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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3), by

-James Grant

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you

-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before

-using this eBook.

-

-Title: Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3)

-       A novel

-

-Author: James Grant

-

-Release Date: June 11, 2022 [eBook #68293]

-

-Language: English

-

-Produced by: Al Haines

-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF

-3) ***

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-  DULCIE CARLYON.

-

-

-  A Novel.

-

-

-

-  BY

-

-  JAMES GRANT,

-

-  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.

-

-

-  IN THREE VOLUMES.

-

-  VOL. I.

-

-

-

-  LONDON:

-  WARD AND DOWNEY,

-  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

-

-  1886.

-

-  [_All Rights Reserved._]

-

-

-

-

-NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.

-

-

-FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.

-

-COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.

-

-MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.

-

-AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.

-

-WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3

-vols.

-

-IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.

-

-AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.

-

-LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.

-

-

-WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.

-

-

-

-

-In Loving Memory

-

-OF

-

-MY ELDEST SON,

-

-JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,

-

-_Captain Cheshire Regiment,_

-

-I INSCRIBE

-

-THIS MILITARY STORY.

-

-

-

-

-CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

-

-

-CHAPTER

-

-I. IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS

-

-II. WEDDED

-

-III. THE SPURNED OFFER

-

-IV. REVELSTOKE COTTAGE

-

-V. DULCIE

-

-VI. THE SECRET PACKET

-

-VII. A FAREWELL

-

-VIII. THE SILVER LOCKET

-

-IX. MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.

-

-X. ALONE IN THE WORLD

-

-XI. SHAFTO IN CLOVER

-

-XII. VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY

-

-XIII. AMONG THE GROUSE

-

-XIV. THE TWO FINELLAS

-

-XV. AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN

-

-XVI. ''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'

-

-XVII. AT CRAIGENGOWAN

-

-XVIII. AT THE BUFFALO RIVER

-

-XIX. ELANDSBERGEN

-

-XX. BAFFLED!

-

-

-

-

-DULCIE CARLYON.

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I.

-

-IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.

-

-'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and you know how I hate

-scenes.'

-

-'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'

-

-'I shall need all my self-possession to get over the _esclandre_ this

-affair may cause,' exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.

-

-'Well, life is made up of getting over things,' responded her husband.

-

-'But not things so disgraceful as this, Fettercairn!'

-

-'Is this son of yours in his senses?'

-

-'Who is that loves? it has been asked,' said the culprit referred to.

-

-'A marriage between you and a penniless girl in her rank of life is

-not to be thought of, Lennard.'

-

-'Her rank of life, father?'

-

-'Yes!'

-

-'Her father's rank was superior to that of the first of our family,

-when life began with him.'

-

-'What is that to you or to me now?'

-

-'Much to me.'

-

-'Too much, it would seem.'

-

-The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn, his wife,

-the Lady thereof, and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a captain

-of the line, home on leave from India, who had been somewhat timidly

-venturing to break--knowing the inordinate family vanity of his

-parents--we say to break the news of his love for a girl possessed of

-more beauty than this world's goods; and, in his excitement and

-indignation, his lordship's usual easy, indolent, and drawling way

-was forgotten now when addressing his son.

-

-Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and Strathfinella in the Mearns)

-was by nature a proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man, whose

-chief passion in life was a combined spirit of enormous vanity and

-acquisitiveness, which he inherited from his predecessors, whom he

-resembled in political caution and selfishness, and also in personal

-appearance, to judge from the portraits of three generations, by Sir

-John de Medina, Aikman, and Raeburn, adorning the walls of the

-stately room in the house of Craigengowan, where this rather stormy

-interview took place.

-

-Tall and thin in figure, with flat square shoulders and

-sandy-coloured hair, cold grey eyes, and irregular features, he was

-altogether a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited his slightly

-aquiline nose and perfect face from his mother, but his firm dark

-eyes and rich brown hair from a previous generation; and these,

-together with an olive complexion, rendered more dusky by five years'

-exposure to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very striking one.

-

-My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding were, as Sir Bernard Burke

-had recorded, irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a _grande

-dame_ to the tips of her long slender fingers.  She was about

-forty-five years of age, but looked ten younger.  The upper part of

-her aristocratic face was strikingly handsome; but the lower, with

-its proud and firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her

-complexion was almost colourless, her hair of the lightest brown,

-like her eyebrows and lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as

-an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought with a sigh, they seemed

-quite as--cold.

-

-Her manner was always calm, assured, and self-possessed.  She would

-smile, but that smile never degenerated into honest laughter, while

-her pale and impressive face was without a line--especially on her

-forehead--that seemed to indicate either thought or reflection, and

-certainly she had never known care or sorrow or even annoyance until

-now.

-

-'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the young man, breaking an ominous

-silence, with reference to the object of his love.

-

-'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn,

-cresting up her handsome head haughtily, and a whole volume of

-intense pride and hauteur was centred in the last word she spoke.

-

-'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls herself?' asked his father in

-a similar tone; 'but I need not ask.  You have already told us she is

-the governess in a house you have been recently visiting--that of

-Lady Drumshoddy--a governess, with all her beauty, poor and obscure.'

-

-'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of red passing under the tan

-of his olive cheek; 'her father was a gallant old officer of the

-Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the battle of Khooshab, in

-Persia, and her only brother and support fell when leading on his

-Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The old captain was, as his

-name imports, a cadet of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'

-

-'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt, from the grounding of the

-Ark to the battle of Culloden,' sneered his father.

-

-'Then his family would end soon after ours began,' retorted the son,

-becoming greatly ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't count much

-beyond three generations ourselves.'

-

-Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his sorest point, grew white with

-anger.

-

-'We always suspected you of having some secret, Lennard,' said his

-mother severely.

-

-'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one says, a secret is like a hole

-in your coat--the more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'

-

-'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar; does _she_ teach you this

-style of thing?' asked the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened again

-with annoyance, and gave his dark moustache a vicious twist, but

-sighed and strove to keep his temper.

-

-'I have found and felt it very bitter, father, to live under false

-colours,' said he gently and appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret

-from you both, which should be no secret at all.'

-

-'We would rather not have heard this secret,' replied Lord

-Fettercairn sternly, while tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop

-whiskers.

-

-'Then would you have preferred that I should be deceitful to you, and

-false to the dear girl who loves and trusts me?'

-

-'I do not choose to consider _her_,'  was the cold reply.

-

-'But I do, and must, now!'

-

-'Why?'

-

-'Because we are already married--she is my wife,' was the steady

-response.

-

-'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother with one accord, as they

-started from their chairs together, and another ominous silence of a

-minute ensued.

-

-'My poor, lost boy--the prey of an artful minx!' said Lady

-Fettercairn, looking as if she would like to weep; but tears were

-rather strangers to her cold blue eyes.

-

-'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew her, you would not talk thus

-of Flora,' urged Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in our

-power to give love and to withhold it, easy indeed would our progress

-be through life.'

-

-'Love--nonsense!'

-

-'Save to the two most interested, who are judges of it,' said

-Lennard.  'Surely you loved my father, and he you.'

-

-'Our case was very different,' replied Lady Fettercairn, in her anger

-actually forgetting herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan

-with her firm white teeth.

-

-'How, mother dear?'

-

-'In rank and wealth we were equal.'

-

-Lennard sighed, and said:

-

-'I little thought that you, who loved me so, would prove all but one

-of the mothers of Society.'

-

-'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his father.

-

-'What a writer says.'

-

-'And what the devil does he say?'

-

-'That "love seems such a poor and contemptible thing in their eyes in

-comparison with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their own youth;

-one does, they say, when he outlives romance.  And I suppose bread

-and butter is better than poetry any day."'

-

-'I should think so.'

-

-'We had other and brilliant views for you,' said his mother in a tone

-of intense mortification, 'but now----'

-

-'Leave us and begone, and let us look upon your face no more,'

-interrupted his father in a voice of indescribable sternness, almost

-hoarse with passion, as he pointed to the door.

-

-'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh, mother!'  But she averted

-her face, cold as a woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'

-

-'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and sadly, as he drew himself up

-to the full height of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome and

-comely fellow he looked as he turned away and left the room.

-

-'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is yet left to us!' exclaimed

-Lady Fettercairn earnestly.

-

-It was the last time in this life he ever heard his mother's voice,

-and he quitted the house.  On the terrace without, carefully he

-knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root, put it with equal

-care into its velvet-lined case, put the case into his pocket, and

-walked slowly off with a grim and resolute expression in his fine

-young face, upon which from that day forth his father and mother

-never looked again.

-

-Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet face of the young girl who

-had united her fortunes with his, and who was anxiously awaiting the

-result of the interview we have described.

-

-Sorrow, mortification, and no small indignation were in the heart of

-Lennard Melfort at the result of the late interview.

-

-'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying poor Flora without their

-permission, but that they would never have accorded, even had they

-seen her; and none fairer or more beautiful ever came as a bride to

-Craigengowan.'

-

-Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look at the house so named--the

-home of his boyhood.

-

-It stands at some distance from the Valley of the Dee (which forms

-the natural communication between the central Highlands and the

-fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid

-luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan obtained from the highway

-only excite curiosity without gratifying it, but a nearer approach

-reveals its picturesque architectural features.

-

-These are the elements common to most northern mansions that are

-built in the old Scottish style--a multitude of conical turrets,

-steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets, encrusted with the

-monograms and armorial bearings of the race who were its lords when

-the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood and drawers of water.

-

-The turrets rise into kindred forms in the towers and gables, and are

-the gradual accumulation of additions made at various times on the

-original old square tower, rather than a part of the original design,

-but the effect of the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.

-

-In the old Scottish garden was an ancient sun and moon dial, mossy

-and grey, by which many a lover had reckoned the time in the days of

-other years.

-

-Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled and attainted Jacobite

-family, from whom it passed readily enough into the hands of the

-second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and unscrupulous Commissioner on

-the forfeited estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had now many

-modern comforts and appliances; the entrance-hall was a marble-paved

-apartment, off which the principal sitting-rooms opened, and now a

-handsome staircase led to the upper chambers, whilom the abode of

-barons who ate the beef and mutton their neighbours fed in the valley

-of the Dee.

-

-The grounds were extensive and beautiful, and Lord Fettercairn's

-flower gardens and conservatories were renowned throughout Angus and

-the Mearns.

-

-To the bitter storm that existed in his own breast, and that which he

-had left in those of his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked the

-old house and the summer scenery to Lennard--the place on which he

-probably would never gaze again.

-

-There was a breeze that rustled the green leaves in the thickets, but

-no wind.  Beautiful and soft white clouds floated lazily in the deep

-blue sky, and a recent shower had freshened up every tree, meadow,

-and hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or golden by the banks

-of the Bervie, and the voice of the cushat dove came from the autumn

-woods from time to time as with a sigh Lennard Melfort turned his

-back on Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went, the pride of his

-family, for, though not an old one, by title or territory, they were

-as proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.

-

-The first prominent member of the family, Lennard Melfort, had been a

-Commissioner for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament, and for

-political services had been raised to the peerage by Queen Anne as

-Lord Fettercairn and Strathfinella, and was famous for nothing but

-selling his Union vote for the same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,

-and for having afterwards 'a rug at the compensation,' as the English

-equivalent money was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir saw

-half the old peerages of Scotland attainted, he obtained

-Craigengowan, and was one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie said,

-'wad sell his soul to the deil for a crackit saxpence.'

-

-With the ex-Commissioner the talent--such as it was--of the race

-ended, and for three generations the Lords of Fettercairn had been

-neither better nor worse than peers of Scotland generally; that is,

-they were totally oblivious of the political interests of that

-country, and of everything but their own self-aggrandisement by

-marriage or otherwise.

-

-Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the family that proved untrue to

-its old instincts.

-

-'And I had made up my mind that he should marry Lady Drumshoddy's

-daughter--she has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady Fettercairn.

-

-'Married my governess--the girl MacIan!' snorted my Lady Drumshoddy

-when she heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why marry the creature?

-He might love her, of course--all men are alike weak--but to marry

-her--oh, no!'

-

-And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very moral woman according to her

-standard, and carried her head very high.

-

-When tidings were bruited abroad of what happened, and the split in

-the family circle at Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and

-indignation expressed in the servants' hall, the gamekeepers' lodges,

-and the home farm, for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a

-favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates; and Mrs. Prim, his

-mother's maid, actually shed many tears over the untoward fate he had

-brought upon himself.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II.

-

-WEDDED.

-

-'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite of this bitter affront

-to which you are subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.

-

-'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love you, Lennard--love you so

-much,' she added, while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like

-lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I would die!'

-

-'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he responded, while tenderly

-caressing her.

-

-'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion, Lennard?'

-

-'Foolish?'

-

-'Yes--or rash.  I have heard that it is not lucky for people to love

-each other so much as we do.'

-

-'Could we love each other less?'

-

-'I don't think so,' said she simply and sweetly, as he laid her cheek

-on his breast with her upturned eyes gazing into his.

-

-The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect was every curve of her

-shapely figure, which was destitute of any straight line; even her

-nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.  Her beautifully arched

-mouth, the scarlet line of her upper lip, and the full round of the

-nether one were parted in a tender smile, just enough to show her

-teeth, defied all criticism; her complexion was pure and soft, and

-her eyes were of the most liquid hazel, with almost black lashes.

-Her hair was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a lady to perfection,

-especially by the whiteness and delicacy of her beautifully shaped

-little hands.

-

-When she walked she did so gracefully, as all Highland women do, and

-like them held her head poised on her slender neck so airily and

-prettily that her nurse, Madelon, called her 'the swan.'

-

-'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she, after a pause, 'as I thought of

-the _mauvais quart d'heure_ you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'

-

-'It was a _mauvais_ hour and more, darling.'

-

-'And ever and anon I felt that strange chill, or shudder, which Nurse

-Madelon says people feel when some one crosses the place where their

-grave is to be.  How can your parents be so cruel to you?'

-

-'And to you, Flora!'

-

-'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with her eyes full of unshed

-tears, and in a pained voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very

-designing girl; but in spite of that, you will always care for me as

-much as you do now?'

-

-'Why such fears?  Ever and always--ever and always, my darling,' said

-Lennard Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most effectually for a

-time.

-

-'Oh, if you should ever come to regret, and with regret to love me

-less!' said she, in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment fixed on

-vacancy.

-

-'Why that boding thought, Flora?'

-

-'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'

-

-He kissed her again as the readiest response.

-

-But the sequel proved that his great love outlasted her own life,

-poor girl!

-

-Then they sat long silent, hand locked in hand, while the gloaming

-deepened round them, for words seem poor and feeble when the heart is

-very full.

-

-'How long will they continue to despise me?' said Flora suddenly,

-while across her soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a long and

-gallant line of Celtic ancestors.

-

-An exclamation of bitterness--almost impatience, escaped Lennard.

-

-'Let us forget them--father, mother, all!' said he.

-

-The girl looked passionately into the face of her lover-husband--the

-husband of a month; and never did her bright hazel eyes seem more

-tender and soft than now, with all the fire of love and pride

-sparkling in their depths, for her Highland spirit and nature

-revolted at the affront to which she was subjected.

-

-The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the poise of his close-shorn head

-told that he was a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the style of

-his light grey suit showed how thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to

-Flora's loving and partial eye he was every-way a model man.

-

-They had been married just a month, we have said, a month that very

-day, and Lennard had brought his bride to the little burgh town,

-within a short distance of Craigengowan, and left her in their

-apartments while he sought with his father and mother the bootless

-interview just narrated.

-

-For three days before he had the courage to bring it about, they had

-spent the time together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling along

-the banks of the pretty Bervie, from the blue current of which ever

-and anon the bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or in the

-deep and leafy recourses of the adjacent woods, and climbing the

-rugged coast, against which the waves of the German Sea were rolling

-in golden foam; or ascending Craig David, so called from David II. of

-Scotland--a landmark from the sea for fifteen leagues--for both had a

-true and warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature in all her

-moods and aspects.

-

-The sounds of autumn were about them now; the hum of insects and the

-song of the few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the golden

-broom and the sweet briar, with a score of other sweet and

-indefinable scents and balmy breaths.  All around them was scenic

-beauty and peace, and yet with all their great love for each other,

-their hearts were heavy at the prospect of their future, which must

-be a life of banishment in India, and to the heaviness of Lennard was

-added indignation and sorrow.  But he could scarcely accuse himself

-of having acted rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to that his

-family would never have consented; and he often thought could his

-mother but see Flora in her beauty and brightness, looking so

-charming in her smart sealskin and bewitching cap and feather, and

-long skirt of golden-brown silk that matched her hair and eyes--every

-way a most piquante-looking girl!

-

-Young though he was, and though a second son, Lennard Melfort had

-been a favourite with more than one Belgravian belle and her mamma,

-and there were few who had not something pleasant or complimentary to

-say of him since his return from India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and

-water parties, girls had given him the preference to many who seemed

-more eligible, had reserved for him dances on their programmes, sang

-for him, made unmistakable _œillades_, and so forth; for his

-handsome figure and his position made him very acceptable, though he

-had not the prospects of his elder brother, the Hon. Cosmo.

-

-Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was regarded and valued well, and

-nourished great hopes therefrom; but this was all over and done with

-now.

-

-To her it seemed as if he had thrown his very life away, and that

-when his marriage with a needy governess--however beautiful and well

-born she might be--became known, all that charmed and charming circle

-in Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as a black sheep indeed;

-would shake their aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and Lady

-Fettercairn for having such a renegade son.

-

-Flora's chief attendant--a Highland woman who had nursed her in

-infancy--was comically vituperative and indignant at the affront put

-by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she called her.

-

-Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy, active, and only in her

-fortieth year, with black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion, a

-set of magnificent white teeth, and her manner was full of emphatic,

-almost violent, gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders, who seem

-to talk with their hands and arms quite as much as the tongue.

-

-Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native Gaelic, but generally in the

-dialect of the Lowlands.

-

-'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha are the Melforts o'

-Fettercairn, that they should slight you--_laoghe mo chri_?' she

-added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a pity it is ye canna fling

-at their heads the gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna yowl

-gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've begun wi' love and marriage,

-and a gude beginning mak's a gude ending.'

-

-'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon, and I have ruined my poor

-Lennard,' urged Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.

-

-'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak' but a wersh breakfast,'

-laughed Madelon; 'but you're no sae puir as that comes to, my

-darling.'

-

-'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in turn.  'Yet I have

-sorely injured my husband's prospects.'

-

-'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo, but he weds only whar his

-weird lies; and so Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?  Then

-what is a Lord that we should _lippen_ to _him_?  As long as ye serve

-a tod ye maun carry his tail?  And your father's daughter may carry

-her head wi' the highest.'

-

-Lennard Melfort now resolved neither verbally nor by letter to have

-further intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or elsewhere, but

-before he could make up his mind what to do or could betake him

-south, as he meant to quit Scotland without delay, on the day

-subsequent to the stormy interview Madelon announced a visitor, and

-on a salver brought in a card inscribed--'MR. KENNETH KIPPILAW, W.S.'

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III.

-

-THE SPURNED OFFER.

-

-'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,' said Lennard, in answer to

-her inquiring glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing her to

-their visitor, who bowed with a critical glance and appreciative

-smile.

-

-'I have been telegraphed for by your father, Captain Melfort,' said

-Mr. Kippilaw, as they shook hands and he was motioned to a chair.

-

-A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like man, about forty years

-of age, Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible to

-begin the matter in hand by any remarks about youthful imprudence,

-early marriages, or so forth, as he knew the pride and temperament of

-the young man before him, but laid down his hat, and, after some of

-that familiar weather talk which is the invariable prelude to any

-conversation over all the British Isles, he gently approached the

-object of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity and terror of

-her heart, never doubted was a separation of some kind between

-herself and Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and withdrew.

-

-'To what am I indebted for the pleasure of this--a--unexpected

-interview?' asked Lennard, a little stiffly.

-

-'Instructions just received from your father, Captain Melfort.'

-

-'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'

-

-'Straight.'

-

-'Has he made up his mind to accept my wife as his daughter-in-law?'

-

-'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'

-

-Lennard's face darkened with indignation, and he gave his moustache

-an angry twist.

-

-'Are my father and mother determined to ignore the fact that she is a

-lady by birth?' asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.

-

-'Yes--they know, of course, that she is a lady,' stammered Mr.

-Kippilaw, feeling his mission an ungracious one, 'but poor--one who

-has sunk into obscurity and dependence--pardon me, I but use their

-own identical words.

-

-'Well?'

-

-'What is done in this instance unfortunately cannot be undone,

-Captain Melfort; but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in the

-matter, is willing to continue your allowance, and even to double it,

-on one condition.

-

-'Name it.'

-

-Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a lawyer, considerably hardened,

-he felt the delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's dark eyes

-seemed to focus and pierce him.

-

-'The condition--to the point!'

-

-'Is--that you will return to India----'

-

-'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted Lennard sharply.

-

-'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain, but never attempt to

-intrude Mrs. Melfort upon your family or their circle, and contrive,

-if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'

-

-'Insolent--and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed Lennard Melfort as he

-started from his chair and paced about the room, with his dark eyes

-flashing and the veins in his forehead swollen like whip-cord.

-

-'The words I speak are not my own,' said Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.

-

-'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my father that I reject his bribe

-to insult my wife--for a bribe it is--with the scorn it merits.  Not

-a penny of his money will I accept while my sword and pay, or life

-itself, are left me.  Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view

-myself as their son no more.  As they discard me, so do I discard

-them; and even their _very name_ I shall not keep--remember that!'

-

-'Dear me--dear me, all this is very sad!'

-

-'They have thrust me from them as if I had been guilty of a crime----'

-

-'Captain Melfort!'

-

-'A crime I say--yet a day may come when they will repent it; and from

-this hour I swear----'

-

-'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw, entreatingly; 'take no

-hasty vow in your present temper.'

-

-'I swear that to them and theirs I shall be--from this hour--as one

-in the grave!'

-

-'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose--which God forbid--that aught

-happened to your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'

-

-'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my interest in the title--it

-may become dormant, extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor

-any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I again set foot in

-Craigengowan, or on the lands around it--no, never again, never

-again!'

-

-To every argument of the kind-hearted Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved

-the Fettercairn family and esteemed the high-spirited Lennard, the

-latter turned a deaf ear.

-

-He departed in despair of softening matters between the rash son and

-indignant parents.  To them he greatly modified the nature of the

-useless interview, but they heard of Lennard's determination with

-perfect unconcern, and even with a grim smile of contempt, never

-doubting that when money pressure came upon him they would find him

-at their mercy.  But that time never came.

-

-Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and there the affair seemed to

-end.

-

-The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to him were said smilingly and

-loftily:--

-

-'The French have a little phrase, which in six words expresses all

-our experiences in life.'

-

-'And this phrase, my lord?'

-

-'Is simply--_tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse_--that we outlive

-everything in turn and in time--and so this matter of Lennard's pride

-will be a matter of time only.  Be assured we shall outlive the

-indignation of our misguided son.'

-

-'But will you outlive your own?'

-

-'Never!'

-

-'I can but hope that you will, my lord.  Remember the hackneyed

-quotation from Pope--"To err is human, to forgive divine."

-

-'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.

-

-The name of Lennard was never uttered again by his parents, nor even

-by his brother Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the hour for

-forgiveness was past; and even Cosmo they contrived to innoculate

-with their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of hostility.

-Lennard's portrait was removed from its place of honour in the

-dining-hall, and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods, chattels,

-and mementoes he left at home were scattered and dispersed; even his

-horses were sold, and the saddles he had used; and the Fettercairn

-family would--could they have done so--have obliterated his name from

-the great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard Burke.

-

-Heedless of all that, the young husband and his dark-eyed girl-wife

-were all the world to each other.

-

-'After mamma followed papa to the grave, Lennard--for she never held

-up her head after she heard of his death at Khooshab,' said Flora, as

-she nestled her head in his neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life

-of hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till I met you, dearest.

-I felt that even the love of some dumb animal--a dog or a horse--was

-better than the entire absence of affection in the narrow circle of

-my life.  I did so long for something or some one to love me

-exclusively--I felt so miserably, so utterly alone in the world.  Now

-I have you--_you_ to love me.  But in winning you I have robbed you

-of the love of all your people.'

-

-'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest Flora.  We are now more

-than ever all in all to each other.'

-

-The money bribe, offered in such a way and for such a purpose,

-exasperated Lennard still more against his family, and drew many a

-tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.

-

-She thought that she had wrought Lennard a great wrong by winning his

-love for herself, and she was now burning with impatience to turn her

-back on the shores of Britain and find a new home in India; and

-there, by staff or other employments and allowances, Lennard knew

-that he could gain more than the yearly sum his father so

-mortifyingly offered him.

-

-Flora wept much over it all, we say, and her appetite became

-impaired; but she did not--like the heroine of a three-volume

-novel--starve herself into a fright.

-

-But a short time before she had been a childish and simple

-maiden--one sorely tried, however, and crushed by evil fortune; but

-with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had come into her existence and

-awakened her soul, and she was a woman--innocent still--but yet a

-woman.'

-

-The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly lovely in the purity

-and richness of its verdure and varied artistic views, for the woods

-were profusely tinted with gold, russet brown, and red, when Lennard

-Melfort turned his back upon it and his native home for ever!

-

-The birds were chirping blithly, and the voice of the corncraik, with

-

-  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'

-

-came on the evening breeze together.  The old kirk bell was tolling

-in the distance, and its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart of

-home like that of an old friend.  The river was rolling under its

-great arch of some eighty feet in span, the downward reflection of

-the latter in the water making a complete circle like a giant O.  The

-old castle of Halgreen, with its loopholed battlements of the

-fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon its wave-beaten

-eminence, and the blue smoke of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher

-village, curled up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded out in

-the distance.

-

-Flora became marvellously cheerful when their journey fairly began,

-and laughingly she sung in Lennard's ear--

-

-  'The world goes up and the world goes down,

-  But _yesterday's_ smile and _yesterday's_ frown

-  Can never come back again, sweet friend--

-  Can never come back again!'

-

-

-Means were not forgotten to support nurse Madelon in her native

-place, where we shall leave her till she reappears in our narrative

-again.

-

-So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for India, full of love for each

-other and hope for their own lonely and unaided future, and both

-passed for ever out of the lives and apparently out of the memory of

-the family at Craigengowan.

-

-Times there were when he hoped to distinguish himself, so that the

-circle there--those who had renounced him--would be proud of him; but

-in seeking that distinction rashly, he might throw away his life, and

-thus leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy of a cold world

-and a proverbially ungrateful Government.

-

-But they could not forget home, and many a time and oft, where the

-sun-baked cantonments of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the fierce

-light of the Indian sun, where the temples of Hurdwar from their

-steep of marble steps look down upon the Ganges, or where the

-bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah, garlanded with fragrant jasmine,

-stand by the rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and baubool trees,

-with their golden balls loading the air with perfume, while the giant

-heron stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked in the ooze,

-and the Brahmin ducks floated overhead, Flora's sweet voice made

-Lennard's heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of the land they

-had resolved never to look upon again, even when that sound so

-stirring to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far away, the

-pipes of a Highland regiment, poured their notes on the hot sunny air.

-

-At home none seemed to care or think of the discarded son but the

-worthy lawyer Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a lad, and could

-not get his hard fate out of his mind.

-

-From time to time, inspired by kindness and curiosity, he watched his

-name among the captains in the military lists of that thick

-compendium which no Scottish business establishment is ever

-without--'Oliver and Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while, the

-name of Lennard Melfort _disappeared_, but whether he was dead, had

-sold out, or 'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the Signet could

-not discover, and he not unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a

-lost life.

-

-And here we end that which is a species of prologue to our story.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV.

-

-REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.

-

-More than twenty years had elapsed after the episodes we have

-described, and Lennard and Flora had found a new home, and she, her

-_last one_, more than four hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies

-from where Craigengowan looks down on the German Sea.  But none that

-looked on Lennard Melfort now would have recognised in the

-prematurely aged man the handsome young fellow who in ire and disgust

-had quitted his native land.

-

-In two years after he had gone eastward a dreadful fever, contracted

-in a place where he had volunteered on a certain duty to gain money

-for the support of his wife and her little Indian establishment--the

-Terrai of Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which lies along

-the great forest of the Himalayas, and has an evil repute even among

-the natives of the country in the wet season when the leaves are

-falling.

-

-This fever broke Lennard's health completely, and so changed him that

-his rich brown hair and moustache were grey at six-and-twenty, and

-ere long he looked like a man of twice his age.

-

-'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort of the Fusiliers?  Why, he

-is a veritable Knight of the Rueful Countenance!' exclaimed some old

-friends who saw him at 'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a place

-of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as it subsequently chanced to

-be.

-

-Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider, and near a beautiful

-little bay into which the waters of the British Channel rippled,

-stood the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied, as 'Major MacIan,'

-with his son and a nephew.

-

-The wooded hills around it were not all covered with orchards,

-however, and the little road that wound round the bay ran under

-eminences that, from their aspect, might make a tourist think he was

-skirting a Swiss lake.  Others were heath-clad and fringed at the

-base by a margin of grey rocks.

-

-Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and transparent always.  Here

-salmon trout were often found, and the young men spent hours at its

-estuary angling for rock fish.

-

-A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray to be 'the sweetest object

-that the poet, the artist, or the lover of the romantic could desire

-to see,' and such a cottage was that of Major MacIan, the name now

-adopted by Lennard--that of Flora's father--in fulfilment of the vow

-he had made to renounce the name, title, and existence of his family.

-

-Around it, and in front sloping down to the bay, was a beautiful

-garden, teeming with the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On three

-sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis work of which was covered by

-a woven clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper, which, in the

-first year of her residence there, Flora's pretty hands, cased in

-garden gloves, were never tired of tending; and now the Virginia

-creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils, emerald green in summer, russet

-and red in autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof and around the

-chimney stalks, making it, as Flora was wont to say exultingly,

-'quite a love of a place!'

-

-On one hand lay the rolling waters of the Channel, foaming about the

-Mewstone Rock; on the other, a peep was given amid the coppice of the

-ancient church of Revelstoke, and here the married pair lived happily

-and alone for a brief time.

-

-Save for the advent of a ship passing in sight of the little bay, it

-was a sleepy place in which Lennard, now retired as a major, had

-'pitched his tent,' as he said--the Cottage of Revelstoke.  Even in

-these railway times people thereabout were content with yesterday's

-news.  There was no gas to spoil the complexions of the young, and no

-water rates to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never came, in their

-orange-tinted envelopes, to startle the hearts of the feeble and the

-sickly.

-

-No monetary transactions having taken place, and no correspondence

-being necessary, between Lennard and his family or their legal agent,

-Mr. Kippilaw, for more than twenty years now, he had quite passed

-away from their knowledge, and almost from their memory; and many who

-knew them once cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife were in the

-land of the living.

-

-A son, we have said, had been born to them, and Lennard named the

-child Florian, after his mother (here again ignoring his own family),

-whom that event cost dear, for the sweet and loving Flora never

-recovered her health or strength--injured, no doubt, in India--but

-fell into a decline, and, two years after, passed away in the arms of

-Lennard and her old nurse, Madelon.

-

-Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel now, though an orphan

-nephew of Flora--the son of her only sister--came to reside with

-him--Shafto Gyle by name--one who will figure largely in our story.

-

-Would Lennard ever forget the day of her departure, when she sank

-under that wasting illness with which no doctor could grapple?  Ever

-and always he could recall the sweet but pallid face, the white,

-wasted hands, the fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so

-unnaturally large when, after one harrowing night of pain and

-delirium, she became gentle and quiet, and lovingly told him to take

-a little rest--for old-looking he was; old, worn, and wasted far

-beyond his years--and he obeyed her, saying he would take a little

-turn in the garden among the roses--the roses her hands would tend no

-more--sick at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber and all it

-suggested, and maddened by the loud ticking of the watchful doctor's

-repeater as it lay on a table littered with useless phials; and how,

-ere he had been ten minutes in the sunny morning air, amid the

-perfume of the roses, he was wildly summoned by Madelon Galbraith

-with white cheeks and affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of death

-it proved to be; for it was on the brow of Death he pressed his

-passionate kisses, and to ears that could hear no more he uttered his

-heartrending entreaties that she would not leave him, or would give

-him one farewell word; and ever after would the perfume of roses be

-associated in his mind with that morning--the most terrible one of

-his life!

-

-Beside Revelstoke Church--old, picturesque, and rendered comely by a

-wealth of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed around its hoary walls

-to flutter in the sea breeze--she was laid, and the heart of Lennard

-seemed to be buried with her.

-

-It is a lonely old building, spotted with lichens, worn by storms,

-and perched upon the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the salt

-spray comes at times to the burial-ground.  It is near the end of

-Mothcombe Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the southward.

-

-Not a house is near it, the solitary hills and waves encompass it,

-and it is said that its smouldering tombstones would furnish ample

-matter for the 'meditations' of a Hervey.  So there Flora was laid,

-and there Lennard was to be laid by her side when the time came.

-

-Her death hardened his heart more than ever against his own family,

-and he began almost to forget that he ever bore any other name than

-hers--his adopted one.

-

-In the kindness of his heart the major, as the lads--his son and

-nephew--grew up together, introduced both to neighbours and strangers

-equally as his sons, but most unwisely, as we shall ere long have to

-record.

-

-Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did he reveal his real name, or

-the story of the quarrel with his family and their work; thus in and

-about Revelstoke all three passed under the name of MacIan now.

-

-Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her mistress on her death-bed,

-and nursed her baby into boyhood, had now gone back to her native

-glen in the wilds of Ross.  She proved, Lennard found, somewhat

-unfitted for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways and ideas were

-foreign to those of the folks thereabouts; but she will have a

-prominent place in our story in the future.

-

-But long, long Madelon wept over Florian, and pressed him often to

-her breast--'the baby of her bairn,' as she had called him--for as

-she had nursed him, so had she nursed his mother before him in the

-days when the victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents at

-Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.

-

-'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting words; 'I'll see ye yet

-again, Florian.  If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V.

-

-DULCIE.

-

-All trace of Lennard Melfort had been obliterated at Craigengowan, we

-have said.  He was never mentioned there, and though his family tried

-to think of him as dead, they did not quite succeed; but the

-disappearance of his name from the Army List first excited a little

-speculation, but no inquiry, until a terrible event occurred.

-

-The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married the daughter of Lady

-Drumshoddy, thus securing her thousands, and did his best to console

-Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the disgrace' brought upon them by

-Lennard, and they regarded him quite as a model son.

-

-He shone as Chairman at all kinds of county meetings; became M.P. for

-a cluster of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish member,

-mightily interested when such grand Imperial matters as the

-gravelling of Park Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the

-improvements at Hyde Park Corner were before the House, but was

-oblivious of all Scottish interests, or that such a place as Scotland

-existed.  When she wanted--like other parts of the empire--but never

-got them--grants for necessary purposes, the Hon. Cosmo was mute as a

-fish, or if he spoke it was to record his vote against them.

-

-Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and with natural grief and dismay,

-that Cosmo had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking near

-Glentilt.  He had wounded a large stag, the captain of its herd, and

-approached rashly or incautiously when the infuriated animal was at

-bay.  It broke its bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great

-shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo was trampled under foot and

-gored to death by its horns.

-

-As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the scene where that death must

-have happened, under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel builds his

-nest and the great mountain eagle has his eyry, and the Tilt comes

-thundering down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never again would

-his eyes rest on such glorious scenes as these.

-

-Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella, who took up her abode with

-her grandparents at Craigengowan, but no son, and Lennard knew that

-by this tragedy he was now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave

-a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her grave and made no sign.

-

-'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting for a time much that had

-occurred, and how completely Cosmo had leagued with father and mother

-against him, his memory went back to the pleasant days of their happy

-boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot together, shared the same

-bedroom in Craigengowan, and conned their tasks from the same books.

-

-'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over and done with long, long

-ago.'

-

-He made no sign, we say, but let time pass by, not foreseeing the

-complications that were eventually to arise by his doing so.

-

-Florian, born two years after the adoption of Shafto Gyle in his

-infancy, always regarded and looked up to the latter as a species of

-elder brother and undoubted senior.

-

-In his twentieth year Florian was really a handsome fellow, and if,

-without absurdity, the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a young

-man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.  Tall in figure, hard and

-well developed in muscle, regular in features, he had clear, dark,

-honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's, and a dark, silky moustache.

-

-Shafto's face was in some respects handsome too, but an evil one to

-look at, in one way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and had a way of

-meeting in a dark frown when he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes

-were shifty, and were given him, like his tongue, to conceal rather

-than express his thoughts, for they were sharp and cunning.  His

-nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips, suggestive of

-cruelty, while his massive jaw and thick neck were equally so--we

-must say almost to brutality.

-

-They were rather a contrast, these two young men--a contrast no less

-great in their dispositions and minds than in their outward

-appearance.  They were so dissimilar--one being dark and the other

-fair--that no one would have taken them for brothers, as they were

-generally supposed to be, so affectionate was the Major to both, and

-both bearing his name in the locality.

-

-As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant reputation for jockeying

-his companions, 'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats, marbles, and

-money, and for skilfully shifting punishments on the wrong shoulders

-when opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on those of the

-unsuspecting Florian.

-

-From some of his proclivities, the Major thought Shafto would make a

-good attorney, and so had him duly installed in the office of

-Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer, while for his own boy,

-Florian, he had higher hopes and aspirations, to make him, like

-himself, a soldier; but though far from idle, or lacking application,

-Florian failed, under the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'

-to pass, and not a few--Shafto particularly--laid it to the account

-of a certain damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed, with some

-truth, to occupy too much of his thoughts.

-

-Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,' Florian would at once

-have enlisted, like so many others, who rush as privates for

-commissions nowadays; but his father's fast-failing health, his love

-for Dulcie Carlyon, and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope that

-'something would turn up,' kept him hanging on day by day aimlessly

-at Revelstoke, without even the apparent future that had opened to

-Shafto when elevated to a high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.

-

-As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or MacIan as he called himself),

-though he had a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for

-business to all appearance, cleverness, and strength of character,

-turned with greater pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear open

-brow and honest manly eyes bore nature's unmistakable impress of a

-truer nobility than ever appertained to the truculent and

-anti-national lords of Fettercairn.

-

-Though to all appearance the best of friends before the world, the

-cousins were rivals; but as Florian was the successful lover, Shafto

-had a good basis for bitterness, if not secret hate.

-

-In common with the few neighbours who were in that sequestered

-quarter, the lawyer liked the Major--he was so gentle, suave,

-retiring in manner, and courteously polite.  He liked Florian too,

-but deemed him idle, and there his liking ended.

-

-He took Shafto into his office at the Major's urgent request, as a

-species of apprentice, but he--after the aphorism of 'Dr. Fell'--did

-not much affect the young man, though he found him sharp enough--too

-sharp at times; and, like most of the neighbours, he never cared to

-inquire into the precise relationship of the Major and the two lads,

-both of whom from boyhood had called the latter 'Papa.'

-

-Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited circle in which she

-moved, and a very limited circle it was; but she was pretty enough to

-have been the belle of a much larger orbit; for she was the very

-ideal of a sweet, bright English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth

-year, and the boy and girl romance in the lives of her and Florian

-had lasted since they were children and playmates together, and they

-seemed now to regard each other with 'the love that is given once in

-a lifetime.'

-

-'Could I but separate these two!' muttered Shafto, as with eyes full

-of envy and evil he watched one of their meetings, amid the bushes

-that fringed an old quarry not far from Revelstoke Church.

-

-From the summit where he lurked there was a magnificent view of the

-sea and the surrounding country.  On one hand lay the lonely old

-church and all the solitary hills that overlook its wave-beaten

-promontory; on the other were the white-crested waves of the British

-Channel, rolling in sunshine; but Shafto saw only the face and figure

-of Dulcie Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of picturing her,

-in a jacket of navy blue, fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt

-with clinging folds of the same--a costume which invests an English

-girl with an air equally nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses

-always fitted her exquisitely, and her small head, with smart hat and

-feather, set gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a

-_soupçon_ of pride in its contour and bearing.

-

-Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like complexion which is

-so peculiarly English, Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with

-eyes deeply and beautifully blue, reddish-golden hair, a laughing

-mouth that some thought too large for perfect beauty, but it was

-fully redeemed by its vivid colour and faultless teeth.

-

-'Could I but separate them!' muttered Shafto, through his clenched

-teeth, while their murmured words and mutual caresses maddened him.

-

-Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in an open locket which

-Florian had just given her--a likeness, no doubt, of himself--and she

-did so repeatedly, and ever and anon held it admiringly at arm's

-length.  Then she closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver

-necklet to which it was attached round her slender white throat; and

-with a bright fond smile she concealed it among the lace frilling of

-her collarette, and let the locket, for security, drop into the cleft

-of her bosom, little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in her

-life.

-

-Shafto's face would not have been pleasant to look upon as he saw

-this episode, and his shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he

-watched it.

-

-'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a kind of boyish rapture, as he

-placed a hand on each of her shoulders and gazed into her eyes, 'I am

-most terribly in love with you.'

-

-'Why should there be any terror in it?' asked Dulcie, with a sweet

-silvery laugh.

-

-'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your love, and being always

-with you, that--that a fear comes over me lest we should be some day

-parted.'

-

-'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she with a pretty pout, while

-her long lashes drooped.

-

-'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have you ever had an

-emotion that comes uncalled for--that which people call a

-presentiment?'

-

-'Yes; often.'

-

-'Has it ever come true?'

-

-'Sometimes.'

-

-'Well--I have a presentiment this evening which tells me that

-something is about to happen to me--to us--and very soon too!'

-

-'What can happen to us--we are so happy?' said Dulcie, her blue eyes

-dilating.

-

-Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown to Florian, mysteriously

-prompt this thought--this boding fear.  Shafto heard the words, and a

-strange smile spread over his face as he shook his clenched hand at

-the absorbed pair, and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving two

-foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from which they might be

-roughly awakened--leaving the happy Florian, with that sweet and

-winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and with whom he had played even as a

-child; with whom he had shared many a pot of clotted cream; with whom

-he had fished for trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with fearful

-steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern there, where lie thick the

-fossil bones of the elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for hours

-by the moors, among mossy rocks and mossy trees, and in woody

-labyrinthine lanes, and many a time and oft by the sea shore, where

-the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in a manner beyond description,

-but so loosely bound together that waves rend them asunder, and shape

-them into forms like ruined castles and stranded ships; till, as

-years went on, heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life had been

-left behind; and that dream-time came in which they seemed to live

-for years.

-

-No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of coquetry, her nature was too

-truthful and open for that; thus she had never for a moment wavered

-in her preference between Florian and Shafto, and spent with the

-former those bright and hopeful hours that seldom come again with the

-same keen intensity in a lifetime, though often clouded by vague

-doubts.

-

-As yet they had led a kind of Paul and Virginia life, without very

-defined ideas of their future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering

-what that future might be.

-

-They only knew, like the impassioned boy and girl in the beautiful

-story of Bernardin St. Pierre, that they loved each other very

-dearly, and for the sweet present that sufficed; while cunning Shafto

-Gyle looked darkly, gloomily, and enviously on them.

-

-Perhaps it was his fast failing health that prevented Lennard Melfort

-from looking more closely into this matter, or it may be that he

-remembered the youthful love of his own heart; for he could never

-forget her whom he was so soon to join now, and who, 'after life's

-fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall of Revelstoke, within sound of

-the restless sea.

-

-Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard rumours of these meetings and

-rambles, and probably liked them as little as the Major did; but he

-was a busy man absorbed in his work, and had been used to seeing the

-pair together since they were toddling children.  Lennard, perhaps,

-thought it was as well to let them alone, as nothing would come of

-it, while the lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.

-

-'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day, 'what is to be the end of

-all this philandering but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do you

-expect a young fellow to marry you who has no money, no prospects, no

-position in the world?'

-

-'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing painfully, for though

-an only and motherless child she stood in awe of her father.

-

-'Position--a deuced bad one, I think!'

-

-'The other two items will come in time, papa,' said Dulcie, laughing

-now.

-

-'When?'

-

-Dulcie was silent, and--for the first time in her life--thought

-sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But she pressed a pretty white hand upon the

-silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw courage therefrom as from

-an amulet.

-

-'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of a _cob_ cottage over your

-head.'

-

-'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire proverb--a good cob, a

-good hat and shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'

-

-'Right, lass, and a good heart have you, my darling,' said Mr.

-Carlyon, kissing her peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and

-good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his exterior, and more

-like a grazier than a lawyer.  'You are both too young to know what

-you are talking about.  He'll be going away, however--can't live

-always on his father, and _he_, poor fellow, won't last long.  The

-fancy of you both will wear itself out, like any other summer

-flirtation--I had many such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,

-'and got safely over them all.  So will you, lass, and marry into

-some good family, getting a husband that will give you a comfortable

-home--for instance, Job Holbeton, with his pits of Bovey coal.'

-

-Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could scarcely restrain her tears at

-the hard, practical suggestions of her father.  Hard-featured, stout,

-and grizzled Joe Holbeton versus her handsome Florian!

-

-Her father spoke, too, of his probable 'going away.'  Was this the

-presentiment to which her lover had referred?  It almost seemed so.

-

-In the sunset she went forth into the garden to work with her wools,

-and even to have a 'good cry' over what her father had said; but in

-this she was prevented by suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the

-grass at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree--Shafto, whom she could

-only tolerate for Florian's sake.

-

-'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,' she asked, with unconcealed

-annoyance.

-

-'Staring, was I?'

-

-'Yes, like an owl.'

-

-'I always like to see girls working.'

-

-'Indeed!'

-

-'And the work, what do you call it?'

-

-'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'

-

-'Yes, especially when the work is done by hands so pretty and white.'

-

-'As mine, you mean, of course?'

-

-'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'

-

-'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy compliments, Shafto, or I

-shall quit the garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking with a

-half-frightened, half-defiant expression into the keen, shifty, and

-pale grey ones of Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.

-

-He could see the outline of the locket with every respiration of her

-bosom.  Could he but possess himself of it, thought he, as he

-proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.

-

-'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in ladies' society unless with

-permission,' said Dulcie.

-

-'Never bother about that, little one, please.  But may I smoke?'

-

-'Yes.'

-

-'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up at her with eyes full of

-admiration.  'I feel like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'

-

-'I don't know who he was, or what you feel, but do you know what you

-look like?'

-

-'No.'

-

-'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

-

-'Yes.'

-

-'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom, with his ass's head, at the

-feet of Titania.  "Dost like the picture?"'

-

-Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so that Dulcie laughed

-merrily, showing all her pearly teeth at her reply.

-

-'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,' said he, bluntly and

-coarsely; 'doing the Huguenot business, the _pose_ of Millais'

-picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'

-

-'Millais and I?'

-

-'No; you and Florian!'

-

-'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face growing very pale in spite

-of herself at the bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable anger of

-his tone and bearing.

-

-'Yes--with your tomfoolery.'

-

-'How?--why?'

-

-'Penniless as you are--he at least.'

-

-'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant, to say the least of

-it,' said Dulcie, as she gathered up her wools and sailed into the

-house, while his eyes followed her with a menacing and very ugly

-expression indeed.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI.

-

-THE SECRET PACKET.

-

-The broken health brought by Lennard from the miasmatic Terai of

-Nepaul was rapidly becoming more broken than ever, and, though not

-yet fifty, he was a premature old man, and it seemed as if the first

-part of Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming sorrow would

-soon be fulfilled.

-

-His steps became very feeble, and he could only get about, in the

-autumn sunshine, with the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and the

-latter watched him with grief and pain, tottering like the aged,

-panting and leaning heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he insisted

-on being led up a steep slope from which he could clearly see the old

-church of Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory, overlooked by sad

-and solitary hills, and his hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it,

-with a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed to be at peace,

-and by the side of her he had laid there, it seemed long years ago--a

-lifetime ago.

-

-Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb, and all who looked upon him

-thought so; yet his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed no fear.

-

-One day when Florian was absent--no doubt sketching, boating with

-Dulcie on the Yealm, or idling with her on the moors--Lennard

-besought Shafto to stay beside him as he sat feeble and languid in

-his easy chair, sinking with the wasting and internal fever, with

-which the country practitioners were totally incapable of grappling;

-and on this day, for the first time, he began to speak to him of

-Scotland and the home he once had there; and he was listened to with

-the keenest interest by Shafto, who had ever--even as a child--been

-cunning, selfish, and avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and

-complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he remembered only

-Flora's dead and devoted sister.

-

-'I have been thinking over old times and other days, Shafto,' said

-he, with his attenuated hands crossed on the head of his bamboo cane;

-'and, all things considered, it seems an occupation I had better

-avoid did the memory concern myself alone: but I must think of others

-and their interests--of Florian and of you--so I can't help it, boy,

-in my present state of health, or rather want of health,' he added,

-as a violent fit of spasmodic coughing came upon him.

-

-After a pause he spoke again.

-

-'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older than Florian, and are, in

-many ways, several years older in thought and experience by the short

-training you have received in Carlyon's office.'

-

-The Major paused again, leaving Shafto full of wonder and curiosity

-as to what this preamble was leading up to.

-

-The former had begun to see things more clearly and temperately with

-regard to the sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that, though he had

-renounced all family ties, name, and wealth, so far as concerned

-himself, to die, with the secret of all untold, would be to inflict a

-cruel wrong on Florian.  At one time Lennard thought of putting his

-papers and the whole matter in the hands of Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and

-it was a pity he did not do so instead of choosing to entrust them to

-his long-headed nephew.

-

-'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for me--my hands are so tremulous,'

-said he.

-

-When this was done he selected a packet from a private drawer, and

-briefly and rapidly told the story of his life, his proper name, and

-rank to Shafto, who listened with open-eyed amazement.

-

-When the latter had thoroughly digested the whole information, he

-said, after a long pause:

-

-'This must be told to Florian!'

-

-And with Florian came the thought of Dulcie, and how this sudden

-accession of her lover to fortune and position would affect her.

-

-'Nay, Shafto--not yet--not till I am gone--a short time now.  I can

-trust you, with your sharpness and legal acumen, with the handling of

-this matter entirely.  When I am gone, and laid beside your aunt

-Flora, by the wall of the old church yonder,' he continued with a

-very broken voice--one almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the

-person to whom this packet is addressed, Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer

-to the Signet in Edinburgh--he is alive still; place these in his

-hands, and he will do all that is required; but treasure them,

-Shafto--be careful of them as you would of your soul's salvation--for

-my sake, and more than all for the sake of Florian!  Now, my good

-lad, give me the composing draught--I feel sleepy and so weary with

-all this talking, and the thoughts that have come unbidden--unbidden,

-sad, bitter, and angry thoughts--to memory.'

-

-Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and, giving his uncle the

-draught, stole softly away to his own room with the papers, to con

-them over and to--think!

-

-He had not sat at a desk for three years in Lawyer Carlyon's office

-without having his wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the documents

-away.

-

-'Stop--stop--let me think, let me consider!' he exclaimed to himself,

-and he certainly did consider to some purpose.  He was cold and

-calculating; he was never unusually agitated or flustered, but he

-became both with the thoughts that occurred to him now.

-

-Among the papers and letters entrusted to him were the certificates

-of the marriage of Lennard and Flora, and another which ran thus:

-

-'Certificate of entry of birth, under section 37 of 17 and 18 Vict.,

-cap. 80.'  It authenticated the birth of their child Florian at

-Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.

-

-These documents were enclosed in a letter written in a tremulous and

-uncertain hand by Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, part of

-which was in these terms:

-

-The child was baptized by a neighbouring clergyman--the Rev. Paul

-Pentreath--who has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he gave me,

-and, dying as I now feel myself to be, I pray earnestly that my

-father and mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let them not--as

-they one day hope for mercy at that dread throne before which I am

-soon to appear--visit upon his innocent head my supposed and most

-heavily punished offence.  Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to

-that which is his due; let him succeed to all I renounced in

-anger--an anger that has passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I

-am aged beyond my years, and my hair is now white as snow through

-ill-health contracted in India, where, to procure money necessary for

-my poor Flora, I volunteered on desperate service, and in seasons

-destructive to existence.  In your hands I leave the matter with

-perfect hope and confidence.  The bearer will tell you all more that

-may be necessary.'

-

-After having read, reread, and made himself thoroughly master of the

-contents of this to him certainly most astounding packet, he

-requested the Major to re-address it in his own tremulous and all but

-illegible handwriting, and seal it up with his long-disused signet

-ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.

-

-Prior to having all this done, Shafto had operated on one of the

-documents most dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!

-

-'A peerage! a peerage!--rank, wealth, money, mine--all mine!' he

-muttered under his breath, as he stored the packet away in a sure and

-secret place, and while whistling softly to himself, a way he had

-when brooding (as he often did) over mischief, he recalled the lines

-of Robert Herrick:

-

-  'Our life is like a narrow raft,

-    Afloat upon the hungry sea;

-  Hereon is but a little space,

-  And all men, eager for a place,

-    Do thrust each other in the sea.'

-

-'So why should I not thrust him into the hungry briny?  If life is a

-raft--and, by Jove, I find it so!--why should one not grasp at all

-one can, and make the best of life for one's self, by making the

-worst of it for other folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank and

-wealth come often to any one's hands?  No! and I should be the

-biggest of fools--the most enormous of idiots--not to avail myself to

-the fullest extent.  I see my little game clearly, but must play

-warily.  "Eat, drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for to-morrow we

-die."  They say the devil can quote Scripture, and so can Shafto

-Gyle.  But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to have a jolly good

-spell for many a year to come!'

-

-And in the wild exuberance of his spirits he tossed his hat again and

-again to the ceiling.

-

-From that day forward the health of Lennard Melfort seemed to decline

-more rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by the chill winds of the

-season to remain in bed, quite unable to take his place at table or

-move about, save when wheeled in a chair to the window, where he

-loved to watch the setting sun.

-

-Then came one evening when, for the last time, he begged to be

-propped up there in his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over

-Revelstoke Church, and throwing its picturesque outline strongly

-forward, in a dark indigo tint, against the golden and crimson flush

-of the west, and all the waves around the promontory were glittering

-in light.

-

-But Lennard saw nothing of all this, though he felt the feeble warmth

-of the wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn hands towards it;

-his eyesight was gone, and would never come again!  There was

-something very pathetic in the withered face and sightless eyes, and

-the drooping white moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,

-and waxed _à l'Empereur_.

-

-His dream of life was over, and his last mutterings were a prayer for

-Florian, on whose breast his head lay as he breathed his last.

-

-The two lads looked at each other in that supreme moment--but with

-very different thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only

-desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto, in the awful presence

-of Death, felt alone in the world.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII.

-

-A FAREWELL.

-

-As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and attenuated man, whose

-hair was like the thistledown, none would have recognised in him the

-dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous young subaltern who only twenty-four

-years before had led his company at the storming of the Redan, who

-had planted the scaling-ladder against the scarp, and shouted in a

-voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse musketry:

-

-'Come on, men! ladders to the front, eight men per ladder; up and at

-them, lads, with the bayonet,' and fought his way into an embrasure,

-while round-shot tore up the earth beneath his feet, and men were

-swept away in sections of twenty; or the hardy soldier who faced

-fever and foes alike in the Terai of Nepaul.

-

-How still and peaceful he lay now as the coffin-lid was closed over

-him.

-

-Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the hard ground, and the

-waves seemed to leap and sob heavily round the old church of

-Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid beside the now old and

-flattened grave of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind lifted

-the silver hair of the Rev. Paul Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or

-on the buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of the pall held by

-Florian, who felt as one in a dreadful dream--amid a dread and unreal

-phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed to twitch angrily the

-pall-ribbon from the hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort

-recover it, as more than one present, with their Devonian

-superstition, remarked, and remembered when other things came to pass.

-

-At last all was over; the mourners departed, and Lennard Melfort was

-left alone--alone with the dead of yesterday and of ages; and

-Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and pressed his hand, strove to

-commit to memory the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,

-'There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor sighing; for God

-shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'

-

-Shafto now let little time pass before he proceeded to inform Florian

-of what he called their 'relative position,' and of their journey

-into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.

-

-It has been said that in life we have sometimes moments so full of

-emotion that they seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach again;

-and this sharp turn, young and startled Florian seemed to pass, when

-he learned that since infancy he had been misled, and that the man,

-so tender and so loving, whom he had deemed his father was but his

-uncle!

-

-How came it all to pass now?  Yet the old Major had ever been so kind

-and affectionate to him--to both, in fact, equally so, treating them

-as his sons--that he felt only a stunning surprise, a crushing grief

-and bitter mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his love for

-the dead was too keen and deep for that.

-

-The packet, sealed and addressed to Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents

-were as yet unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the strange

-intelligence of Shafto; but the question naturally occurred to

-Florian, 'For what end or purpose had this lifelong mystery and

-change in their positions been brought about?'

-

-He asked this of Shafto again and again.

-

-'It seems we have been very curiously deluded,' said that personage,

-not daring to look the sorrowful Florian straight in the face, and

-pretended to be intent on stuffing his pipe.

-

-'Deluded--how?'

-

-'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed Shafto, with petulance and

-assumed irritation, 'that the contents of this packet prove that _I_

-am the only son of Major Melfort (not MacIan at all), and that

-you--you----'

-

-'What?'

-

-'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew--adopted as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will

-tell you all about it.'

-

-'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian, scarcely knowing, in his

-bewilderment, what he said.

-

-'Mean to go in for my proper position--my title, and all that sort of

-thing, don't you see?'

-

-'And act--how!'

-

-'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback, I hope.  I'll do something

-handsome for you, of course.'

-

-'I want nothing done for me while I have two hands, Shafto.'

-

-'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing vigorously at his pipe.

-'I have had enough of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance in

-the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he, after a long pause; 'and,

-by all the devils, I'll have no more of it now that I am going to be

-rich.'

-

-Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort entrusting him with the

-packet, Shafto had done little else at the office but study the laws

-of succession in Scotland and England.

-

-'How much you love money, Shafto!' said Florian, eying him wistfully.

-

-'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from having had so precious little

-of it in my time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought he

-exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully, how many matrons

-with daughters unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to me!  And

-Dulcie Carlyon I might have for asking; but I'll fly at higher game

-now, by Jove!'

-

-As further credentials, Shafto now possessed himself of Major

-Melfort's sword, commissions, and medals, while Florian looked in

-blank dismay and growing mortification--puzzled by the new position

-in which he found himself, of being no longer his father's son--a

-source of unfathomable mystery.

-

-Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to leave Revelstoke and its

-vicinity behind him.  It was too late for regrets or repentance now.

-Not that he felt either, we suppose; and what he had done he would do

-again if there was no chance of being found out.  In the growing

-exuberance of his spirits, he could not help, a day or two after,

-taunting Florian about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a

-quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a scornful laugh:

-

-'You can't marry her--a fellow without a shilling in the world; and I

-wouldn't now, if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'

-

-Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised grief and astonishment of

-these events, and of the approaching departure of the cousins.

-

-The cottage home was being broken up; the dear old Major was in his

-grave; and Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the lover of her

-girlhood, was going away--she scarcely knew to where.  They might be

-permitted to correspond by letter, but when, thought Dulcie--oh, when

-should they meet again?

-

-The sun was shedding its light and warmth around her as usual, on

-woodland and hill, on wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out, the

-perfume to pass from the early spring flowers, the glory from land

-and sea, and a dim mist of passionate tears clouded the sweet and

-tender blue eyes of the affectionate girl.

-

-He would return, he said, as he strove to console her; but how and

-when, and to what end? thought both so despairingly.  Their future

-seemed such a vague, a blank one!

-

-'I am penniless, Dulcie--a beggar on the face of the earth--twice

-beggared now, I think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.

-

-'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly, with piteous lips that were

-tremulous as his own, and her eyes drowned in tears.

-

-They had left the road now, and wandered among the trees in a

-thicket, and seated themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place

-endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.

-

-He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue, as if his own were

-striving to take away a memory of her face--a memory that would last

-for eternity.

-

-'And you really go to-night?' she asked, in piteous and broken

-accents.

-

-'Yes--with Shafto.  I am in a fever, darling, to seek out a position

-for myself.  Surely Shafto may assist me in that--though I shrink

-from asking him.'

-

-'Your own cousin?'

-

-'Yes--but sometimes he looks like a supplanter now, and his bearing

-has been so unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said Florian.

-'But you will wait for me, Dulcie, and not be persuaded to marry

-anyone else?' he added imploringly, as he clasped each of her hands

-in his.

-

-'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should be for twenty years!'

-exclaimed the girl, in a low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering

-the magnitude and peril of such a promise.

-

-'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he bending down and kissing her

-lips with ardour, and, though on the eve of parting, they felt almost

-happy in the confidence of the blissful present.

-

-'How often shall I recall this last meeting by the fallen tree, when

-you are far, far away from Revelstoke and--me,' said Dulcie.

-

-'You will often come here to be reminded of me?'

-

-'Do you think, Florian, I will require to be reminded of you?' asked

-the girl, with a little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she

-kissed the silver locket containing his likeness, and all the sweet

-iteration of lover-talk, promises, and pledges went on for a time,

-and new hopes began to render this last interview more bearable to

-the young pair who were on the eve of separation, without any very

-distinct arrangement about correspondence in the interval of it.

-

-The sun was setting now redly, and amid dun winter clouds, beaming on

-each chimney-head, on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless tree-tops

-his farewell radiance.

-

-Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie, and with the emotion of a

-wrench in his heart, was gone, and she was alone.

-

-A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were all that remained to him

-of her--both to be looked upon again and again, till his eyes ached,

-but never grew weary.

-

-Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and the memory of that parting

-kiss was still hovering on her quivering lips when, in a lonely lane

-not far from her home, she found herself suddenly face to face with

-Shafto.

-

-She had known him from his boyhood, ever since he came an orphan to

-Lennard Melfort's cottage; and although she always distrusted and

-never liked him, his face was a familiar one she might never see

-more; thus she resolved to part with him as with the best of friends,

-and to remember that he was the only kinsman of Florian, whose

-companion and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey the end of

-which she scarcely understood.  So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad

-smile in her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand, which Shafto

-grasped and retained promptly enough.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VIII.

-

-THE SILVER LOCKET.

-

-Shafto had just been with her father.  How contemptuously he had eyed

-the corner and the high old stool on which he had sat in the latter's

-legal establishment, and all its surroundings; the fly-blown county

-maps of Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of sales--property,

-mangold wurzel, oats and hay, Thorley's food for cattle, and so

-forth; the tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of papers in red

-tape; the well-thumbed ledgers; day and letter books, and all the

-paraphernalia of a country solicitor's office.

-

-Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed them all.  Now it was all over and

-done with.

-

-The three poor lads in the office, whose cheap cigars and beer he had

-often shared at the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended to notice,

-while they regarded him with something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer

-Carlyon his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal of the lease

-of the Major's pretty cottage, and of all the goods and chattels that

-were therein.

-

-Had Florian been present he would have felt only shame and abasement

-at the tone and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion; but worthy

-Lawyer Carlyon, who did not believe a bit in the rumoured accession

-of Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed softly to himself, and

-thought his 'pride would have a sore fall one of these fine days.'

-

-And even now, when face to face with Dulcie, his general bearing, his

-coolness and insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief, indignant

-and defiant ultimately.

-

-How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl looked, from the smart

-scarlet feather in her little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her

-veil was tightly tied across her face, showing only the tip of her

-nose, her ripe red lips, and pretty white chin--its point, like her

-cheeks, reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from the Channel.  Her

-gloved hands were in her small muff, and the collar of her sealskin

-jacket was encircled by the necklet at which her silver locket

-hung--the locket Shafto had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed

-it on her, while he looked close by, with his heart full of envy,

-jealousy, and hatred, and now it was the first thing that attracted

-his eye.

-

-'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?' she said softly.

-

-'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester and the north.  My estates,

-you know, are in Scotland.'

-

-'These changes are all strange and most startling,' said she, with a

-sob in her slender throat.

-

-'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I suppose it is the result

-of progress,' he added sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers

-and grandmothers contrived to mope over and yawn out their dull and

-emotionless existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'

-

-'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'

-

-'Who knows; though life, however sweet now, won't be worth living for

-then, I fancy.'

-

-Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in admiring silence, for he had a

-high appreciation of her bright and delicate beauty, and loved

-her--if we may degrade the phrase--in his own selfish and peculiar

-way, though now resolved--as he had often thought vainly--to 'fly at

-higher game;' and so, full of ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own,

-if he had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at least, ceased for a

-space to trouble her.

-

-'Florian will be writing to you, of course?' said he, after a pause.

-

-'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement; and then, you know, papa----'

-

-'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell advice to you, Dulcie,

-is--Don't put off your time thinking of Florian--his ship will never

-come home.'

-

-'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.

-

-'You think so--but you are wrong.'

-

-'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'

-

-'I have read somewhere that ships of the kind rarely do come home in

-this prosaic and disappointing world; that some get wrecked almost

-within sight of land; others go down without the flapping of a sail,

-and sometimes after long and firm battling with adverse winds and

-tides; but _my ship_ is a sure craft, Dulcie,' he added, as he

-thought of the packet in his possession--that precious packet on

-which all his hopes rested and his daring ambition was founded.

-

-Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully, and thought--

-

-'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were always selfish and evil.

-Tide what may,' she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years and more

-for Florian.'

-

-'The more fool you, then!  And so die an old maid?'

-

-'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'

-

-'And if he never can marry you--or marries some one else when he

-can?' asked Shafto viciously.

-

-'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or women's rights, and all that

-sort of thing,' said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant

-attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while Shafto eyed her

-angrily.

-

-'How fond you are of that silver locket--you never wear any other!'

-

-'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'

-

-'And none you prize so much?'

-

-'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.

-

-'Is that the reason you wear it with all kinds of dresses?  What is

-in it--anything?'

-

-'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting her right hand on it and

-instinctively drawing back a pace, for there was a menacing

-expression in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.

-

-'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her hand in his.

-

-'No.'

-

-'You shall!'

-

-'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes sparkling now as his grasp upon

-her hand tightened.

-

-An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with his eyes aflame and his

-cheeks pale with jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and

-wrenched by brutal force the locket from her, breaking the silver

-necklet as he did so.

-

-'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and thief--how dare you?

-Surrender that locket instantly!'

-

-'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly, holding the prized trinket

-before her at arm's length.

-

-'But for Florian's sake, I would at once apply to the police.'

-

-'A vulgar resort--no, my pretty Dulcie, you wouldn't.'

-

-'Why?'

-

-'Not for Florian's sake?'

-

-'Whose, then?'

-

-'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have your old pump of a father

-down on you; and so you dare not make a row about it, my pretty

-little fury.'

-

-'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that photo,' said Dulcie, her

-tears welling forth.

-

-'No; I won't.'

-

-'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'

-

-'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to whom a villainous idea just

-then occurred.

-

-'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her muff drop and clasping her

-slim little hands.

-

-'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined to put my heel upon it--but

-I won't.'

-

-'This robbery is cruel and infamous!' exclaimed Dulcie, trembling

-with grief and just indignation; but Shafto only laughed in anger and

-bitterness--and a very hyena-like laugh it was, and as some one was

-coming down the secluded lane, he turned away and left her in the

-twilight.

-

-He felt himself safe from opprobrium and punishment, as he knew well

-she was loth to make any complaint to her father on the subject; and

-just then she knew not how to communicate with Florian, as the

-darkness was falling fast, and the hour of his departure was close at

-hand.  She thought it not improbable that Shafto would relent and

-return the locket to her; but the night was far advanced ere that

-hope was dissipated, and she attained some outward appearance of

-composure, though her father's sharp and affectionate eyes detected

-that she had been suffering.

-

-He had heard from her some confused and rambling story about the

-family secret, the packet, and the peerage, a story of which he could

-make nothing, though Shafto's bearing to himself that evening seemed

-to confirm the idea that 'there was something in it.'  Anyway, Mr.

-Carlyon was not indisposed to turn the event to account in one sense.

-

-'Likely--likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said he; 'and so you'll hear no

-more of these two lads, if they are likely to become great folks, and

-belong to what is called the upper ten; they'll never think again of

-a poor village belle like you, though there is not a prettier face in

-all Devonshire than my Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'

-

-He meant this kindly, and spoke with a purpose; and his words and the

-warning they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender heart of poor

-Dulcie.

-

-By this time the cousins were sweeping through the darkness in the

-express train by Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were very

-silent, and each was full of his own thoughts, and what these were

-the reader may very well imagine.

-

-Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles of Shafto, Florian, from

-time to time, drew forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining lock of

-red-golden hair, his sole links between the past and the present; and

-already he felt as if a score of years had lapsed since they sat side

-by side upon the fallen tree.

-

-Then, that he might give his whole thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to

-sleep; but Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat quietly enough

-with his face in shadow, his travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled

-well down over his watchful and shifty grey-green eyes, the lamp

-overhead giving a miserable glimmer suited to the concealment of

-expression and thought; and as the swift train sped northward, the

-cousins addressed not a word to each other concerning those they had

-left behind, what was before them, or anything else.

-

-After a time, Shafto really slept--slept the slumber which is

-supposed to be the reward of the just and conscientious, but which is

-much more often enjoyed by those who have no conscience at all.

-

-Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to Florian detailing the

-outrage to which she had been subjected by Shafto; but time passed

-on, and, for a reason we shall give in its place, the letter never

-reached him.

-

-Again and again she recalled and rehearsed her farewell with Florian,

-and thought regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate

-poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with Shafto; and she still

-seemed to see his beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while

-her own welled freely and bitterly.

-

-When could they meet again, if ever, and where and how?  Her heart

-and brain ached with these questions.

-

-Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though her cheek paled a little, and

-she felt--even at her early years--as if life seemed over and done

-with, and in her passionate love for the absent, that existence alone

-was left to her, and so forth.

-

-And as she was her father's housekeeper now, kept the keys and paid

-all the servants, paid all accounts and made the preserves, he was in

-no way sorry that the young men were gone; that the 'aimless

-philandering,' as he deemed it, had come to an end; and that much

-would be attended to in his cosy little household which he

-suspected--but unjustly--had been neglected hitherto.

-

-To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native place, the breezy moors,

-the solitary hills, the mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,

-the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the Yealm, where they had

-been wont to boat and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn, were

-all full of the haunting presence of the absent--the poor but proud

-and handsome lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had loved her,

-and who now seemed to have slipped out of her existence.

-

-Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine flooded hill and dale, and

-lit up the waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the far-stretching

-Channel, tinting with wondrous gleams and hues the waves that rolled

-upon the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre Rock, and the

-sea-beaten promontory of Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was gone

-from land and water: she heard no more, by letter or otherwise, of

-the love of her youth; he seemed to have dropped utterly out of her

-sphere; and though mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of

-the bursting June roses--the Marshal Neil and Gloire de Dijon--and

-treasured them carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a task in

-which she had often been assisted by Florian, she felt and

-thought--'Ichabod!  Ichabod! the glory has departed!'

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IX.

-

-MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.

-

-Shafto found himself a little nervous when he and Florian were

-actually in Edinburgh, a city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of

-rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and temple, so foreign-looking

-to English eyes, and so utterly unlike everything they had ever seen

-or conceived before.

-

-Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.  His father's

-death--though called an uncle now, but Florian always felt for and

-thought of him as a parent--the loss of Dulcie, their abrupt

-departure from Devonshire, and rough uprootal of all early

-associations, had made a kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life,

-and it was only now when he found himself amid the strange streets

-and picturesque splendour of Edinburgh that he began--like one

-recovering consciousness after a long illness--to gather up again the

-ravelled threads of thought, but with curious want of concern and

-energy; while Shafto felt that he personally had both, and that now

-he required to have all his wits about him.

-

-Florian stood for a time that night at the door of their hotel in

-Princes Street looking at the wonderful lights of the Old Town

-sparkling in mid air, and some that were in the Castle must, he

-thought, be stars, they were so high above the earth.  Scores of cabs

-and carriages went by, eastward and westward, but no carts or wains

-or lorries, such as one sees in London or Glasgow--vehicles with

-bright lamps and well muffled occupants, gentlemen in evening suits,

-and ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of pedestrians,

-under the brilliant gas lights and long boulevard-like lines of

-trees--the ever-changing human panorama of a great city street before

-midnight.

-

-How odd, how strange and lonely poor Florian felt; he seemed to

-belong to no one, and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for him;

-and ever and anon his eyes rested on the mighty castled rock that

-towers above streets, monuments, and gardens, with a wonderous

-history all its own, 'where treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,'

-and with them the only ancient crown in the British Isles.  'Brave

-kings and the fairest of crowned women have slept and been cradled in

-that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic English writer; 'heroes have fought

-upon its slopes; English armies have stormed it; dukes, earls, and

-barons have been immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted Queen

-prayed and yielded up her last breath there eight centuries ago.  It

-is an imperishable relic--a monument that needs no carving to tell

-its tale, and it has the nation's worship; and the different church

-sects cling round its base as if they would fight again for the

-guardianship of a venerable mother.....  And if Scotland has no

-longer a king and Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown is at

-least safely kept up there amid strong iron stanchions, as a sacred

-memorial of her inextinguishable independence, and, if need were, for

-future use.'

-

-Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he felt a keen interest in

-all that now surrounded him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the

-smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of the morrow, and unwisely

-seeking to fortify himself by imbibing more brandy and soda than

-Florian had ever seen him take before.

-

-After a sound night's rest and a substantial Scottish breakfast had

-fitted Shafto, as he thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited

-him and Florian (who was now beginning to marvel why he had travelled

-so far in a matter that concerned him not, in reality) at the

-residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, W.S., in Charlotte Square--a noble

-specimen of Adams Street architecture, having four stately

-symmetrical corresponding façades, overlooked by the dome of St.

-George's Church.

-

-'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,' said Shafto, as he looked at

-the mansion of Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the modest

-establishment of Lawyer Carlyon; 'but foxes will flourish as long as

-there are geese to be plucked.'

-

-Mr. Kippilaw was at home--indeed he was just finishing breakfast,

-before going to the Parliament House--as they were informed by the

-liveried valet, who led them through a pillared and marble-floored

-vestibule, and ushered them into what seemed a library, as the walls

-from floor to ceiling were lined with handsome books; but every

-professional man's private office has generally this aspect in

-Scotland.

-

-In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared with a puzzled and perplexed

-expression in his face, as he alternatively looked at his two

-visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.

-

-Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year; his long since grizzled

-hair had now become white, and had shrunk to two patches far apart,

-one over each ear, and brushed stiffly up.  His eyebrows were also

-white, shaggy, and under them his keen eyes peered sharply through

-the rims of a gold pince-nez balanced on the bridge of his long

-aquiline nose.

-

-Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant dryness about his

-tongue and lips.

-

-'_Mr. Shafto Melfort?_' said Mr. Kippilaw inquiringly, and referring

-to the card again.  'I was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto

-Melfort--any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'

-

-'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.

-

-'This gentleman with the dark eyes?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to

-the silent Florian.

-

-'No--myself,' said Shafto sharply and firmly.

-

-'You are most unlike the family, who have always been remarkable for

-regularity of features.  Then you are the son--of--of--'

-

-'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died a few weeks ago----'

-

-'Good Heavens, where?'

-

-'On the west coast of Devonshire, near Revelstoke, where he had long

-resided under the assumed name of MacIan.'

-

-'That of his wife?'

-

-'Precisely so--my mother.'

-

-'And this young gentleman, whose face and features seem curiously

-familiar to me, though I never saw him before, he is your brother of

-course.'

-

-'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.  I am an only son, but

-the Major ever treated us as if he had been the father of both, so

-great and good was his kindness of heart.'

-

-'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a breathless voice, as he

-seated himself in an ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,

-which was covered with documents and letters all arranged by his

-junior clerk in the most orderly manner.

-

-'This is very sudden and most unexpected intelligence,' said he,

-carefully wiping his glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a

-closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all these years past the real

-name and position of your father, and that he left Kincardineshire

-more than twenty years ago after a very grave quarrel with his

-parents at Craigengowan?'

-

-'No--I only learned who he was, and who we really were, when he was

-almost on his deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his only son,

-and because I had been bred to the law; and on that melancholy

-occasion he entrusted me with this important packet addressed to

-_you_.'

-

-With an expression of the deepest interest pervading his well-lined

-face, Mr. Kippilaw took the packet and carefully examined the seal

-and the superscription, penned in a shaky handwriting, with both of

-which he was familiar enough, though he had seen neither for fully

-twenty years, and finally he examined the envelope, which looked old

-and yellow.

-

-'If all be true and correct, these tidings will make some stir at

-Craigengowan,' he muttered as if to himself, and cut round the seal

-with a penknife.

-

-'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I have alleged,' said

-Shafto, who now felt that the crisis was at hand.

-

-Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and wonder, drew forth the

-documents and read and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding the

-papers, but not offensively, between him and the light to see if the

-dates and water-marks tallied.

-

-'The slow way this old devil goes on would exasperate an oyster!'

-thought Shafto, whose apparently perfect coolness and self-possession

-rather surprised and repelled the lawyer.

-

-There were the certificate of Lennard's marriage with Flora MacIan,

-which Mr. Kippilaw could remember he had seen of old; the

-'certificate of entry of birth of their son, born at Revelstoke at 6

-h. 50 m. on the 28th October P.M., 18--,' signed by the Registrar,

-and the Major's farewell letter to his old friend, entrusting his son

-and his son's interests to his care.

-

-'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after he had read for the

-second time, and saw that the letter of Lennard Melfort was

-undoubtedly authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of your Christian

-name is _torn out_ of the birth certificate, and the surname

-_Melfort_ alone remains?'

-

-'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently startled in turn.

-

-'There is a rough little hole in the document where the name _should

-be_.  Do you know the date of your birth?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, partly

-covering the document with his hand, unconsciously as it were.

-

-'Yes--28th October.'

-

-'And the year?'

-

-Shafto gave it from memory.

-

-'Quite correct--as given here,' said Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old

-for the date of this certificate.'

-

-'I always looked older than my years,' replied Shafto.

-

-Florian, who might have claimed the date as that of his own birth,

-was--luckily for Shafto--away at a window, gazing intently on a party

-of soldiers marching past, with a piper playing before them.

-

-'Another certificate can be got if necessary,' said Mr. Kippilaw, as

-he glanced at the Registrar's signature, a suggestion which made

-Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have come from the Major in this

-mutilated state,' he added, re-examining with legal care and

-suspicion the address on the envelope and the seal, which, as we have

-said, he had cut round; 'but it is strange that he has made no

-mention of it being so in his letter to me.  Poor fellow! he was more

-of a soldier than a man of business, however.  Allow me to

-congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new prospects.  Rank and a

-very fine estate are before you.'

-

-He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who began to be more reassured;

-and saying, 'I must carefully preserve the documents for the

-inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked them fast in a drawer of

-his writing-table, and spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,

-while warming his person in the fashion peculiar to the genuine

-'Britisher,' he eyed Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant

-remarks on the Fettercairn family, the fertility and beauty of

-Craigengowan, the stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth, and

-the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'--as he called him--and about

-whom he asked innumerable questions, all of which Shafto could answer

-truly and with a clear conscience enough, as he was master of all

-that.

-

-The latter was asked 'what he thought of Edinburgh--if he had ever

-been there before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a little 'Guide

-Book' into which he had certainly dipped, so as to be ready for

-anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque beauties and

-historical associations of the Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's

-heart began to warm to so intelligent a young man, while of the

-silent Florian, staring out into the sun-lit square and its beautiful

-garden and statues, he took little notice, beyond wondering _where_

-he had seen his eyes and features before!

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER X.

-

-ALONE IN THE WORLD.

-

-'And you were bred to the law, you say, Mr. Melfort?' remarked the

-old Writer to the Signet after a pause.

-

-'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'

-

-'Very good--very good indeed; that is well!  We generally think in

-Scotland that a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it teaches

-the laird to haud his ain; but I forgot that you are southland bred,

-and born too--the more is the pity--and can't understand me.'

-

-Shafto did not understand him, but thought that his time spent in

-Lawyer Carlyon's office had not been thrown away now; experience

-there had 'put him up to a trick or two.'

-

-'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first post,' said Mr. Kippilaw

-after another of those thoughtful pauses during which he attentively

-eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady Fettercairn--like myself now

-creeping up the vale of years--(Hope they may soon see the end of it!

-thought Shafto) will, I have no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the

-sequence and tenor of the documents you have brought me that you are

-their grandson--the son of the expatriated Lennard--and when I hear

-from them I shall let you know the result without delay.  You are

-putting up at--what hotel?'

-

-'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'

-

-'Ah! very well.'

-

-'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'

-

-'And your cousin--he will, of course, go with you to Craigengowan?'

-

-Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as Florian could detect.

-

-'What are your intentions or views?' Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.

-

-'He failed to pass for the army,' said Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so

-I don't know what he means to do _now_.  I believe that he scarcely

-knows himself.'

-

-'Have you no friends on your mother's side, Mr. Florian?'

-

-'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection of voice.

-

-'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'

-

-'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied Florian bitterly and a

-little defiantly, as Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and good

-fortune, roused his pride and galled his heart, which sank as he

-thought of Dulcie Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie, so

-far away.

-

-Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the young man's answer.

-

-'I have some little influence in many ways, and if I can assist your

-future views you may command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with fatherly

-kindness, for he had reared--yea and lost--more than one fine lad of

-his own.

-

-It has been said that one must know mankind very well before having

-the courage to be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's

-knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited, he felt his eye quail more

-than once under the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.

-

-'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter, 'that after the death

-of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt, when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so

-anxious to discover and recall his younger brother as the next and

-only heir to the title and estates, we totally failed to trace him.

-We applied to the War Office for the whereabouts of Major Lennard

-Melfort, but the authorities there, acting upon a certain principle,

-declined to afford any information.  Advertisements, some plainly

-distinct, others somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in the

-_Scotsman_ and _Times_, but without the least avail.

-

-'As for the _Scotsman_,' said Shafto, 'the Major----'

-

-'Your father, you mean?'

-

-'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more likely to see such a

-provincial print in Devonshire than the Roman _Diritto_ or the

-Prussian _Kreuz Zeitung_; and the _Times_, if he saw it--which I

-doubt--he must have ignored.  Till the time of his death drew near,

-his feelings were bitter, his hostility to his family great.'

-

-'I can well understand that, poor fellow!' said Mr. Kippilaw,

-glancing at his watch, as he added--'You must excuse me till

-to-morrow: I am already overdue at the Parliament House.'

-

-He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit square.

-

-'You seem to have lost your tongue, Florian, and to have a

-disappointed look,' said Shafto snappishly, as they walked slowly

-towards the hotel together.

-

-'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps, but I have no reason to

-repine or complain save at our change of relative positions, but

-certainly not at your unexpected good fortune, Shafto.  It is only

-right and just that your father's only son should inherit all that is

-legally and justly his.'

-

-Even at these words Shafto never winced or wavered in plans or

-purpose.

-

-It was apparent, however, to Florian, that he had for some time past

-looked restless and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at any

-unusual sound, while a shadow rested on his not usually very open

-countenance.

-

-Betimes next morning a note came to him at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel

-from Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as possible, and on

-this errand he departed alone.

-

-He found the old lawyer radiant, with a letter in his hand from Lord

-Fettercairn (in answer to his own) expressive of astonishment and joy

-at the sudden appearance of this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he

-was full of ardour and anxiety to see.

-

-'You will lose no time in starting for Craigengowan,' said Mr.

-Kippilaw.  'You take the train at the Waverley Station and go _viâ_

-Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk--or stay, I think we shall

-proceed together, taking your papers with us.'

-

-'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow that the presence of Mr.

-Kippilaw at the coming interview would take some of the

-responsibility off his own shoulders.

-

-'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will put on its brightest smile

-to welcome you.'

-

-'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto, who felt but ill at ease in

-his new role of adventurer, and unwisely adopted a free-and-easy

-audacity of manner.

-

-'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for present emergencies,' said Mr.

-Kippilaw, opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours we shall meet at

-the station.'

-

-'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'

-

-'I would do much for your father's son, Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer,

-emphatically.

-

-'And what about Florian?'

-

-'The letter ignores him--a curious omission.  In their joy, perhaps

-Lord and Lady Fettercairn forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter

-for him that came by the London mail.'

-

-'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly, while his heart grew sick

-with apprehension, he knew not of what.

-

-'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to me,' said Mr. Kippilaw

-aloud; but to himself, 'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen

-features like his before?  He reminds me curiously of Lennard

-Melfort.'

-

-Shafto gave a nervous start.

-

-The letter was a bulky one, and bore the Wembury and other

-post-marks, and to Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the

-familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.

-

-He chuckled, and a great thought worthy of himself occurred to him.

-

-In the solitude of his own room at the hotel, he moistened and opened

-the gummed envelope, and drew forth four closely written sheets of

-paper full of the outpourings of the girl's passionate heart, of her

-wrath at the theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning that she

-had incidentally got the address of Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and

-desiring him to write to her, and she would watch for and intercept

-the postman by the sea-shore.

-

-'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and cast into the fire

-Dulcie's letter, all save a postscript, written on a separate scrap

-of paper, and which ran thus:--

-

-'You have all the love of my heart, Florian; but, as I feel and fear

-we may never meet again, I send you this, which I have worn next my

-heart, to keep.'

-

-_This_ was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.

-

-'Three stamps on all this raggabash!' exclaimed Shafto, whom the

-girl's terms of endearment to Florian filled with a tempest of

-jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had wrenched from Dulcie's

-neck in soft paper, and placed it with the postscript in the

-envelope, which he carefully closed and re-gummed, placed near the

-fire, and the moment it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.

-

-If the latter was surprised to see a letter to himself, addressed in

-Dulcie's large, clear, and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer

-Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also struck dumb when he found

-in the envelope the locket, the likeness, and the apparently curt

-farewell contained in one brief sentence!

-

-For a time he stood like one petrified.  Could it all be real?  Alas!

-there was no doubting the postal marks and stamps upon this most

-fatal cover; and while he was examining it and passing his hand

-wildly more than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto was

-smoking quietly at a window, and to all appearance intent on watching

-the towering rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in morning

-sunshine--batteries whereon steel morions and Scottish spears had

-often gleamed of old.

-

-Though his soul shrank from doing so, Florian could not resist taking

-Shafto into his confidence about this unexplainable event; and the

-latter acted astonishment to the life!

-

-Was the locket thus returned through the post in obedience to her

-father's orders, after he had probably discovered the contents of it?

-

-But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing his attention to the tenor

-of the pithy scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that it had

-been done under any other influence than her own change of mind.

-

-'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he prepared to take his departure

-for Craigengowan; 'now you had better proceed at once to cultivate

-the wear-the-willow state of mind.'

-

-Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith and truth and of true

-women were suddenly and cruelly shattered now!

-

-'She has killed all that was good in me, and the mischief of the

-future will be at her door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky voice.

-

-'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto, who actually did feel a

-little for him; and just then, when they were on the eve of

-separation, even his false and artful heart did feel a pang, with the

-sting of fear, at the career of falsehood to which he had committed

-himself; but his ambition, innate greed, selfishness, and pride urged

-him on that career steadily and without an idea of flinching.

