"Now, what is it?" he asked, good-humoredly, turning to the excited, anxious lover.
"Perhaps I ought to study my words," said Lord Airlie; "but I can not. Lord Earle, I love your daughter Beatrice. Will you give her to me to be my wife?"
"Sooner than to any one else in the world," replied Ronald. "Is she willing?"
"I think so," was the answer, Lord Airlie's heart thrilling with happiness as he remembered her words.
"Let us see," said Lord Earle. He rang the bell, and sent for his daughter.
Lord Airlie never forgot the beautiful, blushing face half turned from him as Beatrice entered the room.
"Beatrice," said her father, clasping her in his arms, "is this true? Am I to give you to Lord Airlie?"
"If you please, papa," she whispered.
"I do please," he cried. "Hubert, I give you a treasure beyond all price. You may judge of my daughter's love from her own word. I know it has never been given to any one but you. You are my daughter's first lover, and her first love. You may take her to your heart, well satisfied that she has never cared for any one else. It is true, Beatrice, is it not?"
"Yes," she said, faltering for a moment as, for the first time, she remembered Hugh.