"Be it so; your slightest wish is law to me; but be assured, Miss Lloyd, the heart near which it lies was never offered to woman before."
"I can well believe you; but--hush, here are people coming!"
Sir Madoc and Lady Naseby entered the conservatory somewhat hurriedly, followed by two or three of the guests.
"Lady Estelle! Is Lady Estelle here?" they asked, simultaneously.
"No," replied Caradoc.
"Nor Harry Hardinge?"
"We are quite alone, papa," said Winifred, in a voice the agitation of which, at another time, must have been apparent to all; for no woman can hear a declaration of love or receive a proposal quite unconcerned, especially from a handsome young fellow who was so earnest as Philip Caradoc; around whom the coming departure for the seat of war shed a halo of melancholy interest, and who, by the artless production of the locket, proved that he had loved her for some time past, and secretly too.
"What the deuce is the meaning of this?" exclaimed Sir Madoc, with an expression of comicality, annoyance, and alarm mingling in his face; "the servants can nowhere find her!"
"Find who?" asked Lord Pottersleigh, opening his snuffbox as he shambled forward.
"Why, Lady Estelle."