When he returned home, looking bright and happy, she would ask him, "Have you seen Miss Charteris today ?" and he, glad of her interest in his friends, would reply that he had been to her mother's house, and tell her of music he had heard or people he had met, or of Valentine's messages to her.

So Dora fed the dark, bitter jealousy that had crept into her heart.
It was a proud but anxious day for Ronald when he wrote to tell his mother that he was now the father of little twin daughters, two pretty, fair babies, in place of the long looked-for heir of Earlescourt.
Lady Charteris was very kind to the lonely young mother--so kind that, had she borne any other name, Dora must have loved her.

A glimpse of the old happiness came back, for Ronald was proud and pleased with the little twin sisters.
One bright morning, when Dora had been taken down into the pretty room where the infants lay sleeping, Lady Charteris and her daughter came in.

Ronald joined them and there was a long discussion as to the names.
"You must have an eye to the future," said Valentine, smiling.

"These little ladies will be very grand personages some day.