Beatrice reveled in the luxury and grandeur that surrounded her.

She amused Lady Earle by her vivacious description of the quiet home at the Elms.
"I feel at home here," she said, "and I never did there.

At times I wake up, half dreading to hear the rustling of the tall elm trees, and old Mrs.Thorne's voice asking about the cows.

Poor mamma! I can not understand her taste." When they became more accustomed to the new life, the strange incongruity in their family struck them both.

On one side a grand old race, intermarried with some of the noblest families in England--a stately house, title, wealth, rank, and position; on the other a simple farmer and his homely wife, the plain old homestead, and complete isolation from all they considered society.
How could it be?
How came it that their father was lord of Earlescourt and their mother the daughter of a plain country farmer?
For the first time it struck them both that there was some mystery in the life of their parents.