"Father, will you listen to me?
I ask your permission to marry Dora Thorne, one of the fairest, sweetest girls in England." His voice never faltered, and the brave young face never quailed.

Lord Earle looked at him in utter amazement.
"To marry Dora Thorne!" he said.

"And who, in the name of reason, is Dora Thorne ?" "The lodge keeper's daughter," replied Ronald, stoutly.

"I love her, father, and she loves me." He was somewhat disconcerted when Lord Earle, for all reply, broke into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

He had expected a storm--expostulations, perhaps, and reproaches--anything but this.
"You can not be serious, Ronald," said his mother, smiling.
"I am so much in earnest," he replied, "that I would give up all I have in the world--my life itself, for Dora." Then Lord Earle ceased laughing, and looked earnestly at the handsome, flushed face.
"No," said he, "you can not be serious.