I shall consider every attention shown to the lady and her daughter as shown to myself." Ronald smiled at his mother's words, and told her he would never fail in her service.
"If he sees much of Valentine," thought his mother, "he can not help loving her.

Then all will be well." Ronald was not in the house when the guests arrived; they came rather before the appointed time.

His mother and Lady Charteris had gone to the library together, leaving Valentine in the drawing room alone.
Ronald found her there.

Opening the door, he saw the sleeve of a white dress; believing Lady Earle was there, he went carelessly into the room, then started in astonishment at the vision before him.

Once in a century, perhaps, one sees a woman like Valentine Charteris; of the purest and loveliest Greek type, a calm, grand, magnificent blonde, with clear, straight brows, fair hair that shone like satin and lay in thick folds around her queenly head--tall and stately, with a finished ease and grace of manner that could only result from long and careful training.