So, instead of going direct to the mansion, they turned off from the main avenue to make a tour of the park.

“Now I understand why this place is called Beechgrove,” said Madaline, suddenly.  “I have never seen such trees in my life.”

She spoke truly.  Giant beech-trees spread out their huge boughs on all sides.  They were trees of which any man would have been proud, because of their beauty and magnificence.  Presently from between the trees she saw the mansion itself, Lord Arleigh touched his young wife’s arm gently.

“My darling,” he said, “that is home.”

Her face flushed, her eyes brightened, the sensitive lips quivered.

“Home!” she repeated.  “How sweet the word sounds to me!” With a tremulous smile she raised her face to his.  “Nor man,” she said, “do you know that I feel very much as Lady Burleigh, the wife of Lord Burleigh, of Stamford-town, must have felt.”

“But you, Madaline,” he laughed, “are not quite the simple maiden—­he wooed and won.  You have the high-bred grace of a lady—­nothing could rob you of that.”

“She must have been lovely and graceful to have won Lord Burleigh,” she remarked.

“Perhaps so, but not like you, Madaline—­there has never been any one quite like you.  I shall feel tempted to call you ‘Lady Burleigh.’  Here we are at home; and, oh, my wife, my darling, how sweet the coming home is!”

The carriage stopped at the grand entrance.  Wishing to spare his young wife all fatigue and embarrassment, Lord Arleigh had not dispatched the news of his marriage home, so that no one at Beechgrove expected to see Lady Arleigh.  He sent at once for the housekeeper, a tall, stately dame, who came into the dining-room looking in unutterable amazement at the beautiful, blushing young face.

“Mrs. Chatterton,” he said, “I wish to introduce you to my wife, Lady Arleigh.”

The stately dame curtesied almost to the ground.

“Welcome home, my Lady,” she said, deferentially.  “If I had known that your ladyship was expected I would have made more befitting preparations.”

“Nothing could be better—­you have everything in admirable order,” responded Lord Arleigh, kindly.

Then the housekeeper turned with a bow to her master.

“I did not know that you were married, my lord,” she said.

“No, Mrs. Chatterton; for reasons of my own, I hurried on my marriage.  No one shall lose by the hurry, though”—­which she knew meant a promise of handsome bounty.

Presently the housekeeper went with Lady Arleigh to her room.

The grandeur and magnificence of the house almost startled her.  She felt more like Lady Burleigh than ever, as she went up the broad marble staircase and saw the long corridors with the multitude of rooms.

“His lordship wrote to tell me to have all the rooms in the western wing ready,” said Mrs. Chatterton; “but he did not tell why.  They are splendid rooms, my lady—­large, bright and cheerful.  They look over the beautiful beeches in the park, from which the place takes its name.  Of course you will have what is called Lady Arleigh’s suite.”