-

-After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning how the face of Florian

-interested him, and actually that he bore a likeness to the dead

-Major--to his own father, in fact--Shafto became more than desirous

-to be rid of him in any way.  He thought with dread of the discovery

-and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of the fierce light thrown by the law

-on that gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction he had none!

-

-'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from the hotel with his

-portmanteau, 'I must keep up this game at all hazards now.  I have

-stolen--not only Florian's name--but his place, so let him paddle his

-own canoe!'

-

-'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were his parting words--a promise

-which he never fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their mutual

-purse now, might have offered to supply the well-nigh penniless lad

-with money, but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of him--to hear

-of him no more.  He had a dread of his presence, of his society, of

-his very existence, and now had but one hope, wish, and desire--that

-Florian Melfort should cross his path never again.  And now that he

-had achieved a separation between him and Dulcie, he conceived that

-Florian would never again go near Revelstoke, of which

-he--Shafto--had for many reasons a nervous dread!

-

-Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel desertion of him, which he

-considered due to calm consideration of his change of fortune--or

-rather total want of it--Florian felt numbly indifferent to the

-matter Shafto had in hand and all about himself.

-

-While very nearly moved to girlish tears at parting from one with

-whom he had lived since infancy--with whom he had shared the same

-sleeping-room, shared in the same sports and studies--with whom he

-had read the same books to some extent, and had ever viewed as a

-brother--Florian was rather surprised, even shocked, by the

-impatience of that kinsman, the only one he had in all the wide

-world, to part from him and begone, and to see he was calm and hard

-as flint or steel.

-

-'Different natures have different ways of showing grief, I suppose,'

-thought the simple Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a grudge

-at me because of the false but winsome Dulcie?  If affection for me

-is hidden in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No letter ever

-came from Craigengowan.  The pride of Florian was justly roused, and

-he resolved that he would not take the initiative, and attempt to

-open a correspondence with one who seemed to ignore him, and whose

-manner at departing he seemed to see more clearly and vividly now.

-

-The fact soon became grimly apparent.  He could not remain idling in

-such a fashionable hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he settled his

-bill there, and took his portmanteau in his hand, and issued into the

-streets--into the world, in fact.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XI.

-

-SHAFTO IN CLOVER.

-

-About six months had elapsed since Shafto and Florian parted, as we

-have described, at Edinburgh.

-

-It was June now.  The luxurious woods around Craigengowan were in all

-their leafy beauty, and under their shadows the dun deer panted in

-the heat as they made their lair among the feathery braken; the

-emerald green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was smooth as a

-billiard-table and soft as three-pile velvet.

-

-The air was laden with the wafted fragrance of roses and innumerable

-other flowers; and the picturesque old house, with its multitude of

-conical turrets furnished with glittering vanes, its crow-stepped

-gables and massive chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep blue

-sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful looked the pretty village,

-seen in middle distance, through a foliated vista in the woodlands,

-with the white smoke ascending from its humble hearths, the only

-thing that seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful were the

-colours some of its thatched roofs presented--greenest moss, brown

-lichen, and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while the murmur of a

-rivulet (a tributary of the Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch,

-'the auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would be heard at times,

-amid the pleasant voices of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the

-glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers below the stately terrace,

-that had long since replaced the moat that encircled the old

-fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite lord had ridden

-forth to fight and die for James VIII., on the field of

-Sheriffmuir--King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, as the

-unflinching Jacobites had it.

-

-A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis party was busy tossing

-the balls from side to side among several courts; but apart from all,

-and almost conspicuously so--a young fellow, in a handsome light

-tennis suit of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were carrying

-on a very palpable flirtation.

-

-The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion was Finella Melfort,

-Cosmo's orphan daughter (an heiress through her mother), who had

-returned a month before from a protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They

-seemed to be on excellent terms with each other, and doubtless the

-natural gaiety of the girl's disposition, her vivacity of manner, and

-their supposed mutual relationship, had opened the way to speedy

-familiarity.

-

-She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but very white-skinned little

-beauty, with a perfect _mignonne_ face, a petite but round and

-compact figure, gracefully formed, and very coquettish and

-_spirituelle_ in all her ways.

-

-She had received her peculiar Christian name at the special request

-of her grandfather, that silly peer being desirous that her name

-might go down in the peerage in connection with that of the famous

-Finella of Fettercairn.

-

-'A winsome pair they would make,' was the smiling remark of Mr.

-Kenneth Kippilaw, who was of the party (with three romping daughters

-from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn, who smirked a grim assent, as

-if it was a matter of indifference to him, which it was not, as his

-legal adviser very well knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard the

-remark, bestowed upon him a bright and approving smile in return for

-a knowing glance through the glasses of his gold _pince-nez_.

-

-In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto Gyle had found his veritable

-Capua--he was literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard himself

-addressed by his assumed name without experiencing a strange sinking

-and fluttering of the heart.

-

-The once-despised Lennard Melfort's sword, his commission, and his

-hard-won medals earned in Central India and the Terai of Nepaul were

-now looked upon as precious relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir

-at Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the lumber-attic, his portrait,

-taken in early life, was again hung in a place of honour in the

-dining-hall.

-

-'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his claim on such a place as

-this, and all for the face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto

-to himself when first he came to Craigengowan, and then he looked

-fearfully around him lest the word _uncle_ might have been overheard

-by some one; and he thought--'If rascally the trick I have played my

-simple and love-stricken cousin--and rascally it was and is--surely

-it was worth while to be the heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To

-reckon as mine in future all this grand panorama of heath-clad hills,

-of green and golden fields, of purple muirland, and stately woods of

-oak and pine where the deer rove in herds; as mine the trout-streams

-that flow towards the Bervie; the cascades that roar down the cliffs;

-the beautiful old house, with its stables, kennels, and terrace; its

-cellars, pictures, plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of

-marble and jasper, china and Japanese work; and I possess all that

-rank and wealth can give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,

-with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his years.

-

-To the fair inheritance he had come to steal he could not, however,

-add as his the blue sky above it, or the waves of the German Sea,

-which the North Esk flowed to join; but he was not without sense

-appreciative enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming earth, of

-the pine forests where the brown squirrels leaped from branch to

-branch, and on the mountain side the perfume of the golden whin and

-gorse.

-

-Appraising everything, these ideas were ever recurring to his mind,

-and it was full of them now as he looked around him, and at times,

-like one in a dream, heard the pretty babble of the high-bred,

-coquettish girl, who, to amuse herself, made _œillades_ at him;

-who called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and who, with her splendid

-fortune, he was now beginning to include among the many goods and

-chattels which must one day accrue to him.

-

-Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course, fully twenty years older

-than when we saw them last, full of wrath and indignation at Lennard

-for his so-called _mésalliance_.  Both were cold in heart and

-self-absorbed in nature as ever.  The latter was determined to be a

-beauty still, though now upon the confines of that decade 'when the

-cunning of cosmetics can no longer dissemble the retribution of Time

-the avenger.'  The former was bald now, and the remains of his once

-sandy-coloured hair had become grizzled, and a multitude of puckers

-were about his cold, grey eyes, while there was a perceptible stoop

-in his whilom flat, square shoulders.

-

-He was as full of family pride as ever, and the discovery of an

-unexpected and authentic heir and grandson to his title, that had

-never been won in the field or cabinet, but was simply the reward of

-bribery and corruption, and for which not one patriotic act had been

-performed by four generations, had given him intense satisfaction,

-and caused much blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol about

-the country-side; and smiles that were bright and genuine frequently

-wreathed the usually pale and immobile face of Lady Fettercairn when

-they rested on Shafto.

-

-We all know how the weak and easy adoption of a pretender by a titled

-mother in a famous and most protracted case not many years ago caused

-the most peculiar complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more

-pardonable, posted up as she was with documentary evidence, in

-accepting Shafto Gyle as her grandson.

-

-We have described her as being singularly, perhaps aristocratically,

-cold.  As a mother, she had never been given to kissing, caressing,

-or fondling her two sons (as she did a succession of odious pugs and

-lap-dogs), but, throwing their little hearts back upon themselves,

-left nurses and maids to 'do all that sort of tiresome thing.'

-

-So Finella, though an heiress, came in for very little of it either,

-with all her sweetness, beauty, and pretty winning ways, even from

-Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man who cared so little for his own

-country and her local and vital interests was little likely to care

-much for any flesh and blood that did not stand in his own boots.

-

-Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son' from time to time

-with--for her--deep apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic

-regret and indignation, much of the obscure story of his boyhood and

-past life, at least so much as he chose to tell her; and she bitterly

-resented that Lennard Melfort should have sought to put the 'nephew

-of that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army, while placing 'his own

-son' Shafto into the office of a miserable village lawyer, and so

-forth--and so forth!

-

-Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this happened in an obscure

-village in Devonshire, and far away from Craigengowan and all its

-aristocratic surroundings.

-

-She also thought it strange that Shafto--('Whence came that name?'

-she would mutter angrily)--should be so unlike her dark and handsome

-Lennard.  His eyebrows were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,

-watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck thick, and his hair

-somewhat sandy in hue.  Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what her

-husband, the present Lord Fettercairn, must have been at the same age.

-

-As for the Peer himself, he was only too thankful that an heir had

-turned up for his ill-gotten coronet, and that now--so far as one

-life was concerned--Sir Bernard Burke would not rate it among the

-dormant and attainted titles--those of the best and bravest men that

-Scotland ever knew.

-

-As for their mutual scheme concerning Shafto and their granddaughter

-Finella, with her beauty and many attractive parts, the former was

-craftily most desirous of furthering it, knowing well that, _happen

-what might_ in the future, she was an heiress; that marriage with her

-would give him a firm hold on the Fettercairn family, though the

-money of her mother was wisely settled on the young lady herself.

-

-Indeed, Finella had not been many weeks home from London, at

-Craigengowan, before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches, and spoke

-pretty plainly to him on the subject.

-

-Waving her large fan slowly to and fro, and eyeing Shafto closely

-over the top of it, she said:

-

-'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find your cousin Finella--the

-daughter of my dead darling Cosmo--a lovable kind of girl.  But even

-were she not so--and all say she is--you must not feel a prejudice

-against her, because--because----'

-

-'What, grandmother?'

-

-'Because it is our warmest desire that you may marry her.'

-

-'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked Shafto, with one of his

-dissembling smiles.

-

-'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but one is always the better

-to have more, and you must not feel----'

-

-'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.

-

-'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean that you must not be

-prejudiced against her as an expected_ parti_.'

-

-'Why should I?'

-

-'One hears and reads so much of such things.'

-

-'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so pretty and eligible, why the

-dickens----'

-

-'Shafto!'

-

-'What now?' he asked, with some irritability, as she often took him

-to task for his solecisms.

-

-'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations that were suited to

-the atmosphere of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will not do in

-Craigengowan!'

-

-'Well--she won't look at me with your eyes, grandmother.'

-

-'How--her eyes----'

-

-'They will never seem so bright and beautiful.'

-

-'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my Lady Fettercairn, with a smile

-and pleased flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet' had soon

-discovered that she was far from insensible to adulation.

-

-Shafto certainly availed himself of the opportunities afforded by

-'cousinship,' propinquity, and residence together in a country house,

-and sought to gain a place in the good graces or heart of Finella;

-but with all his cunning and earnest wishes in the matter--apart from

-the wonderful beauty of the girl--he feared that he made no more

-progress with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.

-

-She talked, played, danced, and even romped with him; they rambled

-and read together, and were as much companions as any two lovers

-would be; but he felt nearly certain that though she flirted with

-him, because it was partly her habit to appear to do so with most

-men, whenever he attempted to become tender she openly laughed at him

-or changed the subject skilfully; and also that if he essayed to

-touch or take her hand it was very deliberately withdrawn from his

-reach, and never did she make him more sensible of all this than when

-he contrived to draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon of the

-lawn-tennis party.

-

-She had long ere this been made perfectly aware that love and

-marriage were objects of all his attention, yet she amused herself

-with him by her coquettish _œillades_ and waggish speeches.

-

-'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating voice, as he stooped over

-her, 'I hope that with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant mode

-of treating me, you will see your way to carry out the fondest desire

-of my heart and that of our grandparents.'

-

-'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And the object to which I am to

-see my way is to marry you, cousin Shafto?'

-

-'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her half-averted ear.

-

-'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I couldn't think of such a thing.'

-

-'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'

-

-'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'

-

-'And these are?'

-

-'Firstly, people should marry to please themselves, not others.

-Grandpapa and grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am quite

-independent enough to do as I please and choose.'

-

-'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'

-

-'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!' said she, looking upward

-at him with one of her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.

-

-'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'

-

-'I have not said that either.'

-

-'You may yet love me, then?'

-

-'No; not as you wish it.'

-

-'But why?'

-

-'You have no right to ask me.'

-

-His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a gleam came into his cold, grey

-eyes as he asked, after a pause:

-

-'Is there anyone else you prefer?'

-

-'You have no right to inquire,' replied she, and a keener observer

-might have detected that his question brought a tiny blush to her

-cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so please to let this

-matter drop, once and for ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such

-delightful friends--such jolly cousins.'

-

-And so ended one of many such conversations on this

-topic--conversations that developed indifference, if not quite

-aversion, on the part of Finella, the clue to which Shafto was fated

-to find in a few weeks after.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XII.

-

-VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.

-

-The persistent attentions of Shafto were alternately a source of

-amusement and worry to Finella Melfort; and when she found them

-become the latter, she had more than once retreated to the residence

-of her maternal grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she infinitely

-preferred being at Craigengowan, where the general circle was more

-refined and of a much better style; for Lady Drumshoddy--natheless

-her title--was not quite one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow

-of an advocate, who, having done without scruple the usual amount of

-work to please his party and the Lord Advocate, had been rewarded

-therefor by an appointment (and knighthood) in Bengal, where he had

-gone, at a lucky time, with the old advice and idea--

-

-  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree

-    Pluck India's endless riches,

-  And then I swore that time should see

-    Huge pockets in my breeches.'

-

-Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets were so well filled that when he

-came home to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be deemed a

-'great catch' by the Fettercairn family, though her grandfather had

-been--no one knew precisely what.

-

-And now Finella, by education, careful training, and by her own habit

-of thought, was naturally so refined that, with all her waggery and

-disposition to laughter and merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches

-occasionally irritated her.

-

-'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a man may get the love of the

-girl he wants, even if she cares little for him, if he only asks her

-at the right time; but, so far as you are concerned, Finella, the

-right moment has not come for me, I suppose.'

-

-'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,' she replied, fanning

-herself, and eyeing him with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in

-her dark eyes.

-

-Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion Lord Fettercairn came

-hurriedly to him, saying,

-

-'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley, from London, will arrive here

-to-morrow for a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he leaves for his

-regiment in Africa.  You will do your best to be attentive to him,

-Shafto.'

-

-'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily, however, all the more

-so that he was quick enough to detect that, at the mention of the

-visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour crossed the cheek of

-Finella.

-

-Something in his tone attracted the attention of Lord Fettercairn,

-who said,

-

-'After the 12th I hope you will find a legitimate use for your

-gun--you know what I mean.'

-

-Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as his grandfather referred to

-a mischievous act of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage in the

-neighbourhood.

-

-In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn a pair of majestic

-osprey had built their nest, guarded by the morass around them, and

-there they bred and reared a pair of beautiful eaglets.  No one had

-been allowed to approach them, so that nothing should occur to break

-the confidence of safety which the pair of osprey acquired in their

-lonely summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to Craigengowan, and

-by four rounds from his breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,

-to the indignation of the neighbourhood and even of my Lord

-Fettercairn.

-

-Not that the latter cared a straw about these eagles as objects of

-natural history; but the fact of their existence formed the subject

-of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was wounded on finding that

-one of his family had acted thus.

-

-So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family circle at Craigengowan had

-two or three accessions to its number--friends invited for the 12th

-of August--among others Mr. Kippilaw the younger, a spruce and dapper

-Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,' Shafto said, 'thought no small

-beer of himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of the

-Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive and, to one who was present,

-most decided addition to their society.

-

-His regular features were well tanned by the sun in Natal; his dark

-hair was shorn short; his moustaches were pointed well out; and his

-dark eyes had a bright and merry yet firm and steady expression, as

-those of a man born to command men, who had more than once faced

-danger, and was ready to face it again.

-

-He was in his twenty-seventh year, and was every way a courteous and

-finished English gentleman, though Shafto, in his secret heart, and

-more than once in the stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited

-beast.'

-

-Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot big game in Southern Africa,

-hunted in the English shires, taking his fences--even double

-ones--like a bird; he had lost and won with a good grace at Ascot and

-the Clubs, flirted 'all round,' and, though far from rich, was a good

-specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and open-hearted young officer,

-a favourite with all women, and particularly with his regiment.

-

-After luncheon he was seated beside Lady Fettercairn; he was too wise

-in his generation to have placed himself where he would have wished,

-beside Finella, whose little hand, on entering, Shafto thought he

-retained in his rather longer than etiquette required; for if

-Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly sharp, and he soon

-found that though Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her

-time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself, 'now that this

-fellow Hammersley had come,' he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a

-very bad word indeed.

-

-We have said that Finella had paid a protracted and--to her--most

-enjoyable visit to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties, and in

-the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley repeatedly; and these meetings

-had not been without a deep and tender interest to them both; and

-when they were parted finally by her return to Craigengowan, though

-no declaration of regard had escaped him, he had been burning to

-speak to her in that sweet and untutored language by which the inmost

-secrets of the loving heart can be read; and now that they had met

-again, they had a thousand London objects to talk about safely in

-common, which made them seem to be what they were, quite old friends

-in fact, and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like Shafto, to listen

-and look darkly and doubtfully on.

-

-But when they were alone, which was seldom, or merely apart from

-others, there was between them a new consciousness now--a secret but

-sweet understanding, born of eye speaking to eye--all the sweeter for

-its secrecy and being all their own, a conscious emotion that

-rendered them at times almost afraid to speak or glance lest curious

-eyes or ears might discover what that secret was.

-

-What was to be the sequel to all this?  Hammersley was far from rich

-according to the standard of wealth formed by Lady Fettercairn, and

-the latter had destined her granddaughter with all her accumulated

-wealth to be the bride of Shafto.  Hammersley knew nothing of this;

-he only knew his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'

-but then youth, we are told, 'is sanguine and full of faith and hope

-in an untried future.  It looks out over the pathway of life towards

-the goal of its ambition, seeing only the end desired, and giving

-little or no heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents, that may

-be met with on the way.'  So, happy in the good fortune that threw

-him once more in the sweet society of bright Finella Melfort, Captain

-Hammersley gave full swing in secret to the most delightful of

-day-dreams.

-

-In all this, however, we are somewhat anticipating our narrative.

-

-But, like a wise man, while the luncheon lasted he was most attentive

-to his hostess, from whose old but still handsome face, like that of

-Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless, icily regular, and

-splendidly null,' he ever and anon turned to that of Finella--that

-_mignonne_ face, which was so full of varying expression, warmth,

-light, and colour.

-

-'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn.  'You

-will scarcely credit how long I have had it in the cellar.  I bought

-a whole lot of it--when was it, Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the

-solemn old butler behind him.

-

-'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'

-

-'Everything at Craigengowan seems to take date before or after that

-event,' said Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do you mean for

-India, Grapeston?'

-

-'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who had carried 'Master Lennard'

-in his arms as a baby.

-

-'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance at the colour.'

-

-Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes were bent on the face of

-Finella.

-

-'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull, but every place is so after

-London.'

-

-'True, we live so fast there that we never seem to have time to do

-anything.'

-

-And now, understanding that Shafto was to be his chief companion at

-the covies on the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of hammerless

-guns, of central fire, of the mode of breaking in dogs, training

-setters, and so forth; and as these subjects had not been included in

-Shafto's education at Lawyer Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he

-listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.

-

-'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'the

-Bervie yields capital salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has

-filled more than one basket with the latter, but Shafto is somewhat

-of a duffer with his rod--he breaks many a rod, and has never landed

-a salmon yet.'

-

-'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.

-

-'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty, Fasque, Hobseat, and my

-own, as I hope you will find to-morrow.'

-

-'Thanks--indeed, I am sure I shall.'

-

-'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the probable bag of grouse and

-black game is from 400 to 500 brace.'

-

-After dinner that evening Finella was found singing at the

-piano--singing, as she always did, without requiring pressure and

-apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a thrush on a rose bush

-sings; but now she sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt

-instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness was roused when he

-heard her, in a pause, whisper:

-

-'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto turn the leaves.  He likes to

-do it, though he can do little else in the way of music.'

-

-This kind of confidence seemed to imply foregone conclusions and a

-mutual understanding, however slight; but, to some extent, Finella

-had a kind of dread of Shafto.

-

-Hammersley smiled and drew back, after placing a piece of music

-before her; but not before remarking:

-

-'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'

-

-'No--it is old as the days when George IV. was king--it is one you

-gave me some weeks ago in London, you remember?'

-

-'Am I likely to forget?'

-

-'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said Finella, adjusting her dress

-over the music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'

-

-'Why?'

-

-'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves at the proper time.'

-

-'Captain Hammersley will do that better than I,' said Shafto, drawing

-almost sulkily away, while the former resumed his place by Finella,

-with an unmistakable smile rippling over his face.

-

-This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley had given her, was an old

-one, long since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,' and jealous

-anger gathered in Shafto's heart as he listened and heard

-Hammersley's voice blend with Finella's in the last line of each

-verse:

-

-  'We met not in the sylvan scene

-    Where lovers wish to meet,

-  Where skies are bright and woods are green,

-    And bursting blossoms sweet;

-  But in the city's busy din,

-    Where Mammon holds his reign,

-  Sweet intercourse we sought to win

-    'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;

-  Above us was a murky sky,

-    Around a crowded space,

-  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,

-    Was this, our _trysting place_.'

-

-  'They are who say Love only dwells

-    'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;

-  Alike to him are gloomy cells

-    Or gay and smiling bowers;

-  Love works not on insensate things

-    His sweet and magic art;

-  No outward shrine arrests his wings,

-    His home is in the heart;

-  And dearest hearts like _thine_ and _mine_,

-    With rapture must retrace--

-  How often Love has deigned to shine

-    On this our _trysting place_.'

-

-

-'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more sweetly than ever!' said

-Hammersley in a low voice as he bent over her.

-

-'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself; 'where was this trysting

-place?  I feel inclined to put a charge of shot into him to-morrow.

-I will, too, if the day is foggy!'

-

-Finella, though pressed, declined to sing more, as the Misses

-Kippilaw, who were rather irrepressible young ladies, now proposed a

-carpet-dance, and she drew on her gloves; and while she fumbled away,

-almost nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew that

-Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and admiringly bent on her, till he

-came to the rescue, and did the buttoning required; and to Shafto it

-seemed the process was a very protracted one, and was a pretty little

-connivance, as in reality it was.

-

-Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion, was summoned, and she--poor

-creature--had to furnish music for the occasion, till at last Finella

-good-naturedly relieved her.

-

-So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and then Shafto, though an

-indifferent waltzer, thought he might excel in a square dance with

-Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation at any time, and on this

-occasion his attempts at it proved a great failure, and when he

-compared this with the animation of Hammersley and Finella in the

-Lancers, he was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.  The former did

-not seem to undergo that agony so often felt by Shafto, of having

-out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have to rack his brain

-for anecdotes or jokes, but to be able to keep up an easy flow of

-well-bred talk on persons, places, and things, which seemed to amuse

-Finella excessively, as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily while

-fanning herself, and looking more sparkling and piquante than ever.

-

-'What the deuce can he find to say to her?' thought Shafto; but

-Hammersley was only finding the links--the threads of a dear old

-story begun in London months ago.

-

-So passed the first day of Hammersley's arrival at Craigengowan, and

-Finella laid her head on her pillow full of bright and happy

-thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no share.

-

-But while these emotions and events were in progress, where, in the

-meantime, was Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIII.

-

-AMONG THE GROUSE.

-

-Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the unamiable Shafto and his

-threats muttered in secret, the shooting next day passed off without

-any peril being encountered by the unconscious

-Hammersley--unconscious at least of the enmity his presence was

-inspiring.  However, it was not so the second; and Finella and her

-fair friends agreed that if he looked so well and handsome in his

-heather-coloured knickerbocker shooting-dress, with ribbed stockings

-of Alloa yarn, his gun under his arm, and shot-belt over his

-shoulder, how gallant must he look when in full uniform.

-

-In the field the vicinity of Shafto was avoided as much as possible,

-as he shot wildly indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and people

-generally on the estate he was simply detested for the severity of

-his manner, his tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness in

-every way; though at first, when he came to Craigengowan, they had

-laboured in vain, and vied with each other in their attempts to

-initiate him into those field-sports so dear to Britons generally,

-and to the Scots in particular; but when shooting grouse especially,

-the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine dread of him, and, when fog was

-on, sometimes refused to attend him, and he was, as they said among

-themselves, 'a new experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'

-

-'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a midden,' said the old

-head-gamekeeper wrathfully, as he drew his bonnet over his beetling

-brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and tell my tale to the wind

-that blaws o'er Craigengowan.'

-

-Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn, hale and hearty, was in

-the field with his central-fire gun with fine Damascus barrels.

-Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw, and four others made up the party.

-

-The morning was a lovely one, and lovely too was the scenery, for

-August is a month richly tinted with the last touches of summer,

-blended with the russet tones of autumn; the pleasant meadows are yet

-green, and over the ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the ocean

-when nearly asleep.

-

-Apart from the joyous exhilaration of shooting, and that out-door

-exercise so dear to every English gentleman, Vivian Hammersley felt

-all that which comes from the romantic beauty of his

-surroundings--the scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which is a low

-champaign and highly cultivated country, studded with handsome

-mansions, and ornamented by rich plantations and thriving villages.

-

-Ere long the open muirs were reached, and the hill-sides, the steep,

-purple ridges of which the sportsmen had to breast; and, keen

-sportsman though he was, Hammersley had soon to admit that

-grouse-shooting was the most fatiguing work he had yet encountered;

-but soon came the excitements of the first point, the first brood,

-and the first shot or two.

-

-To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown partridges, grouse look dusky

-and even black, and they seem to hug the purple heather, but when one

-becomes accustomed to them they are as easy to knock over as the tame

-birds; and now the crack of the guns began to ring out along the

-hill-slopes.

-

-Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty yards apart, and twice when a

-bird rose before the latter, it was brought down wounded but not

-killed by the former.

-

-Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,' as Shafto should not have

-fired, unless he had missed or passed it; but he only bit his lip and

-smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn remarked the discourtesy, and

-added,

-

-'Shafto, I do wish you would take an example from Captain Hammersley.'

-

-'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.

-

-'He kills his game clean--few birds run from him with broken wings

-and so forth.'

-

-'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto, whose mode of life in

-Devonshire had made him rather soft, and he was beginning to think

-that nerves of iron and lungs like a bagpipe were requisite for

-breasting up the hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.

-

-Hammersley worked away silently, neither looking to his right nor

-left, feeling that though several elements are requisite for 'sport,'

-the chief then was to kill as much grouse as possible in a given

-time, but was more than once irritated and discomposed by Shafto, and

-even young Kippilaw, shooting in a blundering way along the line even

-when the birds were not flying high; and he proceeded in a

-workmanlike way to bring down one bird as it approached, the next

-when it was past him, and so on.

-

-The first portion of the day the Fettercairn party shot to points,

-and then to drivers, and in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the

-latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he loathed the whole

-thing, and was now 'completely blown--pumped out,' as he phrased it,

-he was not sorry when the magic word 'lunch' was uttered; and

-Hammersley certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came Finella, and

-with her arrival--to him--the most delightful part of the day.

-

-She came tooling along the sunny pathway that traversed the bottom of

-a glen, driving with her tightly gauntleted and deft little hands a

-pair of beautiful white ponies, which drew the daintiest of

-basket-phaetons, containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample

-luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for halting was a green oasis

-amid the dark heather, where a spring of deliciously cool water was

-bubbling up, called Finella's Well.

-

-'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'please to draw your

-cartridges.  I was once nearly shot in this very place by a stupid

-fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you have come, Finella darling,

-we are all hungry as hawks, and thirsty too.'

-

-Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look in her coquettish hat and

-well-fitting jacket, while the drive, the occasion, and the touch of

-Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to alight gave her cheek an

-unwonted colour, and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and the

-soldier thought that certainly there was nothing in the world so

-pleasant to a man's eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.

-

-'You have had good sport,' said she to the group, while her eye

-rested on Hammersley, and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces

-on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze with her,' as the gentlemen

-thought, and had a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of greeting

-the members of the party was different, as to some she gave her hand

-like a little queen, while to others she smiled, or simply bowed; but

-provoked an angry snort from Shafto by expressing a hope that he 'had

-not shot anyone yet.'

-

-And then he grew white as he recalled his angry thoughts of the

-preceding night.

-

-'Why did you take the trouble to drive here?' he asked her, in a low

-voice.

-

-'Because I chose to come; and I do so love driving these plump

-darlings of ponies,' replied the girl, patting the sleek animals with

-her tiny, slim hand.

-

-'Old Grapeston would have done well enough; and why did you not bring

-one of the Kippilaw girls?'

-

-'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I could please you--not an

-easy task--I should have tried to bring them all, though that is

-rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'

-

-Shafto never for a moment doubted that she had come over to

-superintend the luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley' was one of

-the party; and in this suspicion perhaps he was right.

-

-As for Hammersley, being ignorant of Shafto's antecedents, his

-present hopes, and those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not comprehend

-how the grandson and heir-apparent of a peer came to be 'such bad

-form--bad style, and all that sort of thing,' as he thought; and all

-that became rather worse when Shafto was under the influence of

-sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno administered by Mr. Grapeston.

-

-As the sportsmen lounged on the grass, and the luncheon proceeded

-under the superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston, Finella, the

-presiding goddess, looked unusually bright and happy--a consummation

-which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and jealousy, came of the

-presence of Vivian Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all the

-result of another man's society--not his certainly, and hence he

-would have preferred that she was not light-hearted at all.

-

-He could see that with all her _espieglerie_ Finella found no

-occasion to laugh at Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as

-she did himself, but the attentions of Hammersley were delicately and

-seductively paid.  Deferential and gentle at all times, to all women,

-he had always been so to Finella Melfort, and she was able to feel

-more than his words, looks, or manner suggested to others; and he

-imagined--nay, he was becoming certain--and a glow of great joy came

-with the certainty--that Finella's sweet dark eyes grew brighter at

-his approach; that a rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and

-there came a slight quiver into her voice when she replied to him,

-

-'Was it all really so?'

-

-Fate was soon to decide that which he had been too slow or timid to

-decide for himself.

-

-As he said one of the merest commonplaces to her, their eyes met.

-

-It was only one lingering glance!

-

-But looks can say so much more than the voice, the eyes surpassing

-the lips, breaking or revealing what the silence of months, it may be

-years, has hidden, and leading heart to heart.

-

-'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and just before driving off, 'do

-you shoot over this ground to-morrow?'

-

-'To a certain extent we shall--but why?'

-

-'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'

-

-'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'

-

-'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!' said she, with a bow to

-all, and a merry glance which included most certainly Vivian

-Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed to darken with her departure.

-

-'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,' said Lord Fettercairn,

-who knew by old experience that when the afternoon shadows, and more

-especially those of evening, begin to lengthen, the slopes of the

-hills are seen better, that the birds, too, lie better, and that as

-the air becomes more fresh and cool, men can shoot with greater care

-and deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But Hammersley, full of

-his own thoughts, full of the image of Finella and that tale-telling

-glance they had exchanged, missed nearly every bird, to the great

-exultation of Shafto, who made an incredible number of bad and clumsy

-jokes thereon--jokes which the young Englishman heard with perfect

-indifference and equanimity.

-

-Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the result of the next day's

-expedition, and certainly Hammersley did not do so either.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIV.

-

-THE TWO FINELLAS.

-

-Next day, when the grouse-shooting had been in progress for an hour

-or two, a mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted his ankle in a

-turnip-field, fell heavily on one side, and staggered up too lame to

-take further share in the sport for that day at least.

-

-'When Finella comes with the lunch in the pony-phaeton, she will

-drive you home,' said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired one of the

-beaters to give Hammersley the assistance of an arm to the well,

-where the repast was to be laid out as before.

-

-When Shafto saw his rival limping he was delighted, and thought,

-'This will mar his waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less

-delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's natural suggestion.

-

-'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next thought, 'to get a quiet

-drive with her to Craigengowan.'

-

-And Finella's look and exclamation of alarm and interest were not

-lost upon him when she arrived and found Hammersley seated on the

-grass by the side of the well, and saw the difficulty with which he

-rose to greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded gun as he did

-so; and soft, indeed, was the blush of pleasure that crossed her

-delicate face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;' and

-certainly it met, secretly, with the entire approbation of

-Hammersley, who anticipated with delight the drive home with such a

-companion.

-

-After a time the luncheon--though skilfully protracted by Shafto--was

-over, and Finella and her 'patient' were together in the phaeton, and

-she, with a smile and farewell bow, whipped up her petted ponies,

-Flirt and Fairy, whom every day she fed with apples and carrots.

-

-Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that she was in great haste to

-be gone; but more sulky would he have been had he seen, or known that

-when once an angle of the glen was reached where the road dipped out

-of sight, the ponies were permitted to go at their own pace, which

-ere long dwindled into a walk, till they passed the vast ruined

-castle of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley were, however, if very

-happy, very silent, though both enjoyed the drive in the bright

-sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he quite forgot his petty

-misfortune in contemplating the delicate profile and long drooping

-eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and who, with a fluttering

-heart, was perhaps expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,

-especially when he placed his hand on hers, in pretence of guiding

-the ponies, which broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates were

-passed; and glorious as the opportunity accorded him had been,

-Hammersley's heart, while burning with passionate ardour, seemed to

-have lost all courage, for he had a sincere dread of Lady

-Fettercairn, and suspected that her interests were naturally centred

-in Shafto.

-

-At seven-and-twenty a man, who has knocked about the world, with a

-regiment especially, for some nine years or so, does not fall over

-head and ears in love like a rash boy, or without calculating his

-chances of general success; and poor Hammersley, though he did not

-doubt achieving it with Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and

-breakers ahead with her family, and his spirit was a proud one.  To

-make a declaration was to ruin or lose everything, for if the family

-were averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit their roof for ever,

-and Finella would be lost to him, for heiresses seldom elope now,

-save in novels; and he knew that in her circle the motives for

-marriage are more various and questionable than with other and

-untitled ranks of life.  Rank and money were the chief incentives of

-such people as the Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,' says an

-essayist, 'no doubt occur in the humbler classes, but love is more

-frequently the incentive, while with princes and patricians the

-conjugal alliance is, in nine instances out of ten, a mere matter of

-_expedience_.'

-

-Craigengowan was reached, and not a word of the great secret that

-filled his heart had escaped him, for which he cursed his own folly

-and timidity when the drive ended, and a groom took the ponies' heads.

-

-Yet the day was not over, nor was a fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady

-Fettercairn and all her female quests had driven to a flower-show at

-the nearest town--even Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!

-

-Everything in and about Craigengowan seemed conducive to love-talk

-and confidences.  The great and picturesque house itself was

-charming.  The old orchards would ere long be heavy with fruit, and

-were then a sight to see; on the terrace the peacocks were strutting

-to and fro; there were fancy arbours admirably adapted for

-flirtation, and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun and moon

-dial) now gay with all the flowers of August.

-

-On a lounge near an open window facing the latter Hammersley was

-reclining, when Finella, after changing her driving dress, came into

-the drawing-room, and finely her costume suited her dark and piquante

-style of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk, profusely trimmed

-with filmy lace, and a cluster of scarlet flowers on the left

-shoulder among the lace of the collarette that encircled her slender

-neck; and Hammersley, as he looked at her, thought that 'beauty

-unadorned' was rather a fallacy.

-

-His undisguised expression of admiration as he partly rose to receive

-her caused her to colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was

-easier now; but, instead of replying, he said, while venturing

-slightly to touch her hand:

-

-'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by your dear pretty name of

-Finella?  Not from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'

-

-'Ah, I am very unlike her!'

-

-'You are certainly quite as charming!'

-

-'But neither dumb nor pretending to be so,' said the girl, with one

-of her silvery little laughs.

-

-'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to himself, in a low and

-unconsciously loving tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'

-

-'Don't you know?' she asked.

-

-'How could I know?  I know only that I will never forget it.'

-

-'Of course you could not know.  The origin of my name is one of the

-oldest legends of the Howe of the Mearns.'

-

-'Howe--that is Scotch for "hollow," I believe.'

-

-'No; "hollow" is the English for _howe_,' replied Finella, laughing,

-as she recalled a quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.  'You saw

-the great old castle we passed in our drive home?'

-

-'Yes.'

-

-'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who lived there.'

-

-'After it fell into ruin?'

-

-'No; before it.'

-

-'Then she must have lived a precious long time ago.'

-

-'She certainly did--some--nearly a thousand years ago.'

-

-'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss Melfort, what joke is this?'

-

-'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously; 'you can read about it

-in our family history--or I shall read it to you in the "Book of

-Fettercairn."'

-

-She took from a table near a handsome volume, which her

-grandfather--to please whom she was named Finella--had in a spirit of

-family vanity prepared for private circulation, and as if to connect

-his title with antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in ancient

-Scottish history, though little known to the Scots of the present day.

-

-We give it from his Lordship's book verbatim as she read it to Vivian

-Hammersley, who--cunning rogue--was not indisposed with such a

-charming and sympathetic companion as Finella to make the most of his

-fall, and reclined rather luxuriously on the velvet lounge, while

-she, seated in a dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely

-listened, so intent was he on watching her sweet face, her white and

-perfect ears, her downcast eyelids with their long lashes--her whole

-self!

-

-The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella) and of that Ilk, take

-their hereditary title from the old castle of that name, which stands

-in the Howe of the Mearns, and is sometimes called the Castle of

-Finella.  It is situated on an eminence, and is now surrounded on

-three sides by a morass.  It is enclosed within an inner and an outer

-wall of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of ground.  The inner

-is composed of vitrified matter, but no lime has been used in its

-construction.  The walls are a congeries of small stones cemented

-together by some molten matter, now harder than the stones

-themselves; and the remarkable event for which this castle is

-celebrated in history is the following:

-

-When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant king (who defeated the Danes at

-the battle of Luncarty, and created on that field the Hays, Earls of

-Errol, Hereditary Constables of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal

-cavalry, thus originating also the noble families of Tweeddale and

-Kinnoull), was on the throne, his favourite residence was the castle

-of Kincardine, the ruins of which still remain about a mile eastward

-of the village of Fettercairn, and from thence he went periodically

-to pay his devotions at the shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the

-Scots, to whom the latter had been sent by Pope Celestine in the

-sixth century to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at

-Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold and precious stones in 1409

-by the Bishop of St. Andrews.

-

-The king had excited the deadly hatred of Finella, the Lady of

-Fettercairn, daughter of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to

-death her son, who was a traitor and had rebelled against him in

-Lochaber; and, with the intention of being revenged, she prepared at

-Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal machine,' with which to

-slay the king.

-

-This engine consisted of a brass statue, which shot out arrows when a

-golden apple was taken from its hand.

-

-Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in hunting the deer, wolf, the

-badger and the boar, when she treacherously invited him to her castle

-of Fettercairn, which was then, as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with

-shady groves and piles of curious buildings,' of which there remained

-no vestiges when he wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither the

-king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle, white tunic, an eagle's

-wing in his helmet, and on its crest a glittering _clach-bhuai_, or

-stone of power, one of the three now in the Scottish regalia.

-

-Dissembling her hate, she entertained the king very splendidly, and

-after dinner conducted him out to view the beauties of the place and

-the structure of her castle; and Kenneth, pleased with her beauty

-(which her raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of blue silk,

-without sleeves, a mantle of fine linen, fastened by a brooch of

-silver, and all her golden hair floating on her shoulders,

-accompanied her into a tower, where, in an upper apartment, and amid

-rich festooned arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the infernal

-machine.

-

-She courteously and smilingly requested the king to take the golden

-apple from the right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by the

-strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing sound was heard within it

-as a string or cord gave way, and from its mouth there came forth two

-barbed arrows which mortally wounded him, and he fell at her feet.

-

-Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth was found by his retinue

-'_bullerand in his blude_.'

-

-Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the genuine spirit of

-legendary lore, to have obtained its name from this princess, who,

-the more readily to evade her pursuers, stepped from the branches of

-one tree to those of another the whole way from her castle to this

-den, which is near the sea, in the parish of St. Cyres, as all the

-country then was a wild forest.

-

-Buchanan deems all this story a fable, though asserted by John Major

-and Hector Boece, and thinks it more probable that the king was slain

-near Fettercairn in an ambush prepared by Finella.

-

-So ended the legend.

-

-As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley had bent lower and lower over

-her, till the tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich dark hair,

-and his arm all but stole round her.  Finella Melfort was quite

-conscious of this close proximity, and though she did not shrink from

-it, that consciousness made her colour deepen and her sweet voice

-become unsteady.

-

-'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,' said she, closing the

-book.

-

-'And to this awful legend of the dark ages, which only wants

-blue-fire, lime-light, and a musical accompaniment to set it off, you

-owe your name?' said he, laughingly.

-

-'Yes--it was grandfather's whim.'

-

-'It is odd that you--the belle of the last London season, should be

-named after such a grotesque old termagant!'

-

-She looked up at him smilingly, and then, as their eyes met, the

-expression of that glance exchanged beside the well on the hills came

-into them again; heart spoke to heart; he bent his face nearer hers,

-and his arm went round her in earnest.

-

-'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as he kissed her unresisting

-lips, her blushing face was hidden on his shoulder.

-

-And _this_ tableau was the result of the two days' shooting--a sudden

-result which neither Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.

-

-Of how long they remained thus neither had any idea.  Time seemed to

-stand still with them.  Finella was only conscious of his hand

-caressing hers, which lay so willingly in his tender, yet firm, clasp.

-

-Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt oblivious of all the world.

-He could think of nothing but Finella, while the latter seemed

-scarcely capable of reflection at all beyond the existing thought

-that he loved her, and though the avowal was a silent and unuttered

-one, the new sense of all it admitted and involved, seemed to

-overwhelm the girl; her brightest day-dreams had come, and she

-nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.

-

-The unwelcome sound of voices and also of carriage-wheels on the

-terrace roused them.  He released her hand, stole one more clinging

-kiss, and forgetful of his fall and all about it started with

-impatience to his feet.

-

-Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had returned from the

-flower-show, and to avoid them and all the world, for a little time

-yet, the lovers, with their hearts still beating too wildly to come

-down to commonplace, tacitly wandered hand in hand into the recesses

-of a conservatory, and lingered there amid the warm, flower-scented

-atmosphere and shaded aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.

-

-Finella was conscious that Vivian Hammersley was talking to her

-lovingly and caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he had never

-talked before, and she felt that she was 'Finella'--the dearest and

-sweetest name in the world to him--and no more Miss Melfort.

-

-* * * *

-

-It would be difficult, and superfluous perhaps, to describe the

-emotions of these two during the next few days.

-

-Though now quite aware that Finella and Hammersley had met each other

-frequently before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy, though

-apparently undemonstrative, grew speedily into suspicious anger.  He

-felt intuitively that _his_ presence made not the slightest

-difference to them, though he did not forget it; and he failed to

-understand how 'this fellow' had so quickly gained his subtle and

-familiar position with Finella.'

-

-It galled him to the quick to see and feel all this, and know that he

-could never please her as she seemed to be pleased with Hammersley;

-for her colour heightened, her eyes brightened, and her eyelashes

-drooped and flickered whenever he approached or addressed her.

-

-Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining Finella and her fortune

-against any discovery that might be made of the falsehood of his

-position, and so wrath and hatred gathered in his heart together.

-

-He was baffled at times by her bright smiles and pretty, irresistible

-manner, but nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to scheme again.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XV.

-

-AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.

-

-Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire

-home.

-

-Her father had been dull and gloomy of late, and had more than once

-laid his hand affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and said in a

-prayerful way that 'he hoped he might soon see her well married, and

-that she might never be left friendless!'

-

-'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would reply.

-

-Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for some time past.  Was it

-born of her father's forebodings, or of the presentiment about which

-she had conversed with Florian?  A depression hung over her--an

-undefinable dread of some great calamity about to happen.  At night

-her sleep was restless and broken, and by day a vague fear haunted

-her.

-

-The evil boded was to happen soon now.

-

-With these oppressive thoughts mingled the memory of the tall and

-handsome dark-eyed lad she loved--it seemed so long ago, and she

-longed to hear his voice again, and for his breast to lay her head

-upon.  But where was Florian now?  Months had passed without her

-hearing of him, and she might never hear again!

-

-Little could she have conceived the foul trick that Shafto had played

-them both in the matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for

-herself, she had not seen the last of that enterprising young

-gentleman.

-

-She felt miserably that her heart was lonely and heavy, and that,

-young as she was, light and joy, with the absence and ruin of

-Florian, had gone out of her life.  She was alone always with her

-great sorrow, and longed much for tears; but as her past life had

-been a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had been little--if at

-all--given to them.

-

-One morning her father did not appear at breakfast as usual.  As yet

-undressed her red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke and

-caress, was floating in a great loose mass on her back and shoulders,

-and her blue eyes looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.

-

-She had, as was her daily wont, arranged his letters, cut and aired

-the morning papers for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on the

-table, with a basket of delicate peaches, which she knew he liked,

-from the famous south wall of the garden, with green fig leaves round

-them, for Dulcie did everything prettily and tastefully, however

-trivial.  Then she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his tea,

-and waited.

-

-Still he did not appear.  She knocked on his bedroom door, but

-received no answer, and saw, with surprise, that his boots were still

-on the mat outside.

-

-She peeped in and called on him--'Papa, papa!' but there was no

-response.

-

-The room was empty, and the morning sun streamed through the

-uncurtained window.  The bed had not been slept in!  Again she called

-his name, and rushed downstairs in alarm and affright.

-

-The gas was burning in his writing-room; the window was still closed

-as it had been overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with his

-hands and arms stretched out on the table, sat Llewellen Carlyon,

-with his head bent forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.

-

-'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually gone to sleep over his

-horrid weary work.'

-

-She leaned over his chair; wound her soft arms round his neck and

-bowed grey head--her lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness, her

-sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as she laid her cheek upon

-it, a mortal chill struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped

-her.

-

-'What is this--papa?'

-

-She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was the sleep of death!

-

-It was disease of the heart, the doctors said, and he had thus passed

-away--died in harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right hand, and

-an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.

-

-Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the servants to her own

-room--they were old and affectionate country folks, who had been long

-with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and his daughter well.

-

-Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious, the sudden shock was so

-dreadful to her, and when she woke from it, the old curate, Mr.

-Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and herself, was standing near

-her bed.

-

-'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly and tenderly, as he passed

-his wrinkled hand over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.

-

-'What has happened?' she asked wildly.

-

-'You fainted, Dulcie.'

-

-'Why--I never fainted before.'

-

-'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered an old servant, who saw

-the vague and wild inquiring expression of her eyes.

-

-'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,' said the curate,

-putting a cup of coffee and piece of toast before her.

-

-'Something happened--something dreadful--what was it--oh, what was

-it?' asked Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.

-

-'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.

-

-She drank of the coffee thirstily; but declined the bread.

-

-'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he; 'I feared you might be

-unable to eat yet.'

-

-Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering and troubled look, and to

-become less wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry escaped her,

-and she said, with a calmness more terrible and painful than fainting

-or hysterics:

-

-'Oh, I remember now--papa--poor papa--dead!  Found dead!  Oh, my God!

-help me to bear it, or take me too--take me too!'

-

-'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.

-

-'How long ago was it--yesterday--a month ago, or when?  I seem--I

-feel as if I had grown quite old, yet you all look just the

-same--just the same; how is this?'

-

-'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes, 'your dire calamity

-happened but a short time ago--little more than an hour since.'

-

-Her response was a deep and heavy sob, that seemed to come from her

-overcharged heart rather than her slender throat, and which was the

-result of the unnatural tension of her mind.

-

-'Come to my house with me,' said the kind old curate; but Dulcie

-shook her head.

-

-'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I wish to be with him, and

-alone.'

-

-'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake in grief to avoid contact

-with the world.  The mind only gets sadder and deeper into its gloom

-of melancholy.  If you could but sleep, child, a little.'

-

-'Sleep--I feel as if I had been asleep for years; and it was this

-morning, you tell me--only this morning I had my arms round his

-neck--dead--my darling papa dead!'

-

-She started to her feet as if to go where the body lay under the now

-useless hands of the doctor, but would have fallen had she not

-clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who upheld and restrained her.

-

-The awful thought of her future loneliness now that she had thus

-suddenly lost her father, as she had not another relation in the

-world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and deprived her of the power of

-taking food or obtaining sleep.

-

-In vain her old servants, who had known her from infancy, coaxed her

-to attempt both, but sleep would not come, and the food remained

-untasted before her.

-

-'A little water,' she would say; 'give me a little water, for thirst

-parches me.'

-

-All that passed subsequently seemed like one long and terrible dream

-to Dulcie.  She was alone in the world, and when her father was laid

-in his last home at Revelstoke, within sound of the tumbling waves,

-in addition to being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless, for

-her father had nothing to leave her but the old furniture of the

-house they had inhabited.

-

-That was sold, and she was to remain with the family of the curate

-till some situation could be procured for her.

-

-She had long since ceased to expect any letter from or tidings of

-Florian.  She began to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of his

-new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well, it was the way of the

-world.

-

-Never would she forget the day she quitted her old home.  Her

-father's hat, his coat and cane were in the hall; all that he had

-used and that belonged to him were still there, to bring his presence

-before her with fresh poignancy, and to impress upon her that she was

-fatherless, all but friendless, and an orphan.

-

-The superstitious people about Revelstoke now remembered that in

-Lawyer Carlyon's garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time

-appeared on more than one of his apple-trees, a certain sign of

-coming death to one of his household.  But who can tell in this

-ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!

-

-One evening--she never forgot it--she had been visiting her father's

-grave, and was slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground, when a man

-like a soldier approached her in haste.

-

-'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his name, but it died away on her

-bloodless lips.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVI.

-

-''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'

-

-A poet says:

-

-  'Not by appointment do we meet delight

-  And joy: they need not our expectancy.

-  But round some corner in the streets of life,

-  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'

-

-

-Florian it was who stood before her, but though he gazed at her

-earnestly, wistfully, and with great pity in his tender eyes as he

-surveyed her pale face and deep mourning, he made no attempt to take

-the hands she yearningly extended towards him.  She saw that he was

-in the uniform of a private soldier, over which he wore a light

-dust-coat as a sort of disguise, but there was no mistaking his

-glengarry--that head-dress which is odious and absurd for English and

-Irish regiments, and which in his instance bore a brass badge--the

-sphinx, for Egypt.

-

-He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon the expression of his eye

-grew doubtful and cloudy.

-

-'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing voice, in which something

-of upbraiding blended with tones of surprise and grief; and yet the

-fact of his presence seemed so unreal that she lingered for a moment

-before she flung herself into his arms, and was clasped to his

-breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of this dress?' she asked, lifting

-her face and surveying him again.

-

-'It means that I am a soldier--like him whose son I thought myself--a

-soldier of the Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with some

-bitterness of tone.

-

-'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!' said Dulcie wringing her

-interlaced fingers.  'Could not Shafto--your cousin----'

-

-'Shafto cast me off--seemed as if he could not get rid of me too

-soon.'

-

-'How cruel, when he might have done so much for you, to use you so!'

-

-'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would not stoop to seek favours

-even from him, and our paths in life will never cross each other

-again; but a time may come--I know not when--in which I may seek

-forgiveness of enemies as well as friends--the bad and the good

-together--for a soldier's life is one of peril.'

-

-'Of horror--to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping freely on his breast.

-

-'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why did you cast me off in my

-utter adversity and return to me my locket?'

-

-Dulcie looked up in astonishment.

-

-'What _do_ you mean, Florian--have you lost your senses?' she asked

-in sore perplexity.  'Where have you come from last?'

-

-'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice of your terrible loss, and

-resolved to see, even if I could not speak with you.'

-

-'And you came----'

-

-'To see you, my lost darling, once again.  Oh, Dulcie, I thought I

-should die if I left England and sailed for Africa without doing so.

-I got a day's leave and am here.'

-

-'But why have you done this?'

-

-'This--what?'

-

-'Soldiering!'

-

-'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I do?--besides, I thought you

-had cast me off when you sent me back this locket,' he added,

-producing the gift referred to.

-

-'That locket was stolen from me on the night you left

-Revelstoke--literally wrenched from my neck, as I told you in my

-letter--the letter you never answered.'

-

-'I received no letter, Dulcie--but your locket was taken from you by

-whom?'

-

-'Shafto.'

-

-'The double villain!  He must have intercepted that letter, and

-utilised the envelope with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,

-and effect a breach between us.'

-

-'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'

-

-'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie, and now I almost wish you

-had.'

-

-'Why?'

-

-'It is little use to remember me now--I am so poor and hopeless.'

-

-'After all,' said she, taking his face between her hands caressingly,

-'what does poverty matter if we love each other still?'

-

-'And you love me, Dulcie--love me yet!' exclaimed Florian

-passionately.

-

-'And shall never, never cease to do so.'

-

-'But I am so much beneath you now in position, Dulcie--and--and----'

-his voice broke.

-

-'What, darling?'

-

-'May never rise.'

-

-'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you because you were

-unfortunate?'

-

-'No; but you are more than a woman, Dulcie--you are a golden-haired

-angel!'

-

-'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow your cheeks are!  You have

-suffered----'

-

-'Much since last we parted here in dear old Devonshire.  But Shafto's

-villainy surpasses all I could have imagined!'

-

-'And where is Shafto now?'

-

-'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I am glad that we have

-unravelled that which was to me a source of sorrow and dismay--the

-returned locket.  So you cannot take back your heart, Dulcie, nor

-give me mine?' said Florian.

-

-'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied, sweetly and simply.

-'Though poor, we are all the world to each other now.'

-

-'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day existence is, there

-is--even in these railway times--much of strange and painful romance

-woven up with many a life; and so it seems to be with mine--with

-ours, Dulcie.'

-

-'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you were so!' exclaimed the

-girl, as a great pity filled her heart, when she thought of her

-lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes, and the humble and

-most perilous course that was before him in South Africa, where the

-clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too, am poor, Florian--very

-poor; dear papa died involved, leaving me penniless, and I must cast

-about to earn my own bread.'

-

-'This is horrible--how shall I endure it?' said he fiercely, while

-regarding her with a loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.

-

-'What would you have done if you had not met me by chance here?'

-

-'Loafed about till the last moment, and then done something

-desperate.  I _would_ have seen you, and after that--the Deluge!  In

-two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added, casting a glance at the

-old church of Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our parents

-lie, Dulcie--yours at least, and those that I, till lately, thought

-were mine.  There is something very strange and mysterious in this

-change of relationship and position between Shafto and myself.  I

-cannot understand it.  Why was I misled all my life by one who loved

-me so well?  How often have I stood with the Major by a gravestone

-yonder inscribed with the name of Flora MacIan and heard him repeat

-while looking at it--

-

-  'A thousand would call the spot dreary

-    Where thou takest thy long repose;

-  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,

-    And the frame that suffering knows.

-  I never rejoiced more sincerely

-    Than at thy funeral hour,

-  Assured that the one I loved dearly

-    Was beyond affliction's power!

-

-Why did he quote all this to me, and tell me never to forget that

-spot, or who was buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt, and not

-my mother?'

-

-Florian felt keenly for the position of Dulcie Carlyon, and the

-perils and mortifications that might beset her path now; but he was

-too young, too healthy and full of animal life and spirits, to be

-altogether weighed down by the thought of his humble position and all

-that was before him; and now that he had seen her again, restored to

-her bosom the locket, and that he knew she was true to him, and had

-never for a moment wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to become

-suddenly full of new impulses and hopes for him, and he thought

-prayerfully that all might yet be well for them both.

-

-But when?

-

-To Dulcie there seemed something noble in the hopeful spirit that,

-under her influence, animated her grave lover now.  He seemed to

-become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap what might, she felt he would

-ever be true to her.

-

-He seemed brave and tender and true--'tender and true' as a Douglas

-of old, and Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it would be to

-have such a handsome young husband as he to take care of her always,

-and see that all she did was right and proper and wise.

-

-A long embrace, and he was gone to catch the inexorable train.  She

-was again alone, and for the first time she perceived that the sun

-had set, that the waves looked black as they rounded Revelstoke

-promontory, and that all the landscape had grown dark, desolate, and

-dreary.

-

-What a hopeless future seemed to stretch before these two creatures,

-so young and so loving!

-

-Florian was gone--gone to serve as a private soldier on the burning

-coast of Africa.  It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to think

-of.

-

-'Every morning and evening I shall pray for you, Florian,' wailed the

-girl in her heart; 'pray that you may be happy, good, and rich,

-and--and that we shall yet meet in heaven if we never meet on earth.'

-

-On the second morning after this separation, when Dulcie was pillowed

-in sleep, and the rising sun was shining brightly on the waves that

-rolled in Cawsand Bay and danced over the Mewstone, a great white

-'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under sail and steam, with the

-blue-peter flying at its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded

-with red coats, all waving their caps and taking a farewell look at

-Old England--the last look it proved to many--and, led by Bob

-Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of the Warwickshire,

-hundreds of voices joined chorusing:

-

-    'Merrily, my lads, so ho!

-  They may talk of a life at sea,

-    But a life on the land

-    With sword in hand

-  Is the life, my lads, for me!'

-

-

-But there was one young soldier whose voice failed him in the chorus,

-and whose eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of the Yealm till

-these and other familiar features of the coast melted into the

-widening Channel.

-

-Dulcie was roused to exertion from the stupor of grief that had come

-upon her by tidings that a situation had been found for her as

-companion--one in which she would have to make herself useful,

-amiable, and agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and wealth, to

-whom she would be sent by influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in

-London.

-

-The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate was her lot now, cast to

-seek her bread among utter strangers; and if she became ill,

-delicate, or unable to work, what would become of her?

-

-Her separation from Florian seemed now greater than ever; but, as

-Heine has it:

-

-  'Tis but the old, old story,

-    Yet it ever abideth new;

-  And to whomsoever it cometh

-    The heart it breaks in two.'

-

-

-To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.

-

-Dulcie had been born and bred there, and all the villagers in

-Revelstoke loved and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were deeply

-interested in the future of his daughter; thus, on the day of her

-departure no one made any pretence of work or working.  Heads were

-popping out and in of the windows of the village street all morning,

-and a cluster--a veritable crowd--of kindly folks accompanied Mr.

-Pentreath and the weeping girl to the railway station, for she wept

-freely at all this display of regard and sympathy, especially from

-the old, whom she might never see again.

-

-When the train swept her away, and she lost sight of the last

-familiar feature of her native place, a strange and heavy sense of

-utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and but for the presence of

-other passengers she would have stooped her head upon her hot hands

-and sobbed aloud, for she thought of her dead parents--when did she

-not think of them now?

-

-'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have loved and gone before us

-can see afar off those they have left, surely the mother who had

-passed from earth might tremble now for her child, standing so

-terribly alone in the midst of a seething sea of danger and

-temptations?'

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVII.

-

-AT CRAIGENGOWAN.

-

-With the new understanding--the tacit engagement that existed between

-herself and Vivian Hammersley--Finella writhed with annoyance when

-privately and pointedly spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'

-Shafto's attentions and hopes.

-

-'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn, 'I don't see why I may

-not marry whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl who has nothing

-in the world.  Indeed, in that case I am pretty sure that neither you

-nor cousin Shafto would want me.'

-

-'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn, when reporting this

-plain reply to Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not take her to

-London again, yet awhile.'

-

-'You are right,' replied that somewhat grim matron; 'and when once

-this Captain Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat too _èpris_

-with her, is gone, you can easily find some pretext for remaining at

-Craigengowan; or shall I have her with me?'

-

-'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn, who knew that the

-Drumshoddy _mènage_ did not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I

-think she is better here--propinquity and all that sort of thing may

-be productive of good.  I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made

-up, and, as I said before, she must settle soon.  We can't have

-twenty thousand a year slipping out of the family.'

-

-Finella thought little of their wishes or those of Shafto.  She

-thought only of that passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,

-where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips were pressed to hers;

-of the close throb of heart to heart, and that the great secret of

-her young girl's life was his now and hers no longer, but aware of

-the opposition and antagonism he would be sure to encounter just

-then, she urged upon him a caution and a secrecy of the engagement

-which his proud spirit somewhat resented.

-

-He thought it scarcely honourable to take advantage of Lord

-Fettercairn's hospitality, and gain the love of Finella without his

-permission; but as both knew that would never be accorded--that to

-ask for it would cut short his visit, and as he was so soon going on

-distant service, with Finella he agreed that their engagement should

-be kept a secret till his return.

-

-And to blind the eyes of the watchful or suspicious he actually found

-himself flirting with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young ladies

-who thought they spoke the purest English, though it was with that

-accent which Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of Edinburgh;' and,

-perceiving this, Lady Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and

-Finella was excessively amused.

-

-Not so the astute Shafto.

-

-'It is all a d----d game!' muttered that young gentleman; 'a red

-herring drawn across the scent.'

-

-'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?' asked Finella one evening,

-when she and her lover found themselves alone for a few minutes,

-during which she had been contemplating his dark face in silence.

-

-'My leave of absence is running out so fast--by Jove, faster than

-ever apparently now!'

-

-'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl softly and after a pause,

-her dark eyes darkening and seeming to become more intense.

-

-'No,' he replied, with hesitation.

-

-'Tell me, then--what is the other?'

-

-'You know how I love you----'

-

-'And I--you.'

-

-'But in one sense my love is so liable to misconstruction--so

-hopeless of proof.'

-

-'Hopeless, Vivian--after all I have admitted?' she asked

-reproachfully.

-

-'I mean because I am almost penniless as compared to you.'

-

-'What does that matter?  Surely I have enough for two,' said she,

-laughing.

-

-'And I fear the bitter opposition of your family.'

-

-'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the independent little beauty.

-

-'I have heard a rumour that one of the Melforts who made a pure

-love-marriage was cut off root and branch.'

-

-'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I was born.  Well--they can't

-cut _me_ off.'

-

-'They will never consent; and when I am far away, as I soon shall be,

-if their evil influence----'

-

-'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!' exclaimed the girl, her dark

-eyes sparkling through their unshed tears.  'Think not of their

-influencing me, for a moment.'

-

-'Thank you a thousand times for the assurance, my love.  It was vile

-of me to think of such things.  I have a sure conviction that your

-cousin Shafto dislikes me most certainly,' said Hammersley, after a

-pause.

-

-'I don't doubt it,' said she.

-

-'They mean you for him.'

-

-'They--who?'

-

-'Your grandparents.'

-

-'I know they do--but don't tease me by speaking of a subject so

-distasteful,' exclaimed Finella, making a pretty moue expression of

-disdain.

-

-He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on her hair, and his lips

-quickly found their way to hers, after they had been pressed on her

-snow-white eyelids.

-

-'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,' he exclaimed passionately.

-

-'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in that style of iteration

-of which lovers never grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,

-which it was a pity the gathering gloom prevented him from seeing.

-

-As they walked slowly towards the house, she quickly withdrew her

-hands, which were clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto approached

-them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt act, and drew his own conclusions

-therefrom, and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned abruptly away.

-

-'So that is the amiable youth for whom they design you,' said he in a

-whisper.

-

-'Did I not say you were not to speak of him?  To tell you the truth,

-I am at times somewhat afraid of him.'

-

-'My darling--I must give you an amulet--a charm against his evil

-influence,' said Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring on her

-wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'

-

-'What is this--oh, Vivian! actually a wedding-ring--but I cannot

-wear, though I may keep it.'

-

-'Then wear this until you can, when I return, darling,' said he, as

-he slipped a gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and stooping, kissed it.

-

-'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl happily.  'Well, Vivian, none

-other than the hoop you have now given me shall be my wedding-ring!'

-

-Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this she would have had good

-reason to fear that Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping

-away from the Craigengowan family, all the more so that the scene of

-this tender interview was a spot below the mansion-house, said to be

-traditionally fatal to the Melforts of Fettercairn, the Howe of

-Craigengowan--for there a terrible adventure occurred to the first

-Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of whom the men of the Mearns

-were wont to say he had not only sold his country to her enemies, but

-that he had also sold his soul to the evil one.

-

-It chanced that in the gloaming of the 28th of April, 1708, the first

-anniversary of that day on which the Scottish Parliament dissolved to

-meet no more, he was walking in a place which he had bought with his

-Union bribe--the Howe of Craigengowan, then a secluded dell,

-overshadowed by great alders and whin bushes--when he saw at the

-opposite end the figure of a man approaching pace for pace with

-himself, and his outline was distinctly seen against the red flush of

-the western sky.

-

-As they neared each other slowly, a strange emotion of superstitious

-awe stole into the hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong was

-this that he paused for a minute, and rested on his cane.  The

-stranger did precisely the same.

-

-The peer--the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited Estates--'pulled himself

-together,' and put his left hand jauntily into the silver hilt of his

-sword--a motion imitated exactly, and to all appearance mockingly, by

-the other, whose gait, bearing, and costume--a square-skirted crimson

-coat, a long-flapped white vest, black breeches and stockings rolled

-over the knee, and a Ramillie wig--were all the same in cut and

-colour as his own!

-

-Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert that he would never be

-able to describe the undefinable, the strange and awful sensation

-that crept over him when, as they neared each other, pace by pace, he

-saw in the other's visage the features of himself reproduced, as if

-he had been looking into a mirror.

-

-A cold horror ran through every vein.  He knew and felt that his own

-features were pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and dismay,

-while he could see that those of his dreadful counterpart were

-radiant with spite and triumphant malice.

-

-Himself seemed to look upon himself--the same in face, figure, dress;

-every detail was the same, save that the other clutched a canvas bag,

-inscribed '£500' the price of the Union vote (or, as some said, the

-price of his soul)--on seeing which my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in

-an agony of terror, and fell prone on his face--a fiendish yell and

-laugh from the other making all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.

-

-How long he lay there he knew not precisely; but when he opened his

-eyes the pale April moon was shining down the Howe, producing weird

-and eerie shadows, the alder and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,

-and the window lights were shining redly in the tall and sombre mass

-of Craigengowan, the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood up

-against the starry sky.

-

-He never quite recovered the shock, but died some years after; and

-even now on dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak, toads crawl,

-and the clock at Craigengowan strikes twelve, something strange--no

-one can exactly say what--is to be seen in the Howe, even within

-sound of the railway engine.

-

-But to resume our own story:

-

-Though a day for parting--for a separation involving distance, time,

-and no small danger to one--was inexorably approaching, Finella was

-very happy just then, with a happiness she had never known before,

-and with a completeness that made life--even to her who had known

-London for a brilliant season--seem radiant.  She had been joyous

-like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before the renewal and

-fuller development of her intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she

-was infinitely more joyous and content now.  ''Twas but the old, old

-story' of a girl's love, and in all her sentiments and all her hopes

-for the future Vivian shared.

-

-The beautiful dreams of a dual life had been partly--if not

-fully--realised through him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a

-perfect hero: though he was only a smart linesman, a handsome young

-fellow like a thousand others, yet he possessed every quality to

-render a girl happy.

-

-Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite 'cut the ground from under his

-feet' with Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in consequence,

-and being a master in cunning and finesse, wonderfully so for his

-years, he resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to Craigengowan

-cut short at all hazards, and he was not long in putting his scheme

-in operation.

-

-The lovers thus were not quite unconscious of being watched by eyes

-that were quickened by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,

-they were very, very happy--in Elysium, in fact.

-

-Finding that Hammersley had suddenly become averse to gambling, after

-a long day among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure him into play

-one evening in the smoke-room.

-

-Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto was remarkably sharp at cards,

-having become somewhat efficient after years of almost nightly play

-in the bar-room of the Torrington Arms at Revelstoke.

-

-Shafto's manner on this evening became almost insulting, and he

-taunted him with 'taking deuced good care of such money as he had.'

-

-''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know that you are

-rather--well--ah--rude?' said Hammersley, removing his cigar for a

-moment and staring at the speaker.

-

-'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.

-

-'Perhaps you had better make that your way,' said Hammersley, his

-brown cheek reddening as he indicated the room-door with his cigar.

-Then suddenly remembering that he must preserve certain amenities,

-and as guest--especially one circumstanced as he was secretly--he

-pushed his cigar-case towards Shafto, saying--'Try one of these--they

-are Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'

-

-'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.

-

-At last, piqued by the manner of the latter, and having been lured

-into drinking a little more brandy and soda than was good for him

-after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman sat down to play, and

-though he did so carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while

-not caring to win, he won greatly.

-

-Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a very considerable sum had

-passed into his hands, and, handsome though Shafto's quarterly

-allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could

-not help the lengthening of his visage, and the growing pallor of it,

-while his shifty eyes rolled about in his anxiety and anger; and Lord

-Fettercairn and young Kippilaw, who were present, looked on--the

-former with some annoyance, and the latter with amused interest.

-

-Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:

-

-'Hey--what the deuce is this?  Captain Hammersley, you have dropped a

-card.'

-

-And he picked one up from that officer's side, and laid it on the

-table.

-

-'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have _already_ played that card!'

-exclaimed Shafto, with fierce triumph.

-

-'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.

-

-'Whose, then?'

-

-'How the devil should I know?' asked Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.

-

-'Your luck has been marvellous, but not so much so when we know that

-you play with double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his cards and

-starting from the table, as the other did, now pallid with just rage.

-

-'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the officer, in a hoarse tone.

-

-'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful fact speaks for itself; and

-I think you have been quite long enough among us in Craigengowan,' he

-added, coarsely.

-

-Vivian Hammersley was pale as death, and speechless with rage.  He

-thought first of Finella and then of his own injured honour; and we

-know not what turn this episode might have taken had not Lord

-Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been quietly looking on from a

-corner, said gravely, sharply, and even with pain, as he started

-forward:

-

-'Shafto!  I saw you drop _that card_, where Mr. Kippilaw picked it

-up--drop it, whether purposely or not I do not say--but drop it you

-did.'

-

-'Impossible, sir!'

-

-'It is _not_ impossible,' said the peer, irately; 'and I am not blind

-or liable to make mistakes; and you too manifestly did so; whence

-this foul accusation of a guest in my own house--a gentleman to whom

-you owe a humble and most complete apology.'

-

-Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled spite at the new and

-sudden turn his scheme had taken, and at being circumvented in his

-own villainy.

-

-'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I thank you!' said Hammersley,

-drawing himself up proudly, looking greatly relieved in mind, and,

-turning next to Shafto, evidently waited for the suggested apology.

-

-But in that he was disappointed, as the 'heir' of Fettercairn turned

-abruptly on his heel and left the room, leaving his lordship to make

-the _amende_, which he did in very graceful terms.

-

-As it was impossible now for both to remain longer under the same

-roof after a fracas of this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to take

-his departure for the south by a morning train; but Lord Fettercairn,

-who, with all his selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the

-episode, and by several other ugly matters connected with his newly

-found 'grandson,' would by no means permit of that movement; and in

-this spirit of hospitality even Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him

-to remain and finish his visit, as first intended, while Shafto, in a

-gust of baffled rage and resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella

-and of the domestics, betook himself to Edinburgh, thus for a time

-leaving his rival more than ever in full possession of the field.

-

-'Whether she is influenced by Captain Hammersley I cannot say,' were

-the parting words of Lady Fettercairn to this young hopeful; 'but you

-seem by this last untoward affair to have lost even her friendship,

-and it will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her money should be

-lost to you too.'

-

-And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear grandmother' that it would be

-a pity indeed.

-

-As a gentleman and man with a keen sense of honour, Hammersley

-disliked exceedingly the secrecy of the engagement he had made with

-Finella, and felt himself actually colour more than once when Lord

-Fettercairn addressed him; but his compunctions about it grew less

-when he thought of the awful escape he had made from a perilous

-accusation, that might have 'smashed' him in the Service, and of the

-trickery of which Shafto was capable--a trickery of which he had not

-yet seen the end.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVIII.

-

-AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.

-

-The evening of the 10th January was closing in, and the blood-red

-African sun, through a blended haze of gold and pale green, red and

-fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous crimson globe at the

-horizon, tinging with the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad

-waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards Rorke's Drift.

-

-There a picquet of the Centre or Second column of infantry (of the

-army then advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard Glyn of the

-24th Regiment, was posted for the night.  The main body of the

-picquet, under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart young officer,

-was bivouacked among some mealies at a little distance from the bank

-of the river, along the margin of which his advanced sentinels were

-posted at proper distances apart, and there each man stood motionless

-as a statue, in his red tunic and white tropical helmet, with his

-rifle at the 'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that quarter in

-which the Zulu army was supposed to be hovering.

-

-To reach the Buffalo River the various columns of Lord Chelmsford's

-army could not march by regular roads, as no such thing exists in

-Zululand, and the sole guides of our officers in selecting the line

-of advance through these savage regions were the grass-covered ruts

-left by the waggon-wheels of some occasional trader or sportsman in

-past times.

-

-As the column had been halted for the night, at a considerable

-distance in rear of the outlying picquet, the men of the latter had

-their provisions with them ready cooked, and were now having their

-supper in a grassy donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was their

-table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being more luxurious than the rest,

-had spread thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the _Times_; but the

-appetites of all were good, and their temperament cheery and hearty.

-Their rifles were piled, and they brewed their coffee over a blazing

-fire, the flame of which glowed on their sun-burned and beardless

-young faces, and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own fire,

-jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed great mouthfuls of their

-favourite liquor 'scoff.'

-

-Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend closely to his own duties,

-and the moment the evening meal was over, he desired the sergeant of

-the picquet to 'go round the advanced sentries.'

-

-The sergeant, a young and slender man, and who was no other than

-Florian, touched the barrel of his rifle and departed on his

-mission--to visit the sentinels in rotation by the river bank, and

-see that they were in communication with those of the picquets on the

-right and left.

-

-The scenery around was savage and desolate; long feathery grass

-covered the veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features in it

-were some blue gum trees, and on a koppie, or little eminence, the

-deserted ruins of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump of

-eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground were some bustards and blue

-Kaffir cranes by the river bank.

-

-Short service and disease had given Florian rapid promotion; for our

-soldiers, if brave, had no longer the power of manly endurance of

-their predecessors under the old system.  According to General

-Crealock, the extreme youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered

-their powers for toil very small; while the Naval Brigade, composed

-of older men, had scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu campaign

-was a very trying one; there were the nightly entrenchments, the

-picquet duty amid high grass, and the absence of all confidence that

-discipline and that long mutual knowledge of each other give in the

-ranks.  He added most emphatically that our younger soldiers were

-unfit for European campaigning; that half the First Division were

-'sick;' there were always some 200 weak lads in hospital, 'crawling

-about like sick flies,' and, like him, every officer was dead against

-the short-service system.

-

-The face of our young sergeant was handsome as ever; but it was

-strangely altered since late events had come to pass.  There was a

-haggard and worn look in the features, particularly in the eyes.  The

-latter looked feverish and dim--their brightness less at times, while

-a shadow seemed below them.

-

-Florian having, as he now deemed, no right to the name of Melfort, or

-even that of MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name, as that by

-which he had been known from infancy, lest he might make a false

-attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from, even if it was

-his--which at times he doubted!  His regiment was the brave old 24th,

-or Second Warwickshire, which had been raised in the eventful year

-1689 by Sir Edward Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of one of

-the few undoubted Saxon families in England, and it was afterwards

-commanded in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.

-

-Second to none in the annals of war during the reigns of Anne and the

-early Georges, the 24th in later times served with valour at the

-first capture of the Cape of Good Hope, in the old Egyptian campaign,

-in the wars of Spain and India, and now they were once again to cover

-themselves with a somewhat clouded and desperate glory in conflict

-with the gallant Zulus.

-

-Florian in his new career found himself occasionally among a somewhat

-mixed and rough lot--the raw, weedy soldiers of the new disastrous

-system--but there were many who were of a better type; and the

-thought of Dulcie Carlyon--the only friend he had in the world, the

-only human creature who loved him--kept him free from the temptations

-and evil habits of the former; and he strove to live a steady, pure,

-and brave life, that he might yet be worthy of her, and give her no

-cause to blush for him.

-

-He got through his drilling as quickly as he could, and soon

-discovered that the sooner a soldier takes his place in the ranks the

-better for himself.  He found that though many of his comrades were

-noisy, talkative, and quarrelsome, that the English soldier quicker

-than any other discovers and appreciates a gentleman.  His officers

-soon learned to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity with which

-he won his three chevrons, and Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though

-he was, he could trust Florian to go round the sentinels.

-

-Each was at his post, and the attention of each increased as the

-gloom after sunset deepened, for none knew who or what might be

-approaching stealthily and unseen among the long wavy grass and mossy

-dongas that yawned amid the country in front.

-

-'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill, whom he heard singing

-merrily to himself, 'you should be mute as a fish on outpost duty,

-and keep your ears open as well as your eyes.  What have you got in

-your head, Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the author of the

-"Red Rag" says, we soldiers have not much in our heads at any time,

-or we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls or bullets with them.'

-

-'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob, 'but I can't think what made

-you--a gentleman--enlist.'

-

-'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I suppose.  And you?'

-

-'Through one I wish I never had seen?'

-

-'Who was that?'

-

-    'The handsome young girl,

-    With her fringe in curl,

-  That worked a sewing-machine,'

-

---sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian returned to report 'all

-right' to Mr. Sheldrake.

-

-Though the actual cause of the Zulu war lies a little apart from our

-story, it may be necessary to mention that we invaded the country of

-Cetewayo after giving him a certain time, up to the 11th of January,

-to accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative for war, by

-delivering up certain of his subjects who had violated British

-territory, attacked a police-station, and committed many

-outrages,--among others, carrying off two women, one of whom they put

-to a barbarous death near the Buffalo River.

-

-But instead of making any apology, or giving an indemnity, Cetewayo

-prepared to defend himself at the head of an enormous army of hardy

-Zulu warriors, all trained in a fashion of their own, divided into

-strong regiments, furnished with powerful shields of ox-hide, and

-armed with rifles, war clubs, and assegais--a name with which we are

-now so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages five feet in

-length, with the diameter of an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the

-assegai tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre, and

-furnished with a spear-head.  Some are barbed, some double-barbed,

-and the tang of the blade is fitted--when red-hot--into the wood, not

-the latter into the blade, which is then secured by a thong of wet

-hide, and is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his head with it; and

-it is a weapon which they can launch with deadly and unerring skill.

-

-The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was unable to sign his own name,

-'and was as ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,' and he

-thought no more of putting women, 'especially young girls, to death,

-than Bluff King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all this was to

-see him presented at Osborne, and to become the petted and fêted

-exile of Melbury Road, Kensington.

-

-This night by the Buffalo River was Florian's first experience of

-outpost duty, and he felt--though not the responsible party--anxious,

-wakeful, and weary after a long and toilsome day's march.

-

-He knew enough of military matters to be well aware that the

-importance of outposts, especially when dealing with a wily and

-savage enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no force, when

-encamped in the field, can be deemed for a moment safe without them.

-Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great that it was pardonable to

-be defeated, but never to be surprised.

-

-'I don't understand all this change that has come over my life,'

-thought he, as he stretched himself on the bare earth near the

-picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and mother can see and think

-of me where they are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with a kind

-of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they were near me and watching

-over me, so they must see and think too.'

-

-Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she doing?  How supporting

-herself, as she said she would have to do?  Had she found friends,

-or, months ago, been trodden, with all her tender beauty, down in the

-mire of misfortune and adversity?

-

-These were maddening thoughts for one so far away and so utterly

-powerless to help her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him at

-times more reckless of his own existence because it was useless to

-her.

-

-The air around was heavy with the dewy fragrance of strange and

-tropical plants, and vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their

-shadows over him as he strove to snatch the proverbial 'forty winks'

-before again going 'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for

-they are always hourly when before an enemy.

-

-And when our weary young soldier did sleep, he dreamt, not of the

-quick-coming strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with her wealth of

-red golden hair, but, as the tender smile on his lips might have

-showed, of the time when his mother watched him in his little cot,

-with idolizing gaze, and when he, the now bronzed and moustached

-soldier, was a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair curling

-over his white forehead; when his cheeks had a rosy flush, and his

-tiny mouth a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands that lay

-outside the snow-white coverlet her own deft fingers had made--the

-two wee hands that held his mother's heart between them--the heart

-that had long since mouldered by Revelstoke Church.

-

-And so he slept and dreamed till roused by the inevitable cry of

-'Sentry, go!' and, that duty over, as he composed himself to sleep

-again, with his knapsack under his head for a pillow, he thought as a

-soldier--

-

-  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet

-  On any human being rose or set!'

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIX.

-

-ELANDSBERGEN.

-

-Next morning when the picquet was relieved young Sheldrake, who paid

-Hammersley's company in absence of the latter, who was soon expected

-with a strong draft from England, said to Florian--

-

-'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid mistake.  The company's money

-I have left among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond Elandsbergen,

-and I have got the Colonel's permission to send you back for it.

-This is just like me--I've a head, and so has a pin!  The

-Quartermaster will lend you his horse, and you can have my spare

-revolver and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you go,' he added,

-proffering his case, 'and look sharp after yourself and the money.

-There is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you are going back to.

-We don't advance from this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of time

-to be with us ere we cross the river, if you start at once.'

-

-'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he saluted and went away to

-obtain the horse, the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which he

-intensely disliked, and almost doubted his power to carry out, as it

-took him rearward through a country of which he was ignorant, which

-was almost without roads, and where he would be single-handed, if not

-among savages, among those who were quite as bad, for in some of

-these districts, as in the Orange Free State and Boerland, there

-swarmed broken ruffians of every kind, many of them deserters; and,

-says an officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number of these

-undesirable specimens of our countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone

-that night was truly made hideous with their howlings, respectable

-persons were afraid to leave their houses after nightfall, and the

-report of revolvers ceased to elicit surprise or curiosity.  I have

-been in some of the most notorious camps and towns in the territories

-and mining districts of the United States, but can safely assert that

-I never felt more thankful than when I found my horse sufficiently

-rested here to continue my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the

-wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses were devoured by them;

-the tiger-cat and the aarde-wolf also.

-

-With a knowledge of all this Florian loaded his revolver, looked

-carefully to the bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse, received a

-note from Mr. Sheldrake to the officer commanding the little fort

-near the foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp of No. 2 column

-on his solitary journey, steering his way by the natural features of

-the country so far as he could recall them after the advance of the

-10th January, and watching carefully for the wheel tracks or other

-indications of a roadway leading in a westerly direction; and many of

-his comrades, including Bob Edgehill, watched him with interest and

-kindly anxiety till his white helmet disappeared as he descended into

-a long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's Drift.

-

-The evening passed and the following day dawned--the important

-12th--when Zululand was to be invaded at three points by the three

-columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance party detailed from Colonel

-Glyn's brigade to reconnoitre the ground in front got under arms and

-began to move off, and Sheldrake and others began to feel somewhat

-uneasy, for there was still no appearance of the absent one.

-

-* * * *

-

-The country through which Florian rode was lonely, and farmhouses

-were few and many miles apart.  Its natural features were undulating

-downs covered with tall waving grass, furrowed by deep, reedy

-water-courses; here and there were abrupt rocky eminences, and dense

-brushwood grew in the rugged kloofs and ravines.

-

-The air was delightful, and in spite of his thoughts the blood

-coursed freely through his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated

-by the pace at which his horse went, he could not help giving a loud

-'Whoop!' now and then when a gnu, with its curved horns and white

-mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the upland slopes, or a baboon

-grinned at him from amid the bushes of a kloof.

-

-Before him stretched miles of open and grassy veldt, and the

-flat-topped hills of the Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The

-vast stretch of plain, across which ever and anon swept herds of

-beautiful little antelopes, was covered with luxuriant grass, which

-seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it went the track, which

-he was always afraid of losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the

-veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by the grass were everywhere

-deep holes burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his horse's

-forelegs sank ever and anon, to the peril of the animal and his rider

-too.  Thus Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter with his

-reins loose, while he sat tight and prepared for swerving when his

-nag, which was a native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent hole,

-which they can do with wonderful sagacity.

-

-So Florian was not sorry when he left the veldt behind him, and after

-a ride of about thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small fort at

-the foot of Drakensberg appear in front with a little Union Jack

-fluttering on a flagstaff.

-

-This was about mid-day.

-

-Anxious to return as soon as he could rest his horse, he lost no time

-in delivering Sheldrake's note to the officer in command, and with

-the key of a trunk indicated therein among his best uniform, and amid

-girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button bouquets, rare pipes,

-and an omnium-gatherum of various things, the bag was found, with the

-company's money, and delivered to Florian, who, after a two hours'

-halt, set out on his return journey; but he had not proceeded many

-miles when he found that his horse was utterly failing him, and,

-regretting that he had not remained at the post for the night, he

-resolved to spend it in the little town of Elandsbergen, towards

-which he bent his way, leading the now halting nag by the bridle.

-

-Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely detached cottages studding

-both sides of a broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt or

-prairie, with fragmentary attempts at cultivation here and there; and

-how the people lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows of stunted

-oaks lined the street, if such it could be called, and through it

-flowed a rill of pure water, at which the poor nag drank thirstily.

-

-Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry, dignified by the title of the

-Royal Hotel, where 'civil entertainment for man and beast' was

-promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It was a somewhat

-substantial edifice of two storeys, built of baked brick, square in

-form, with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work, covered with

-half-bricks and with clayey mortar to render it impervious to the

-torrents of the South African rainy season.

-

-In some of the windows were glass panes; in others sheepskin with the

-wool off, which, in consequence of extreme tension, attains a certain

-transparency.  Giving his horse to a Kaffir ostler, whose sole

-raiment was a waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,

-Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,' the proprietor of which

-started and changed colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he

-might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard, sedulously cultivated,

-and a shock head of hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one of

-the many deserters from our troops, already referred to, and, though

-apparently anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian of the

-worst kind.

-

-The room into which he ushered Florian was bare-walled, the furniture

-was of the plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was formed of

-cow-dung over wet clay, all kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it

-could be polished, a process learned from the Zulus in the

-construction of their kraals.

-

-A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap portrait of Sir Bartle Frere,

-and the skull of an eland with its spiral horns were the only

-decorations of the apartment, and the literature of 'the day' was

-represented by three tattered copies of the _Cape Argus_, _Natal

-Mercury_, and the _Boer Volksteem_.

-

-Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in person was quite as

-dirty as a Boer; his loose cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt

-with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin pouch and an ugly

-hunting-knife with a cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were

-stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered remnant of an ostrich

-feather.

-

-The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in, and announced something in

-his own language to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to Florian,

-said--

-

-'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'

-

-'How--what do you mean?' demanded Florian.

-

-'That your horse is dying.'

-

-'Dying!'

-

-'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'

-

-Florian in no small anxiety and excitement hurried out to the stable,

-in which two other nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor

-animal he had ridden lying among the straw in strong convulsions,

-labouring under that curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a

-most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly attacked it.

