"I have a letter from America, dear Leland, and as you are so fond of everything American, perhaps you can remember the beautiful little American girl to whom you were betrothed when she was only about two years old?"
[CHAPTER XLVI.]
"I WILL TEST MY DARLING'S LOVE."
"I have heard or dreamt, it may be—
What love is when true;
How to test it—how to try it—
It the gift of few.
Only a true heart can find it
True as it is true;
Only eyes as clear and tender
Look it through and through."
The handsome young lord looked at his mother in surprise when she uttered those words: "Perhaps you remember the beautiful little American girl to whom you were betrothed when she was barely two years old?"
That episode of his childish days had almost escaped the young man's memory, so he said, carelessly:
"Indeed, I have almost forgotten it, dear mother."
"Then I must refresh your memory, Leland, for you are old enough now to redeem your pledge."