"I—I don't know, mamma!" and the sweet, innocent face was suffused with blushes; "I had never thought of his fancying me—hardly more than a child—while he—mamma, is he not very noble and good and wise? and so brave and unselfish!—you know how he risked his life to save a poor old negress; and how much he has suffered in consequence, and how patiently he has borne it all!"
"And how handsome he is?"
"Yes, mamma, one reads the nobility of his nature in his face, and his bearing is soldierly."
"Ah, my little girl! my heart misgives me that I hold you by a very frail tenure!" Elsie sighed between a smile and a tear, as she bent her head to look searchingly into the depths of the azure eyes.
Violet's face crimsoned, and her head went down again into her mother's lap.
"Mamma, you need not fear," she said, very low and tremulously, "I have rejected his offer, and I cannot leave you."
"I am much mistaken if he is so easily repulsed," Elsie said. "He is a brave soldier, and will renew the assault nor raise the siege of my daughter's heart until he has brought it to a full if not unconditional surrender."
"Mamma, I wish I could run away."
"Come, then, to the Laurels with me, and you need not return until bedtime to-night, unless you choose."
Vi's face brightened, then clouded again. "Thank you, mamma, I will go, yet it will be putting off the evil day for but a very little while."