-

-The animal had looked sullen and dull all morning, and in the stable

-had been assailed by the distemper and its usual symptoms, heaving

-flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy eyes, and a projecting tongue

-tightly clenched between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions, and

-he was dead in half an hour, and Florian found that he would probably

-have to travel afoot for more than twenty miles before he could

-rejoin the column on the morrow.

-

-'Where have you come from, Sergeant?' asked Josh Jarrett, when they

-returned to the public room.

-

-'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'

-

-'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett, with a portentous wink and a

-brightening eye.

-

-'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.

-

-'Fellows do so every day now in these short-service times.'

-

-'I was going to the front, when my horse fell lame.'

-

-'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'

-

-'The dismounted now, I think,' replied Florian.  'I should like to

-rest here for the night, and push on as best I can to-morrow; so what

-can I have for supper?'

-

-Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he thought a sergeant's purse

-would not go far in the way of luxuries, and then replied:

-

-'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef and a good glass of

-squareface or Cape smoke, which you please.'

-

-'The first will do, and a glass of the squareface, which means

-Hollands, I suppose.  Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied

-Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet and seated himself in a

-large cane-bottomed chair.

-

-'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked Jarrett.

-

-'Thanks--well, no--I am used to it.'

-

-'As you please,' said the other surlily, and summoning in a loud

-voice a female named 'Nan,' left the room.

-

-The latter laid the table, brought in the frugal supper, with a case

-bottle of squareface, and, instead of leaving the room, seated

-herself near a window and entered into conversation, with what object

-Florian scarcely knew, but he disliked the circumstance, till he

-began to remember that she probably considered herself his equal.

-

-When his hasty repast was over, taking a hint from a remark that he

-was weary, she withdrew, and then Florian began to consider the

-situation.

-

-He was fully twenty miles from the regiment; a rough country, not to

-be traversed even by daylight, infested with wild animals, and many

-obnoxious things, such as puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between;

-and unless Jarrett would accommodate him with a horse, which was very

-unlikely (he seemed such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would

-have to travel the journey on foot, and begin betimes on the morrow

-as soon as dawn would enable him to see the track eastward.

-

-He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver and its ammunition,

-reloading the six chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the

-company's money; and tempted, he knew not by what rash impulse unless

-it was mere boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by which the

-paymaster had secured the mouth of the bag to have a peep at the gold.

-

-He had never seen a hundred sovereigns before, and never before had

-so much money in his possession.  Some of the glittering coins fell

-out on the clay floor; and as he gathered them up a sound made him

-look round, and from the window he saw a human face suddenly vanish

-outside, thus showing that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been

-furtively watching him, and he strongly suspected it to be the woman

-Nan, prompted, perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he concealed

-the gold.

-

-He was the more convinced of the lurker being she when, soon after,

-she entered, retook her seat by the window, through which the evening

-sun was streaming now, and began to address him in a light and

-flippant manner, as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior

-purposes; but his suspicions were awakened now, and Florian was on

-his guard.

-

-He perceived that she had made some alterations and improvements in

-her tawdry dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of large

-old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped like small rams' horns of real

-gold.

-

-She seemed to be about thirty years of age, and was not without

-personal attractions, though all bloom was past, and the expression

-of her face was marred by its being alternately leering, mocking,

-and--even in spite of herself--cruel.  Yet her eyes were dark and

-sparkling.  She wore a fringe of thick brown hair close down to them,

-concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth, if large, was

-handsome, but lascivious-looking, and Florian, whose barrack-room

-experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,' thought--though he was not

-ungallant enough to say so--that her absence would be preferable to

-her company, which she seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But

-guests were doubtless scarce in these parts, and the 'Royal Hotel,'

-Elandsbergen, had probably not many visitors.

-

-She asked him innumerable questions--his age, country, regiment, and

-so forth--and all in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his hair,

-and once attempted to seat herself on his knee; but he rose and

-repelled her, and then it was that the unmistakably cruel expression

-came flashing into her eyes.

-

-'You are too young and too handsome to be killed and disembowelled by

-the big Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could eat a boy like

-you.  Why don't you desert and go to the Diamond Fields?'

-

-'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'

-

-'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?' she said sneeringly.

-

-'Yes.'

-

-'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'

-

-'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.

-

-'I have read--I have some book-knowledge, you see--that when a Swiss

-officer was reproached by a French one that he fought for pay, and

-not like himself for honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we each

-of us fight for that which he is most in need of."'

-

-'I don't see the allusion in this instance: a soldier, I do my duty

-and obey orders.'

-

-'Have a drop more of the squareface--you can't be so rude as to

-refuse a lady,' she continued, filling up a long glass, which she put

-to her lips, and then to those of Florian, who pretended to sip and

-then put the glass down.

-

-He was at a loss to understand her and her advances.  Vanity quite

-apart, he knew that he was a good-looking young fellow, and that his

-uniform 'set him off;' but he remembered the face at the window, and

-was on his guard against her in every way.  Would she have acted thus

-with an officer? he thought; and in what relation did she stand to

-the truculent-looking landlord--wife, daughter, or sister?  Probably

-none of them at all.

-

-Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared to do so, and seating herself

-at a rickety old piano, which Florian had not noticed before, she,

-while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded to sing a once-popular flash

-song, long since forgotten in England, and probably taken out by some

-ancient settler, generations ago, to the Cape Colony:

-

-  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life

-    Took it into his noddle to die,

-  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,

-    I think I'd know very well _why_.

-

-  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief--

-    Not sink with the weight of my care:

-  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,

-    And I think I know very well _where_.

-

-  'Another kind mate should give me what fate

-    Would not from the former allow;

-  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,

-    And I think I'd know very well _how_.

-

-  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said

-    No judge of the conjugal lot;

-  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,

-    And I think I know very well _what_.'

-

-

-This she sang with a skill and power that savoured of the music hall,

-and then tried her blandishments again to induce Florian to drink of

-the fiery squareface; but he resisted all her inducement to take

-'just one little glass more.'

-

-Why was she so anxious that he should imbibe that treacherous spirit,

-which he would have to pay for?  And why did the landlord, who

-certainly seemed full of curiosity about him, leave him so entirely

-in her society?

-

-Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'

-

-'That is Josh,' said she impatiently; 'bother him, what does he want

-now?  Josh is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'

-

-'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as he now hoped to be rid of

-her.

-

-'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have one glass more, dear, before I

-leave you.'

-

-But he turned impatiently away, and she withdrew, closing a scene

-which caused Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He remembered to

-have read, that 'man destroys with the horns of a bull, or with paws

-like a bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or by embracing like a

-serpent.'  And he was in toils here unseen as yet!

-

-The light faded out beyond the dark ridges of the Drakensberg, and

-Florian requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment, which was on

-the upper storey.

-

-'You may hear a roaring lot here by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you

-are a soldier, and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You will be

-tired, too, after your ride.'

-

-The man had now a sneaking and wicked look in his eyes, which avoided

-meeting those of Florian, and which the latter did not like, but

-there was no help for it then.

-

-'You will call me early if I sleep too long,' said Florian, as

-Jarrett gave him a candle.

-

-The hand of the latter shook as he did so--he had evidently been

-drinking heavily, and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot, and his

-voice thick, as he said:

-

-'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound enough,' and closed the

-door.

-

-With a sigh almost of relief Florian found himself alone.  He set

-down the sputtering candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It was

-without a lock, and secured only by a latch, by which it could be

-opened from the outside as well as within.

-

-On making this startling discovery, Florian's heart glowed with

-indignation and growing alarm!  He felt himself trapped!

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XX.

-

-BAFFLED!

-

-The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only furniture was a table,

-chair, and truckle-bed--all obviously of Dutch construction--and,

-unless he could find some means to secure his door, he resolved to

-remain awake till dawn.  The only window in the room overlooked the

-roof of the stable where the dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and

-shook in the night wind, and he could see the bright and, to him, new

-constellations glittering in the southern sky.

-

-Florian contrived to secure the door by placing the chair on the

-floor as a wedge or barrier between it and the bedstead, on the

-mattress of which--though not very savoury in appearance--he cast

-himself, for he was weary, worn, and felt that there was an absolute

-necessity for husbanding his strength, as he knew not what might be

-before him, so he extinguished the candle.

-

-Something in the general aspect and bearing of the man Josh Jarrett,

-and in those of the woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and

-something, too, in his general surroundings and isolated

-situation--for the few scattered houses of Elandsbergen were all far

-apart--together with the memory of the prying face he had seen at the

-window, at the very moment he was picking up the gold, all served to

-put Florian on his guard; thus he lay down without undressing, and,

-longing only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the butt of his

-pistol.

-

-For some time past he had been unused to the luxury of even a

-truckle-bed or other arrangements for repose than his grey greatcoat

-and ammunition blanket, with a knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite

-his keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep, for how long he knew

-not; but he suddenly started up as the sound of voices below came to

-his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar whereabouts rushed on him.

-

-Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but not loud--voices of persons

-talking in low and concentrated tones in the room beneath, separated

-from him only by the ill-fitting boarding of the floor, between the

-joints of which lines of light were visible, and one bright upward

-flake, through a hole from which a knot had dropped out.

-

-'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could smash the life out of him by one

-blow of my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett, say.

-

-Others responded to this, but in low, stealthy, and husky tones.

-Certain that some mischief with regard to himself was on the _tapis_.

-Florian crept softly to the orifice in the floor, and looked down.

-Round a dirty and sloppy table, covered with drinking-vessels, pipes

-and tobacco-pouches, bottles of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh

-Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like fellows, with Nan among

-them, all drinking; and a vile-looking quintette they were,

-especially the woman, with her hair all dishevelled now, and her face

-inflamed by that maddening compound known as Cape smoke.

-

-'When I was ass enough to be in the Queen's service,' said Jarrett

-with a horrible imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and

-non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they said it was my own fault

-that I was always drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may, I've one

-of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll sarve him out for what they made

-me undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my purpose as well as another.

-Nan, you did your best to screw him, but he was wary--infernally

-wary.  Blest if I don't think the fellow is a Scotsman after all, for

-all his English lingo.'

-

-'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped the amiable Nan; 'you

-should have drugged it, Josh.'

-

-'But then we didn't know that he had all this chink about him.'

-

-'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who had not yet spoken, but was

-prodding the table with a knife he had drawn from his belt; 'we'll

-give him a through ticket to the other world--one with the down

-train.'

-

-'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.

-

-Florian felt beads of perspiration on his brow; he was one against

-five--entrapped, baited, done to death--and if he did not appear at

-headquarters with the fatal money, what would be thought of him but

-that he had deserted with it, and his name would be branded as that

-of a coward and robber.

-

-Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked him, but it nerved him too.

-

-Another truculent-looking fellow now came in, making five men in all.

-

-'He has money galore on him--Nan saw the gold--money in a canvas bag.

-How comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his grab, unless he

-stole it?' said Jarrett, in explanation to the new-comer.

-

-'Of course he stole it--it's regimental money, and evidently he is

-deserting with it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like Jarrett, a

-Queen's bad bargain also; for he added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's

-short-service soldiers care about their chances of pension or

-promotion--that's the reason he has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't

-we make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife into him, and then

-burying him out in the veldt before daylight.  Even if he was traced

-here, who is to be accountable for a deserter?'

-

-And this practical ruffian proceeded at once to put a finer edge and

-point upon his long bowie knife.

-

-'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.

-

-'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely to use it in his sleep,

-especially when we pin him by the throat.'

-

-He was but one against five armed and reckless desperadoes; and there

-was the woman, too, whose hands were ready for evil work.  The stair

-that led to his room was narrow--so much so that there was but space

-for one on a step.  The lower or outer door he knew to be securely

-locked and bolted.  The window of his room, we have said, overlooked

-the lean-to roof of the stable, where he knew that two horses were in

-stall--a sure means of escape could he reach one; but the door, he

-was aware, was locked, and the key in possession of the Kaffir groom.

-

-He was maddened by the thought that his barbarous and obscure death

-would brand him with a double disgrace; and death is more than ever

-hard when suffered at the hands of cowards.

-

-'What is the use of all this blooming talk?' said one, starting from

-the table; 'let us set about the job at once!'

-

-'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll perhaps try to escape by

-the stable-roof, so while you fellows go up the stair, I go round to

-the back of the house and cut off his retreat.'

-

-'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my only chance lies that way.'

-

-He opened the window at the very moment that stealthy steps sounded

-on the wooden stair, and a red light streamed under the door, which

-their felon hands failed to force, so firmly was the chair wedged

-between it and the bed.  He slid down the stable-roof, and dropped

-safely on the ground, to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing

-on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him down, firing two chambers

-into his very teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare out into the

-open veldt, leaving the ruffian wallowing in his blood.

-

-He knew not and cared not in what direction he ran at first, as he

-could hear the oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over whom his

-youth, lightness, and activity gave him an advantage; but after a

-time red-dawn began to streak the eastern sky, and he knew that was

-the direction which, if he was spared, would take him to the bank of

-the Buffalo River.

-

-He continued to run at a good steady double, saving his wind as he

-did so, and his courage and confidence rose when he found that he was

-distancing his pursuers so much that he could neither see nor hear

-anything of them.

-

-As he ran on he thought for a moment or two of the fierce gleaming

-eyes and glistening teeth of Jarrett--of the blood he had shed, and

-the life he had perhaps taken for the first time, remorsefully; but

-had he not acted thus, what would he have been?  A gashed corpse!

-

-'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier--why such thoughts at all?  Why

-should I have mercy when these wretches would have had none?' and he

-began to regret that he had not fired a random shot or two through

-the room-door and knocked over some of them on the staircase.

-

-A sound now struck his ear; it was the thud of galloping hoofs upon

-the veldt, and his heart sank as he remembered the two horses in the

-stable, where his dead nag was lying.

-

-He looked back, and there, sure enough, in the grey dawn were two

-mounted men riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he could not

-for a moment doubt they were two of Jarrett's companions in pursuit,

-thirsting with avarice and for revenge.

-

-He made his way, stumbling wildly and breathlessly down a wooded

-ravine to elude their sight; on and on he strove till a vine root

-caught his foot: his hands outstretched beat the air for a moment,

-and then he fell headlong forward and downward into a donga full of

-brushwood.

-

-For a moment he had a sense of strange palms, and giant cacti, and of

-great plants with long spiky leaves being about him, and then he

-became unconscious as he lay there stunned and bleeding profusely

-from a wound in his forehead, which had come in contact with a stone.

-

-

-

-END OF VOL. I.

