eyes looked so red and so bright. But she was now, at any rate, perfectly composed.
"I suppose Frank has told you," she said, as soon as her mother entered. "You were quite wrong, mamma," she went on in a hard tone, "it would have been much better if you had not advised me to wear Lord Astar's star. It only gave him the right to insult me."
"Elsie!" cried Mrs. Valliant. "How was I wrong? What do you mean?"
"You were wrong in thinking that Lord Astar could possibly wish to marry me. He only wanted me to run away with him. He made me understand quite clearly—I didn't at first—that marrying and running away with a girl were two different things."
"And you can tell me this—quietly like that!" cried Mrs. Valliant. "I'd have wanted to kill him."
"I think I did want to kill him," said Elsie, in a low voice.
Mrs. Valliant raged hysterically after the manner of a wild woman.
"Does he think that because you have no father or brother there is no one to call him to account? There is Horace. Horace shall know. Horace is as good as he is; and Ina has married into a great family. No one shall insult my daughter. I will go to-morrow to Government House. I will insist upon an explanation and an apology."
"No, mamma, you won't do anything. You will put the whole thing out of your mind, as I am going to do from this night. We brought it on ourselves, and I have deserved everything."
"And Frank Hallett knows?"
"Frank is a hero and a gentleman," cried Elsie. "There is no one like him in the world. I shall marry him, mamma, and I shall make him as good a wife as it is in my nature to be. I don't think I'm really bad. I think I can make him happy. That's all that matters."
"I think a great deal matters besides that," said Mrs. Valliant. She was in a tearful mood, and kissed Elsie, and
