spell of constraint was removed; and yet none of them precisely understood why.
"To-morrow, then," said Lawrence Newt as they parted.
"To-morrow," echoed Amy Waring and Hope Wayne.
Arthur Merlin pulled his cap over his eyes and sauntered slowly homeward, whistling musingly, and murmuring, "A bird in the wilderness singing, That speaks to my spirit of thee." His Aunt Winnifred heard him as he came in.

The good old lady had placed a fresh tract where he would be sure to see it when he entered his room.
She heard his cautious step stealing up stairs, for the painter was careful to make no noise; and as she listened she drew pictures upon her fancy of the scenes in which her boy had been mingling.

It was Aunt Winnifred's firm conviction that society--that is, the great world of which she knew nothing--languished for the smile and presence of her nephew, Arthur.

That very evening her gossip, Mrs.Toxer, had been in, and Aunt Winnifred had discussed her favorite theme until Mrs.Toxer went home with a vague idea that all the young and beautiful unmarried women in the city were secretly pining away for love of Arthur Merlin.
"Mercy me, now!" said Aunt Winnifred as she lay listening to the creaking step of her nephew.