CHAPTER T-
"A face that should co.itent me wond'rous weij
Should not be fair, but lovely to behold ;
Of lively look, all grief for to repel
With right good grace, so would I that it should
Speak, without words, such words as none can tell."
The fact that Sylvia Yelverton, only daughter and heiress
of Humphrey Yelverton, of The AVold, should be, at this
time of all others, absent from home is regarded by the
Heriots as a distinct grievance. She is not only their most
intimate friend, but there is always a fund of delightful
possibilities about Sylvia that renders her a treasure when
help is desired.
She is a pretty girl, with hazel eyes and nut-brown hair,
and a charming little nose tilted most delicately heaven¬
wards. There is a tremendous amount of character in this
nose, and indeed about Sylvia generally. Her mouth is
large and softly good-humoured, and she has quite a beau¬
tiful manner of holding herself. She is, indeed, eminently
satisfactory in most ways, her very stature being all it
ought to be, and void of offence; it is of that happy order
that can neither be termed short or tall.
She is quick-witted, clever, and tender, and is, perhaps,
just a degree too independent to altogether accord with the
rules conventional, laid down for the proper guidance of
yorrng women in Egworth.
She had not always been her father's heiress. A few
years ago there was a Gerald Yelverton, the idol of his
father's heart—a tall, fair-haired lad, a good deal older
than his little saucy sister. But he had broken his neck
out hunting, one bitter February morning, and had been
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