The two mothers, looking on, and Lord Earle felt himself relieved from a heavy weight of care.

Then Lady Earle asked Valentine to sing.

She was quite free from all affectation.
"What kind of music do you prefer ?" she asked, looking at Ronald.
"Simple old ballads," he replied, thinking of Dora, and how prettily she would sing them.
He started when the first note of Valentine's magnificent voice rang clear and sweet in the quiet gloaming.

She sang some quaint old story of a knight who loved a maiden--loved and rode away, returning after long years to find a green grave.

Ronald sat thinking of Dora.