-

-

-

-BILLING & SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 68293 ***
+
+  DULCIE CARLYON.
+
+
+  A Novel.
+
+
+
+  BY
+
+  JAMES GRANT,
+
+  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.
+
+
+  IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+  VOL. I.
+
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  WARD AND DOWNEY,
+  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
+
+  1886.
+
+  [_All Rights Reserved._]
+
+
+
+
+NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.
+
+
+FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.
+
+COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.
+
+MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.
+
+AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.
+
+WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3
+vols.
+
+IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.
+
+AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.
+
+LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.
+
+
+WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+In Loving Memory
+
+OF
+
+MY ELDEST SON,
+
+JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,
+
+_Captain Cheshire Regiment,_
+
+I INSCRIBE
+
+THIS MILITARY STORY.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I. IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS
+
+II. WEDDED
+
+III. THE SPURNED OFFER
+
+IV. REVELSTOKE COTTAGE
+
+V. DULCIE
+
+VI. THE SECRET PACKET
+
+VII. A FAREWELL
+
+VIII. THE SILVER LOCKET
+
+IX. MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+
+X. ALONE IN THE WORLD
+
+XI. SHAFTO IN CLOVER
+
+XII. VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY
+
+XIII. AMONG THE GROUSE
+
+XIV. THE TWO FINELLAS
+
+XV. AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN
+
+XVI. ''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'
+
+XVII. AT CRAIGENGOWAN
+
+XVIII. AT THE BUFFALO RIVER
+
+XIX. ELANDSBERGEN
+
+XX. BAFFLED!
+
+
+
+
+DULCIE CARLYON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.
+
+'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and you know how I hate
+scenes.'
+
+'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'
+
+'I shall need all my self-possession to get over the _esclandre_ this
+affair may cause,' exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.
+
+'Well, life is made up of getting over things,' responded her husband.
+
+'But not things so disgraceful as this, Fettercairn!'
+
+'Is this son of yours in his senses?'
+
+'Who is that loves? it has been asked,' said the culprit referred to.
+
+'A marriage between you and a penniless girl in her rank of life is
+not to be thought of, Lennard.'
+
+'Her rank of life, father?'
+
+'Yes!'
+
+'Her father's rank was superior to that of the first of our family,
+when life began with him.'
+
+'What is that to you or to me now?'
+
+'Much to me.'
+
+'Too much, it would seem.'
+
+The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn, his wife,
+the Lady thereof, and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a captain
+of the line, home on leave from India, who had been somewhat timidly
+venturing to break--knowing the inordinate family vanity of his
+parents--we say to break the news of his love for a girl possessed of
+more beauty than this world's goods; and, in his excitement and
+indignation, his lordship's usual easy, indolent, and drawling way
+was forgotten now when addressing his son.
+
+Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and Strathfinella in the Mearns)
+was by nature a proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man, whose
+chief passion in life was a combined spirit of enormous vanity and
+acquisitiveness, which he inherited from his predecessors, whom he
+resembled in political caution and selfishness, and also in personal
+appearance, to judge from the portraits of three generations, by Sir
+John de Medina, Aikman, and Raeburn, adorning the walls of the
+stately room in the house of Craigengowan, where this rather stormy
+interview took place.
+
+Tall and thin in figure, with flat square shoulders and
+sandy-coloured hair, cold grey eyes, and irregular features, he was
+altogether a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited his slightly
+aquiline nose and perfect face from his mother, but his firm dark
+eyes and rich brown hair from a previous generation; and these,
+together with an olive complexion, rendered more dusky by five years'
+exposure to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very striking one.
+
+My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding were, as Sir Bernard Burke
+had recorded, irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a _grande
+dame_ to the tips of her long slender fingers.  She was about
+forty-five years of age, but looked ten younger.  The upper part of
+her aristocratic face was strikingly handsome; but the lower, with
+its proud and firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her
+complexion was almost colourless, her hair of the lightest brown,
+like her eyebrows and lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as
+an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought with a sigh, they seemed
+quite as--cold.
+
+Her manner was always calm, assured, and self-possessed.  She would
+smile, but that smile never degenerated into honest laughter, while
+her pale and impressive face was without a line--especially on her
+forehead--that seemed to indicate either thought or reflection, and
+certainly she had never known care or sorrow or even annoyance until
+now.
+
+'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the young man, breaking an ominous
+silence, with reference to the object of his love.
+
+'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn,
+cresting up her handsome head haughtily, and a whole volume of
+intense pride and hauteur was centred in the last word she spoke.
+
+'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls herself?' asked his father in
+a similar tone; 'but I need not ask.  You have already told us she is
+the governess in a house you have been recently visiting--that of
+Lady Drumshoddy--a governess, with all her beauty, poor and obscure.'
+
+'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of red passing under the tan
+of his olive cheek; 'her father was a gallant old officer of the
+Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the battle of Khooshab, in
+Persia, and her only brother and support fell when leading on his
+Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The old captain was, as his
+name imports, a cadet of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'
+
+'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt, from the grounding of the
+Ark to the battle of Culloden,' sneered his father.
+
+'Then his family would end soon after ours began,' retorted the son,
+becoming greatly ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't count much
+beyond three generations ourselves.'
+
+Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his sorest point, grew white with
+anger.
+
+'We always suspected you of having some secret, Lennard,' said his
+mother severely.
+
+'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one says, a secret is like a hole
+in your coat--the more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'
+
+'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar; does _she_ teach you this
+style of thing?' asked the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened again
+with annoyance, and gave his dark moustache a vicious twist, but
+sighed and strove to keep his temper.
+
+'I have found and felt it very bitter, father, to live under false
+colours,' said he gently and appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret
+from you both, which should be no secret at all.'
+
+'We would rather not have heard this secret,' replied Lord
+Fettercairn sternly, while tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop
+whiskers.
+
+'Then would you have preferred that I should be deceitful to you, and
+false to the dear girl who loves and trusts me?'
+
+'I do not choose to consider _her_,'  was the cold reply.
+
+'But I do, and must, now!'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because we are already married--she is my wife,' was the steady
+response.
+
+'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother with one accord, as they
+started from their chairs together, and another ominous silence of a
+minute ensued.
+
+'My poor, lost boy--the prey of an artful minx!' said Lady
+Fettercairn, looking as if she would like to weep; but tears were
+rather strangers to her cold blue eyes.
+
+'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew her, you would not talk thus
+of Flora,' urged Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in our
+power to give love and to withhold it, easy indeed would our progress
+be through life.'
+
+'Love--nonsense!'
+
+'Save to the two most interested, who are judges of it,' said
+Lennard.  'Surely you loved my father, and he you.'
+
+'Our case was very different,' replied Lady Fettercairn, in her anger
+actually forgetting herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan
+with her firm white teeth.
+
+'How, mother dear?'
+
+'In rank and wealth we were equal.'
+
+Lennard sighed, and said:
+
+'I little thought that you, who loved me so, would prove all but one
+of the mothers of Society.'
+
+'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his father.
+
+'What a writer says.'
+
+'And what the devil does he say?'
+
+'That "love seems such a poor and contemptible thing in their eyes in
+comparison with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their own youth;
+one does, they say, when he outlives romance.  And I suppose bread
+and butter is better than poetry any day."'
+
+'I should think so.'
+
+'We had other and brilliant views for you,' said his mother in a tone
+of intense mortification, 'but now----'
+
+'Leave us and begone, and let us look upon your face no more,'
+interrupted his father in a voice of indescribable sternness, almost
+hoarse with passion, as he pointed to the door.
+
+'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh, mother!'  But she averted
+her face, cold as a woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'
+
+'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and sadly, as he drew himself up
+to the full height of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome and
+comely fellow he looked as he turned away and left the room.
+
+'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is yet left to us!' exclaimed
+Lady Fettercairn earnestly.
+
+It was the last time in this life he ever heard his mother's voice,
+and he quitted the house.  On the terrace without, carefully he
+knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root, put it with equal
+care into its velvet-lined case, put the case into his pocket, and
+walked slowly off with a grim and resolute expression in his fine
+young face, upon which from that day forth his father and mother
+never looked again.
+
+Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet face of the young girl who
+had united her fortunes with his, and who was anxiously awaiting the
+result of the interview we have described.
+
+Sorrow, mortification, and no small indignation were in the heart of
+Lennard Melfort at the result of the late interview.
+
+'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying poor Flora without their
+permission, but that they would never have accorded, even had they
+seen her; and none fairer or more beautiful ever came as a bride to
+Craigengowan.'
+
+Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look at the house so named--the
+home of his boyhood.
+
+It stands at some distance from the Valley of the Dee (which forms
+the natural communication between the central Highlands and the
+fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid
+luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan obtained from the highway
+only excite curiosity without gratifying it, but a nearer approach
+reveals its picturesque architectural features.
+
+These are the elements common to most northern mansions that are
+built in the old Scottish style--a multitude of conical turrets,
+steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets, encrusted with the
+monograms and armorial bearings of the race who were its lords when
+the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood and drawers of water.
+
+The turrets rise into kindred forms in the towers and gables, and are
+the gradual accumulation of additions made at various times on the
+original old square tower, rather than a part of the original design,
+but the effect of the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.
+
+In the old Scottish garden was an ancient sun and moon dial, mossy
+and grey, by which many a lover had reckoned the time in the days of
+other years.
+
+Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled and attainted Jacobite
+family, from whom it passed readily enough into the hands of the
+second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and unscrupulous Commissioner on
+the forfeited estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had now many
+modern comforts and appliances; the entrance-hall was a marble-paved
+apartment, off which the principal sitting-rooms opened, and now a
+handsome staircase led to the upper chambers, whilom the abode of
+barons who ate the beef and mutton their neighbours fed in the valley
+of the Dee.
+
+The grounds were extensive and beautiful, and Lord Fettercairn's
+flower gardens and conservatories were renowned throughout Angus and
+the Mearns.
+
+To the bitter storm that existed in his own breast, and that which he
+had left in those of his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked the
+old house and the summer scenery to Lennard--the place on which he
+probably would never gaze again.
+
+There was a breeze that rustled the green leaves in the thickets, but
+no wind.  Beautiful and soft white clouds floated lazily in the deep
+blue sky, and a recent shower had freshened up every tree, meadow,
+and hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or golden by the banks
+of the Bervie, and the voice of the cushat dove came from the autumn
+woods from time to time as with a sigh Lennard Melfort turned his
+back on Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went, the pride of his
+family, for, though not an old one, by title or territory, they were
+as proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.
+
+The first prominent member of the family, Lennard Melfort, had been a
+Commissioner for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament, and for
+political services had been raised to the peerage by Queen Anne as
+Lord Fettercairn and Strathfinella, and was famous for nothing but
+selling his Union vote for the same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,
+and for having afterwards 'a rug at the compensation,' as the English
+equivalent money was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir saw
+half the old peerages of Scotland attainted, he obtained
+Craigengowan, and was one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie said,
+'wad sell his soul to the deil for a crackit saxpence.'
+
+With the ex-Commissioner the talent--such as it was--of the race
+ended, and for three generations the Lords of Fettercairn had been
+neither better nor worse than peers of Scotland generally; that is,
+they were totally oblivious of the political interests of that
+country, and of everything but their own self-aggrandisement by
+marriage or otherwise.
+
+Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the family that proved untrue to
+its old instincts.
+
+'And I had made up my mind that he should marry Lady Drumshoddy's
+daughter--she has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady Fettercairn.
+
+'Married my governess--the girl MacIan!' snorted my Lady Drumshoddy
+when she heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why marry the creature?
+He might love her, of course--all men are alike weak--but to marry
+her--oh, no!'
+
+And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very moral woman according to her
+standard, and carried her head very high.
+
+When tidings were bruited abroad of what happened, and the split in
+the family circle at Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and
+indignation expressed in the servants' hall, the gamekeepers' lodges,
+and the home farm, for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a
+favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates; and Mrs. Prim, his
+mother's maid, actually shed many tears over the untoward fate he had
+brought upon himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WEDDED.
+
+'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite of this bitter affront
+to which you are subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.
+
+'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love you, Lennard--love you so
+much,' she added, while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like
+lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I would die!'
+
+'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he responded, while tenderly
+caressing her.
+
+'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion, Lennard?'
+
+'Foolish?'
+
+'Yes--or rash.  I have heard that it is not lucky for people to love
+each other so much as we do.'
+
+'Could we love each other less?'
+
+'I don't think so,' said she simply and sweetly, as he laid her cheek
+on his breast with her upturned eyes gazing into his.
+
+The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect was every curve of her
+shapely figure, which was destitute of any straight line; even her
+nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.  Her beautifully arched
+mouth, the scarlet line of her upper lip, and the full round of the
+nether one were parted in a tender smile, just enough to show her
+teeth, defied all criticism; her complexion was pure and soft, and
+her eyes were of the most liquid hazel, with almost black lashes.
+Her hair was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a lady to perfection,
+especially by the whiteness and delicacy of her beautifully shaped
+little hands.
+
+When she walked she did so gracefully, as all Highland women do, and
+like them held her head poised on her slender neck so airily and
+prettily that her nurse, Madelon, called her 'the swan.'
+
+'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she, after a pause, 'as I thought of
+the _mauvais quart d'heure_ you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'
+
+'It was a _mauvais_ hour and more, darling.'
+
+'And ever and anon I felt that strange chill, or shudder, which Nurse
+Madelon says people feel when some one crosses the place where their
+grave is to be.  How can your parents be so cruel to you?'
+
+'And to you, Flora!'
+
+'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with her eyes full of unshed
+tears, and in a pained voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very
+designing girl; but in spite of that, you will always care for me as
+much as you do now?'
+
+'Why such fears?  Ever and always--ever and always, my darling,' said
+Lennard Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most effectually for a
+time.
+
+'Oh, if you should ever come to regret, and with regret to love me
+less!' said she, in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment fixed on
+vacancy.
+
+'Why that boding thought, Flora?'
+
+'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'
+
+He kissed her again as the readiest response.
+
+But the sequel proved that his great love outlasted her own life,
+poor girl!
+
+Then they sat long silent, hand locked in hand, while the gloaming
+deepened round them, for words seem poor and feeble when the heart is
+very full.
+
+'How long will they continue to despise me?' said Flora suddenly,
+while across her soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a long and
+gallant line of Celtic ancestors.
+
+An exclamation of bitterness--almost impatience, escaped Lennard.
+
+'Let us forget them--father, mother, all!' said he.
+
+The girl looked passionately into the face of her lover-husband--the
+husband of a month; and never did her bright hazel eyes seem more
+tender and soft than now, with all the fire of love and pride
+sparkling in their depths, for her Highland spirit and nature
+revolted at the affront to which she was subjected.
+
+The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the poise of his close-shorn head
+told that he was a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the style of
+his light grey suit showed how thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to
+Flora's loving and partial eye he was every-way a model man.
+
+They had been married just a month, we have said, a month that very
+day, and Lennard had brought his bride to the little burgh town,
+within a short distance of Craigengowan, and left her in their
+apartments while he sought with his father and mother the bootless
+interview just narrated.
+
+For three days before he had the courage to bring it about, they had
+spent the time together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling along
+the banks of the pretty Bervie, from the blue current of which ever
+and anon the bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or in the
+deep and leafy recourses of the adjacent woods, and climbing the
+rugged coast, against which the waves of the German Sea were rolling
+in golden foam; or ascending Craig David, so called from David II. of
+Scotland--a landmark from the sea for fifteen leagues--for both had a
+true and warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature in all her
+moods and aspects.
+
+The sounds of autumn were about them now; the hum of insects and the
+song of the few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the golden
+broom and the sweet briar, with a score of other sweet and
+indefinable scents and balmy breaths.  All around them was scenic
+beauty and peace, and yet with all their great love for each other,
+their hearts were heavy at the prospect of their future, which must
+be a life of banishment in India, and to the heaviness of Lennard was
+added indignation and sorrow.  But he could scarcely accuse himself
+of having acted rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to that his
+family would never have consented; and he often thought could his
+mother but see Flora in her beauty and brightness, looking so
+charming in her smart sealskin and bewitching cap and feather, and
+long skirt of golden-brown silk that matched her hair and eyes--every
+way a most piquante-looking girl!
+
+Young though he was, and though a second son, Lennard Melfort had
+been a favourite with more than one Belgravian belle and her mamma,
+and there were few who had not something pleasant or complimentary to
+say of him since his return from India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and
+water parties, girls had given him the preference to many who seemed
+more eligible, had reserved for him dances on their programmes, sang
+for him, made unmistakable _œillades_, and so forth; for his
+handsome figure and his position made him very acceptable, though he
+had not the prospects of his elder brother, the Hon. Cosmo.
+
+Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was regarded and valued well, and
+nourished great hopes therefrom; but this was all over and done with
+now.
+
+To her it seemed as if he had thrown his very life away, and that
+when his marriage with a needy governess--however beautiful and well
+born she might be--became known, all that charmed and charming circle
+in Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as a black sheep indeed;
+would shake their aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and Lady
+Fettercairn for having such a renegade son.
+
+Flora's chief attendant--a Highland woman who had nursed her in
+infancy--was comically vituperative and indignant at the affront put
+by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she called her.
+
+Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy, active, and only in her
+fortieth year, with black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion, a
+set of magnificent white teeth, and her manner was full of emphatic,
+almost violent, gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders, who seem
+to talk with their hands and arms quite as much as the tongue.
+
+Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native Gaelic, but generally in the
+dialect of the Lowlands.
+
+'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha are the Melforts o'
+Fettercairn, that they should slight you--_laoghe mo chri_?' she
+added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a pity it is ye canna fling
+at their heads the gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna yowl
+gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've begun wi' love and marriage,
+and a gude beginning mak's a gude ending.'
+
+'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon, and I have ruined my poor
+Lennard,' urged Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.
+
+'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak' but a wersh breakfast,'
+laughed Madelon; 'but you're no sae puir as that comes to, my
+darling.'
+
+'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in turn.  'Yet I have
+sorely injured my husband's prospects.'
+
+'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo, but he weds only whar his
+weird lies; and so Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?  Then
+what is a Lord that we should _lippen_ to _him_?  As long as ye serve
+a tod ye maun carry his tail?  And your father's daughter may carry
+her head wi' the highest.'
+
+Lennard Melfort now resolved neither verbally nor by letter to have
+further intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or elsewhere, but
+before he could make up his mind what to do or could betake him
+south, as he meant to quit Scotland without delay, on the day
+subsequent to the stormy interview Madelon announced a visitor, and
+on a salver brought in a card inscribed--'MR. KENNETH KIPPILAW, W.S.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SPURNED OFFER.
+
+'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,' said Lennard, in answer to
+her inquiring glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing her to
+their visitor, who bowed with a critical glance and appreciative
+smile.
+
+'I have been telegraphed for by your father, Captain Melfort,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw, as they shook hands and he was motioned to a chair.
+
+A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like man, about forty years
+of age, Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible to
+begin the matter in hand by any remarks about youthful imprudence,
+early marriages, or so forth, as he knew the pride and temperament of
+the young man before him, but laid down his hat, and, after some of
+that familiar weather talk which is the invariable prelude to any
+conversation over all the British Isles, he gently approached the
+object of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity and terror of
+her heart, never doubted was a separation of some kind between
+herself and Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and withdrew.
+
+'To what am I indebted for the pleasure of this--a--unexpected
+interview?' asked Lennard, a little stiffly.
+
+'Instructions just received from your father, Captain Melfort.'
+
+'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'
+
+'Straight.'
+
+'Has he made up his mind to accept my wife as his daughter-in-law?'
+
+'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'
+
+Lennard's face darkened with indignation, and he gave his moustache
+an angry twist.
+
+'Are my father and mother determined to ignore the fact that she is a
+lady by birth?' asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.
+
+'Yes--they know, of course, that she is a lady,' stammered Mr.
+Kippilaw, feeling his mission an ungracious one, 'but poor--one who
+has sunk into obscurity and dependence--pardon me, I but use their
+own identical words.
+
+'Well?'
+
+'What is done in this instance unfortunately cannot be undone,
+Captain Melfort; but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in the
+matter, is willing to continue your allowance, and even to double it,
+on one condition.
+
+'Name it.'
+
+Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a lawyer, considerably hardened,
+he felt the delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's dark eyes
+seemed to focus and pierce him.
+
+'The condition--to the point!'
+
+'Is--that you will return to India----'
+
+'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted Lennard sharply.
+
+'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain, but never attempt to
+intrude Mrs. Melfort upon your family or their circle, and contrive,
+if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'
+
+'Insolent--and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed Lennard Melfort as he
+started from his chair and paced about the room, with his dark eyes
+flashing and the veins in his forehead swollen like whip-cord.
+
+'The words I speak are not my own,' said Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.
+
+'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my father that I reject his bribe
+to insult my wife--for a bribe it is--with the scorn it merits.  Not
+a penny of his money will I accept while my sword and pay, or life
+itself, are left me.  Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view
+myself as their son no more.  As they discard me, so do I discard
+them; and even their _very name_ I shall not keep--remember that!'
+
+'Dear me--dear me, all this is very sad!'
+
+'They have thrust me from them as if I had been guilty of a crime----'
+
+'Captain Melfort!'
+
+'A crime I say--yet a day may come when they will repent it; and from
+this hour I swear----'
+
+'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw, entreatingly; 'take no
+hasty vow in your present temper.'
+
+'I swear that to them and theirs I shall be--from this hour--as one
+in the grave!'
+
+'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose--which God forbid--that aught
+happened to your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'
+
+'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my interest in the title--it
+may become dormant, extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor
+any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I again set foot in
+Craigengowan, or on the lands around it--no, never again, never
+again!'
+
+To every argument of the kind-hearted Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved
+the Fettercairn family and esteemed the high-spirited Lennard, the
+latter turned a deaf ear.
+
+He departed in despair of softening matters between the rash son and
+indignant parents.  To them he greatly modified the nature of the
+useless interview, but they heard of Lennard's determination with
+perfect unconcern, and even with a grim smile of contempt, never
+doubting that when money pressure came upon him they would find him
+at their mercy.  But that time never came.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and there the affair seemed to
+end.
+
+The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to him were said smilingly and
+loftily:--
+
+'The French have a little phrase, which in six words expresses all
+our experiences in life.'
+
+'And this phrase, my lord?'
+
+'Is simply--_tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse_--that we outlive
+everything in turn and in time--and so this matter of Lennard's pride
+will be a matter of time only.  Be assured we shall outlive the
+indignation of our misguided son.'
+
+'But will you outlive your own?'
+
+'Never!'
+
+'I can but hope that you will, my lord.  Remember the hackneyed
+quotation from Pope--"To err is human, to forgive divine."
+
+'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.
+
+The name of Lennard was never uttered again by his parents, nor even
+by his brother Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the hour for
+forgiveness was past; and even Cosmo they contrived to innoculate
+with their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of hostility.
+Lennard's portrait was removed from its place of honour in the
+dining-hall, and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods, chattels,
+and mementoes he left at home were scattered and dispersed; even his
+horses were sold, and the saddles he had used; and the Fettercairn
+family would--could they have done so--have obliterated his name from
+the great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard Burke.
+
+Heedless of all that, the young husband and his dark-eyed girl-wife
+were all the world to each other.
+
+'After mamma followed papa to the grave, Lennard--for she never held
+up her head after she heard of his death at Khooshab,' said Flora, as
+she nestled her head in his neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life
+of hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till I met you, dearest.
+I felt that even the love of some dumb animal--a dog or a horse--was
+better than the entire absence of affection in the narrow circle of
+my life.  I did so long for something or some one to love me
+exclusively--I felt so miserably, so utterly alone in the world.  Now
+I have you--_you_ to love me.  But in winning you I have robbed you
+of the love of all your people.'
+
+'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest Flora.  We are now more
+than ever all in all to each other.'
+
+The money bribe, offered in such a way and for such a purpose,
+exasperated Lennard still more against his family, and drew many a
+tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.
+
+She thought that she had wrought Lennard a great wrong by winning his
+love for herself, and she was now burning with impatience to turn her
+back on the shores of Britain and find a new home in India; and
+there, by staff or other employments and allowances, Lennard knew
+that he could gain more than the yearly sum his father so
+mortifyingly offered him.
+
+Flora wept much over it all, we say, and her appetite became
+impaired; but she did not--like the heroine of a three-volume
+novel--starve herself into a fright.
+
+But a short time before she had been a childish and simple
+maiden--one sorely tried, however, and crushed by evil fortune; but
+with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had come into her existence and
+awakened her soul, and she was a woman--innocent still--but yet a
+woman.'
+
+The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly lovely in the purity
+and richness of its verdure and varied artistic views, for the woods
+were profusely tinted with gold, russet brown, and red, when Lennard
+Melfort turned his back upon it and his native home for ever!
+
+The birds were chirping blithly, and the voice of the corncraik, with
+
+  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'
+
+came on the evening breeze together.  The old kirk bell was tolling
+in the distance, and its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart of
+home like that of an old friend.  The river was rolling under its
+great arch of some eighty feet in span, the downward reflection of
+the latter in the water making a complete circle like a giant O.  The
+old castle of Halgreen, with its loopholed battlements of the
+fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon its wave-beaten
+eminence, and the blue smoke of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher
+village, curled up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded out in
+the distance.
+
+Flora became marvellously cheerful when their journey fairly began,
+and laughingly she sung in Lennard's ear--
+
+  'The world goes up and the world goes down,
+  But _yesterday's_ smile and _yesterday's_ frown
+  Can never come back again, sweet friend--
+  Can never come back again!'
+
+
+Means were not forgotten to support nurse Madelon in her native
+place, where we shall leave her till she reappears in our narrative
+again.
+
+So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for India, full of love for each
+other and hope for their own lonely and unaided future, and both
+passed for ever out of the lives and apparently out of the memory of
+the family at Craigengowan.
+
+Times there were when he hoped to distinguish himself, so that the
+circle there--those who had renounced him--would be proud of him; but
+in seeking that distinction rashly, he might throw away his life, and
+thus leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy of a cold world
+and a proverbially ungrateful Government.
+
+But they could not forget home, and many a time and oft, where the
+sun-baked cantonments of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the fierce
+light of the Indian sun, where the temples of Hurdwar from their
+steep of marble steps look down upon the Ganges, or where the
+bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah, garlanded with fragrant jasmine,
+stand by the rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and baubool trees,
+with their golden balls loading the air with perfume, while the giant
+heron stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked in the ooze,
+and the Brahmin ducks floated overhead, Flora's sweet voice made
+Lennard's heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of the land they
+had resolved never to look upon again, even when that sound so
+stirring to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far away, the
+pipes of a Highland regiment, poured their notes on the hot sunny air.
+
+At home none seemed to care or think of the discarded son but the
+worthy lawyer Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a lad, and could
+not get his hard fate out of his mind.
+
+From time to time, inspired by kindness and curiosity, he watched his
+name among the captains in the military lists of that thick
+compendium which no Scottish business establishment is ever
+without--'Oliver and Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while, the
+name of Lennard Melfort _disappeared_, but whether he was dead, had
+sold out, or 'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the Signet could
+not discover, and he not unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a
+lost life.
+
+And here we end that which is a species of prologue to our story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.
+
+More than twenty years had elapsed after the episodes we have
+described, and Lennard and Flora had found a new home, and she, her
+_last one_, more than four hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies
+from where Craigengowan looks down on the German Sea.  But none that
+looked on Lennard Melfort now would have recognised in the
+prematurely aged man the handsome young fellow who in ire and disgust
+had quitted his native land.
+
+In two years after he had gone eastward a dreadful fever, contracted
+in a place where he had volunteered on a certain duty to gain money
+for the support of his wife and her little Indian establishment--the
+Terrai of Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which lies along
+the great forest of the Himalayas, and has an evil repute even among
+the natives of the country in the wet season when the leaves are
+falling.
+
+This fever broke Lennard's health completely, and so changed him that
+his rich brown hair and moustache were grey at six-and-twenty, and
+ere long he looked like a man of twice his age.
+
+'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort of the Fusiliers?  Why, he
+is a veritable Knight of the Rueful Countenance!' exclaimed some old
+friends who saw him at 'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a place
+of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as it subsequently chanced to
+be.
+
+Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider, and near a beautiful
+little bay into which the waters of the British Channel rippled,
+stood the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied, as 'Major MacIan,'
+with his son and a nephew.
+
+The wooded hills around it were not all covered with orchards,
+however, and the little road that wound round the bay ran under
+eminences that, from their aspect, might make a tourist think he was
+skirting a Swiss lake.  Others were heath-clad and fringed at the
+base by a margin of grey rocks.
+
+Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and transparent always.  Here
+salmon trout were often found, and the young men spent hours at its
+estuary angling for rock fish.
+
+A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray to be 'the sweetest object
+that the poet, the artist, or the lover of the romantic could desire
+to see,' and such a cottage was that of Major MacIan, the name now
+adopted by Lennard--that of Flora's father--in fulfilment of the vow
+he had made to renounce the name, title, and existence of his family.
+
+Around it, and in front sloping down to the bay, was a beautiful
+garden, teeming with the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On three
+sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis work of which was covered by
+a woven clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper, which, in the
+first year of her residence there, Flora's pretty hands, cased in
+garden gloves, were never tired of tending; and now the Virginia
+creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils, emerald green in summer, russet
+and red in autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof and around the
+chimney stalks, making it, as Flora was wont to say exultingly,
+'quite a love of a place!'
+
+On one hand lay the rolling waters of the Channel, foaming about the
+Mewstone Rock; on the other, a peep was given amid the coppice of the
+ancient church of Revelstoke, and here the married pair lived happily
+and alone for a brief time.
+
+Save for the advent of a ship passing in sight of the little bay, it
+was a sleepy place in which Lennard, now retired as a major, had
+'pitched his tent,' as he said--the Cottage of Revelstoke.  Even in
+these railway times people thereabout were content with yesterday's
+news.  There was no gas to spoil the complexions of the young, and no
+water rates to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never came, in their
+orange-tinted envelopes, to startle the hearts of the feeble and the
+sickly.
+
+No monetary transactions having taken place, and no correspondence
+being necessary, between Lennard and his family or their legal agent,
+Mr. Kippilaw, for more than twenty years now, he had quite passed
+away from their knowledge, and almost from their memory; and many who
+knew them once cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife were in the
+land of the living.
+
+A son, we have said, had been born to them, and Lennard named the
+child Florian, after his mother (here again ignoring his own family),
+whom that event cost dear, for the sweet and loving Flora never
+recovered her health or strength--injured, no doubt, in India--but
+fell into a decline, and, two years after, passed away in the arms of
+Lennard and her old nurse, Madelon.
+
+Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel now, though an orphan
+nephew of Flora--the son of her only sister--came to reside with
+him--Shafto Gyle by name--one who will figure largely in our story.
+
+Would Lennard ever forget the day of her departure, when she sank
+under that wasting illness with which no doctor could grapple?  Ever
+and always he could recall the sweet but pallid face, the white,
+wasted hands, the fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so
+unnaturally large when, after one harrowing night of pain and
+delirium, she became gentle and quiet, and lovingly told him to take
+a little rest--for old-looking he was; old, worn, and wasted far
+beyond his years--and he obeyed her, saying he would take a little
+turn in the garden among the roses--the roses her hands would tend no
+more--sick at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber and all it
+suggested, and maddened by the loud ticking of the watchful doctor's
+repeater as it lay on a table littered with useless phials; and how,
+ere he had been ten minutes in the sunny morning air, amid the
+perfume of the roses, he was wildly summoned by Madelon Galbraith
+with white cheeks and affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of death
+it proved to be; for it was on the brow of Death he pressed his
+passionate kisses, and to ears that could hear no more he uttered his
+heartrending entreaties that she would not leave him, or would give
+him one farewell word; and ever after would the perfume of roses be
+associated in his mind with that morning--the most terrible one of
+his life!
+
+Beside Revelstoke Church--old, picturesque, and rendered comely by a
+wealth of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed around its hoary walls
+to flutter in the sea breeze--she was laid, and the heart of Lennard
+seemed to be buried with her.
+
+It is a lonely old building, spotted with lichens, worn by storms,
+and perched upon the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the salt
+spray comes at times to the burial-ground.  It is near the end of
+Mothcombe Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the southward.
+
+Not a house is near it, the solitary hills and waves encompass it,
+and it is said that its smouldering tombstones would furnish ample
+matter for the 'meditations' of a Hervey.  So there Flora was laid,
+and there Lennard was to be laid by her side when the time came.
+
+Her death hardened his heart more than ever against his own family,
+and he began almost to forget that he ever bore any other name than
+hers--his adopted one.
+
+In the kindness of his heart the major, as the lads--his son and
+nephew--grew up together, introduced both to neighbours and strangers
+equally as his sons, but most unwisely, as we shall ere long have to
+record.
+
+Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did he reveal his real name, or
+the story of the quarrel with his family and their work; thus in and
+about Revelstoke all three passed under the name of MacIan now.
+
+Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her mistress on her death-bed,
+and nursed her baby into boyhood, had now gone back to her native
+glen in the wilds of Ross.  She proved, Lennard found, somewhat
+unfitted for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways and ideas were
+foreign to those of the folks thereabouts; but she will have a
+prominent place in our story in the future.
+
+But long, long Madelon wept over Florian, and pressed him often to
+her breast--'the baby of her bairn,' as she had called him--for as
+she had nursed him, so had she nursed his mother before him in the
+days when the victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents at
+Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.
+
+'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting words; 'I'll see ye yet
+again, Florian.  If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DULCIE.
+
+All trace of Lennard Melfort had been obliterated at Craigengowan, we
+have said.  He was never mentioned there, and though his family tried
+to think of him as dead, they did not quite succeed; but the
+disappearance of his name from the Army List first excited a little
+speculation, but no inquiry, until a terrible event occurred.
+
+The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married the daughter of Lady
+Drumshoddy, thus securing her thousands, and did his best to console
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the disgrace' brought upon them by
+Lennard, and they regarded him quite as a model son.
+
+He shone as Chairman at all kinds of county meetings; became M.P. for
+a cluster of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish member,
+mightily interested when such grand Imperial matters as the
+gravelling of Park Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the
+improvements at Hyde Park Corner were before the House, but was
+oblivious of all Scottish interests, or that such a place as Scotland
+existed.  When she wanted--like other parts of the empire--but never
+got them--grants for necessary purposes, the Hon. Cosmo was mute as a
+fish, or if he spoke it was to record his vote against them.
+
+Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and with natural grief and dismay,
+that Cosmo had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking near
+Glentilt.  He had wounded a large stag, the captain of its herd, and
+approached rashly or incautiously when the infuriated animal was at
+bay.  It broke its bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great
+shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo was trampled under foot and
+gored to death by its horns.
+
+As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the scene where that death must
+have happened, under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel builds his
+nest and the great mountain eagle has his eyry, and the Tilt comes
+thundering down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never again would
+his eyes rest on such glorious scenes as these.
+
+Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella, who took up her abode with
+her grandparents at Craigengowan, but no son, and Lennard knew that
+by this tragedy he was now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave
+a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her grave and made no sign.
+
+'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting for a time much that had
+occurred, and how completely Cosmo had leagued with father and mother
+against him, his memory went back to the pleasant days of their happy
+boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot together, shared the same
+bedroom in Craigengowan, and conned their tasks from the same books.
+
+'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over and done with long, long
+ago.'
+
+He made no sign, we say, but let time pass by, not foreseeing the
+complications that were eventually to arise by his doing so.
+
+Florian, born two years after the adoption of Shafto Gyle in his
+infancy, always regarded and looked up to the latter as a species of
+elder brother and undoubted senior.
+
+In his twentieth year Florian was really a handsome fellow, and if,
+without absurdity, the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a young
+man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.  Tall in figure, hard and
+well developed in muscle, regular in features, he had clear, dark,
+honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's, and a dark, silky moustache.
+
+Shafto's face was in some respects handsome too, but an evil one to
+look at, in one way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and had a way of
+meeting in a dark frown when he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes
+were shifty, and were given him, like his tongue, to conceal rather
+than express his thoughts, for they were sharp and cunning.  His
+nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips, suggestive of
+cruelty, while his massive jaw and thick neck were equally so--we
+must say almost to brutality.
+
+They were rather a contrast, these two young men--a contrast no less
+great in their dispositions and minds than in their outward
+appearance.  They were so dissimilar--one being dark and the other
+fair--that no one would have taken them for brothers, as they were
+generally supposed to be, so affectionate was the Major to both, and
+both bearing his name in the locality.
+
+As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant reputation for jockeying
+his companions, 'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats, marbles, and
+money, and for skilfully shifting punishments on the wrong shoulders
+when opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on those of the
+unsuspecting Florian.
+
+From some of his proclivities, the Major thought Shafto would make a
+good attorney, and so had him duly installed in the office of
+Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer, while for his own boy,
+Florian, he had higher hopes and aspirations, to make him, like
+himself, a soldier; but though far from idle, or lacking application,
+Florian failed, under the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'
+to pass, and not a few--Shafto particularly--laid it to the account
+of a certain damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed, with some
+truth, to occupy too much of his thoughts.
+
+Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,' Florian would at once
+have enlisted, like so many others, who rush as privates for
+commissions nowadays; but his father's fast-failing health, his love
+for Dulcie Carlyon, and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope that
+'something would turn up,' kept him hanging on day by day aimlessly
+at Revelstoke, without even the apparent future that had opened to
+Shafto when elevated to a high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.
+
+As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or MacIan as he called himself),
+though he had a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for
+business to all appearance, cleverness, and strength of character,
+turned with greater pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear open
+brow and honest manly eyes bore nature's unmistakable impress of a
+truer nobility than ever appertained to the truculent and
+anti-national lords of Fettercairn.
+
+Though to all appearance the best of friends before the world, the
+cousins were rivals; but as Florian was the successful lover, Shafto
+had a good basis for bitterness, if not secret hate.
+
+In common with the few neighbours who were in that sequestered
+quarter, the lawyer liked the Major--he was so gentle, suave,
+retiring in manner, and courteously polite.  He liked Florian too,
+but deemed him idle, and there his liking ended.
+
+He took Shafto into his office at the Major's urgent request, as a
+species of apprentice, but he--after the aphorism of 'Dr. Fell'--did
+not much affect the young man, though he found him sharp enough--too
+sharp at times; and, like most of the neighbours, he never cared to
+inquire into the precise relationship of the Major and the two lads,
+both of whom from boyhood had called the latter 'Papa.'
+
+Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited circle in which she
+moved, and a very limited circle it was; but she was pretty enough to
+have been the belle of a much larger orbit; for she was the very
+ideal of a sweet, bright English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth
+year, and the boy and girl romance in the lives of her and Florian
+had lasted since they were children and playmates together, and they
+seemed now to regard each other with 'the love that is given once in
+a lifetime.'
+
+'Could I but separate these two!' muttered Shafto, as with eyes full
+of envy and evil he watched one of their meetings, amid the bushes
+that fringed an old quarry not far from Revelstoke Church.
+
+From the summit where he lurked there was a magnificent view of the
+sea and the surrounding country.  On one hand lay the lonely old
+church and all the solitary hills that overlook its wave-beaten
+promontory; on the other were the white-crested waves of the British
+Channel, rolling in sunshine; but Shafto saw only the face and figure
+of Dulcie Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of picturing her,
+in a jacket of navy blue, fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt
+with clinging folds of the same--a costume which invests an English
+girl with an air equally nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses
+always fitted her exquisitely, and her small head, with smart hat and
+feather, set gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a
+_soupçon_ of pride in its contour and bearing.
+
+Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like complexion which is
+so peculiarly English, Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with
+eyes deeply and beautifully blue, reddish-golden hair, a laughing
+mouth that some thought too large for perfect beauty, but it was
+fully redeemed by its vivid colour and faultless teeth.
+
+'Could I but separate them!' muttered Shafto, through his clenched
+teeth, while their murmured words and mutual caresses maddened him.
+
+Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in an open locket which
+Florian had just given her--a likeness, no doubt, of himself--and she
+did so repeatedly, and ever and anon held it admiringly at arm's
+length.  Then she closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver
+necklet to which it was attached round her slender white throat; and
+with a bright fond smile she concealed it among the lace frilling of
+her collarette, and let the locket, for security, drop into the cleft
+of her bosom, little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in her
+life.
+
+Shafto's face would not have been pleasant to look upon as he saw
+this episode, and his shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he
+watched it.
+
+'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a kind of boyish rapture, as he
+placed a hand on each of her shoulders and gazed into her eyes, 'I am
+most terribly in love with you.'
+
+'Why should there be any terror in it?' asked Dulcie, with a sweet
+silvery laugh.
+
+'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your love, and being always
+with you, that--that a fear comes over me lest we should be some day
+parted.'
+
+'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she with a pretty pout, while
+her long lashes drooped.
+
+'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have you ever had an
+emotion that comes uncalled for--that which people call a
+presentiment?'
+
+'Yes; often.'
+
+'Has it ever come true?'
+
+'Sometimes.'
+
+'Well--I have a presentiment this evening which tells me that
+something is about to happen to me--to us--and very soon too!'
+
+'What can happen to us--we are so happy?' said Dulcie, her blue eyes
+dilating.
+
+Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown to Florian, mysteriously
+prompt this thought--this boding fear.  Shafto heard the words, and a
+strange smile spread over his face as he shook his clenched hand at
+the absorbed pair, and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving two
+foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from which they might be
+roughly awakened--leaving the happy Florian, with that sweet and
+winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and with whom he had played even as a
+child; with whom he had shared many a pot of clotted cream; with whom
+he had fished for trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with fearful
+steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern there, where lie thick the
+fossil bones of the elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for hours
+by the moors, among mossy rocks and mossy trees, and in woody
+labyrinthine lanes, and many a time and oft by the sea shore, where
+the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in a manner beyond description,
+but so loosely bound together that waves rend them asunder, and shape
+them into forms like ruined castles and stranded ships; till, as
+years went on, heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life had been
+left behind; and that dream-time came in which they seemed to live
+for years.
+
+No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of coquetry, her nature was too
+truthful and open for that; thus she had never for a moment wavered
+in her preference between Florian and Shafto, and spent with the
+former those bright and hopeful hours that seldom come again with the
+same keen intensity in a lifetime, though often clouded by vague
+doubts.
+
+As yet they had led a kind of Paul and Virginia life, without very
+defined ideas of their future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering
+what that future might be.
+
+They only knew, like the impassioned boy and girl in the beautiful
+story of Bernardin St. Pierre, that they loved each other very
+dearly, and for the sweet present that sufficed; while cunning Shafto
+Gyle looked darkly, gloomily, and enviously on them.
+
+Perhaps it was his fast failing health that prevented Lennard Melfort
+from looking more closely into this matter, or it may be that he
+remembered the youthful love of his own heart; for he could never
+forget her whom he was so soon to join now, and who, 'after life's
+fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall of Revelstoke, within sound of
+the restless sea.
+
+Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard rumours of these meetings and
+rambles, and probably liked them as little as the Major did; but he
+was a busy man absorbed in his work, and had been used to seeing the
+pair together since they were toddling children.  Lennard, perhaps,
+thought it was as well to let them alone, as nothing would come of
+it, while the lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.
+
+'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day, 'what is to be the end of
+all this philandering but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do you
+expect a young fellow to marry you who has no money, no prospects, no
+position in the world?'
+
+'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing painfully, for though
+an only and motherless child she stood in awe of her father.
+
+'Position--a deuced bad one, I think!'
+
+'The other two items will come in time, papa,' said Dulcie, laughing
+now.
+
+'When?'
+
+Dulcie was silent, and--for the first time in her life--thought
+sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But she pressed a pretty white hand upon the
+silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw courage therefrom as from
+an amulet.
+
+'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of a _cob_ cottage over your
+head.'
+
+'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire proverb--a good cob, a
+good hat and shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'
+
+'Right, lass, and a good heart have you, my darling,' said Mr.
+Carlyon, kissing her peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and
+good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his exterior, and more
+like a grazier than a lawyer.  'You are both too young to know what
+you are talking about.  He'll be going away, however--can't live
+always on his father, and _he_, poor fellow, won't last long.  The
+fancy of you both will wear itself out, like any other summer
+flirtation--I had many such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,
+'and got safely over them all.  So will you, lass, and marry into
+some good family, getting a husband that will give you a comfortable
+home--for instance, Job Holbeton, with his pits of Bovey coal.'
+
+Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could scarcely restrain her tears at
+the hard, practical suggestions of her father.  Hard-featured, stout,
+and grizzled Joe Holbeton versus her handsome Florian!
+
+Her father spoke, too, of his probable 'going away.'  Was this the
+presentiment to which her lover had referred?  It almost seemed so.
+
+In the sunset she went forth into the garden to work with her wools,
+and even to have a 'good cry' over what her father had said; but in
+this she was prevented by suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the
+grass at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree--Shafto, whom she could
+only tolerate for Florian's sake.
+
+'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,' she asked, with unconcealed
+annoyance.
+
+'Staring, was I?'
+
+'Yes, like an owl.'
+
+'I always like to see girls working.'
+
+'Indeed!'
+
+'And the work, what do you call it?'
+
+'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'
+
+'Yes, especially when the work is done by hands so pretty and white.'
+
+'As mine, you mean, of course?'
+
+'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'
+
+'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy compliments, Shafto, or I
+shall quit the garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking with a
+half-frightened, half-defiant expression into the keen, shifty, and
+pale grey ones of Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.
+
+He could see the outline of the locket with every respiration of her
+bosom.  Could he but possess himself of it, thought he, as he
+proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.
+
+'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in ladies' society unless with
+permission,' said Dulcie.
+
+'Never bother about that, little one, please.  But may I smoke?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up at her with eyes full of
+admiration.  'I feel like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'
+
+'I don't know who he was, or what you feel, but do you know what you
+look like?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom, with his ass's head, at the
+feet of Titania.  "Dost like the picture?"'
+
+Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so that Dulcie laughed
+merrily, showing all her pearly teeth at her reply.
+
+'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,' said he, bluntly and
+coarsely; 'doing the Huguenot business, the _pose_ of Millais'
+picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'
+
+'Millais and I?'
+
+'No; you and Florian!'
+
+'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face growing very pale in spite
+of herself at the bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable anger of
+his tone and bearing.
+
+'Yes--with your tomfoolery.'
+
+'How?--why?'
+
+'Penniless as you are--he at least.'
+
+'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant, to say the least of
+it,' said Dulcie, as she gathered up her wools and sailed into the
+house, while his eyes followed her with a menacing and very ugly
+expression indeed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SECRET PACKET.
+
+The broken health brought by Lennard from the miasmatic Terai of
+Nepaul was rapidly becoming more broken than ever, and, though not
+yet fifty, he was a premature old man, and it seemed as if the first
+part of Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming sorrow would
+soon be fulfilled.
+
+His steps became very feeble, and he could only get about, in the
+autumn sunshine, with the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and the
+latter watched him with grief and pain, tottering like the aged,
+panting and leaning heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he insisted
+on being led up a steep slope from which he could clearly see the old
+church of Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory, overlooked by sad
+and solitary hills, and his hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it,
+with a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed to be at peace,
+and by the side of her he had laid there, it seemed long years ago--a
+lifetime ago.
+
+Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb, and all who looked upon him
+thought so; yet his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed no fear.
+
+One day when Florian was absent--no doubt sketching, boating with
+Dulcie on the Yealm, or idling with her on the moors--Lennard
+besought Shafto to stay beside him as he sat feeble and languid in
+his easy chair, sinking with the wasting and internal fever, with
+which the country practitioners were totally incapable of grappling;
+and on this day, for the first time, he began to speak to him of
+Scotland and the home he once had there; and he was listened to with
+the keenest interest by Shafto, who had ever--even as a child--been
+cunning, selfish, and avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and
+complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he remembered only
+Flora's dead and devoted sister.
+
+'I have been thinking over old times and other days, Shafto,' said
+he, with his attenuated hands crossed on the head of his bamboo cane;
+'and, all things considered, it seems an occupation I had better
+avoid did the memory concern myself alone: but I must think of others
+and their interests--of Florian and of you--so I can't help it, boy,
+in my present state of health, or rather want of health,' he added,
+as a violent fit of spasmodic coughing came upon him.
+
+After a pause he spoke again.
+
+'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older than Florian, and are, in
+many ways, several years older in thought and experience by the short
+training you have received in Carlyon's office.'
+
+The Major paused again, leaving Shafto full of wonder and curiosity
+as to what this preamble was leading up to.
+
+The former had begun to see things more clearly and temperately with
+regard to the sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that, though he had
+renounced all family ties, name, and wealth, so far as concerned
+himself, to die, with the secret of all untold, would be to inflict a
+cruel wrong on Florian.  At one time Lennard thought of putting his
+papers and the whole matter in the hands of Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and
+it was a pity he did not do so instead of choosing to entrust them to
+his long-headed nephew.
+
+'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for me--my hands are so tremulous,'
+said he.
+
+When this was done he selected a packet from a private drawer, and
+briefly and rapidly told the story of his life, his proper name, and
+rank to Shafto, who listened with open-eyed amazement.
+
+When the latter had thoroughly digested the whole information, he
+said, after a long pause:
+
+'This must be told to Florian!'
+
+And with Florian came the thought of Dulcie, and how this sudden
+accession of her lover to fortune and position would affect her.
+
+'Nay, Shafto--not yet--not till I am gone--a short time now.  I can
+trust you, with your sharpness and legal acumen, with the handling of
+this matter entirely.  When I am gone, and laid beside your aunt
+Flora, by the wall of the old church yonder,' he continued with a
+very broken voice--one almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the
+person to whom this packet is addressed, Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer
+to the Signet in Edinburgh--he is alive still; place these in his
+hands, and he will do all that is required; but treasure them,
+Shafto--be careful of them as you would of your soul's salvation--for
+my sake, and more than all for the sake of Florian!  Now, my good
+lad, give me the composing draught--I feel sleepy and so weary with
+all this talking, and the thoughts that have come unbidden--unbidden,
+sad, bitter, and angry thoughts--to memory.'
+
+Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and, giving his uncle the
+draught, stole softly away to his own room with the papers, to con
+them over and to--think!
+
+He had not sat at a desk for three years in Lawyer Carlyon's office
+without having his wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the documents
+away.
+
+'Stop--stop--let me think, let me consider!' he exclaimed to himself,
+and he certainly did consider to some purpose.  He was cold and
+calculating; he was never unusually agitated or flustered, but he
+became both with the thoughts that occurred to him now.
+
+Among the papers and letters entrusted to him were the certificates
+of the marriage of Lennard and Flora, and another which ran thus:
+
+'Certificate of entry of birth, under section 37 of 17 and 18 Vict.,
+cap. 80.'  It authenticated the birth of their child Florian at
+Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.
+
+These documents were enclosed in a letter written in a tremulous and
+uncertain hand by Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, part of
+which was in these terms:
+
+The child was baptized by a neighbouring clergyman--the Rev. Paul
+Pentreath--who has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he gave me,
+and, dying as I now feel myself to be, I pray earnestly that my
+father and mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let them not--as
+they one day hope for mercy at that dread throne before which I am
+soon to appear--visit upon his innocent head my supposed and most
+heavily punished offence.  Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to
+that which is his due; let him succeed to all I renounced in
+anger--an anger that has passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I
+am aged beyond my years, and my hair is now white as snow through
+ill-health contracted in India, where, to procure money necessary for
+my poor Flora, I volunteered on desperate service, and in seasons
+destructive to existence.  In your hands I leave the matter with
+perfect hope and confidence.  The bearer will tell you all more that
+may be necessary.'
+
+After having read, reread, and made himself thoroughly master of the
+contents of this to him certainly most astounding packet, he
+requested the Major to re-address it in his own tremulous and all but
+illegible handwriting, and seal it up with his long-disused signet
+ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.
+
+Prior to having all this done, Shafto had operated on one of the
+documents most dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!
+
+'A peerage! a peerage!--rank, wealth, money, mine--all mine!' he
+muttered under his breath, as he stored the packet away in a sure and
+secret place, and while whistling softly to himself, a way he had
+when brooding (as he often did) over mischief, he recalled the lines
+of Robert Herrick:
+
+  'Our life is like a narrow raft,
+    Afloat upon the hungry sea;
+  Hereon is but a little space,
+  And all men, eager for a place,
+    Do thrust each other in the sea.'
+
+'So why should I not thrust him into the hungry briny?  If life is a
+raft--and, by Jove, I find it so!--why should one not grasp at all
+one can, and make the best of life for one's self, by making the
+worst of it for other folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank and
+wealth come often to any one's hands?  No! and I should be the
+biggest of fools--the most enormous of idiots--not to avail myself to
+the fullest extent.  I see my little game clearly, but must play
+warily.  "Eat, drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for to-morrow we
+die."  They say the devil can quote Scripture, and so can Shafto
+Gyle.  But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to have a jolly good
+spell for many a year to come!'
+
+And in the wild exuberance of his spirits he tossed his hat again and
+again to the ceiling.
+
+From that day forward the health of Lennard Melfort seemed to decline
+more rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by the chill winds of the
+season to remain in bed, quite unable to take his place at table or
+move about, save when wheeled in a chair to the window, where he
+loved to watch the setting sun.
+
+Then came one evening when, for the last time, he begged to be
+propped up there in his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over
+Revelstoke Church, and throwing its picturesque outline strongly
+forward, in a dark indigo tint, against the golden and crimson flush
+of the west, and all the waves around the promontory were glittering
+in light.
+
+But Lennard saw nothing of all this, though he felt the feeble warmth
+of the wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn hands towards it;
+his eyesight was gone, and would never come again!  There was
+something very pathetic in the withered face and sightless eyes, and
+the drooping white moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,
+and waxed _à l'Empereur_.
+
+His dream of life was over, and his last mutterings were a prayer for
+Florian, on whose breast his head lay as he breathed his last.
+
+The two lads looked at each other in that supreme moment--but with
+very different thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only
+desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto, in the awful presence
+of Death, felt alone in the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FAREWELL.
+
+As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and attenuated man, whose
+hair was like the thistledown, none would have recognised in him the
+dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous young subaltern who only twenty-four
+years before had led his company at the storming of the Redan, who
+had planted the scaling-ladder against the scarp, and shouted in a
+voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse musketry:
+
+'Come on, men! ladders to the front, eight men per ladder; up and at
+them, lads, with the bayonet,' and fought his way into an embrasure,
+while round-shot tore up the earth beneath his feet, and men were
+swept away in sections of twenty; or the hardy soldier who faced
+fever and foes alike in the Terai of Nepaul.
+
+How still and peaceful he lay now as the coffin-lid was closed over
+him.
+
+Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the hard ground, and the
+waves seemed to leap and sob heavily round the old church of
+Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid beside the now old and
+flattened grave of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind lifted
+the silver hair of the Rev. Paul Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or
+on the buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of the pall held by
+Florian, who felt as one in a dreadful dream--amid a dread and unreal
+phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed to twitch angrily the
+pall-ribbon from the hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort
+recover it, as more than one present, with their Devonian
+superstition, remarked, and remembered when other things came to pass.
+
+At last all was over; the mourners departed, and Lennard Melfort was
+left alone--alone with the dead of yesterday and of ages; and
+Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and pressed his hand, strove to
+commit to memory the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,
+'There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor sighing; for God
+shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'
+
+Shafto now let little time pass before he proceeded to inform Florian
+of what he called their 'relative position,' and of their journey
+into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.
+
+It has been said that in life we have sometimes moments so full of
+emotion that they seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach again;
+and this sharp turn, young and startled Florian seemed to pass, when
+he learned that since infancy he had been misled, and that the man,
+so tender and so loving, whom he had deemed his father was but his
+uncle!
+
+How came it all to pass now?  Yet the old Major had ever been so kind
+and affectionate to him--to both, in fact, equally so, treating them
+as his sons--that he felt only a stunning surprise, a crushing grief
+and bitter mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his love for
+the dead was too keen and deep for that.
+
+The packet, sealed and addressed to Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents
+were as yet unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the strange
+intelligence of Shafto; but the question naturally occurred to
+Florian, 'For what end or purpose had this lifelong mystery and
+change in their positions been brought about?'
+
+He asked this of Shafto again and again.
+
+'It seems we have been very curiously deluded,' said that personage,
+not daring to look the sorrowful Florian straight in the face, and
+pretended to be intent on stuffing his pipe.
+
+'Deluded--how?'
+
+'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed Shafto, with petulance and
+assumed irritation, 'that the contents of this packet prove that _I_
+am the only son of Major Melfort (not MacIan at all), and that
+you--you----'
+
+'What?'
+
+'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew--adopted as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will
+tell you all about it.'
+
+'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian, scarcely knowing, in his
+bewilderment, what he said.
+
+'Mean to go in for my proper position--my title, and all that sort of
+thing, don't you see?'
+
+'And act--how!'
+
+'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback, I hope.  I'll do something
+handsome for you, of course.'
+
+'I want nothing done for me while I have two hands, Shafto.'
+
+'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing vigorously at his pipe.
+'I have had enough of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance in
+the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he, after a long pause; 'and,
+by all the devils, I'll have no more of it now that I am going to be
+rich.'
+
+Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort entrusting him with the
+packet, Shafto had done little else at the office but study the laws
+of succession in Scotland and England.
+
+'How much you love money, Shafto!' said Florian, eying him wistfully.
+
+'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from having had so precious little
+of it in my time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought he
+exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully, how many matrons
+with daughters unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to me!  And
+Dulcie Carlyon I might have for asking; but I'll fly at higher game
+now, by Jove!'
+
+As further credentials, Shafto now possessed himself of Major
+Melfort's sword, commissions, and medals, while Florian looked in
+blank dismay and growing mortification--puzzled by the new position
+in which he found himself, of being no longer his father's son--a
+source of unfathomable mystery.
+
+Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to leave Revelstoke and its
+vicinity behind him.  It was too late for regrets or repentance now.
+Not that he felt either, we suppose; and what he had done he would do
+again if there was no chance of being found out.  In the growing
+exuberance of his spirits, he could not help, a day or two after,
+taunting Florian about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a
+quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a scornful laugh:
+
+'You can't marry her--a fellow without a shilling in the world; and I
+wouldn't now, if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'
+
+Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised grief and astonishment of
+these events, and of the approaching departure of the cousins.
+
+The cottage home was being broken up; the dear old Major was in his
+grave; and Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the lover of her
+girlhood, was going away--she scarcely knew to where.  They might be
+permitted to correspond by letter, but when, thought Dulcie--oh, when
+should they meet again?
+
+The sun was shedding its light and warmth around her as usual, on
+woodland and hill, on wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out, the
+perfume to pass from the early spring flowers, the glory from land
+and sea, and a dim mist of passionate tears clouded the sweet and
+tender blue eyes of the affectionate girl.
+
+He would return, he said, as he strove to console her; but how and
+when, and to what end? thought both so despairingly.  Their future
+seemed such a vague, a blank one!
+
+'I am penniless, Dulcie--a beggar on the face of the earth--twice
+beggared now, I think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.
+
+'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly, with piteous lips that were
+tremulous as his own, and her eyes drowned in tears.
+
+They had left the road now, and wandered among the trees in a
+thicket, and seated themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place
+endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.
+
+He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue, as if his own were
+striving to take away a memory of her face--a memory that would last
+for eternity.
+
+'And you really go to-night?' she asked, in piteous and broken
+accents.
+
+'Yes--with Shafto.  I am in a fever, darling, to seek out a position
+for myself.  Surely Shafto may assist me in that--though I shrink
+from asking him.'
+
+'Your own cousin?'
+
+'Yes--but sometimes he looks like a supplanter now, and his bearing
+has been so unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said Florian.
+'But you will wait for me, Dulcie, and not be persuaded to marry
+anyone else?' he added imploringly, as he clasped each of her hands
+in his.
+
+'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should be for twenty years!'
+exclaimed the girl, in a low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering
+the magnitude and peril of such a promise.
+
+'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he bending down and kissing her
+lips with ardour, and, though on the eve of parting, they felt almost
+happy in the confidence of the blissful present.
+
+'How often shall I recall this last meeting by the fallen tree, when
+you are far, far away from Revelstoke and--me,' said Dulcie.
+
+'You will often come here to be reminded of me?'
+
+'Do you think, Florian, I will require to be reminded of you?' asked
+the girl, with a little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she
+kissed the silver locket containing his likeness, and all the sweet
+iteration of lover-talk, promises, and pledges went on for a time,
+and new hopes began to render this last interview more bearable to
+the young pair who were on the eve of separation, without any very
+distinct arrangement about correspondence in the interval of it.
+
+The sun was setting now redly, and amid dun winter clouds, beaming on
+each chimney-head, on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless tree-tops
+his farewell radiance.
+
+Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie, and with the emotion of a
+wrench in his heart, was gone, and she was alone.
+
+A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were all that remained to him
+of her--both to be looked upon again and again, till his eyes ached,
+but never grew weary.
+
+Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and the memory of that parting
+kiss was still hovering on her quivering lips when, in a lonely lane
+not far from her home, she found herself suddenly face to face with
+Shafto.
+
+She had known him from his boyhood, ever since he came an orphan to
+Lennard Melfort's cottage; and although she always distrusted and
+never liked him, his face was a familiar one she might never see
+more; thus she resolved to part with him as with the best of friends,
+and to remember that he was the only kinsman of Florian, whose
+companion and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey the end of
+which she scarcely understood.  So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad
+smile in her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand, which Shafto
+grasped and retained promptly enough.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SILVER LOCKET.
+
+Shafto had just been with her father.  How contemptuously he had eyed
+the corner and the high old stool on which he had sat in the latter's
+legal establishment, and all its surroundings; the fly-blown county
+maps of Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of sales--property,
+mangold wurzel, oats and hay, Thorley's food for cattle, and so
+forth; the tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of papers in red
+tape; the well-thumbed ledgers; day and letter books, and all the
+paraphernalia of a country solicitor's office.
+
+Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed them all.  Now it was all over and
+done with.
+
+The three poor lads in the office, whose cheap cigars and beer he had
+often shared at the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended to notice,
+while they regarded him with something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer
+Carlyon his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal of the lease
+of the Major's pretty cottage, and of all the goods and chattels that
+were therein.
+
+Had Florian been present he would have felt only shame and abasement
+at the tone and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion; but worthy
+Lawyer Carlyon, who did not believe a bit in the rumoured accession
+of Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed softly to himself, and
+thought his 'pride would have a sore fall one of these fine days.'
+
+And even now, when face to face with Dulcie, his general bearing, his
+coolness and insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief, indignant
+and defiant ultimately.
+
+How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl looked, from the smart
+scarlet feather in her little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her
+veil was tightly tied across her face, showing only the tip of her
+nose, her ripe red lips, and pretty white chin--its point, like her
+cheeks, reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from the Channel.  Her
+gloved hands were in her small muff, and the collar of her sealskin
+jacket was encircled by the necklet at which her silver locket
+hung--the locket Shafto had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed
+it on her, while he looked close by, with his heart full of envy,
+jealousy, and hatred, and now it was the first thing that attracted
+his eye.
+
+'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?' she said softly.
+
+'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester and the north.  My estates,
+you know, are in Scotland.'
+
+'These changes are all strange and most startling,' said she, with a
+sob in her slender throat.
+
+'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I suppose it is the result
+of progress,' he added sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers
+and grandmothers contrived to mope over and yawn out their dull and
+emotionless existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'
+
+'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'
+
+'Who knows; though life, however sweet now, won't be worth living for
+then, I fancy.'
+
+Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in admiring silence, for he had a
+high appreciation of her bright and delicate beauty, and loved
+her--if we may degrade the phrase--in his own selfish and peculiar
+way, though now resolved--as he had often thought vainly--to 'fly at
+higher game;' and so, full of ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own,
+if he had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at least, ceased for a
+space to trouble her.
+
+'Florian will be writing to you, of course?' said he, after a pause.
+
+'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement; and then, you know, papa----'
+
+'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell advice to you, Dulcie,
+is--Don't put off your time thinking of Florian--his ship will never
+come home.'
+
+'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.
+
+'You think so--but you are wrong.'
+
+'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'
+
+'I have read somewhere that ships of the kind rarely do come home in
+this prosaic and disappointing world; that some get wrecked almost
+within sight of land; others go down without the flapping of a sail,
+and sometimes after long and firm battling with adverse winds and
+tides; but _my ship_ is a sure craft, Dulcie,' he added, as he
+thought of the packet in his possession--that precious packet on
+which all his hopes rested and his daring ambition was founded.
+
+Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully, and thought--
+
+'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were always selfish and evil.
+Tide what may,' she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years and more
+for Florian.'
+
+'The more fool you, then!  And so die an old maid?'
+
+'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'
+
+'And if he never can marry you--or marries some one else when he
+can?' asked Shafto viciously.
+
+'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or women's rights, and all that
+sort of thing,' said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant
+attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while Shafto eyed her
+angrily.
+
+'How fond you are of that silver locket--you never wear any other!'
+
+'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'
+
+'And none you prize so much?'
+
+'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.
+
+'Is that the reason you wear it with all kinds of dresses?  What is
+in it--anything?'
+
+'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting her right hand on it and
+instinctively drawing back a pace, for there was a menacing
+expression in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.
+
+'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her hand in his.
+
+'No.'
+
+'You shall!'
+
+'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes sparkling now as his grasp upon
+her hand tightened.
+
+An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with his eyes aflame and his
+cheeks pale with jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and
+wrenched by brutal force the locket from her, breaking the silver
+necklet as he did so.
+
+'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and thief--how dare you?
+Surrender that locket instantly!'
+
+'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly, holding the prized trinket
+before her at arm's length.
+
+'But for Florian's sake, I would at once apply to the police.'
+
+'A vulgar resort--no, my pretty Dulcie, you wouldn't.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Not for Florian's sake?'
+
+'Whose, then?'
+
+'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have your old pump of a father
+down on you; and so you dare not make a row about it, my pretty
+little fury.'
+
+'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that photo,' said Dulcie, her
+tears welling forth.
+
+'No; I won't.'
+
+'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'
+
+'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to whom a villainous idea just
+then occurred.
+
+'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her muff drop and clasping her
+slim little hands.
+
+'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined to put my heel upon it--but
+I won't.'
+
+'This robbery is cruel and infamous!' exclaimed Dulcie, trembling
+with grief and just indignation; but Shafto only laughed in anger and
+bitterness--and a very hyena-like laugh it was, and as some one was
+coming down the secluded lane, he turned away and left her in the
+twilight.
+
+He felt himself safe from opprobrium and punishment, as he knew well
+she was loth to make any complaint to her father on the subject; and
+just then she knew not how to communicate with Florian, as the
+darkness was falling fast, and the hour of his departure was close at
+hand.  She thought it not improbable that Shafto would relent and
+return the locket to her; but the night was far advanced ere that
+hope was dissipated, and she attained some outward appearance of
+composure, though her father's sharp and affectionate eyes detected
+that she had been suffering.
+
+He had heard from her some confused and rambling story about the
+family secret, the packet, and the peerage, a story of which he could
+make nothing, though Shafto's bearing to himself that evening seemed
+to confirm the idea that 'there was something in it.'  Anyway, Mr.
+Carlyon was not indisposed to turn the event to account in one sense.
+
+'Likely--likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said he; 'and so you'll hear no
+more of these two lads, if they are likely to become great folks, and
+belong to what is called the upper ten; they'll never think again of
+a poor village belle like you, though there is not a prettier face in
+all Devonshire than my Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'
+
+He meant this kindly, and spoke with a purpose; and his words and the
+warning they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender heart of poor
+Dulcie.
+
+By this time the cousins were sweeping through the darkness in the
+express train by Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were very
+silent, and each was full of his own thoughts, and what these were
+the reader may very well imagine.
+
+Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles of Shafto, Florian, from
+time to time, drew forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining lock of
+red-golden hair, his sole links between the past and the present; and
+already he felt as if a score of years had lapsed since they sat side
+by side upon the fallen tree.
+
+Then, that he might give his whole thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to
+sleep; but Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat quietly enough
+with his face in shadow, his travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled
+well down over his watchful and shifty grey-green eyes, the lamp
+overhead giving a miserable glimmer suited to the concealment of
+expression and thought; and as the swift train sped northward, the
+cousins addressed not a word to each other concerning those they had
+left behind, what was before them, or anything else.
+
+After a time, Shafto really slept--slept the slumber which is
+supposed to be the reward of the just and conscientious, but which is
+much more often enjoyed by those who have no conscience at all.
+
+Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to Florian detailing the
+outrage to which she had been subjected by Shafto; but time passed
+on, and, for a reason we shall give in its place, the letter never
+reached him.
+
+Again and again she recalled and rehearsed her farewell with Florian,
+and thought regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate
+poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with Shafto; and she still
+seemed to see his beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while
+her own welled freely and bitterly.
+
+When could they meet again, if ever, and where and how?  Her heart
+and brain ached with these questions.
+
+Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though her cheek paled a little, and
+she felt--even at her early years--as if life seemed over and done
+with, and in her passionate love for the absent, that existence alone
+was left to her, and so forth.
+
+And as she was her father's housekeeper now, kept the keys and paid
+all the servants, paid all accounts and made the preserves, he was in
+no way sorry that the young men were gone; that the 'aimless
+philandering,' as he deemed it, had come to an end; and that much
+would be attended to in his cosy little household which he
+suspected--but unjustly--had been neglected hitherto.
+
+To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native place, the breezy moors,
+the solitary hills, the mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,
+the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the Yealm, where they had
+been wont to boat and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn, were
+all full of the haunting presence of the absent--the poor but proud
+and handsome lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had loved her,
+and who now seemed to have slipped out of her existence.
+
+Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine flooded hill and dale, and
+lit up the waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the far-stretching
+Channel, tinting with wondrous gleams and hues the waves that rolled
+upon the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre Rock, and the
+sea-beaten promontory of Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was gone
+from land and water: she heard no more, by letter or otherwise, of
+the love of her youth; he seemed to have dropped utterly out of her
+sphere; and though mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of
+the bursting June roses--the Marshal Neil and Gloire de Dijon--and
+treasured them carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a task in
+which she had often been assisted by Florian, she felt and
+thought--'Ichabod!  Ichabod! the glory has departed!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+
+Shafto found himself a little nervous when he and Florian were
+actually in Edinburgh, a city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of
+rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and temple, so foreign-looking
+to English eyes, and so utterly unlike everything they had ever seen
+or conceived before.
+
+Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.  His father's
+death--though called an uncle now, but Florian always felt for and
+thought of him as a parent--the loss of Dulcie, their abrupt
+departure from Devonshire, and rough uprootal of all early
+associations, had made a kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life,
+and it was only now when he found himself amid the strange streets
+and picturesque splendour of Edinburgh that he began--like one
+recovering consciousness after a long illness--to gather up again the
+ravelled threads of thought, but with curious want of concern and
+energy; while Shafto felt that he personally had both, and that now
+he required to have all his wits about him.
+
+Florian stood for a time that night at the door of their hotel in
+Princes Street looking at the wonderful lights of the Old Town
+sparkling in mid air, and some that were in the Castle must, he
+thought, be stars, they were so high above the earth.  Scores of cabs
+and carriages went by, eastward and westward, but no carts or wains
+or lorries, such as one sees in London or Glasgow--vehicles with
+bright lamps and well muffled occupants, gentlemen in evening suits,
+and ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of pedestrians,
+under the brilliant gas lights and long boulevard-like lines of
+trees--the ever-changing human panorama of a great city street before
+midnight.
+
+How odd, how strange and lonely poor Florian felt; he seemed to
+belong to no one, and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for him;
+and ever and anon his eyes rested on the mighty castled rock that
+towers above streets, monuments, and gardens, with a wonderous
+history all its own, 'where treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,'
+and with them the only ancient crown in the British Isles.  'Brave
+kings and the fairest of crowned women have slept and been cradled in
+that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic English writer; 'heroes have fought
+upon its slopes; English armies have stormed it; dukes, earls, and
+barons have been immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted Queen
+prayed and yielded up her last breath there eight centuries ago.  It
+is an imperishable relic--a monument that needs no carving to tell
+its tale, and it has the nation's worship; and the different church
+sects cling round its base as if they would fight again for the
+guardianship of a venerable mother.....  And if Scotland has no
+longer a king and Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown is at
+least safely kept up there amid strong iron stanchions, as a sacred
+memorial of her inextinguishable independence, and, if need were, for
+future use.'
+
+Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he felt a keen interest in
+all that now surrounded him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the
+smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of the morrow, and unwisely
+seeking to fortify himself by imbibing more brandy and soda than
+Florian had ever seen him take before.
+
+After a sound night's rest and a substantial Scottish breakfast had
+fitted Shafto, as he thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited
+him and Florian (who was now beginning to marvel why he had travelled
+so far in a matter that concerned him not, in reality) at the
+residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, W.S., in Charlotte Square--a noble
+specimen of Adams Street architecture, having four stately
+symmetrical corresponding façades, overlooked by the dome of St.
+George's Church.
+
+'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,' said Shafto, as he looked at
+the mansion of Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the modest
+establishment of Lawyer Carlyon; 'but foxes will flourish as long as
+there are geese to be plucked.'
+
+Mr. Kippilaw was at home--indeed he was just finishing breakfast,
+before going to the Parliament House--as they were informed by the
+liveried valet, who led them through a pillared and marble-floored
+vestibule, and ushered them into what seemed a library, as the walls
+from floor to ceiling were lined with handsome books; but every
+professional man's private office has generally this aspect in
+Scotland.
+
+In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared with a puzzled and perplexed
+expression in his face, as he alternatively looked at his two
+visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year; his long since grizzled
+hair had now become white, and had shrunk to two patches far apart,
+one over each ear, and brushed stiffly up.  His eyebrows were also
+white, shaggy, and under them his keen eyes peered sharply through
+the rims of a gold pince-nez balanced on the bridge of his long
+aquiline nose.
+
+Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant dryness about his
+tongue and lips.
+
+'_Mr. Shafto Melfort?_' said Mr. Kippilaw inquiringly, and referring
+to the card again.  'I was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto
+Melfort--any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'
+
+'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.
+
+'This gentleman with the dark eyes?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to
+the silent Florian.
+
+'No--myself,' said Shafto sharply and firmly.
+
+'You are most unlike the family, who have always been remarkable for
+regularity of features.  Then you are the son--of--of--'
+
+'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died a few weeks ago----'
+
+'Good Heavens, where?'
+
+'On the west coast of Devonshire, near Revelstoke, where he had long
+resided under the assumed name of MacIan.'
+
+'That of his wife?'
+
+'Precisely so--my mother.'
+
+'And this young gentleman, whose face and features seem curiously
+familiar to me, though I never saw him before, he is your brother of
+course.'
+
+'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.  I am an only son, but
+the Major ever treated us as if he had been the father of both, so
+great and good was his kindness of heart.'
+
+'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a breathless voice, as he
+seated himself in an ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,
+which was covered with documents and letters all arranged by his
+junior clerk in the most orderly manner.
+
+'This is very sudden and most unexpected intelligence,' said he,
+carefully wiping his glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a
+closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all these years past the real
+name and position of your father, and that he left Kincardineshire
+more than twenty years ago after a very grave quarrel with his
+parents at Craigengowan?'
+
+'No--I only learned who he was, and who we really were, when he was
+almost on his deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his only son,
+and because I had been bred to the law; and on that melancholy
+occasion he entrusted me with this important packet addressed to
+_you_.'
+
+With an expression of the deepest interest pervading his well-lined
+face, Mr. Kippilaw took the packet and carefully examined the seal
+and the superscription, penned in a shaky handwriting, with both of
+which he was familiar enough, though he had seen neither for fully
+twenty years, and finally he examined the envelope, which looked old
+and yellow.
+
+'If all be true and correct, these tidings will make some stir at
+Craigengowan,' he muttered as if to himself, and cut round the seal
+with a penknife.
+
+'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I have alleged,' said
+Shafto, who now felt that the crisis was at hand.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and wonder, drew forth the
+documents and read and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding the
+papers, but not offensively, between him and the light to see if the
+dates and water-marks tallied.
+
+'The slow way this old devil goes on would exasperate an oyster!'
+thought Shafto, whose apparently perfect coolness and self-possession
+rather surprised and repelled the lawyer.
+
+There were the certificate of Lennard's marriage with Flora MacIan,
+which Mr. Kippilaw could remember he had seen of old; the
+'certificate of entry of birth of their son, born at Revelstoke at 6
+h. 50 m. on the 28th October P.M., 18--,' signed by the Registrar,
+and the Major's farewell letter to his old friend, entrusting his son
+and his son's interests to his care.
+
+'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after he had read for the
+second time, and saw that the letter of Lennard Melfort was
+undoubtedly authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of your Christian
+name is _torn out_ of the birth certificate, and the surname
+_Melfort_ alone remains?'
+
+'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently startled in turn.
+
+'There is a rough little hole in the document where the name _should
+be_.  Do you know the date of your birth?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, partly
+covering the document with his hand, unconsciously as it were.
+
+'Yes--28th October.'
+
+'And the year?'
+
+Shafto gave it from memory.
+
+'Quite correct--as given here,' said Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old
+for the date of this certificate.'
+
+'I always looked older than my years,' replied Shafto.
+
+Florian, who might have claimed the date as that of his own birth,
+was--luckily for Shafto--away at a window, gazing intently on a party
+of soldiers marching past, with a piper playing before them.
+
+'Another certificate can be got if necessary,' said Mr. Kippilaw, as
+he glanced at the Registrar's signature, a suggestion which made
+Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have come from the Major in this
+mutilated state,' he added, re-examining with legal care and
+suspicion the address on the envelope and the seal, which, as we have
+said, he had cut round; 'but it is strange that he has made no
+mention of it being so in his letter to me.  Poor fellow! he was more
+of a soldier than a man of business, however.  Allow me to
+congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new prospects.  Rank and a
+very fine estate are before you.'
+
+He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who began to be more reassured;
+and saying, 'I must carefully preserve the documents for the
+inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked them fast in a drawer of
+his writing-table, and spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,
+while warming his person in the fashion peculiar to the genuine
+'Britisher,' he eyed Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant
+remarks on the Fettercairn family, the fertility and beauty of
+Craigengowan, the stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth, and
+the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'--as he called him--and about
+whom he asked innumerable questions, all of which Shafto could answer
+truly and with a clear conscience enough, as he was master of all
+that.
+
+The latter was asked 'what he thought of Edinburgh--if he had ever
+been there before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a little 'Guide
+Book' into which he had certainly dipped, so as to be ready for
+anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque beauties and
+historical associations of the Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's
+heart began to warm to so intelligent a young man, while of the
+silent Florian, staring out into the sun-lit square and its beautiful
+garden and statues, he took little notice, beyond wondering _where_
+he had seen his eyes and features before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ALONE IN THE WORLD.
+
+'And you were bred to the law, you say, Mr. Melfort?' remarked the
+old Writer to the Signet after a pause.
+
+'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'
+
+'Very good--very good indeed; that is well!  We generally think in
+Scotland that a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it teaches
+the laird to haud his ain; but I forgot that you are southland bred,
+and born too--the more is the pity--and can't understand me.'
+
+Shafto did not understand him, but thought that his time spent in
+Lawyer Carlyon's office had not been thrown away now; experience
+there had 'put him up to a trick or two.'
+
+'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first post,' said Mr. Kippilaw
+after another of those thoughtful pauses during which he attentively
+eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady Fettercairn--like myself now
+creeping up the vale of years--(Hope they may soon see the end of it!
+thought Shafto) will, I have no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the
+sequence and tenor of the documents you have brought me that you are
+their grandson--the son of the expatriated Lennard--and when I hear
+from them I shall let you know the result without delay.  You are
+putting up at--what hotel?'
+
+'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'
+
+'Ah! very well.'
+
+'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'
+
+'And your cousin--he will, of course, go with you to Craigengowan?'
+
+Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as Florian could detect.
+
+'What are your intentions or views?' Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.
+
+'He failed to pass for the army,' said Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so
+I don't know what he means to do _now_.  I believe that he scarcely
+knows himself.'
+
+'Have you no friends on your mother's side, Mr. Florian?'
+
+'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection of voice.
+
+'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'
+
+'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied Florian bitterly and a
+little defiantly, as Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and good
+fortune, roused his pride and galled his heart, which sank as he
+thought of Dulcie Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie, so
+far away.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the young man's answer.
+
+'I have some little influence in many ways, and if I can assist your
+future views you may command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with fatherly
+kindness, for he had reared--yea and lost--more than one fine lad of
+his own.
+
+It has been said that one must know mankind very well before having
+the courage to be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's
+knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited, he felt his eye quail more
+than once under the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.
+
+'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter, 'that after the death
+of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt, when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so
+anxious to discover and recall his younger brother as the next and
+only heir to the title and estates, we totally failed to trace him.
+We applied to the War Office for the whereabouts of Major Lennard
+Melfort, but the authorities there, acting upon a certain principle,
+declined to afford any information.  Advertisements, some plainly
+distinct, others somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in the
+_Scotsman_ and _Times_, but without the least avail.
+
+'As for the _Scotsman_,' said Shafto, 'the Major----'
+
+'Your father, you mean?'
+
+'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more likely to see such a
+provincial print in Devonshire than the Roman _Diritto_ or the
+Prussian _Kreuz Zeitung_; and the _Times_, if he saw it--which I
+doubt--he must have ignored.  Till the time of his death drew near,
+his feelings were bitter, his hostility to his family great.'
+
+'I can well understand that, poor fellow!' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+glancing at his watch, as he added--'You must excuse me till
+to-morrow: I am already overdue at the Parliament House.'
+
+He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit square.
+
+'You seem to have lost your tongue, Florian, and to have a
+disappointed look,' said Shafto snappishly, as they walked slowly
+towards the hotel together.
+
+'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps, but I have no reason to
+repine or complain save at our change of relative positions, but
+certainly not at your unexpected good fortune, Shafto.  It is only
+right and just that your father's only son should inherit all that is
+legally and justly his.'
+
+Even at these words Shafto never winced or wavered in plans or
+purpose.
+
+It was apparent, however, to Florian, that he had for some time past
+looked restless and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at any
+unusual sound, while a shadow rested on his not usually very open
+countenance.
+
+Betimes next morning a note came to him at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel
+from Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as possible, and on
+this errand he departed alone.
+
+He found the old lawyer radiant, with a letter in his hand from Lord
+Fettercairn (in answer to his own) expressive of astonishment and joy
+at the sudden appearance of this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he
+was full of ardour and anxiety to see.
+
+'You will lose no time in starting for Craigengowan,' said Mr.
+Kippilaw.  'You take the train at the Waverley Station and go _viâ_
+Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk--or stay, I think we shall
+proceed together, taking your papers with us.'
+
+'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow that the presence of Mr.
+Kippilaw at the coming interview would take some of the
+responsibility off his own shoulders.
+
+'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will put on its brightest smile
+to welcome you.'
+
+'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto, who felt but ill at ease in
+his new role of adventurer, and unwisely adopted a free-and-easy
+audacity of manner.
+
+'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for present emergencies,' said Mr.
+Kippilaw, opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours we shall meet at
+the station.'
+
+'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'
+
+'I would do much for your father's son, Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer,
+emphatically.
+
+'And what about Florian?'
+
+'The letter ignores him--a curious omission.  In their joy, perhaps
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter
+for him that came by the London mail.'
+
+'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly, while his heart grew sick
+with apprehension, he knew not of what.
+
+'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to me,' said Mr. Kippilaw
+aloud; but to himself, 'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen
+features like his before?  He reminds me curiously of Lennard
+Melfort.'
+
+Shafto gave a nervous start.
+
+The letter was a bulky one, and bore the Wembury and other
+post-marks, and to Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the
+familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.
+
+He chuckled, and a great thought worthy of himself occurred to him.
+
+In the solitude of his own room at the hotel, he moistened and opened
+the gummed envelope, and drew forth four closely written sheets of
+paper full of the outpourings of the girl's passionate heart, of her
+wrath at the theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning that she
+had incidentally got the address of Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and
+desiring him to write to her, and she would watch for and intercept
+the postman by the sea-shore.
+
+'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and cast into the fire
+Dulcie's letter, all save a postscript, written on a separate scrap
+of paper, and which ran thus:--
+
+'You have all the love of my heart, Florian; but, as I feel and fear
+we may never meet again, I send you this, which I have worn next my
+heart, to keep.'
+
+_This_ was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.
+
+'Three stamps on all this raggabash!' exclaimed Shafto, whom the
+girl's terms of endearment to Florian filled with a tempest of
+jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had wrenched from Dulcie's
+neck in soft paper, and placed it with the postscript in the
+envelope, which he carefully closed and re-gummed, placed near the
+fire, and the moment it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.
+
+If the latter was surprised to see a letter to himself, addressed in
+Dulcie's large, clear, and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer
+Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also struck dumb when he found
+in the envelope the locket, the likeness, and the apparently curt
+farewell contained in one brief sentence!
+
+For a time he stood like one petrified.  Could it all be real?  Alas!
+there was no doubting the postal marks and stamps upon this most
+fatal cover; and while he was examining it and passing his hand
+wildly more than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto was
+smoking quietly at a window, and to all appearance intent on watching
+the towering rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in morning
+sunshine--batteries whereon steel morions and Scottish spears had
+often gleamed of old.
+
+Though his soul shrank from doing so, Florian could not resist taking
+Shafto into his confidence about this unexplainable event; and the
+latter acted astonishment to the life!
+
+Was the locket thus returned through the post in obedience to her
+father's orders, after he had probably discovered the contents of it?
+
+But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing his attention to the tenor
+of the pithy scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that it had
+been done under any other influence than her own change of mind.
+
+'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he prepared to take his departure
+for Craigengowan; 'now you had better proceed at once to cultivate
+the wear-the-willow state of mind.'
+
+Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith and truth and of true
+women were suddenly and cruelly shattered now!
+
+'She has killed all that was good in me, and the mischief of the
+future will be at her door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky voice.
+
+'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto, who actually did feel a
+little for him; and just then, when they were on the eve of
+separation, even his false and artful heart did feel a pang, with the
+sting of fear, at the career of falsehood to which he had committed
+himself; but his ambition, innate greed, selfishness, and pride urged
+him on that career steadily and without an idea of flinching.
+
+After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning how the face of Florian
+interested him, and actually that he bore a likeness to the dead
+Major--to his own father, in fact--Shafto became more than desirous
+to be rid of him in any way.  He thought with dread of the discovery
+and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of the fierce light thrown by the law
+on that gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction he had none!
+
+'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from the hotel with his
+portmanteau, 'I must keep up this game at all hazards now.  I have
+stolen--not only Florian's name--but his place, so let him paddle his
+own canoe!'
+
+'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were his parting words--a promise
+which he never fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their mutual
+purse now, might have offered to supply the well-nigh penniless lad
+with money, but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of him--to hear
+of him no more.  He had a dread of his presence, of his society, of
+his very existence, and now had but one hope, wish, and desire--that
+Florian Melfort should cross his path never again.  And now that he
+had achieved a separation between him and Dulcie, he conceived that
+Florian would never again go near Revelstoke, of which
+he--Shafto--had for many reasons a nervous dread!
+
+Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel desertion of him, which he
+considered due to calm consideration of his change of fortune--or
+rather total want of it--Florian felt numbly indifferent to the
+matter Shafto had in hand and all about himself.
+
+While very nearly moved to girlish tears at parting from one with
+whom he had lived since infancy--with whom he had shared the same
+sleeping-room, shared in the same sports and studies--with whom he
+had read the same books to some extent, and had ever viewed as a
+brother--Florian was rather surprised, even shocked, by the
+impatience of that kinsman, the only one he had in all the wide
+world, to part from him and begone, and to see he was calm and hard
+as flint or steel.
+
+'Different natures have different ways of showing grief, I suppose,'
+thought the simple Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a grudge
+at me because of the false but winsome Dulcie?  If affection for me
+is hidden in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No letter ever
+came from Craigengowan.  The pride of Florian was justly roused, and
+he resolved that he would not take the initiative, and attempt to
+open a correspondence with one who seemed to ignore him, and whose
+manner at departing he seemed to see more clearly and vividly now.
+
+The fact soon became grimly apparent.  He could not remain idling in
+such a fashionable hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he settled his
+bill there, and took his portmanteau in his hand, and issued into the
+streets--into the world, in fact.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SHAFTO IN CLOVER.
+
+About six months had elapsed since Shafto and Florian parted, as we
+have described, at Edinburgh.
+
+It was June now.  The luxurious woods around Craigengowan were in all
+their leafy beauty, and under their shadows the dun deer panted in
+the heat as they made their lair among the feathery braken; the
+emerald green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was smooth as a
+billiard-table and soft as three-pile velvet.
+
+The air was laden with the wafted fragrance of roses and innumerable
+other flowers; and the picturesque old house, with its multitude of
+conical turrets furnished with glittering vanes, its crow-stepped
+gables and massive chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep blue
+sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful looked the pretty village,
+seen in middle distance, through a foliated vista in the woodlands,
+with the white smoke ascending from its humble hearths, the only
+thing that seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful were the
+colours some of its thatched roofs presented--greenest moss, brown
+lichen, and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while the murmur of a
+rivulet (a tributary of the Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch,
+'the auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would be heard at times,
+amid the pleasant voices of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the
+glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers below the stately terrace,
+that had long since replaced the moat that encircled the old
+fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite lord had ridden
+forth to fight and die for James VIII., on the field of
+Sheriffmuir--King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, as the
+unflinching Jacobites had it.
+
+A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis party was busy tossing
+the balls from side to side among several courts; but apart from all,
+and almost conspicuously so--a young fellow, in a handsome light
+tennis suit of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were carrying
+on a very palpable flirtation.
+
+The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion was Finella Melfort,
+Cosmo's orphan daughter (an heiress through her mother), who had
+returned a month before from a protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They
+seemed to be on excellent terms with each other, and doubtless the
+natural gaiety of the girl's disposition, her vivacity of manner, and
+their supposed mutual relationship, had opened the way to speedy
+familiarity.
+
+She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but very white-skinned little
+beauty, with a perfect _mignonne_ face, a petite but round and
+compact figure, gracefully formed, and very coquettish and
+_spirituelle_ in all her ways.
+
+She had received her peculiar Christian name at the special request
+of her grandfather, that silly peer being desirous that her name
+might go down in the peerage in connection with that of the famous
+Finella of Fettercairn.
+
+'A winsome pair they would make,' was the smiling remark of Mr.
+Kenneth Kippilaw, who was of the party (with three romping daughters
+from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn, who smirked a grim assent, as
+if it was a matter of indifference to him, which it was not, as his
+legal adviser very well knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard the
+remark, bestowed upon him a bright and approving smile in return for
+a knowing glance through the glasses of his gold _pince-nez_.
+
+In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto Gyle had found his veritable
+Capua--he was literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard himself
+addressed by his assumed name without experiencing a strange sinking
+and fluttering of the heart.
+
+The once-despised Lennard Melfort's sword, his commission, and his
+hard-won medals earned in Central India and the Terai of Nepaul were
+now looked upon as precious relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir
+at Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the lumber-attic, his portrait,
+taken in early life, was again hung in a place of honour in the
+dining-hall.
+
+'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his claim on such a place as
+this, and all for the face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto
+to himself when first he came to Craigengowan, and then he looked
+fearfully around him lest the word _uncle_ might have been overheard
+by some one; and he thought--'If rascally the trick I have played my
+simple and love-stricken cousin--and rascally it was and is--surely
+it was worth while to be the heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To
+reckon as mine in future all this grand panorama of heath-clad hills,
+of green and golden fields, of purple muirland, and stately woods of
+oak and pine where the deer rove in herds; as mine the trout-streams
+that flow towards the Bervie; the cascades that roar down the cliffs;
+the beautiful old house, with its stables, kennels, and terrace; its
+cellars, pictures, plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of
+marble and jasper, china and Japanese work; and I possess all that
+rank and wealth can give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,
+with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his years.
+
+To the fair inheritance he had come to steal he could not, however,
+add as his the blue sky above it, or the waves of the German Sea,
+which the North Esk flowed to join; but he was not without sense
+appreciative enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming earth, of
+the pine forests where the brown squirrels leaped from branch to
+branch, and on the mountain side the perfume of the golden whin and
+gorse.
+
+Appraising everything, these ideas were ever recurring to his mind,
+and it was full of them now as he looked around him, and at times,
+like one in a dream, heard the pretty babble of the high-bred,
+coquettish girl, who, to amuse herself, made _œillades_ at him;
+who called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and who, with her splendid
+fortune, he was now beginning to include among the many goods and
+chattels which must one day accrue to him.
+
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course, fully twenty years older
+than when we saw them last, full of wrath and indignation at Lennard
+for his so-called _mésalliance_.  Both were cold in heart and
+self-absorbed in nature as ever.  The latter was determined to be a
+beauty still, though now upon the confines of that decade 'when the
+cunning of cosmetics can no longer dissemble the retribution of Time
+the avenger.'  The former was bald now, and the remains of his once
+sandy-coloured hair had become grizzled, and a multitude of puckers
+were about his cold, grey eyes, while there was a perceptible stoop
+in his whilom flat, square shoulders.
+
+He was as full of family pride as ever, and the discovery of an
+unexpected and authentic heir and grandson to his title, that had
+never been won in the field or cabinet, but was simply the reward of
+bribery and corruption, and for which not one patriotic act had been
+performed by four generations, had given him intense satisfaction,
+and caused much blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol about
+the country-side; and smiles that were bright and genuine frequently
+wreathed the usually pale and immobile face of Lady Fettercairn when
+they rested on Shafto.
+
+We all know how the weak and easy adoption of a pretender by a titled
+mother in a famous and most protracted case not many years ago caused
+the most peculiar complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more
+pardonable, posted up as she was with documentary evidence, in
+accepting Shafto Gyle as her grandson.
+
+We have described her as being singularly, perhaps aristocratically,
+cold.  As a mother, she had never been given to kissing, caressing,
+or fondling her two sons (as she did a succession of odious pugs and
+lap-dogs), but, throwing their little hearts back upon themselves,
+left nurses and maids to 'do all that sort of tiresome thing.'
+
+So Finella, though an heiress, came in for very little of it either,
+with all her sweetness, beauty, and pretty winning ways, even from
+Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man who cared so little for his own
+country and her local and vital interests was little likely to care
+much for any flesh and blood that did not stand in his own boots.
+
+Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son' from time to time
+with--for her--deep apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic
+regret and indignation, much of the obscure story of his boyhood and
+past life, at least so much as he chose to tell her; and she bitterly
+resented that Lennard Melfort should have sought to put the 'nephew
+of that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army, while placing 'his own
+son' Shafto into the office of a miserable village lawyer, and so
+forth--and so forth!
+
+Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this happened in an obscure
+village in Devonshire, and far away from Craigengowan and all its
+aristocratic surroundings.
+
+She also thought it strange that Shafto--('Whence came that name?'
+she would mutter angrily)--should be so unlike her dark and handsome
+Lennard.  His eyebrows were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,
+watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck thick, and his hair
+somewhat sandy in hue.  Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what her
+husband, the present Lord Fettercairn, must have been at the same age.
+
+As for the Peer himself, he was only too thankful that an heir had
+turned up for his ill-gotten coronet, and that now--so far as one
+life was concerned--Sir Bernard Burke would not rate it among the
+dormant and attainted titles--those of the best and bravest men that
+Scotland ever knew.
+
+As for their mutual scheme concerning Shafto and their granddaughter
+Finella, with her beauty and many attractive parts, the former was
+craftily most desirous of furthering it, knowing well that, _happen
+what might_ in the future, she was an heiress; that marriage with her
+would give him a firm hold on the Fettercairn family, though the
+money of her mother was wisely settled on the young lady herself.
+
+Indeed, Finella had not been many weeks home from London, at
+Craigengowan, before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches, and spoke
+pretty plainly to him on the subject.
+
+Waving her large fan slowly to and fro, and eyeing Shafto closely
+over the top of it, she said:
+
+'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find your cousin Finella--the
+daughter of my dead darling Cosmo--a lovable kind of girl.  But even
+were she not so--and all say she is--you must not feel a prejudice
+against her, because--because----'
+
+'What, grandmother?'
+
+'Because it is our warmest desire that you may marry her.'
+
+'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked Shafto, with one of his
+dissembling smiles.
+
+'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but one is always the better
+to have more, and you must not feel----'
+
+'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.
+
+'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean that you must not be
+prejudiced against her as an expected_ parti_.'
+
+'Why should I?'
+
+'One hears and reads so much of such things.'
+
+'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so pretty and eligible, why the
+dickens----'
+
+'Shafto!'
+
+'What now?' he asked, with some irritability, as she often took him
+to task for his solecisms.
+
+'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations that were suited to
+the atmosphere of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will not do in
+Craigengowan!'
+
+'Well--she won't look at me with your eyes, grandmother.'
+
+'How--her eyes----'
+
+'They will never seem so bright and beautiful.'
+
+'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my Lady Fettercairn, with a smile
+and pleased flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet' had soon
+discovered that she was far from insensible to adulation.
+
+Shafto certainly availed himself of the opportunities afforded by
+'cousinship,' propinquity, and residence together in a country house,
+and sought to gain a place in the good graces or heart of Finella;
+but with all his cunning and earnest wishes in the matter--apart from
+the wonderful beauty of the girl--he feared that he made no more
+progress with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.
+
+She talked, played, danced, and even romped with him; they rambled
+and read together, and were as much companions as any two lovers
+would be; but he felt nearly certain that though she flirted with
+him, because it was partly her habit to appear to do so with most
+men, whenever he attempted to become tender she openly laughed at him
+or changed the subject skilfully; and also that if he essayed to
+touch or take her hand it was very deliberately withdrawn from his
+reach, and never did she make him more sensible of all this than when
+he contrived to draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon of the
+lawn-tennis party.
+
+She had long ere this been made perfectly aware that love and
+marriage were objects of all his attention, yet she amused herself
+with him by her coquettish _œillades_ and waggish speeches.
+
+'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating voice, as he stooped over
+her, 'I hope that with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant mode
+of treating me, you will see your way to carry out the fondest desire
+of my heart and that of our grandparents.'
+
+'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And the object to which I am to
+see my way is to marry you, cousin Shafto?'
+
+'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her half-averted ear.
+
+'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I couldn't think of such a thing.'
+
+'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'
+
+'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'
+
+'And these are?'
+
+'Firstly, people should marry to please themselves, not others.
+Grandpapa and grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am quite
+independent enough to do as I please and choose.'
+
+'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'
+
+'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!' said she, looking upward
+at him with one of her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.
+
+'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'
+
+'I have not said that either.'
+
+'You may yet love me, then?'
+
+'No; not as you wish it.'
+
+'But why?'
+
+'You have no right to ask me.'
+
+His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a gleam came into his cold, grey
+eyes as he asked, after a pause:
+
+'Is there anyone else you prefer?'
+
+'You have no right to inquire,' replied she, and a keener observer
+might have detected that his question brought a tiny blush to her
+cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so please to let this
+matter drop, once and for ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such
+delightful friends--such jolly cousins.'
+
+And so ended one of many such conversations on this
+topic--conversations that developed indifference, if not quite
+aversion, on the part of Finella, the clue to which Shafto was fated
+to find in a few weeks after.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.
+
+The persistent attentions of Shafto were alternately a source of
+amusement and worry to Finella Melfort; and when she found them
+become the latter, she had more than once retreated to the residence
+of her maternal grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she infinitely
+preferred being at Craigengowan, where the general circle was more
+refined and of a much better style; for Lady Drumshoddy--natheless
+her title--was not quite one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow
+of an advocate, who, having done without scruple the usual amount of
+work to please his party and the Lord Advocate, had been rewarded
+therefor by an appointment (and knighthood) in Bengal, where he had
+gone, at a lucky time, with the old advice and idea--
+
+  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree
+    Pluck India's endless riches,
+  And then I swore that time should see
+    Huge pockets in my breeches.'
+
+Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets were so well filled that when he
+came home to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be deemed a
+'great catch' by the Fettercairn family, though her grandfather had
+been--no one knew precisely what.
+
+And now Finella, by education, careful training, and by her own habit
+of thought, was naturally so refined that, with all her waggery and
+disposition to laughter and merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches
+occasionally irritated her.
+
+'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a man may get the love of the
+girl he wants, even if she cares little for him, if he only asks her
+at the right time; but, so far as you are concerned, Finella, the
+right moment has not come for me, I suppose.'
+
+'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,' she replied, fanning
+herself, and eyeing him with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in
+her dark eyes.
+
+Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion Lord Fettercairn came
+hurriedly to him, saying,
+
+'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley, from London, will arrive here
+to-morrow for a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he leaves for his
+regiment in Africa.  You will do your best to be attentive to him,
+Shafto.'
+
+'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily, however, all the more
+so that he was quick enough to detect that, at the mention of the
+visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour crossed the cheek of
+Finella.
+
+Something in his tone attracted the attention of Lord Fettercairn,
+who said,
+
+'After the 12th I hope you will find a legitimate use for your
+gun--you know what I mean.'
+
+Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as his grandfather referred to
+a mischievous act of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn a pair of majestic
+osprey had built their nest, guarded by the morass around them, and
+there they bred and reared a pair of beautiful eaglets.  No one had
+been allowed to approach them, so that nothing should occur to break
+the confidence of safety which the pair of osprey acquired in their
+lonely summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to Craigengowan, and
+by four rounds from his breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,
+to the indignation of the neighbourhood and even of my Lord
+Fettercairn.
+
+Not that the latter cared a straw about these eagles as objects of
+natural history; but the fact of their existence formed the subject
+of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was wounded on finding that
+one of his family had acted thus.
+
+So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family circle at Craigengowan had
+two or three accessions to its number--friends invited for the 12th
+of August--among others Mr. Kippilaw the younger, a spruce and dapper
+Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,' Shafto said, 'thought no small
+beer of himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of the
+Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive and, to one who was present,
+most decided addition to their society.
+
+His regular features were well tanned by the sun in Natal; his dark
+hair was shorn short; his moustaches were pointed well out; and his
+dark eyes had a bright and merry yet firm and steady expression, as
+those of a man born to command men, who had more than once faced
+danger, and was ready to face it again.
+
+He was in his twenty-seventh year, and was every way a courteous and
+finished English gentleman, though Shafto, in his secret heart, and
+more than once in the stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited
+beast.'
+
+Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot big game in Southern Africa,
+hunted in the English shires, taking his fences--even double
+ones--like a bird; he had lost and won with a good grace at Ascot and
+the Clubs, flirted 'all round,' and, though far from rich, was a good
+specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and open-hearted young officer,
+a favourite with all women, and particularly with his regiment.
+
+After luncheon he was seated beside Lady Fettercairn; he was too wise
+in his generation to have placed himself where he would have wished,
+beside Finella, whose little hand, on entering, Shafto thought he
+retained in his rather longer than etiquette required; for if
+Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly sharp, and he soon
+found that though Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her
+time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself, 'now that this
+fellow Hammersley had come,' he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a
+very bad word indeed.
+
+We have said that Finella had paid a protracted and--to her--most
+enjoyable visit to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties, and in
+the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley repeatedly; and these meetings
+had not been without a deep and tender interest to them both; and
+when they were parted finally by her return to Craigengowan, though
+no declaration of regard had escaped him, he had been burning to
+speak to her in that sweet and untutored language by which the inmost
+secrets of the loving heart can be read; and now that they had met
+again, they had a thousand London objects to talk about safely in
+common, which made them seem to be what they were, quite old friends
+in fact, and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like Shafto, to listen
+and look darkly and doubtfully on.
+
+But when they were alone, which was seldom, or merely apart from
+others, there was between them a new consciousness now--a secret but
+sweet understanding, born of eye speaking to eye--all the sweeter for
+its secrecy and being all their own, a conscious emotion that
+rendered them at times almost afraid to speak or glance lest curious
+eyes or ears might discover what that secret was.
+
+What was to be the sequel to all this?  Hammersley was far from rich
+according to the standard of wealth formed by Lady Fettercairn, and
+the latter had destined her granddaughter with all her accumulated
+wealth to be the bride of Shafto.  Hammersley knew nothing of this;
+he only knew his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'
+but then youth, we are told, 'is sanguine and full of faith and hope
+in an untried future.  It looks out over the pathway of life towards
+the goal of its ambition, seeing only the end desired, and giving
+little or no heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents, that may
+be met with on the way.'  So, happy in the good fortune that threw
+him once more in the sweet society of bright Finella Melfort, Captain
+Hammersley gave full swing in secret to the most delightful of
+day-dreams.
+
+In all this, however, we are somewhat anticipating our narrative.
+
+But, like a wise man, while the luncheon lasted he was most attentive
+to his hostess, from whose old but still handsome face, like that of
+Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless, icily regular, and
+splendidly null,' he ever and anon turned to that of Finella--that
+_mignonne_ face, which was so full of varying expression, warmth,
+light, and colour.
+
+'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn.  'You
+will scarcely credit how long I have had it in the cellar.  I bought
+a whole lot of it--when was it, Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the
+solemn old butler behind him.
+
+'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'
+
+'Everything at Craigengowan seems to take date before or after that
+event,' said Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do you mean for
+India, Grapeston?'
+
+'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who had carried 'Master Lennard'
+in his arms as a baby.
+
+'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance at the colour.'
+
+Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes were bent on the face of
+Finella.
+
+'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull, but every place is so after
+London.'
+
+'True, we live so fast there that we never seem to have time to do
+anything.'
+
+And now, understanding that Shafto was to be his chief companion at
+the covies on the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of hammerless
+guns, of central fire, of the mode of breaking in dogs, training
+setters, and so forth; and as these subjects had not been included in
+Shafto's education at Lawyer Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he
+listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.
+
+'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'the
+Bervie yields capital salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has
+filled more than one basket with the latter, but Shafto is somewhat
+of a duffer with his rod--he breaks many a rod, and has never landed
+a salmon yet.'
+
+'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.
+
+'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty, Fasque, Hobseat, and my
+own, as I hope you will find to-morrow.'
+
+'Thanks--indeed, I am sure I shall.'
+
+'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the probable bag of grouse and
+black game is from 400 to 500 brace.'
+
+After dinner that evening Finella was found singing at the
+piano--singing, as she always did, without requiring pressure and
+apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a thrush on a rose bush
+sings; but now she sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt
+instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness was roused when he
+heard her, in a pause, whisper:
+
+'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto turn the leaves.  He likes to
+do it, though he can do little else in the way of music.'
+
+This kind of confidence seemed to imply foregone conclusions and a
+mutual understanding, however slight; but, to some extent, Finella
+had a kind of dread of Shafto.
+
+Hammersley smiled and drew back, after placing a piece of music
+before her; but not before remarking:
+
+'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'
+
+'No--it is old as the days when George IV. was king--it is one you
+gave me some weeks ago in London, you remember?'
+
+'Am I likely to forget?'
+
+'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said Finella, adjusting her dress
+over the music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves at the proper time.'
+
+'Captain Hammersley will do that better than I,' said Shafto, drawing
+almost sulkily away, while the former resumed his place by Finella,
+with an unmistakable smile rippling over his face.
+
+This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley had given her, was an old
+one, long since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,' and jealous
+anger gathered in Shafto's heart as he listened and heard
+Hammersley's voice blend with Finella's in the last line of each
+verse:
+
+  'We met not in the sylvan scene
+    Where lovers wish to meet,
+  Where skies are bright and woods are green,
+    And bursting blossoms sweet;
+  But in the city's busy din,
+    Where Mammon holds his reign,
+  Sweet intercourse we sought to win
+    'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;
+  Above us was a murky sky,
+    Around a crowded space,
+  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,
+    Was this, our _trysting place_.'
+
+  'They are who say Love only dwells
+    'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;
+  Alike to him are gloomy cells
+    Or gay and smiling bowers;
+  Love works not on insensate things
+    His sweet and magic art;
+  No outward shrine arrests his wings,
+    His home is in the heart;
+  And dearest hearts like _thine_ and _mine_,
+    With rapture must retrace--
+  How often Love has deigned to shine
+    On this our _trysting place_.'
+
+
+'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more sweetly than ever!' said
+Hammersley in a low voice as he bent over her.
+
+'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself; 'where was this trysting
+place?  I feel inclined to put a charge of shot into him to-morrow.
+I will, too, if the day is foggy!'
+
+Finella, though pressed, declined to sing more, as the Misses
+Kippilaw, who were rather irrepressible young ladies, now proposed a
+carpet-dance, and she drew on her gloves; and while she fumbled away,
+almost nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew that
+Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and admiringly bent on her, till he
+came to the rescue, and did the buttoning required; and to Shafto it
+seemed the process was a very protracted one, and was a pretty little
+connivance, as in reality it was.
+
+Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion, was summoned, and she--poor
+creature--had to furnish music for the occasion, till at last Finella
+good-naturedly relieved her.
+
+So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and then Shafto, though an
+indifferent waltzer, thought he might excel in a square dance with
+Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation at any time, and on this
+occasion his attempts at it proved a great failure, and when he
+compared this with the animation of Hammersley and Finella in the
+Lancers, he was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.  The former did
+not seem to undergo that agony so often felt by Shafto, of having
+out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have to rack his brain
+for anecdotes or jokes, but to be able to keep up an easy flow of
+well-bred talk on persons, places, and things, which seemed to amuse
+Finella excessively, as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily while
+fanning herself, and looking more sparkling and piquante than ever.
+
+'What the deuce can he find to say to her?' thought Shafto; but
+Hammersley was only finding the links--the threads of a dear old
+story begun in London months ago.
+
+So passed the first day of Hammersley's arrival at Craigengowan, and
+Finella laid her head on her pillow full of bright and happy
+thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no share.
+
+But while these emotions and events were in progress, where, in the
+meantime, was Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+AMONG THE GROUSE.
+
+Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the unamiable Shafto and his
+threats muttered in secret, the shooting next day passed off without
+any peril being encountered by the unconscious
+Hammersley--unconscious at least of the enmity his presence was
+inspiring.  However, it was not so the second; and Finella and her
+fair friends agreed that if he looked so well and handsome in his
+heather-coloured knickerbocker shooting-dress, with ribbed stockings
+of Alloa yarn, his gun under his arm, and shot-belt over his
+shoulder, how gallant must he look when in full uniform.
+
+In the field the vicinity of Shafto was avoided as much as possible,
+as he shot wildly indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and people
+generally on the estate he was simply detested for the severity of
+his manner, his tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness in
+every way; though at first, when he came to Craigengowan, they had
+laboured in vain, and vied with each other in their attempts to
+initiate him into those field-sports so dear to Britons generally,
+and to the Scots in particular; but when shooting grouse especially,
+the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine dread of him, and, when fog was
+on, sometimes refused to attend him, and he was, as they said among
+themselves, 'a new experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'
+
+'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a midden,' said the old
+head-gamekeeper wrathfully, as he drew his bonnet over his beetling
+brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and tell my tale to the wind
+that blaws o'er Craigengowan.'
+
+Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn, hale and hearty, was in
+the field with his central-fire gun with fine Damascus barrels.
+Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw, and four others made up the party.
+
+The morning was a lovely one, and lovely too was the scenery, for
+August is a month richly tinted with the last touches of summer,
+blended with the russet tones of autumn; the pleasant meadows are yet
+green, and over the ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the ocean
+when nearly asleep.
+
+Apart from the joyous exhilaration of shooting, and that out-door
+exercise so dear to every English gentleman, Vivian Hammersley felt
+all that which comes from the romantic beauty of his
+surroundings--the scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which is a low
+champaign and highly cultivated country, studded with handsome
+mansions, and ornamented by rich plantations and thriving villages.
+
+Ere long the open muirs were reached, and the hill-sides, the steep,
+purple ridges of which the sportsmen had to breast; and, keen
+sportsman though he was, Hammersley had soon to admit that
+grouse-shooting was the most fatiguing work he had yet encountered;
+but soon came the excitements of the first point, the first brood,
+and the first shot or two.
+
+To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown partridges, grouse look dusky
+and even black, and they seem to hug the purple heather, but when one
+becomes accustomed to them they are as easy to knock over as the tame
+birds; and now the crack of the guns began to ring out along the
+hill-slopes.
+
+Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty yards apart, and twice when a
+bird rose before the latter, it was brought down wounded but not
+killed by the former.
+
+Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,' as Shafto should not have
+fired, unless he had missed or passed it; but he only bit his lip and
+smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn remarked the discourtesy, and
+added,
+
+'Shafto, I do wish you would take an example from Captain Hammersley.'
+
+'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.
+
+'He kills his game clean--few birds run from him with broken wings
+and so forth.'
+
+'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto, whose mode of life in
+Devonshire had made him rather soft, and he was beginning to think
+that nerves of iron and lungs like a bagpipe were requisite for
+breasting up the hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.
+
+Hammersley worked away silently, neither looking to his right nor
+left, feeling that though several elements are requisite for 'sport,'
+the chief then was to kill as much grouse as possible in a given
+time, but was more than once irritated and discomposed by Shafto, and
+even young Kippilaw, shooting in a blundering way along the line even
+when the birds were not flying high; and he proceeded in a
+workmanlike way to bring down one bird as it approached, the next
+when it was past him, and so on.
+
+The first portion of the day the Fettercairn party shot to points,
+and then to drivers, and in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the
+latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he loathed the whole
+thing, and was now 'completely blown--pumped out,' as he phrased it,
+he was not sorry when the magic word 'lunch' was uttered; and
+Hammersley certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came Finella, and
+with her arrival--to him--the most delightful part of the day.
+
+She came tooling along the sunny pathway that traversed the bottom of
+a glen, driving with her tightly gauntleted and deft little hands a
+pair of beautiful white ponies, which drew the daintiest of
+basket-phaetons, containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample
+luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for halting was a green oasis
+amid the dark heather, where a spring of deliciously cool water was
+bubbling up, called Finella's Well.
+
+'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'please to draw your
+cartridges.  I was once nearly shot in this very place by a stupid
+fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you have come, Finella darling,
+we are all hungry as hawks, and thirsty too.'
+
+Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look in her coquettish hat and
+well-fitting jacket, while the drive, the occasion, and the touch of
+Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to alight gave her cheek an
+unwonted colour, and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and the
+soldier thought that certainly there was nothing in the world so
+pleasant to a man's eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.
+
+'You have had good sport,' said she to the group, while her eye
+rested on Hammersley, and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces
+on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze with her,' as the gentlemen
+thought, and had a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of greeting
+the members of the party was different, as to some she gave her hand
+like a little queen, while to others she smiled, or simply bowed; but
+provoked an angry snort from Shafto by expressing a hope that he 'had
+not shot anyone yet.'
+
+And then he grew white as he recalled his angry thoughts of the
+preceding night.
+
+'Why did you take the trouble to drive here?' he asked her, in a low
+voice.
+
+'Because I chose to come; and I do so love driving these plump
+darlings of ponies,' replied the girl, patting the sleek animals with
+her tiny, slim hand.
+
+'Old Grapeston would have done well enough; and why did you not bring
+one of the Kippilaw girls?'
+
+'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I could please you--not an
+easy task--I should have tried to bring them all, though that is
+rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'
+
+Shafto never for a moment doubted that she had come over to
+superintend the luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley' was one of
+the party; and in this suspicion perhaps he was right.
+
+As for Hammersley, being ignorant of Shafto's antecedents, his
+present hopes, and those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not comprehend
+how the grandson and heir-apparent of a peer came to be 'such bad
+form--bad style, and all that sort of thing,' as he thought; and all
+that became rather worse when Shafto was under the influence of
+sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno administered by Mr. Grapeston.
+
+As the sportsmen lounged on the grass, and the luncheon proceeded
+under the superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston, Finella, the
+presiding goddess, looked unusually bright and happy--a consummation
+which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and jealousy, came of the
+presence of Vivian Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all the
+result of another man's society--not his certainly, and hence he
+would have preferred that she was not light-hearted at all.
+
+He could see that with all her _espieglerie_ Finella found no
+occasion to laugh at Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as
+she did himself, but the attentions of Hammersley were delicately and
+seductively paid.  Deferential and gentle at all times, to all women,
+he had always been so to Finella Melfort, and she was able to feel
+more than his words, looks, or manner suggested to others; and he
+imagined--nay, he was becoming certain--and a glow of great joy came
+with the certainty--that Finella's sweet dark eyes grew brighter at
+his approach; that a rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and
+there came a slight quiver into her voice when she replied to him,
+
+'Was it all really so?'
+
+Fate was soon to decide that which he had been too slow or timid to
+decide for himself.
+
+As he said one of the merest commonplaces to her, their eyes met.
+
+It was only one lingering glance!
+
+But looks can say so much more than the voice, the eyes surpassing
+the lips, breaking or revealing what the silence of months, it may be
+years, has hidden, and leading heart to heart.
+
+'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and just before driving off, 'do
+you shoot over this ground to-morrow?'
+
+'To a certain extent we shall--but why?'
+
+'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'
+
+'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'
+
+'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!' said she, with a bow to
+all, and a merry glance which included most certainly Vivian
+Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed to darken with her departure.
+
+'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,' said Lord Fettercairn,
+who knew by old experience that when the afternoon shadows, and more
+especially those of evening, begin to lengthen, the slopes of the
+hills are seen better, that the birds, too, lie better, and that as
+the air becomes more fresh and cool, men can shoot with greater care
+and deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But Hammersley, full of
+his own thoughts, full of the image of Finella and that tale-telling
+glance they had exchanged, missed nearly every bird, to the great
+exultation of Shafto, who made an incredible number of bad and clumsy
+jokes thereon--jokes which the young Englishman heard with perfect
+indifference and equanimity.
+
+Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the result of the next day's
+expedition, and certainly Hammersley did not do so either.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TWO FINELLAS.
+
+Next day, when the grouse-shooting had been in progress for an hour
+or two, a mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted his ankle in a
+turnip-field, fell heavily on one side, and staggered up too lame to
+take further share in the sport for that day at least.
+
+'When Finella comes with the lunch in the pony-phaeton, she will
+drive you home,' said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired one of the
+beaters to give Hammersley the assistance of an arm to the well,
+where the repast was to be laid out as before.
+
+When Shafto saw his rival limping he was delighted, and thought,
+'This will mar his waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less
+delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's natural suggestion.
+
+'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next thought, 'to get a quiet
+drive with her to Craigengowan.'
+
+And Finella's look and exclamation of alarm and interest were not
+lost upon him when she arrived and found Hammersley seated on the
+grass by the side of the well, and saw the difficulty with which he
+rose to greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded gun as he did
+so; and soft, indeed, was the blush of pleasure that crossed her
+delicate face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;' and
+certainly it met, secretly, with the entire approbation of
+Hammersley, who anticipated with delight the drive home with such a
+companion.
+
+After a time the luncheon--though skilfully protracted by Shafto--was
+over, and Finella and her 'patient' were together in the phaeton, and
+she, with a smile and farewell bow, whipped up her petted ponies,
+Flirt and Fairy, whom every day she fed with apples and carrots.
+
+Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that she was in great haste to
+be gone; but more sulky would he have been had he seen, or known that
+when once an angle of the glen was reached where the road dipped out
+of sight, the ponies were permitted to go at their own pace, which
+ere long dwindled into a walk, till they passed the vast ruined
+castle of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley were, however, if very
+happy, very silent, though both enjoyed the drive in the bright
+sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he quite forgot his petty
+misfortune in contemplating the delicate profile and long drooping
+eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and who, with a fluttering
+heart, was perhaps expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,
+especially when he placed his hand on hers, in pretence of guiding
+the ponies, which broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates were
+passed; and glorious as the opportunity accorded him had been,
+Hammersley's heart, while burning with passionate ardour, seemed to
+have lost all courage, for he had a sincere dread of Lady
+Fettercairn, and suspected that her interests were naturally centred
+in Shafto.
+
+At seven-and-twenty a man, who has knocked about the world, with a
+regiment especially, for some nine years or so, does not fall over
+head and ears in love like a rash boy, or without calculating his
+chances of general success; and poor Hammersley, though he did not
+doubt achieving it with Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and
+breakers ahead with her family, and his spirit was a proud one.  To
+make a declaration was to ruin or lose everything, for if the family
+were averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit their roof for ever,
+and Finella would be lost to him, for heiresses seldom elope now,
+save in novels; and he knew that in her circle the motives for
+marriage are more various and questionable than with other and
+untitled ranks of life.  Rank and money were the chief incentives of
+such people as the Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,' says an
+essayist, 'no doubt occur in the humbler classes, but love is more
+frequently the incentive, while with princes and patricians the
+conjugal alliance is, in nine instances out of ten, a mere matter of
+_expedience_.'
+
+Craigengowan was reached, and not a word of the great secret that
+filled his heart had escaped him, for which he cursed his own folly
+and timidity when the drive ended, and a groom took the ponies' heads.
+
+Yet the day was not over, nor was a fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady
+Fettercairn and all her female quests had driven to a flower-show at
+the nearest town--even Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!
+
+Everything in and about Craigengowan seemed conducive to love-talk
+and confidences.  The great and picturesque house itself was
+charming.  The old orchards would ere long be heavy with fruit, and
+were then a sight to see; on the terrace the peacocks were strutting
+to and fro; there were fancy arbours admirably adapted for
+flirtation, and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun and moon
+dial) now gay with all the flowers of August.
+
+On a lounge near an open window facing the latter Hammersley was
+reclining, when Finella, after changing her driving dress, came into
+the drawing-room, and finely her costume suited her dark and piquante
+style of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk, profusely trimmed
+with filmy lace, and a cluster of scarlet flowers on the left
+shoulder among the lace of the collarette that encircled her slender
+neck; and Hammersley, as he looked at her, thought that 'beauty
+unadorned' was rather a fallacy.
+
+His undisguised expression of admiration as he partly rose to receive
+her caused her to colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was
+easier now; but, instead of replying, he said, while venturing
+slightly to touch her hand:
+
+'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by your dear pretty name of
+Finella?  Not from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'
+
+'Ah, I am very unlike her!'
+
+'You are certainly quite as charming!'
+
+'But neither dumb nor pretending to be so,' said the girl, with one
+of her silvery little laughs.
+
+'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to himself, in a low and
+unconsciously loving tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'
+
+'Don't you know?' she asked.
+
+'How could I know?  I know only that I will never forget it.'
+
+'Of course you could not know.  The origin of my name is one of the
+oldest legends of the Howe of the Mearns.'
+
+'Howe--that is Scotch for "hollow," I believe.'
+
+'No; "hollow" is the English for _howe_,' replied Finella, laughing,
+as she recalled a quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.  'You saw
+the great old castle we passed in our drive home?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who lived there.'
+
+'After it fell into ruin?'
+
+'No; before it.'
+
+'Then she must have lived a precious long time ago.'
+
+'She certainly did--some--nearly a thousand years ago.'
+
+'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss Melfort, what joke is this?'
+
+'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously; 'you can read about it
+in our family history--or I shall read it to you in the "Book of
+Fettercairn."'
+
+She took from a table near a handsome volume, which her
+grandfather--to please whom she was named Finella--had in a spirit of
+family vanity prepared for private circulation, and as if to connect
+his title with antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in ancient
+Scottish history, though little known to the Scots of the present day.
+
+We give it from his Lordship's book verbatim as she read it to Vivian
+Hammersley, who--cunning rogue--was not indisposed with such a
+charming and sympathetic companion as Finella to make the most of his
+fall, and reclined rather luxuriously on the velvet lounge, while
+she, seated in a dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely
+listened, so intent was he on watching her sweet face, her white and
+perfect ears, her downcast eyelids with their long lashes--her whole
+self!
+
+The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella) and of that Ilk, take
+their hereditary title from the old castle of that name, which stands
+in the Howe of the Mearns, and is sometimes called the Castle of
+Finella.  It is situated on an eminence, and is now surrounded on
+three sides by a morass.  It is enclosed within an inner and an outer
+wall of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of ground.  The inner
+is composed of vitrified matter, but no lime has been used in its
+construction.  The walls are a congeries of small stones cemented
+together by some molten matter, now harder than the stones
+themselves; and the remarkable event for which this castle is
+celebrated in history is the following:
+
+When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant king (who defeated the Danes at
+the battle of Luncarty, and created on that field the Hays, Earls of
+Errol, Hereditary Constables of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal
+cavalry, thus originating also the noble families of Tweeddale and
+Kinnoull), was on the throne, his favourite residence was the castle
+of Kincardine, the ruins of which still remain about a mile eastward
+of the village of Fettercairn, and from thence he went periodically
+to pay his devotions at the shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the
+Scots, to whom the latter had been sent by Pope Celestine in the
+sixth century to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at
+Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold and precious stones in 1409
+by the Bishop of St. Andrews.
+
+The king had excited the deadly hatred of Finella, the Lady of
+Fettercairn, daughter of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to
+death her son, who was a traitor and had rebelled against him in
+Lochaber; and, with the intention of being revenged, she prepared at
+Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal machine,' with which to
+slay the king.
+
+This engine consisted of a brass statue, which shot out arrows when a
+golden apple was taken from its hand.
+
+Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in hunting the deer, wolf, the
+badger and the boar, when she treacherously invited him to her castle
+of Fettercairn, which was then, as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with
+shady groves and piles of curious buildings,' of which there remained
+no vestiges when he wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither the
+king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle, white tunic, an eagle's
+wing in his helmet, and on its crest a glittering _clach-bhuai_, or
+stone of power, one of the three now in the Scottish regalia.
+
+Dissembling her hate, she entertained the king very splendidly, and
+after dinner conducted him out to view the beauties of the place and
+the structure of her castle; and Kenneth, pleased with her beauty
+(which her raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of blue silk,
+without sleeves, a mantle of fine linen, fastened by a brooch of
+silver, and all her golden hair floating on her shoulders,
+accompanied her into a tower, where, in an upper apartment, and amid
+rich festooned arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the infernal
+machine.
+
+She courteously and smilingly requested the king to take the golden
+apple from the right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by the
+strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing sound was heard within it
+as a string or cord gave way, and from its mouth there came forth two
+barbed arrows which mortally wounded him, and he fell at her feet.
+
+Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth was found by his retinue
+'_bullerand in his blude_.'
+
+Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the genuine spirit of
+legendary lore, to have obtained its name from this princess, who,
+the more readily to evade her pursuers, stepped from the branches of
+one tree to those of another the whole way from her castle to this
+den, which is near the sea, in the parish of St. Cyres, as all the
+country then was a wild forest.
+
+Buchanan deems all this story a fable, though asserted by John Major
+and Hector Boece, and thinks it more probable that the king was slain
+near Fettercairn in an ambush prepared by Finella.
+
+So ended the legend.
+
+As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley had bent lower and lower over
+her, till the tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich dark hair,
+and his arm all but stole round her.  Finella Melfort was quite
+conscious of this close proximity, and though she did not shrink from
+it, that consciousness made her colour deepen and her sweet voice
+become unsteady.
+
+'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,' said she, closing the
+book.
+
+'And to this awful legend of the dark ages, which only wants
+blue-fire, lime-light, and a musical accompaniment to set it off, you
+owe your name?' said he, laughingly.
+
+'Yes--it was grandfather's whim.'
+
+'It is odd that you--the belle of the last London season, should be
+named after such a grotesque old termagant!'
+
+She looked up at him smilingly, and then, as their eyes met, the
+expression of that glance exchanged beside the well on the hills came
+into them again; heart spoke to heart; he bent his face nearer hers,
+and his arm went round her in earnest.
+
+'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as he kissed her unresisting
+lips, her blushing face was hidden on his shoulder.
+
+And _this_ tableau was the result of the two days' shooting--a sudden
+result which neither Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.
+
+Of how long they remained thus neither had any idea.  Time seemed to
+stand still with them.  Finella was only conscious of his hand
+caressing hers, which lay so willingly in his tender, yet firm, clasp.
+
+Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt oblivious of all the world.
+He could think of nothing but Finella, while the latter seemed
+scarcely capable of reflection at all beyond the existing thought
+that he loved her, and though the avowal was a silent and unuttered
+one, the new sense of all it admitted and involved, seemed to
+overwhelm the girl; her brightest day-dreams had come, and she
+nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.
+
+The unwelcome sound of voices and also of carriage-wheels on the
+terrace roused them.  He released her hand, stole one more clinging
+kiss, and forgetful of his fall and all about it started with
+impatience to his feet.
+
+Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had returned from the
+flower-show, and to avoid them and all the world, for a little time
+yet, the lovers, with their hearts still beating too wildly to come
+down to commonplace, tacitly wandered hand in hand into the recesses
+of a conservatory, and lingered there amid the warm, flower-scented
+atmosphere and shaded aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.
+
+Finella was conscious that Vivian Hammersley was talking to her
+lovingly and caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he had never
+talked before, and she felt that she was 'Finella'--the dearest and
+sweetest name in the world to him--and no more Miss Melfort.
+
+* * * *
+
+It would be difficult, and superfluous perhaps, to describe the
+emotions of these two during the next few days.
+
+Though now quite aware that Finella and Hammersley had met each other
+frequently before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy, though
+apparently undemonstrative, grew speedily into suspicious anger.  He
+felt intuitively that _his_ presence made not the slightest
+difference to them, though he did not forget it; and he failed to
+understand how 'this fellow' had so quickly gained his subtle and
+familiar position with Finella.'
+
+It galled him to the quick to see and feel all this, and know that he
+could never please her as she seemed to be pleased with Hammersley;
+for her colour heightened, her eyes brightened, and her eyelashes
+drooped and flickered whenever he approached or addressed her.
+
+Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining Finella and her fortune
+against any discovery that might be made of the falsehood of his
+position, and so wrath and hatred gathered in his heart together.
+
+He was baffled at times by her bright smiles and pretty, irresistible
+manner, but nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to scheme again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.
+
+Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire
+home.
+
+Her father had been dull and gloomy of late, and had more than once
+laid his hand affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and said in a
+prayerful way that 'he hoped he might soon see her well married, and
+that she might never be left friendless!'
+
+'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would reply.
+
+Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for some time past.  Was it
+born of her father's forebodings, or of the presentiment about which
+she had conversed with Florian?  A depression hung over her--an
+undefinable dread of some great calamity about to happen.  At night
+her sleep was restless and broken, and by day a vague fear haunted
+her.
+
+The evil boded was to happen soon now.
+
+With these oppressive thoughts mingled the memory of the tall and
+handsome dark-eyed lad she loved--it seemed so long ago, and she
+longed to hear his voice again, and for his breast to lay her head
+upon.  But where was Florian now?  Months had passed without her
+hearing of him, and she might never hear again!
+
+Little could she have conceived the foul trick that Shafto had played
+them both in the matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for
+herself, she had not seen the last of that enterprising young
+gentleman.
+
+She felt miserably that her heart was lonely and heavy, and that,
+young as she was, light and joy, with the absence and ruin of
+Florian, had gone out of her life.  She was alone always with her
+great sorrow, and longed much for tears; but as her past life had
+been a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had been little--if at
+all--given to them.
+
+One morning her father did not appear at breakfast as usual.  As yet
+undressed her red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke and
+caress, was floating in a great loose mass on her back and shoulders,
+and her blue eyes looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.
+
+She had, as was her daily wont, arranged his letters, cut and aired
+the morning papers for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on the
+table, with a basket of delicate peaches, which she knew he liked,
+from the famous south wall of the garden, with green fig leaves round
+them, for Dulcie did everything prettily and tastefully, however
+trivial.  Then she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his tea,
+and waited.
+
+Still he did not appear.  She knocked on his bedroom door, but
+received no answer, and saw, with surprise, that his boots were still
+on the mat outside.
+
+She peeped in and called on him--'Papa, papa!' but there was no
+response.
+
+The room was empty, and the morning sun streamed through the
+uncurtained window.  The bed had not been slept in!  Again she called
+his name, and rushed downstairs in alarm and affright.
+
+The gas was burning in his writing-room; the window was still closed
+as it had been overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with his
+hands and arms stretched out on the table, sat Llewellen Carlyon,
+with his head bent forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.
+
+'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually gone to sleep over his
+horrid weary work.'
+
+She leaned over his chair; wound her soft arms round his neck and
+bowed grey head--her lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness, her
+sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as she laid her cheek upon
+it, a mortal chill struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped
+her.
+
+'What is this--papa?'
+
+She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was the sleep of death!
+
+It was disease of the heart, the doctors said, and he had thus passed
+away--died in harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right hand, and
+an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.
+
+Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the servants to her own
+room--they were old and affectionate country folks, who had been long
+with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and his daughter well.
+
+Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious, the sudden shock was so
+dreadful to her, and when she woke from it, the old curate, Mr.
+Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and herself, was standing near
+her bed.
+
+'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly and tenderly, as he passed
+his wrinkled hand over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.
+
+'What has happened?' she asked wildly.
+
+'You fainted, Dulcie.'
+
+'Why--I never fainted before.'
+
+'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered an old servant, who saw
+the vague and wild inquiring expression of her eyes.
+
+'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,' said the curate,
+putting a cup of coffee and piece of toast before her.
+
+'Something happened--something dreadful--what was it--oh, what was
+it?' asked Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.
+
+'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.
+
+She drank of the coffee thirstily; but declined the bread.
+
+'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he; 'I feared you might be
+unable to eat yet.'
+
+Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering and troubled look, and to
+become less wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry escaped her,
+and she said, with a calmness more terrible and painful than fainting
+or hysterics:
+
+'Oh, I remember now--papa--poor papa--dead!  Found dead!  Oh, my God!
+help me to bear it, or take me too--take me too!'
+
+'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.
+
+'How long ago was it--yesterday--a month ago, or when?  I seem--I
+feel as if I had grown quite old, yet you all look just the
+same--just the same; how is this?'
+
+'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes, 'your dire calamity
+happened but a short time ago--little more than an hour since.'
+
+Her response was a deep and heavy sob, that seemed to come from her
+overcharged heart rather than her slender throat, and which was the
+result of the unnatural tension of her mind.
+
+'Come to my house with me,' said the kind old curate; but Dulcie
+shook her head.
+
+'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I wish to be with him, and
+alone.'
+
+'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake in grief to avoid contact
+with the world.  The mind only gets sadder and deeper into its gloom
+of melancholy.  If you could but sleep, child, a little.'
+
+'Sleep--I feel as if I had been asleep for years; and it was this
+morning, you tell me--only this morning I had my arms round his
+neck--dead--my darling papa dead!'
+
+She started to her feet as if to go where the body lay under the now
+useless hands of the doctor, but would have fallen had she not
+clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who upheld and restrained her.
+
+The awful thought of her future loneliness now that she had thus
+suddenly lost her father, as she had not another relation in the
+world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and deprived her of the power of
+taking food or obtaining sleep.
+
+In vain her old servants, who had known her from infancy, coaxed her
+to attempt both, but sleep would not come, and the food remained
+untasted before her.
+
+'A little water,' she would say; 'give me a little water, for thirst
+parches me.'
+
+All that passed subsequently seemed like one long and terrible dream
+to Dulcie.  She was alone in the world, and when her father was laid
+in his last home at Revelstoke, within sound of the tumbling waves,
+in addition to being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless, for
+her father had nothing to leave her but the old furniture of the
+house they had inhabited.
+
+That was sold, and she was to remain with the family of the curate
+till some situation could be procured for her.
+
+She had long since ceased to expect any letter from or tidings of
+Florian.  She began to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of his
+new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well, it was the way of the
+world.
+
+Never would she forget the day she quitted her old home.  Her
+father's hat, his coat and cane were in the hall; all that he had
+used and that belonged to him were still there, to bring his presence
+before her with fresh poignancy, and to impress upon her that she was
+fatherless, all but friendless, and an orphan.
+
+The superstitious people about Revelstoke now remembered that in
+Lawyer Carlyon's garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time
+appeared on more than one of his apple-trees, a certain sign of
+coming death to one of his household.  But who can tell in this
+ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!
+
+One evening--she never forgot it--she had been visiting her father's
+grave, and was slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground, when a man
+like a soldier approached her in haste.
+
+'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his name, but it died away on her
+bloodless lips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'
+
+A poet says:
+
+  'Not by appointment do we meet delight
+  And joy: they need not our expectancy.
+  But round some corner in the streets of life,
+  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'
+
+
+Florian it was who stood before her, but though he gazed at her
+earnestly, wistfully, and with great pity in his tender eyes as he
+surveyed her pale face and deep mourning, he made no attempt to take
+the hands she yearningly extended towards him.  She saw that he was
+in the uniform of a private soldier, over which he wore a light
+dust-coat as a sort of disguise, but there was no mistaking his
+glengarry--that head-dress which is odious and absurd for English and
+Irish regiments, and which in his instance bore a brass badge--the
+sphinx, for Egypt.
+
+He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon the expression of his eye
+grew doubtful and cloudy.
+
+'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing voice, in which something
+of upbraiding blended with tones of surprise and grief; and yet the
+fact of his presence seemed so unreal that she lingered for a moment
+before she flung herself into his arms, and was clasped to his
+breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of this dress?' she asked, lifting
+her face and surveying him again.
+
+'It means that I am a soldier--like him whose son I thought myself--a
+soldier of the Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with some
+bitterness of tone.
+
+'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!' said Dulcie wringing her
+interlaced fingers.  'Could not Shafto--your cousin----'
+
+'Shafto cast me off--seemed as if he could not get rid of me too
+soon.'
+
+'How cruel, when he might have done so much for you, to use you so!'
+
+'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would not stoop to seek favours
+even from him, and our paths in life will never cross each other
+again; but a time may come--I know not when--in which I may seek
+forgiveness of enemies as well as friends--the bad and the good
+together--for a soldier's life is one of peril.'
+
+'Of horror--to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping freely on his breast.
+
+'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why did you cast me off in my
+utter adversity and return to me my locket?'
+
+Dulcie looked up in astonishment.
+
+'What _do_ you mean, Florian--have you lost your senses?' she asked
+in sore perplexity.  'Where have you come from last?'
+
+'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice of your terrible loss, and
+resolved to see, even if I could not speak with you.'
+
+'And you came----'
+
+'To see you, my lost darling, once again.  Oh, Dulcie, I thought I
+should die if I left England and sailed for Africa without doing so.
+I got a day's leave and am here.'
+
+'But why have you done this?'
+
+'This--what?'
+
+'Soldiering!'
+
+'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I do?--besides, I thought you
+had cast me off when you sent me back this locket,' he added,
+producing the gift referred to.
+
+'That locket was stolen from me on the night you left
+Revelstoke--literally wrenched from my neck, as I told you in my
+letter--the letter you never answered.'
+
+'I received no letter, Dulcie--but your locket was taken from you by
+whom?'
+
+'Shafto.'
+
+'The double villain!  He must have intercepted that letter, and
+utilised the envelope with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,
+and effect a breach between us.'
+
+'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'
+
+'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie, and now I almost wish you
+had.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'It is little use to remember me now--I am so poor and hopeless.'
+
+'After all,' said she, taking his face between her hands caressingly,
+'what does poverty matter if we love each other still?'
+
+'And you love me, Dulcie--love me yet!' exclaimed Florian
+passionately.
+
+'And shall never, never cease to do so.'
+
+'But I am so much beneath you now in position, Dulcie--and--and----'
+his voice broke.
+
+'What, darling?'
+
+'May never rise.'
+
+'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you because you were
+unfortunate?'
+
+'No; but you are more than a woman, Dulcie--you are a golden-haired
+angel!'
+
+'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow your cheeks are!  You have
+suffered----'
+
+'Much since last we parted here in dear old Devonshire.  But Shafto's
+villainy surpasses all I could have imagined!'
+
+'And where is Shafto now?'
+
+'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I am glad that we have
+unravelled that which was to me a source of sorrow and dismay--the
+returned locket.  So you cannot take back your heart, Dulcie, nor
+give me mine?' said Florian.
+
+'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied, sweetly and simply.
+'Though poor, we are all the world to each other now.'
+
+'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day existence is, there
+is--even in these railway times--much of strange and painful romance
+woven up with many a life; and so it seems to be with mine--with
+ours, Dulcie.'
+
+'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you were so!' exclaimed the
+girl, as a great pity filled her heart, when she thought of her
+lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes, and the humble and
+most perilous course that was before him in South Africa, where the
+clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too, am poor, Florian--very
+poor; dear papa died involved, leaving me penniless, and I must cast
+about to earn my own bread.'
+
+'This is horrible--how shall I endure it?' said he fiercely, while
+regarding her with a loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.
+
+'What would you have done if you had not met me by chance here?'
+
+'Loafed about till the last moment, and then done something
+desperate.  I _would_ have seen you, and after that--the Deluge!  In
+two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added, casting a glance at the
+old church of Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our parents
+lie, Dulcie--yours at least, and those that I, till lately, thought
+were mine.  There is something very strange and mysterious in this
+change of relationship and position between Shafto and myself.  I
+cannot understand it.  Why was I misled all my life by one who loved
+me so well?  How often have I stood with the Major by a gravestone
+yonder inscribed with the name of Flora MacIan and heard him repeat
+while looking at it--
+
+  'A thousand would call the spot dreary
+    Where thou takest thy long repose;
+  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,
+    And the frame that suffering knows.
+  I never rejoiced more sincerely
+    Than at thy funeral hour,
+  Assured that the one I loved dearly
+    Was beyond affliction's power!
+
+Why did he quote all this to me, and tell me never to forget that
+spot, or who was buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt, and not
+my mother?'
+
+Florian felt keenly for the position of Dulcie Carlyon, and the
+perils and mortifications that might beset her path now; but he was
+too young, too healthy and full of animal life and spirits, to be
+altogether weighed down by the thought of his humble position and all
+that was before him; and now that he had seen her again, restored to
+her bosom the locket, and that he knew she was true to him, and had
+never for a moment wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to become
+suddenly full of new impulses and hopes for him, and he thought
+prayerfully that all might yet be well for them both.
+
+But when?
+
+To Dulcie there seemed something noble in the hopeful spirit that,
+under her influence, animated her grave lover now.  He seemed to
+become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap what might, she felt he would
+ever be true to her.
+
+He seemed brave and tender and true--'tender and true' as a Douglas
+of old, and Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it would be to
+have such a handsome young husband as he to take care of her always,
+and see that all she did was right and proper and wise.
+
+A long embrace, and he was gone to catch the inexorable train.  She
+was again alone, and for the first time she perceived that the sun
+had set, that the waves looked black as they rounded Revelstoke
+promontory, and that all the landscape had grown dark, desolate, and
+dreary.
+
+What a hopeless future seemed to stretch before these two creatures,
+so young and so loving!
+
+Florian was gone--gone to serve as a private soldier on the burning
+coast of Africa.  It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to think
+of.
+
+'Every morning and evening I shall pray for you, Florian,' wailed the
+girl in her heart; 'pray that you may be happy, good, and rich,
+and--and that we shall yet meet in heaven if we never meet on earth.'
+
+On the second morning after this separation, when Dulcie was pillowed
+in sleep, and the rising sun was shining brightly on the waves that
+rolled in Cawsand Bay and danced over the Mewstone, a great white
+'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under sail and steam, with the
+blue-peter flying at its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded
+with red coats, all waving their caps and taking a farewell look at
+Old England--the last look it proved to many--and, led by Bob
+Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of the Warwickshire,
+hundreds of voices joined chorusing:
+
+    'Merrily, my lads, so ho!
+  They may talk of a life at sea,
+    But a life on the land
+    With sword in hand
+  Is the life, my lads, for me!'
+
+
+But there was one young soldier whose voice failed him in the chorus,
+and whose eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of the Yealm till
+these and other familiar features of the coast melted into the
+widening Channel.
+
+Dulcie was roused to exertion from the stupor of grief that had come
+upon her by tidings that a situation had been found for her as
+companion--one in which she would have to make herself useful,
+amiable, and agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and wealth, to
+whom she would be sent by influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in
+London.
+
+The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate was her lot now, cast to
+seek her bread among utter strangers; and if she became ill,
+delicate, or unable to work, what would become of her?
+
+Her separation from Florian seemed now greater than ever; but, as
+Heine has it:
+
+  'Tis but the old, old story,
+    Yet it ever abideth new;
+  And to whomsoever it cometh
+    The heart it breaks in two.'
+
+
+To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.
+
+Dulcie had been born and bred there, and all the villagers in
+Revelstoke loved and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were deeply
+interested in the future of his daughter; thus, on the day of her
+departure no one made any pretence of work or working.  Heads were
+popping out and in of the windows of the village street all morning,
+and a cluster--a veritable crowd--of kindly folks accompanied Mr.
+Pentreath and the weeping girl to the railway station, for she wept
+freely at all this display of regard and sympathy, especially from
+the old, whom she might never see again.
+
+When the train swept her away, and she lost sight of the last
+familiar feature of her native place, a strange and heavy sense of
+utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and but for the presence of
+other passengers she would have stooped her head upon her hot hands
+and sobbed aloud, for she thought of her dead parents--when did she
+not think of them now?
+
+'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have loved and gone before us
+can see afar off those they have left, surely the mother who had
+passed from earth might tremble now for her child, standing so
+terribly alone in the midst of a seething sea of danger and
+temptations?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AT CRAIGENGOWAN.
+
+With the new understanding--the tacit engagement that existed between
+herself and Vivian Hammersley--Finella writhed with annoyance when
+privately and pointedly spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'
+Shafto's attentions and hopes.
+
+'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn, 'I don't see why I may
+not marry whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl who has nothing
+in the world.  Indeed, in that case I am pretty sure that neither you
+nor cousin Shafto would want me.'
+
+'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn, when reporting this
+plain reply to Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not take her to
+London again, yet awhile.'
+
+'You are right,' replied that somewhat grim matron; 'and when once
+this Captain Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat too _èpris_
+with her, is gone, you can easily find some pretext for remaining at
+Craigengowan; or shall I have her with me?'
+
+'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn, who knew that the
+Drumshoddy _mènage_ did not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I
+think she is better here--propinquity and all that sort of thing may
+be productive of good.  I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made
+up, and, as I said before, she must settle soon.  We can't have
+twenty thousand a year slipping out of the family.'
+
+Finella thought little of their wishes or those of Shafto.  She
+thought only of that passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,
+where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips were pressed to hers;
+of the close throb of heart to heart, and that the great secret of
+her young girl's life was his now and hers no longer, but aware of
+the opposition and antagonism he would be sure to encounter just
+then, she urged upon him a caution and a secrecy of the engagement
+which his proud spirit somewhat resented.
+
+He thought it scarcely honourable to take advantage of Lord
+Fettercairn's hospitality, and gain the love of Finella without his
+permission; but as both knew that would never be accorded--that to
+ask for it would cut short his visit, and as he was so soon going on
+distant service, with Finella he agreed that their engagement should
+be kept a secret till his return.
+
+And to blind the eyes of the watchful or suspicious he actually found
+himself flirting with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young ladies
+who thought they spoke the purest English, though it was with that
+accent which Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of Edinburgh;' and,
+perceiving this, Lady Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and
+Finella was excessively amused.
+
+Not so the astute Shafto.
+
+'It is all a d----d game!' muttered that young gentleman; 'a red
+herring drawn across the scent.'
+
+'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?' asked Finella one evening,
+when she and her lover found themselves alone for a few minutes,
+during which she had been contemplating his dark face in silence.
+
+'My leave of absence is running out so fast--by Jove, faster than
+ever apparently now!'
+
+'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl softly and after a pause,
+her dark eyes darkening and seeming to become more intense.
+
+'No,' he replied, with hesitation.
+
+'Tell me, then--what is the other?'
+
+'You know how I love you----'
+
+'And I--you.'
+
+'But in one sense my love is so liable to misconstruction--so
+hopeless of proof.'
+
+'Hopeless, Vivian--after all I have admitted?' she asked
+reproachfully.
+
+'I mean because I am almost penniless as compared to you.'
+
+'What does that matter?  Surely I have enough for two,' said she,
+laughing.
+
+'And I fear the bitter opposition of your family.'
+
+'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the independent little beauty.
+
+'I have heard a rumour that one of the Melforts who made a pure
+love-marriage was cut off root and branch.'
+
+'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I was born.  Well--they can't
+cut _me_ off.'
+
+'They will never consent; and when I am far away, as I soon shall be,
+if their evil influence----'
+
+'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!' exclaimed the girl, her dark
+eyes sparkling through their unshed tears.  'Think not of their
+influencing me, for a moment.'
+
+'Thank you a thousand times for the assurance, my love.  It was vile
+of me to think of such things.  I have a sure conviction that your
+cousin Shafto dislikes me most certainly,' said Hammersley, after a
+pause.
+
+'I don't doubt it,' said she.
+
+'They mean you for him.'
+
+'They--who?'
+
+'Your grandparents.'
+
+'I know they do--but don't tease me by speaking of a subject so
+distasteful,' exclaimed Finella, making a pretty moue expression of
+disdain.
+
+He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on her hair, and his lips
+quickly found their way to hers, after they had been pressed on her
+snow-white eyelids.
+
+'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,' he exclaimed passionately.
+
+'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in that style of iteration
+of which lovers never grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,
+which it was a pity the gathering gloom prevented him from seeing.
+
+As they walked slowly towards the house, she quickly withdrew her
+hands, which were clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto approached
+them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt act, and drew his own conclusions
+therefrom, and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned abruptly away.
+
+'So that is the amiable youth for whom they design you,' said he in a
+whisper.
+
+'Did I not say you were not to speak of him?  To tell you the truth,
+I am at times somewhat afraid of him.'
+
+'My darling--I must give you an amulet--a charm against his evil
+influence,' said Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring on her
+wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'
+
+'What is this--oh, Vivian! actually a wedding-ring--but I cannot
+wear, though I may keep it.'
+
+'Then wear this until you can, when I return, darling,' said he, as
+he slipped a gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and stooping, kissed it.
+
+'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl happily.  'Well, Vivian, none
+other than the hoop you have now given me shall be my wedding-ring!'
+
+Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this she would have had good
+reason to fear that Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping
+away from the Craigengowan family, all the more so that the scene of
+this tender interview was a spot below the mansion-house, said to be
+traditionally fatal to the Melforts of Fettercairn, the Howe of
+Craigengowan--for there a terrible adventure occurred to the first
+Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of whom the men of the Mearns
+were wont to say he had not only sold his country to her enemies, but
+that he had also sold his soul to the evil one.
+
+It chanced that in the gloaming of the 28th of April, 1708, the first
+anniversary of that day on which the Scottish Parliament dissolved to
+meet no more, he was walking in a place which he had bought with his
+Union bribe--the Howe of Craigengowan, then a secluded dell,
+overshadowed by great alders and whin bushes--when he saw at the
+opposite end the figure of a man approaching pace for pace with
+himself, and his outline was distinctly seen against the red flush of
+the western sky.
+
+As they neared each other slowly, a strange emotion of superstitious
+awe stole into the hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong was
+this that he paused for a minute, and rested on his cane.  The
+stranger did precisely the same.
+
+The peer--the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited Estates--'pulled himself
+together,' and put his left hand jauntily into the silver hilt of his
+sword--a motion imitated exactly, and to all appearance mockingly, by
+the other, whose gait, bearing, and costume--a square-skirted crimson
+coat, a long-flapped white vest, black breeches and stockings rolled
+over the knee, and a Ramillie wig--were all the same in cut and
+colour as his own!
+
+Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert that he would never be
+able to describe the undefinable, the strange and awful sensation
+that crept over him when, as they neared each other, pace by pace, he
+saw in the other's visage the features of himself reproduced, as if
+he had been looking into a mirror.
+
+A cold horror ran through every vein.  He knew and felt that his own
+features were pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and dismay,
+while he could see that those of his dreadful counterpart were
+radiant with spite and triumphant malice.
+
+Himself seemed to look upon himself--the same in face, figure, dress;
+every detail was the same, save that the other clutched a canvas bag,
+inscribed '£500' the price of the Union vote (or, as some said, the
+price of his soul)--on seeing which my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in
+an agony of terror, and fell prone on his face--a fiendish yell and
+laugh from the other making all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.
+
+How long he lay there he knew not precisely; but when he opened his
+eyes the pale April moon was shining down the Howe, producing weird
+and eerie shadows, the alder and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,
+and the window lights were shining redly in the tall and sombre mass
+of Craigengowan, the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood up
+against the starry sky.
+
+He never quite recovered the shock, but died some years after; and
+even now on dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak, toads crawl,
+and the clock at Craigengowan strikes twelve, something strange--no
+one can exactly say what--is to be seen in the Howe, even within
+sound of the railway engine.
+
+But to resume our own story:
+
+Though a day for parting--for a separation involving distance, time,
+and no small danger to one--was inexorably approaching, Finella was
+very happy just then, with a happiness she had never known before,
+and with a completeness that made life--even to her who had known
+London for a brilliant season--seem radiant.  She had been joyous
+like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before the renewal and
+fuller development of her intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she
+was infinitely more joyous and content now.  ''Twas but the old, old
+story' of a girl's love, and in all her sentiments and all her hopes
+for the future Vivian shared.
+
+The beautiful dreams of a dual life had been partly--if not
+fully--realised through him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a
+perfect hero: though he was only a smart linesman, a handsome young
+fellow like a thousand others, yet he possessed every quality to
+render a girl happy.
+
+Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite 'cut the ground from under his
+feet' with Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in consequence,
+and being a master in cunning and finesse, wonderfully so for his
+years, he resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to Craigengowan
+cut short at all hazards, and he was not long in putting his scheme
+in operation.
+
+The lovers thus were not quite unconscious of being watched by eyes
+that were quickened by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,
+they were very, very happy--in Elysium, in fact.
+
+Finding that Hammersley had suddenly become averse to gambling, after
+a long day among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure him into play
+one evening in the smoke-room.
+
+Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto was remarkably sharp at cards,
+having become somewhat efficient after years of almost nightly play
+in the bar-room of the Torrington Arms at Revelstoke.
+
+Shafto's manner on this evening became almost insulting, and he
+taunted him with 'taking deuced good care of such money as he had.'
+
+''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know that you are
+rather--well--ah--rude?' said Hammersley, removing his cigar for a
+moment and staring at the speaker.
+
+'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.
+
+'Perhaps you had better make that your way,' said Hammersley, his
+brown cheek reddening as he indicated the room-door with his cigar.
+Then suddenly remembering that he must preserve certain amenities,
+and as guest--especially one circumstanced as he was secretly--he
+pushed his cigar-case towards Shafto, saying--'Try one of these--they
+are Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'
+
+'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.
+
+At last, piqued by the manner of the latter, and having been lured
+into drinking a little more brandy and soda than was good for him
+after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman sat down to play, and
+though he did so carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while
+not caring to win, he won greatly.
+
+Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a very considerable sum had
+passed into his hands, and, handsome though Shafto's quarterly
+allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could
+not help the lengthening of his visage, and the growing pallor of it,
+while his shifty eyes rolled about in his anxiety and anger; and Lord
+Fettercairn and young Kippilaw, who were present, looked on--the
+former with some annoyance, and the latter with amused interest.
+
+Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:
+
+'Hey--what the deuce is this?  Captain Hammersley, you have dropped a
+card.'
+
+And he picked one up from that officer's side, and laid it on the
+table.
+
+'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have _already_ played that card!'
+exclaimed Shafto, with fierce triumph.
+
+'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.
+
+'Whose, then?'
+
+'How the devil should I know?' asked Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.
+
+'Your luck has been marvellous, but not so much so when we know that
+you play with double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his cards and
+starting from the table, as the other did, now pallid with just rage.
+
+'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the officer, in a hoarse tone.
+
+'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful fact speaks for itself; and
+I think you have been quite long enough among us in Craigengowan,' he
+added, coarsely.
+
+Vivian Hammersley was pale as death, and speechless with rage.  He
+thought first of Finella and then of his own injured honour; and we
+know not what turn this episode might have taken had not Lord
+Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been quietly looking on from a
+corner, said gravely, sharply, and even with pain, as he started
+forward:
+
+'Shafto!  I saw you drop _that card_, where Mr. Kippilaw picked it
+up--drop it, whether purposely or not I do not say--but drop it you
+did.'
+
+'Impossible, sir!'
+
+'It is _not_ impossible,' said the peer, irately; 'and I am not blind
+or liable to make mistakes; and you too manifestly did so; whence
+this foul accusation of a guest in my own house--a gentleman to whom
+you owe a humble and most complete apology.'
+
+Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled spite at the new and
+sudden turn his scheme had taken, and at being circumvented in his
+own villainy.
+
+'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I thank you!' said Hammersley,
+drawing himself up proudly, looking greatly relieved in mind, and,
+turning next to Shafto, evidently waited for the suggested apology.
+
+But in that he was disappointed, as the 'heir' of Fettercairn turned
+abruptly on his heel and left the room, leaving his lordship to make
+the _amende_, which he did in very graceful terms.
+
+As it was impossible now for both to remain longer under the same
+roof after a fracas of this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to take
+his departure for the south by a morning train; but Lord Fettercairn,
+who, with all his selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the
+episode, and by several other ugly matters connected with his newly
+found 'grandson,' would by no means permit of that movement; and in
+this spirit of hospitality even Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him
+to remain and finish his visit, as first intended, while Shafto, in a
+gust of baffled rage and resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella
+and of the domestics, betook himself to Edinburgh, thus for a time
+leaving his rival more than ever in full possession of the field.
+
+'Whether she is influenced by Captain Hammersley I cannot say,' were
+the parting words of Lady Fettercairn to this young hopeful; 'but you
+seem by this last untoward affair to have lost even her friendship,
+and it will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her money should be
+lost to you too.'
+
+And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear grandmother' that it would be
+a pity indeed.
+
+As a gentleman and man with a keen sense of honour, Hammersley
+disliked exceedingly the secrecy of the engagement he had made with
+Finella, and felt himself actually colour more than once when Lord
+Fettercairn addressed him; but his compunctions about it grew less
+when he thought of the awful escape he had made from a perilous
+accusation, that might have 'smashed' him in the Service, and of the
+trickery of which Shafto was capable--a trickery of which he had not
+yet seen the end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.
+
+The evening of the 10th January was closing in, and the blood-red
+African sun, through a blended haze of gold and pale green, red and
+fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous crimson globe at the
+horizon, tinging with the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad
+waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards Rorke's Drift.
+
+There a picquet of the Centre or Second column of infantry (of the
+army then advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard Glyn of the
+24th Regiment, was posted for the night.  The main body of the
+picquet, under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart young officer,
+was bivouacked among some mealies at a little distance from the bank
+of the river, along the margin of which his advanced sentinels were
+posted at proper distances apart, and there each man stood motionless
+as a statue, in his red tunic and white tropical helmet, with his
+rifle at the 'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that quarter in
+which the Zulu army was supposed to be hovering.
+
+To reach the Buffalo River the various columns of Lord Chelmsford's
+army could not march by regular roads, as no such thing exists in
+Zululand, and the sole guides of our officers in selecting the line
+of advance through these savage regions were the grass-covered ruts
+left by the waggon-wheels of some occasional trader or sportsman in
+past times.
+
+As the column had been halted for the night, at a considerable
+distance in rear of the outlying picquet, the men of the latter had
+their provisions with them ready cooked, and were now having their
+supper in a grassy donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was their
+table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being more luxurious than the rest,
+had spread thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the _Times_; but the
+appetites of all were good, and their temperament cheery and hearty.
+Their rifles were piled, and they brewed their coffee over a blazing
+fire, the flame of which glowed on their sun-burned and beardless
+young faces, and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own fire,
+jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed great mouthfuls of their
+favourite liquor 'scoff.'
+
+Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend closely to his own duties,
+and the moment the evening meal was over, he desired the sergeant of
+the picquet to 'go round the advanced sentries.'
+
+The sergeant, a young and slender man, and who was no other than
+Florian, touched the barrel of his rifle and departed on his
+mission--to visit the sentinels in rotation by the river bank, and
+see that they were in communication with those of the picquets on the
+right and left.
+
+The scenery around was savage and desolate; long feathery grass
+covered the veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features in it
+were some blue gum trees, and on a koppie, or little eminence, the
+deserted ruins of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump of
+eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground were some bustards and blue
+Kaffir cranes by the river bank.
+
+Short service and disease had given Florian rapid promotion; for our
+soldiers, if brave, had no longer the power of manly endurance of
+their predecessors under the old system.  According to General
+Crealock, the extreme youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered
+their powers for toil very small; while the Naval Brigade, composed
+of older men, had scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu campaign
+was a very trying one; there were the nightly entrenchments, the
+picquet duty amid high grass, and the absence of all confidence that
+discipline and that long mutual knowledge of each other give in the
+ranks.  He added most emphatically that our younger soldiers were
+unfit for European campaigning; that half the First Division were
+'sick;' there were always some 200 weak lads in hospital, 'crawling
+about like sick flies,' and, like him, every officer was dead against
+the short-service system.
+
+The face of our young sergeant was handsome as ever; but it was
+strangely altered since late events had come to pass.  There was a
+haggard and worn look in the features, particularly in the eyes.  The
+latter looked feverish and dim--their brightness less at times, while
+a shadow seemed below them.
+
+Florian having, as he now deemed, no right to the name of Melfort, or
+even that of MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name, as that by
+which he had been known from infancy, lest he might make a false
+attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from, even if it was
+his--which at times he doubted!  His regiment was the brave old 24th,
+or Second Warwickshire, which had been raised in the eventful year
+1689 by Sir Edward Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of one of
+the few undoubted Saxon families in England, and it was afterwards
+commanded in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.
+
+Second to none in the annals of war during the reigns of Anne and the
+early Georges, the 24th in later times served with valour at the
+first capture of the Cape of Good Hope, in the old Egyptian campaign,
+in the wars of Spain and India, and now they were once again to cover
+themselves with a somewhat clouded and desperate glory in conflict
+with the gallant Zulus.
+
+Florian in his new career found himself occasionally among a somewhat
+mixed and rough lot--the raw, weedy soldiers of the new disastrous
+system--but there were many who were of a better type; and the
+thought of Dulcie Carlyon--the only friend he had in the world, the
+only human creature who loved him--kept him free from the temptations
+and evil habits of the former; and he strove to live a steady, pure,
+and brave life, that he might yet be worthy of her, and give her no
+cause to blush for him.
+
+He got through his drilling as quickly as he could, and soon
+discovered that the sooner a soldier takes his place in the ranks the
+better for himself.  He found that though many of his comrades were
+noisy, talkative, and quarrelsome, that the English soldier quicker
+than any other discovers and appreciates a gentleman.  His officers
+soon learned to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity with which
+he won his three chevrons, and Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though
+he was, he could trust Florian to go round the sentinels.
+
+Each was at his post, and the attention of each increased as the
+gloom after sunset deepened, for none knew who or what might be
+approaching stealthily and unseen among the long wavy grass and mossy
+dongas that yawned amid the country in front.
+
+'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill, whom he heard singing
+merrily to himself, 'you should be mute as a fish on outpost duty,
+and keep your ears open as well as your eyes.  What have you got in
+your head, Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the author of the
+"Red Rag" says, we soldiers have not much in our heads at any time,
+or we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls or bullets with them.'
+
+'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob, 'but I can't think what made
+you--a gentleman--enlist.'
+
+'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I suppose.  And you?'
+
+'Through one I wish I never had seen?'
+
+'Who was that?'
+
+    'The handsome young girl,
+    With her fringe in curl,
+  That worked a sewing-machine,'
+
+--sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian returned to report 'all
+right' to Mr. Sheldrake.
+
+Though the actual cause of the Zulu war lies a little apart from our
+story, it may be necessary to mention that we invaded the country of
+Cetewayo after giving him a certain time, up to the 11th of January,
+to accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative for war, by
+delivering up certain of his subjects who had violated British
+territory, attacked a police-station, and committed many
+outrages,--among others, carrying off two women, one of whom they put
+to a barbarous death near the Buffalo River.
+
+But instead of making any apology, or giving an indemnity, Cetewayo
+prepared to defend himself at the head of an enormous army of hardy
+Zulu warriors, all trained in a fashion of their own, divided into
+strong regiments, furnished with powerful shields of ox-hide, and
+armed with rifles, war clubs, and assegais--a name with which we are
+now so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages five feet in
+length, with the diameter of an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the
+assegai tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre, and
+furnished with a spear-head.  Some are barbed, some double-barbed,
+and the tang of the blade is fitted--when red-hot--into the wood, not
+the latter into the blade, which is then secured by a thong of wet
+hide, and is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his head with it; and
+it is a weapon which they can launch with deadly and unerring skill.
+
+The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was unable to sign his own name,
+'and was as ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,' and he
+thought no more of putting women, 'especially young girls, to death,
+than Bluff King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all this was to
+see him presented at Osborne, and to become the petted and fêted
+exile of Melbury Road, Kensington.
+
+This night by the Buffalo River was Florian's first experience of
+outpost duty, and he felt--though not the responsible party--anxious,
+wakeful, and weary after a long and toilsome day's march.
+
+He knew enough of military matters to be well aware that the
+importance of outposts, especially when dealing with a wily and
+savage enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no force, when
+encamped in the field, can be deemed for a moment safe without them.
+Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great that it was pardonable to
+be defeated, but never to be surprised.
+
+'I don't understand all this change that has come over my life,'
+thought he, as he stretched himself on the bare earth near the
+picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and mother can see and think
+of me where they are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with a kind
+of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they were near me and watching
+over me, so they must see and think too.'
+
+Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she doing?  How supporting
+herself, as she said she would have to do?  Had she found friends,
+or, months ago, been trodden, with all her tender beauty, down in the
+mire of misfortune and adversity?
+
+These were maddening thoughts for one so far away and so utterly
+powerless to help her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him at
+times more reckless of his own existence because it was useless to
+her.
+
+The air around was heavy with the dewy fragrance of strange and
+tropical plants, and vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their
+shadows over him as he strove to snatch the proverbial 'forty winks'
+before again going 'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for
+they are always hourly when before an enemy.
+
+And when our weary young soldier did sleep, he dreamt, not of the
+quick-coming strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with her wealth of
+red golden hair, but, as the tender smile on his lips might have
+showed, of the time when his mother watched him in his little cot,
+with idolizing gaze, and when he, the now bronzed and moustached
+soldier, was a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair curling
+over his white forehead; when his cheeks had a rosy flush, and his
+tiny mouth a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands that lay
+outside the snow-white coverlet her own deft fingers had made--the
+two wee hands that held his mother's heart between them--the heart
+that had long since mouldered by Revelstoke Church.
+
+And so he slept and dreamed till roused by the inevitable cry of
+'Sentry, go!' and, that duty over, as he composed himself to sleep
+again, with his knapsack under his head for a pillow, he thought as a
+soldier--
+
+  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet
+  On any human being rose or set!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ELANDSBERGEN.
+
+Next morning when the picquet was relieved young Sheldrake, who paid
+Hammersley's company in absence of the latter, who was soon expected
+with a strong draft from England, said to Florian--
+
+'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid mistake.  The company's money
+I have left among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond Elandsbergen,
+and I have got the Colonel's permission to send you back for it.
+This is just like me--I've a head, and so has a pin!  The
+Quartermaster will lend you his horse, and you can have my spare
+revolver and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you go,' he added,
+proffering his case, 'and look sharp after yourself and the money.
+There is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you are going back to.
+We don't advance from this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of time
+to be with us ere we cross the river, if you start at once.'
+
+'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he saluted and went away to
+obtain the horse, the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which he
+intensely disliked, and almost doubted his power to carry out, as it
+took him rearward through a country of which he was ignorant, which
+was almost without roads, and where he would be single-handed, if not
+among savages, among those who were quite as bad, for in some of
+these districts, as in the Orange Free State and Boerland, there
+swarmed broken ruffians of every kind, many of them deserters; and,
+says an officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number of these
+undesirable specimens of our countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone
+that night was truly made hideous with their howlings, respectable
+persons were afraid to leave their houses after nightfall, and the
+report of revolvers ceased to elicit surprise or curiosity.  I have
+been in some of the most notorious camps and towns in the territories
+and mining districts of the United States, but can safely assert that
+I never felt more thankful than when I found my horse sufficiently
+rested here to continue my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the
+wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses were devoured by them;
+the tiger-cat and the aarde-wolf also.
+
+With a knowledge of all this Florian loaded his revolver, looked
+carefully to the bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse, received a
+note from Mr. Sheldrake to the officer commanding the little fort
+near the foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp of No. 2 column
+on his solitary journey, steering his way by the natural features of
+the country so far as he could recall them after the advance of the
+10th January, and watching carefully for the wheel tracks or other
+indications of a roadway leading in a westerly direction; and many of
+his comrades, including Bob Edgehill, watched him with interest and
+kindly anxiety till his white helmet disappeared as he descended into
+a long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's Drift.
+
+The evening passed and the following day dawned--the important
+12th--when Zululand was to be invaded at three points by the three
+columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance party detailed from Colonel
+Glyn's brigade to reconnoitre the ground in front got under arms and
+began to move off, and Sheldrake and others began to feel somewhat
+uneasy, for there was still no appearance of the absent one.
+
+* * * *
+
+The country through which Florian rode was lonely, and farmhouses
+were few and many miles apart.  Its natural features were undulating
+downs covered with tall waving grass, furrowed by deep, reedy
+water-courses; here and there were abrupt rocky eminences, and dense
+brushwood grew in the rugged kloofs and ravines.
+
+The air was delightful, and in spite of his thoughts the blood
+coursed freely through his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated
+by the pace at which his horse went, he could not help giving a loud
+'Whoop!' now and then when a gnu, with its curved horns and white
+mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the upland slopes, or a baboon
+grinned at him from amid the bushes of a kloof.
+
+Before him stretched miles of open and grassy veldt, and the
+flat-topped hills of the Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The
+vast stretch of plain, across which ever and anon swept herds of
+beautiful little antelopes, was covered with luxuriant grass, which
+seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it went the track, which
+he was always afraid of losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the
+veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by the grass were everywhere
+deep holes burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his horse's
+forelegs sank ever and anon, to the peril of the animal and his rider
+too.  Thus Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter with his
+reins loose, while he sat tight and prepared for swerving when his
+nag, which was a native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent hole,
+which they can do with wonderful sagacity.
+
+So Florian was not sorry when he left the veldt behind him, and after
+a ride of about thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small fort at
+the foot of Drakensberg appear in front with a little Union Jack
+fluttering on a flagstaff.
+
+This was about mid-day.
+
+Anxious to return as soon as he could rest his horse, he lost no time
+in delivering Sheldrake's note to the officer in command, and with
+the key of a trunk indicated therein among his best uniform, and amid
+girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button bouquets, rare pipes,
+and an omnium-gatherum of various things, the bag was found, with the
+company's money, and delivered to Florian, who, after a two hours'
+halt, set out on his return journey; but he had not proceeded many
+miles when he found that his horse was utterly failing him, and,
+regretting that he had not remained at the post for the night, he
+resolved to spend it in the little town of Elandsbergen, towards
+which he bent his way, leading the now halting nag by the bridle.
+
+Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely detached cottages studding
+both sides of a broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt or
+prairie, with fragmentary attempts at cultivation here and there; and
+how the people lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows of stunted
+oaks lined the street, if such it could be called, and through it
+flowed a rill of pure water, at which the poor nag drank thirstily.
+
+Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry, dignified by the title of the
+Royal Hotel, where 'civil entertainment for man and beast' was
+promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It was a somewhat
+substantial edifice of two storeys, built of baked brick, square in
+form, with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work, covered with
+half-bricks and with clayey mortar to render it impervious to the
+torrents of the South African rainy season.
+
+In some of the windows were glass panes; in others sheepskin with the
+wool off, which, in consequence of extreme tension, attains a certain
+transparency.  Giving his horse to a Kaffir ostler, whose sole
+raiment was a waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,
+Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,' the proprietor of which
+started and changed colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he
+might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard, sedulously cultivated,
+and a shock head of hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one of
+the many deserters from our troops, already referred to, and, though
+apparently anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian of the
+worst kind.
+
+The room into which he ushered Florian was bare-walled, the furniture
+was of the plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was formed of
+cow-dung over wet clay, all kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it
+could be polished, a process learned from the Zulus in the
+construction of their kraals.
+
+A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap portrait of Sir Bartle Frere,
+and the skull of an eland with its spiral horns were the only
+decorations of the apartment, and the literature of 'the day' was
+represented by three tattered copies of the _Cape Argus_, _Natal
+Mercury_, and the _Boer Volksteem_.
+
+Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in person was quite as
+dirty as a Boer; his loose cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt
+with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin pouch and an ugly
+hunting-knife with a cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were
+stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered remnant of an ostrich
+feather.
+
+The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in, and announced something in
+his own language to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to Florian,
+said--
+
+'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'
+
+'How--what do you mean?' demanded Florian.
+
+'That your horse is dying.'
+
+'Dying!'
+
+'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'
+
+Florian in no small anxiety and excitement hurried out to the stable,
+in which two other nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor
+animal he had ridden lying among the straw in strong convulsions,
+labouring under that curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a
+most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly attacked it.
+
+The animal had looked sullen and dull all morning, and in the stable
+had been assailed by the distemper and its usual symptoms, heaving
+flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy eyes, and a projecting tongue
+tightly clenched between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions, and
+he was dead in half an hour, and Florian found that he would probably
+have to travel afoot for more than twenty miles before he could
+rejoin the column on the morrow.
+
+'Where have you come from, Sergeant?' asked Josh Jarrett, when they
+returned to the public room.
+
+'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'
+
+'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett, with a portentous wink and a
+brightening eye.
+
+'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.
+
+'Fellows do so every day now in these short-service times.'
+
+'I was going to the front, when my horse fell lame.'
+
+'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'
+
+'The dismounted now, I think,' replied Florian.  'I should like to
+rest here for the night, and push on as best I can to-morrow; so what
+can I have for supper?'
+
+Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he thought a sergeant's purse
+would not go far in the way of luxuries, and then replied:
+
+'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef and a good glass of
+squareface or Cape smoke, which you please.'
+
+'The first will do, and a glass of the squareface, which means
+Hollands, I suppose.  Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied
+Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet and seated himself in a
+large cane-bottomed chair.
+
+'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked Jarrett.
+
+'Thanks--well, no--I am used to it.'
+
+'As you please,' said the other surlily, and summoning in a loud
+voice a female named 'Nan,' left the room.
+
+The latter laid the table, brought in the frugal supper, with a case
+bottle of squareface, and, instead of leaving the room, seated
+herself near a window and entered into conversation, with what object
+Florian scarcely knew, but he disliked the circumstance, till he
+began to remember that she probably considered herself his equal.
+
+When his hasty repast was over, taking a hint from a remark that he
+was weary, she withdrew, and then Florian began to consider the
+situation.
+
+He was fully twenty miles from the regiment; a rough country, not to
+be traversed even by daylight, infested with wild animals, and many
+obnoxious things, such as puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between;
+and unless Jarrett would accommodate him with a horse, which was very
+unlikely (he seemed such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would
+have to travel the journey on foot, and begin betimes on the morrow
+as soon as dawn would enable him to see the track eastward.
+
+He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver and its ammunition,
+reloading the six chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the
+company's money; and tempted, he knew not by what rash impulse unless
+it was mere boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by which the
+paymaster had secured the mouth of the bag to have a peep at the gold.
+
+He had never seen a hundred sovereigns before, and never before had
+so much money in his possession.  Some of the glittering coins fell
+out on the clay floor; and as he gathered them up a sound made him
+look round, and from the window he saw a human face suddenly vanish
+outside, thus showing that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been
+furtively watching him, and he strongly suspected it to be the woman
+Nan, prompted, perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he concealed
+the gold.
+
+He was the more convinced of the lurker being she when, soon after,
+she entered, retook her seat by the window, through which the evening
+sun was streaming now, and began to address him in a light and
+flippant manner, as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior
+purposes; but his suspicions were awakened now, and Florian was on
+his guard.
+
+He perceived that she had made some alterations and improvements in
+her tawdry dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of large
+old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped like small rams' horns of real
+gold.
+
+She seemed to be about thirty years of age, and was not without
+personal attractions, though all bloom was past, and the expression
+of her face was marred by its being alternately leering, mocking,
+and--even in spite of herself--cruel.  Yet her eyes were dark and
+sparkling.  She wore a fringe of thick brown hair close down to them,
+concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth, if large, was
+handsome, but lascivious-looking, and Florian, whose barrack-room
+experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,' thought--though he was not
+ungallant enough to say so--that her absence would be preferable to
+her company, which she seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But
+guests were doubtless scarce in these parts, and the 'Royal Hotel,'
+Elandsbergen, had probably not many visitors.
+
+She asked him innumerable questions--his age, country, regiment, and
+so forth--and all in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his hair,
+and once attempted to seat herself on his knee; but he rose and
+repelled her, and then it was that the unmistakably cruel expression
+came flashing into her eyes.
+
+'You are too young and too handsome to be killed and disembowelled by
+the big Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could eat a boy like
+you.  Why don't you desert and go to the Diamond Fields?'
+
+'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'
+
+'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?' she said sneeringly.
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'
+
+'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.
+
+'I have read--I have some book-knowledge, you see--that when a Swiss
+officer was reproached by a French one that he fought for pay, and
+not like himself for honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we each
+of us fight for that which he is most in need of."'
+
+'I don't see the allusion in this instance: a soldier, I do my duty
+and obey orders.'
+
+'Have a drop more of the squareface--you can't be so rude as to
+refuse a lady,' she continued, filling up a long glass, which she put
+to her lips, and then to those of Florian, who pretended to sip and
+then put the glass down.
+
+He was at a loss to understand her and her advances.  Vanity quite
+apart, he knew that he was a good-looking young fellow, and that his
+uniform 'set him off;' but he remembered the face at the window, and
+was on his guard against her in every way.  Would she have acted thus
+with an officer? he thought; and in what relation did she stand to
+the truculent-looking landlord--wife, daughter, or sister?  Probably
+none of them at all.
+
+Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared to do so, and seating herself
+at a rickety old piano, which Florian had not noticed before, she,
+while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded to sing a once-popular flash
+song, long since forgotten in England, and probably taken out by some
+ancient settler, generations ago, to the Cape Colony:
+
+  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life
+    Took it into his noddle to die,
+  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,
+    I think I'd know very well _why_.
+
+  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief--
+    Not sink with the weight of my care:
+  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,
+    And I think I know very well _where_.
+
+  'Another kind mate should give me what fate
+    Would not from the former allow;
+  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,
+    And I think I'd know very well _how_.
+
+  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said
+    No judge of the conjugal lot;
+  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,
+    And I think I know very well _what_.'
+
+
+This she sang with a skill and power that savoured of the music hall,
+and then tried her blandishments again to induce Florian to drink of
+the fiery squareface; but he resisted all her inducement to take
+'just one little glass more.'
+
+Why was she so anxious that he should imbibe that treacherous spirit,
+which he would have to pay for?  And why did the landlord, who
+certainly seemed full of curiosity about him, leave him so entirely
+in her society?
+
+Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'
+
+'That is Josh,' said she impatiently; 'bother him, what does he want
+now?  Josh is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'
+
+'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as he now hoped to be rid of
+her.
+
+'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have one glass more, dear, before I
+leave you.'
+
+But he turned impatiently away, and she withdrew, closing a scene
+which caused Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He remembered to
+have read, that 'man destroys with the horns of a bull, or with paws
+like a bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or by embracing like a
+serpent.'  And he was in toils here unseen as yet!
+
+The light faded out beyond the dark ridges of the Drakensberg, and
+Florian requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment, which was on
+the upper storey.
+
+'You may hear a roaring lot here by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you
+are a soldier, and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You will be
+tired, too, after your ride.'
+
+The man had now a sneaking and wicked look in his eyes, which avoided
+meeting those of Florian, and which the latter did not like, but
+there was no help for it then.
+
+'You will call me early if I sleep too long,' said Florian, as
+Jarrett gave him a candle.
+
+The hand of the latter shook as he did so--he had evidently been
+drinking heavily, and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot, and his
+voice thick, as he said:
+
+'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound enough,' and closed the
+door.
+
+With a sigh almost of relief Florian found himself alone.  He set
+down the sputtering candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It was
+without a lock, and secured only by a latch, by which it could be
+opened from the outside as well as within.
+
+On making this startling discovery, Florian's heart glowed with
+indignation and growing alarm!  He felt himself trapped!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BAFFLED!
+
+The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only furniture was a table,
+chair, and truckle-bed--all obviously of Dutch construction--and,
+unless he could find some means to secure his door, he resolved to
+remain awake till dawn.  The only window in the room overlooked the
+roof of the stable where the dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and
+shook in the night wind, and he could see the bright and, to him, new
+constellations glittering in the southern sky.
+
+Florian contrived to secure the door by placing the chair on the
+floor as a wedge or barrier between it and the bedstead, on the
+mattress of which--though not very savoury in appearance--he cast
+himself, for he was weary, worn, and felt that there was an absolute
+necessity for husbanding his strength, as he knew not what might be
+before him, so he extinguished the candle.
+
+Something in the general aspect and bearing of the man Josh Jarrett,
+and in those of the woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and
+something, too, in his general surroundings and isolated
+situation--for the few scattered houses of Elandsbergen were all far
+apart--together with the memory of the prying face he had seen at the
+window, at the very moment he was picking up the gold, all served to
+put Florian on his guard; thus he lay down without undressing, and,
+longing only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the butt of his
+pistol.
+
+For some time past he had been unused to the luxury of even a
+truckle-bed or other arrangements for repose than his grey greatcoat
+and ammunition blanket, with a knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite
+his keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep, for how long he knew
+not; but he suddenly started up as the sound of voices below came to
+his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar whereabouts rushed on him.
+
+Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but not loud--voices of persons
+talking in low and concentrated tones in the room beneath, separated
+from him only by the ill-fitting boarding of the floor, between the
+joints of which lines of light were visible, and one bright upward
+flake, through a hole from which a knot had dropped out.
+
+'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could smash the life out of him by one
+blow of my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett, say.
+
+Others responded to this, but in low, stealthy, and husky tones.
+Certain that some mischief with regard to himself was on the _tapis_.
+Florian crept softly to the orifice in the floor, and looked down.
+Round a dirty and sloppy table, covered with drinking-vessels, pipes
+and tobacco-pouches, bottles of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh
+Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like fellows, with Nan among
+them, all drinking; and a vile-looking quintette they were,
+especially the woman, with her hair all dishevelled now, and her face
+inflamed by that maddening compound known as Cape smoke.
+
+'When I was ass enough to be in the Queen's service,' said Jarrett
+with a horrible imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and
+non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they said it was my own fault
+that I was always drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may, I've one
+of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll sarve him out for what they made
+me undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my purpose as well as another.
+Nan, you did your best to screw him, but he was wary--infernally
+wary.  Blest if I don't think the fellow is a Scotsman after all, for
+all his English lingo.'
+
+'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped the amiable Nan; 'you
+should have drugged it, Josh.'
+
+'But then we didn't know that he had all this chink about him.'
+
+'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who had not yet spoken, but was
+prodding the table with a knife he had drawn from his belt; 'we'll
+give him a through ticket to the other world--one with the down
+train.'
+
+'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.
+
+Florian felt beads of perspiration on his brow; he was one against
+five--entrapped, baited, done to death--and if he did not appear at
+headquarters with the fatal money, what would be thought of him but
+that he had deserted with it, and his name would be branded as that
+of a coward and robber.
+
+Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked him, but it nerved him too.
+
+Another truculent-looking fellow now came in, making five men in all.
+
+'He has money galore on him--Nan saw the gold--money in a canvas bag.
+How comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his grab, unless he
+stole it?' said Jarrett, in explanation to the new-comer.
+
+'Of course he stole it--it's regimental money, and evidently he is
+deserting with it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like Jarrett, a
+Queen's bad bargain also; for he added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's
+short-service soldiers care about their chances of pension or
+promotion--that's the reason he has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't
+we make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife into him, and then
+burying him out in the veldt before daylight.  Even if he was traced
+here, who is to be accountable for a deserter?'
+
+And this practical ruffian proceeded at once to put a finer edge and
+point upon his long bowie knife.
+
+'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.
+
+'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely to use it in his sleep,
+especially when we pin him by the throat.'
+
+He was but one against five armed and reckless desperadoes; and there
+was the woman, too, whose hands were ready for evil work.  The stair
+that led to his room was narrow--so much so that there was but space
+for one on a step.  The lower or outer door he knew to be securely
+locked and bolted.  The window of his room, we have said, overlooked
+the lean-to roof of the stable, where he knew that two horses were in
+stall--a sure means of escape could he reach one; but the door, he
+was aware, was locked, and the key in possession of the Kaffir groom.
+
+He was maddened by the thought that his barbarous and obscure death
+would brand him with a double disgrace; and death is more than ever
+hard when suffered at the hands of cowards.
+
+'What is the use of all this blooming talk?' said one, starting from
+the table; 'let us set about the job at once!'
+
+'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll perhaps try to escape by
+the stable-roof, so while you fellows go up the stair, I go round to
+the back of the house and cut off his retreat.'
+
+'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my only chance lies that way.'
+
+He opened the window at the very moment that stealthy steps sounded
+on the wooden stair, and a red light streamed under the door, which
+their felon hands failed to force, so firmly was the chair wedged
+between it and the bed.  He slid down the stable-roof, and dropped
+safely on the ground, to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing
+on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him down, firing two chambers
+into his very teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare out into the
+open veldt, leaving the ruffian wallowing in his blood.
+
+He knew not and cared not in what direction he ran at first, as he
+could hear the oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over whom his
+youth, lightness, and activity gave him an advantage; but after a
+time red-dawn began to streak the eastern sky, and he knew that was
+the direction which, if he was spared, would take him to the bank of
+the Buffalo River.
+
+He continued to run at a good steady double, saving his wind as he
+did so, and his courage and confidence rose when he found that he was
+distancing his pursuers so much that he could neither see nor hear
+anything of them.
+
+As he ran on he thought for a moment or two of the fierce gleaming
+eyes and glistening teeth of Jarrett--of the blood he had shed, and
+the life he had perhaps taken for the first time, remorsefully; but
+had he not acted thus, what would he have been?  A gashed corpse!
+
+'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier--why such thoughts at all?  Why
+should I have mercy when these wretches would have had none?' and he
+began to regret that he had not fired a random shot or two through
+the room-door and knocked over some of them on the staircase.
+
+A sound now struck his ear; it was the thud of galloping hoofs upon
+the veldt, and his heart sank as he remembered the two horses in the
+stable, where his dead nag was lying.
+
+He looked back, and there, sure enough, in the grey dawn were two
+mounted men riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he could not
+for a moment doubt they were two of Jarrett's companions in pursuit,
+thirsting with avarice and for revenge.
+
+He made his way, stumbling wildly and breathlessly down a wooded
+ravine to elude their sight; on and on he strove till a vine root
+caught his foot: his hands outstretched beat the air for a moment,
+and then he fell headlong forward and downward into a donga full of
+brushwood.
+
+For a moment he had a sense of strange palms, and giant cacti, and of
+great plants with long spiky leaves being about him, and then he
+became unconscious as he lay there stunned and bleeding profusely
+from a wound in his forehead, which had come in contact with a stone.
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+BILLING & SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 68293 ***
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume 1, by James Grant

