A softened look came into his eyes, as he pictured his shy, graceful wife.

Some day she, too, would walk through these gorgeous rooms, and then would all admire the wisdom of his choice.

So the heir of Earlescourt dreamed as he watched the brilliant crowd that began to fill the ball room; but his reverie was suddenly broken by a summons from Lady Earle.
"Ronald," said she, looking slightly impatient, "have you forgotten that it is your place to open the ball?
You must ask Miss Charteris to dance with you." "That will be no hardship," he replied, smiling at his mother's earnest manner.

"I would rather dance with Miss Charteris than any one else." Lady Earle wisely kept silence; her son went up to Valentine and made his request.

He danced with her again and again--not as Lady Earle hoped, from any unusual preference, but because it gave him less trouble than selecting partners among strange young ladies.