"Then I may speak to your father?"

"Wait until to-morrow," said Rose. "I will think of it. You shall have my answer after breakfast. Now, don't wear that long face--there is really no occasion."

Rose dutifully lingered by his side all the evening; but she stole more glances at Kate's lover than she did at her own. Jules La Touche felt the impalpable change in her; and yet it would have puzzled him to define it. His nature was gentle and tender, and he loved the pretty, fickle, rosy beauty with a depth and sincerity of which she was totally unworthy.

Upstairs, in her room, that night, Rose sat before the fire, toasting her feet and thinking. Yes, thinking. She was not guilty of it often; but to-night she was revolving the pros and cons of her own case. If she refused to let Jules speak to her father, nothing would persuade him that her love had not died out. He might depart in anger, and she might lose him forever. That was the very last thing she wished. If she lost Reginald, it would be some consolation to marry, immediately after, a richer man. It would be revenge; it would prove how little she cared for him; it would deprive him of the pleasure of thinking she was pining in maiden loneliness for him. Then, too, the public announcement of her engagement and approaching marriage to M. La Touche might arouse him to the knowledge of how much he loved her. "How blessings brighten as they take their flight!" and jealousy is infallible to bring dilatory lovers to the point. No question of the right or wrong of the matter troubled the second Miss Danton's easy conscience.

On the whole, everything was in favour of M. La Touche's speaking to papa. Rose resolved he should speak, took off her considering cap, and went to bed.

M. La Touche was not kept long in suspense next day; he got his answer before breakfast. The morning was sunny and mild, but the snow lay piled high on all sides; and Rose, running down stairs some ten minutes before breakfast-time, found her lover in the open hall door, watching the s...o...b..rds and smoking a cigar. Rose went up to him with very pretty shyness, and the young man flung away his cigar, and looked at her anxiously.

"What a lovely morning," said Rose; "what splendid sleighing we will have."

"I'm not going to talk of sleighing," said M. La Touche, resolutely.

"You promised me an answer this morning. What is it?"

Rose began playing with her cord and ta.s.sels.

"What is it?" reiterated the Canadian. "Yes or No?"

"Yes!"

M. La Touche's anxious countenance turned rapturous, but Miss Grace Danton was coming down stairs, and he had to be discreet. Grace lingered a few moments talking of the weather, and Rose took the opportunity of making her escape.

After breakfast, when the family were dispersing, M. La Touche followed Captain Danton out of the room, and begged the favour of a private interview. The Captain looked surprised, but agreed readily, and led the way to his study, no shadow of the truth dawning on his mind.

That awful ordeal of most successful wooers, "speaking to papa," was very hard to begin; but M. La Touche, encouraged by the recollection of the forty thousand pounds, managed to begin somehow. He made his proposal with a modest diffidence that could not fail to please.

"We have loved each other this long time," said the young man; "but I never dreamed of speaking to you so soon. I was only a clerk in our house, and Rose and I looked forward to years of waiting. This legacy, however, has removed all pecuniary obstacles, and Rose has given me consent to speak to you."

Imagine the Captain's surprise. His little curly-haired Rose, whom he looked upon as a tall child, engaged to be married!

"Bless my soul!" exclaimed Captain Danton, navely; "you have taken me completely aback! I give you my word of honour, I never thought of such a thing!"

"I hope you will not object, sir; I love your daughter most sincerely."

The anxious inquiry was unneeded. Captain Danton had no idea of objecting. He knew the La Touche family well by repute; he liked this modest young wooer; and forty thousand pounds for his dowerless daughter was not to be lightly refused.

"Object!" he cried, grasping his hand. "Not I. If you and Rose love each other, I am the last one in the world to mar your happiness. Take her, my lad, with my best wishes for your happiness."

The young Canadian tried to express his grat.i.tude, but broke down at the first words.

"Never mind," said the Captain, laughing. "Don't try to thank me. Your father knows, of course?"

"Yes, sir. I spoke to him before I left Ottawa. He and all our family are delighted with my choice."

"And when is it to be?" asked the Captain, still laughing.

"What?"

"The wedding, of course!"

M. La Touche's dark face reddened like a girl's. "I don't know, sir. We have not come to that yet."

"Let me help you over the difficulty, then. Make it a double wedding."

"A double wedding?"

"Yes. My daughter Kate is to be married to Mr. Stanford on the fifth of June. Why not make it a double match."

"With all my heart, sir, if Rose is willing!"

"Go and ask her then. But first, of course, after this, you remain with us for some time?"

"I can stay a week or two; after that, business will compel me to leave."

"Well, business must be attended to. Go, speak to Rose, and success to you!"

Jules found Rose in the drawing-room, and alone. His face told how eminently satisfactory his interview had been. He sat down beside her, and related what had pa.s.sed, ending with her father's proposal.

"Do say yes, Rose," pleaded Jules. "June is as long as I can wait, and I should like a double wedding of all things."

Rose's face turned scarlet, and she averted her head. The familiar announcement of Reginald's marriage to her sister, as a matter of certainty, stung her to the heart.

"You don't object, Rose?" he said uneasily. "You will be married the same day?"

"Settle it as you like," answered Rose petulantly. "If I must be married, it doesn't much matter when."

That day, when the ladies were leaving the dinner-table, Captain Danton arose.

"Wait one moment," he said; "I have a toast to propose before you go.

Fill your gla.s.ses and drink long life and prosperity to Mr. and Mrs.

Jules La Touche."

Every one but Grace was electrified, and Rose fairly ran out of the room. M. La Touche made a modest little speech of thanks, and then Mr.

Stanford held the door open for the ladies to pa.s.s.

Rose was not in the drawing-room when they entered, and Kate ran up to her room; but the door was locked, and Rose would not let her in.

"Go away, Kate," she said, almost pa.s.sionately. "Go away and leave me alone."

Rose kept her chamber all the evening, to the amazement of the rest. The young Canadian was the lion of the hour, and bore his honours with that retiring modesty which so characterized him, and which made him such a contrast to the brilliant and self-conscious Mr. Stanford.

Rose descended to the breakfast next morning looking shy and queer.

Before the meal was over, however, the bashfulness, quite foreign to her usual character, wore pretty well away, and she agreed to join a sleighing-party over to Richelieu, a neighbouring village.

They were six in all--Kate and Mr. Stanford, Rose and Mr. La Touche, Eeny and Doctor Frank. Sir Ronald Keith had departed some time previously, for a tour through the country with Lord Ellerton, and his memory was a thing of the past already.

The Captain, an hour after their departure, sought out Grace in the dining-room, where she sat at work. He looked grave and anxious, and, sitting down beside her, said what he had to say with many misgivings.