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15 THE POETRAIT OF A LADY. 15 " I will settle it with her at a quarter to seven." And Ralph looked at his watch again. " I am glad to. be here at all," said the girl. " I don't believe you allow things to be settled for you." " Oh yes ; if they are settled as I like them." " I shall settle this as I like it," said Ealph. " It's most unaccountable that we should never have known you " I was there you had only to come and see me." " There 1 Where do you mean 1 " " In the United States : in New York, and Albany, and other places." " I have been there all over, but I never saw you. I can't make it out." Miss Archer hesitated a moment. " It was because there had been some disagreement between your mother and rny father, after my mother's death, which took place when I was a child. In consequence of it, we never expected to see you." " Ah, but I don't embrace all my mother's quarrels Heaven forbid ! " the young man cried. " You have lately lost your father 1 ? " he went on, more gravely. " Yes ; more than a year ago. After that my aunt was very kind to me; she came to see me, and proposed that I should come to Europe." " I see," said Ealph. " She has adopted you." " Adopted me 1 " The girl stared, and her blush came back to her, together with a momentary look of pain, which gave her interlocutor some alarm. He had under-estimated the effect of his words. Lord Warburton, who appeared constantly desirous of a nearer view of Miss Archer, strolled toward the two cousins at the moment, and as he did so, she rested her startled eyes upon him. " Oh, no ; she has not adopted me," she said. " I am not a candidate for adoption." " I b'eg a thousand pardons," Ralph murmured. " I meant I meant " He hardly knew what he meant. " You meant she has taken me up. Yes ; she likes to take people up. She has been very kind to me ; but," she added, with a certain visible eagerness of desire to be explicit, " I am very fond of my liberty." " Are you talking about Mrs. Touchett *? " the old man called out from his chair. " Come here, my dear, and tell me about her. I am always thankful for information." The girl hesitated a moment, smiling. " She is really very benevolent," she answered j and then she