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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3), by James Grant</p>

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-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you

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-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3)</p>

-<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A novel</p>

-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Grant</p>

-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 11, 2022 [eBook #68293]</p>

-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>

-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines</p>

-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF 3) ***</div>

-

-<h1>

-<br /><br />

-  DULCIE CARLYON.<br />

-</h1>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-  A Novel.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  BY<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="t2">

-  JAMES GRANT,<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  IN THREE VOLUMES.<br />

-<br />

-  VOL. I.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  LONDON:<br />

-  WARD AND DOWNEY,<br />

-  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br />

-<br />

-  1886.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="t4">

-  [<i>All Rights Reserved.</i>]<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3 vols.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-In Loving Memory

-<br />

-OF

-<br />

-MY ELDEST SON,

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,

-</p>

-

-<p class="t4">

-<i>Captain Cheshire Regiment,</i>

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-I INSCRIBE

-<br />

-THIS MILITARY STORY.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-CHAPTER

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-I. <a href="#chap01">IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-II. <a href="#chap02">WEDDED</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-III. <a href="#chap03">THE SPURNED OFFER</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-IV. <a href="#chap04">REVELSTOKE COTTAGE</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-V. <a href="#chap05">DULCIE</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-VI. <a href="#chap06">THE SECRET PACKET</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-VII. <a href="#chap07">A FAREWELL</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-VIII. <a href="#chap08">THE SILVER LOCKET</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-IX. <a href="#chap09">MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-X. <a href="#chap10">ALONE IN THE WORLD</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XI. <a href="#chap11">SHAFTO IN CLOVER</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XII. <a href="#chap12">VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XIII. <a href="#chap13">AMONG THE GROUSE</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XIV. <a href="#chap14">THE TWO FINELLAS</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XV. <a href="#chap15">AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XVI. <a href="#chap16">''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XVII. <a href="#chap17">AT CRAIGENGOWAN</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XVIII. <a href="#chap18">AT THE BUFFALO RIVER</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XIX. <a href="#chap19">ELANDSBERGEN</a>

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-XX. <a href="#chap20">BAFFLED!</a>

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap01"></a></p>

-

-<p class="t2">

-DULCIE CARLYON.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER I.

-<br /><br />

-IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and

-you know how I hate scenes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I shall need all my self-possession to get

-over the <i>esclandre</i> this affair may cause,'

-exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, life is made up of getting over

-things,' responded her husband.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But not things so disgraceful as this,

-Fettercairn!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is this son of yours in his senses?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Who is that loves? it has been asked,'

-said the culprit referred to.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A marriage between you and a penniless

-girl in her rank of life is not to be thought of,

-Lennard.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Her rank of life, father?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Her father's rank was superior to that of

-the first of our family, when life began with

-him.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What is that to you or to me now?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Much to me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Too much, it would seem.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo,

-Lord Fettercairn, his wife, the Lady thereof,

-and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a

-captain of the line, home on leave from

-India, who had been somewhat timidly

-venturing to break&mdash;knowing the inordinate

-family vanity of his parents&mdash;we say to break

-the news of his love for a girl possessed of

-more beauty than this world's goods; and, in

-his excitement and indignation, his lordship's

-usual easy, indolent, and drawling way was

-forgotten now when addressing his son.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and

-Strathfinella in the Mearns) was by nature a

-proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man,

-whose chief passion in life was a combined

-spirit of enormous vanity and acquisitiveness,

-which he inherited from his predecessors,

-whom he resembled in political caution and

-selfishness, and also in personal appearance,

-to judge from the portraits of three generations,

-by Sir John de Medina, Aikman, and

-Raeburn, adorning the walls of the stately

-room in the house of Craigengowan, where

-this rather stormy interview took place.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Tall and thin in figure, with flat square

-shoulders and sandy-coloured hair, cold grey

-eyes, and irregular features, he was altogether

-a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited

-his slightly aquiline nose and perfect face

-from his mother, but his firm dark eyes and

-rich brown hair from a previous generation;

-and these, together with an olive complexion,

-rendered more dusky by five years' exposure

-to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very

-striking one.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding

-were, as Sir Bernard Burke had recorded,

-irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a

-<i>grande dame</i> to the tips of her long slender

-fingers.  She was about forty-five years of

-age, but looked ten younger.  The upper

-part of her aristocratic face was strikingly

-handsome; but the lower, with its proud and

-firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her

-complexion was almost colourless, her hair

-of the lightest brown, like her eyebrows and

-lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as

-an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought

-with a sigh, they seemed quite as&mdash;cold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her manner was always calm, assured, and

-self-possessed.  She would smile, but that

-smile never degenerated into honest laughter,

-while her pale and impressive face was

-without a line&mdash;especially on her forehead&mdash;that

-seemed to indicate either thought or

-reflection, and certainly she had never known

-care or sorrow or even annoyance until

-now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the

-young man, breaking an ominous silence, with

-reference to the object of his love.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,'

-exclaimed Lady Fettercairn, cresting up her

-handsome head haughtily, and a whole

-volume of intense pride and hauteur was

-centred in the last word she spoke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls

-herself?' asked his father in a similar tone;

-'but I need not ask.  You have already told

-us she is the governess in a house you have

-been recently visiting&mdash;that of Lady

-Drumshoddy&mdash;a governess, with all her beauty, poor

-and obscure.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of

-red passing under the tan of his olive cheek;

-'her father was a gallant old officer of the

-Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the

-battle of Khooshab, in Persia, and her only

-brother and support fell when leading on his

-Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The

-old captain was, as his name imports, a cadet

-of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt,

-from the grounding of the Ark to the battle

-of Culloden,' sneered his father.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then his family would end soon after ours

-began,' retorted the son, becoming greatly

-ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't

-count much beyond three generations ourselves.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his

-sorest point, grew white with anger.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'We always suspected you of having some

-secret, Lennard,' said his mother severely.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one

-says, a secret is like a hole in your coat&mdash;the

-more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar;

-does <i>she</i> teach you this style of thing?' asked

-the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened

-again with annoyance, and gave his dark

-moustache a vicious twist, but sighed and

-strove to keep his temper.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have found and felt it very bitter, father,

-to live under false colours,' said he gently and

-appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret from

-you both, which should be no secret at all.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'We would rather not have heard this

-secret,' replied Lord Fettercairn sternly, while

-tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop

-whiskers.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then would you have preferred that I

-should be deceitful to you, and false to the

-dear girl who loves and trusts me?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I do not choose to consider <i>her</i>,'  was the

-cold reply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But I do, and must, now!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Because we are already married&mdash;she is

-my wife,' was the steady response.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother

-with one accord, as they started from their

-chairs together, and another ominous silence

-of a minute ensued.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My poor, lost boy&mdash;the prey of an artful

-minx!' said Lady Fettercairn, looking as if

-she would like to weep; but tears were rather

-strangers to her cold blue eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew

-her, you would not talk thus of Flora,' urged

-Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in

-our power to give love and to withhold it, easy

-indeed would our progress be through life.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Love&mdash;nonsense!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Save to the two most interested, who are

-judges of it,' said Lennard.  'Surely you

-loved my father, and he you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Our case was very different,' replied Lady

-Fettercairn, in her anger actually forgetting

-herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan

-with her firm white teeth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How, mother dear?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'In rank and wealth we were equal.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lennard sighed, and said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I little thought that you, who loved me

-so, would prove all but one of the mothers of

-Society.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his

-father.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What a writer says.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And what the devil does he say?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That "love seems such a poor and

-contemptible thing in their eyes in comparison

-with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their

-own youth; one does, they say, when he

-outlives romance.  And I suppose bread and

-butter is better than poetry any day."'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I should think so.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'We had other and brilliant views for you,'

-said his mother in a tone of intense

-mortification, 'but now&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Leave us and begone, and let us look

-upon your face no more,' interrupted his

-father in a voice of indescribable sternness,

-almost hoarse with passion, as he pointed to

-the door.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh,

-mother!'  But she averted her face, cold as a

-woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and

-sadly, as he drew himself up to the full height

-of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome

-and comely fellow he looked as he turned

-away and left the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is

-yet left to us!' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn

-earnestly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was the last time in this life he ever

-heard his mother's voice, and he quitted the

-house.  On the terrace without, carefully he

-knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root,

-put it with equal care into its velvet-lined

-case, put the case into his pocket, and

-walked slowly off with a grim and resolute

-expression in his fine young face, upon which

-from that day forth his father and mother

-never looked again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet

-face of the young girl who had united her

-fortunes with his, and who was anxiously

-awaiting the result of the interview we have

-described.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Sorrow, mortification, and no small

-indignation were in the heart of Lennard Melfort

-at the result of the late interview.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying

-poor Flora without their permission, but that

-they would never have accorded, even had

-they seen her; and none fairer or more

-beautiful ever came as a bride to Craigengowan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look

-at the house so named&mdash;the home of his boyhood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It stands at some distance from the Valley

-of the Dee (which forms the natural

-communication between the central Highlands

-and the fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or

-Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid

-luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan

-obtained from the highway only excite curiosity

-without gratifying it, but a nearer approach

-reveals its picturesque architectural features.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These are the elements common to most

-northern mansions that are built in the old

-Scottish style&mdash;a multitude of conical turrets,

-steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets,

-encrusted with the monograms and armorial

-bearings of the race who were its lords when

-the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood

-and drawers of water.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The turrets rise into kindred forms in the

-towers and gables, and are the gradual

-accumulation of additions made at various times

-on the original old square tower, rather than

-a part of the original design, but the effect of

-the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the old Scottish garden was an ancient

-sun and moon dial, mossy and grey, by which

-many a lover had reckoned the time in the

-days of other years.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled

-and attainted Jacobite family, from whom it

-passed readily enough into the hands of the

-second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and

-unscrupulous Commissioner on the forfeited

-estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had

-now many modern comforts and appliances;

-the entrance-hall was a marble-paved apartment,

-off which the principal sitting-rooms

-opened, and now a handsome staircase led to

-the upper chambers, whilom the abode of

-barons who ate the beef and mutton their

-neighbours fed in the valley of the Dee.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The grounds were extensive and beautiful,

-and Lord Fettercairn's flower gardens and

-conservatories were renowned throughout

-Angus and the Mearns.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To the bitter storm that existed in his own

-breast, and that which he had left in those of

-his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked

-the old house and the summer scenery to

-Lennard&mdash;the place on which he probably

-would never gaze again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-There was a breeze that rustled the green

-leaves in the thickets, but no wind.  Beautiful

-and soft white clouds floated lazily in the

-deep blue sky, and a recent shower had

-freshened up every tree, meadow, and

-hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or

-golden by the banks of the Bervie, and the

-voice of the cushat dove came from the

-autumn woods from time to time as with a

-sigh Lennard Melfort turned his back on

-Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went,

-the pride of his family, for, though not an

-old one, by title or territory, they were as

-proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first prominent member of the family,

-Lennard Melfort, had been a Commissioner

-for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament,

-and for political services had been raised to

-the peerage by Queen Anne as Lord Fettercairn

-and Strathfinella, and was famous for

-nothing but selling his Union vote for the

-same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,

-and for having afterwards 'a rug at the

-compensation,' as the English equivalent money

-was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir

-saw half the old peerages of Scotland

-attainted, he obtained Craigengowan, and was

-one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie

-said, 'wad sell his soul to the deil for a

-crackit saxpence.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With the ex-Commissioner the talent&mdash;such

-as it was&mdash;of the race ended, and for three

-generations the Lords of Fettercairn had

-been neither better nor worse than peers

-of Scotland generally; that is, they were

-totally oblivious of the political interests of

-that country, and of everything but their own

-self-aggrandisement by marriage or otherwise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the

-family that proved untrue to its old instincts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And I had made up my mind that he

-should marry Lady Drumshoddy's daughter&mdash;she

-has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady

-Fettercairn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Married my governess&mdash;the girl MacIan!'

-snorted my Lady Drumshoddy when she

-heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why

-marry the creature?  He might love her, of

-course&mdash;all men are alike weak&mdash;but to marry

-her&mdash;oh, no!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very

-moral woman according to her standard, and

-carried her head very high.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When tidings were bruited abroad of what

-happened, and the split in the family circle at

-Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and

-indignation expressed in the servants' hall,

-the gamekeepers' lodges, and the home farm,

-for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a

-favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates;

-and Mrs. Prim, his mother's maid, actually

-shed many tears over the untoward fate he

-had brought upon himself.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap02"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER II.

-<br /><br />

-WEDDED.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite

-of this bitter affront to which you are

-subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love

-you, Lennard&mdash;love you so much,' she added,

-while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like

-lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I

-would die!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he

-responded, while tenderly caressing her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion,

-Lennard?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Foolish?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;or rash.  I have heard that it is

-not lucky for people to love each other so

-much as we do.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Could we love each other less?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't think so,' said she simply and

-sweetly, as he laid her cheek on his breast

-with her upturned eyes gazing into his.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect

-was every curve of her shapely figure, which

-was destitute of any straight line; even her

-nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.

-Her beautifully arched mouth, the scarlet

-line of her upper lip, and the full round of

-the nether one were parted in a tender

-smile, just enough to show her teeth, defied

-all criticism; her complexion was pure and

-soft, and her eyes were of the most liquid

-hazel, with almost black lashes.  Her hair

-was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a

-lady to perfection, especially by the whiteness

-and delicacy of her beautifully shaped little

-hands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When she walked she did so gracefully, as

-all Highland women do, and like them held

-her head poised on her slender neck so

-airily and prettily that her nurse, Madelon,

-called her 'the swan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she,

-after a pause, 'as I thought of the <i>mauvais

-quart d'heure</i> you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It was a <i>mauvais</i> hour and more, darling.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And ever and anon I felt that strange

-chill, or shudder, which Nurse Madelon says

-people feel when some one crosses the place

-where their grave is to be.  How can your

-parents be so cruel to you?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And to you, Flora!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with

-her eyes full of unshed tears, and in a pained

-voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very

-designing girl; but in spite of that, you

-will always care for me as much as you do now?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why such fears?  Ever and always&mdash;ever

-and always, my darling,' said Lennard

-Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most

-effectually for a time.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, if you should ever come to regret,

-and with regret to love me less!' said she,

-in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment

-fixed on vacancy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why that boding thought, Flora?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He kissed her again as the readiest response.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the sequel proved that his great love

-outlasted her own life, poor girl!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then they sat long silent, hand locked in

-hand, while the gloaming deepened round

-them, for words seem poor and feeble when

-the heart is very full.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How long will they continue to despise

-me?' said Flora suddenly, while across her

-soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a

-long and gallant line of Celtic ancestors.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-An exclamation of bitterness&mdash;almost

-impatience, escaped Lennard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Let us forget them&mdash;father, mother, all!' said he.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The girl looked passionately into the face

-of her lover-husband&mdash;the husband of a

-month; and never did her bright hazel eyes

-seem more tender and soft than now, with

-all the fire of love and pride sparkling in

-their depths, for her Highland spirit and

-nature revolted at the affront to which she

-was subjected.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the

-poise of his close-shorn head told that he was

-a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the

-style of his light grey suit showed how

-thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to

-Flora's loving and partial eye he was

-every-way a model man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They had been married just a month, we

-have said, a month that very day, and

-Lennard had brought his bride to the little

-burgh town, within a short distance of

-Craigengowan, and left her in their apartments

-while he sought with his father and mother

-the bootless interview just narrated.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For three days before he had the courage

-to bring it about, they had spent the time

-together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling

-along the banks of the pretty Bervie, from

-the blue current of which ever and anon the

-bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or

-in the deep and leafy recourses of the

-adjacent woods, and climbing the rugged

-coast, against which the waves of the German

-Sea were rolling in golden foam; or ascending

-Craig David, so called from David II. of

-Scotland&mdash;a landmark from the sea for

-fifteen leagues&mdash;for both had a true and

-warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature

-in all her moods and aspects.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sounds of autumn were about them

-now; the hum of insects and the song of the

-few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the

-golden broom and the sweet briar, with a

-score of other sweet and indefinable scents

-and balmy breaths.  All around them was

-scenic beauty and peace, and yet with all

-their great love for each other, their hearts

-were heavy at the prospect of their future,

-which must be a life of banishment in India,

-and to the heaviness of Lennard was added

-indignation and sorrow.  But he could

-scarcely accuse himself of having acted

-rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to

-that his family would never have consented;

-and he often thought could his mother but

-see Flora in her beauty and brightness,

-looking so charming in her smart sealskin and

-bewitching cap and feather, and long skirt of

-golden-brown silk that matched her hair and

-eyes&mdash;every way a most piquante-looking

-girl!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Young though he was, and though a

-second son, Lennard Melfort had been a

-favourite with more than one Belgravian

-belle and her mamma, and there were few

-who had not something pleasant or complimentary

-to say of him since his return from

-India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and water

-parties, girls had given him the preference

-to many who seemed more eligible, had

-reserved for him dances on their programmes,

-sang for him, made unmistakable <i>œillades</i>,

-and so forth; for his handsome figure and his

-position made him very acceptable, though

-he had not the prospects of his elder brother,

-the Hon. Cosmo.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was

-regarded and valued well, and nourished

-great hopes therefrom; but this was all over

-and done with now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To her it seemed as if he had thrown his

-very life away, and that when his marriage

-with a needy governess&mdash;however beautiful

-and well born she might be&mdash;became known,

-all that charmed and charming circle in

-Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as

-a black sheep indeed; would shake their

-aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and

-Lady Fettercairn for having such a renegade

-son.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Flora's chief attendant&mdash;a Highland woman

-who had nursed her in infancy&mdash;was comically

-vituperative and indignant at the affront put

-by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she

-called her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy,

-active, and only in her fortieth year, with

-black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion,

-a set of magnificent white teeth, and her

-manner was full of emphatic, almost violent,

-gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders,

-who seem to talk with their hands and arms

-quite as much as the tongue.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native

-Gaelic, but generally in the dialect of the

-Lowlands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha

-are the Melforts o' Fettercairn, that they

-should slight you&mdash;<i>laoghe mo chri</i>?' she

-added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a

-pity it is ye canna fling at their heads the

-gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna

-yowl gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've

-begun wi' love and marriage, and a gude

-beginning mak's a gude ending.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon,

-and I have ruined my poor Lennard,' urged

-Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak'

-but a wersh breakfast,' laughed Madelon; 'but

-you're no sae puir as that comes to, my

-darling.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in

-turn.  'Yet I have sorely injured my

-husband's prospects.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo,

-but he weds only whar his weird lies; and so

-Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?

-Then what is a Lord that we should <i>lippen</i> to

-<i>him</i>?  As long as ye serve a tod ye maun

-carry his tail?  And your father's daughter

-may carry her head wi' the highest.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lennard Melfort now resolved neither

-verbally nor by letter to have further

-intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or

-elsewhere, but before he could make up his

-mind what to do or could betake him south,

-as he meant to quit Scotland without delay,

-on the day subsequent to the stormy interview

-Madelon announced a visitor, and on a

-salver brought in a card inscribed&mdash;'MR. KENNETH

-KIPPILAW, W.S.'

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap03"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER III.

-<br /><br />

-THE SPURNED OFFER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,'

-said Lennard, in answer to her inquiring

-glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing

-her to their visitor, who bowed with a

-critical glance and appreciative smile.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have been telegraphed for by your

-father, Captain Melfort,' said Mr. Kippilaw,

-as they shook hands and he was motioned to

-a chair.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like

-man, about forty years of age, Mr. Kenneth

-Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible

-to begin the matter in hand by any remarks

-about youthful imprudence, early marriages,

-or so forth, as he knew the pride and

-temperament of the young man before him, but

-laid down his hat, and, after some of that

-familiar weather talk which is the invariable

-prelude to any conversation over all the

-British Isles, he gently approached the object

-of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity

-and terror of her heart, never doubted was a

-separation of some kind between herself and

-Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and

-withdrew.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'To what am I indebted for the pleasure

-of this&mdash;a&mdash;unexpected interview?' asked

-Lennard, a little stiffly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Instructions just received from your father,

-Captain Melfort.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Straight.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Has he made up his mind to accept my

-wife as his daughter-in-law?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lennard's face darkened with indignation,

-and he gave his moustache an angry twist.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Are my father and mother determined to

-ignore the fact that she is a lady by birth?'

-asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;they know, of course, that she is a

-lady,' stammered Mr. Kippilaw, feeling his

-mission an ungracious one, 'but poor&mdash;one

-who has sunk into obscurity and dependence&mdash;pardon

-me, I but use their own identical words.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What is done in this instance unfortunately

-cannot be undone, Captain Melfort;

-but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in

-the matter, is willing to continue your allowance,

-and even to double it, on one condition.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Name it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a

-lawyer, considerably hardened, he felt the

-delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's

-dark eyes seemed to focus and pierce him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The condition&mdash;to the point!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is&mdash;that you will return to India&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted

-Lennard sharply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain,

-but never attempt to intrude Mrs. Melfort

-upon your family or their circle, and contrive,

-if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Insolent&mdash;and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed

-Lennard Melfort as he started from

-his chair and paced about the room, with his

-dark eyes flashing and the veins in his

-forehead swollen like whip-cord.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The words I speak are not my own,' said

-Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my

-father that I reject his bribe to insult my

-wife&mdash;for a bribe it is&mdash;with the scorn it merits.

-Not a penny of his money will I accept while

-my sword and pay, or life itself, are left me.

-Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view

-myself as their son no more.  As they

-discard me, so do I discard them; and even

-their <i>very name</i> I shall not keep&mdash;remember that!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Dear me&mdash;dear me, all this is very sad!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They have thrust me from them as if I

-had been guilty of a crime&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Captain Melfort!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A crime I say&mdash;yet a day may come

-when they will repent it; and from this hour

-I swear&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw,

-entreatingly; 'take no hasty vow in your

-present temper.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I swear that to them and theirs I shall

-be&mdash;from this hour&mdash;as one in the grave!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose&mdash;which

-God forbid&mdash;that aught happened to

-your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my

-interest in the title&mdash;it may become dormant,

-extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor

-any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I

-again set foot in Craigengowan, or on the

-lands around it&mdash;no, never again, never again!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To every argument of the kind-hearted

-Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved the Fettercairn

-family and esteemed the high-spirited

-Lennard, the latter turned a deaf ear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He departed in despair of softening matters

-between the rash son and indignant parents.

-To them he greatly modified the nature of

-the useless interview, but they heard of

-Lennard's determination with perfect unconcern,

-and even with a grim smile of contempt,

-never doubting that when money pressure

-came upon him they would find him at their

-mercy.  But that time never came.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and

-there the affair seemed to end.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to

-him were said smilingly and loftily:&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The French have a little phrase, which in

-six words expresses all our experiences in life.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And this phrase, my lord?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is simply&mdash;<i>tout passe, tout casse, tout

-lasse</i>&mdash;that we outlive everything in turn and in

-time&mdash;and so this matter of Lennard's pride

-will be a matter of time only.  Be assured

-we shall outlive the indignation of our

-misguided son.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But will you outlive your own?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Never!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I can but hope that you will, my lord.

-Remember the hackneyed quotation from

-Pope&mdash;"To err is human, to forgive divine."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The name of Lennard was never uttered

-again by his parents, nor even by his brother

-Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the

-hour for forgiveness was past; and even

-Cosmo they contrived to innoculate with

-their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of

-hostility.  Lennard's portrait was removed

-from its place of honour in the dining-hall,

-and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods,

-chattels, and mementoes he left at home were

-scattered and dispersed; even his horses were

-sold, and the saddles he had used; and the

-Fettercairn family would&mdash;could they have

-done so&mdash;have obliterated his name from the

-great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard

-Burke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Heedless of all that, the young husband

-and his dark-eyed girl-wife were all the world

-to each other.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'After mamma followed papa to the grave,

-Lennard&mdash;for she never held up her head

-after she heard of his death at Khooshab,'

-said Flora, as she nestled her head in his

-neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life of

-hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till

-I met you, dearest.  I felt that even the love

-of some dumb animal&mdash;a dog or a horse&mdash;was

-better than the entire absence of affection

-in the narrow circle of my life.  I did so long

-for something or some one to love me

-exclusively&mdash;I felt so miserably, so utterly alone

-in the world.  Now I have you&mdash;<i>you</i> to love

-me.  But in winning you I have robbed you

-of the love of all your people.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest

-Flora.  We are now more than ever all in

-all to each other.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The money bribe, offered in such a way

-and for such a purpose, exasperated Lennard

-still more against his family, and drew many

-a tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She thought that she had wrought Lennard

-a great wrong by winning his love for herself,

-and she was now burning with impatience to

-turn her back on the shores of Britain and

-find a new home in India; and there, by staff

-or other employments and allowances, Lennard

-knew that he could gain more than the

-yearly sum his father so mortifyingly offered him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Flora wept much over it all, we say, and

-her appetite became impaired; but she did

-not&mdash;like the heroine of a three-volume

-novel&mdash;starve herself into a fright.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But a short time before she had been a

-childish and simple maiden&mdash;one sorely tried,

-however, and crushed by evil fortune; but

-with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had

-come into her existence and awakened her

-soul, and she was a woman&mdash;innocent

-still&mdash;but yet a woman.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly

-lovely in the purity and richness of

-its verdure and varied artistic views, for the

-woods were profusely tinted with gold, russet

-brown, and red, when Lennard Melfort turned

-his back upon it and his native home for

-ever!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The birds were chirping blithly, and the

-voice of the corncraik, with

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-came on the evening breeze together.  The

-old kirk bell was tolling in the distance, and

-its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart

-of home like that of an old friend.  The river

-was rolling under its great arch of some eighty

-feet in span, the downward reflection of the

-latter in the water making a complete circle

-like a giant O.  The old castle of Halgreen,

-with its loopholed battlements of the

-fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon

-its wave-beaten eminence, and the blue smoke

-of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher village, curled

-up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded

-out in the distance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Flora became marvellously cheerful when

-their journey fairly began, and laughingly she

-sung in Lennard's ear&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'The world goes up and the world goes down,<br />

-  But <i>yesterday's</i> smile and <i>yesterday's</i> frown<br />

-  Can never come back again, sweet friend&mdash;<br />

-  Can never come back again!'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-Means were not forgotten to support nurse

-Madelon in her native place, where we shall

-leave her till she reappears in our narrative

-again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for

-India, full of love for each other and hope for

-their own lonely and unaided future, and both

-passed for ever out of the lives and apparently

-out of the memory of the family at Craigengowan.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Times there were when he hoped to distinguish

-himself, so that the circle there&mdash;those

-who had renounced him&mdash;would be

-proud of him; but in seeking that distinction

-rashly, he might throw away his life, and thus

-leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy

-of a cold world and a proverbially ungrateful

-Government.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But they could not forget home, and many

-a time and oft, where the sun-baked cantonments

-of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the

-fierce light of the Indian sun, where the

-temples of Hurdwar from their steep of marble

-steps look down upon the Ganges, or where

-the bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah,

-garlanded with fragrant jasmine, stand by the

-rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and

-baubool trees, with their golden balls loading

-the air with perfume, while the giant heron

-stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked

-in the ooze, and the Brahmin ducks floated

-overhead, Flora's sweet voice made Lennard's

-heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of

-the land they had resolved never to look

-upon again, even when that sound so stirring

-to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far

-away, the pipes of a Highland regiment,

-poured their notes on the hot sunny air.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At home none seemed to care or think of

-the discarded son but the worthy lawyer

-Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a

-lad, and could not get his hard fate out of his

-mind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-From time to time, inspired by kindness

-and curiosity, he watched his name among the

-captains in the military lists of that thick

-compendium which no Scottish business

-establishment is ever without&mdash;'Oliver and

-Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while,

-the name of Lennard Melfort <i>disappeared</i>,

-but whether he was dead, had sold out, or

-'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the

-Signet could not discover, and he not

-unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a lost

-life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And here we end that which is a species of

-prologue to our story.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IV.

-<br /><br />

-REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-More than twenty years had elapsed after

-the episodes we have described, and Lennard

-and Flora had found a new home, and she,

-her <i>last one</i>, more than four hundred and

-fifty miles as the crow flies from where

-Craigengowan looks down on the German

-Sea.  But none that looked on Lennard

-Melfort now would have recognised in the

-prematurely aged man the handsome young

-fellow who in ire and disgust had quitted his

-native land.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In two years after he had gone eastward a

-dreadful fever, contracted in a place where

-he had volunteered on a certain duty to

-gain money for the support of his wife and

-her little Indian establishment&mdash;the Terrai of

-Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which

-lies along the great forest of the Himalayas,

-and has an evil repute even among the

-natives of the country in the wet season when

-the leaves are falling.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This fever broke Lennard's health completely,

-and so changed him that his rich

-brown hair and moustache were grey at

-six-and-twenty, and ere long he looked like a

-man of twice his age.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort

-of the Fusiliers?  Why, he is a veritable

-Knight of the Rueful Countenance!'

-exclaimed some old friends who saw him at

-'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a

-place of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as

-it subsequently chanced to be.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider,

-and near a beautiful little bay into which the

-waters of the British Channel rippled, stood

-the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied,

-as 'Major MacIan,' with his son and a

-nephew.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The wooded hills around it were not all

-covered with orchards, however, and the little

-road that wound round the bay ran under

-eminences that, from their aspect, might make

-a tourist think he was skirting a Swiss lake.

-Others were heath-clad and fringed at the

-base by a margin of grey rocks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and

-transparent always.  Here salmon trout were

-often found, and the young men spent hours

-at its estuary angling for rock fish.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray

-to be 'the sweetest object that the poet, the

-artist, or the lover of the romantic could

-desire to see,' and such a cottage was that of

-Major MacIan, the name now adopted by

-Lennard&mdash;that of Flora's father&mdash;in fulfilment

-of the vow he had made to renounce the

-name, title, and existence of his family.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Around it, and in front sloping down to

-the bay, was a beautiful garden, teeming with

-the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On

-three sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis

-work of which was covered by a woven

-clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper,

-which, in the first year of her residence there,

-Flora's pretty hands, cased in garden gloves,

-were never tired of tending; and now the

-Virginia creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils,

-emerald green in summer, russet and red in

-autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof

-and around the chimney stalks, making it, as

-Flora was wont to say exultingly, 'quite a

-love of a place!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On one hand lay the rolling waters of the

-Channel, foaming about the Mewstone Rock;

-on the other, a peep was given amid the

-coppice of the ancient church of Revelstoke,

-and here the married pair lived happily and

-alone for a brief time.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Save for the advent of a ship passing in

-sight of the little bay, it was a sleepy place

-in which Lennard, now retired as a major,

-had 'pitched his tent,' as he said&mdash;the Cottage

-of Revelstoke.  Even in these railway times

-people thereabout were content with yesterday's

-news.  There was no gas to spoil the

-complexions of the young, and no water rates

-to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never

-came, in their orange-tinted envelopes, to

-startle the hearts of the feeble and the sickly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-No monetary transactions having taken

-place, and no correspondence being necessary,

-between Lennard and his family or their

-legal agent, Mr. Kippilaw, for more than

-twenty years now, he had quite passed away

-from their knowledge, and almost from their

-memory; and many who knew them once

-cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife

-were in the land of the living.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A son, we have said, had been born to

-them, and Lennard named the child Florian,

-after his mother (here again ignoring his own

-family), whom that event cost dear, for the

-sweet and loving Flora never recovered her

-health or strength&mdash;injured, no doubt, in

-India&mdash;but fell into a decline, and, two years

-after, passed away in the arms of Lennard

-and her old nurse, Madelon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel

-now, though an orphan nephew of Flora&mdash;the

-son of her only sister&mdash;came to reside

-with him&mdash;Shafto Gyle by name&mdash;one who

-will figure largely in our story.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Would Lennard ever forget the day of her

-departure, when she sank under that wasting

-illness with which no doctor could grapple?

-Ever and always he could recall the sweet

-but pallid face, the white, wasted hands, the

-fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so

-unnaturally large when, after one harrowing

-night of pain and delirium, she became gentle

-and quiet, and lovingly told him to take a

-little rest&mdash;for old-looking he was; old, worn,

-and wasted far beyond his years&mdash;and he

-obeyed her, saying he would take a little

-turn in the garden among the roses&mdash;the

-roses her hands would tend no more&mdash;sick

-at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber

-and all it suggested, and maddened by the

-loud ticking of the watchful doctor's repeater

-as it lay on a table littered with useless

-phials; and how, ere he had been ten minutes

-in the sunny morning air, amid the perfume

-of the roses, he was wildly summoned by

-Madelon Galbraith with white cheeks and

-affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of

-death it proved to be; for it was on the

-brow of Death he pressed his passionate

-kisses, and to ears that could hear no more

-he uttered his heartrending entreaties that

-she would not leave him, or would give him

-one farewell word; and ever after would the

-perfume of roses be associated in his mind

-with that morning&mdash;the most terrible one of

-his life!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Beside Revelstoke Church&mdash;old, picturesque,

-and rendered comely by a wealth

-of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed

-around its hoary walls to flutter in the sea

-breeze&mdash;she was laid, and the heart of

-Lennard seemed to be buried with her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is a lonely old building, spotted with

-lichens, worn by storms, and perched upon

-the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the

-salt spray comes at times to the

-burial-ground.  It is near the end of Mothcombe

-Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the

-southward.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Not a house is near it, the solitary hills

-and waves encompass it, and it is said that

-its smouldering tombstones would furnish

-ample matter for the 'meditations' of a

-Hervey.  So there Flora was laid, and there

-Lennard was to be laid by her side when the

-time came.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her death hardened his heart more than

-ever against his own family, and he began

-almost to forget that he ever bore any other

-name than hers&mdash;his adopted one.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the kindness of his heart the major, as

-the lads&mdash;his son and nephew&mdash;grew up

-together, introduced both to neighbours and

-strangers equally as his sons, but most

-unwisely, as we shall ere long have to record.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did

-he reveal his real name, or the story of the

-quarrel with his family and their work; thus

-in and about Revelstoke all three passed

-under the name of MacIan now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her

-mistress on her death-bed, and nursed her

-baby into boyhood, had now gone back to

-her native glen in the wilds of Ross.  She

-proved, Lennard found, somewhat unfitted

-for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways

-and ideas were foreign to those of the folks

-thereabouts; but she will have a prominent

-place in our story in the future.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But long, long Madelon wept over Florian,

-and pressed him often to her breast&mdash;'the

-baby of her bairn,' as she had called

-him&mdash;for as she had nursed him, so had she nursed

-his mother before him in the days when the

-victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents

-at Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting

-words; 'I'll see ye yet again, Florian.

-If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap05"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER V.

-<br /><br />

-DULCIE.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-All trace of Lennard Melfort had been

-obliterated at Craigengowan, we have said.

-He was never mentioned there, and though

-his family tried to think of him as dead, they

-did not quite succeed; but the disappearance

-of his name from the Army List first excited

-a little speculation, but no inquiry, until a

-terrible event occurred.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married

-the daughter of Lady Drumshoddy, thus

-securing her thousands, and did his best to

-console Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the

-disgrace' brought upon them by Lennard,

-and they regarded him quite as a model son.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He shone as Chairman at all kinds of

-county meetings; became M.P. for a cluster

-of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish

-member, mightily interested when such grand

-Imperial matters as the gravelling of Park

-Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the

-improvements at Hyde Park Corner were

-before the House, but was oblivious of all

-Scottish interests, or that such a place as

-Scotland existed.  When she wanted&mdash;like

-other parts of the empire&mdash;but never got

-them&mdash;grants for necessary purposes, the

-Hon. Cosmo was mute as a fish, or if he

-spoke it was to record his vote against them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and

-with natural grief and dismay, that Cosmo

-had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking

-near Glentilt.  He had wounded a

-large stag, the captain of its herd, and

-approached rashly or incautiously when the

-infuriated animal was at bay.  It broke its

-bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great

-shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo

-was trampled under foot and gored to death

-by its horns.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the

-scene where that death must have happened,

-under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel

-builds his nest and the great mountain eagle

-has his eyry, and the Tilt comes thundering

-down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never

-again would his eyes rest on such glorious

-scenes as these.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella,

-who took up her abode with her grandparents

-at Craigengowan, but no son, and

-Lennard knew that by this tragedy he was

-now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave

-a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her

-grave and made no sign.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting

-for a time much that had occurred, and how

-completely Cosmo had leagued with father

-and mother against him, his memory went

-back to the pleasant days of their happy

-boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot

-together, shared the same bedroom in Craigengowan,

-and conned their tasks from the same books.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over

-and done with long, long ago.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He made no sign, we say, but let time pass

-by, not foreseeing the complications that were

-eventually to arise by his doing so.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian, born two years after the adoption

-of Shafto Gyle in his infancy, always regarded

-and looked up to the latter as a species of

-elder brother and undoubted senior.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In his twentieth year Florian was really a

-handsome fellow, and if, without absurdity,

-the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a

-young man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.

-Tall in figure, hard and well developed

-in muscle, regular in features, he had clear,

-dark, honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's,

-and a dark, silky moustache.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto's face was in some respects handsome

-too, but an evil one to look at, in one

-way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and

-had a way of meeting in a dark frown when

-he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes were

-shifty, and were given him, like his tongue,

-to conceal rather than express his thoughts,

-for they were sharp and cunning.  His

-nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips,

-suggestive of cruelty, while his massive jaw

-and thick neck were equally so&mdash;we must say

-almost to brutality.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They were rather a contrast, these two

-young men&mdash;a contrast no less great in their

-dispositions and minds than in their outward

-appearance.  They were so dissimilar&mdash;one

-being dark and the other fair&mdash;that no one

-would have taken them for brothers, as they

-were generally supposed to be, so affectionate

-was the Major to both, and both bearing his

-name in the locality.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant

-reputation for jockeying his companions,

-'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats,

-marbles, and money, and for skilfully shifting

-punishments on the wrong shoulders when

-opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on

-those of the unsuspecting Florian.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-From some of his proclivities, the Major

-thought Shafto would make a good attorney,

-and so had him duly installed in the office of

-Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer,

-while for his own boy, Florian, he had higher

-hopes and aspirations, to make him, like

-himself, a soldier; but though far from idle,

-or lacking application, Florian failed, under

-the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'

-to pass, and not a few&mdash;Shafto particularly&mdash;laid

-it to the account of a certain

-damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed,

-with some truth, to occupy too much of his

-thoughts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,'

-Florian would at once have enlisted, like so

-many others, who rush as privates for

-commissions nowadays; but his father's

-fast-failing health, his love for Dulcie Carlyon,

-and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope

-that 'something would turn up,' kept him

-hanging on day by day aimlessly at Revelstoke,

-without even the apparent future that

-had opened to Shafto when elevated to a

-high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or

-MacIan as he called himself), though he had

-a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for

-business to all appearance, cleverness, and

-strength of character, turned with greater

-pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear

-open brow and honest manly eyes bore

-nature's unmistakable impress of a truer

-nobility than ever appertained to the truculent

-and anti-national lords of Fettercairn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though to all appearance the best of

-friends before the world, the cousins were

-rivals; but as Florian was the successful

-lover, Shafto had a good basis for bitterness,

-if not secret hate.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In common with the few neighbours who

-were in that sequestered quarter, the lawyer

-liked the Major&mdash;he was so gentle, suave,

-retiring in manner, and courteously polite.

-He liked Florian too, but deemed him idle,

-and there his liking ended.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He took Shafto into his office at the

-Major's urgent request, as a species of

-apprentice, but he&mdash;after the aphorism of

-'Dr. Fell'&mdash;did not much affect the young man,

-though he found him sharp enough&mdash;too

-sharp at times; and, like most of the

-neighbours, he never cared to inquire into the

-precise relationship of the Major and the two

-lads, both of whom from boyhood had called

-the latter 'Papa.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited

-circle in which she moved, and a very limited

-circle it was; but she was pretty enough to

-have been the belle of a much larger orbit;

-for she was the very ideal of a sweet, bright

-English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth

-year, and the boy and girl romance in the

-lives of her and Florian had lasted since they

-were children and playmates together, and

-they seemed now to regard each other with

-'the love that is given once in a lifetime.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Could I but separate these two!' muttered

-Shafto, as with eyes full of envy and evil he

-watched one of their meetings, amid the

-bushes that fringed an old quarry not far from

-Revelstoke Church.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-From the summit where he lurked there

-was a magnificent view of the sea and the

-surrounding country.  On one hand lay the

-lonely old church and all the solitary hills that

-overlook its wave-beaten promontory; on the

-other were the white-crested waves of the

-British Channel, rolling in sunshine; but

-Shafto saw only the face and figure of Dulcie

-Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of

-picturing her, in a jacket of navy blue,

-fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt with

-clinging folds of the same&mdash;a costume which

-invests an English girl with an air equally

-nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses

-always fitted her exquisitely, and her small

-head, with smart hat and feather, set

-gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a

-<i>soupçon</i> of pride in its contour and bearing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like

-complexion which is so peculiarly English,

-Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with

-eyes deeply and beautifully blue,

-reddish-golden hair, a laughing mouth that some

-thought too large for perfect beauty, but it

-was fully redeemed by its vivid colour and

-faultless teeth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Could I but separate them!' muttered

-Shafto, through his clenched teeth, while

-their murmured words and mutual caresses

-maddened him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in

-an open locket which Florian had just given

-her&mdash;a likeness, no doubt, of himself&mdash;and

-she did so repeatedly, and ever and anon

-held it admiringly at arm's length.  Then she

-closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver

-necklet to which it was attached round her

-slender white throat; and with a bright fond

-smile she concealed it among the lace frilling

-of her collarette, and let the locket, for

-security, drop into the cleft of her bosom,

-little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in

-her life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto's face would not have been pleasant

-to look upon as he saw this episode, and his

-shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he watched it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a

-kind of boyish rapture, as he placed a hand

-on each of her shoulders and gazed into her

-eyes, 'I am most terribly in love with you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why should there be any terror in it?'

-asked Dulcie, with a sweet silvery laugh.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your

-love, and being always with you, that&mdash;that

-a fear comes over me lest we should be some

-day parted.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she

-with a pretty pout, while her long lashes

-drooped.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have

-you ever had an emotion that comes uncalled

-for&mdash;that which people call a presentiment?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes; often.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Has it ever come true?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Sometimes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well&mdash;I have a presentiment this evening

-which tells me that something is about to

-happen to me&mdash;to us&mdash;and very soon too!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What can happen to us&mdash;we are so happy?'

-said Dulcie, her blue eyes dilating.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown

-to Florian, mysteriously prompt this thought&mdash;this

-boding fear.  Shafto heard the words,

-and a strange smile spread over his face as he

-shook his clenched hand at the absorbed pair,

-and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving

-two foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from

-which they might be roughly awakened&mdash;leaving

-the happy Florian, with that sweet

-and winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and

-with whom he had played even as a child;

-with whom he had shared many a pot of

-clotted cream; with whom he had fished for

-trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with

-fearful steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern

-there, where lie thick the fossil bones of the

-elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for

-hours by the moors, among mossy rocks and

-mossy trees, and in woody labyrinthine lanes,

-and many a time and oft by the sea shore,

-where the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in

-a manner beyond description, but so loosely

-bound together that waves rend them asunder,

-and shape them into forms like ruined castles

-and stranded ships; till, as years went on,

-heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life

-had been left behind; and that dream-time

-came in which they seemed to live for years.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of

-coquetry, her nature was too truthful and open

-for that; thus she had never for a moment

-wavered in her preference between Florian

-and Shafto, and spent with the former those

-bright and hopeful hours that seldom come

-again with the same keen intensity in a

-lifetime, though often clouded by vague

-doubts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As yet they had led a kind of Paul and

-Virginia life, without very defined ideas of their

-future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering

-what that future might be.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They only knew, like the impassioned boy

-and girl in the beautiful story of Bernardin

-St. Pierre, that they loved each other very dearly,

-and for the sweet present that sufficed; while

-cunning Shafto Gyle looked darkly, gloomily,

-and enviously on them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Perhaps it was his fast failing health that

-prevented Lennard Melfort from looking

-more closely into this matter, or it may be

-that he remembered the youthful love of his

-own heart; for he could never forget her

-whom he was so soon to join now, and who,

-'after life's fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall

-of Revelstoke, within sound of the restless sea.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard

-rumours of these meetings and rambles, and

-probably liked them as little as the Major did;

-but he was a busy man absorbed in his work,

-and had been used to seeing the pair together

-since they were toddling children.  Lennard,

-perhaps, thought it was as well to let them

-alone, as nothing would come of it, while the

-lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day,

-'what is to be the end of all this philandering

-but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do

-you expect a young fellow to marry you who

-has no money, no prospects, no position in

-the world?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing

-painfully, for though an only and motherless

-child she stood in awe of her father.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Position&mdash;a deuced bad one, I think!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The other two items will come in time,

-papa,' said Dulcie, laughing now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'When?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie was silent, and&mdash;for the first time in

-her life&mdash;thought sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But

-she pressed a pretty white hand upon the

-silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw

-courage therefrom as from an amulet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of

-a <i>cob</i> cottage over your head.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire

-proverb&mdash;a good cob, a good hat and

-shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Right, lass, and a good heart have you,

-my darling,' said Mr. Carlyon, kissing her

-peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and

-good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his

-exterior, and more like a grazier than a

-lawyer.  'You are both too young to know

-what you are talking about.  He'll be going

-away, however&mdash;can't live always on his

-father, and <i>he</i>, poor fellow, won't last long.

-The fancy of you both will wear itself out,

-like any other summer flirtation&mdash;I had many

-such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,

-'and got safely over them all.  So will you,

-lass, and marry into some good family, getting

-a husband that will give you a comfortable

-home&mdash;for instance, Job Holbeton, with his

-pits of Bovey coal.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could

-scarcely restrain her tears at the hard,

-practical suggestions of her father.

-Hard-featured, stout, and grizzled Joe Holbeton

-versus her handsome Florian!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her father spoke, too, of his probable

-'going away.'  Was this the presentiment to

-which her lover had referred?  It almost

-seemed so.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the sunset she went forth into the

-garden to work with her wools, and even to

-have a 'good cry' over what her father had

-said; but in this she was prevented by

-suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the grass

-at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree&mdash;Shafto,

-whom she could only tolerate for

-Florian's sake.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,'

-she asked, with unconcealed annoyance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Staring, was I?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, like an owl.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I always like to see girls working.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Indeed!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And the work, what do you call it?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, especially when the work is done by

-hands so pretty and white.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'As mine, you mean, of course?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy

-compliments, Shafto, or I shall quit the

-garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking

-with a half-frightened, half-defiant expression

-into the keen, shifty, and pale grey ones of

-Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He could see the outline of the locket with

-every respiration of her bosom.  Could he

-but possess himself of it, thought he, as he

-proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in

-ladies' society unless with permission,' said

-Dulcie.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Never bother about that, little one, please.

-But may I smoke?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up

-at her with eyes full of admiration.  'I feel

-like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't know who he was, or what you

-feel, but do you know what you look like?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes

-sparkling with mischief.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom,

-with his ass's head, at the feet of Titania.

-"Dost like the picture?"'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so

-that Dulcie laughed merrily, showing all her

-pearly teeth at her reply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,'

-said he, bluntly and coarsely; 'doing the

-Huguenot business, the <i>pose</i> of Millais'

-picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Millais and I?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; you and Florian!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face

-growing very pale in spite of herself at the

-bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable

-anger of his tone and bearing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;with your tomfoolery.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How?&mdash;why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Penniless as you are&mdash;he at least.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant,

-to say the least of it,' said Dulcie, as

-she gathered up her wools and sailed into the

-house, while his eyes followed her with a

-menacing and very ugly expression indeed.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap06"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VI.

-<br /><br />

-THE SECRET PACKET.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The broken health brought by Lennard from

-the miasmatic Terai of Nepaul was rapidly

-becoming more broken than ever, and,

-though not yet fifty, he was a premature old

-man, and it seemed as if the first part of

-Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming

-sorrow would soon be fulfilled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His steps became very feeble, and he could

-only get about, in the autumn sunshine, with

-the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and

-the latter watched him with grief and pain,

-tottering like the aged, panting and leaning

-heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he

-insisted on being led up a steep slope from

-which he could clearly see the old church of

-Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory,

-overlooked by sad and solitary hills, and his

-hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it, with

-a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed

-to be at peace, and by the side of her he had

-laid there, it seemed long years ago&mdash;a lifetime ago.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb,

-and all who looked upon him thought so; yet

-his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed

-no fear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One day when Florian was absent&mdash;no

-doubt sketching, boating with Dulcie on the

-Yealm, or idling with her on the moors&mdash;Lennard

-besought Shafto to stay beside him

-as he sat feeble and languid in his easy chair,

-sinking with the wasting and internal fever,

-with which the country practitioners were

-totally incapable of grappling; and on this

-day, for the first time, he began to speak

-to him of Scotland and the home he once

-had there; and he was listened to with

-the keenest interest by Shafto, who had

-ever&mdash;even as a child&mdash;been cunning, selfish, and

-avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and

-complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he

-remembered only Flora's dead and devoted

-sister.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have been thinking over old times and

-other days, Shafto,' said he, with his

-attenuated hands crossed on the head of his

-bamboo cane; 'and, all things considered, it

-seems an occupation I had better avoid did

-the memory concern myself alone: but I

-must think of others and their interests&mdash;of

-Florian and of you&mdash;so I can't help it, boy,

-in my present state of health, or rather

-want of health,' he added, as a violent fit of

-spasmodic coughing came upon him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After a pause he spoke again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older

-than Florian, and are, in many ways, several

-years older in thought and experience by the

-short training you have received in Carlyon's

-office.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Major paused again, leaving Shafto

-full of wonder and curiosity as to what this

-preamble was leading up to.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The former had begun to see things more

-clearly and temperately with regard to the

-sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that,

-though he had renounced all family ties,

-name, and wealth, so far as concerned himself,

-to die, with the secret of all untold, would

-be to inflict a cruel wrong on Florian.  At

-one time Lennard thought of putting his

-papers and the whole matter in the hands of

-Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and it was a pity he

-did not do so instead of choosing to entrust

-them to his long-headed nephew.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for

-me&mdash;my hands are so tremulous,' said he.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When this was done he selected a packet

-from a private drawer, and briefly and rapidly

-told the story of his life, his proper name,

-and rank to Shafto, who listened with

-open-eyed amazement.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the latter had thoroughly digested the

-whole information, he said, after a long pause:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This must be told to Florian!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And with Florian came the thought of

-Dulcie, and how this sudden accession of her

-lover to fortune and position would affect her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Nay, Shafto&mdash;not yet&mdash;not till I am gone&mdash;a

-short time now.  I can trust you, with

-your sharpness and legal acumen, with the

-handling of this matter entirely.  When I

-am gone, and laid beside your aunt Flora,

-by the wall of the old church yonder,' he

-continued with a very broken voice&mdash;one

-almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the

-person to whom this packet is addressed,

-Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer to the Signet in

-Edinburgh&mdash;he is alive still; place these in

-his hands, and he will do all that is required;

-but treasure them, Shafto&mdash;be careful of them

-as you would of your soul's salvation&mdash;for

-my sake, and more than all for the sake of

-Florian!  Now, my good lad, give me the

-composing draught&mdash;I feel sleepy and so

-weary with all this talking, and the thoughts

-that have come unbidden&mdash;unbidden, sad,

-bitter, and angry thoughts&mdash;to memory.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and,

-giving his uncle the draught, stole softly away

-to his own room with the papers, to con them

-over and to&mdash;think!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He had not sat at a desk for three years in

-Lawyer Carlyon's office without having his

-wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the

-documents away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Stop&mdash;stop&mdash;let me think, let me

-consider!' he exclaimed to himself, and he

-certainly did consider to some purpose.  He

-was cold and calculating; he was never

-unusually agitated or flustered, but he became

-both with the thoughts that occurred to him

-now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Among the papers and letters entrusted to

-him were the certificates of the marriage of

-Lennard and Flora, and another which ran

-thus:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Certificate of entry of birth, under section

-37 of 17 and 18 Vict., cap. 80.'  It authenticated

-the birth of their child Florian at

-Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These documents were enclosed in a letter

-written in a tremulous and uncertain hand by

-Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,

-part of which was in these terms:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The child was baptized by a neighbouring

-clergyman&mdash;the Rev. Paul Pentreath&mdash;who

-has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he

-gave me, and, dying as I now feel myself to

-be, I pray earnestly that my father and

-mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let

-them not&mdash;as they one day hope for mercy at

-that dread throne before which I am soon to

-appear&mdash;visit upon his innocent head my

-supposed and most heavily punished offence.

-Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to

-that which is his due; let him succeed to all

-I renounced in anger&mdash;an anger that has

-passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I

-am aged beyond my years, and my hair is

-now white as snow through ill-health

-contracted in India, where, to procure money

-necessary for my poor Flora, I volunteered

-on desperate service, and in seasons destructive

-to existence.  In your hands I leave the

-matter with perfect hope and confidence.  The

-bearer will tell you all more that may be

-necessary.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After having read, reread, and made himself

-thoroughly master of the contents of this

-to him certainly most astounding packet, he

-requested the Major to re-address it in his own

-tremulous and all but illegible handwriting,

-and seal it up with his long-disused signet

-ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Prior to having all this done, Shafto had

-operated on one of the documents most

-dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A peerage! a peerage!&mdash;rank, wealth,

-money, mine&mdash;all mine!' he muttered under

-his breath, as he stored the packet away in a

-sure and secret place, and while whistling

-softly to himself, a way he had when brooding

-(as he often did) over mischief, he recalled

-the lines of Robert Herrick:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'Our life is like a narrow raft,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Afloat upon the hungry sea;<br />

-  Hereon is but a little space,<br />

-  And all men, eager for a place,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Do thrust each other in the sea.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-'So why should I not thrust him into the

-hungry briny?  If life is a raft&mdash;and, by

-Jove, I find it so!&mdash;why should one not grasp

-at all one can, and make the best of life for

-one's self, by making the worst of it for other

-folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank

-and wealth come often to any one's hands?

-No! and I should be the biggest of fools&mdash;the

-most enormous of idiots&mdash;not to avail

-myself to the fullest extent.  I see my little

-game clearly, but must play warily.  "Eat,

-drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for

-to-morrow we die."  They say the devil can

-quote Scripture, and so can Shafto Gyle.

-But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to

-have a jolly good spell for many a year to

-come!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And in the wild exuberance of his spirits

-he tossed his hat again and again to the

-ceiling.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-From that day forward the health of

-Lennard Melfort seemed to decline more

-rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by

-the chill winds of the season to remain in

-bed, quite unable to take his place at table or

-move about, save when wheeled in a chair to

-the window, where he loved to watch the

-setting sun.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then came one evening when, for the last

-time, he begged to be propped up there in

-his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over

-Revelstoke Church, and throwing its

-picturesque outline strongly forward, in a dark

-indigo tint, against the golden and crimson

-flush of the west, and all the waves around

-the promontory were glittering in light.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Lennard saw nothing of all this,

-though he felt the feeble warmth of the

-wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn

-hands towards it; his eyesight was gone, and

-would never come again!  There was something

-very pathetic in the withered face and

-sightless eyes, and the drooping white

-moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,

-and waxed <i>à l'Empereur</i>.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His dream of life was over, and his last

-mutterings were a prayer for Florian, on

-whose breast his head lay as he breathed his

-last.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The two lads looked at each other in that

-supreme moment&mdash;but with very different

-thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only

-desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto,

-in the awful presence of Death, felt alone in

-the world.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap07"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VII.

-<br /><br />

-A FAREWELL.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and

-attenuated man, whose hair was like the

-thistledown, none would have recognised in

-him the dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous

-young subaltern who only twenty-four years

-before had led his company at the storming

-of the Redan, who had planted the scaling-ladder

-against the scarp, and shouted in a

-voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse

-musketry:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Come on, men! ladders to the front,

-eight men per ladder; up and at them, lads,

-with the bayonet,' and fought his way into

-an embrasure, while round-shot tore up the

-earth beneath his feet, and men were swept

-away in sections of twenty; or the hardy

-soldier who faced fever and foes alike in the

-Terai of Nepaul.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-How still and peaceful he lay now as the

-coffin-lid was closed over him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the

-hard ground, and the waves seemed to leap

-and sob heavily round the old church of

-Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid

-beside the now old and flattened grave

-of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind

-lifted the silver hair of the Rev. Paul

-Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or on the

-buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of

-the pall held by Florian, who felt as one in a

-dreadful dream&mdash;amid a dread and unreal

-phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed

-to twitch angrily the pall-ribbon from the

-hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort

-recover it, as more than one present, with

-their Devonian superstition, remarked, and

-remembered when other things came to pass.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At last all was over; the mourners departed,

-and Lennard Melfort was left alone&mdash;alone

-with the dead of yesterday and of ages;

-and Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and

-pressed his hand, strove to commit to memory

-the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,

-'There shall be no more death, neither

-sorrow, nor sighing; for God shall wipe

-away all tears from their eyes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto now let little time pass before he

-proceeded to inform Florian of what he

-called their 'relative position,' and of their

-journey into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It has been said that in life we have

-sometimes moments so full of emotion that they

-seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach

-again; and this sharp turn, young and startled

-Florian seemed to pass, when he learned that

-since infancy he had been misled, and that

-the man, so tender and so loving, whom

-he had deemed his father was but his uncle!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-How came it all to pass now?  Yet the

-old Major had ever been so kind and affectionate

-to him&mdash;to both, in fact, equally so,

-treating them as his sons&mdash;that he felt only a

-stunning surprise, a crushing grief and bitter

-mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his

-love for the dead was too keen and deep for

-that.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The packet, sealed and addressed to

-Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents were as yet

-unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the

-strange intelligence of Shafto; but the

-question naturally occurred to Florian, 'For what

-end or purpose had this lifelong mystery

-and change in their positions been brought

-about?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He asked this of Shafto again and again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It seems we have been very curiously

-deluded,' said that personage, not daring to

-look the sorrowful Florian straight in the

-face, and pretended to be intent on stuffing

-his pipe.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Deluded&mdash;how?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed

-Shafto, with petulance and assumed irritation,

-'that the contents of this packet prove that <i>I</i>

-am the only son of Major Melfort (not

-MacIan at all), and that you&mdash;you&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew&mdash;adopted

-as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will tell you all

-about it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian,

-scarcely knowing, in his bewilderment, what

-he said.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Mean to go in for my proper position&mdash;my

-title, and all that sort of thing, don't you

-see?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And act&mdash;how!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback,

-I hope.  I'll do something handsome for you,

-of course.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I want nothing done for me while I have

-two hands, Shafto.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing

-vigorously at his pipe.  'I have had enough

-of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance

-in the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he,

-after a long pause; 'and, by all the devils,

-I'll have no more of it now that I am going

-to be rich.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort

-entrusting him with the packet, Shafto had

-done little else at the office but study the

-laws of succession in Scotland and England.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How much you love money, Shafto!'

-said Florian, eying him wistfully.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from

-having had so precious little of it in my

-time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought

-he exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully,

-how many matrons with daughters

-unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to

-me!  And Dulcie Carlyon I might have for

-asking; but I'll fly at higher game now, by

-Jove!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As further credentials, Shafto now

-possessed himself of Major Melfort's sword,

-commissions, and medals, while Florian

-looked in blank dismay and growing

-mortification&mdash;puzzled by the new position in which

-he found himself, of being no longer his father's

-son&mdash;a source of unfathomable mystery.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to

-leave Revelstoke and its vicinity behind him.

-It was too late for regrets or repentance now.

