Naturally he could not help falling in love with Daisy, who was the only
girl he ever saw except the high-bred, milk-and-water misses whom he
sometimes met in Lady Jane's drawing-room, and who, in point of beauty
and grace and piquancy, could in no degree compare with the playmate of
his childhood.
After the morning when Daisy kept the sun from him in the old yew-shaded
garden, and he jestingly proposed to marry her, that she might take care
of him, a change came over the girl, who began to develope the talent
for intrigue in which she afterward became so successful. And as a
preliminary step she made herself so necessary to Archie that his life
without her would hardly have been endurable, and of his own accord he
always shortened as much as possible, his visits to London, for he knew
how bright was the face and how warm the welcome awaiting him at
Stoneleigh.
And so it came about that when Daisy was sixteen and he was twenty, he
offered himself to the girl, who pretended no surprise or reserve, but
promptly answered yes, and then suggested that their engagement be kept
a secret from every one until he came of age and could do as he pleased,
for Daisy well knew the fierce opposition he would meet from his proud
relatives, if once they knew that he had stooped to the daughter of a
dressmaker.
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