“Which you must lose no time in gaining,” said Lord Selvaine, not quickly, but slowly and softly.
Lady Lilias came down the stairs, and went straight to Trafford.
“Oh, Trafford, how beautiful she is!” she said in a low voice. “And what a sweet voice! And she is like a girl, too! I have never seen such lovely eyes, and such beautiful colored hair; it is like bronze and gold, or an autumn leaf! I am sure she is good and sweet-tempered; and I am not surprised—”
She did not finish the sentence, but pressed his arm, and looked into his face with a little blush.
Trafford had to explain again.
“As I wrote and told you, Lilias, nothing is settled,” he said, gravely; and Lilias smiled, as Lord Selvaine had done.
When Esmeralda had finished dressing—it had been hard work for Barker, for her mistress had broken away from her several times to gaze from the window at the superb view, and had been more than usually impatient—there came a gentle knock at the door, and in answer to Esmeralda’s “Come in!” Lilias’s soft voice said: “May I?”
Esmeralda opened the door.
“Oh, yes; come in!” she said.