-Not that he felt either, we suppose; and

-what he had done he would do again if there

-was no chance of being found out.  In the

-growing exuberance of his spirits, he could

-not help, a day or two after, taunting Florian

-about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a

-quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a

-scornful laugh:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You can't marry her&mdash;a fellow without a

-shilling in the world; and I wouldn't now,

-if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised

-grief and astonishment of these events, and

-of the approaching departure of the cousins.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The cottage home was being broken up;

-the dear old Major was in his grave; and

-Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the

-lover of her girlhood, was going away&mdash;she

-scarcely knew to where.  They might be

-permitted to correspond by letter, but when,

-thought Dulcie&mdash;oh, when should they meet

-again?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sun was shedding its light and warmth

-around her as usual, on woodland and hill, on

-wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out,

-the perfume to pass from the early spring

-flowers, the glory from land and sea, and a

-dim mist of passionate tears clouded the

-sweet and tender blue eyes of the affectionate

-girl.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He would return, he said, as he strove to

-console her; but how and when, and to what

-end? thought both so despairingly.  Their

-future seemed such a vague, a blank one!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I am penniless, Dulcie&mdash;a beggar on the

-face of the earth&mdash;twice beggared now, I

-think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly,

-with piteous lips that were tremulous as his

-own, and her eyes drowned in tears.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They had left the road now, and wandered

-among the trees in a thicket, and seated

-themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place

-endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue,

-as if his own were striving to take away a

-memory of her face&mdash;a memory that would

-last for eternity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And you really go to-night?' she asked,

-in piteous and broken accents.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;with Shafto.  I am in a fever,

-darling, to seek out a position for myself.

-Surely Shafto may assist me in that&mdash;though

-I shrink from asking him.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Your own cousin?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;but sometimes he looks like a

-supplanter now, and his bearing has been so

-unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said

-Florian.  'But you will wait for me, Dulcie,

-and not be persuaded to marry anyone else?'

-he added imploringly, as he clasped each of

-her hands in his.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should

-be for twenty years!' exclaimed the girl, in a

-low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering

-the magnitude and peril of such a promise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he

-bending down and kissing her lips with

-ardour, and, though on the eve of parting,

-they felt almost happy in the confidence of

-the blissful present.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How often shall I recall this last meeting

-by the fallen tree, when you are far, far

-away from Revelstoke and&mdash;me,' said Dulcie.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You will often come here to be reminded

-of me?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Do you think, Florian, I will require to

-be reminded of you?' asked the girl, with a

-little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she

-kissed the silver locket containing his likeness,

-and all the sweet iteration of lover-talk,

-promises, and pledges went on for a time,

-and new hopes began to render this last

-interview more bearable to the young pair who

-were on the eve of separation, without any

-very distinct arrangement about correspondence

-in the interval of it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sun was setting now redly, and amid

-dun winter clouds, beaming on each chimney-head,

-on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless

-tree-tops his farewell radiance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie,

-and with the emotion of a wrench in his

-heart, was gone, and she was alone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were

-all that remained to him of her&mdash;both to be

-looked upon again and again, till his eyes

-ached, but never grew weary.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and

-the memory of that parting kiss was still

-hovering on her quivering lips when, in

-a lonely lane not far from her home, she

-found herself suddenly face to face with

-Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She had known him from his boyhood,

-ever since he came an orphan to Lennard

-Melfort's cottage; and although she always

-distrusted and never liked him, his face was

-a familiar one she might never see more; thus

-she resolved to part with him as with the best

-of friends, and to remember that he was the

-only kinsman of Florian, whose companion

-and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey

-the end of which she scarcely understood.

-So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad smile in

-her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand,

-which Shafto grasped and retained promptly

-enough.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap08"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VIII.

-<br /><br />

-THE SILVER LOCKET.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Shafto had just been with her father.  How

-contemptuously he had eyed the corner and

-the high old stool on which he had sat in the

-latter's legal establishment, and all its

-surroundings; the fly-blown county maps of

-Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of

-sales&mdash;property, mangold wurzel, oats and hay,

-Thorley's food for cattle, and so forth; the

-tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of

-papers in red tape; the well-thumbed ledgers;

-day and letter books, and all the paraphernalia

-of a country solicitor's office.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed

-them all.  Now it was all over and done with.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The three poor lads in the office, whose

-cheap cigars and beer he had often shared at

-the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended

-to notice, while they regarded him with

-something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer Carlyon

-his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal

-of the lease of the Major's pretty cottage,

-and of all the goods and chattels that were

-therein.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Had Florian been present he would have

-felt only shame and abasement at the tone

-and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion;

-but worthy Lawyer Carlyon, who did not

-believe a bit in the rumoured accession of

-Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed

-softly to himself, and thought his 'pride would

-have a sore fall one of these fine days.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And even now, when face to face with

-Dulcie, his general bearing, his coolness and

-insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief,

-indignant and defiant ultimately.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl

-looked, from the smart scarlet feather in her

-little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her

-veil was tightly tied across her face, showing

-only the tip of her nose, her ripe red lips, and

-pretty white chin&mdash;its point, like her cheeks,

-reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from

-the Channel.  Her gloved hands were in her

-small muff, and the collar of her sealskin

-jacket was encircled by the necklet at which

-her silver locket hung&mdash;the locket Shafto

-had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed

-it on her, while he looked close by, with his

-heart full of envy, jealousy, and hatred, and

-now it was the first thing that attracted his eye.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?'

-she said softly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester

-and the north.  My estates, you know, are

-in Scotland.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'These changes are all strange and most

-startling,' said she, with a sob in her slender

-throat.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I

-suppose it is the result of progress,' he added

-sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers

-and grandmothers contrived to mope

-over and yawn out their dull and emotionless

-existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Who knows; though life, however sweet

-now, won't be worth living for then, I fancy.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in

-admiring silence, for he had a high appreciation

-of her bright and delicate beauty, and

-loved her&mdash;if we may degrade the phrase&mdash;in

-his own selfish and peculiar way, though

-now resolved&mdash;as he had often thought vainly&mdash;to

-'fly at higher game;' and so, full of

-ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own, if he

-had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at

-least, ceased for a space to trouble her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Florian will be writing to you, of course?'

-said he, after a pause.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement;

-and then, you know, papa&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell

-advice to you, Dulcie, is&mdash;Don't put off

-your time thinking of Florian&mdash;his ship will

-never come home.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You think so&mdash;but you are wrong.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have read somewhere that ships of the

-kind rarely do come home in this prosaic and

-disappointing world; that some get wrecked

-almost within sight of land; others go down

-without the flapping of a sail, and sometimes

-after long and firm battling with adverse

-winds and tides; but <i>my ship</i> is a sure craft,

-Dulcie,' he added, as he thought of the packet

-in his possession&mdash;that precious packet on

-which all his hopes rested and his daring

-ambition was founded.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully,

-and thought&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were

-always selfish and evil.  Tide what may,'

-she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years

-and more for Florian.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The more fool you, then!  And so die an

-old maid?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And if he never can marry you&mdash;or

-marries some one else when he can?' asked

-Shafto viciously.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or

-women's rights, and all that sort of thing,'

-said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant

-attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while

-Shafto eyed her angrily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How fond you are of that silver locket&mdash;you

-never wear any other!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And none you prize so much?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is that the reason you wear it with all

-kinds of dresses?  What is in it&mdash;anything?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting

-her right hand on it and instinctively drawing

-back a pace, for there was a menacing expression

-in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her

-hand in his.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You shall!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes

-sparkling now as his grasp upon her hand

-tightened.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with

-his eyes aflame and his cheeks pale with

-jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and

-wrenched by brutal force the locket from her,

-breaking the silver necklet as he did so.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and

-thief&mdash;how dare you?  Surrender that locket

-instantly!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly,

-holding the prized trinket before her at arm's

-length.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But for Florian's sake, I would at once

-apply to the police.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A vulgar resort&mdash;no, my pretty Dulcie,

-you wouldn't.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not for Florian's sake?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Whose, then?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have

-your old pump of a father down on you; and

-so you dare not make a row about it, my

-pretty little fury.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that

-photo,' said Dulcie, her tears welling forth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; I won't.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to

-whom a villainous idea just then occurred.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her

-muff drop and clasping her slim little hands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined

-to put my heel upon it&mdash;but I won't.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This robbery is cruel and infamous!'

-exclaimed Dulcie, trembling with grief and just

-indignation; but Shafto only laughed in

-anger and bitterness&mdash;and a very hyena-like

-laugh it was, and as some one was coming

-down the secluded lane, he turned away and

-left her in the twilight.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He felt himself safe from opprobrium and

-punishment, as he knew well she was loth to

-make any complaint to her father on the

-subject; and just then she knew not how to

-communicate with Florian, as the darkness

-was falling fast, and the hour of his departure

-was close at hand.  She thought it not

-improbable that Shafto would relent and return

-the locket to her; but the night was far

-advanced ere that hope was dissipated, and she

-attained some outward appearance of

-composure, though her father's sharp and

-affectionate eyes detected that she had been

-suffering.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He had heard from her some confused

-and rambling story about the family secret,

-the packet, and the peerage, a story of which

-he could make nothing, though Shafto's

-bearing to himself that evening seemed to

-confirm the idea that 'there was something in

-it.'  Anyway, Mr. Carlyon was not indisposed

-to turn the event to account in one sense.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Likely&mdash;likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said

-he; 'and so you'll hear no more of these

-two lads, if they are likely to become great

-folks, and belong to what is called the upper

-ten; they'll never think again of a poor

-village belle like you, though there is not a

-prettier face in all Devonshire than my

-Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He meant this kindly, and spoke with a

-purpose; and his words and the warning

-they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender

-heart of poor Dulcie.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By this time the cousins were sweeping

-through the darkness in the express train by

-Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were

-very silent, and each was full of his own

-thoughts, and what these were the reader

-may very well imagine.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles

-of Shafto, Florian, from time to time, drew

-forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining

-lock of red-golden hair, his sole links between

-the past and the present; and already he felt

-as if a score of years had lapsed since they

-sat side by side upon the fallen tree.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then, that he might give his whole

-thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to sleep; but

-Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat

-quietly enough with his face in shadow, his

-travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled well

-down over his watchful and shifty grey-green

-eyes, the lamp overhead giving a miserable

-glimmer suited to the concealment of expression

-and thought; and as the swift train sped

-northward, the cousins addressed not a word

-to each other concerning those they had left

-behind, what was before them, or anything else.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After a time, Shafto really slept&mdash;slept the

-slumber which is supposed to be the reward

-of the just and conscientious, but which is

-much more often enjoyed by those who have

-no conscience at all.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to

-Florian detailing the outrage to which she

-had been subjected by Shafto; but time

-passed on, and, for a reason we shall give in

-its place, the letter never reached him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Again and again she recalled and rehearsed

-her farewell with Florian, and thought

-regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate

-poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with

-Shafto; and she still seemed to see his

-beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while

-her own welled freely and bitterly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When could they meet again, if ever, and

-where and how?  Her heart and brain

-ached with these questions.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though

-her cheek paled a little, and she felt&mdash;even

-at her early years&mdash;as if life seemed over

-and done with, and in her passionate love for

-the absent, that existence alone was left to

-her, and so forth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And as she was her father's housekeeper

-now, kept the keys and paid all the servants,

-paid all accounts and made the preserves, he

-was in no way sorry that the young men were

-gone; that the 'aimless philandering,' as he

-deemed it, had come to an end; and that

-much would be attended to in his cosy little

-household which he suspected&mdash;but unjustly&mdash;had

-been neglected hitherto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native

-place, the breezy moors, the solitary hills, the

-mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,

-the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the

-Yealm, where they had been wont to boat

-and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn,

-were all full of the haunting presence of the

-absent&mdash;the poor but proud and handsome

-lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had

-loved her, and who now seemed to have

-slipped out of her existence.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine

-flooded hill and dale, and lit up the

-waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the

-far-stretching Channel, tinting with wondrous

-gleams and hues the waves that rolled upon

-the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre

-Rock, and the sea-beaten promontory of

-Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was

-gone from land and water: she heard no

-more, by letter or otherwise, of the love of

-her youth; he seemed to have dropped

-utterly out of her sphere; and though

-mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of

-the bursting June roses&mdash;the Marshal Neil

-and Gloire de Dijon&mdash;and treasured them

-carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a

-task in which she had often been assisted by

-Florian, she felt and thought&mdash;'Ichabod!

-Ichabod! the glory has departed!'

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap09"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IX.

-<br /><br />

-MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Shafto found himself a little nervous when

-he and Florian were actually in Edinburgh, a

-city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of

-rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and

-temple, so foreign-looking to English eyes,

-and so utterly unlike everything they had

-ever seen or conceived before.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.

-His father's death&mdash;though called an uncle

-now, but Florian always felt for and thought

-of him as a parent&mdash;the loss of Dulcie, their

-abrupt departure from Devonshire, and rough

-uprootal of all early associations, had made a

-kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life, and

-it was only now when he found himself amid

-the strange streets and picturesque splendour

-of Edinburgh that he began&mdash;like one

-recovering consciousness after a long

-illness&mdash;to gather up again the ravelled threads of

-thought, but with curious want of concern and

-energy; while Shafto felt that he personally

-had both, and that now he required to have

-all his wits about him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian stood for a time that night at the

-door of their hotel in Princes Street looking

-at the wonderful lights of the Old Town

-sparkling in mid air, and some that were in

-the Castle must, he thought, be stars, they

-were so high above the earth.  Scores of

-cabs and carriages went by, eastward and

-westward, but no carts or wains or lorries,

-such as one sees in London or Glasgow&mdash;vehicles

-with bright lamps and well muffled

-occupants, gentlemen in evening suits, and

-ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of

-pedestrians, under the brilliant gas lights and

-long boulevard-like lines of trees&mdash;the

-ever-changing human panorama of a great city

-street before midnight.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-How odd, how strange and lonely poor

-Florian felt; he seemed to belong to no one,

-and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for

-him; and ever and anon his eyes rested on

-the mighty castled rock that towers above

-streets, monuments, and gardens, with a

-wonderous history all its own, 'where

-treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,' and

-with them the only ancient crown in the

-British Isles.  'Brave kings and the fairest

-of crowned women have slept and been

-cradled in that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic

-English writer; 'heroes have fought upon its

-slopes; English armies have stormed it;

-dukes, earls, and barons have been

-immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted

-Queen prayed and yielded up her last breath

-there eight centuries ago.  It is an imperishable

-relic&mdash;a monument that needs no carving

-to tell its tale, and it has the nation's worship;

-and the different church sects cling round its

-base as if they would fight again for the

-guardianship of a venerable mother.....

-And if Scotland has no longer a king and

-Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown

-is at least safely kept up there amid strong

-iron stanchions, as a sacred memorial of her

-inextinguishable independence, and, if need

-were, for future use.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he

-felt a keen interest in all that now surrounded

-him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the

-smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of

-the morrow, and unwisely seeking to fortify

-himself by imbibing more brandy and soda

-than Florian had ever seen him take before.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After a sound night's rest and a substantial

-Scottish breakfast had fitted Shafto, as he

-thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited

-him and Florian (who was now beginning to

-marvel why he had travelled so far in a

-matter that concerned him not, in reality)

-at the residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,

-W.S., in Charlotte Square&mdash;a noble specimen

-of Adams Street architecture, having four

-stately symmetrical corresponding façades,

-overlooked by the dome of St. George's

-Church.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,'

-said Shafto, as he looked at the mansion of

-Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the

-modest establishment of Lawyer Carlyon;

-'but foxes will flourish as long as there are

-geese to be plucked.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw was at home&mdash;indeed he was

-just finishing breakfast, before going to the

-Parliament House&mdash;as they were informed by

-the liveried valet, who led them through a

-pillared and marble-floored vestibule, and

-ushered them into what seemed a library, as

-the walls from floor to ceiling were lined

-with handsome books; but every professional

-man's private office has generally this

-aspect in Scotland.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared

-with a puzzled and perplexed expression in

-his face, as he alternatively looked at his two

-visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year;

-his long since grizzled hair had now become

-white, and had shrunk to two patches far

-apart, one over each ear, and brushed stiffly

-up.  His eyebrows were also white, shaggy,

-and under them his keen eyes peered

-sharply through the rims of a gold pince-nez

-balanced on the bridge of his long aquiline

-nose.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant

-dryness about his tongue and lips.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'<i>Mr. Shafto Melfort?</i>' said Mr. Kippilaw

-inquiringly, and referring to the card again.  'I

-was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto

-Melfort&mdash;any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This gentleman with the dark eyes?'

-asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to the silent

-Florian.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No&mdash;myself,' said Shafto sharply and

-firmly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You are most unlike the family, who have

-always been remarkable for regularity of

-features.  Then you are the son&mdash;of&mdash;of&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died

-a few weeks ago&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Good Heavens, where?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'On the west coast of Devonshire, near

-Revelstoke, where he had long resided under

-the assumed name of MacIan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That of his wife?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Precisely so&mdash;my mother.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And this young gentleman, whose face

-and features seem curiously familiar to me,

-though I never saw him before, he is your

-brother of course.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.

-I am an only son, but the Major ever

-treated us as if he had been the father of both,

-so great and good was his kindness of heart.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a

-breathless voice, as he seated himself in an

-ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,

-which was covered with documents and

-letters all arranged by his junior clerk in the

-most orderly manner.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This is very sudden and most unexpected

-intelligence,' said he, carefully wiping his

-glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a

-closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all

-these years past the real name and position of

-your father, and that he left Kincardineshire

-more than twenty years ago after a very grave

-quarrel with his parents at Craigengowan?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No&mdash;I only learned who he was, and who

-we really were, when he was almost on his

-deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his

-only son, and because I had been bred to the

-law; and on that melancholy occasion he

-entrusted me with this important packet

-addressed to <i>you</i>.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With an expression of the deepest interest

-pervading his well-lined face, Mr. Kippilaw

-took the packet and carefully examined the

-seal and the superscription, penned in a

-shaky handwriting, with both of which he was

-familiar enough, though he had seen neither

-for fully twenty years, and finally he

-examined the envelope, which looked old and

-yellow.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'If all be true and correct, these tidings will

-make some stir at Craigengowan,' he muttered

-as if to himself, and cut round the seal with a

-penknife.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I

-have alleged,' said Shafto, who now felt that

-the crisis was at hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and

-wonder, drew forth the documents and read

-and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding

-the papers, but not offensively, between

-him and the light to see if the dates and

-water-marks tallied.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The slow way this old devil goes on

-would exasperate an oyster!' thought Shafto,

-whose apparently perfect coolness and

-self-possession rather surprised and repelled the

-lawyer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-There were the certificate of Lennard's

-marriage with Flora MacIan, which Mr. Kippilaw

-could remember he had seen of old;

-the 'certificate of entry of birth of their son,

-born at Revelstoke at 6 h. 50 m. on the 28th

-October P.M., 18&mdash;,' signed by the Registrar,

-and the Major's farewell letter to his old

-friend, entrusting his son and his son's

-interests to his care.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after

-he had read for the second time, and saw that

-the letter of Lennard Melfort was undoubtedly

-authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of

-your Christian name is <i>torn out</i> of the birth

-certificate, and the surname <i>Melfort</i> alone

-remains?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently

-startled in turn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'There is a rough little hole in the

-document where the name <i>should be</i>.  Do you

-know the date of your birth?' asked

-Mr. Kippilaw, partly covering the document with

-his hand, unconsciously as it were.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;28th October.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And the year?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto gave it from memory.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Quite correct&mdash;as given here,' said

-Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old for the date of

-this certificate.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I always looked older than my years,'

-replied Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian, who might have claimed the date

-as that of his own birth, was&mdash;luckily for

-Shafto&mdash;away at a window, gazing intently

-on a party of soldiers marching past, with a

-piper playing before them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Another certificate can be got if necessary,'

-said Mr. Kippilaw, as he glanced at the

-Registrar's signature, a suggestion which

-made Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have

-come from the Major in this mutilated state,'

-he added, re-examining with legal care and

-suspicion the address on the envelope and

-the seal, which, as we have said, he had cut

-round; 'but it is strange that he has made

-no mention of it being so in his letter to me.

-Poor fellow! he was more of a soldier than a

-man of business, however.  Allow me to

-congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new

-prospects.  Rank and a very fine estate are

-before you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who

-began to be more reassured; and saying, 'I

-must carefully preserve the documents for the

-inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked

-them fast in a drawer of his writing-table, and

-spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,

-while warming his person in the fashion

-peculiar to the genuine 'Britisher,' he eyed

-Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant

-remarks on the Fettercairn family, the

-fertility and beauty of Craigengowan, the

-stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth,

-and the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'&mdash;as

-he called him&mdash;and about whom he asked

-innumerable questions, all of which Shafto

-could answer truly and with a clear conscience

-enough, as he was master of all that.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The latter was asked 'what he thought

-of Edinburgh&mdash;if he had ever been there

-before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a

-little 'Guide Book' into which he had

-certainly dipped, so as to be ready for

-anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque

-beauties and historical associations of the

-Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's

-heart began to warm to so intelligent a

-young man, while of the silent Florian,

-staring out into the sun-lit square and its

-beautiful garden and statues, he took little

-notice, beyond wondering <i>where</i> he had seen

-his eyes and features before!

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap10"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER X.

-<br /><br />

-ALONE IN THE WORLD.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-'And you were bred to the law, you say,

-Mr. Melfort?' remarked the old Writer to the

-Signet after a pause.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Very good&mdash;very good indeed; that is

-well!  We generally think in Scotland that

-a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it

-teaches the laird to haud his ain; but I

-forgot that you are southland bred, and

-born too&mdash;the more is the pity&mdash;and can't

-understand me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto did not understand him, but thought

-that his time spent in Lawyer Carlyon's

-office had not been thrown away now;

-experience there had 'put him up to a trick or

-two.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first

-post,' said Mr. Kippilaw after another of

-those thoughtful pauses during which he

-attentively eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady

-Fettercairn&mdash;like myself now creeping up the

-vale of years&mdash;(Hope they may soon see

-the end of it! thought Shafto) will, I have

-no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the sequence

-and tenor of the documents you have brought

-me that you are their grandson&mdash;the son of

-the expatriated Lennard&mdash;and when I hear

-from them I shall let you know the result

-without delay.  You are putting up at&mdash;what

-hotel?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Ah! very well.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And your cousin&mdash;he will, of course, go

-with you to Craigengowan?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as

-Florian could detect.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What are your intentions or views?'

-Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'He failed to pass for the army,' said

-Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so I don't know

-what he means to do <i>now</i>.  I believe that he

-scarcely knows himself.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Have you no friends on your mother's

-side, Mr. Florian?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection

-of voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied

-Florian bitterly and a little defiantly, as

-Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and

-good fortune, roused his pride and galled his

-heart, which sank as he thought of Dulcie

-Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie,

-so far away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the

-young man's answer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have some little influence in many ways,

-and if I can assist your future views you may

-command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with

-fatherly kindness, for he had reared&mdash;yea and

-lost&mdash;more than one fine lad of his own.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It has been said that one must know mankind

-very well before having the courage to

-be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's

-knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited,

-he felt his eye quail more than once under

-the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter,

-'that after the death of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt,

-when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so

-anxious to discover and recall his younger

-brother as the next and only heir to the title

-and estates, we totally failed to trace him.

-We applied to the War Office for the

-whereabouts of Major Lennard Melfort, but the

-authorities there, acting upon a certain

-principle, declined to afford any information.

-Advertisements, some plainly distinct, others

-somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in

-the <i>Scotsman</i> and <i>Times</i>, but without the

-least avail.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'As for the <i>Scotsman</i>,' said Shafto, 'the Major&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Your father, you mean?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more

-likely to see such a provincial print in

-Devonshire than the Roman <i>Diritto</i> or the

-Prussian <i>Kreuz Zeitung</i>; and the <i>Times</i>, if

-he saw it&mdash;which I doubt&mdash;he must have

-ignored.  Till the time of his death drew

-near, his feelings were bitter, his hostility to

-his family great.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I can well understand that, poor fellow!'

-said Mr. Kippilaw, glancing at his watch, as

-he added&mdash;'You must excuse me till

-to-morrow: I am already overdue at the

-Parliament House.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit

-square.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You seem to have lost your tongue,

-Florian, and to have a disappointed look,'

-said Shafto snappishly, as they walked

-slowly towards the hotel together.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps,

-but I have no reason to repine or complain

-save at our change of relative positions, but

-certainly not at your unexpected good fortune,

-Shafto.  It is only right and just that your

-father's only son should inherit all that is

-legally and justly his.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Even at these words Shafto never winced

-or wavered in plans or purpose.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was apparent, however, to Florian, that

-he had for some time past looked restless

-and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at

-any unusual sound, while a shadow rested on

-his not usually very open countenance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Betimes next morning a note came to him

-at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel from

-Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as

-possible, and on this errand he departed alone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He found the old lawyer radiant, with a

-letter in his hand from Lord Fettercairn (in

-answer to his own) expressive of astonishment

-and joy at the sudden appearance of

-this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he

-was full of ardour and anxiety to see.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You will lose no time in starting for

-Craigengowan,' said Mr. Kippilaw.  'You

-take the train at the Waverley Station and

-go <i>viâ</i> Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk&mdash;or

-stay, I think we shall proceed together,

-taking your papers with us.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow

-that the presence of Mr. Kippilaw at the

-coming interview would take some of the

-responsibility off his own shoulders.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will

-put on its brightest smile to welcome you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto,

-who felt but ill at ease in his new role of

-adventurer, and unwisely adopted a

-free-and-easy audacity of manner.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for

-present emergencies,' said Mr. Kippilaw,

-opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours

-we shall meet at the station.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I would do much for your father's son,

-Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer, emphatically.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And what about Florian?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The letter ignores him&mdash;a curious omission.

-In their joy, perhaps Lord and Lady Fettercairn

-forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter

-for him that came by the London mail.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly,

-while his heart grew sick with apprehension,

-he knew not of what.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to

-me,' said Mr. Kippilaw aloud; but to himself,

-'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen

-features like his before?  He reminds me

-curiously of Lennard Melfort.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto gave a nervous start.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The letter was a bulky one, and bore the

-Wembury and other post-marks, and to

-Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the

-familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He chuckled, and a great thought worthy

-of himself occurred to him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the solitude of his own room at the

-hotel, he moistened and opened the gummed

-envelope, and drew forth four closely written

-sheets of paper full of the outpourings of the

-girl's passionate heart, of her wrath at the

-theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning

-that she had incidentally got the address of

-Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and desiring

-him to write to her, and she would watch for

-and intercept the postman by the sea-shore.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and

-cast into the fire Dulcie's letter, all save a

-postscript, written on a separate scrap of

-paper, and which ran thus:&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You have all the love of my heart, Florian;

-but, as I feel and fear we may never meet

-again, I send you this, which I have worn

-next my heart, to keep.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-<i>This</i> was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Three stamps on all this raggabash!'

-exclaimed Shafto, whom the girl's terms of

-endearment to Florian filled with a tempest

-of jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had

-wrenched from Dulcie's neck in soft paper,

-and placed it with the postscript in the

-envelope, which he carefully closed and

-re-gummed, placed near the fire, and the moment

-it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-If the latter was surprised to see a letter to

-himself, addressed in Dulcie's large, clear,

-and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer

-Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also

-struck dumb when he found in the envelope

-the locket, the likeness, and the apparently

-curt farewell contained in one brief sentence!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For a time he stood like one petrified.

-Could it all be real?  Alas! there was no

-doubting the postal marks and stamps upon

-this most fatal cover; and while he was

-examining it and passing his hand wildly more

-than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto

-was smoking quietly at a window, and to all

-appearance intent on watching the towering

-rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in

-morning sunshine&mdash;batteries whereon steel

-morions and Scottish spears had often gleamed

-of old.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though his soul shrank from doing so,

-Florian could not resist taking Shafto into

-his confidence about this unexplainable event;

-and the latter acted astonishment to the life!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Was the locket thus returned through the

-post in obedience to her father's orders, after

-he had probably discovered the contents of it?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing

-his attention to the tenor of the pithy

-scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that

-it had been done under any other influence

-than her own change of mind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he

-prepared to take his departure for Craigengowan;

-'now you had better proceed at once to

-cultivate the wear-the-willow state of mind.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith

-and truth and of true women were suddenly

-and cruelly shattered now!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'She has killed all that was good in me,

-and the mischief of the future will be at her

-door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky

-voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto,

-who actually did feel a little for him; and

-just then, when they were on the eve of

-separation, even his false and artful heart did

-feel a pang, with the sting of fear, at the

-career of falsehood to which he had committed

-himself; but his ambition, innate greed,

-selfishness, and pride urged him on that

-career steadily and without an idea of flinching.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning

-how the face of Florian interested him, and

-actually that he bore a likeness to the dead

-Major&mdash;to his own father, in fact&mdash;Shafto

-became more than desirous to be rid of him

-in any way.  He thought with dread of the

-discovery and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of

-the fierce light thrown by the law on that

-gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction

-he had none!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from

-the hotel with his portmanteau, 'I must

-keep up this game at all hazards now.  I

-have stolen&mdash;not only Florian's name&mdash;but

-his place, so let him paddle his own

-canoe!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were

-his parting words&mdash;a promise which he never

-fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their

-mutual purse now, might have offered to

-supply the well-nigh penniless lad with money,

-but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of

-him&mdash;to hear of him no more.  He had a

-dread of his presence, of his society, of his

-very existence, and now had but one hope,

-wish, and desire&mdash;that Florian Melfort should

-cross his path never again.  And now that

-he had achieved a separation between him

-and Dulcie, he conceived that Florian would

-never again go near Revelstoke, of which

-he&mdash;Shafto&mdash;had for many reasons a nervous

-dread!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel

-desertion of him, which he considered due to

-calm consideration of his change of fortune&mdash;or

-rather total want of it&mdash;Florian felt numbly

-indifferent to the matter Shafto had in hand

-and all about himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-While very nearly moved to girlish tears at

-parting from one with whom he had lived

-since infancy&mdash;with whom he had shared the

-same sleeping-room, shared in the same sports

-and studies&mdash;with whom he had read the

-same books to some extent, and had ever

-viewed as a brother&mdash;Florian was rather

-surprised, even shocked, by the impatience

-of that kinsman, the only one he had in all

-the wide world, to part from him and begone,

-and to see he was calm and hard as flint or

-steel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Different natures have different ways of

-showing grief, I suppose,' thought the simple

-Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a

-grudge at me because of the false but winsome

-Dulcie?  If affection for me is hidden

-in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No

-letter ever came from Craigengowan.  The

-pride of Florian was justly roused, and he

-resolved that he would not take the initiative,

-and attempt to open a correspondence with

-one who seemed to ignore him, and whose

-manner at departing he seemed to see more

-clearly and vividly now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The fact soon became grimly apparent.

-He could not remain idling in such a fashionable

-hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he

-settled his bill there, and took his portmanteau

-in his hand, and issued into the streets&mdash;into

-the world, in fact.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap11"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XI.

-<br /><br />

-SHAFTO IN CLOVER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-About six months had elapsed since Shafto

-and Florian parted, as we have described, at

-Edinburgh.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was June now.  The luxurious woods

-around Craigengowan were in all their leafy

-beauty, and under their shadows the dun

-deer panted in the heat as they made their

-lair among the feathery braken; the emerald

-green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was

-smooth as a billiard-table and soft as

-three-pile velvet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The air was laden with the wafted fragrance

-of roses and innumerable other flowers; and

-the picturesque old house, with its multitude

-of conical turrets furnished with glittering

-vanes, its crow-stepped gables and massive

-chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep

-blue sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful

-looked the pretty village, seen in middle

-distance, through a foliated vista in the

-woodlands, with the white smoke ascending

-from its humble hearths, the only thing that

-seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful

-were the colours some of its thatched

-roofs presented&mdash;greenest moss, brown lichen,

-and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while

-the murmur of a rivulet (a tributary of the

-Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch, 'the

-auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would

-be heard at times, amid the pleasant voices

-of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the

-glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers

-below the stately terrace, that had long since

-replaced the moat that encircled the old

-fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite

-lord had ridden forth to fight and die for

-James VIII., on the field of Sheriffmuir&mdash;King

-of Scotland, England, France, and

-Ireland, as the unflinching Jacobites had it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis

-party was busy tossing the balls from

-side to side among several courts; but apart

-from all, and almost conspicuously so&mdash;a

-young fellow, in a handsome light tennis suit

-of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were

-carrying on a very palpable flirtation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion

-was Finella Melfort, Cosmo's orphan

-daughter (an heiress through her mother),

-who had returned a month before from a

-protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They seemed

-to be on excellent terms with each other, and

-doubtless the natural gaiety of the girl's

-disposition, her vivacity of manner, and their

-supposed mutual relationship, had opened the

-way to speedy familiarity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but

-very white-skinned little beauty, with a perfect

-<i>mignonne</i> face, a petite but round and compact

-figure, gracefully formed, and very

-coquettish and <i>spirituelle</i> in all her ways.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She had received her peculiar Christian

-name at the special request of her grandfather,

-that silly peer being desirous that her name

-might go down in the peerage in connection

-with that of the famous Finella of Fettercairn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A winsome pair they would make,' was

-the smiling remark of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,

-who was of the party (with three romping

-daughters from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn,

-who smirked a grim assent, as if it

-was a matter of indifference to him, which

-it was not, as his legal adviser very well

-knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard

-the remark, bestowed upon him a bright

-and approving smile in return for a knowing

-glance through the glasses of his gold

-<i>pince-nez</i>.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto

-Gyle had found his veritable Capua&mdash;he was

-literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard

-himself addressed by his assumed name

-without experiencing a strange sinking and

-fluttering of the heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The once-despised Lennard Melfort's

-sword, his commission, and his hard-won

-medals earned in Central India and the Terai

-of Nepaul were now looked upon as precious

-relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir at

-Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the

-lumber-attic, his portrait, taken in early life,

-was again hung in a place of honour in the

-dining-hall.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his

-claim on such a place as this, and all for the

-face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto

-to himself when first he came to Craigengowan,

-and then he looked fearfully around

-him lest the word <i>uncle</i> might have been

-overheard by some one; and he thought&mdash;'If

-rascally the trick I have played my simple

-and love-stricken cousin&mdash;and rascally it was

-and is&mdash;surely it was worth while to be the

-heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To reckon

-as mine in future all this grand panorama of

-heath-clad hills, of green and golden fields,

-of purple muirland, and stately woods of oak

-and pine where the deer rove in herds; as

-mine the trout-streams that flow towards the

-Bervie; the cascades that roar down the

-cliffs; the beautiful old house, with its stables,

-kennels, and terrace; its cellars, pictures,

-plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of

-marble and jasper, china and Japanese work;

-and I possess all that rank and wealth can

-give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,

-with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his

-years.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To the fair inheritance he had come to

-steal he could not, however, add as his the

-blue sky above it, or the waves of the German

-Sea, which the North Esk flowed to join;

-but he was not without sense appreciative

-enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming

-earth, of the pine forests where the brown

-squirrels leaped from branch to branch, and

-on the mountain side the perfume of the

-golden whin and gorse.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Appraising everything, these ideas were

-ever recurring to his mind, and it was full of

-them now as he looked around him, and at

-times, like one in a dream, heard the pretty

-babble of the high-bred, coquettish girl, who,

-to amuse herself, made <i>œillades</i> at him; who

-called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and

-who, with her splendid fortune, he was now

-beginning to include among the many goods

-and chattels which must one day accrue to him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course,

-fully twenty years older than when we saw

-them last, full of wrath and indignation at

-Lennard for his so-called <i>mésalliance</i>.  Both

-were cold in heart and self-absorbed in nature

-as ever.  The latter was determined to be a

-beauty still, though now upon the confines of

-that decade 'when the cunning of cosmetics

-can no longer dissemble the retribution of

-Time the avenger.'  The former was bald

-now, and the remains of his once sandy-coloured

-hair had become grizzled, and a

-multitude of puckers were about his cold,

-grey eyes, while there was a perceptible

-stoop in his whilom flat, square shoulders.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was as full of family pride as ever, and

-the discovery of an unexpected and authentic

-heir and grandson to his title, that had never

-been won in the field or cabinet, but was

-simply the reward of bribery and corruption,

-and for which not one patriotic act had been

-performed by four generations, had given

-him intense satisfaction, and caused much

-blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol

-about the country-side; and smiles that were

-bright and genuine frequently wreathed the

-usually pale and immobile face of Lady

-Fettercairn when they rested on Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We all know how the weak and easy adoption

-of a pretender by a titled mother in a

-famous and most protracted case not many

-years ago caused the most peculiar

-complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more

-pardonable, posted up as she was with

-documentary evidence, in accepting Shafto Gyle

-as her grandson.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We have described her as being singularly,

-perhaps aristocratically, cold.  As a mother,

-she had never been given to kissing, caressing,

-or fondling her two sons (as she did a

-succession of odious pugs and lap-dogs), but,

-throwing their little hearts back upon

-themselves, left nurses and maids to 'do all that

-sort of tiresome thing.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So Finella, though an heiress, came in for

-very little of it either, with all her sweetness,

-beauty, and pretty winning ways, even

-from Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man

-who cared so little for his own country and

-her local and vital interests was little likely

-to care much for any flesh and blood that did

-not stand in his own boots.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son'

-from time to time with&mdash;for her&mdash;deep

-apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic

-regret and indignation, much of the

-obscure story of his boyhood and past life, at

-least so much as he chose to tell her; and

-she bitterly resented that Lennard Melfort

-should have sought to put the 'nephew of

-that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army,

-while placing 'his own son' Shafto into the

-office of a miserable village lawyer, and so

-forth&mdash;and so forth!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this

-happened in an obscure village in Devonshire,

-and far away from Craigengowan and all its

-aristocratic surroundings.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She also thought it strange that

-Shafto&mdash;('Whence came that name?' she would

-mutter angrily)&mdash;should be so unlike her

-dark and handsome Lennard.  His eyebrows

-were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,

-watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck

-thick, and his hair somewhat sandy in hue.

-Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what

-her husband, the present Lord Fettercairn,

-must have been at the same age.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As for the Peer himself, he was only too

-thankful that an heir had turned up for his

-ill-gotten coronet, and that now&mdash;so far as one

-life was concerned&mdash;Sir Bernard Burke would

-not rate it among the dormant and attainted

-titles&mdash;those of the best and bravest men that

-Scotland ever knew.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As for their mutual scheme concerning

-Shafto and their granddaughter Finella, with

-her beauty and many attractive parts, the

-former was craftily most desirous of furthering

-it, knowing well that, <i>happen what might</i>

-in the future, she was an heiress; that

-marriage with her would give him a firm

-hold on the Fettercairn family, though the

-money of her mother was wisely settled on

-the young lady herself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Indeed, Finella had not been many

-weeks home from London, at Craigengowan,

-before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches,

-and spoke pretty plainly to him on the

-subject.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Waving her large fan slowly to and fro,

-and eyeing Shafto closely over the top of it,

-she said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find

-your cousin Finella&mdash;the daughter of my

-dead darling Cosmo&mdash;a lovable kind of girl.

-But even were she not so&mdash;and all say she

-is&mdash;you must not feel a prejudice against her,

-because&mdash;because&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What, grandmother?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Because it is our warmest desire that you

-may marry her.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked

-Shafto, with one of his dissembling smiles.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but

-one is always the better to have more, and

-you must not feel&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean

-that you must not be prejudiced against her

-as an expected<i> parti</i>.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why should I?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'One hears and reads so much of such

-things.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so

-pretty and eligible, why the dickens&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What now?' he asked, with some irritability,

-as she often took him to task for his

-solecisms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations

-that were suited to the atmosphere

-of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will

-not do in Craigengowan!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well&mdash;she won't look at me with your

-eyes, grandmother.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How&mdash;her eyes&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They will never seem so bright and

-beautiful.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my

-Lady Fettercairn, with a smile and pleased

-flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet'

-had soon discovered that she was far from

-insensible to adulation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto certainly availed himself of the

-opportunities afforded by 'cousinship,'

-propinquity, and residence together in a country

-house, and sought to gain a place in the good

-graces or heart of Finella; but with all his

-cunning and earnest wishes in the matter&mdash;apart

-from the wonderful beauty of the girl&mdash;he

-feared that he made no more progress

-with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She talked, played, danced, and even

-romped with him; they rambled and read

-together, and were as much companions as

-any two lovers would be; but he felt nearly

-certain that though she flirted with him,

-because it was partly her habit to appear to

-do so with most men, whenever he attempted

-to become tender she openly laughed at him

-or changed the subject skilfully; and also

-that if he essayed to touch or take her hand

-it was very deliberately withdrawn from his

-reach, and never did she make him more

-sensible of all this than when he contrived to

-draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon

-of the lawn-tennis party.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She had long ere this been made perfectly

-aware that love and marriage were objects of

-all his attention, yet she amused herself with

-him by her coquettish <i>œillades</i> and waggish

-speeches.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating

-voice, as he stooped over her, 'I hope that

-with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant

-mode of treating me, you will see your way

-to carry out the fondest desire of my heart

-and that of our grandparents.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And

-the object to which I am to see my way is to

-marry you, cousin Shafto?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her

-half-averted ear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I

-couldn't think of such a thing.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And these are?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Firstly, people should marry to please

-themselves, not others.  Grandpapa and

-grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am

-quite independent enough to do as I please

-and choose.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!'

-said she, looking upward at him with one of

-her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have not said that either.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You may yet love me, then?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; not as you wish it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You have no right to ask me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a

-gleam came into his cold, grey eyes as he

-asked, after a pause:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is there anyone else you prefer?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You have no right to inquire,' replied she,

-and a keener observer might have detected

-that his question brought a tiny blush to her

-cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so

-please to let this matter drop, once and for

-ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such

-delightful friends&mdash;such jolly cousins.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And so ended one of many such conversations

-on this topic&mdash;conversations that

-developed indifference, if not quite aversion,

-on the part of Finella, the clue to which

-Shafto was fated to find in a few weeks after.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap12"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XII.

-<br /><br />

-VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The persistent attentions of Shafto were

-alternately a source of amusement and worry

-to Finella Melfort; and when she found them

-become the latter, she had more than once

-retreated to the residence of her maternal

-grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she

-infinitely preferred being at Craigengowan,

-where the general circle was more refined

-and of a much better style; for Lady

-Drumshoddy&mdash;natheless her title&mdash;was not quite

-one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow

-of an advocate, who, having done without

-scruple the usual amount of work to please

-his party and the Lord Advocate, had been

-rewarded therefor by an appointment (and

-knighthood) in Bengal, where he had gone,

-at a lucky time, with the old advice and

-idea&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pluck India's endless riches,<br />

-  And then I swore that time should see<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Huge pockets in my breeches.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets

-were so well filled that when he came home

-to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be

-deemed a 'great catch' by the Fettercairn

-family, though her grandfather had been&mdash;no

-one knew precisely what.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And now Finella, by education, careful

-training, and by her own habit of thought,

-was naturally so refined that, with all her

-waggery and disposition to laughter and

-merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches

-occasionally irritated her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a

-man may get the love of the girl he wants,

-even if she cares little for him, if he only

-asks her at the right time; but, so far as you

-are concerned, Finella, the right moment has

-not come for me, I suppose.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,'

-she replied, fanning herself, and eyeing him

-with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in

-her dark eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion

-Lord Fettercairn came hurriedly to him, saying,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley,

-from London, will arrive here to-morrow for

-a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he

-leaves for his regiment in Africa.  You will

-do your best to be attentive to him, Shafto.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily,

-however, all the more so that he was quick

-enough to detect that, at the mention of the

-visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour

-crossed the cheek of Finella.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Something in his tone attracted the

-attention of Lord Fettercairn, who said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'After the 12th I hope you will find a

-legitimate use for your gun&mdash;you know what

-I mean.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as

-his grandfather referred to a mischievous act

-of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage

-in the neighbourhood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn

-a pair of majestic osprey had built their

-nest, guarded by the morass around them,

-and there they bred and reared a pair of

-beautiful eaglets.  No one had been allowed

-to approach them, so that nothing should

-occur to break the confidence of safety which

-the pair of osprey acquired in their lonely

-summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to

-Craigengowan, and by four rounds from his

-breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,

-to the indignation of the neighbourhood and

-even of my Lord Fettercairn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Not that the latter cared a straw about

-these eagles as objects of natural history; but

-the fact of their existence formed the subject

-of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was

-wounded on finding that one of his family

-had acted thus.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family

-circle at Craigengowan had two or three

-accessions to its number&mdash;friends invited for

-the 12th of August&mdash;among others Mr. Kippilaw

-the younger, a spruce and dapper

-Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,'

-Shafto said, 'thought no small beer of

-himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of

-the Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive

-and, to one who was present, most decided

-addition to their society.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His regular features were well tanned by

-the sun in Natal; his dark hair was shorn

-short; his moustaches were pointed well out;

-and his dark eyes had a bright and merry yet

-firm and steady expression, as those of a man

-born to command men, who had more than

-once faced danger, and was ready to face it

-again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was in his twenty-seventh year, and

-was every way a courteous and finished

-English gentleman, though Shafto, in his

-secret heart, and more than once in the

-stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited

-beast.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot

-big game in Southern Africa, hunted in the

-English shires, taking his fences&mdash;even double

-ones&mdash;like a bird; he had lost and won with a

-good grace at Ascot and the Clubs, flirted 'all

-round,' and, though far from rich, was a good

-specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and

-open-hearted young officer, a favourite with

-all women, and particularly with his regiment.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After luncheon he was seated beside Lady

-Fettercairn; he was too wise in his generation

-to have placed himself where he would have

-wished, beside Finella, whose little hand, on

-entering, Shafto thought he retained in his

-rather longer than etiquette required; for if

-Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly

-sharp, and he soon found that though

-Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her

-time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself,

-'now that this fellow Hammersley had come,'

-he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a very

-bad word indeed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We have said that Finella had paid a

-protracted and&mdash;to her&mdash;most enjoyable visit

-to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties,

-and in the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley

-repeatedly; and these meetings had

-not been without a deep and tender interest

-to them both; and when they were parted

-finally by her return to Craigengowan, though

-no declaration of regard had escaped him, he

-had been burning to speak to her in that

-sweet and untutored language by which the

-inmost secrets of the loving heart can be read;

-and now that they had met again, they had

-a thousand London objects to talk about

-safely in common, which made them seem to

-be what they were, quite old friends in fact,

-and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like

-Shafto, to listen and look darkly and doubtfully on.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But when they were alone, which was seldom,

-or merely apart from others, there was

-between them a new consciousness now&mdash;a

-secret but sweet understanding, born of eye

-speaking to eye&mdash;all the sweeter for its

-secrecy and being all their own, a conscious

-emotion that rendered them at times almost

-afraid to speak or glance lest curious eyes or

-ears might discover what that secret was.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-What was to be the sequel to all this?

-Hammersley was far from rich according to

-the standard of wealth formed by Lady

-Fettercairn, and the latter had destined her

-granddaughter with all her accumulated

-wealth to be the bride of Shafto.

-Hammersley knew nothing of this; he only knew

-his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'

-but then youth, we are told, 'is

-sanguine and full of faith and hope in an

-untried future.  It looks out over the pathway

-of life towards the goal of its ambition, seeing

-only the end desired, and giving little or no

-heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents,

-that may be met with on the way.'  So,

-happy in the good fortune that threw him

-once more in the sweet society of bright

-Finella Melfort, Captain Hammersley gave

-full swing in secret to the most delightful of

-day-dreams.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In all this, however, we are somewhat

-anticipating our narrative.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But, like a wise man, while the luncheon

-lasted he was most attentive to his hostess,

-from whose old but still handsome face, like

-that of Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless,

-icily regular, and splendidly null,' he ever and

-anon turned to that of Finella&mdash;that <i>mignonne</i>

-face, which was so full of varying expression,

-warmth, light, and colour.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,'

-said Lord Fettercairn.  'You will scarcely

-credit how long I have had it in the cellar.

-I bought a whole lot of it&mdash;when was it,

-Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the solemn

-old butler behind him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Everything at Craigengowan seems to

-take date before or after that event,' said

-Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do

-you mean for India, Grapeston?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who

-had carried 'Master Lennard' in his arms as a baby.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance

-at the colour.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes

-were bent on the face of Finella.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull,

-but every place is so after London.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'True, we live so fast there that we never

-seem to have time to do anything.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And now, understanding that Shafto was

-to be his chief companion at the covies on

-the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of

-hammerless guns, of central fire, of the mode

-of breaking in dogs, training setters, and so

-forth; and as these subjects had not been

-included in Shafto's education at Lawyer

-Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he

-listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said

-Lord Fettercairn, 'the Bervie yields capital

-salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has

-filled more than one basket with the latter,

-but Shafto is somewhat of a duffer with his

-rod&mdash;he breaks many a rod, and has never

-landed a salmon yet.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty,

-Fasque, Hobseat, and my own, as I

-hope you will find to-morrow.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks&mdash;indeed, I am sure I shall.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the

-probable bag of grouse and black game is

-from 400 to 500 brace.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After dinner that evening Finella was

-found singing at the piano&mdash;singing, as she

-always did, without requiring pressure and

-apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a

-thrush on a rose bush sings; but now she

-sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt

-instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness

-was roused when he heard her, in a pause, whisper:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto

-turn the leaves.  He likes to do it, though he

-can do little else in the way of music.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This kind of confidence seemed to imply

-foregone conclusions and a mutual understanding,

-however slight; but, to some extent,

-Finella had a kind of dread of Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley smiled and drew back, after

-placing a piece of music before her; but not

-before remarking:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No&mdash;it is old as the days when George

-IV. was king&mdash;it is one you gave me some

-weeks ago in London, you remember?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Am I likely to forget?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said

-Finella, adjusting her dress over the

-music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves

-at the proper time.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Captain Hammersley will do that better

-than I,' said Shafto, drawing almost sulkily

-away, while the former resumed his place by

-Finella, with an unmistakable smile rippling

-over his face.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley

-had given her, was an old one, long

-since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,'

-and jealous anger gathered in Shafto's heart

-as he listened and heard Hammersley's voice

-blend with Finella's in the last line of each

-verse:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'We met not in the sylvan scene<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where lovers wish to meet,<br />

-  Where skies are bright and woods are green,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And bursting blossoms sweet;<br />

-  But in the city's busy din,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where Mammon holds his reign,<br />

-  Sweet intercourse we sought to win<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;<br />

-  Above us was a murky sky,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Around a crowded space,<br />

-  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was this, our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'They are who say Love only dwells<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;<br />

-  Alike to him are gloomy cells<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or gay and smiling bowers;<br />

-  Love works not on insensate things<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His sweet and magic art;<br />

-  No outward shrine arrests his wings,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His home is in the heart;<br />

-  And dearest hearts like <i>thine</i> and <i>mine</i>,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With rapture must retrace&mdash;<br />

-  How often Love has deigned to shine<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On this our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more

-sweetly than ever!' said Hammersley in a

-low voice as he bent over her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself;

-'where was this trysting place?  I feel

-inclined to put a charge of shot into him

-to-morrow.  I will, too, if the day is foggy!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finella, though pressed, declined to sing

-more, as the Misses Kippilaw, who were

-rather irrepressible young ladies, now

-proposed a carpet-dance, and she drew on her

-gloves; and while she fumbled away, almost

-nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew

-that Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and

-admiringly bent on her, till he came to the

-rescue, and did the buttoning required; and

-to Shafto it seemed the process was a very

-protracted one, and was a pretty little

-connivance, as in reality it was.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion,

-was summoned, and she&mdash;poor creature&mdash;had

-to furnish music for the occasion, till at

-last Finella good-naturedly relieved her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and

-then Shafto, though an indifferent waltzer,

-thought he might excel in a square dance

-with Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation

-at any time, and on this occasion his

-attempts at it proved a great failure, and

-when he compared this with the animation of

-Hammersley and Finella in the Lancers, he

-was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.

-The former did not seem to undergo that

-agony so often felt by Shafto, of having

-out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have

-to rack his brain for anecdotes or jokes, but

-to be able to keep up an easy flow of

-well-bred talk on persons, places, and things,

-which seemed to amuse Finella excessively,

-as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily

-while fanning herself, and looking more

-sparkling and piquante than ever.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What the deuce can he find to say to

-her?' thought Shafto; but Hammersley was

-only finding the links&mdash;the threads of a dear

-old story begun in London months ago.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So passed the first day of Hammersley's

-arrival at Craigengowan, and Finella laid her

-head on her pillow full of bright and happy

-thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no

-share.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But while these emotions and events were

-in progress, where, in the meantime, was

-Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap13"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XIII.

-<br /><br />

-AMONG THE GROUSE.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the

-unamiable Shafto and his threats muttered in

-secret, the shooting next day passed off

-without any peril being encountered by

-the unconscious Hammersley&mdash;unconscious at

-least of the enmity his presence was inspiring.

-However, it was not so the second; and

-Finella and her fair friends agreed that if he

-looked so well and handsome in his heather-coloured

-knickerbocker shooting-dress, with

-ribbed stockings of Alloa yarn, his gun under

-his arm, and shot-belt over his shoulder, how

-gallant must he look when in full uniform.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the field the vicinity of Shafto was

-avoided as much as possible, as he shot wildly

-indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and

-people generally on the estate he was simply

-detested for the severity of his manner, his

-tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness

-in every way; though at first, when he came

-to Craigengowan, they had laboured in vain,

-and vied with each other in their attempts

-to initiate him into those field-sports so dear

-to Britons generally, and to the Scots in

-particular; but when shooting grouse

-especially, the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine

-dread of him, and, when fog was on, sometimes

-refused to attend him, and he was, as

-they said among themselves, 'a new

-experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a

-midden,' said the old head-gamekeeper wrathfully,

-as he drew his bonnet over his beetling

-brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and

-tell my tale to the wind that blaws o'er

-Craigengowan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn,

-hale and hearty, was in the field with

-his central-fire gun with fine Damascus

-barrels.  Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw,

-and four others made up the party.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The morning was a lovely one, and lovely

-too was the scenery, for August is a month

-richly tinted with the last touches of summer,

-blended with the russet tones of autumn; the

-pleasant meadows are yet green, and over the

-ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the

-ocean when nearly asleep.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Apart from the joyous exhilaration of

-shooting, and that out-door exercise so dear

-to every English gentleman, Vivian

-Hammersley felt all that which comes from the

-romantic beauty of his surroundings&mdash;the

-scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which

-is a low champaign and highly cultivated

-country, studded with handsome mansions,

-and ornamented by rich plantations and

-thriving villages.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Ere long the open muirs were reached, and

-the hill-sides, the steep, purple ridges of

-which the sportsmen had to breast; and,

-keen sportsman though he was, Hammersley

-had soon to admit that grouse-shooting was

-the most fatiguing work he had yet

-encountered; but soon came the excitements of

-the first point, the first brood, and the first

-shot or two.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown

-partridges, grouse look dusky and even black,

-and they seem to hug the purple heather, but

-when one becomes accustomed to them they

-are as easy to knock over as the tame birds;

-and now the crack of the guns began to ring

-out along the hill-slopes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty

-yards apart, and twice when a bird rose

-before the latter, it was brought down

-wounded but not killed by the former.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,'

-as Shafto should not have fired, unless he

-had missed or passed it; but he only bit his

-lip and smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn

-remarked the discourtesy, and added,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto, I do wish you would take an

-example from Captain Hammersley.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'He kills his game clean&mdash;few birds

-run from him with broken wings and so

-forth.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto,

-whose mode of life in Devonshire had made

-him rather soft, and he was beginning to

-think that nerves of iron and lungs like a

-bagpipe were requisite for breasting up the

-hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley worked away silently, neither

-looking to his right nor left, feeling that

-though several elements are requisite for

-'sport,' the chief then was to kill as much

-grouse as possible in a given time, but was

-more than once irritated and discomposed by

-Shafto, and even young Kippilaw, shooting in

-a blundering way along the line even when

-the birds were not flying high; and he

-proceeded in a workmanlike way to bring

-down one bird as it approached, the next

-when it was past him, and so on.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first portion of the day the Fettercairn

-party shot to points, and then to drivers, and

-in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the

-latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he

-loathed the whole thing, and was now

-'completely blown&mdash;pumped out,' as he phrased it,

-he was not sorry when the magic word

-'lunch' was uttered; and Hammersley

-certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came

-Finella, and with her arrival&mdash;to him&mdash;the

-most delightful part of the day.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She came tooling along the sunny pathway

-that traversed the bottom of a glen, driving

-with her tightly gauntleted and deft little

-hands a pair of beautiful white ponies, which

-drew the daintiest of basket-phaetons,

-containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample

-luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for

-halting was a green oasis amid the dark

-heather, where a spring of deliciously cool

-water was bubbling up, called Finella's Well.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn,

-'please to draw your cartridges.  I was once

-nearly shot in this very place by a stupid

-fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you

-have come, Finella darling, we are all hungry

-as hawks, and thirsty too.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look

-in her coquettish hat and well-fitting jacket,

-while the drive, the occasion, and the touch

-of Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to

-alight gave her cheek an unwonted colour,

-and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and

-the soldier thought that certainly there was

-nothing in the world so pleasant to a man's

-eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You have had good sport,' said she to the

-group, while her eye rested on Hammersley,

-and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces

-on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze

-with her,' as the gentlemen thought, and had

-a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of

-greeting the members of the party was

-different, as to some she gave her hand like

-a little queen, while to others she smiled, or

-simply bowed; but provoked an angry snort

-from Shafto by expressing a hope that he

-'had not shot anyone yet.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And then he grew white as he recalled his

-angry thoughts of the preceding night.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why did you take the trouble to drive

-here?' he asked her, in a low voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Because I chose to come; and I do so

-love driving these plump darlings of ponies,'

-replied the girl, patting the sleek animals

-with her tiny, slim hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Old Grapeston would have done well

-enough; and why did you not bring one of

-the Kippilaw girls?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I

-could please you&mdash;not an easy task&mdash;I should

-have tried to bring them all, though that is

-rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto never for a moment doubted that

-she had come over to superintend the

-luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley'

-was one of the party; and in this suspicion

-perhaps he was right.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As for Hammersley, being ignorant of

-Shafto's antecedents, his present hopes, and

-those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not

-comprehend how the grandson and heir-apparent

-of a peer came to be 'such bad form&mdash;bad

-style, and all that sort of thing,' as he

-thought; and all that became rather worse

-when Shafto was under the influence of

-sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno

-administered by Mr. Grapeston.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As the sportsmen lounged on the grass,

-and the luncheon proceeded under the

-superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston,

-Finella, the presiding goddess, looked

-unusually bright and happy&mdash;a consummation

-which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and

-jealousy, came of the presence of Vivian

-Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all

-the result of another man's society&mdash;not his

-certainly, and hence he would have preferred

-that she was not light-hearted at all.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He could see that with all her <i>espieglerie</i>

-Finella found no occasion to laugh at

-Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as

-she did himself, but the attentions of

-Hammersley were delicately and seductively paid.

-Deferential and gentle at all times, to all

-women, he had always been so to Finella

-Melfort, and she was able to feel more than

-his words, looks, or manner suggested to

-others; and he imagined&mdash;nay, he was

-becoming certain&mdash;and a glow of great joy came

-with the certainty&mdash;that Finella's sweet dark

-eyes grew brighter at his approach; that a

-rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and

-there came a slight quiver into her voice

-when she replied to him,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Was it all really so?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fate was soon to decide that which he had

-been too slow or timid to decide for himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As he said one of the merest commonplaces

-to her, their eyes met.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was only one lingering glance!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But looks can say so much more than the

-voice, the eyes surpassing the lips, breaking

-or revealing what the silence of months, it

-may be years, has hidden, and leading heart

-to heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and

-just before driving off, 'do you shoot over

-this ground to-morrow?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'To a certain extent we shall&mdash;but why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!'

-said she, with a bow to all, and a merry

-glance which included most certainly Vivian

-Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed

-to darken with her departure.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,'

-said Lord Fettercairn, who knew

-by old experience that when the afternoon

-shadows, and more especially those of evening,

-begin to lengthen, the slopes of the hills are

-seen better, that the birds, too, lie better,

-and that as the air becomes more fresh and

-cool, men can shoot with greater care and

-deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But

-Hammersley, full of his own thoughts, full of

-the image of Finella and that tale-telling

-glance they had exchanged, missed nearly

-every bird, to the great exultation of Shafto,

-who made an incredible number of bad and

-clumsy jokes thereon&mdash;jokes which the young

-Englishman heard with perfect indifference

-and equanimity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the

-result of the next day's expedition, and

-certainly Hammersley did not do so either.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap14"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XIV.

-<br /><br />

-THE TWO FINELLAS.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Next day, when the grouse-shooting had

-been in progress for an hour or two, a

-mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted

-his ankle in a turnip-field, fell heavily on

-one side, and staggered up too lame to take

-further share in the sport for that day at

-least.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'When Finella comes with the lunch in

-the pony-phaeton, she will drive you home,'

-said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired

-one of the beaters to give Hammersley

-the assistance of an arm to the well,

-where the repast was to be laid out as

-before.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Shafto saw his rival limping he was

-delighted, and thought, 'This will mar his

-waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less

-delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's

-natural suggestion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next

-thought, 'to get a quiet drive with her to

-Craigengowan.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Finella's look and exclamation of

-alarm and interest were not lost upon him

-when she arrived and found Hammersley

-seated on the grass by the side of the well,

-and saw the difficulty with which he rose to

-greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded

-gun as he did so; and soft, indeed, was the

-blush of pleasure that crossed her delicate

-face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;'

-and certainly it met, secretly, with the

-entire approbation of Hammersley, who

-anticipated with delight the drive home with such

-a companion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After a time the luncheon&mdash;though skilfully

-protracted by Shafto&mdash;was over, and

-Finella and her 'patient' were together in

-the phaeton, and she, with a smile and farewell

-bow, whipped up her petted ponies, Flirt

-and Fairy, whom every day she fed with

-apples and carrots.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that

-she was in great haste to be gone; but more

-sulky would he have been had he seen, or

-known that when once an angle of the glen

-was reached where the road dipped out of

-sight, the ponies were permitted to go at

-their own pace, which ere long dwindled into

-a walk, till they passed the vast ruined castle

-of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley

-were, however, if very happy, very silent,

-though both enjoyed the drive in the bright

-sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he

-quite forgot his petty misfortune in contemplating

-the delicate profile and long drooping

-eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and

-who, with a fluttering heart, was perhaps

-expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,

-especially when he placed his hand on hers,

-in pretence of guiding the ponies, which

-broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates

-were passed; and glorious as the opportunity

-accorded him had been, Hammersley's heart,

-while burning with passionate ardour, seemed

-to have lost all courage, for he had a sincere

-dread of Lady Fettercairn, and suspected

-that her interests were naturally centred in

-Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At seven-and-twenty a man, who has

-knocked about the world, with a regiment

-especially, for some nine years or so, does

-not fall over head and ears in love like a

-rash boy, or without calculating his chances

-of general success; and poor Hammersley,

-though he did not doubt achieving it with

-Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and breakers

-ahead with her family, and his spirit was a

-proud one.  To make a declaration was to

-ruin or lose everything, for if the family were

-averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit

-their roof for ever, and Finella would be lost

-to him, for heiresses seldom elope now, save

-in novels; and he knew that in her circle the

-motives for marriage are more various and

-questionable than with other and untitled

-ranks of life.  Rank and money were the

-chief incentives of such people as the

-Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,'

-says an essayist, 'no doubt occur in the

-humbler classes, but love is more frequently

-the incentive, while with princes and

-patricians the conjugal alliance is, in nine

-instances out of ten, a mere matter of <i>expedience</i>.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Craigengowan was reached, and not a

-word of the great secret that filled his heart

-had escaped him, for which he cursed his

-own folly and timidity when the drive ended,

-and a groom took the ponies' heads.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Yet the day was not over, nor was a

-fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady Fettercairn

-and all her female quests had driven to a

-flower-show at the nearest town&mdash;even

-Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Everything in and about Craigengowan

-seemed conducive to love-talk and

-confidences.  The great and picturesque house

-itself was charming.  The old orchards

-would ere long be heavy with fruit, and were

-then a sight to see; on the terrace the

-peacocks were strutting to and fro; there were

-fancy arbours admirably adapted for flirtation,

-and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun

-and moon dial) now gay with all the flowers

-of August.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On a lounge near an open window facing

-the latter Hammersley was reclining, when

-Finella, after changing her driving dress,

-came into the drawing-room, and finely her

-costume suited her dark and piquante style

-of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk,

-profusely trimmed with filmy lace, and a

-cluster of scarlet flowers on the left shoulder

-among the lace of the collarette that encircled

-her slender neck; and Hammersley, as he

-looked at her, thought that 'beauty

-unadorned' was rather a fallacy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His undisguised expression of admiration

-as he partly rose to receive her caused her to

-colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was

-easier now; but, instead of replying, he

-said, while venturing slightly to touch her

-hand:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by

-your dear pretty name of Finella?  Not

-from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Ah, I am very unlike her!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You are certainly quite as charming!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But neither dumb nor pretending to be

-so,' said the girl, with one of her silvery little

-laughs.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to

-himself, in a low and unconsciously loving

-tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Don't you know?' she asked.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How could I know?  I know only that I

-will never forget it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of course you could not know.  The

-origin of my name is one of the oldest legends

-of the Howe of the Mearns.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Howe&mdash;that is Scotch for "hollow," I

-believe.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; "hollow" is the English for <i>howe</i>,'

-replied Finella, laughing, as she recalled a

-quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.

-'You saw the great old castle we passed in

-our drive home?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who

-lived there.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'After it fell into ruin?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; before it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then she must have lived a precious long

-time ago.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'She certainly did&mdash;some&mdash;nearly a

-thousand years ago.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss

-Melfort, what joke is this?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously;

-'you can read about it in our family history&mdash;or

-I shall read it to you in the "Book of

-Fettercairn."'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She took from a table near a handsome

-volume, which her grandfather&mdash;to please

-whom she was named Finella&mdash;had in a

-spirit of family vanity prepared for private

-circulation, and as if to connect his title with

-antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in

-ancient Scottish history, though little known

-to the Scots of the present day.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We give it from his Lordship's book

-verbatim as she read it to Vivian

-Hammersley, who&mdash;cunning rogue&mdash;was not

-indisposed with such a charming and

-sympathetic companion as Finella to make the

-most of his fall, and reclined rather luxuriously

-on the velvet lounge, while she, seated in a

-dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely

-listened, so intent was he on watching her

-sweet face, her white and perfect ears, her

-downcast eyelids with their long lashes&mdash;her

-whole self!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella)

-and of that Ilk, take their hereditary

-title from the old castle of that name, which

-stands in the Howe of the Mearns, and is

-sometimes called the Castle of Finella.  It

-is situated on an eminence, and is now

-surrounded on three sides by a morass.  It

-is enclosed within an inner and an outer wall

-of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of

-ground.  The inner is composed of vitrified

-matter, but no lime has been used in its

-construction.  The walls are a congeries of

-small stones cemented together by some

-molten matter, now harder than the stones

-themselves; and the remarkable event for

-which this castle is celebrated in history is

-the following:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant

-king (who defeated the Danes at the battle

-of Luncarty, and created on that field the

-Hays, Earls of Errol, Hereditary Constables

-of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal

-cavalry, thus originating also the noble

-families of Tweeddale and Kinnoull), was on

-the throne, his favourite residence was the

-castle of Kincardine, the ruins of which still

-remain about a mile eastward of the village

-of Fettercairn, and from thence he went

-periodically to pay his devotions at the

-shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the Scots,

-to whom the latter had been sent by Pope

-Celestine in the sixth century to oppose

-the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at

-Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold

-and precious stones in 1409 by the Bishop of

-St. Andrews.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had excited the deadly hatred

-of Finella, the Lady of Fettercairn, daughter

-of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to

-death her son, who was a traitor and had

-rebelled against him in Lochaber; and, with

-the intention of being revenged, she prepared

-at Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal

-machine,' with which to slay the king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This engine consisted of a brass statue,

-which shot out arrows when a golden apple

-was taken from its hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in

-hunting the deer, wolf, the badger and the

-boar, when she treacherously invited him to

-her castle of Fettercairn, which was then,

-as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with shady

-groves and piles of curious buildings,' of

-which there remained no vestiges when he

-wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither

-the king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle,

-white tunic, an eagle's wing in his helmet,

-and on its crest a glittering <i>clach-bhuai</i>, or

-stone of power, one of the three now in the

-Scottish regalia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dissembling her hate, she entertained the

-king very splendidly, and after dinner

-conducted him out to view the beauties of the

-place and the structure of her castle; and

-Kenneth, pleased with her beauty (which her

-raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of

-blue silk, without sleeves, a mantle of fine

-linen, fastened by a brooch of silver, and all

-her golden hair floating on her shoulders,

-accompanied her into a tower, where, in an

-upper apartment, and amid rich festooned

-arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the

-infernal machine.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She courteously and smilingly requested

-the king to take the golden apple from the

-right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by

-the strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing

-sound was heard within it as a string or cord

-gave way, and from its mouth there came

-forth two barbed arrows which mortally

-wounded him, and he fell at her feet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth

-was found by his retinue '<i>bullerand in his

-blude</i>.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the

-genuine spirit of legendary lore, to have

-obtained its name from this princess, who,

-the more readily to evade her pursuers,

-stepped from the branches of one tree to

-those of another the whole way from her

-castle to this den, which is near the sea, in

-the parish of St. Cyres, as all the country

-then was a wild forest.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Buchanan deems all this story a fable,

-though asserted by John Major and Hector

-Boece, and thinks it more probable that the

-king was slain near Fettercairn in an ambush

-prepared by Finella.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So ended the legend.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley

-had bent lower and lower over her, till the

-tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich

-dark hair, and his arm all but stole round

-her.  Finella Melfort was quite conscious of

-this close proximity, and though she did not

-shrink from it, that consciousness made her

-colour deepen and her sweet voice become unsteady.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,'

-said she, closing the book.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And to this awful legend of the dark

-ages, which only wants blue-fire, lime-light,

-and a musical accompaniment to set it off,

-you owe your name?' said he, laughingly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes&mdash;it was grandfather's whim.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is odd that you&mdash;the belle of the last

-London season, should be named after such a

-grotesque old termagant!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She looked up at him smilingly, and then,

-as their eyes met, the expression of that

-glance exchanged beside the well on the hills

-came into them again; heart spoke to heart;

-he bent his face nearer hers, and his arm

-went round her in earnest.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as

-he kissed her unresisting lips, her blushing

-face was hidden on his shoulder.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And <i>this</i> tableau was the result of the two

-days' shooting&mdash;a sudden result which neither

-Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Of how long they remained thus neither

-had any idea.  Time seemed to stand still

-with them.  Finella was only conscious of

-his hand caressing hers, which lay so willingly

-in his tender, yet firm, clasp.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt

-oblivious of all the world.  He could think

-of nothing but Finella, while the latter

-seemed scarcely capable of reflection at all

-beyond the existing thought that he loved

-her, and though the avowal was a silent and

-unuttered one, the new sense of all it admitted

-and involved, seemed to overwhelm the girl;

-her brightest day-dreams had come, and she

-nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The unwelcome sound of voices and also

-of carriage-wheels on the terrace roused

-them.  He released her hand, stole one

-more clinging kiss, and forgetful of his fall

-and all about it started with impatience to

-his feet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had

-returned from the flower-show, and to avoid

-them and all the world, for a little time yet,

-the lovers, with their hearts still beating too

-wildly to come down to commonplace, tacitly

-wandered hand in hand into the recesses of a

-conservatory, and lingered there amid the

-warm, flower-scented atmosphere and shaded

-aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finella was conscious that Vivian

-Hammersley was talking to her lovingly and

-caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he

-had never talked before, and she felt that

-she was 'Finella'&mdash;the dearest and sweetest

-name in the world to him&mdash;and no more

-Miss Melfort.

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-* * * *

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It would be difficult, and superfluous

-perhaps, to describe the emotions of these

-two during the next few days.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though now quite aware that Finella and

-Hammersley had met each other frequently

-before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy,

-though apparently undemonstrative, grew

-speedily into suspicious anger.  He felt

-intuitively that <i>his</i> presence made not the

-slightest difference to them, though he did

-not forget it; and he failed to understand

-how 'this fellow' had so quickly

-gained his subtle and familiar position with

-Finella.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It galled him to the quick to see and feel

-all this, and know that he could never please

-her as she seemed to be pleased with

-Hammersley; for her colour heightened, her eyes

-brightened, and her eyelashes drooped and

-flickered whenever he approached or

-addressed her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining

-Finella and her fortune against any discovery

-that might be made of the falsehood of his

-position, and so wrath and hatred gathered

-in his heart together.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was baffled at times by her bright

-smiles and pretty, irresistible manner, but

-nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to

-scheme again.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap15"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XV.

-<br /><br />

-AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon

-Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire home.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her father had been dull and gloomy of

-late, and had more than once laid his hand

-affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and

-said in a prayerful way that 'he hoped he

-might soon see her well married, and that she

-might never be left friendless!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would

-reply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for

-some time past.  Was it born of her father's

-forebodings, or of the presentiment about

-which she had conversed with Florian?  A

-depression hung over her&mdash;an undefinable

-dread of some great calamity about to happen.

-At night her sleep was restless and broken,

-and by day a vague fear haunted her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The evil boded was to happen soon now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With these oppressive thoughts mingled

-the memory of the tall and handsome dark-eyed

-lad she loved&mdash;it seemed so long ago,

-and she longed to hear his voice again, and

-for his breast to lay her head upon.  But

-where was Florian now?  Months had passed

-without her hearing of him, and she might

-never hear again!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Little could she have conceived the foul

-trick that Shafto had played them both in the

-matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for

-herself, she had not seen the last of that

-enterprising young gentleman.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She felt miserably that her heart was lonely

-and heavy, and that, young as she was, light

-and joy, with the absence and ruin of Florian,

-had gone out of her life.  She was alone

-always with her great sorrow, and longed

-much for tears; but as her past life had been

-a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had

-been little&mdash;if at all&mdash;given to them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One morning her father did not appear at

-breakfast as usual.  As yet undressed her

-red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke

-and caress, was floating in a great loose mass

-on her back and shoulders, and her blue eyes

-looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She had, as was her daily wont, arranged

-his letters, cut and aired the morning papers

-for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on

-the table, with a basket of delicate peaches,

-which she knew he liked, from the famous

-south wall of the garden, with green fig

-leaves round them, for Dulcie did everything

-prettily and tastefully, however trivial.  Then

-she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his

-tea, and waited.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Still he did not appear.  She knocked on

-his bedroom door, but received no answer,

-and saw, with surprise, that his boots were

-still on the mat outside.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She peeped in and called on him&mdash;'Papa,

-papa!' but there was no response.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The room was empty, and the morning sun

-streamed through the uncurtained window.

-The bed had not been slept in!  Again she

-called his name, and rushed downstairs in

-alarm and affright.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The gas was burning in his writing-room;

-the window was still closed as it had been

-overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with

-his hands and arms stretched out on the table,

-sat Llewellen Carlyon, with his head bent

-forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually

-gone to sleep over his horrid weary work.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She leaned over his chair; wound her soft

-arms round his neck and bowed grey head&mdash;her

-lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness,

-her sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as

-she laid her cheek upon it, a mortal chill

-struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What is this&mdash;papa?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was

-the sleep of death!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was disease of the heart, the doctors

-said, and he had thus passed away&mdash;died in

-harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right

-hand, and an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the

-servants to her own room&mdash;they were old and

-affectionate country folks, who had been long

-with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and

-his daughter well.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious,

-the sudden shock was so dreadful to her, and

-when she woke from it, the old curate,

-Mr. Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and

-herself, was standing near her bed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly

-and tenderly, as he passed his wrinkled hand

-over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What has happened?' she asked wildly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You fainted, Dulcie.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why&mdash;I never fainted before.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered

-an old servant, who saw the vague and

-wild inquiring expression of her eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,'

-said the curate, putting a cup of coffee and

-piece of toast before her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Something happened&mdash;something

-dreadful&mdash;what was it&mdash;oh, what was it?' asked

-Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She drank of the coffee thirstily; but

-declined the bread.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he;

-'I feared you might be unable to eat yet.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering

-and troubled look, and to become less

-wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry

-escaped her, and she said, with a calmness

-more terrible and painful than fainting or hysterics:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, I remember now&mdash;papa&mdash;poor papa&mdash;dead!

-Found dead!  Oh, my God! help

-me to bear it, or take me too&mdash;take me too!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How long ago was it&mdash;yesterday&mdash;a

-month ago, or when?  I seem&mdash;I feel as if

-I had grown quite old, yet you all look just

-the same&mdash;just the same; how is this?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes,

-'your dire calamity happened but a short time

-ago&mdash;little more than an hour since.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her response was a deep and heavy sob,

-that seemed to come from her overcharged

-heart rather than her slender throat, and

-which was the result of the unnatural tension

-of her mind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Come to my house with me,' said the

-kind old curate; but Dulcie shook her head.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I

-wish to be with him, and alone.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake

-in grief to avoid contact with the world.

-The mind only gets sadder and deeper into

-its gloom of melancholy.  If you could but

-sleep, child, a little.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Sleep&mdash;I feel as if I had been asleep for

-years; and it was this morning, you tell

-me&mdash;only this morning I had my arms round

-his neck&mdash;dead&mdash;my darling papa dead!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She started to her feet as if to go where

-the body lay under the now useless hands of

-the doctor, but would have fallen had she not

-clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who

-upheld and restrained her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The awful thought of her future loneliness

-now that she had thus suddenly lost her

-father, as she had not another relation in the

-world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and

-deprived her of the power of taking food or

-obtaining sleep.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In vain her old servants, who had known

-her from infancy, coaxed her to attempt

-both, but sleep would not come, and the food

-remained untasted before her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'A little water,' she would say; 'give me

-a little water, for thirst parches me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All that passed subsequently seemed like

-one long and terrible dream to Dulcie.  She

-was alone in the world, and when her father

-was laid in his last home at Revelstoke, within

-sound of the tumbling waves, in addition to

-being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless,

-for her father had nothing to leave her

-but the old furniture of the house they had

-inhabited.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-That was sold, and she was to remain with

-the family of the curate till some situation

-could be procured for her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She had long since ceased to expect any

-letter from or tidings of Florian.  She began

-to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of

-his new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well,

-it was the way of the world.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Never would she forget the day she quitted

-her old home.  Her father's hat, his coat and

-cane were in the hall; all that he had used and

-that belonged to him were still there, to bring

-his presence before her with fresh poignancy,

-and to impress upon her that she was fatherless,

-all but friendless, and an orphan.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The superstitious people about Revelstoke

-now remembered that in Lawyer Carlyon's

-garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time

-appeared on more than one of his apple-trees,

-a certain sign of coming death to one of his

-household.  But who can tell in this

-ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One evening&mdash;she never forgot it&mdash;she had

-been visiting her father's grave, and was

-slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground,

-when a man like a soldier approached her

-in haste.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his

-name, but it died away on her bloodless lips.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap16"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XVI.

-<br /><br />

-''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-A poet says:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'Not by appointment do we meet delight<br />

-  And joy: they need not our expectancy.<br />

-  But round some corner in the streets of life,<br />

-  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-Florian it was who stood before her, but

-though he gazed at her earnestly, wistfully,

-and with great pity in his tender eyes as he

-surveyed her pale face and deep mourning,

-he made no attempt to take the hands she

-yearningly extended towards him.  She saw

-that he was in the uniform of a private soldier,

-over which he wore a light dust-coat as a sort

-of disguise, but there was no mistaking his

-glengarry&mdash;that head-dress which is odious

-and absurd for English and Irish regiments,

-and which in his instance bore a brass

-badge&mdash;the sphinx, for Egypt.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon

-the expression of his eye grew doubtful and

-cloudy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing

-voice, in which something of upbraiding

-blended with tones of surprise and grief; and

-yet the fact of his presence seemed so unreal

-that she lingered for a moment before she

-flung herself into his arms, and was clasped

-to his breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of

-this dress?' she asked, lifting her face and

-surveying him again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It means that I am a soldier&mdash;like him

-whose son I thought myself&mdash;a soldier of the

-Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with

-some bitterness of tone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!'

-said Dulcie wringing her interlaced fingers.

-'Could not Shafto&mdash;your cousin&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto cast me off&mdash;seemed as if he could

-not get rid of me too soon.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How cruel, when he might have done so

-much for you, to use you so!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would

-not stoop to seek favours even from him, and

-our paths in life will never cross each other

-again; but a time may come&mdash;I know not

-when&mdash;in which I may seek forgiveness of

-enemies as well as friends&mdash;the bad and the

-good together&mdash;for a soldier's life is one of

-peril.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of horror&mdash;to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping

-freely on his breast.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why

-did you cast me off in my utter adversity and

-return to me my locket?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie looked up in astonishment.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What <i>do</i> you mean, Florian&mdash;have you

-lost your senses?' she asked in sore perplexity.

-'Where have you come from last?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice

-of your terrible loss, and resolved to see, even

-if I could not speak with you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And you came&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'To see you, my lost darling, once again.

-Oh, Dulcie, I thought I should die if I left

-England and sailed for Africa without doing

-so.  I got a day's leave and am here.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But why have you done this?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This&mdash;what?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Soldiering!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I

-do?&mdash;besides, I thought you had cast me off

-when you sent me back this locket,' he added,

-producing the gift referred to.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That locket was stolen from me on the

-night you left Revelstoke&mdash;literally wrenched

-from my neck, as I told you in my letter&mdash;the

-letter you never answered.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I received no letter, Dulcie&mdash;but your

-locket was taken from you by whom?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The double villain!  He must have intercepted

-that letter, and utilised the envelope

-with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,

-and effect a breach between us.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie,

-and now I almost wish you had.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is little use to remember me now&mdash;I

-am so poor and hopeless.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'After all,' said she, taking his face between

-her hands caressingly, 'what does poverty

-matter if we love each other still?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And you love me, Dulcie&mdash;love me yet!'

-exclaimed Florian passionately.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And shall never, never cease to do so.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But I am so much beneath you now in

-position, Dulcie&mdash;and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;' his voice

-broke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What, darling?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'May never rise.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you

-because you were unfortunate?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No; but you are more than a woman,

-Dulcie&mdash;you are a golden-haired angel!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow

-your cheeks are!  You have suffered&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Much since last we parted here in dear

-old Devonshire.  But Shafto's villainy

-surpasses all I could have imagined!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And where is Shafto now?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I

-am glad that we have unravelled that which

-was to me a source of sorrow and dismay&mdash;the

-returned locket.  So you cannot take

-back your heart, Dulcie, nor give me mine?'

-said Florian.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied,

-sweetly and simply.  'Though poor, we are

-all the world to each other now.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day

-existence is, there is&mdash;even in these

-railway times&mdash;much of strange and painful

-romance woven up with many a life; and

-so it seems to be with mine&mdash;with ours,

-Dulcie.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you

-were so!' exclaimed the girl, as a great pity

-filled her heart, when she thought of her

-lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes,

-and the humble and most perilous course that

-was before him in South Africa, where the

-clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too,

-am poor, Florian&mdash;very poor; dear papa died

-involved, leaving me penniless, and I must

-cast about to earn my own bread.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'This is horrible&mdash;how shall I endure it?'

-said he fiercely, while regarding her with a

-loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What would you have done if you had not

-met me by chance here?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Loafed about till the last moment, and

-then done something desperate.  I <i>would</i> have

-seen you, and after that&mdash;the Deluge!  In

-two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added,

-casting a glance at the old church of

-Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our

-parents lie, Dulcie&mdash;yours at least, and those

-that I, till lately, thought were mine.  There

-is something very strange and mysterious in

-this change of relationship and position

-between Shafto and myself.  I cannot understand

-it.  Why was I misled all my life by

-one who loved me so well?  How often have

-I stood with the Major by a gravestone

-yonder inscribed with the name of Flora

-MacIan and heard him repeat while looking

-at it&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'A thousand would call the spot dreary<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where thou takest thy long repose;<br />

-  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the frame that suffering knows.<br />

-  I never rejoiced more sincerely<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Than at thy funeral hour,<br />

-  Assured that the one I loved dearly<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was beyond affliction's power!<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Why did he quote all this to me, and tell

-me never to forget that spot, or who was

-buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt,

-and not my mother?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian felt keenly for the position of

-Dulcie Carlyon, and the perils and mortifications

-that might beset her path now; but

-he was too young, too healthy and full of

-animal life and spirits, to be altogether

-weighed down by the thought of his humble

-position and all that was before him; and

-now that he had seen her again, restored to

-her bosom the locket, and that he knew she

-was true to him, and had never for a moment

-wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to

-become suddenly full of new impulses and

-hopes for him, and he thought prayerfully

-that all might yet be well for them both.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But when?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To Dulcie there seemed something noble

-in the hopeful spirit that, under her influence,

-animated her grave lover now.  He seemed

-to become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap

-what might, she felt he would ever be true

-to her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He seemed brave and tender and true&mdash;'tender

-and true' as a Douglas of old, and

-Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it

-would be to have such a handsome young husband

-as he to take care of her always, and see

-that all she did was right and proper and wise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A long embrace, and he was gone to catch

-the inexorable train.  She was again alone,

-and for the first time she perceived that the

-sun had set, that the waves looked black as

-they rounded Revelstoke promontory, and

-that all the landscape had grown dark,

-desolate, and dreary.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-What a hopeless future seemed to stretch

-before these two creatures, so young and so

-loving!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian was gone&mdash;gone to serve as a

-private soldier on the burning coast of Africa.

-It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to

-think of.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Every morning and evening I shall pray

-for you, Florian,' wailed the girl in her heart;

-'pray that you may be happy, good, and

-rich, and&mdash;and that we shall yet meet in

-heaven if we never meet on earth.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On the second morning after this separation,

-when Dulcie was pillowed in sleep, and

-the rising sun was shining brightly on the

-waves that rolled in Cawsand Bay and

-danced over the Mewstone, a great white

-'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under

-sail and steam, with the blue-peter flying at

-its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded

-with red coats, all waving their caps and

-taking a farewell look at Old England&mdash;the

-last look it proved to many&mdash;and, led by Bob

-Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of

-the Warwickshire, hundreds of voices joined

-chorusing:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Merrily, my lads, so ho!<br />

-  They may talk of a life at sea,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But a life on the land<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With sword in hand<br />

-  Is the life, my lads, for me!'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-But there was one young soldier whose

-voice failed him in the chorus, and whose

-eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of

-the Yealm till these and other familiar features

-of the coast melted into the widening

-Channel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie was roused to exertion from the

-stupor of grief that had come upon her by

-tidings that a situation had been found for

-her as companion&mdash;one in which she would

-have to make herself useful, amiable, and

-agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and

-wealth, to whom she would be sent by

-influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in London.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate

-was her lot now, cast to seek her bread

-among utter strangers; and if she became ill,

-delicate, or unable to work, what would become

-of her?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her separation from Florian seemed now

-greater than ever; but, as Heine has it:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'Tis but the old, old story,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yet it ever abideth new;<br />

-  And to whomsoever it cometh<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The heart it breaks in two.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie had been born and bred there,

-and all the villagers in Revelstoke loved

-and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were

-deeply interested in the future of his daughter;

-thus, on the day of her departure no one

-made any pretence of work or working.

