By a supreme effort Stuart suppressed a laugh and answered seriously:
"Your approval has always been an inspiration to me, Mrs. Primrose. I hope to prove myself worthy of it."
A carriage stopped at the door.
"There's Nan now!" the mother exclaimed, rising to go. "I'll leave you to surprise her, Jim."
Stuart heard the carriage door slam, and in a moment the girl he loved stood in the hall, the joy of an evening's perfect happiness shining in her great dark eyes. He watched her a moment, unobserved, as she laid aside her opera cloak and stood before the big mirror proudly and calmly surveying her figure.
Never had her beauty seemed to him so dazzling. The cream-coloured evening gown fitted her to perfection. She lifted her bare arms and touched an old silver brooch that gleamed in the mass of black hair, and smiled at the picture she saw reflected. The smile was one of conscious power. The corners of the full sensuous lips curved the slightest bit as the smile faded and a gleam of something like cruelty flashed from the depths of her eyes, as her head lifted. She turned sidewise to catch the full effect of the shining bare neck and shoulders, and stood an instant with her beautiful bosom rising and falling with conscious pride.
Stuart, unable to wait longer, was about to spring to her side when she caught the flash of his laughing face in the mirror and turned.
"Oh! you rascal! To surprise me like this!" she cried, with joyous laughter.
"In all your pride and vanity!"
"Well, need I apologize to-night, sir?" she asked, with a shrug of her beautiful shoulders.