She could not speak without being overheard; but, with a charming smile, she took a beautiful lily from her bouquet and held it out to him.

They then went back into the ball room.
"He loves me," thought Valentine; and, as far as her calm, serene nature was capable of passionate delight, she felt it.
"She will befriend me," thought Ronald; "but why did she give me this flower ?" The most remote suspicion that Valentine had mistaken him--that she loved him--never crossed the mind of Ronald Earle.

He was singularly free from vanity.

Perhaps if he had a little more confidence in himself, the story of the Earles might have been different.
Lady Charteris looked at her daughter's calm, proud face.

She had noticed the little interview in the conservatory, and drew her own conclusions from it.