But only in its simplicity
was it a child's heart that met the next day's sunshine, for the courage
of a strong woman looked from Elizabeth Royal's eyes.
CHAPTER XVI
THE DINNER PARTY.
Colonel Archdale with his hands behind him walked up and down his
drawing-room in pleasant anticipation, with, it may be, a touch of the
feeling which once animated an Eastern monarch over the great city that
he had builded for the honor of his name. The Colonel had been like the
monarch in one thing, that he had been born in wealth, not obliged to
start at the very beginning of the race; he was like him in this also
that he had made the very best of material opportunities; he had builded
about himself, if not a great city, at least a great and profitable
business, so that he had a reasonable expectation of leaving his son and
his two surviving daughters--the latter still children--wealthier than
his father had left him. The only drawback, and he had not yet found it
a serious one, was that it was difficult to take as much money out of
his profits as he would have liked to live upon, for his increasing
business demanded always increasing capital.
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