-Heads were popping out and in of the windows

-of the village street all morning, and a

-cluster&mdash;a veritable crowd&mdash;of kindly folks

-accompanied Mr. Pentreath and the weeping

-girl to the railway station, for she wept freely

-at all this display of regard and sympathy,

-especially from the old, whom she might

-never see again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the train swept her away, and she

-lost sight of the last familiar feature of her

-native place, a strange and heavy sense of

-utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and

-but for the presence of other passengers she

-would have stooped her head upon her hot

-hands and sobbed aloud, for she thought of

-her dead parents&mdash;when did she not think of

-them now?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have

-loved and gone before us can see afar off

-those they have left, surely the mother who

-had passed from earth might tremble now

-for her child, standing so terribly alone in the

-midst of a seething sea of danger and temptations?'

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap17"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XVII.

-<br /><br />

-AT CRAIGENGOWAN.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-With the new understanding&mdash;the tacit

-engagement that existed between herself and

-Vivian Hammersley&mdash;Finella writhed with

-annoyance when privately and pointedly

-spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'

-Shafto's attentions and hopes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn,

-'I don't see why I may not marry

-whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl

-who has nothing in the world.  Indeed, in

-that case I am pretty sure that neither you

-nor cousin Shafto would want me.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn,

-when reporting this plain reply to

-Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not

-take her to London again, yet awhile.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You are right,' replied that somewhat

-grim matron; 'and when once this Captain

-Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat

-too <i>èpris</i> with her, is gone, you can easily

-find some pretext for remaining at Craigengowan;

-or shall I have her with me?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn,

-who knew that the Drumshoddy <i>mènage</i> did

-not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I

-think she is better here&mdash;propinquity and all

-that sort of thing may be productive of good.

-I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made

-up, and, as I said before, she must settle

-soon.  We can't have twenty thousand a year

-slipping out of the family.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finella thought little of their wishes or

-those of Shafto.  She thought only of that

-passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,

-where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips

-were pressed to hers; of the close throb of

-heart to heart, and that the great secret of

-her young girl's life was his now and hers no

-longer, but aware of the opposition and

-antagonism he would be sure to encounter just

-then, she urged upon him a caution and a

-secrecy of the engagement which his proud

-spirit somewhat resented.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He thought it scarcely honourable to take

-advantage of Lord Fettercairn's hospitality,

-and gain the love of Finella without his

-permission; but as both knew that would

-never be accorded&mdash;that to ask for it would

-cut short his visit, and as he was so soon

-going on distant service, with Finella he

-agreed that their engagement should be kept

-a secret till his return.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And to blind the eyes of the watchful or

-suspicious he actually found himself flirting

-with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young

-ladies who thought they spoke the purest

-English, though it was with that accent which

-Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of

-Edinburgh;' and, perceiving this, Lady

-Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and

-Finella was excessively amused.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Not so the astute Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is all a d&mdash;&mdash;d game!' muttered that

-young gentleman; 'a red herring drawn

-across the scent.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?'

-asked Finella one evening, when she and her

-lover found themselves alone for a few

-minutes, during which she had been

-contemplating his dark face in silence.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My leave of absence is running out so

-fast&mdash;by Jove, faster than ever apparently

-now!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl

-softly and after a pause, her dark eyes

-darkening and seeming to become more

-intense.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'No,' he replied, with hesitation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Tell me, then&mdash;what is the other?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You know how I love you&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And I&mdash;you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But in one sense my love is so liable to

-misconstruction&mdash;so hopeless of proof.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Hopeless, Vivian&mdash;after all I have

-admitted?' she asked reproachfully.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I mean because I am almost penniless as

-compared to you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What does that matter?  Surely I have

-enough for two,' said she, laughing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And I fear the bitter opposition of your

-family.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the

-independent little beauty.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have heard a rumour that one of the

-Melforts who made a pure love-marriage was

-cut off root and branch.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I

-was born.  Well&mdash;they can't cut <i>me</i> off.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They will never consent; and when I am

-far away, as I soon shall be, if their evil

-influence&mdash;&mdash;'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!'

-exclaimed the girl, her dark eyes sparkling

-through their unshed tears.  'Think not of

-their influencing me, for a moment.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thank you a thousand times for the

-assurance, my love.  It was vile of me to

-think of such things.  I have a sure conviction

-that your cousin Shafto dislikes me most

-certainly,' said Hammersley, after a pause.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't doubt it,' said she.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They mean you for him.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'They&mdash;who?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Your grandparents.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I know they do&mdash;but don't tease me by

-speaking of a subject so distasteful,' exclaimed

-Finella, making a pretty moue expression of

-disdain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on

-her hair, and his lips quickly found their way

-to hers, after they had been pressed on her

-snow-white eyelids.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,'

-he exclaimed passionately.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in

-that style of iteration of which lovers never

-grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,

-which it was a pity the gathering gloom

-prevented him from seeing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As they walked slowly towards the house,

-she quickly withdrew her hands, which were

-clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto

-approached them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt

-act, and drew his own conclusions therefrom,

-and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned

-abruptly away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'So that is the amiable youth for whom

-they design you,' said he in a whisper.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Did I not say you were not to speak of

-him?  To tell you the truth, I am at times

-somewhat afraid of him.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My darling&mdash;I must give you an amulet&mdash;a

-charm against his evil influence,' said

-Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring

-on her wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What is this&mdash;oh, Vivian! actually a

-wedding-ring&mdash;but I cannot wear, though I

-may keep it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Then wear this until you can, when I

-return, darling,' said he, as he slipped a

-gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and

-stooping, kissed it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl

-happily.  'Well, Vivian, none other than the

-hoop you have now given me shall be my

-wedding-ring!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this

-she would have had good reason to fear that

-Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping

-away from the Craigengowan family, all the

-more so that the scene of this tender

-interview was a spot below the mansion-house,

-said to be traditionally fatal to the Melforts

-of Fettercairn, the Howe of Craigengowan&mdash;for

-there a terrible adventure occurred to the

-first Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of

-whom the men of the Mearns were wont to

-say he had not only sold his country to her

-enemies, but that he had also sold his soul to

-the evil one.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It chanced that in the gloaming of the

-28th of April, 1708, the first anniversary of

-that day on which the Scottish Parliament

-dissolved to meet no more, he was walking

-in a place which he had bought with his

-Union bribe&mdash;the Howe of Craigengowan,

-then a secluded dell, overshadowed by great

-alders and whin bushes&mdash;when he saw at the

-opposite end the figure of a man approaching

-pace for pace with himself, and his outline

-was distinctly seen against the red flush of

-the western sky.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As they neared each other slowly, a strange

-emotion of superstitious awe stole into the

-hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong

-was this that he paused for a minute, and

-rested on his cane.  The stranger did

-precisely the same.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The peer&mdash;the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited

-Estates&mdash;'pulled himself together,'

-and put his left hand jauntily into the silver

-hilt of his sword&mdash;a motion imitated exactly,

-and to all appearance mockingly, by the

-other, whose gait, bearing, and costume&mdash;a

-square-skirted crimson coat, a long-flapped

-white vest, black breeches and stockings

-rolled over the knee, and a Ramillie wig&mdash;were

-all the same in cut and colour as his

-own!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert

-that he would never be able to describe the

-undefinable, the strange and awful sensation

-that crept over him when, as they neared

-each other, pace by pace, he saw in the

-other's visage the features of himself

-reproduced, as if he had been looking into a

-mirror.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A cold horror ran through every vein.

-He knew and felt that his own features were

-pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and

-dismay, while he could see that those of his

-dreadful counterpart were radiant with spite

-and triumphant malice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Himself seemed to look upon himself&mdash;the

-same in face, figure, dress; every

-detail was the same, save that the other

-clutched a canvas bag, inscribed '£500'

-the price of the Union vote (or, as some

-said, the price of his soul)&mdash;on seeing which

-my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in an agony

-of terror, and fell prone on his face&mdash;a

-fiendish yell and laugh from the other making

-all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-How long he lay there he knew not precisely;

-but when he opened his eyes the pale

-April moon was shining down the Howe,

-producing weird and eerie shadows, the alder

-and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,

-and the window lights were shining redly in

-the tall and sombre mass of Craigengowan,

-the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood

-up against the starry sky.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He never quite recovered the shock, but

-died some years after; and even now on

-dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak,

-toads crawl, and the clock at Craigengowan

-strikes twelve, something strange&mdash;no one

-can exactly say what&mdash;is to be seen in the

-Howe, even within sound of the railway

-engine.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But to resume our own story:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though a day for parting&mdash;for a separation

-involving distance, time, and no small

-danger to one&mdash;was inexorably approaching,

-Finella was very happy just then, with a

-happiness she had never known before, and

-with a completeness that made life&mdash;even to

-her who had known London for a brilliant

-season&mdash;seem radiant.  She had been joyous

-like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before

-the renewal and fuller development of her

-intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she

-was infinitely more joyous and content now.

-''Twas but the old, old story' of a girl's love,

-and in all her sentiments and all her hopes

-for the future Vivian shared.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The beautiful dreams of a dual life had

-been partly&mdash;if not fully&mdash;realised through

-him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a

-perfect hero: though he was only a smart

-linesman, a handsome young fellow like a

-thousand others, yet he possessed every

-quality to render a girl happy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite

-'cut the ground from under his feet' with

-Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in

-consequence, and being a master in cunning

-and finesse, wonderfully so for his years, he

-resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to

-Craigengowan cut short at all hazards, and

-he was not long in putting his scheme in

-operation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The lovers thus were not quite unconscious

-of being watched by eyes that were quickened

-by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,

-they were very, very happy&mdash;in Elysium, in

-fact.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finding that Hammersley had suddenly

-become averse to gambling, after a long day

-among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure

-him into play one evening in the smoke-room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto

-was remarkably sharp at cards, having become

-somewhat efficient after years of almost

-nightly play in the bar-room of the Torrington

-Arms at Revelstoke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto's manner on this evening became

-almost insulting, and he taunted him with

-'taking deuced good care of such money as

-he had.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know

-that you are rather&mdash;well&mdash;ah&mdash;rude?' said

-Hammersley, removing his cigar for a

-moment and staring at the speaker.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Perhaps you had better make that your

-way,' said Hammersley, his brown cheek

-reddening as he indicated the room-door with

-his cigar.  Then suddenly remembering that

-he must preserve certain amenities, and as

-guest&mdash;especially one circumstanced as he was

-secretly&mdash;he pushed his cigar-case towards

-Shafto, saying&mdash;'Try one of these&mdash;they are

-Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At last, piqued by the manner of the latter,

-and having been lured into drinking a little

-more brandy and soda than was good for him

-after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman

-sat down to play, and though he did so

-carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while

-not caring to win, he won greatly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a

-very considerable sum had passed into his

-hands, and, handsome though Shafto's

-quarterly allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid

-duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could not help the

-lengthening of his visage, and the growing

-pallor of it, while his shifty eyes rolled about

-in his anxiety and anger; and Lord Fettercairn

-and young Kippilaw, who were present,

-looked on&mdash;the former with some annoyance,

-and the latter with amused interest.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Hey&mdash;what the deuce is this?  Captain

-Hammersley, you have dropped a card.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And he picked one up from that officer's

-side, and laid it on the table.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have

-<i>already</i> played that card!' exclaimed Shafto,

-with fierce triumph.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Whose, then?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How the devil should I know?' asked

-Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Your luck has been marvellous, but not

-so much so when we know that you play with

-double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his

-cards and starting from the table, as the other

-did, now pallid with just rage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the

-officer, in a hoarse tone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful

-fact speaks for itself; and I think you have

-been quite long enough among us in

-Craigengowan,' he added, coarsely.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Vivian Hammersley was pale as death,

-and speechless with rage.  He thought first

-of Finella and then of his own injured

-honour; and we know not what turn this

-episode might have taken had not Lord

-Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been

-quietly looking on from a corner, said gravely,

-sharply, and even with pain, as he started

-forward:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Shafto!  I saw you drop <i>that card</i>, where

-Mr. Kippilaw picked it up&mdash;drop it, whether

-purposely or not I do not say&mdash;but drop it

-you did.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Impossible, sir!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'It is <i>not</i> impossible,' said the peer, irately;

-'and I am not blind or liable to make

-mistakes; and you too manifestly did so;

-whence this foul accusation of a guest in

-my own house&mdash;a gentleman to whom

-you owe a humble and most complete

-apology.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled

-spite at the new and sudden turn his scheme

-had taken, and at being circumvented in his

-own villainy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I

-thank you!' said Hammersley, drawing himself

-up proudly, looking greatly relieved in

-mind, and, turning next to Shafto, evidently

-waited for the suggested apology.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But in that he was disappointed, as the

-'heir' of Fettercairn turned abruptly on his

-heel and left the room, leaving his lordship

-to make the <i>amende</i>, which he did in very

-graceful terms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As it was impossible now for both to remain

-longer under the same roof after a fracas of

-this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to

-take his departure for the south by a morning

-train; but Lord Fettercairn, who, with all his

-selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the

-episode, and by several other ugly matters

-connected with his newly found 'grandson,'

-would by no means permit of that

-movement; and in this spirit of hospitality even

-Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him to

-remain and finish his visit, as first intended,

-while Shafto, in a gust of baffled rage and

-resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella

-and of the domestics, betook himself to

-Edinburgh, thus for a time leaving his rival more

-than ever in full possession of the field.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Whether she is influenced by Captain

-Hammersley I cannot say,' were the parting

-words of Lady Fettercairn to this young

-hopeful; 'but you seem by this last untoward

-affair to have lost even her friendship, and it

-will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her

-money should be lost to you too.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear

-grandmother' that it would be a pity

-indeed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As a gentleman and man with a keen sense

-of honour, Hammersley disliked exceedingly

-the secrecy of the engagement he had made

-with Finella, and felt himself actually colour

-more than once when Lord Fettercairn

-addressed him; but his compunctions about it

-grew less when he thought of the awful

-escape he had made from a perilous accusation,

-that might have 'smashed' him in the

-Service, and of the trickery of which Shafto

-was capable&mdash;a trickery of which he had not

-yet seen the end.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap18"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XVIII.

-<br /><br />

-AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The evening of the 10th January was closing

-in, and the blood-red African sun, through a

-blended haze of gold and pale green, red and

-fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous

-crimson globe at the horizon, tinging with

-the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad

-waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards

-Rorke's Drift.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-There a picquet of the Centre or Second

-column of infantry (of the army then

-advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard

-Glyn of the 24th Regiment, was posted for

-the night.  The main body of the picquet,

-under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart

-young officer, was bivouacked among some

-mealies at a little distance from the bank of

-the river, along the margin of which his

-advanced sentinels were posted at proper

-distances apart, and there each man stood

-motionless as a statue, in his red tunic and

-white tropical helmet, with his rifle at the

-'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that

-quarter in which the Zulu army was supposed

-to be hovering.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-To reach the Buffalo River the various

-columns of Lord Chelmsford's army could

-not march by regular roads, as no such thing

-exists in Zululand, and the sole guides of our

-officers in selecting the line of advance

-through these savage regions were the

-grass-covered ruts left by the waggon-wheels of

-some occasional trader or sportsman in past

-times.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As the column had been halted for the

-night, at a considerable distance in rear of

-the outlying picquet, the men of the latter

-had their provisions with them ready cooked,

-and were now having their supper in a grassy

-donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was

-their table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being

-more luxurious than the rest, had spread

-thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the <i>Times</i>;

-but the appetites of all were good, and their

-temperament cheery and hearty.  Their rifles

-were piled, and they brewed their coffee over

-a blazing fire, the flame of which glowed on

-their sun-burned and beardless young faces,

-and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own

-fire, jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed

-great mouthfuls of their favourite liquor

-'scoff.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend

-closely to his own duties, and the moment

-the evening meal was over, he desired the

-sergeant of the picquet to 'go round the

-advanced sentries.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sergeant, a young and slender man,

-and who was no other than Florian, touched

-the barrel of his rifle and departed on his

-mission&mdash;to visit the sentinels in rotation by

-the river bank, and see that they were in

-communication with those of the picquets on

-the right and left.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The scenery around was savage and

-desolate; long feathery grass covered the

-veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features

-in it were some blue gum trees, and on a

-koppie, or little eminence, the deserted ruins

-of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump

-of eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground

-were some bustards and blue Kaffir cranes

-by the river bank.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Short service and disease had given Florian

-rapid promotion; for our soldiers, if brave,

-had no longer the power of manly endurance

-of their predecessors under the old system.

-According to General Crealock, the extreme

-youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered

-their powers for toil very small; while the

-Naval Brigade, composed of older men, had

-scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu

-campaign was a very trying one; there were

-the nightly entrenchments, the picquet duty

-amid high grass, and the absence of all

-confidence that discipline and that long mutual

-knowledge of each other give in the ranks.

-He added most emphatically that our younger

-soldiers were unfit for European campaigning;

-that half the First Division were 'sick;'

-there were always some 200 weak lads in

-hospital, 'crawling about like sick flies,' and,

-like him, every officer was dead against the

-short-service system.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The face of our young sergeant was handsome

-as ever; but it was strangely altered

-since late events had come to pass.  There

-was a haggard and worn look in the features,

-particularly in the eyes.  The latter looked

-feverish and dim&mdash;their brightness less at

-times, while a shadow seemed below them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian having, as he now deemed, no

-right to the name of Melfort, or even that of

-MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name,

-as that by which he had been known from

-infancy, lest he might make a false

-attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from,

-even if it was his&mdash;which at times he doubted!

-His regiment was the brave old 24th, or

-Second Warwickshire, which had been raised

-in the eventful year 1689 by Sir Edward

-Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of

-one of the few undoubted Saxon families in

-England, and it was afterwards commanded

-in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Second to none in the annals of war during

-the reigns of Anne and the early Georges,

-the 24th in later times served with valour at

-the first capture of the Cape of Good Hope,

-in the old Egyptian campaign, in the wars of

-Spain and India, and now they were once

-again to cover themselves with a somewhat

-clouded and desperate glory in conflict with

-the gallant Zulus.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian in his new career found himself

-occasionally among a somewhat mixed and

-rough lot&mdash;the raw, weedy soldiers of the

-new disastrous system&mdash;but there were many

-who were of a better type; and the thought

-of Dulcie Carlyon&mdash;the only friend he had in

-the world, the only human creature who loved

-him&mdash;kept him free from the temptations and

-evil habits of the former; and he strove to

-live a steady, pure, and brave life, that he

-might yet be worthy of her, and give her no

-cause to blush for him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He got through his drilling as quickly as

-he could, and soon discovered that the sooner

-a soldier takes his place in the ranks the

-better for himself.  He found that though

-many of his comrades were noisy, talkative,

-and quarrelsome, that the English soldier

-quicker than any other discovers and appreciates

-a gentleman.  His officers soon learned

-to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity

-with which he won his three chevrons, and

-Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though he

-was, he could trust Florian to go round the

-sentinels.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Each was at his post, and the attention of

-each increased as the gloom after sunset

-deepened, for none knew who or what might

-be approaching stealthily and unseen among

-the long wavy grass and mossy dongas that

-yawned amid the country in front.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill,

-whom he heard singing merrily to himself,

-'you should be mute as a fish on outpost

-duty, and keep your ears open as well as your

-eyes.  What have you got in your head,

-Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the

-author of the "Red Rag" says, we soldiers

-have not much in our heads at any time, or

-we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls

-or bullets with them.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob,

-'but I can't think what made you&mdash;a

-gentleman&mdash;enlist.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I

-suppose.  And you?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Through one I wish I never had seen?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Who was that?'

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'The handsome young girl,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With her fringe in curl,<br />

-  That worked a sewing-machine,'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-&mdash;sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian

-returned to report 'all right' to Mr. Sheldrake.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Though the actual cause of the Zulu war

-lies a little apart from our story, it may be

-necessary to mention that we invaded the

-country of Cetewayo after giving him a

-certain time, up to the 11th of January, to

-accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative

-for war, by delivering up certain of his subjects

-who had violated British territory, attacked a

-police-station, and committed many outrages,&mdash;among

-others, carrying off two women, one

-of whom they put to a barbarous death near

-the Buffalo River.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But instead of making any apology, or

-giving an indemnity, Cetewayo prepared to

-defend himself at the head of an enormous

-army of hardy Zulu warriors, all trained in a

-fashion of their own, divided into strong

-regiments, furnished with powerful shields

-of ox-hide, and armed with rifles, war clubs,

-and assegais&mdash;a name with which we are now

-so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages

-five feet in length, with the diameter of

-an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the assegai

-tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre,

-and furnished with a spear-head.  Some are

-barbed, some double-barbed, and the tang of

-the blade is fitted&mdash;when red-hot&mdash;into the

-wood, not the latter into the blade, which is

-then secured by a thong of wet hide, and

-is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his

-head with it; and it is a weapon which

-they can launch with deadly and unerring

-skill.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was

-unable to sign his own name, 'and was as

-ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,'

-and he thought no more of putting women,

-'especially young girls, to death, than Bluff

-King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all

-this was to see him presented at Osborne,

-and to become the petted and fêted exile of

-Melbury Road, Kensington.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This night by the Buffalo River was

-Florian's first experience of outpost duty,

-and he felt&mdash;though not the responsible

-party&mdash;anxious, wakeful, and weary after a

-long and toilsome day's march.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He knew enough of military matters to be

-well aware that the importance of outposts,

-especially when dealing with a wily and savage

-enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no

-force, when encamped in the field, can be

-deemed for a moment safe without them.

-Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great

-that it was pardonable to be defeated, but

-never to be surprised.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't understand all this change that

-has come over my life,' thought he, as he

-stretched himself on the bare earth near the

-picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and

-mother can see and think of me where they

-are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with

-a kind of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they

-were near me and watching over me, so they

-must see and think too.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she

-doing?  How supporting herself, as she said

-she would have to do?  Had she found

-friends, or, months ago, been trodden, with

-all her tender beauty, down in the mire of

-misfortune and adversity?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These were maddening thoughts for one

-so far away and so utterly powerless to help

-her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him

-at times more reckless of his own existence

-because it was useless to her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The air around was heavy with the dewy

-fragrance of strange and tropical plants, and

-vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their

-shadows over him as he strove to snatch the

-proverbial 'forty winks' before again going

-'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for

-they are always hourly when before an enemy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And when our weary young soldier did

-sleep, he dreamt, not of the quick-coming

-strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with

-her wealth of red golden hair, but, as the

-tender smile on his lips might have showed,

-of the time when his mother watched him in

-his little cot, with idolizing gaze, and when he,

-the now bronzed and moustached soldier, was

-a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair

-curling over his white forehead; when his

-cheeks had a rosy flush, and his tiny mouth

-a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands

-that lay outside the snow-white coverlet her

-own deft fingers had made&mdash;the two wee

-hands that held his mother's heart between

-them&mdash;the heart that had long since mouldered

-by Revelstoke Church.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And so he slept and dreamed till roused

-by the inevitable cry of 'Sentry, go!' and,

-that duty over, as he composed himself to

-sleep again, with his knapsack under his

-head for a pillow, he thought as a soldier&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet<br />

-  On any human being rose or set!'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap19"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XIX.

-<br /><br />

-ELANDSBERGEN.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Next morning when the picquet was relieved

-young Sheldrake, who paid Hammersley's

-company in absence of the latter, who was soon

-expected with a strong draft from England,

-said to Florian&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid

-mistake.  The company's money I have left

-among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond

-Elandsbergen, and I have got the Colonel's

-permission to send you back for it.  This

-is just like me&mdash;I've a head, and so has a

-pin!  The Quartermaster will lend you his

-horse, and you can have my spare revolver

-and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you

-go,' he added, proffering his case, 'and look

-sharp after yourself and the money.  There

-is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you

-are going back to.  We don't advance from

-this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of

-time to be with us ere we cross the river, if

-you start at once.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he

-saluted and went away to obtain the horse,

-the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which

-he intensely disliked, and almost doubted his

-power to carry out, as it took him rearward

-through a country of which he was ignorant,

-which was almost without roads, and where

-he would be single-handed, if not among

-savages, among those who were quite as

-bad, for in some of these districts, as in the

-Orange Free State and Boerland, there

-swarmed broken ruffians of every kind,

-many of them deserters; and, says an

-officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number

-of these undesirable specimens of our

-countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone

-that night was truly made hideous with

-their howlings, respectable persons were

-afraid to leave their houses after nightfall,

-and the report of revolvers ceased to elicit

-surprise or curiosity.  I have been in some

-of the most notorious camps and towns in

-the territories and mining districts of the

-United States, but can safely assert that I

-never felt more thankful than when I found

-my horse sufficiently rested here to continue

-my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the

-wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses

-were devoured by them; the tiger-cat and

-the aarde-wolf also.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With a knowledge of all this Florian

-loaded his revolver, looked carefully to the

-bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse,

-received a note from Mr. Sheldrake to the

-officer commanding the little fort near the

-foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp

-of No. 2 column on his solitary journey,

-steering his way by the natural features of

-the country so far as he could recall them

-after the advance of the 10th January, and

-watching carefully for the wheel tracks or

-other indications of a roadway leading in a

-westerly direction; and many of his comrades,

-including Bob Edgehill, watched him with

-interest and kindly anxiety till his white

-helmet disappeared as he descended into a

-long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's

-Drift.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The evening passed and the following day

-dawned&mdash;the important 12th&mdash;when Zululand

-was to be invaded at three points by the three

-columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance

-party detailed from Colonel Glyn's brigade

-to reconnoitre the ground in front got under

-arms and began to move off, and Sheldrake

-and others began to feel somewhat uneasy,

-for there was still no appearance of the

-absent one.

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-* * * *

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The country through which Florian rode

-was lonely, and farmhouses were few and

-many miles apart.  Its natural features were

-undulating downs covered with tall waving

-grass, furrowed by deep, reedy water-courses;

-here and there were abrupt rocky eminences,

-and dense brushwood grew in the rugged

-kloofs and ravines.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The air was delightful, and in spite of his

-thoughts the blood coursed freely through

-his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated

-by the pace at which his horse went, he could

-not help giving a loud 'Whoop!' now and

-then when a gnu, with its curved horns and

-white mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the

-upland slopes, or a baboon grinned at him

-from amid the bushes of a kloof.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Before him stretched miles of open and

-grassy veldt, and the flat-topped hills of the

-Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The

-vast stretch of plain, across which ever and

-anon swept herds of beautiful little antelopes,

-was covered with luxuriant grass, which

-seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it

-went the track, which he was always afraid of

-losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the

-veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by

-the grass were everywhere deep holes

-burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his

-horse's forelegs sank ever and anon, to the

-peril of the animal and his rider too.  Thus

-Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter

-with his reins loose, while he sat tight and

-prepared for swerving when his nag, which was a

-native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent

-hole, which they can do with wonderful sagacity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So Florian was not sorry when he left the

-veldt behind him, and after a ride of about

-thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small

-fort at the foot of Drakensberg appear in

-front with a little Union Jack fluttering on a

-flagstaff.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This was about mid-day.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Anxious to return as soon as he could rest

-his horse, he lost no time in delivering

-Sheldrake's note to the officer in command,

-and with the key of a trunk indicated

-therein among his best uniform, and amid

-girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button

-bouquets, rare pipes, and an omnium-gatherum

-of various things, the bag was found,

-with the company's money, and delivered to

-Florian, who, after a two hours' halt, set out

-on his return journey; but he had not

-proceeded many miles when he found that his

-horse was utterly failing him, and, regretting

-that he had not remained at the post for the

-night, he resolved to spend it in the little

-town of Elandsbergen, towards which he bent

-his way, leading the now halting nag by the

-bridle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely

-detached cottages studding both sides of a

-broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt

-or prairie, with fragmentary attempts at

-cultivation here and there; and how the people

-lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows

-of stunted oaks lined the street, if such it

-could be called, and through it flowed a rill of

-pure water, at which the poor nag drank

-thirstily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry,

-dignified by the title of the Royal Hotel,

-where 'civil entertainment for man and beast'

-was promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It

-was a somewhat substantial edifice of two

-storeys, built of baked brick, square in form,

-with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work,

-covered with half-bricks and with clayey

-mortar to render it impervious to the torrents

-of the South African rainy season.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In some of the windows were glass panes;

-in others sheepskin with the wool off, which,

-in consequence of extreme tension, attains a

-certain transparency.  Giving his horse to a

-Kaffir ostler, whose sole raiment was a

-waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,

-Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,'

-the proprietor of which started and changed

-colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he

-might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard,

-sedulously cultivated, and a shock head of

-hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one

-of the many deserters from our troops,

-already referred to, and, though apparently

-anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian

-of the worst kind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The room into which he ushered Florian

-was bare-walled, the furniture was of the

-plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was

-formed of cow-dung over wet clay, all

-kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it could

-be polished, a process learned from the Zulus

-in the construction of their kraals.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap

-portrait of Sir Bartle Frere, and the skull of

-an eland with its spiral horns were the only

-decorations of the apartment, and the literature

-of 'the day' was represented by three

-tattered copies of the <i>Cape Argus</i>, <i>Natal

-Mercury</i>, and the <i>Boer Volksteem</i>.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in

-person was quite as dirty as a Boer; his loose

-cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt

-with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin

-pouch and an ugly hunting-knife with a

-cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were

-stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered

-remnant of an ostrich feather.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in,

-and announced something in his own language

-to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to

-Florian, said&mdash;

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'How&mdash;what do you mean?' demanded Florian.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That your horse is dying.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Dying!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian in no small anxiety and excitement

-hurried out to the stable, in which two other

-nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor

-animal he had ridden lying among the straw

-in strong convulsions, labouring under that

-curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a

-most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly

-attacked it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The animal had looked sullen and dull all

-morning, and in the stable had been assailed

-by the distemper and its usual symptoms,

-heaving flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy

-eyes, and a projecting tongue tightly clenched

-between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions,

-and he was dead in half an hour,

-and Florian found that he would probably

-have to travel afoot for more than twenty

-miles before he could rejoin the column on

-the morrow.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Where have you come from, Sergeant?'

-asked Josh Jarrett, when they returned to the

-public room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett,

-with a portentous wink and a brightening eye.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Fellows do so every day now in these

-short-service times.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I was going to the front, when my horse

-fell lame.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The dismounted now, I think,' replied

-Florian.  'I should like to rest here for the

-night, and push on as best I can to-morrow;

-so what can I have for supper?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he

-thought a sergeant's purse would not go far

-in the way of luxuries, and then replied:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef

-and a good glass of squareface or Cape smoke,

-which you please.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The first will do, and a glass of the

-squareface, which means Hollands, I suppose.

-Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied

-Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet

-and seated himself in a large cane-bottomed

-chair.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked

-Jarrett.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thanks&mdash;well, no&mdash;I am used to it.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'As you please,' said the other surlily, and

-summoning in a loud voice a female named

-'Nan,' left the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The latter laid the table, brought in the

-frugal supper, with a case bottle of squareface,

-and, instead of leaving the room, seated

-herself near a window and entered into conversation,

-with what object Florian scarcely knew,

-but he disliked the circumstance, till he began

-to remember that she probably considered

-herself his equal.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When his hasty repast was over, taking a

-hint from a remark that he was weary, she

-withdrew, and then Florian began to consider

-the situation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was fully twenty miles from the regiment;

-a rough country, not to be traversed

-even by daylight, infested with wild animals,

-and many obnoxious things, such as

-puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between; and

-unless Jarrett would accommodate him with

-a horse, which was very unlikely (he seemed

-such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would

-have to travel the journey on foot, and begin

-betimes on the morrow as soon as dawn would

-enable him to see the track eastward.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver

-and its ammunition, reloading the six

-chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the

-company's money; and tempted, he knew

-not by what rash impulse unless it was mere

-boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by

-which the paymaster had secured the mouth

-of the bag to have a peep at the gold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He had never seen a hundred sovereigns

-before, and never before had so much money

-in his possession.  Some of the glittering

-coins fell out on the clay floor; and as he

-gathered them up a sound made him look

-round, and from the window he saw a human

-face suddenly vanish outside, thus showing

-that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been

-furtively watching him, and he strongly

-suspected it to be the woman Nan, prompted,

-perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he

-concealed the gold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was the more convinced of the lurker

-being she when, soon after, she entered, retook

-her seat by the window, through which the

-evening sun was streaming now, and began

-to address him in a light and flippant manner,

-as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior

-purposes; but his suspicions were awakened

-now, and Florian was on his guard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He perceived that she had made some

-alterations and improvements in her tawdry

-dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of

-large old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped

-like small rams' horns of real gold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She seemed to be about thirty years of

-age, and was not without personal attractions,

-though all bloom was past, and the

-expression of her face was marred by its being

-alternately leering, mocking, and&mdash;even in

-spite of herself&mdash;cruel.  Yet her eyes were

-dark and sparkling.  She wore a fringe of

-thick brown hair close down to them,

-concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth,

-if large, was handsome, but lascivious-looking,

-and Florian, whose barrack-room

-experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,'

-thought&mdash;though he was not ungallant

-enough to say so&mdash;that her absence would

-be preferable to her company, which she

-seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But

-guests were doubtless scarce in these parts,

-and the 'Royal Hotel,' Elandsbergen, had

-probably not many visitors.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She asked him innumerable questions&mdash;his

-age, country, regiment, and so forth&mdash;and all

-in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his

-hair, and once attempted to seat herself on

-his knee; but he rose and repelled her, and

-then it was that the unmistakably cruel

-expression came flashing into her eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You are too young and too handsome

-to be killed and disembowelled by the big

-Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could

-eat a boy like you.  Why don't you desert

-and go to the Diamond Fields?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?'

-she said sneeringly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I have read&mdash;I have some book-knowledge,

-you see&mdash;that when a Swiss officer

-was reproached by a French one that he

-fought for pay, and not like himself for

-honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we

-each of us fight for that which he is most in

-need of."'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't see the allusion in this instance:

-a soldier, I do my duty and obey orders.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Have a drop more of the squareface&mdash;you

-can't be so rude as to refuse a lady,'

-she continued, filling up a long glass, which

-she put to her lips, and then to those of

-Florian, who pretended to sip and then put

-the glass down.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was at a loss to understand her and

-her advances.  Vanity quite apart, he knew

-that he was a good-looking young fellow,

-and that his uniform 'set him off;' but he

-remembered the face at the window, and was

-on his guard against her in every way.

-Would she have acted thus with an officer? he

-thought; and in what relation did she

-stand to the truculent-looking landlord&mdash;wife,

-daughter, or sister?  Probably none

-of them at all.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared

-to do so, and seating herself at a rickety old

-piano, which Florian had not noticed before,

-she, while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded

-to sing a once-popular flash song, long since

-forgotten in England, and probably taken

-out by some ancient settler, generations

-ago, to the Cape Colony:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Took it into his noddle to die,<br />

-  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I think I'd know very well <i>why</i>.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief&mdash;<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not sink with the weight of my care:<br />

-  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>where</i>.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'Another kind mate should give me what fate<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Would not from the former allow;<br />

-  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I'd know very well <i>how</i>.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No judge of the conjugal lot;<br />

-  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>what</i>.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-This she sang with a skill and power that

-savoured of the music hall, and then tried

-her blandishments again to induce Florian to

-drink of the fiery squareface; but he resisted

-all her inducement to take 'just one little

-glass more.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Why was she so anxious that he should

-imbibe that treacherous spirit, which he

-would have to pay for?  And why did the

-landlord, who certainly seemed full of

-curiosity about him, leave him so entirely

-in her society?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard

-shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That is Josh,' said she impatiently;

-'bother him, what does he want now?  Josh

-is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as

-he now hoped to be rid of her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have

-one glass more, dear, before I leave you.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But he turned impatiently away, and she

-withdrew, closing a scene which caused

-Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He

-remembered to have read, that 'man destroys

-with the horns of a bull, or with paws like a

-bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or

-by embracing like a serpent.'  And he was

-in toils here unseen as yet!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The light faded out beyond the dark

-ridges of the Drakensberg, and Florian

-requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment,

-which was on the upper storey.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You may hear a roaring lot here

-by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you are a soldier,

-and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You

-will be tired, too, after your ride.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The man had now a sneaking and wicked

-look in his eyes, which avoided meeting

-those of Florian, and which the latter did

-not like, but there was no help for it then.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You will call me early if I sleep too

-long,' said Florian, as Jarrett gave him a

-candle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The hand of the latter shook as he did

-so&mdash;he had evidently been drinking heavily,

-and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot,

-and his voice thick, as he said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound

-enough,' and closed the door.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With a sigh almost of relief Florian found

-himself alone.  He set down the sputtering

-candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It

-was without a lock, and secured only by a

-latch, by which it could be opened from the

-outside as well as within.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On making this startling discovery, Florian's

-heart glowed with indignation and growing

-alarm!  He felt himself trapped!

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap20"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XX.

-<br /><br />

-BAFFLED!

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only

-furniture was a table, chair, and truckle-bed&mdash;all

-obviously of Dutch construction&mdash;and,

-unless he could find some means to secure

-his door, he resolved to remain awake till

-dawn.  The only window in the room

-overlooked the roof of the stable where the

-dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and

-shook in the night wind, and he could see

-the bright and, to him, new constellations

-glittering in the southern sky.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian contrived to secure the door by

-placing the chair on the floor as a wedge or

-barrier between it and the bedstead, on the

-mattress of which&mdash;though not very savoury

-in appearance&mdash;he cast himself, for he was

-weary, worn, and felt that there was an

-absolute necessity for husbanding his strength,

-as he knew not what might be before him, so

-he extinguished the candle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Something in the general aspect and bearing

-of the man Josh Jarrett, and in those of the

-woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and

-something, too, in his general surroundings

-and isolated situation&mdash;for the few scattered

-houses of Elandsbergen were all far

-apart&mdash;together with the memory of the prying face

-he had seen at the window, at the very

-moment he was picking up the gold, all

-served to put Florian on his guard; thus he

-lay down without undressing, and, longing

-only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the

-butt of his pistol.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For some time past he had been unused

-to the luxury of even a truckle-bed or other

-arrangements for repose than his grey

-greatcoat and ammunition blanket, with a

-knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite his

-keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep,

-for how long he knew not; but he suddenly

-started up as the sound of voices below came

-to his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar

-whereabouts rushed on him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but

-not loud&mdash;voices of persons talking in low

-and concentrated tones in the room beneath,

-separated from him only by the ill-fitting boarding

-of the floor, between the joints of which

-lines of light were visible, and one bright

-upward flake, through a hole from which a

-knot had dropped out.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could

-smash the life out of him by one blow of

-my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett,

-say.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Others responded to this, but in low,

-stealthy, and husky tones.  Certain that

-some mischief with regard to himself was on

-the <i>tapis</i>.  Florian crept softly to the orifice

-in the floor, and looked down.  Round a

-dirty and sloppy table, covered with

-drinking-vessels, pipes and tobacco-pouches, bottles

-of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh

-Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like

-fellows, with Nan among them, all drinking;

-and a vile-looking quintette they were,

-especially the woman, with her hair all

-dishevelled now, and her face inflamed by

-that maddening compound known as Cape

-smoke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'When I was ass enough to be in the

-Queen's service,' said Jarrett with a horrible

-imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and

-non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they

-said it was my own fault that I was always

-drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may,

-I've one of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll

-sarve him out for what they made me

-undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my

-purpose as well as another.  Nan, you did

-your best to screw him, but he was

-wary&mdash;infernally wary.  Blest if I don't think the

-fellow is a Scotsman after all, for all his

-English lingo.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped

-the amiable Nan; 'you should have drugged

-it, Josh.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'But then we didn't know that he had all

-this chink about him.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who

-had not yet spoken, but was prodding the

-table with a knife he had drawn from his

-belt; 'we'll give him a through ticket to the

-other world&mdash;one with the down train.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Florian felt beads of perspiration on his

-brow; he was one against five&mdash;entrapped,

-baited, done to death&mdash;and if he did not

-appear at headquarters with the fatal money,

-what would be thought of him but that he

-had deserted with it, and his name would

-be branded as that of a coward and robber.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked

-him, but it nerved him too.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Another truculent-looking fellow now came

-in, making five men in all.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'He has money galore on him&mdash;Nan saw

-the gold&mdash;money in a canvas bag.  How

-comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his

-grab, unless he stole it?' said Jarrett, in

-explanation to the new-comer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Of course he stole it&mdash;it's regimental

-money, and evidently he is deserting with

-it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like

-Jarrett, a Queen's bad bargain also; for he

-added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's short-service

-soldiers care about their chances of

-pension or promotion&mdash;that's the reason he

-has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't we

-make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife

-into him, and then burying him out in the

-veldt before daylight.  Even if he was

-traced here, who is to be accountable for a

-deserter?'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And this practical ruffian proceeded at

-once to put a finer edge and point upon his

-long bowie knife.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely

-to use it in his sleep, especially when we pin

-him by the throat.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was but one against five armed and

-reckless desperadoes; and there was the

-woman, too, whose hands were ready for

-evil work.  The stair that led to his room

-was narrow&mdash;so much so that there was but

-space for one on a step.  The lower or outer

-door he knew to be securely locked and

-bolted.  The window of his room, we have

-said, overlooked the lean-to roof of the

-stable, where he knew that two horses were

-in stall&mdash;a sure means of escape could he

-reach one; but the door, he was aware, was

-locked, and the key in possession of the

-Kaffir groom.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was maddened by the thought that his

-barbarous and obscure death would brand

-him with a double disgrace; and death is

-more than ever hard when suffered at the

-hands of cowards.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'What is the use of all this blooming

-talk?' said one, starting from the table; 'let

-us set about the job at once!'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll

-perhaps try to escape by the stable-roof, so

-while you fellows go up the stair, I go round

-to the back of the house and cut off his

-retreat.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my

-only chance lies that way.'

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He opened the window at the very

-moment that stealthy steps sounded on the

-wooden stair, and a red light streamed under

-the door, which their felon hands failed to

-force, so firmly was the chair wedged

-between it and the bed.  He slid down the

-stable-roof, and dropped safely on the ground,

-to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing

-on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him

-down, firing two chambers into his very

-teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare

-out into the open veldt, leaving the ruffian

-wallowing in his blood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He knew not and cared not in what

-direction he ran at first, as he could hear the

-oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over

-whom his youth, lightness, and activity gave

-him an advantage; but after a time red-dawn

-began to streak the eastern sky, and he

-knew that was the direction which, if he was

-spared, would take him to the bank of the

-Buffalo River.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He continued to run at a good steady

-double, saving his wind as he did so, and his

-courage and confidence rose when he found

-that he was distancing his pursuers so much

-that he could neither see nor hear anything

-of them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As he ran on he thought for a moment or

-two of the fierce gleaming eyes and glistening

-teeth of Jarrett&mdash;of the blood he had shed,

-and the life he had perhaps taken for the

-first time, remorsefully; but had he not acted

-thus, what would he have been?  A gashed

-corpse!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier&mdash;why

-such thoughts at all?  Why should I

-have mercy when these wretches would have

-had none?' and he began to regret that he

-had not fired a random shot or two through

-the room-door and knocked over some of

-them on the staircase.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A sound now struck his ear; it was the

-thud of galloping hoofs upon the veldt, and

-his heart sank as he remembered the two

-horses in the stable, where his dead nag was

-lying.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He looked back, and there, sure enough,

-in the grey dawn were two mounted men

-riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he

-could not for a moment doubt they were two

-of Jarrett's companions in pursuit, thirsting

-with avarice and for revenge.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He made his way, stumbling wildly and

-breathlessly down a wooded ravine to elude

-their sight; on and on he strove till a vine

-root caught his foot: his hands outstretched

-beat the air for a moment, and then he fell

-headlong forward and downward into a

-donga full of brushwood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For a moment he had a sense of strange

-palms, and giant cacti, and of great plants

-with long spiky leaves being about him, and

-then he became unconscious as he lay there

-stunned and bleeding profusely from a wound

-in his forehead, which had come in contact

-with a stone.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-END OF VOL. I.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t4">

