mean by a good catch?" I repeated.

She laughed disagreeably.

"A good catch," she said, "is—is—well, let me think—the best fish in the sea, the best trout in the stream, the best—the best—oh, the best of everything; that is, if money means anything, and birth anything, and—charm anything, and the finest house in England anything. That is what a good catch means. Now, perhaps, you understand."

"You think, perhaps, that some girl may like to marry Lord Hawtrey?" I said, after a long pause.

"Some girl will," she exclaimed. "Any girl who is not previously engaged would give her eyes for such a connection."

She looked at me intently.

"But surely," I said, "he is old enough to be a young girl's father?"

"Your childishness oppresses me," said Lady Helen. "I thought he'd be in the Park; that is the true reason why I came out. I wanted to be certain of him to-night. I think we'll go home now. I am anxious for my tea, and the air is turning chilly."

We returned to the house. I was still feeling happy. And this, I had to own to myself, was because of Captain Carbury. I accepted the certain fact, and with a joyful beating of my heart, that he stood between me and my stepmother, that he had placed himself deliberately as a shield between her and me. I remembered, too, that chivalrous, beautiful light in his eyes when he told me that morning that he loved me. Oh, of course, I would not marry for years and years, but it was nice to know that one like Vernon Carbury loved me.

Morris was very fidgety about my dress that evening. She was really a splendid maid, and performed her duties deftly and quietly. As a rule, she never made a fuss. She seemed to know what was the right dress for me to wear, and I put it on at her bidding. But to-night she was quite excited. I felt almost sure, as I glanced at her face, that she shared my secret, and once or twice, while I was going through the long and tedious process of the toilet, I longed to ask her if she knew that Captain Carbury was coming to dinner. But something kept me back from uttering the words. I knew I should blush if I asked her that question, and then Morris would be sure. Morris was not sure yet; she could only guess.

By and by I was fully dressed. Had Aunt Penelope seen me, she would not have recognised in the radiant girl to whose cheeks 

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