Brownie did not reply to her last remark, for it was a hobby with her proud kinswoman, and once thoroughly started on the subject, she knew the family tree would have to be brought out, and the wearisome task of tracing the Douglas race for three long centuries would have to be rehearsed. So she wisely held her peace.
“Yes, the descendant of a queen!” she repeated; “and many of our ancestors intermarried with the English nobility, so that to-day, Brownie Douglas, there runs no better blood in any veins than in yours and mine.
“Before I left the old country, dear, I mingled with the proudest circles of the land. I was presented at Court, and during a brilliant London season I was introduced to the young Lord of Dunforth, son of the fifth Lord of Firth.
“His name was Royal—they called him Roy—and he was rightly named, for he was fit to be a king!
“From the first hour of our meeting we loved each other, and we were betrothed, by the consent and approval of both his friends and my own, after an acquaintance of six months. Our marriage was to be delayed for a year, until Roy should complete his course at Oxford, when he would come in possession of a fine estate in Essex. We exchanged letters frequently, and the words he penned were like a feast to my soul. I have them now, every one, and they are all that I have left of the love, the glorious love, which I once fondly hoped would brighten my life to its end. In the same circle in which we moved, there was a very handsome girl, by the name of Lady Helen Capel. She belonged to a very wealthy and honorable family, and it was said that before Lord Dunforth was introduced to me he used to pay some attention to her. From the very first of my acquaintance with him she evinced an intense dislike toward me.
“Report said that she wanted to win him for herself, and I believe in my heart that was why she was so haughty and disagreeable whenever we met.
“Lord Dunforth finished his course at Oxford with great honor to himself, and preparations were began for our marriage, which was appointed to take place just before the Christmas holidays.
“One evening we attended a ball given by Helen Capel’s aunt, Lady Ruxley.
“On entering the ballroom I had given my card to Roy to fill out such sets as he wished for himself, and then as others were introduced to me, they put their names in the blanks that were left.
“Soon after, Charles Capel came up with a handsome but rather rakish-looking gentleman, whom he introduced as the Count de Lussan. Roy had left me for a few minutes to speak to some one he knew, or what followed never would have happened.