the sense of triumphing over enemies. His very stride as he
stamped through the hall and into the parlour had in it the
suggestion that he was planting his heel on some foe, and it
was with evident elation that he announced:--

"Well, lass, I've a husband for ye, so get your lips and
blushes ready for him against to-morrow!

"Oh, dadda, no!" cried the girl, ceasing her spinet practice.

"Oh, yes! And no obstinacy, mind. Phil 's a good enough
lad for any girl. Where 's your mother that I may tell her?"

"She's in the attic, getting out some whole cloth," answered
the girl; and as her father left the room, she leaned forward
and rested her burning cheek on the veneer of the spinet for an
instant as if to cool it. But the colour deepened rather than
lessened, and a moment later she rose, with her lips pressed
into a straight line, and her eyes shining very brightly. "I'll
not marry the gawk. No! And if they insist I'll--"
Then she paused.

"How did Janice take it?" asked Mrs. Meredith, when the
squire had broken his news to her.

"Coltishly," responded the father, "but no blubbering this
time. The filly's getting used to the idea of a bit, and will go
steady from now on." All of which went to show how little
the squire understood the nature of women, for the lack of
tears should have been the most alarming fact in his daughter's