"Are you tired?" he asks, putting her into a comfortable lounging-chair, and taking his stand by the fireplace, one elbow resting on the mantel-piece.
"Tired!--after only two dances? Why, I shouldn't expect to be tired if I danced all night long, Lancelot."
"And now, tell me, Doris," he says after a short pause, "how do you like Sir Edward?"
"Sir Edward?" repeats Doris staring a little. "Why, I don't even know who he is yet. You only said 'my cousin' when you introduced them both to us. How can I possibly tell?"
"And yet you have been dancing with him," says Lancelot with a little smile.
"I!--with Sir Edward?" says Doris evidently thinking that her companion is wandering in his mind a little.
"Yes, _you_, with Sir Edward. Look here, Doris," taking her arm and raising her from the chair, "that is Sir Edward Ferrars up there!" and he points to the portrait of himself.
"_Lancelot!_" gasps Doris, and she turns her wonder-stricken face towards him, while a little pained look comes into her eyes. "Why have you called yourself Lancelot, then?" she inquires, her voice sounding a little hurt and constrained.
"Because I _am_ Lancelot," Sir Edward says gently, and taking her hands into his. "But I am Edward too, Doris; the other is only my second name, though I have always been called by it since my infancy. You see, I never expected to come into this property, Doris. It came almost like a blow to me. There was another man, a distant cousin, who was the direct heir; but, poor fellow! he was a black sheep, I am afraid, and he came to an untimely end. It was all hushed up at the time, and I knew no more of it than anyone else. You may imagine, then, how surprised I was when I found myself the happy possessor of this property. Happy, because I have found someone to share it with me, Doris. I should not have cared two straws about it otherwise."
"But--but _why_ did you deceive me, Lancelot?" says Doris, with the threatening of a pout on her fair face.
"I did not deceive you, dear. I simply let things take their own course, with you that is, and I was as much Lancelot Ferrars then as now, now as then. The only two people I told of my accession to this property were your aunt and your mother. I was bound to tell them, of course."