-BILLING &amp; SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

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+
+</head>
+
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 68293 ***</div>
+
+<h1>
+<br /><br />
+  DULCIE CARLYON.<br />
+</h1>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+  A Novel.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  BY<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+  JAMES GRANT,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  IN THREE VOLUMES.<br />
+<br />
+  VOL. I.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  LONDON:<br />
+  WARD AND DOWNEY,<br />
+  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br />
+<br />
+  1886.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+  [<i>All Rights Reserved.</i>]<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+In Loving Memory
+<br />
+OF
+<br />
+MY ELDEST SON,
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<i>Captain Cheshire Regiment,</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+I INSCRIBE
+<br />
+THIS MILITARY STORY.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+I. <a href="#chap01">IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+II. <a href="#chap02">WEDDED</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+III. <a href="#chap03">THE SPURNED OFFER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IV. <a href="#chap04">REVELSTOKE COTTAGE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+V. <a href="#chap05">DULCIE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VI. <a href="#chap06">THE SECRET PACKET</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VII. <a href="#chap07">A FAREWELL</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VIII. <a href="#chap08">THE SILVER LOCKET</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IX. <a href="#chap09">MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+X. <a href="#chap10">ALONE IN THE WORLD</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XI. <a href="#chap11">SHAFTO IN CLOVER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XII. <a href="#chap12">VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIII. <a href="#chap13">AMONG THE GROUSE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIV. <a href="#chap14">THE TWO FINELLAS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XV. <a href="#chap15">AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVI. <a href="#chap16">''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVII. <a href="#chap17">AT CRAIGENGOWAN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVIII. <a href="#chap18">AT THE BUFFALO RIVER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIX. <a href="#chap19">ELANDSBERGEN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XX. <a href="#chap20">BAFFLED!</a>
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap01"></a></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+DULCIE CARLYON.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br /><br />
+IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and
+you know how I hate scenes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall need all my self-possession to get
+over the <i>esclandre</i> this affair may cause,'
+exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, life is made up of getting over
+things,' responded her husband.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But not things so disgraceful as this,
+Fettercairn!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is this son of yours in his senses?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is that loves? it has been asked,'
+said the culprit referred to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A marriage between you and a penniless
+girl in her rank of life is not to be thought of,
+Lennard.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Her rank of life, father?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Her father's rank was superior to that of
+the first of our family, when life began with
+him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is that to you or to me now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Much to me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Too much, it would seem.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo,
+Lord Fettercairn, his wife, the Lady thereof,
+and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a
+captain of the line, home on leave from
+India, who had been somewhat timidly
+venturing to break&mdash;knowing the inordinate
+family vanity of his parents&mdash;we say to break
+the news of his love for a girl possessed of
+more beauty than this world's goods; and, in
+his excitement and indignation, his lordship's
+usual easy, indolent, and drawling way was
+forgotten now when addressing his son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and
+Strathfinella in the Mearns) was by nature a
+proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man,
+whose chief passion in life was a combined
+spirit of enormous vanity and acquisitiveness,
+which he inherited from his predecessors,
+whom he resembled in political caution and
+selfishness, and also in personal appearance,
+to judge from the portraits of three generations,
+by Sir John de Medina, Aikman, and
+Raeburn, adorning the walls of the stately
+room in the house of Craigengowan, where
+this rather stormy interview took place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tall and thin in figure, with flat square
+shoulders and sandy-coloured hair, cold grey
+eyes, and irregular features, he was altogether
+a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited
+his slightly aquiline nose and perfect face
+from his mother, but his firm dark eyes and
+rich brown hair from a previous generation;
+and these, together with an olive complexion,
+rendered more dusky by five years' exposure
+to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very
+striking one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding
+were, as Sir Bernard Burke had recorded,
+irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a
+<i>grande dame</i> to the tips of her long slender
+fingers.  She was about forty-five years of
+age, but looked ten younger.  The upper
+part of her aristocratic face was strikingly
+handsome; but the lower, with its proud and
+firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her
+complexion was almost colourless, her hair
+of the lightest brown, like her eyebrows and
+lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as
+an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought
+with a sigh, they seemed quite as&mdash;cold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her manner was always calm, assured, and
+self-possessed.  She would smile, but that
+smile never degenerated into honest laughter,
+while her pale and impressive face was
+without a line&mdash;especially on her forehead&mdash;that
+seemed to indicate either thought or
+reflection, and certainly she had never known
+care or sorrow or even annoyance until
+now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the
+young man, breaking an ominous silence, with
+reference to the object of his love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,'
+exclaimed Lady Fettercairn, cresting up her
+handsome head haughtily, and a whole
+volume of intense pride and hauteur was
+centred in the last word she spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls
+herself?' asked his father in a similar tone;
+'but I need not ask.  You have already told
+us she is the governess in a house you have
+been recently visiting&mdash;that of Lady
+Drumshoddy&mdash;a governess, with all her beauty, poor
+and obscure.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of
+red passing under the tan of his olive cheek;
+'her father was a gallant old officer of the
+Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the
+battle of Khooshab, in Persia, and her only
+brother and support fell when leading on his
+Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The
+old captain was, as his name imports, a cadet
+of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt,
+from the grounding of the Ark to the battle
+of Culloden,' sneered his father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then his family would end soon after ours
+began,' retorted the son, becoming greatly
+ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't
+count much beyond three generations ourselves.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his
+sorest point, grew white with anger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We always suspected you of having some
+secret, Lennard,' said his mother severely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one
+says, a secret is like a hole in your coat&mdash;the
+more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar;
+does <i>she</i> teach you this style of thing?' asked
+the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened
+again with annoyance, and gave his dark
+moustache a vicious twist, but sighed and
+strove to keep his temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have found and felt it very bitter, father,
+to live under false colours,' said he gently and
+appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret from
+you both, which should be no secret at all.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We would rather not have heard this
+secret,' replied Lord Fettercairn sternly, while
+tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop
+whiskers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then would you have preferred that I
+should be deceitful to you, and false to the
+dear girl who loves and trusts me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not choose to consider <i>her</i>,'  was the
+cold reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I do, and must, now!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because we are already married&mdash;she is
+my wife,' was the steady response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother
+with one accord, as they started from their
+chairs together, and another ominous silence
+of a minute ensued.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor, lost boy&mdash;the prey of an artful
+minx!' said Lady Fettercairn, looking as if
+she would like to weep; but tears were rather
+strangers to her cold blue eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew
+her, you would not talk thus of Flora,' urged
+Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in
+our power to give love and to withhold it, easy
+indeed would our progress be through life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Love&mdash;nonsense!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Save to the two most interested, who are
+judges of it,' said Lennard.  'Surely you
+loved my father, and he you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Our case was very different,' replied Lady
+Fettercairn, in her anger actually forgetting
+herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan
+with her firm white teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How, mother dear?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In rank and wealth we were equal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard sighed, and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I little thought that you, who loved me
+so, would prove all but one of the mothers of
+Society.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his
+father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a writer says.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what the devil does he say?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That "love seems such a poor and
+contemptible thing in their eyes in comparison
+with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their
+own youth; one does, they say, when he
+outlives romance.  And I suppose bread and
+butter is better than poetry any day."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I should think so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We had other and brilliant views for you,'
+said his mother in a tone of intense
+mortification, 'but now&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Leave us and begone, and let us look
+upon your face no more,' interrupted his
+father in a voice of indescribable sternness,
+almost hoarse with passion, as he pointed to
+the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh,
+mother!'  But she averted her face, cold as a
+woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and
+sadly, as he drew himself up to the full height
+of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome
+and comely fellow he looked as he turned
+away and left the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is
+yet left to us!' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn
+earnestly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the last time in this life he ever
+heard his mother's voice, and he quitted the
+house.  On the terrace without, carefully he
+knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root,
+put it with equal care into its velvet-lined
+case, put the case into his pocket, and
+walked slowly off with a grim and resolute
+expression in his fine young face, upon which
+from that day forth his father and mother
+never looked again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet
+face of the young girl who had united her
+fortunes with his, and who was anxiously
+awaiting the result of the interview we have
+described.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sorrow, mortification, and no small
+indignation were in the heart of Lennard Melfort
+at the result of the late interview.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying
+poor Flora without their permission, but that
+they would never have accorded, even had
+they seen her; and none fairer or more
+beautiful ever came as a bride to Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look
+at the house so named&mdash;the home of his boyhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It stands at some distance from the Valley
+of the Dee (which forms the natural
+communication between the central Highlands
+and the fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or
+Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid
+luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan
+obtained from the highway only excite curiosity
+without gratifying it, but a nearer approach
+reveals its picturesque architectural features.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are the elements common to most
+northern mansions that are built in the old
+Scottish style&mdash;a multitude of conical turrets,
+steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets,
+encrusted with the monograms and armorial
+bearings of the race who were its lords when
+the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood
+and drawers of water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The turrets rise into kindred forms in the
+towers and gables, and are the gradual
+accumulation of additions made at various times
+on the original old square tower, rather than
+a part of the original design, but the effect of
+the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the old Scottish garden was an ancient
+sun and moon dial, mossy and grey, by which
+many a lover had reckoned the time in the
+days of other years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled
+and attainted Jacobite family, from whom it
+passed readily enough into the hands of the
+second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and
+unscrupulous Commissioner on the forfeited
+estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had
+now many modern comforts and appliances;
+the entrance-hall was a marble-paved apartment,
+off which the principal sitting-rooms
+opened, and now a handsome staircase led to
+the upper chambers, whilom the abode of
+barons who ate the beef and mutton their
+neighbours fed in the valley of the Dee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The grounds were extensive and beautiful,
+and Lord Fettercairn's flower gardens and
+conservatories were renowned throughout
+Angus and the Mearns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the bitter storm that existed in his own
+breast, and that which he had left in those of
+his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked
+the old house and the summer scenery to
+Lennard&mdash;the place on which he probably
+would never gaze again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a breeze that rustled the green
+leaves in the thickets, but no wind.  Beautiful
+and soft white clouds floated lazily in the
+deep blue sky, and a recent shower had
+freshened up every tree, meadow, and
+hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or
+golden by the banks of the Bervie, and the
+voice of the cushat dove came from the
+autumn woods from time to time as with a
+sigh Lennard Melfort turned his back on
+Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went,
+the pride of his family, for, though not an
+old one, by title or territory, they were as
+proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first prominent member of the family,
+Lennard Melfort, had been a Commissioner
+for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament,
+and for political services had been raised to
+the peerage by Queen Anne as Lord Fettercairn
+and Strathfinella, and was famous for
+nothing but selling his Union vote for the
+same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,
+and for having afterwards 'a rug at the
+compensation,' as the English equivalent money
+was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir
+saw half the old peerages of Scotland
+attainted, he obtained Craigengowan, and was
+one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie
+said, 'wad sell his soul to the deil for a
+crackit saxpence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the ex-Commissioner the talent&mdash;such
+as it was&mdash;of the race ended, and for three
+generations the Lords of Fettercairn had
+been neither better nor worse than peers
+of Scotland generally; that is, they were
+totally oblivious of the political interests of
+that country, and of everything but their own
+self-aggrandisement by marriage or otherwise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the
+family that proved untrue to its old instincts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I had made up my mind that he
+should marry Lady Drumshoddy's daughter&mdash;she
+has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady
+Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Married my governess&mdash;the girl MacIan!'
+snorted my Lady Drumshoddy when she
+heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why
+marry the creature?  He might love her, of
+course&mdash;all men are alike weak&mdash;but to marry
+her&mdash;oh, no!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very
+moral woman according to her standard, and
+carried her head very high.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When tidings were bruited abroad of what
+happened, and the split in the family circle at
+Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and
+indignation expressed in the servants' hall,
+the gamekeepers' lodges, and the home farm,
+for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a
+favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates;
+and Mrs. Prim, his mother's maid, actually
+shed many tears over the untoward fate he
+had brought upon himself.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br /><br />
+WEDDED.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite
+of this bitter affront to which you are
+subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love
+you, Lennard&mdash;love you so much,' she added,
+while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like
+lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I
+would die!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he
+responded, while tenderly caressing her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion,
+Lennard?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Foolish?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;or rash.  I have heard that it is
+not lucky for people to love each other so
+much as we do.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could we love each other less?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't think so,' said she simply and
+sweetly, as he laid her cheek on his breast
+with her upturned eyes gazing into his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect
+was every curve of her shapely figure, which
+was destitute of any straight line; even her
+nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.
+Her beautifully arched mouth, the scarlet
+line of her upper lip, and the full round of
+the nether one were parted in a tender
+smile, just enough to show her teeth, defied
+all criticism; her complexion was pure and
+soft, and her eyes were of the most liquid
+hazel, with almost black lashes.  Her hair
+was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a
+lady to perfection, especially by the whiteness
+and delicacy of her beautifully shaped little
+hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she walked she did so gracefully, as
+all Highland women do, and like them held
+her head poised on her slender neck so
+airily and prettily that her nurse, Madelon,
+called her 'the swan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she,
+after a pause, 'as I thought of the <i>mauvais
+quart d'heure</i> you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was a <i>mauvais</i> hour and more, darling.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And ever and anon I felt that strange
+chill, or shudder, which Nurse Madelon says
+people feel when some one crosses the place
+where their grave is to be.  How can your
+parents be so cruel to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And to you, Flora!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with
+her eyes full of unshed tears, and in a pained
+voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very
+designing girl; but in spite of that, you
+will always care for me as much as you do now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why such fears?  Ever and always&mdash;ever
+and always, my darling,' said Lennard
+Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most
+effectually for a time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, if you should ever come to regret,
+and with regret to love me less!' said she,
+in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment
+fixed on vacancy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why that boding thought, Flora?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He kissed her again as the readiest response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the sequel proved that his great love
+outlasted her own life, poor girl!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then they sat long silent, hand locked in
+hand, while the gloaming deepened round
+them, for words seem poor and feeble when
+the heart is very full.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long will they continue to despise
+me?' said Flora suddenly, while across her
+soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a
+long and gallant line of Celtic ancestors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An exclamation of bitterness&mdash;almost
+impatience, escaped Lennard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us forget them&mdash;father, mother, all!' said he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The girl looked passionately into the face
+of her lover-husband&mdash;the husband of a
+month; and never did her bright hazel eyes
+seem more tender and soft than now, with
+all the fire of love and pride sparkling in
+their depths, for her Highland spirit and
+nature revolted at the affront to which she
+was subjected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the
+poise of his close-shorn head told that he was
+a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the
+style of his light grey suit showed how
+thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to
+Flora's loving and partial eye he was
+every-way a model man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had been married just a month, we
+have said, a month that very day, and
+Lennard had brought his bride to the little
+burgh town, within a short distance of
+Craigengowan, and left her in their apartments
+while he sought with his father and mother
+the bootless interview just narrated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For three days before he had the courage
+to bring it about, they had spent the time
+together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling
+along the banks of the pretty Bervie, from
+the blue current of which ever and anon the
+bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or
+in the deep and leafy recourses of the
+adjacent woods, and climbing the rugged
+coast, against which the waves of the German
+Sea were rolling in golden foam; or ascending
+Craig David, so called from David II. of
+Scotland&mdash;a landmark from the sea for
+fifteen leagues&mdash;for both had a true and
+warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature
+in all her moods and aspects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sounds of autumn were about them
+now; the hum of insects and the song of the
+few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the
+golden broom and the sweet briar, with a
+score of other sweet and indefinable scents
+and balmy breaths.  All around them was
+scenic beauty and peace, and yet with all
+their great love for each other, their hearts
+were heavy at the prospect of their future,
+which must be a life of banishment in India,
+and to the heaviness of Lennard was added
+indignation and sorrow.  But he could
+scarcely accuse himself of having acted
+rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to
+that his family would never have consented;
+and he often thought could his mother but
+see Flora in her beauty and brightness,
+looking so charming in her smart sealskin and
+bewitching cap and feather, and long skirt of
+golden-brown silk that matched her hair and
+eyes&mdash;every way a most piquante-looking
+girl!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young though he was, and though a
+second son, Lennard Melfort had been a
+favourite with more than one Belgravian
+belle and her mamma, and there were few
+who had not something pleasant or complimentary
+to say of him since his return from
+India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and water
+parties, girls had given him the preference
+to many who seemed more eligible, had
+reserved for him dances on their programmes,
+sang for him, made unmistakable <i>œillades</i>,
+and so forth; for his handsome figure and his
+position made him very acceptable, though
+he had not the prospects of his elder brother,
+the Hon. Cosmo.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was
+regarded and valued well, and nourished
+great hopes therefrom; but this was all over
+and done with now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To her it seemed as if he had thrown his
+very life away, and that when his marriage
+with a needy governess&mdash;however beautiful
+and well born she might be&mdash;became known,
+all that charmed and charming circle in
+Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as
+a black sheep indeed; would shake their
+aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and
+Lady Fettercairn for having such a renegade
+son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora's chief attendant&mdash;a Highland woman
+who had nursed her in infancy&mdash;was comically
+vituperative and indignant at the affront put
+by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she
+called her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy,
+active, and only in her fortieth year, with
+black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion,
+a set of magnificent white teeth, and her
+manner was full of emphatic, almost violent,
+gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders,
+who seem to talk with their hands and arms
+quite as much as the tongue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native
+Gaelic, but generally in the dialect of the
+Lowlands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha
+are the Melforts o' Fettercairn, that they
+should slight you&mdash;<i>laoghe mo chri</i>?' she
+added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a
+pity it is ye canna fling at their heads the
+gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna
+yowl gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've
+begun wi' love and marriage, and a gude
+beginning mak's a gude ending.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon,
+and I have ruined my poor Lennard,' urged
+Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak'
+but a wersh breakfast,' laughed Madelon; 'but
+you're no sae puir as that comes to, my
+darling.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in
+turn.  'Yet I have sorely injured my
+husband's prospects.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo,
+but he weds only whar his weird lies; and so
+Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?
+Then what is a Lord that we should <i>lippen</i> to
+<i>him</i>?  As long as ye serve a tod ye maun
+carry his tail?  And your father's daughter
+may carry her head wi' the highest.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard Melfort now resolved neither
+verbally nor by letter to have further
+intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or
+elsewhere, but before he could make up his
+mind what to do or could betake him south,
+as he meant to quit Scotland without delay,
+on the day subsequent to the stormy interview
+Madelon announced a visitor, and on a
+salver brought in a card inscribed&mdash;'MR. KENNETH
+KIPPILAW, W.S.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br /><br />
+THE SPURNED OFFER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,'
+said Lennard, in answer to her inquiring
+glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing
+her to their visitor, who bowed with a
+critical glance and appreciative smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been telegraphed for by your
+father, Captain Melfort,' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+as they shook hands and he was motioned to
+a chair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like
+man, about forty years of age, Mr. Kenneth
+Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible
+to begin the matter in hand by any remarks
+about youthful imprudence, early marriages,
+or so forth, as he knew the pride and
+temperament of the young man before him, but
+laid down his hat, and, after some of that
+familiar weather talk which is the invariable
+prelude to any conversation over all the
+British Isles, he gently approached the object
+of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity
+and terror of her heart, never doubted was a
+separation of some kind between herself and
+Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and
+withdrew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To what am I indebted for the pleasure
+of this&mdash;a&mdash;unexpected interview?' asked
+Lennard, a little stiffly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Instructions just received from your father,
+Captain Melfort.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Straight.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Has he made up his mind to accept my
+wife as his daughter-in-law?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard's face darkened with indignation,
+and he gave his moustache an angry twist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are my father and mother determined to
+ignore the fact that she is a lady by birth?'
+asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;they know, of course, that she is a
+lady,' stammered Mr. Kippilaw, feeling his
+mission an ungracious one, 'but poor&mdash;one
+who has sunk into obscurity and dependence&mdash;pardon
+me, I but use their own identical words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is done in this instance unfortunately
+cannot be undone, Captain Melfort;
+but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in
+the matter, is willing to continue your allowance,
+and even to double it, on one condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Name it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a
+lawyer, considerably hardened, he felt the
+delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's
+dark eyes seemed to focus and pierce him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The condition&mdash;to the point!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is&mdash;that you will return to India&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted
+Lennard sharply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain,
+but never attempt to intrude Mrs. Melfort
+upon your family or their circle, and contrive,
+if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Insolent&mdash;and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed
+Lennard Melfort as he started from
+his chair and paced about the room, with his
+dark eyes flashing and the veins in his
+forehead swollen like whip-cord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The words I speak are not my own,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my
+father that I reject his bribe to insult my
+wife&mdash;for a bribe it is&mdash;with the scorn it merits.
+Not a penny of his money will I accept while
+my sword and pay, or life itself, are left me.
+Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view
+myself as their son no more.  As they
+discard me, so do I discard them; and even
+their <i>very name</i> I shall not keep&mdash;remember that!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dear me&mdash;dear me, all this is very sad!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They have thrust me from them as if I
+had been guilty of a crime&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Captain Melfort!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A crime I say&mdash;yet a day may come
+when they will repent it; and from this hour
+I swear&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw,
+entreatingly; 'take no hasty vow in your
+present temper.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I swear that to them and theirs I shall
+be&mdash;from this hour&mdash;as one in the grave!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose&mdash;which
+God forbid&mdash;that aught happened to
+your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my
+interest in the title&mdash;it may become dormant,
+extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor
+any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I
+again set foot in Craigengowan, or on the
+lands around it&mdash;no, never again, never again!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To every argument of the kind-hearted
+Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved the Fettercairn
+family and esteemed the high-spirited
+Lennard, the latter turned a deaf ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He departed in despair of softening matters
+between the rash son and indignant parents.
+To them he greatly modified the nature of
+the useless interview, but they heard of
+Lennard's determination with perfect unconcern,
+and even with a grim smile of contempt,
+never doubting that when money pressure
+came upon him they would find him at their
+mercy.  But that time never came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and
+there the affair seemed to end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to
+him were said smilingly and loftily:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The French have a little phrase, which in
+six words expresses all our experiences in life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And this phrase, my lord?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is simply&mdash;<i>tout passe, tout casse, tout
+lasse</i>&mdash;that we outlive everything in turn and in
+time&mdash;and so this matter of Lennard's pride
+will be a matter of time only.  Be assured
+we shall outlive the indignation of our
+misguided son.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But will you outlive your own?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can but hope that you will, my lord.
+Remember the hackneyed quotation from
+Pope&mdash;"To err is human, to forgive divine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The name of Lennard was never uttered
+again by his parents, nor even by his brother
+Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the
+hour for forgiveness was past; and even
+Cosmo they contrived to innoculate with
+their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of
+hostility.  Lennard's portrait was removed
+from its place of honour in the dining-hall,
+and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods,
+chattels, and mementoes he left at home were
+scattered and dispersed; even his horses were
+sold, and the saddles he had used; and the
+Fettercairn family would&mdash;could they have
+done so&mdash;have obliterated his name from the
+great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard
+Burke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Heedless of all that, the young husband
+and his dark-eyed girl-wife were all the world
+to each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After mamma followed papa to the grave,
+Lennard&mdash;for she never held up her head
+after she heard of his death at Khooshab,'
+said Flora, as she nestled her head in his
+neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life of
+hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till
+I met you, dearest.  I felt that even the love
+of some dumb animal&mdash;a dog or a horse&mdash;was
+better than the entire absence of affection
+in the narrow circle of my life.  I did so long
+for something or some one to love me
+exclusively&mdash;I felt so miserably, so utterly alone
+in the world.  Now I have you&mdash;<i>you</i> to love
+me.  But in winning you I have robbed you
+of the love of all your people.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest
+Flora.  We are now more than ever all in
+all to each other.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The money bribe, offered in such a way
+and for such a purpose, exasperated Lennard
+still more against his family, and drew many
+a tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She thought that she had wrought Lennard
+a great wrong by winning his love for herself,
+and she was now burning with impatience to
+turn her back on the shores of Britain and
+find a new home in India; and there, by staff
+or other employments and allowances, Lennard
+knew that he could gain more than the
+yearly sum his father so mortifyingly offered him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora wept much over it all, we say, and
+her appetite became impaired; but she did
+not&mdash;like the heroine of a three-volume
+novel&mdash;starve herself into a fright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But a short time before she had been a
+childish and simple maiden&mdash;one sorely tried,
+however, and crushed by evil fortune; but
+with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had
+come into her existence and awakened her
+soul, and she was a woman&mdash;innocent
+still&mdash;but yet a woman.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly
+lovely in the purity and richness of
+its verdure and varied artistic views, for the
+woods were profusely tinted with gold, russet
+brown, and red, when Lennard Melfort turned
+his back upon it and his native home for
+ever!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The birds were chirping blithly, and the
+voice of the corncraik, with
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+came on the evening breeze together.  The
+old kirk bell was tolling in the distance, and
+its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart
+of home like that of an old friend.  The river
+was rolling under its great arch of some eighty
+feet in span, the downward reflection of the
+latter in the water making a complete circle
+like a giant O.  The old castle of Halgreen,
+with its loopholed battlements of the
+fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon
+its wave-beaten eminence, and the blue smoke
+of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher village, curled
+up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded
+out in the distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora became marvellously cheerful when
+their journey fairly began, and laughingly she
+sung in Lennard's ear&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The world goes up and the world goes down,<br />
+  But <i>yesterday's</i> smile and <i>yesterday's</i> frown<br />
+  Can never come back again, sweet friend&mdash;<br />
+  Can never come back again!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Means were not forgotten to support nurse
+Madelon in her native place, where we shall
+leave her till she reappears in our narrative
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for
+India, full of love for each other and hope for
+their own lonely and unaided future, and both
+passed for ever out of the lives and apparently
+out of the memory of the family at Craigengowan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Times there were when he hoped to distinguish
+himself, so that the circle there&mdash;those
+who had renounced him&mdash;would be
+proud of him; but in seeking that distinction
+rashly, he might throw away his life, and thus
+leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy
+of a cold world and a proverbially ungrateful
+Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they could not forget home, and many
+a time and oft, where the sun-baked cantonments
+of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the
+fierce light of the Indian sun, where the
+temples of Hurdwar from their steep of marble
+steps look down upon the Ganges, or where
+the bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah,
+garlanded with fragrant jasmine, stand by the
+rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and
+baubool trees, with their golden balls loading
+the air with perfume, while the giant heron
+stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked
+in the ooze, and the Brahmin ducks floated
+overhead, Flora's sweet voice made Lennard's
+heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of
+the land they had resolved never to look
+upon again, even when that sound so stirring
+to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far
+away, the pipes of a Highland regiment,
+poured their notes on the hot sunny air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At home none seemed to care or think of
+the discarded son but the worthy lawyer
+Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a
+lad, and could not get his hard fate out of his
+mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From time to time, inspired by kindness
+and curiosity, he watched his name among the
+captains in the military lists of that thick
+compendium which no Scottish business
+establishment is ever without&mdash;'Oliver and
+Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while,
+the name of Lennard Melfort <i>disappeared</i>,
+but whether he was dead, had sold out, or
+'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the
+Signet could not discover, and he not
+unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a lost
+life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here we end that which is a species of
+prologue to our story.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br /><br />
+REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+More than twenty years had elapsed after
+the episodes we have described, and Lennard
+and Flora had found a new home, and she,
+her <i>last one</i>, more than four hundred and
+fifty miles as the crow flies from where
+Craigengowan looks down on the German
+Sea.  But none that looked on Lennard
+Melfort now would have recognised in the
+prematurely aged man the handsome young
+fellow who in ire and disgust had quitted his
+native land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In two years after he had gone eastward a
+dreadful fever, contracted in a place where
+he had volunteered on a certain duty to
+gain money for the support of his wife and
+her little Indian establishment&mdash;the Terrai of
+Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which
+lies along the great forest of the Himalayas,
+and has an evil repute even among the
+natives of the country in the wet season when
+the leaves are falling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This fever broke Lennard's health completely,
+and so changed him that his rich
+brown hair and moustache were grey at
+six-and-twenty, and ere long he looked like a
+man of twice his age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort
+of the Fusiliers?  Why, he is a veritable
+Knight of the Rueful Countenance!'
+exclaimed some old friends who saw him at
+'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a
+place of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as
+it subsequently chanced to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider,
+and near a beautiful little bay into which the
+waters of the British Channel rippled, stood
+the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied,
+as 'Major MacIan,' with his son and a
+nephew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wooded hills around it were not all
+covered with orchards, however, and the little
+road that wound round the bay ran under
+eminences that, from their aspect, might make
+a tourist think he was skirting a Swiss lake.
+Others were heath-clad and fringed at the
+base by a margin of grey rocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and
+transparent always.  Here salmon trout were
+often found, and the young men spent hours
+at its estuary angling for rock fish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray
+to be 'the sweetest object that the poet, the
+artist, or the lover of the romantic could
+desire to see,' and such a cottage was that of
+Major MacIan, the name now adopted by
+Lennard&mdash;that of Flora's father&mdash;in fulfilment
+of the vow he had made to renounce the
+name, title, and existence of his family.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Around it, and in front sloping down to
+the bay, was a beautiful garden, teeming with
+the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On
+three sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis
+work of which was covered by a woven
+clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper,
+which, in the first year of her residence there,
+Flora's pretty hands, cased in garden gloves,
+were never tired of tending; and now the
+Virginia creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils,
+emerald green in summer, russet and red in
+autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof
+and around the chimney stalks, making it, as
+Flora was wont to say exultingly, 'quite a
+love of a place!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On one hand lay the rolling waters of the
+Channel, foaming about the Mewstone Rock;
+on the other, a peep was given amid the
+coppice of the ancient church of Revelstoke,
+and here the married pair lived happily and
+alone for a brief time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Save for the advent of a ship passing in
+sight of the little bay, it was a sleepy place
+in which Lennard, now retired as a major,
+had 'pitched his tent,' as he said&mdash;the Cottage
+of Revelstoke.  Even in these railway times
+people thereabout were content with yesterday's
+news.  There was no gas to spoil the
+complexions of the young, and no water rates
+to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never
+came, in their orange-tinted envelopes, to
+startle the hearts of the feeble and the sickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No monetary transactions having taken
+place, and no correspondence being necessary,
+between Lennard and his family or their
+legal agent, Mr. Kippilaw, for more than
+twenty years now, he had quite passed away
+from their knowledge, and almost from their
+memory; and many who knew them once
+cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife
+were in the land of the living.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A son, we have said, had been born to
+them, and Lennard named the child Florian,
+after his mother (here again ignoring his own
+family), whom that event cost dear, for the
+sweet and loving Flora never recovered her
+health or strength&mdash;injured, no doubt, in
+India&mdash;but fell into a decline, and, two years
+after, passed away in the arms of Lennard
+and her old nurse, Madelon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel
+now, though an orphan nephew of Flora&mdash;the
+son of her only sister&mdash;came to reside
+with him&mdash;Shafto Gyle by name&mdash;one who
+will figure largely in our story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Would Lennard ever forget the day of her
+departure, when she sank under that wasting
+illness with which no doctor could grapple?
+Ever and always he could recall the sweet
+but pallid face, the white, wasted hands, the
+fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so
+unnaturally large when, after one harrowing
+night of pain and delirium, she became gentle
+and quiet, and lovingly told him to take a
+little rest&mdash;for old-looking he was; old, worn,
+and wasted far beyond his years&mdash;and he
+obeyed her, saying he would take a little
+turn in the garden among the roses&mdash;the
+roses her hands would tend no more&mdash;sick
+at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber
+and all it suggested, and maddened by the
+loud ticking of the watchful doctor's repeater
+as it lay on a table littered with useless
+phials; and how, ere he had been ten minutes
+in the sunny morning air, amid the perfume
+of the roses, he was wildly summoned by
+Madelon Galbraith with white cheeks and
+affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of
+death it proved to be; for it was on the
+brow of Death he pressed his passionate
+kisses, and to ears that could hear no more
+he uttered his heartrending entreaties that
+she would not leave him, or would give him
+one farewell word; and ever after would the
+perfume of roses be associated in his mind
+with that morning&mdash;the most terrible one of
+his life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beside Revelstoke Church&mdash;old, picturesque,
+and rendered comely by a wealth
+of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed
+around its hoary walls to flutter in the sea
+breeze&mdash;she was laid, and the heart of
+Lennard seemed to be buried with her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a lonely old building, spotted with
+lichens, worn by storms, and perched upon
+the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the
+salt spray comes at times to the
+burial-ground.  It is near the end of Mothcombe
+Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the
+southward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not a house is near it, the solitary hills
+and waves encompass it, and it is said that
+its smouldering tombstones would furnish
+ample matter for the 'meditations' of a
+Hervey.  So there Flora was laid, and there
+Lennard was to be laid by her side when the
+time came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her death hardened his heart more than
+ever against his own family, and he began
+almost to forget that he ever bore any other
+name than hers&mdash;his adopted one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the kindness of his heart the major, as
+the lads&mdash;his son and nephew&mdash;grew up
+together, introduced both to neighbours and
+strangers equally as his sons, but most
+unwisely, as we shall ere long have to record.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did
+he reveal his real name, or the story of the
+quarrel with his family and their work; thus
+in and about Revelstoke all three passed
+under the name of MacIan now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her
+mistress on her death-bed, and nursed her
+baby into boyhood, had now gone back to
+her native glen in the wilds of Ross.  She
+proved, Lennard found, somewhat unfitted
+for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways
+and ideas were foreign to those of the folks
+thereabouts; but she will have a prominent
+place in our story in the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But long, long Madelon wept over Florian,
+and pressed him often to her breast&mdash;'the
+baby of her bairn,' as she had called
+him&mdash;for as she had nursed him, so had she nursed
+his mother before him in the days when the
+victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents
+at Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting
+words; 'I'll see ye yet again, Florian.
+If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br /><br />
+DULCIE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+All trace of Lennard Melfort had been
+obliterated at Craigengowan, we have said.
+He was never mentioned there, and though
+his family tried to think of him as dead, they
+did not quite succeed; but the disappearance
+of his name from the Army List first excited
+a little speculation, but no inquiry, until a
+terrible event occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married
+the daughter of Lady Drumshoddy, thus
+securing her thousands, and did his best to
+console Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the
+disgrace' brought upon them by Lennard,
+and they regarded him quite as a model son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shone as Chairman at all kinds of
+county meetings; became M.P. for a cluster
+of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish
+member, mightily interested when such grand
+Imperial matters as the gravelling of Park
+Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the
+improvements at Hyde Park Corner were
+before the House, but was oblivious of all
+Scottish interests, or that such a place as
+Scotland existed.  When she wanted&mdash;like
+other parts of the empire&mdash;but never got
+them&mdash;grants for necessary purposes, the
+Hon. Cosmo was mute as a fish, or if he
+spoke it was to record his vote against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and
+with natural grief and dismay, that Cosmo
+had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking
+near Glentilt.  He had wounded a
+large stag, the captain of its herd, and
+approached rashly or incautiously when the
+infuriated animal was at bay.  It broke its
+bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great
+shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo
+was trampled under foot and gored to death
+by its horns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the
+scene where that death must have happened,
+under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel
+builds his nest and the great mountain eagle
+has his eyry, and the Tilt comes thundering
+down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never
+again would his eyes rest on such glorious
+scenes as these.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella,
+who took up her abode with her grandparents
+at Craigengowan, but no son, and
+Lennard knew that by this tragedy he was
+now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave
+a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her
+grave and made no sign.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting
+for a time much that had occurred, and how
+completely Cosmo had leagued with father
+and mother against him, his memory went
+back to the pleasant days of their happy
+boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot
+together, shared the same bedroom in Craigengowan,
+and conned their tasks from the same books.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over
+and done with long, long ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made no sign, we say, but let time pass
+by, not foreseeing the complications that were
+eventually to arise by his doing so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian, born two years after the adoption
+of Shafto Gyle in his infancy, always regarded
+and looked up to the latter as a species of
+elder brother and undoubted senior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his twentieth year Florian was really a
+handsome fellow, and if, without absurdity,
+the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a
+young man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.
+Tall in figure, hard and well developed
+in muscle, regular in features, he had clear,
+dark, honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's,
+and a dark, silky moustache.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's face was in some respects handsome
+too, but an evil one to look at, in one
+way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and
+had a way of meeting in a dark frown when
+he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes were
+shifty, and were given him, like his tongue,
+to conceal rather than express his thoughts,
+for they were sharp and cunning.  His
+nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips,
+suggestive of cruelty, while his massive jaw
+and thick neck were equally so&mdash;we must say
+almost to brutality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were rather a contrast, these two
+young men&mdash;a contrast no less great in their
+dispositions and minds than in their outward
+appearance.  They were so dissimilar&mdash;one
+being dark and the other fair&mdash;that no one
+would have taken them for brothers, as they
+were generally supposed to be, so affectionate
+was the Major to both, and both bearing his
+name in the locality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant
+reputation for jockeying his companions,
+'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats,
+marbles, and money, and for skilfully shifting
+punishments on the wrong shoulders when
+opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on
+those of the unsuspecting Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From some of his proclivities, the Major
+thought Shafto would make a good attorney,
+and so had him duly installed in the office of
+Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer,
+while for his own boy, Florian, he had higher
+hopes and aspirations, to make him, like
+himself, a soldier; but though far from idle,
+or lacking application, Florian failed, under
+the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'
+to pass, and not a few&mdash;Shafto particularly&mdash;laid
+it to the account of a certain
+damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed,
+with some truth, to occupy too much of his
+thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,'
+Florian would at once have enlisted, like so
+many others, who rush as privates for
+commissions nowadays; but his father's
+fast-failing health, his love for Dulcie Carlyon,
+and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope
+that 'something would turn up,' kept him
+hanging on day by day aimlessly at Revelstoke,
+without even the apparent future that
+had opened to Shafto when elevated to a
+high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or
+MacIan as he called himself), though he had
+a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for
+business to all appearance, cleverness, and
+strength of character, turned with greater
+pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear
+open brow and honest manly eyes bore
+nature's unmistakable impress of a truer
+nobility than ever appertained to the truculent
+and anti-national lords of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though to all appearance the best of
+friends before the world, the cousins were
+rivals; but as Florian was the successful
+lover, Shafto had a good basis for bitterness,
+if not secret hate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In common with the few neighbours who
+were in that sequestered quarter, the lawyer
+liked the Major&mdash;he was so gentle, suave,
+retiring in manner, and courteously polite.
+He liked Florian too, but deemed him idle,
+and there his liking ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took Shafto into his office at the
+Major's urgent request, as a species of
+apprentice, but he&mdash;after the aphorism of
+'Dr. Fell'&mdash;did not much affect the young man,
+though he found him sharp enough&mdash;too
+sharp at times; and, like most of the
+neighbours, he never cared to inquire into the
+precise relationship of the Major and the two
+lads, both of whom from boyhood had called
+the latter 'Papa.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited
+circle in which she moved, and a very limited
+circle it was; but she was pretty enough to
+have been the belle of a much larger orbit;
+for she was the very ideal of a sweet, bright
+English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth
+year, and the boy and girl romance in the
+lives of her and Florian had lasted since they
+were children and playmates together, and
+they seemed now to regard each other with
+'the love that is given once in a lifetime.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could I but separate these two!' muttered
+Shafto, as with eyes full of envy and evil he
+watched one of their meetings, amid the
+bushes that fringed an old quarry not far from
+Revelstoke Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the summit where he lurked there
+was a magnificent view of the sea and the
+surrounding country.  On one hand lay the
+lonely old church and all the solitary hills that
+overlook its wave-beaten promontory; on the
+other were the white-crested waves of the
+British Channel, rolling in sunshine; but
+Shafto saw only the face and figure of Dulcie
+Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of
+picturing her, in a jacket of navy blue,
+fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt with
+clinging folds of the same&mdash;a costume which
+invests an English girl with an air equally
+nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses
+always fitted her exquisitely, and her small
+head, with smart hat and feather, set
+gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a
+<i>soupçon</i> of pride in its contour and bearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like
+complexion which is so peculiarly English,
+Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with
+eyes deeply and beautifully blue,
+reddish-golden hair, a laughing mouth that some
+thought too large for perfect beauty, but it
+was fully redeemed by its vivid colour and
+faultless teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could I but separate them!' muttered
+Shafto, through his clenched teeth, while
+their murmured words and mutual caresses
+maddened him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in
+an open locket which Florian had just given
+her&mdash;a likeness, no doubt, of himself&mdash;and
+she did so repeatedly, and ever and anon
+held it admiringly at arm's length.  Then she
+closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver
+necklet to which it was attached round her
+slender white throat; and with a bright fond
+smile she concealed it among the lace frilling
+of her collarette, and let the locket, for
+security, drop into the cleft of her bosom,
+little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in
+her life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's face would not have been pleasant
+to look upon as he saw this episode, and his
+shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he watched it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a
+kind of boyish rapture, as he placed a hand
+on each of her shoulders and gazed into her
+eyes, 'I am most terribly in love with you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why should there be any terror in it?'
+asked Dulcie, with a sweet silvery laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your
+love, and being always with you, that&mdash;that
+a fear comes over me lest we should be some
+day parted.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she
+with a pretty pout, while her long lashes
+drooped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have
+you ever had an emotion that comes uncalled
+for&mdash;that which people call a presentiment?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes; often.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Has it ever come true?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sometimes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well&mdash;I have a presentiment this evening
+which tells me that something is about to
+happen to me&mdash;to us&mdash;and very soon too!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What can happen to us&mdash;we are so happy?'
+said Dulcie, her blue eyes dilating.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown
+to Florian, mysteriously prompt this thought&mdash;this
+boding fear.  Shafto heard the words,
+and a strange smile spread over his face as he
+shook his clenched hand at the absorbed pair,
+and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving
+two foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from
+which they might be roughly awakened&mdash;leaving
+the happy Florian, with that sweet
+and winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and
+with whom he had played even as a child;
+with whom he had shared many a pot of
+clotted cream; with whom he had fished for
+trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with
+fearful steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern
+there, where lie thick the fossil bones of the
+elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for
+hours by the moors, among mossy rocks and
+mossy trees, and in woody labyrinthine lanes,
+and many a time and oft by the sea shore,
+where the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in
+a manner beyond description, but so loosely
+bound together that waves rend them asunder,
+and shape them into forms like ruined castles
+and stranded ships; till, as years went on,
+heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life
+had been left behind; and that dream-time
+came in which they seemed to live for years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of
+coquetry, her nature was too truthful and open
+for that; thus she had never for a moment
+wavered in her preference between Florian
+and Shafto, and spent with the former those
+bright and hopeful hours that seldom come
+again with the same keen intensity in a
+lifetime, though often clouded by vague
+doubts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As yet they had led a kind of Paul and
+Virginia life, without very defined ideas of their
+future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering
+what that future might be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They only knew, like the impassioned boy
+and girl in the beautiful story of Bernardin
+St. Pierre, that they loved each other very dearly,
+and for the sweet present that sufficed; while
+cunning Shafto Gyle looked darkly, gloomily,
+and enviously on them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps it was his fast failing health that
+prevented Lennard Melfort from looking
+more closely into this matter, or it may be
+that he remembered the youthful love of his
+own heart; for he could never forget her
+whom he was so soon to join now, and who,
+'after life's fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall
+of Revelstoke, within sound of the restless sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard
+rumours of these meetings and rambles, and
+probably liked them as little as the Major did;
+but he was a busy man absorbed in his work,
+and had been used to seeing the pair together
+since they were toddling children.  Lennard,
+perhaps, thought it was as well to let them
+alone, as nothing would come of it, while the
+lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day,
+'what is to be the end of all this philandering
+but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do
+you expect a young fellow to marry you who
+has no money, no prospects, no position in
+the world?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing
+painfully, for though an only and motherless
+child she stood in awe of her father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Position&mdash;a deuced bad one, I think!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The other two items will come in time,
+papa,' said Dulcie, laughing now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was silent, and&mdash;for the first time in
+her life&mdash;thought sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But
+she pressed a pretty white hand upon the
+silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw
+courage therefrom as from an amulet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of
+a <i>cob</i> cottage over your head.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire
+proverb&mdash;a good cob, a good hat and
+shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right, lass, and a good heart have you,
+my darling,' said Mr. Carlyon, kissing her
+peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and
+good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his
+exterior, and more like a grazier than a
+lawyer.  'You are both too young to know
+what you are talking about.  He'll be going
+away, however&mdash;can't live always on his
+father, and <i>he</i>, poor fellow, won't last long.
+The fancy of you both will wear itself out,
+like any other summer flirtation&mdash;I had many
+such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,
+'and got safely over them all.  So will you,
+lass, and marry into some good family, getting
+a husband that will give you a comfortable
+home&mdash;for instance, Job Holbeton, with his
+pits of Bovey coal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could
+scarcely restrain her tears at the hard,
+practical suggestions of her father.
+Hard-featured, stout, and grizzled Joe Holbeton
+versus her handsome Florian!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her father spoke, too, of his probable
+'going away.'  Was this the presentiment to
+which her lover had referred?  It almost
+seemed so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the sunset she went forth into the
+garden to work with her wools, and even to
+have a 'good cry' over what her father had
+said; but in this she was prevented by
+suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the grass
+at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree&mdash;Shafto,
+whom she could only tolerate for
+Florian's sake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,'
+she asked, with unconcealed annoyance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Staring, was I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, like an owl.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I always like to see girls working.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the work, what do you call it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, especially when the work is done by
+hands so pretty and white.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As mine, you mean, of course?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy
+compliments, Shafto, or I shall quit the
+garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking
+with a half-frightened, half-defiant expression
+into the keen, shifty, and pale grey ones of
+Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could see the outline of the locket with
+every respiration of her bosom.  Could he
+but possess himself of it, thought he, as he
+proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in
+ladies' society unless with permission,' said
+Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never bother about that, little one, please.
+But may I smoke?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up
+at her with eyes full of admiration.  'I feel
+like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't know who he was, or what you
+feel, but do you know what you look like?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes
+sparkling with mischief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom,
+with his ass's head, at the feet of Titania.
+"Dost like the picture?"'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so
+that Dulcie laughed merrily, showing all her
+pearly teeth at her reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,'
+said he, bluntly and coarsely; 'doing the
+Huguenot business, the <i>pose</i> of Millais'
+picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Millais and I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; you and Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face
+growing very pale in spite of herself at the
+bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable
+anger of his tone and bearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;with your tomfoolery.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How?&mdash;why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Penniless as you are&mdash;he at least.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant,
+to say the least of it,' said Dulcie, as
+she gathered up her wools and sailed into the
+house, while his eyes followed her with a
+menacing and very ugly expression indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+<br /><br />
+THE SECRET PACKET.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The broken health brought by Lennard from
+the miasmatic Terai of Nepaul was rapidly
+becoming more broken than ever, and,
+though not yet fifty, he was a premature old
+man, and it seemed as if the first part of
+Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming
+sorrow would soon be fulfilled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His steps became very feeble, and he could
+only get about, in the autumn sunshine, with
+the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and
+the latter watched him with grief and pain,
+tottering like the aged, panting and leaning
+heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he
+insisted on being led up a steep slope from
+which he could clearly see the old church of
+Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory,
+overlooked by sad and solitary hills, and his
+hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it, with
+a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed
+to be at peace, and by the side of her he had
+laid there, it seemed long years ago&mdash;a lifetime ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb,
+and all who looked upon him thought so; yet
+his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed
+no fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day when Florian was absent&mdash;no
+doubt sketching, boating with Dulcie on the
+Yealm, or idling with her on the moors&mdash;Lennard
+besought Shafto to stay beside him
+as he sat feeble and languid in his easy chair,
+sinking with the wasting and internal fever,
+with which the country practitioners were
+totally incapable of grappling; and on this
+day, for the first time, he began to speak
+to him of Scotland and the home he once
+had there; and he was listened to with
+the keenest interest by Shafto, who had
+ever&mdash;even as a child&mdash;been cunning, selfish, and
+avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and
+complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he
+remembered only Flora's dead and devoted
+sister.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been thinking over old times and
+other days, Shafto,' said he, with his
+attenuated hands crossed on the head of his
+bamboo cane; 'and, all things considered, it
+seems an occupation I had better avoid did
+the memory concern myself alone: but I
+must think of others and their interests&mdash;of
+Florian and of you&mdash;so I can't help it, boy,
+in my present state of health, or rather
+want of health,' he added, as a violent fit of
+spasmodic coughing came upon him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a pause he spoke again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older
+than Florian, and are, in many ways, several
+years older in thought and experience by the
+short training you have received in Carlyon's
+office.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Major paused again, leaving Shafto
+full of wonder and curiosity as to what this
+preamble was leading up to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The former had begun to see things more
+clearly and temperately with regard to the
+sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that,
+though he had renounced all family ties,
+name, and wealth, so far as concerned himself,
+to die, with the secret of all untold, would
+be to inflict a cruel wrong on Florian.  At
+one time Lennard thought of putting his
+papers and the whole matter in the hands of
+Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and it was a pity he
+did not do so instead of choosing to entrust
+them to his long-headed nephew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for
+me&mdash;my hands are so tremulous,' said he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When this was done he selected a packet
+from a private drawer, and briefly and rapidly
+told the story of his life, his proper name,
+and rank to Shafto, who listened with
+open-eyed amazement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the latter had thoroughly digested the
+whole information, he said, after a long pause:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This must be told to Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And with Florian came the thought of
+Dulcie, and how this sudden accession of her
+lover to fortune and position would affect her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nay, Shafto&mdash;not yet&mdash;not till I am gone&mdash;a
+short time now.  I can trust you, with
+your sharpness and legal acumen, with the
+handling of this matter entirely.  When I
+am gone, and laid beside your aunt Flora,
+by the wall of the old church yonder,' he
+continued with a very broken voice&mdash;one
+almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the
+person to whom this packet is addressed,
+Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer to the Signet in
+Edinburgh&mdash;he is alive still; place these in
+his hands, and he will do all that is required;
+but treasure them, Shafto&mdash;be careful of them
+as you would of your soul's salvation&mdash;for
+my sake, and more than all for the sake of
+Florian!  Now, my good lad, give me the
+composing draught&mdash;I feel sleepy and so
+weary with all this talking, and the thoughts
+that have come unbidden&mdash;unbidden, sad,
+bitter, and angry thoughts&mdash;to memory.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and,
+giving his uncle the draught, stole softly away
+to his own room with the papers, to con them
+over and to&mdash;think!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had not sat at a desk for three years in
+Lawyer Carlyon's office without having his
+wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the
+documents away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Stop&mdash;stop&mdash;let me think, let me
+consider!' he exclaimed to himself, and he
+certainly did consider to some purpose.  He
+was cold and calculating; he was never
+unusually agitated or flustered, but he became
+both with the thoughts that occurred to him
+now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the papers and letters entrusted to
+him were the certificates of the marriage of
+Lennard and Flora, and another which ran
+thus:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Certificate of entry of birth, under section
+37 of 17 and 18 Vict., cap. 80.'  It authenticated
+the birth of their child Florian at
+Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These documents were enclosed in a letter
+written in a tremulous and uncertain hand by
+Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+part of which was in these terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The child was baptized by a neighbouring
+clergyman&mdash;the Rev. Paul Pentreath&mdash;who
+has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he
+gave me, and, dying as I now feel myself to
+be, I pray earnestly that my father and
+mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let
+them not&mdash;as they one day hope for mercy at
+that dread throne before which I am soon to
+appear&mdash;visit upon his innocent head my
+supposed and most heavily punished offence.
+Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to
+that which is his due; let him succeed to all
+I renounced in anger&mdash;an anger that has
+passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I
+am aged beyond my years, and my hair is
+now white as snow through ill-health
+contracted in India, where, to procure money
+necessary for my poor Flora, I volunteered
+on desperate service, and in seasons destructive
+to existence.  In your hands I leave the
+matter with perfect hope and confidence.  The
+bearer will tell you all more that may be
+necessary.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having read, reread, and made himself
+thoroughly master of the contents of this
+to him certainly most astounding packet, he
+requested the Major to re-address it in his own
+tremulous and all but illegible handwriting,
+and seal it up with his long-disused signet
+ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Prior to having all this done, Shafto had
+operated on one of the documents most
+dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A peerage! a peerage!&mdash;rank, wealth,
+money, mine&mdash;all mine!' he muttered under
+his breath, as he stored the packet away in a
+sure and secret place, and while whistling
+softly to himself, a way he had when brooding
+(as he often did) over mischief, he recalled
+the lines of Robert Herrick:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Our life is like a narrow raft,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Afloat upon the hungry sea;<br />
+  Hereon is but a little space,<br />
+  And all men, eager for a place,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Do thrust each other in the sea.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+'So why should I not thrust him into the
+hungry briny?  If life is a raft&mdash;and, by
+Jove, I find it so!&mdash;why should one not grasp
+at all one can, and make the best of life for
+one's self, by making the worst of it for other
+folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank
+and wealth come often to any one's hands?
+No! and I should be the biggest of fools&mdash;the
+most enormous of idiots&mdash;not to avail
+myself to the fullest extent.  I see my little
+game clearly, but must play warily.  "Eat,
+drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for
+to-morrow we die."  They say the devil can
+quote Scripture, and so can Shafto Gyle.
+But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to
+have a jolly good spell for many a year to
+come!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in the wild exuberance of his spirits
+he tossed his hat again and again to the
+ceiling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From that day forward the health of
+Lennard Melfort seemed to decline more
+rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by
+the chill winds of the season to remain in
+bed, quite unable to take his place at table or
+move about, save when wheeled in a chair to
+the window, where he loved to watch the
+setting sun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came one evening when, for the last
+time, he begged to be propped up there in
+his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over
+Revelstoke Church, and throwing its
+picturesque outline strongly forward, in a dark
+indigo tint, against the golden and crimson
+flush of the west, and all the waves around
+the promontory were glittering in light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Lennard saw nothing of all this,
+though he felt the feeble warmth of the
+wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn
+hands towards it; his eyesight was gone, and
+would never come again!  There was something
+very pathetic in the withered face and
+sightless eyes, and the drooping white
+moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,
+and waxed <i>à l'Empereur</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His dream of life was over, and his last
+mutterings were a prayer for Florian, on
+whose breast his head lay as he breathed his
+last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two lads looked at each other in that
+supreme moment&mdash;but with very different
+thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only
+desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto,
+in the awful presence of Death, felt alone in
+the world.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br /><br />
+A FAREWELL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and
+attenuated man, whose hair was like the
+thistledown, none would have recognised in
+him the dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous
+young subaltern who only twenty-four years
+before had led his company at the storming
+of the Redan, who had planted the scaling-ladder
+against the scarp, and shouted in a
+voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse
+musketry:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come on, men! ladders to the front,
+eight men per ladder; up and at them, lads,
+with the bayonet,' and fought his way into
+an embrasure, while round-shot tore up the
+earth beneath his feet, and men were swept
+away in sections of twenty; or the hardy
+soldier who faced fever and foes alike in the
+Terai of Nepaul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How still and peaceful he lay now as the
+coffin-lid was closed over him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the
+hard ground, and the waves seemed to leap
+and sob heavily round the old church of
+Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid
+beside the now old and flattened grave
+of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind
+lifted the silver hair of the Rev. Paul
+Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or on the
+buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of
+the pall held by Florian, who felt as one in a
+dreadful dream&mdash;amid a dread and unreal
+phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed
+to twitch angrily the pall-ribbon from the
+hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort
+recover it, as more than one present, with
+their Devonian superstition, remarked, and
+remembered when other things came to pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last all was over; the mourners departed,
+and Lennard Melfort was left alone&mdash;alone
+with the dead of yesterday and of ages;
+and Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and
+pressed his hand, strove to commit to memory
+the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,
+'There shall be no more death, neither
+sorrow, nor sighing; for God shall wipe
+away all tears from their eyes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto now let little time pass before he
+proceeded to inform Florian of what he
+called their 'relative position,' and of their
+journey into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said that in life we have
+sometimes moments so full of emotion that they
+seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach
+again; and this sharp turn, young and startled
+Florian seemed to pass, when he learned that
+since infancy he had been misled, and that
+the man, so tender and so loving, whom
+he had deemed his father was but his uncle!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How came it all to pass now?  Yet the
+old Major had ever been so kind and affectionate
+to him&mdash;to both, in fact, equally so,
+treating them as his sons&mdash;that he felt only a
+stunning surprise, a crushing grief and bitter
+mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his
+love for the dead was too keen and deep for
+that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The packet, sealed and addressed to
+Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents were as yet
+unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the
+strange intelligence of Shafto; but the
+question naturally occurred to Florian, 'For what
+end or purpose had this lifelong mystery
+and change in their positions been brought
+about?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He asked this of Shafto again and again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It seems we have been very curiously
+deluded,' said that personage, not daring to
+look the sorrowful Florian straight in the
+face, and pretended to be intent on stuffing
+his pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Deluded&mdash;how?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed
+Shafto, with petulance and assumed irritation,
+'that the contents of this packet prove that <i>I</i>
+am the only son of Major Melfort (not
+MacIan at all), and that you&mdash;you&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew&mdash;adopted
+as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will tell you all
+about it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian,
+scarcely knowing, in his bewilderment, what
+he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mean to go in for my proper position&mdash;my
+title, and all that sort of thing, don't you
+see?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And act&mdash;how!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback,
+I hope.  I'll do something handsome for you,
+of course.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I want nothing done for me while I have
+two hands, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing
+vigorously at his pipe.  'I have had enough
+of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance
+in the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he,
+after a long pause; 'and, by all the devils,
+I'll have no more of it now that I am going
+to be rich.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort
+entrusting him with the packet, Shafto had
+done little else at the office but study the
+laws of succession in Scotland and England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How much you love money, Shafto!'
+said Florian, eying him wistfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from
+having had so precious little of it in my
+time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought
+he exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully,
+how many matrons with daughters
+unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to
+me!  And Dulcie Carlyon I might have for
+asking; but I'll fly at higher game now, by
+Jove!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As further credentials, Shafto now
+possessed himself of Major Melfort's sword,
+commissions, and medals, while Florian
+looked in blank dismay and growing
+mortification&mdash;puzzled by the new position in which
+he found himself, of being no longer his father's
+son&mdash;a source of unfathomable mystery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to
+leave Revelstoke and its vicinity behind him.
+It was too late for regrets or repentance now.
+Not that he felt either, we suppose; and
+what he had done he would do again if there
+was no chance of being found out.  In the
+growing exuberance of his spirits, he could
+not help, a day or two after, taunting Florian
+about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a
+quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a
+scornful laugh:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You can't marry her&mdash;a fellow without a
+shilling in the world; and I wouldn't now,
+if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised
+grief and astonishment of these events, and
+of the approaching departure of the cousins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cottage home was being broken up;
+the dear old Major was in his grave; and
+Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the
+lover of her girlhood, was going away&mdash;she
+scarcely knew to where.  They might be
+permitted to correspond by letter, but when,
+thought Dulcie&mdash;oh, when should they meet
+again?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was shedding its light and warmth
+around her as usual, on woodland and hill, on
+wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out,
+the perfume to pass from the early spring
+flowers, the glory from land and sea, and a
+dim mist of passionate tears clouded the
+sweet and tender blue eyes of the affectionate
+girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He would return, he said, as he strove to
+console her; but how and when, and to what
+end? thought both so despairingly.  Their
+future seemed such a vague, a blank one!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am penniless, Dulcie&mdash;a beggar on the
+face of the earth&mdash;twice beggared now, I
+think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly,
+with piteous lips that were tremulous as his
+own, and her eyes drowned in tears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had left the road now, and wandered
+among the trees in a thicket, and seated
+themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place
+endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue,
+as if his own were striving to take away a
+memory of her face&mdash;a memory that would
+last for eternity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you really go to-night?' she asked,
+in piteous and broken accents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;with Shafto.  I am in a fever,
+darling, to seek out a position for myself.
+Surely Shafto may assist me in that&mdash;though
+I shrink from asking him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your own cousin?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;but sometimes he looks like a
+supplanter now, and his bearing has been so
+unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said
+Florian.  'But you will wait for me, Dulcie,
+and not be persuaded to marry anyone else?'
+he added imploringly, as he clasped each of
+her hands in his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should
+be for twenty years!' exclaimed the girl, in a
+low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering
+the magnitude and peril of such a promise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he
+bending down and kissing her lips with
+ardour, and, though on the eve of parting,
+they felt almost happy in the confidence of
+the blissful present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How often shall I recall this last meeting
+by the fallen tree, when you are far, far
+away from Revelstoke and&mdash;me,' said Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will often come here to be reminded
+of me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you think, Florian, I will require to
+be reminded of you?' asked the girl, with a
+little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she
+kissed the silver locket containing his likeness,
+and all the sweet iteration of lover-talk,
+promises, and pledges went on for a time,
+and new hopes began to render this last
+interview more bearable to the young pair who
+were on the eve of separation, without any
+very distinct arrangement about correspondence
+in the interval of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was setting now redly, and amid
+dun winter clouds, beaming on each chimney-head,
+on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless
+tree-tops his farewell radiance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie,
+and with the emotion of a wrench in his
+heart, was gone, and she was alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were
+all that remained to him of her&mdash;both to be
+looked upon again and again, till his eyes
+ached, but never grew weary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and
+the memory of that parting kiss was still
+hovering on her quivering lips when, in
+a lonely lane not far from her home, she
+found herself suddenly face to face with
+Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had known him from his boyhood,
+ever since he came an orphan to Lennard
+Melfort's cottage; and although she always
+distrusted and never liked him, his face was
+a familiar one she might never see more; thus
+she resolved to part with him as with the best
+of friends, and to remember that he was the
+only kinsman of Florian, whose companion
+and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey
+the end of which she scarcely understood.
+So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad smile in
+her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand,
+which Shafto grasped and retained promptly
+enough.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+<br /><br />
+THE SILVER LOCKET.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shafto had just been with her father.  How
+contemptuously he had eyed the corner and
+the high old stool on which he had sat in the
+latter's legal establishment, and all its
+surroundings; the fly-blown county maps of
+Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of
+sales&mdash;property, mangold wurzel, oats and hay,
+Thorley's food for cattle, and so forth; the
+tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of
+papers in red tape; the well-thumbed ledgers;
+day and letter books, and all the paraphernalia
+of a country solicitor's office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed
+them all.  Now it was all over and done with.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The three poor lads in the office, whose
+cheap cigars and beer he had often shared at
+the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended
+to notice, while they regarded him with
+something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer Carlyon
+his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal
+of the lease of the Major's pretty cottage,
+and of all the goods and chattels that were
+therein.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Florian been present he would have
+felt only shame and abasement at the tone
+and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion;
+but worthy Lawyer Carlyon, who did not
+believe a bit in the rumoured accession of
+Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed
+softly to himself, and thought his 'pride would
+have a sore fall one of these fine days.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And even now, when face to face with
+Dulcie, his general bearing, his coolness and
+insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief,
+indignant and defiant ultimately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl
+looked, from the smart scarlet feather in her
+little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her
+veil was tightly tied across her face, showing
+only the tip of her nose, her ripe red lips, and
+pretty white chin&mdash;its point, like her cheeks,
+reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from
+the Channel.  Her gloved hands were in her
+small muff, and the collar of her sealskin
+jacket was encircled by the necklet at which
+her silver locket hung&mdash;the locket Shafto
+had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed
+it on her, while he looked close by, with his
+heart full of envy, jealousy, and hatred, and
+now it was the first thing that attracted his eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?'
+she said softly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester
+and the north.  My estates, you know, are
+in Scotland.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'These changes are all strange and most
+startling,' said she, with a sob in her slender
+throat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I
+suppose it is the result of progress,' he added
+sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers
+and grandmothers contrived to mope
+over and yawn out their dull and emotionless
+existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who knows; though life, however sweet
+now, won't be worth living for then, I fancy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in
+admiring silence, for he had a high appreciation
+of her bright and delicate beauty, and
+loved her&mdash;if we may degrade the phrase&mdash;in
+his own selfish and peculiar way, though
+now resolved&mdash;as he had often thought vainly&mdash;to
+'fly at higher game;' and so, full of
+ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own, if he
+had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at
+least, ceased for a space to trouble her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian will be writing to you, of course?'
+said he, after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement;
+and then, you know, papa&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell
+advice to you, Dulcie, is&mdash;Don't put off
+your time thinking of Florian&mdash;his ship will
+never come home.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You think so&mdash;but you are wrong.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have read somewhere that ships of the
+kind rarely do come home in this prosaic and
+disappointing world; that some get wrecked
+almost within sight of land; others go down
+without the flapping of a sail, and sometimes
+after long and firm battling with adverse
+winds and tides; but <i>my ship</i> is a sure craft,
+Dulcie,' he added, as he thought of the packet
+in his possession&mdash;that precious packet on
+which all his hopes rested and his daring
+ambition was founded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully,
+and thought&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were
+always selfish and evil.  Tide what may,'
+she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years
+and more for Florian.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The more fool you, then!  And so die an
+old maid?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And if he never can marry you&mdash;or
+marries some one else when he can?' asked
+Shafto viciously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or
+women's rights, and all that sort of thing,'
+said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant
+attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while
+Shafto eyed her angrily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How fond you are of that silver locket&mdash;you
+never wear any other!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And none you prize so much?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is that the reason you wear it with all
+kinds of dresses?  What is in it&mdash;anything?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting
+her right hand on it and instinctively drawing
+back a pace, for there was a menacing expression
+in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her
+hand in his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You shall!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes
+sparkling now as his grasp upon her hand
+tightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with
+his eyes aflame and his cheeks pale with
+jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and
+wrenched by brutal force the locket from her,
+breaking the silver necklet as he did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and
+thief&mdash;how dare you?  Surrender that locket
+instantly!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly,
+holding the prized trinket before her at arm's
+length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But for Florian's sake, I would at once
+apply to the police.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A vulgar resort&mdash;no, my pretty Dulcie,
+you wouldn't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not for Florian's sake?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whose, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have
+your old pump of a father down on you; and
+so you dare not make a row about it, my
+pretty little fury.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that
+photo,' said Dulcie, her tears welling forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; I won't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to
+whom a villainous idea just then occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her
+muff drop and clasping her slim little hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined
+to put my heel upon it&mdash;but I won't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This robbery is cruel and infamous!'
+exclaimed Dulcie, trembling with grief and just
+indignation; but Shafto only laughed in
+anger and bitterness&mdash;and a very hyena-like
+laugh it was, and as some one was coming
+down the secluded lane, he turned away and
+left her in the twilight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He felt himself safe from opprobrium and
+punishment, as he knew well she was loth to
+make any complaint to her father on the
+subject; and just then she knew not how to
+communicate with Florian, as the darkness
+was falling fast, and the hour of his departure
+was close at hand.  She thought it not
+improbable that Shafto would relent and return
+the locket to her; but the night was far
+advanced ere that hope was dissipated, and she
+attained some outward appearance of
+composure, though her father's sharp and
+affectionate eyes detected that she had been
+suffering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had heard from her some confused
+and rambling story about the family secret,
+the packet, and the peerage, a story of which
+he could make nothing, though Shafto's
+bearing to himself that evening seemed to
+confirm the idea that 'there was something in
+it.'  Anyway, Mr. Carlyon was not indisposed
+to turn the event to account in one sense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Likely&mdash;likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said
+he; 'and so you'll hear no more of these
+two lads, if they are likely to become great
+folks, and belong to what is called the upper
+ten; they'll never think again of a poor
+village belle like you, though there is not a
+prettier face in all Devonshire than my
+Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He meant this kindly, and spoke with a
+purpose; and his words and the warning
+they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender
+heart of poor Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time the cousins were sweeping
+through the darkness in the express train by
+Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were
+very silent, and each was full of his own
+thoughts, and what these were the reader
+may very well imagine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles
+of Shafto, Florian, from time to time, drew
+forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining
+lock of red-golden hair, his sole links between
+the past and the present; and already he felt
+as if a score of years had lapsed since they
+sat side by side upon the fallen tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, that he might give his whole
+thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to sleep; but
+Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat
+quietly enough with his face in shadow, his
+travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled well
+down over his watchful and shifty grey-green
+eyes, the lamp overhead giving a miserable
+glimmer suited to the concealment of expression
+and thought; and as the swift train sped
+northward, the cousins addressed not a word
+to each other concerning those they had left
+behind, what was before them, or anything else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time, Shafto really slept&mdash;slept the
+slumber which is supposed to be the reward
+of the just and conscientious, but which is
+much more often enjoyed by those who have
+no conscience at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to
+Florian detailing the outrage to which she
+had been subjected by Shafto; but time
+passed on, and, for a reason we shall give in
+its place, the letter never reached him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again and again she recalled and rehearsed
+her farewell with Florian, and thought
+regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate
+poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with
+Shafto; and she still seemed to see his
+beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while
+her own welled freely and bitterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When could they meet again, if ever, and
+where and how?  Her heart and brain
+ached with these questions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though
+her cheek paled a little, and she felt&mdash;even
+at her early years&mdash;as if life seemed over
+and done with, and in her passionate love for
+the absent, that existence alone was left to
+her, and so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as she was her father's housekeeper
+now, kept the keys and paid all the servants,
+paid all accounts and made the preserves, he
+was in no way sorry that the young men were
+gone; that the 'aimless philandering,' as he
+deemed it, had come to an end; and that
+much would be attended to in his cosy little
+household which he suspected&mdash;but unjustly&mdash;had
+been neglected hitherto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native
+place, the breezy moors, the solitary hills, the
+mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,
+the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the
+Yealm, where they had been wont to boat
+and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn,
+were all full of the haunting presence of the
+absent&mdash;the poor but proud and handsome
+lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had
+loved her, and who now seemed to have
+slipped out of her existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine
+flooded hill and dale, and lit up the
+waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the
+far-stretching Channel, tinting with wondrous
+gleams and hues the waves that rolled upon
+the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre
+Rock, and the sea-beaten promontory of
+Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was
+gone from land and water: she heard no
+more, by letter or otherwise, of the love of
+her youth; he seemed to have dropped
+utterly out of her sphere; and though
+mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of
+the bursting June roses&mdash;the Marshal Neil
+and Gloire de Dijon&mdash;and treasured them
+carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a
+task in which she had often been assisted by
+Florian, she felt and thought&mdash;'Ichabod!
+Ichabod! the glory has departed!'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IX.
+<br /><br />
+MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shafto found himself a little nervous when
+he and Florian were actually in Edinburgh, a
+city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of
+rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and
+temple, so foreign-looking to English eyes,
+and so utterly unlike everything they had
+ever seen or conceived before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.
+His father's death&mdash;though called an uncle
+now, but Florian always felt for and thought
+of him as a parent&mdash;the loss of Dulcie, their
+abrupt departure from Devonshire, and rough
+uprootal of all early associations, had made a
+kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life, and
+it was only now when he found himself amid
+the strange streets and picturesque splendour
+of Edinburgh that he began&mdash;like one
+recovering consciousness after a long
+illness&mdash;to gather up again the ravelled threads of
+thought, but with curious want of concern and
+energy; while Shafto felt that he personally
+had both, and that now he required to have
+all his wits about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian stood for a time that night at the
+door of their hotel in Princes Street looking
+at the wonderful lights of the Old Town
+sparkling in mid air, and some that were in
+the Castle must, he thought, be stars, they
+were so high above the earth.  Scores of
+cabs and carriages went by, eastward and
+westward, but no carts or wains or lorries,
+such as one sees in London or Glasgow&mdash;vehicles
+with bright lamps and well muffled
+occupants, gentlemen in evening suits, and
+ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of
+pedestrians, under the brilliant gas lights and
+long boulevard-like lines of trees&mdash;the
+ever-changing human panorama of a great city
+street before midnight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How odd, how strange and lonely poor
+Florian felt; he seemed to belong to no one,
+and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for
+him; and ever and anon his eyes rested on
+the mighty castled rock that towers above
+streets, monuments, and gardens, with a
+wonderous history all its own, 'where
+treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,' and
+with them the only ancient crown in the
+British Isles.  'Brave kings and the fairest
+of crowned women have slept and been
+cradled in that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic
+English writer; 'heroes have fought upon its
+slopes; English armies have stormed it;
+dukes, earls, and barons have been
+immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted
+Queen prayed and yielded up her last breath
+there eight centuries ago.  It is an imperishable
+relic&mdash;a monument that needs no carving
+to tell its tale, and it has the nation's worship;
+and the different church sects cling round its
+base as if they would fight again for the
+guardianship of a venerable mother.....
+And if Scotland has no longer a king and
+Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown
+is at least safely kept up there amid strong
+iron stanchions, as a sacred memorial of her
+inextinguishable independence, and, if need
+were, for future use.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he
+felt a keen interest in all that now surrounded
+him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the
+smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of
+the morrow, and unwisely seeking to fortify
+himself by imbibing more brandy and soda
+than Florian had ever seen him take before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a sound night's rest and a substantial
+Scottish breakfast had fitted Shafto, as he
+thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited
+him and Florian (who was now beginning to
+marvel why he had travelled so far in a
+matter that concerned him not, in reality)
+at the residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+W.S., in Charlotte Square&mdash;a noble specimen
+of Adams Street architecture, having four
+stately symmetrical corresponding façades,
+overlooked by the dome of St. George's
+Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,'
+said Shafto, as he looked at the mansion of
+Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the
+modest establishment of Lawyer Carlyon;
+'but foxes will flourish as long as there are
+geese to be plucked.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw was at home&mdash;indeed he was
+just finishing breakfast, before going to the
+Parliament House&mdash;as they were informed by
+the liveried valet, who led them through a
+pillared and marble-floored vestibule, and
+ushered them into what seemed a library, as
+the walls from floor to ceiling were lined
+with handsome books; but every professional
+man's private office has generally this
+aspect in Scotland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared
+with a puzzled and perplexed expression in
+his face, as he alternatively looked at his two
+visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year;
+his long since grizzled hair had now become
+white, and had shrunk to two patches far
+apart, one over each ear, and brushed stiffly
+up.  His eyebrows were also white, shaggy,
+and under them his keen eyes peered
+sharply through the rims of a gold pince-nez
+balanced on the bridge of his long aquiline
+nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant
+dryness about his tongue and lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'<i>Mr. Shafto Melfort?</i>' said Mr. Kippilaw
+inquiringly, and referring to the card again.  'I
+was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto
+Melfort&mdash;any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This gentleman with the dark eyes?'
+asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to the silent
+Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;myself,' said Shafto sharply and
+firmly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are most unlike the family, who have
+always been remarkable for regularity of
+features.  Then you are the son&mdash;of&mdash;of&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died
+a few weeks ago&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good Heavens, where?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'On the west coast of Devonshire, near
+Revelstoke, where he had long resided under
+the assumed name of MacIan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That of his wife?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Precisely so&mdash;my mother.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And this young gentleman, whose face
+and features seem curiously familiar to me,
+though I never saw him before, he is your
+brother of course.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.
+I am an only son, but the Major ever
+treated us as if he had been the father of both,
+so great and good was his kindness of heart.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a
+breathless voice, as he seated himself in an
+ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,
+which was covered with documents and
+letters all arranged by his junior clerk in the
+most orderly manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is very sudden and most unexpected
+intelligence,' said he, carefully wiping his
+glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a
+closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all
+these years past the real name and position of
+your father, and that he left Kincardineshire
+more than twenty years ago after a very grave
+quarrel with his parents at Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;I only learned who he was, and who
+we really were, when he was almost on his
+deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his
+only son, and because I had been bred to the
+law; and on that melancholy occasion he
+entrusted me with this important packet
+addressed to <i>you</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With an expression of the deepest interest
+pervading his well-lined face, Mr. Kippilaw
+took the packet and carefully examined the
+seal and the superscription, penned in a
+shaky handwriting, with both of which he was
+familiar enough, though he had seen neither
+for fully twenty years, and finally he
+examined the envelope, which looked old and
+yellow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If all be true and correct, these tidings will
+make some stir at Craigengowan,' he muttered
+as if to himself, and cut round the seal with a
+penknife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I
+have alleged,' said Shafto, who now felt that
+the crisis was at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and
+wonder, drew forth the documents and read
+and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding
+the papers, but not offensively, between
+him and the light to see if the dates and
+water-marks tallied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The slow way this old devil goes on
+would exasperate an oyster!' thought Shafto,
+whose apparently perfect coolness and
+self-possession rather surprised and repelled the
+lawyer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were the certificate of Lennard's
+marriage with Flora MacIan, which Mr. Kippilaw
+could remember he had seen of old;
+the 'certificate of entry of birth of their son,
+born at Revelstoke at 6 h. 50 m. on the 28th
+October P.M., 18&mdash;,' signed by the Registrar,
+and the Major's farewell letter to his old
+friend, entrusting his son and his son's
+interests to his care.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after
+he had read for the second time, and saw that
+the letter of Lennard Melfort was undoubtedly
+authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of
+your Christian name is <i>torn out</i> of the birth
+certificate, and the surname <i>Melfort</i> alone
+remains?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently
+startled in turn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'There is a rough little hole in the
+document where the name <i>should be</i>.  Do you
+know the date of your birth?' asked
+Mr. Kippilaw, partly covering the document with
+his hand, unconsciously as it were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;28th October.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the year?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto gave it from memory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Quite correct&mdash;as given here,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old for the date of
+this certificate.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I always looked older than my years,'
+replied Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian, who might have claimed the date
+as that of his own birth, was&mdash;luckily for
+Shafto&mdash;away at a window, gazing intently
+on a party of soldiers marching past, with a
+piper playing before them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Another certificate can be got if necessary,'
+said Mr. Kippilaw, as he glanced at the
+Registrar's signature, a suggestion which
+made Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have
+come from the Major in this mutilated state,'
+he added, re-examining with legal care and
+suspicion the address on the envelope and
+the seal, which, as we have said, he had cut
+round; 'but it is strange that he has made
+no mention of it being so in his letter to me.
+Poor fellow! he was more of a soldier than a
+man of business, however.  Allow me to
+congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new
+prospects.  Rank and a very fine estate are
+before you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who
+began to be more reassured; and saying, 'I
+must carefully preserve the documents for the
+inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked
+them fast in a drawer of his writing-table, and
+spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,
+while warming his person in the fashion
+peculiar to the genuine 'Britisher,' he eyed
+Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant
+remarks on the Fettercairn family, the
+fertility and beauty of Craigengowan, the
+stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth,
+and the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'&mdash;as
+he called him&mdash;and about whom he asked
+innumerable questions, all of which Shafto
+could answer truly and with a clear conscience
+enough, as he was master of all that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The latter was asked 'what he thought
+of Edinburgh&mdash;if he had ever been there
+before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a
+little 'Guide Book' into which he had
+certainly dipped, so as to be ready for
+anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque
+beauties and historical associations of the
+Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's
+heart began to warm to so intelligent a
+young man, while of the silent Florian,
+staring out into the sun-lit square and its
+beautiful garden and statues, he took little
+notice, beyond wondering <i>where</i> he had seen
+his eyes and features before!
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER X.
+<br /><br />
+ALONE IN THE WORLD.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'And you were bred to the law, you say,
+Mr. Melfort?' remarked the old Writer to the
+Signet after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very good&mdash;very good indeed; that is
+well!  We generally think in Scotland that
+a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it
+teaches the laird to haud his ain; but I
+forgot that you are southland bred, and
+born too&mdash;the more is the pity&mdash;and can't
+understand me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto did not understand him, but thought
+that his time spent in Lawyer Carlyon's
+office had not been thrown away now;
+experience there had 'put him up to a trick or
+two.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first
+post,' said Mr. Kippilaw after another of
+those thoughtful pauses during which he
+attentively eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady
+Fettercairn&mdash;like myself now creeping up the
+vale of years&mdash;(Hope they may soon see
+the end of it! thought Shafto) will, I have
+no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the sequence
+and tenor of the documents you have brought
+me that you are their grandson&mdash;the son of
+the expatriated Lennard&mdash;and when I hear
+from them I shall let you know the result
+without delay.  You are putting up at&mdash;what
+hotel?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah! very well.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And your cousin&mdash;he will, of course, go
+with you to Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as
+Florian could detect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What are your intentions or views?'
+Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He failed to pass for the army,' said
+Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so I don't know
+what he means to do <i>now</i>.  I believe that he
+scarcely knows himself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Have you no friends on your mother's
+side, Mr. Florian?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection
+of voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied
+Florian bitterly and a little defiantly, as
+Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and
+good fortune, roused his pride and galled his
+heart, which sank as he thought of Dulcie
+Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie,
+so far away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the
+young man's answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have some little influence in many ways,
+and if I can assist your future views you may
+command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with
+fatherly kindness, for he had reared&mdash;yea and
+lost&mdash;more than one fine lad of his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said that one must know mankind
+very well before having the courage to
+be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's
+knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited,
+he felt his eye quail more than once under
+the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter,
+'that after the death of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt,
+when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so
+anxious to discover and recall his younger
+brother as the next and only heir to the title
+and estates, we totally failed to trace him.
+We applied to the War Office for the
+whereabouts of Major Lennard Melfort, but the
+authorities there, acting upon a certain
+principle, declined to afford any information.
+Advertisements, some plainly distinct, others
+somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in
+the <i>Scotsman</i> and <i>Times</i>, but without the
+least avail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As for the <i>Scotsman</i>,' said Shafto, 'the Major&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your father, you mean?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more
+likely to see such a provincial print in
+Devonshire than the Roman <i>Diritto</i> or the
+Prussian <i>Kreuz Zeitung</i>; and the <i>Times</i>, if
+he saw it&mdash;which I doubt&mdash;he must have
+ignored.  Till the time of his death drew
+near, his feelings were bitter, his hostility to
+his family great.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can well understand that, poor fellow!'
+said Mr. Kippilaw, glancing at his watch, as
+he added&mdash;'You must excuse me till
+to-morrow: I am already overdue at the
+Parliament House.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit
+square.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You seem to have lost your tongue,
+Florian, and to have a disappointed look,'
+said Shafto snappishly, as they walked
+slowly towards the hotel together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps,
+but I have no reason to repine or complain
+save at our change of relative positions, but
+certainly not at your unexpected good fortune,
+Shafto.  It is only right and just that your
+father's only son should inherit all that is
+legally and justly his.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even at these words Shafto never winced
+or wavered in plans or purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was apparent, however, to Florian, that
+he had for some time past looked restless
+and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at
+any unusual sound, while a shadow rested on
+his not usually very open countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Betimes next morning a note came to him
+at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel from
+Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as
+possible, and on this errand he departed alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found the old lawyer radiant, with a
+letter in his hand from Lord Fettercairn (in
+answer to his own) expressive of astonishment
+and joy at the sudden appearance of
+this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he
+was full of ardour and anxiety to see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will lose no time in starting for
+Craigengowan,' said Mr. Kippilaw.  'You
+take the train at the Waverley Station and
+go <i>viâ</i> Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk&mdash;or
+stay, I think we shall proceed together,
+taking your papers with us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow
+that the presence of Mr. Kippilaw at the
+coming interview would take some of the
+responsibility off his own shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will
+put on its brightest smile to welcome you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto,
+who felt but ill at ease in his new role of
+adventurer, and unwisely adopted a
+free-and-easy audacity of manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for
+present emergencies,' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours
+we shall meet at the station.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I would do much for your father's son,
+Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer, emphatically.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what about Florian?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The letter ignores him&mdash;a curious omission.
+In their joy, perhaps Lord and Lady Fettercairn
+forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter
+for him that came by the London mail.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly,
+while his heart grew sick with apprehension,
+he knew not of what.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to
+me,' said Mr. Kippilaw aloud; but to himself,
+'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen
+features like his before?  He reminds me
+curiously of Lennard Melfort.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto gave a nervous start.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The letter was a bulky one, and bore the
+Wembury and other post-marks, and to
+Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the
+familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He chuckled, and a great thought worthy
+of himself occurred to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the solitude of his own room at the
+hotel, he moistened and opened the gummed
+envelope, and drew forth four closely written
+sheets of paper full of the outpourings of the
+girl's passionate heart, of her wrath at the
+theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning
+that she had incidentally got the address of
+Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and desiring
+him to write to her, and she would watch for
+and intercept the postman by the sea-shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and
+cast into the fire Dulcie's letter, all save a
+postscript, written on a separate scrap of
+paper, and which ran thus:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have all the love of my heart, Florian;
+but, as I feel and fear we may never meet
+again, I send you this, which I have worn
+next my heart, to keep.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>This</i> was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Three stamps on all this raggabash!'
+exclaimed Shafto, whom the girl's terms of
+endearment to Florian filled with a tempest
+of jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had
+wrenched from Dulcie's neck in soft paper,
+and placed it with the postscript in the
+envelope, which he carefully closed and
+re-gummed, placed near the fire, and the moment
+it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the latter was surprised to see a letter to
+himself, addressed in Dulcie's large, clear,
+and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer
+Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also
+struck dumb when he found in the envelope
+the locket, the likeness, and the apparently
+curt farewell contained in one brief sentence!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time he stood like one petrified.
+Could it all be real?  Alas! there was no
+doubting the postal marks and stamps upon
+this most fatal cover; and while he was
+examining it and passing his hand wildly more
+than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto
+was smoking quietly at a window, and to all
+appearance intent on watching the towering
+rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in
+morning sunshine&mdash;batteries whereon steel
+morions and Scottish spears had often gleamed
+of old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though his soul shrank from doing so,
+Florian could not resist taking Shafto into
+his confidence about this unexplainable event;
+and the latter acted astonishment to the life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Was the locket thus returned through the
+post in obedience to her father's orders, after
+he had probably discovered the contents of it?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing
+his attention to the tenor of the pithy
+scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that
+it had been done under any other influence
+than her own change of mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he
+prepared to take his departure for Craigengowan;
+'now you had better proceed at once to
+cultivate the wear-the-willow state of mind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith
+and truth and of true women were suddenly
+and cruelly shattered now!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She has killed all that was good in me,
+and the mischief of the future will be at her
+door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky
+voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto,
+who actually did feel a little for him; and
+just then, when they were on the eve of
+separation, even his false and artful heart did
+feel a pang, with the sting of fear, at the
+career of falsehood to which he had committed
+himself; but his ambition, innate greed,
+selfishness, and pride urged him on that
+career steadily and without an idea of flinching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning
+how the face of Florian interested him, and
+actually that he bore a likeness to the dead
+Major&mdash;to his own father, in fact&mdash;Shafto
+became more than desirous to be rid of him
+in any way.  He thought with dread of the
+discovery and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of
+the fierce light thrown by the law on that
+gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction
+he had none!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from
+the hotel with his portmanteau, 'I must
+keep up this game at all hazards now.  I
+have stolen&mdash;not only Florian's name&mdash;but
+his place, so let him paddle his own
+canoe!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were
+his parting words&mdash;a promise which he never
+fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their
+mutual purse now, might have offered to
+supply the well-nigh penniless lad with money,
+but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of
+him&mdash;to hear of him no more.  He had a
+dread of his presence, of his society, of his
+very existence, and now had but one hope,
+wish, and desire&mdash;that Florian Melfort should
+cross his path never again.  And now that
+he had achieved a separation between him
+and Dulcie, he conceived that Florian would
+never again go near Revelstoke, of which
+he&mdash;Shafto&mdash;had for many reasons a nervous
+dread!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel
+desertion of him, which he considered due to
+calm consideration of his change of fortune&mdash;or
+rather total want of it&mdash;Florian felt numbly
+indifferent to the matter Shafto had in hand
+and all about himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While very nearly moved to girlish tears at
+parting from one with whom he had lived
+since infancy&mdash;with whom he had shared the
+same sleeping-room, shared in the same sports
+and studies&mdash;with whom he had read the
+same books to some extent, and had ever
+viewed as a brother&mdash;Florian was rather
+surprised, even shocked, by the impatience
+of that kinsman, the only one he had in all
+the wide world, to part from him and begone,
+and to see he was calm and hard as flint or
+steel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Different natures have different ways of
+showing grief, I suppose,' thought the simple
+Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a
+grudge at me because of the false but winsome
+Dulcie?  If affection for me is hidden
+in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No
+letter ever came from Craigengowan.  The
+pride of Florian was justly roused, and he
+resolved that he would not take the initiative,
+and attempt to open a correspondence with
+one who seemed to ignore him, and whose
+manner at departing he seemed to see more
+clearly and vividly now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact soon became grimly apparent.
+He could not remain idling in such a fashionable
+hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he
+settled his bill there, and took his portmanteau
+in his hand, and issued into the streets&mdash;into
+the world, in fact.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XI.
+<br /><br />
+SHAFTO IN CLOVER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+About six months had elapsed since Shafto
+and Florian parted, as we have described, at
+Edinburgh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was June now.  The luxurious woods
+around Craigengowan were in all their leafy
+beauty, and under their shadows the dun
+deer panted in the heat as they made their
+lair among the feathery braken; the emerald
+green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was
+smooth as a billiard-table and soft as
+three-pile velvet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air was laden with the wafted fragrance
+of roses and innumerable other flowers; and
+the picturesque old house, with its multitude
+of conical turrets furnished with glittering
+vanes, its crow-stepped gables and massive
+chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep
+blue sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful
+looked the pretty village, seen in middle
+distance, through a foliated vista in the
+woodlands, with the white smoke ascending
+from its humble hearths, the only thing that
+seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful
+were the colours some of its thatched
+roofs presented&mdash;greenest moss, brown lichen,
+and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while
+the murmur of a rivulet (a tributary of the
+Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch, 'the
+auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would
+be heard at times, amid the pleasant voices
+of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the
+glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers
+below the stately terrace, that had long since
+replaced the moat that encircled the old
+fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite
+lord had ridden forth to fight and die for
+James VIII., on the field of Sheriffmuir&mdash;King
+of Scotland, England, France, and
+Ireland, as the unflinching Jacobites had it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis
+party was busy tossing the balls from
+side to side among several courts; but apart
+from all, and almost conspicuously so&mdash;a
+young fellow, in a handsome light tennis suit
+of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were
+carrying on a very palpable flirtation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion
+was Finella Melfort, Cosmo's orphan
+daughter (an heiress through her mother),
+who had returned a month before from a
+protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They seemed
+to be on excellent terms with each other, and
+doubtless the natural gaiety of the girl's
+disposition, her vivacity of manner, and their
+supposed mutual relationship, had opened the
+way to speedy familiarity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but
+very white-skinned little beauty, with a perfect
+<i>mignonne</i> face, a petite but round and compact
+figure, gracefully formed, and very
+coquettish and <i>spirituelle</i> in all her ways.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had received her peculiar Christian
+name at the special request of her grandfather,
+that silly peer being desirous that her name
+might go down in the peerage in connection
+with that of the famous Finella of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A winsome pair they would make,' was
+the smiling remark of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+who was of the party (with three romping
+daughters from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn,
+who smirked a grim assent, as if it
+was a matter of indifference to him, which
+it was not, as his legal adviser very well
+knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard
+the remark, bestowed upon him a bright
+and approving smile in return for a knowing
+glance through the glasses of his gold
+<i>pince-nez</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto
+Gyle had found his veritable Capua&mdash;he was
+literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard
+himself addressed by his assumed name
+without experiencing a strange sinking and
+fluttering of the heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The once-despised Lennard Melfort's
+sword, his commission, and his hard-won
+medals earned in Central India and the Terai
+of Nepaul were now looked upon as precious
+relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir at
+Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the
+lumber-attic, his portrait, taken in early life,
+was again hung in a place of honour in the
+dining-hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his
+claim on such a place as this, and all for the
+face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto
+to himself when first he came to Craigengowan,
+and then he looked fearfully around
+him lest the word <i>uncle</i> might have been
+overheard by some one; and he thought&mdash;'If
+rascally the trick I have played my simple
+and love-stricken cousin&mdash;and rascally it was
+and is&mdash;surely it was worth while to be the
+heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To reckon
+as mine in future all this grand panorama of
+heath-clad hills, of green and golden fields,
+of purple muirland, and stately woods of oak
+and pine where the deer rove in herds; as
+mine the trout-streams that flow towards the
+Bervie; the cascades that roar down the
+cliffs; the beautiful old house, with its stables,
+kennels, and terrace; its cellars, pictures,
+plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of
+marble and jasper, china and Japanese work;
+and I possess all that rank and wealth can
+give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,
+with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his
+years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the fair inheritance he had come to
+steal he could not, however, add as his the
+blue sky above it, or the waves of the German
+Sea, which the North Esk flowed to join;
+but he was not without sense appreciative
+enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming
+earth, of the pine forests where the brown
+squirrels leaped from branch to branch, and
+on the mountain side the perfume of the
+golden whin and gorse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Appraising everything, these ideas were
+ever recurring to his mind, and it was full of
+them now as he looked around him, and at
+times, like one in a dream, heard the pretty
+babble of the high-bred, coquettish girl, who,
+to amuse herself, made <i>œillades</i> at him; who
+called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and
+who, with her splendid fortune, he was now
+beginning to include among the many goods
+and chattels which must one day accrue to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course,
+fully twenty years older than when we saw
+them last, full of wrath and indignation at
+Lennard for his so-called <i>mésalliance</i>.  Both
+were cold in heart and self-absorbed in nature
+as ever.  The latter was determined to be a
+beauty still, though now upon the confines of
+that decade 'when the cunning of cosmetics
+can no longer dissemble the retribution of
+Time the avenger.'  The former was bald
+now, and the remains of his once sandy-coloured
+hair had become grizzled, and a
+multitude of puckers were about his cold,
+grey eyes, while there was a perceptible
+stoop in his whilom flat, square shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was as full of family pride as ever, and
+the discovery of an unexpected and authentic
+heir and grandson to his title, that had never
+been won in the field or cabinet, but was
+simply the reward of bribery and corruption,
+and for which not one patriotic act had been
+performed by four generations, had given
+him intense satisfaction, and caused much
+blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol
+about the country-side; and smiles that were
+bright and genuine frequently wreathed the
+usually pale and immobile face of Lady
+Fettercairn when they rested on Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We all know how the weak and easy adoption
+of a pretender by a titled mother in a
+famous and most protracted case not many
+years ago caused the most peculiar
+complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more
+pardonable, posted up as she was with
+documentary evidence, in accepting Shafto Gyle
+as her grandson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have described her as being singularly,
+perhaps aristocratically, cold.  As a mother,
+she had never been given to kissing, caressing,
+or fondling her two sons (as she did a
+succession of odious pugs and lap-dogs), but,
+throwing their little hearts back upon
+themselves, left nurses and maids to 'do all that
+sort of tiresome thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Finella, though an heiress, came in for
+very little of it either, with all her sweetness,
+beauty, and pretty winning ways, even
+from Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man
+who cared so little for his own country and
+her local and vital interests was little likely
+to care much for any flesh and blood that did
+not stand in his own boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son'
+from time to time with&mdash;for her&mdash;deep
+apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic
+regret and indignation, much of the
+obscure story of his boyhood and past life, at
+least so much as he chose to tell her; and
+she bitterly resented that Lennard Melfort
+should have sought to put the 'nephew of
+that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army,
+while placing 'his own son' Shafto into the
+office of a miserable village lawyer, and so
+forth&mdash;and so forth!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this
+happened in an obscure village in Devonshire,
+and far away from Craigengowan and all its
+aristocratic surroundings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She also thought it strange that
+Shafto&mdash;('Whence came that name?' she would
+mutter angrily)&mdash;should be so unlike her
+dark and handsome Lennard.  His eyebrows
+were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,
+watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck
+thick, and his hair somewhat sandy in hue.
+Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what
+her husband, the present Lord Fettercairn,
+must have been at the same age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for the Peer himself, he was only too
+thankful that an heir had turned up for his
+ill-gotten coronet, and that now&mdash;so far as one
+life was concerned&mdash;Sir Bernard Burke would
+not rate it among the dormant and attainted
+titles&mdash;those of the best and bravest men that
+Scotland ever knew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for their mutual scheme concerning
+Shafto and their granddaughter Finella, with
+her beauty and many attractive parts, the
+former was craftily most desirous of furthering
+it, knowing well that, <i>happen what might</i>
+in the future, she was an heiress; that
+marriage with her would give him a firm
+hold on the Fettercairn family, though the
+money of her mother was wisely settled on
+the young lady herself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, Finella had not been many
+weeks home from London, at Craigengowan,
+before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches,
+and spoke pretty plainly to him on the
+subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Waving her large fan slowly to and fro,
+and eyeing Shafto closely over the top of it,
+she said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find
+your cousin Finella&mdash;the daughter of my
+dead darling Cosmo&mdash;a lovable kind of girl.
+But even were she not so&mdash;and all say she
+is&mdash;you must not feel a prejudice against her,
+because&mdash;because&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, grandmother?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because it is our warmest desire that you
+may marry her.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked
+Shafto, with one of his dissembling smiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but
+one is always the better to have more, and
+you must not feel&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean
+that you must not be prejudiced against her
+as an expected<i> parti</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why should I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'One hears and reads so much of such
+things.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so
+pretty and eligible, why the dickens&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What now?' he asked, with some irritability,
+as she often took him to task for his
+solecisms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations
+that were suited to the atmosphere
+of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will
+not do in Craigengowan!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well&mdash;she won't look at me with your
+eyes, grandmother.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How&mdash;her eyes&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They will never seem so bright and
+beautiful.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my
+Lady Fettercairn, with a smile and pleased
+flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet'
+had soon discovered that she was far from
+insensible to adulation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto certainly availed himself of the
+opportunities afforded by 'cousinship,'
+propinquity, and residence together in a country
+house, and sought to gain a place in the good
+graces or heart of Finella; but with all his
+cunning and earnest wishes in the matter&mdash;apart
+from the wonderful beauty of the girl&mdash;he
+feared that he made no more progress
+with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She talked, played, danced, and even
+romped with him; they rambled and read
+together, and were as much companions as
+any two lovers would be; but he felt nearly
+certain that though she flirted with him,
+because it was partly her habit to appear to
+do so with most men, whenever he attempted
+to become tender she openly laughed at him
+or changed the subject skilfully; and also
+that if he essayed to touch or take her hand
+it was very deliberately withdrawn from his
+reach, and never did she make him more
+sensible of all this than when he contrived to
+draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon
+of the lawn-tennis party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had long ere this been made perfectly
+aware that love and marriage were objects of
+all his attention, yet she amused herself with
+him by her coquettish <i>œillades</i> and waggish
+speeches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating
+voice, as he stooped over her, 'I hope that
+with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant
+mode of treating me, you will see your way
+to carry out the fondest desire of my heart
+and that of our grandparents.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And
+the object to which I am to see my way is to
+marry you, cousin Shafto?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her
+half-averted ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I
+couldn't think of such a thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And these are?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Firstly, people should marry to please
+themselves, not others.  Grandpapa and
+grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am
+quite independent enough to do as I please
+and choose.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!'
+said she, looking upward at him with one of
+her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have not said that either.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may yet love me, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; not as you wish it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have no right to ask me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a
+gleam came into his cold, grey eyes as he
+asked, after a pause:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is there anyone else you prefer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have no right to inquire,' replied she,
+and a keener observer might have detected
+that his question brought a tiny blush to her
+cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so
+please to let this matter drop, once and for
+ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such
+delightful friends&mdash;such jolly cousins.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so ended one of many such conversations
+on this topic&mdash;conversations that
+developed indifference, if not quite aversion,
+on the part of Finella, the clue to which
+Shafto was fated to find in a few weeks after.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XII.
+<br /><br />
+VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The persistent attentions of Shafto were
+alternately a source of amusement and worry
+to Finella Melfort; and when she found them
+become the latter, she had more than once
+retreated to the residence of her maternal
+grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she
+infinitely preferred being at Craigengowan,
+where the general circle was more refined
+and of a much better style; for Lady
+Drumshoddy&mdash;natheless her title&mdash;was not quite
+one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow
+of an advocate, who, having done without
+scruple the usual amount of work to please
+his party and the Lord Advocate, had been
+rewarded therefor by an appointment (and
+knighthood) in Bengal, where he had gone,
+at a lucky time, with the old advice and
+idea&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pluck India's endless riches,<br />
+  And then I swore that time should see<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Huge pockets in my breeches.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets
+were so well filled that when he came home
+to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be
+deemed a 'great catch' by the Fettercairn
+family, though her grandfather had been&mdash;no
+one knew precisely what.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Finella, by education, careful
+training, and by her own habit of thought,
+was naturally so refined that, with all her
+waggery and disposition to laughter and
+merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches
+occasionally irritated her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a
+man may get the love of the girl he wants,
+even if she cares little for him, if he only
+asks her at the right time; but, so far as you
+are concerned, Finella, the right moment has
+not come for me, I suppose.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,'
+she replied, fanning herself, and eyeing him
+with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in
+her dark eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion
+Lord Fettercairn came hurriedly to him, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley,
+from London, will arrive here to-morrow for
+a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he
+leaves for his regiment in Africa.  You will
+do your best to be attentive to him, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily,
+however, all the more so that he was quick
+enough to detect that, at the mention of the
+visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour
+crossed the cheek of Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Something in his tone attracted the
+attention of Lord Fettercairn, who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After the 12th I hope you will find a
+legitimate use for your gun&mdash;you know what
+I mean.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as
+his grandfather referred to a mischievous act
+of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage
+in the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn
+a pair of majestic osprey had built their
+nest, guarded by the morass around them,
+and there they bred and reared a pair of
+beautiful eaglets.  No one had been allowed
+to approach them, so that nothing should
+occur to break the confidence of safety which
+the pair of osprey acquired in their lonely
+summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to
+Craigengowan, and by four rounds from his
+breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,
+to the indignation of the neighbourhood and
+even of my Lord Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not that the latter cared a straw about
+these eagles as objects of natural history; but
+the fact of their existence formed the subject
+of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was
+wounded on finding that one of his family
+had acted thus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family
+circle at Craigengowan had two or three
+accessions to its number&mdash;friends invited for
+the 12th of August&mdash;among others Mr. Kippilaw
+the younger, a spruce and dapper
+Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,'
+Shafto said, 'thought no small beer of
+himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of
+the Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive
+and, to one who was present, most decided
+addition to their society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His regular features were well tanned by
+the sun in Natal; his dark hair was shorn
+short; his moustaches were pointed well out;
+and his dark eyes had a bright and merry yet
+firm and steady expression, as those of a man
+born to command men, who had more than
+once faced danger, and was ready to face it
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was in his twenty-seventh year, and
+was every way a courteous and finished
+English gentleman, though Shafto, in his
+secret heart, and more than once in the
+stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited
+beast.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot
+big game in Southern Africa, hunted in the
+English shires, taking his fences&mdash;even double
+ones&mdash;like a bird; he had lost and won with a
+good grace at Ascot and the Clubs, flirted 'all
+round,' and, though far from rich, was a good
+specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and
+open-hearted young officer, a favourite with
+all women, and particularly with his regiment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After luncheon he was seated beside Lady
+Fettercairn; he was too wise in his generation
+to have placed himself where he would have
+wished, beside Finella, whose little hand, on
+entering, Shafto thought he retained in his
+rather longer than etiquette required; for if
+Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly
+sharp, and he soon found that though
+Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her
+time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself,
+'now that this fellow Hammersley had come,'
+he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a very
+bad word indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have said that Finella had paid a
+protracted and&mdash;to her&mdash;most enjoyable visit
+to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties,
+and in the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley
+repeatedly; and these meetings had
+not been without a deep and tender interest
+to them both; and when they were parted
+finally by her return to Craigengowan, though
+no declaration of regard had escaped him, he
+had been burning to speak to her in that
+sweet and untutored language by which the
+inmost secrets of the loving heart can be read;
+and now that they had met again, they had
+a thousand London objects to talk about
+safely in common, which made them seem to
+be what they were, quite old friends in fact,
+and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like
+Shafto, to listen and look darkly and doubtfully on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when they were alone, which was seldom,
+or merely apart from others, there was
+between them a new consciousness now&mdash;a
+secret but sweet understanding, born of eye
+speaking to eye&mdash;all the sweeter for its
+secrecy and being all their own, a conscious
+emotion that rendered them at times almost
+afraid to speak or glance lest curious eyes or
+ears might discover what that secret was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What was to be the sequel to all this?
+Hammersley was far from rich according to
+the standard of wealth formed by Lady
+Fettercairn, and the latter had destined her
+granddaughter with all her accumulated
+wealth to be the bride of Shafto.
+Hammersley knew nothing of this; he only knew
+his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'
+but then youth, we are told, 'is
+sanguine and full of faith and hope in an
+untried future.  It looks out over the pathway
+of life towards the goal of its ambition, seeing
+only the end desired, and giving little or no
+heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents,
+that may be met with on the way.'  So,
+happy in the good fortune that threw him
+once more in the sweet society of bright
+Finella Melfort, Captain Hammersley gave
+full swing in secret to the most delightful of
+day-dreams.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all this, however, we are somewhat
+anticipating our narrative.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, like a wise man, while the luncheon
+lasted he was most attentive to his hostess,
+from whose old but still handsome face, like
+that of Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless,
+icily regular, and splendidly null,' he ever and
+anon turned to that of Finella&mdash;that <i>mignonne</i>
+face, which was so full of varying expression,
+warmth, light, and colour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,'
+said Lord Fettercairn.  'You will scarcely
+credit how long I have had it in the cellar.
+I bought a whole lot of it&mdash;when was it,
+Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the solemn
+old butler behind him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Everything at Craigengowan seems to
+take date before or after that event,' said
+Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do
+you mean for India, Grapeston?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who
+had carried 'Master Lennard' in his arms as a baby.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance
+at the colour.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes
+were bent on the face of Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull,
+but every place is so after London.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'True, we live so fast there that we never
+seem to have time to do anything.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, understanding that Shafto was
+to be his chief companion at the covies on
+the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of
+hammerless guns, of central fire, of the mode
+of breaking in dogs, training setters, and so
+forth; and as these subjects had not been
+included in Shafto's education at Lawyer
+Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he
+listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said
+Lord Fettercairn, 'the Bervie yields capital
+salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has
+filled more than one basket with the latter,
+but Shafto is somewhat of a duffer with his
+rod&mdash;he breaks many a rod, and has never
+landed a salmon yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty,
+Fasque, Hobseat, and my own, as I
+hope you will find to-morrow.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks&mdash;indeed, I am sure I shall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the
+probable bag of grouse and black game is
+from 400 to 500 brace.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After dinner that evening Finella was
+found singing at the piano&mdash;singing, as she
+always did, without requiring pressure and
+apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a
+thrush on a rose bush sings; but now she
+sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt
+instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness
+was roused when he heard her, in a pause, whisper:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto
+turn the leaves.  He likes to do it, though he
+can do little else in the way of music.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This kind of confidence seemed to imply
+foregone conclusions and a mutual understanding,
+however slight; but, to some extent,
+Finella had a kind of dread of Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley smiled and drew back, after
+placing a piece of music before her; but not
+before remarking:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;it is old as the days when George
+IV. was king&mdash;it is one you gave me some
+weeks ago in London, you remember?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Am I likely to forget?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said
+Finella, adjusting her dress over the
+music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves
+at the proper time.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Captain Hammersley will do that better
+than I,' said Shafto, drawing almost sulkily
+away, while the former resumed his place by
+Finella, with an unmistakable smile rippling
+over his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley
+had given her, was an old one, long
+since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,'
+and jealous anger gathered in Shafto's heart
+as he listened and heard Hammersley's voice
+blend with Finella's in the last line of each
+verse:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'We met not in the sylvan scene<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where lovers wish to meet,<br />
+  Where skies are bright and woods are green,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And bursting blossoms sweet;<br />
+  But in the city's busy din,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where Mammon holds his reign,<br />
+  Sweet intercourse we sought to win<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;<br />
+  Above us was a murky sky,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Around a crowded space,<br />
+  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was this, our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'They are who say Love only dwells<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;<br />
+  Alike to him are gloomy cells<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or gay and smiling bowers;<br />
+  Love works not on insensate things<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His sweet and magic art;<br />
+  No outward shrine arrests his wings,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His home is in the heart;<br />
+  And dearest hearts like <i>thine</i> and <i>mine</i>,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With rapture must retrace&mdash;<br />
+  How often Love has deigned to shine<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On this our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more
+sweetly than ever!' said Hammersley in a
+low voice as he bent over her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself;
+'where was this trysting place?  I feel
+inclined to put a charge of shot into him
+to-morrow.  I will, too, if the day is foggy!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella, though pressed, declined to sing
+more, as the Misses Kippilaw, who were
+rather irrepressible young ladies, now
+proposed a carpet-dance, and she drew on her
+gloves; and while she fumbled away, almost
+nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew
+that Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and
+admiringly bent on her, till he came to the
+rescue, and did the buttoning required; and
+to Shafto it seemed the process was a very
+protracted one, and was a pretty little
+connivance, as in reality it was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion,
+was summoned, and she&mdash;poor creature&mdash;had
+to furnish music for the occasion, till at
+last Finella good-naturedly relieved her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and
+then Shafto, though an indifferent waltzer,
+thought he might excel in a square dance
+with Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation
+at any time, and on this occasion his
+attempts at it proved a great failure, and
+when he compared this with the animation of
+Hammersley and Finella in the Lancers, he
+was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.
+The former did not seem to undergo that
+agony so often felt by Shafto, of having
+out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have
+to rack his brain for anecdotes or jokes, but
+to be able to keep up an easy flow of
+well-bred talk on persons, places, and things,
+which seemed to amuse Finella excessively,
+as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily
+while fanning herself, and looking more
+sparkling and piquante than ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What the deuce can he find to say to
+her?' thought Shafto; but Hammersley was
+only finding the links&mdash;the threads of a dear
+old story begun in London months ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So passed the first day of Hammersley's
+arrival at Craigengowan, and Finella laid her
+head on her pillow full of bright and happy
+thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no
+share.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But while these emotions and events were
+in progress, where, in the meantime, was
+Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIII.
+<br /><br />
+AMONG THE GROUSE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the
+unamiable Shafto and his threats muttered in
+secret, the shooting next day passed off
+without any peril being encountered by
+the unconscious Hammersley&mdash;unconscious at
+least of the enmity his presence was inspiring.
+However, it was not so the second; and
+Finella and her fair friends agreed that if he
+looked so well and handsome in his heather-coloured
+knickerbocker shooting-dress, with
+ribbed stockings of Alloa yarn, his gun under
+his arm, and shot-belt over his shoulder, how
+gallant must he look when in full uniform.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the field the vicinity of Shafto was
+avoided as much as possible, as he shot wildly
+indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and
+people generally on the estate he was simply
+detested for the severity of his manner, his
+tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness
+in every way; though at first, when he came
+to Craigengowan, they had laboured in vain,
+and vied with each other in their attempts
+to initiate him into those field-sports so dear
+to Britons generally, and to the Scots in
+particular; but when shooting grouse
+especially, the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine
+dread of him, and, when fog was on, sometimes
+refused to attend him, and he was, as
+they said among themselves, 'a new
+experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a
+midden,' said the old head-gamekeeper wrathfully,
+as he drew his bonnet over his beetling
+brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and
+tell my tale to the wind that blaws o'er
+Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn,
+hale and hearty, was in the field with
+his central-fire gun with fine Damascus
+barrels.  Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw,
+and four others made up the party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The morning was a lovely one, and lovely
+too was the scenery, for August is a month
+richly tinted with the last touches of summer,
+blended with the russet tones of autumn; the
+pleasant meadows are yet green, and over the
+ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the
+ocean when nearly asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apart from the joyous exhilaration of
+shooting, and that out-door exercise so dear
+to every English gentleman, Vivian
+Hammersley felt all that which comes from the
+romantic beauty of his surroundings&mdash;the
+scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which
+is a low champaign and highly cultivated
+country, studded with handsome mansions,
+and ornamented by rich plantations and
+thriving villages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ere long the open muirs were reached, and
+the hill-sides, the steep, purple ridges of
+which the sportsmen had to breast; and,
+keen sportsman though he was, Hammersley
+had soon to admit that grouse-shooting was
+the most fatiguing work he had yet
+encountered; but soon came the excitements of
+the first point, the first brood, and the first
+shot or two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown
+partridges, grouse look dusky and even black,
+and they seem to hug the purple heather, but
+when one becomes accustomed to them they
+are as easy to knock over as the tame birds;
+and now the crack of the guns began to ring
+out along the hill-slopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty
+yards apart, and twice when a bird rose
+before the latter, it was brought down
+wounded but not killed by the former.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,'
+as Shafto should not have fired, unless he
+had missed or passed it; but he only bit his
+lip and smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn
+remarked the discourtesy, and added,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto, I do wish you would take an
+example from Captain Hammersley.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He kills his game clean&mdash;few birds
+run from him with broken wings and so
+forth.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto,
+whose mode of life in Devonshire had made
+him rather soft, and he was beginning to
+think that nerves of iron and lungs like a
+bagpipe were requisite for breasting up the
+hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley worked away silently, neither
+looking to his right nor left, feeling that
+though several elements are requisite for
+'sport,' the chief then was to kill as much
+grouse as possible in a given time, but was
+more than once irritated and discomposed by
+Shafto, and even young Kippilaw, shooting in
+a blundering way along the line even when
+the birds were not flying high; and he
+proceeded in a workmanlike way to bring
+down one bird as it approached, the next
+when it was past him, and so on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first portion of the day the Fettercairn
+party shot to points, and then to drivers, and
+in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the
+latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he
+loathed the whole thing, and was now
+'completely blown&mdash;pumped out,' as he phrased it,
+he was not sorry when the magic word
+'lunch' was uttered; and Hammersley
+certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came
+Finella, and with her arrival&mdash;to him&mdash;the
+most delightful part of the day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She came tooling along the sunny pathway
+that traversed the bottom of a glen, driving
+with her tightly gauntleted and deft little
+hands a pair of beautiful white ponies, which
+drew the daintiest of basket-phaetons,
+containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample
+luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for
+halting was a green oasis amid the dark
+heather, where a spring of deliciously cool
+water was bubbling up, called Finella's Well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn,
+'please to draw your cartridges.  I was once
+nearly shot in this very place by a stupid
+fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you
+have come, Finella darling, we are all hungry
+as hawks, and thirsty too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look
+in her coquettish hat and well-fitting jacket,
+while the drive, the occasion, and the touch
+of Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to
+alight gave her cheek an unwonted colour,
+and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and
+the soldier thought that certainly there was
+nothing in the world so pleasant to a man's
+eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have had good sport,' said she to the
+group, while her eye rested on Hammersley,
+and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces
+on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze
+with her,' as the gentlemen thought, and had
+a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of
+greeting the members of the party was
+different, as to some she gave her hand like
+a little queen, while to others she smiled, or
+simply bowed; but provoked an angry snort
+from Shafto by expressing a hope that he
+'had not shot anyone yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then he grew white as he recalled his
+angry thoughts of the preceding night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why did you take the trouble to drive
+here?' he asked her, in a low voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because I chose to come; and I do so
+love driving these plump darlings of ponies,'
+replied the girl, patting the sleek animals
+with her tiny, slim hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Old Grapeston would have done well
+enough; and why did you not bring one of
+the Kippilaw girls?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I
+could please you&mdash;not an easy task&mdash;I should
+have tried to bring them all, though that is
+rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto never for a moment doubted that
+she had come over to superintend the
+luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley'
+was one of the party; and in this suspicion
+perhaps he was right.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for Hammersley, being ignorant of
+Shafto's antecedents, his present hopes, and
+those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not
+comprehend how the grandson and heir-apparent
+of a peer came to be 'such bad form&mdash;bad
+style, and all that sort of thing,' as he
+thought; and all that became rather worse
+when Shafto was under the influence of
+sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno
+administered by Mr. Grapeston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the sportsmen lounged on the grass,
+and the luncheon proceeded under the
+superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston,
+Finella, the presiding goddess, looked
+unusually bright and happy&mdash;a consummation
+which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and
+jealousy, came of the presence of Vivian
+Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all
+the result of another man's society&mdash;not his
+certainly, and hence he would have preferred
+that she was not light-hearted at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could see that with all her <i>espieglerie</i>
+Finella found no occasion to laugh at
+Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as
+she did himself, but the attentions of
+Hammersley were delicately and seductively paid.
+Deferential and gentle at all times, to all
+women, he had always been so to Finella
+Melfort, and she was able to feel more than
+his words, looks, or manner suggested to
+others; and he imagined&mdash;nay, he was
+becoming certain&mdash;and a glow of great joy came
+with the certainty&mdash;that Finella's sweet dark
+eyes grew brighter at his approach; that a
+rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and
+there came a slight quiver into her voice
+when she replied to him,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Was it all really so?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fate was soon to decide that which he had
+been too slow or timid to decide for himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he said one of the merest commonplaces
+to her, their eyes met.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was only one lingering glance!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But looks can say so much more than the
+voice, the eyes surpassing the lips, breaking
+or revealing what the silence of months, it
+may be years, has hidden, and leading heart
+to heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and
+just before driving off, 'do you shoot over
+this ground to-morrow?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To a certain extent we shall&mdash;but why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!'
+said she, with a bow to all, and a merry
+glance which included most certainly Vivian
+Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed
+to darken with her departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,'
+said Lord Fettercairn, who knew
+by old experience that when the afternoon
+shadows, and more especially those of evening,
+begin to lengthen, the slopes of the hills are
+seen better, that the birds, too, lie better,
+and that as the air becomes more fresh and
+cool, men can shoot with greater care and
+deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But
+Hammersley, full of his own thoughts, full of
+the image of Finella and that tale-telling
+glance they had exchanged, missed nearly
+every bird, to the great exultation of Shafto,
+who made an incredible number of bad and
+clumsy jokes thereon&mdash;jokes which the young
+Englishman heard with perfect indifference
+and equanimity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the
+result of the next day's expedition, and
+certainly Hammersley did not do so either.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIV.
+<br /><br />
+THE TWO FINELLAS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Next day, when the grouse-shooting had
+been in progress for an hour or two, a
+mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted
+his ankle in a turnip-field, fell heavily on
+one side, and staggered up too lame to take
+further share in the sport for that day at
+least.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When Finella comes with the lunch in
+the pony-phaeton, she will drive you home,'
+said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired
+one of the beaters to give Hammersley
+the assistance of an arm to the well,
+where the repast was to be laid out as
+before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Shafto saw his rival limping he was
+delighted, and thought, 'This will mar his
+waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less
+delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's
+natural suggestion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next
+thought, 'to get a quiet drive with her to
+Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Finella's look and exclamation of
+alarm and interest were not lost upon him
+when she arrived and found Hammersley
+seated on the grass by the side of the well,
+and saw the difficulty with which he rose to
+greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded
+gun as he did so; and soft, indeed, was the
+blush of pleasure that crossed her delicate
+face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;'
+and certainly it met, secretly, with the
+entire approbation of Hammersley, who
+anticipated with delight the drive home with such
+a companion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time the luncheon&mdash;though skilfully
+protracted by Shafto&mdash;was over, and
+Finella and her 'patient' were together in
+the phaeton, and she, with a smile and farewell
+bow, whipped up her petted ponies, Flirt
+and Fairy, whom every day she fed with
+apples and carrots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that
+she was in great haste to be gone; but more
+sulky would he have been had he seen, or
+known that when once an angle of the glen
+was reached where the road dipped out of
+sight, the ponies were permitted to go at
+their own pace, which ere long dwindled into
+a walk, till they passed the vast ruined castle
+of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley
+were, however, if very happy, very silent,
+though both enjoyed the drive in the bright
+sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he
+quite forgot his petty misfortune in contemplating
+the delicate profile and long drooping
+eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and
+who, with a fluttering heart, was perhaps
+expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,
+especially when he placed his hand on hers,
+in pretence of guiding the ponies, which
+broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates
+were passed; and glorious as the opportunity
+accorded him had been, Hammersley's heart,
+while burning with passionate ardour, seemed
+to have lost all courage, for he had a sincere
+dread of Lady Fettercairn, and suspected
+that her interests were naturally centred in
+Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At seven-and-twenty a man, who has
+knocked about the world, with a regiment
+especially, for some nine years or so, does
+not fall over head and ears in love like a
+rash boy, or without calculating his chances
+of general success; and poor Hammersley,
+though he did not doubt achieving it with
+Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and breakers
+ahead with her family, and his spirit was a
+proud one.  To make a declaration was to
+ruin or lose everything, for if the family were
+averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit
+their roof for ever, and Finella would be lost
+to him, for heiresses seldom elope now, save
+in novels; and he knew that in her circle the
+motives for marriage are more various and
+questionable than with other and untitled
+ranks of life.  Rank and money were the
+chief incentives of such people as the
+Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,'
+says an essayist, 'no doubt occur in the
+humbler classes, but love is more frequently
+the incentive, while with princes and
+patricians the conjugal alliance is, in nine
+instances out of ten, a mere matter of <i>expedience</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Craigengowan was reached, and not a
+word of the great secret that filled his heart
+had escaped him, for which he cursed his
+own folly and timidity when the drive ended,
+and a groom took the ponies' heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet the day was not over, nor was a
+fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady Fettercairn
+and all her female quests had driven to a
+flower-show at the nearest town&mdash;even
+Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything in and about Craigengowan
+seemed conducive to love-talk and
+confidences.  The great and picturesque house
+itself was charming.  The old orchards
+would ere long be heavy with fruit, and were
+then a sight to see; on the terrace the
+peacocks were strutting to and fro; there were
+fancy arbours admirably adapted for flirtation,
+and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun
+and moon dial) now gay with all the flowers
+of August.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On a lounge near an open window facing
+the latter Hammersley was reclining, when
+Finella, after changing her driving dress,
+came into the drawing-room, and finely her
+costume suited her dark and piquante style
+of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk,
+profusely trimmed with filmy lace, and a
+cluster of scarlet flowers on the left shoulder
+among the lace of the collarette that encircled
+her slender neck; and Hammersley, as he
+looked at her, thought that 'beauty
+unadorned' was rather a fallacy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His undisguised expression of admiration
+as he partly rose to receive her caused her to
+colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was
+easier now; but, instead of replying, he
+said, while venturing slightly to touch her
+hand:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by
+your dear pretty name of Finella?  Not
+from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, I am very unlike her!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are certainly quite as charming!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But neither dumb nor pretending to be
+so,' said the girl, with one of her silvery little
+laughs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to
+himself, in a low and unconsciously loving
+tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't you know?' she asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How could I know?  I know only that I
+will never forget it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course you could not know.  The
+origin of my name is one of the oldest legends
+of the Howe of the Mearns.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Howe&mdash;that is Scotch for "hollow," I
+believe.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; "hollow" is the English for <i>howe</i>,'
+replied Finella, laughing, as she recalled a
+quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.
+'You saw the great old castle we passed in
+our drive home?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who
+lived there.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After it fell into ruin?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; before it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then she must have lived a precious long
+time ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She certainly did&mdash;some&mdash;nearly a
+thousand years ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss
+Melfort, what joke is this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously;
+'you can read about it in our family history&mdash;or
+I shall read it to you in the "Book of
+Fettercairn."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She took from a table near a handsome
+volume, which her grandfather&mdash;to please
+whom she was named Finella&mdash;had in a
+spirit of family vanity prepared for private
+circulation, and as if to connect his title with
+antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in
+ancient Scottish history, though little known
+to the Scots of the present day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We give it from his Lordship's book
+verbatim as she read it to Vivian
+Hammersley, who&mdash;cunning rogue&mdash;was not
+indisposed with such a charming and
+sympathetic companion as Finella to make the
+most of his fall, and reclined rather luxuriously
+on the velvet lounge, while she, seated in a
+dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely
+listened, so intent was he on watching her
+sweet face, her white and perfect ears, her
+downcast eyelids with their long lashes&mdash;her
+whole self!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella)
+and of that Ilk, take their hereditary
+title from the old castle of that name, which
+stands in the Howe of the Mearns, and is
+sometimes called the Castle of Finella.  It
+is situated on an eminence, and is now
+surrounded on three sides by a morass.  It
+is enclosed within an inner and an outer wall
+of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of
+ground.  The inner is composed of vitrified
+matter, but no lime has been used in its
+construction.  The walls are a congeries of
+small stones cemented together by some
+molten matter, now harder than the stones
+themselves; and the remarkable event for
+which this castle is celebrated in history is
+the following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant
+king (who defeated the Danes at the battle
+of Luncarty, and created on that field the
+Hays, Earls of Errol, Hereditary Constables
+of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal
+cavalry, thus originating also the noble
+families of Tweeddale and Kinnoull), was on
+the throne, his favourite residence was the
+castle of Kincardine, the ruins of which still
+remain about a mile eastward of the village
+of Fettercairn, and from thence he went
+periodically to pay his devotions at the
+shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the Scots,
+to whom the latter had been sent by Pope
+Celestine in the sixth century to oppose
+the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at
+Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold
+and precious stones in 1409 by the Bishop of
+St. Andrews.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had excited the deadly hatred
+of Finella, the Lady of Fettercairn, daughter
+of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to
+death her son, who was a traitor and had
+rebelled against him in Lochaber; and, with
+the intention of being revenged, she prepared
+at Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal
+machine,' with which to slay the king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This engine consisted of a brass statue,
+which shot out arrows when a golden apple
+was taken from its hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in
+hunting the deer, wolf, the badger and the
+boar, when she treacherously invited him to
+her castle of Fettercairn, which was then,
+as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with shady
+groves and piles of curious buildings,' of
+which there remained no vestiges when he
+wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither
+the king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle,
+white tunic, an eagle's wing in his helmet,
+and on its crest a glittering <i>clach-bhuai</i>, or
+stone of power, one of the three now in the
+Scottish regalia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dissembling her hate, she entertained the
+king very splendidly, and after dinner
+conducted him out to view the beauties of the
+place and the structure of her castle; and
+Kenneth, pleased with her beauty (which her
+raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of
+blue silk, without sleeves, a mantle of fine
+linen, fastened by a brooch of silver, and all
+her golden hair floating on her shoulders,
+accompanied her into a tower, where, in an
+upper apartment, and amid rich festooned
+arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the
+infernal machine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She courteously and smilingly requested
+the king to take the golden apple from the
+right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by
+the strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing
+sound was heard within it as a string or cord
+gave way, and from its mouth there came
+forth two barbed arrows which mortally
+wounded him, and he fell at her feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth
+was found by his retinue '<i>bullerand in his
+blude</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the
+genuine spirit of legendary lore, to have
+obtained its name from this princess, who,
+the more readily to evade her pursuers,
+stepped from the branches of one tree to
+those of another the whole way from her
+castle to this den, which is near the sea, in
+the parish of St. Cyres, as all the country
+then was a wild forest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Buchanan deems all this story a fable,
+though asserted by John Major and Hector
+Boece, and thinks it more probable that the
+king was slain near Fettercairn in an ambush
+prepared by Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So ended the legend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley
+had bent lower and lower over her, till the
+tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich
+dark hair, and his arm all but stole round
+her.  Finella Melfort was quite conscious of
+this close proximity, and though she did not
+shrink from it, that consciousness made her
+colour deepen and her sweet voice become unsteady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,'
+said she, closing the book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And to this awful legend of the dark
+ages, which only wants blue-fire, lime-light,
+and a musical accompaniment to set it off,
+you owe your name?' said he, laughingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;it was grandfather's whim.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is odd that you&mdash;the belle of the last
+London season, should be named after such a
+grotesque old termagant!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She looked up at him smilingly, and then,
+as their eyes met, the expression of that
+glance exchanged beside the well on the hills
+came into them again; heart spoke to heart;
+he bent his face nearer hers, and his arm
+went round her in earnest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as
+he kissed her unresisting lips, her blushing
+face was hidden on his shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And <i>this</i> tableau was the result of the two
+days' shooting&mdash;a sudden result which neither
+Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of how long they remained thus neither
+had any idea.  Time seemed to stand still
+with them.  Finella was only conscious of
+his hand caressing hers, which lay so willingly
+in his tender, yet firm, clasp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt
+oblivious of all the world.  He could think
+of nothing but Finella, while the latter
+seemed scarcely capable of reflection at all
+beyond the existing thought that he loved
+her, and though the avowal was a silent and
+unuttered one, the new sense of all it admitted
+and involved, seemed to overwhelm the girl;
+her brightest day-dreams had come, and she
+nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The unwelcome sound of voices and also
+of carriage-wheels on the terrace roused
+them.  He released her hand, stole one
+more clinging kiss, and forgetful of his fall
+and all about it started with impatience to
+his feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had
+returned from the flower-show, and to avoid
+them and all the world, for a little time yet,
+the lovers, with their hearts still beating too
+wildly to come down to commonplace, tacitly
+wandered hand in hand into the recesses of a
+conservatory, and lingered there amid the
+warm, flower-scented atmosphere and shaded
+aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella was conscious that Vivian
+Hammersley was talking to her lovingly and
+caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he
+had never talked before, and she felt that
+she was 'Finella'&mdash;the dearest and sweetest
+name in the world to him&mdash;and no more
+Miss Melfort.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be difficult, and superfluous
+perhaps, to describe the emotions of these
+two during the next few days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though now quite aware that Finella and
+Hammersley had met each other frequently
+before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy,
+though apparently undemonstrative, grew
+speedily into suspicious anger.  He felt
+intuitively that <i>his</i> presence made not the
+slightest difference to them, though he did
+not forget it; and he failed to understand
+how 'this fellow' had so quickly
+gained his subtle and familiar position with
+Finella.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It galled him to the quick to see and feel
+all this, and know that he could never please
+her as she seemed to be pleased with
+Hammersley; for her colour heightened, her eyes
+brightened, and her eyelashes drooped and
+flickered whenever he approached or
+addressed her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining
+Finella and her fortune against any discovery
+that might be made of the falsehood of his
+position, and so wrath and hatred gathered
+in his heart together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was baffled at times by her bright
+smiles and pretty, irresistible manner, but
+nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to
+scheme again.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XV.
+<br /><br />
+AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon
+Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her father had been dull and gloomy of
+late, and had more than once laid his hand
+affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and
+said in a prayerful way that 'he hoped he
+might soon see her well married, and that she
+might never be left friendless!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would
+reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for
+some time past.  Was it born of her father's
+forebodings, or of the presentiment about
+which she had conversed with Florian?  A
+depression hung over her&mdash;an undefinable
+dread of some great calamity about to happen.
+At night her sleep was restless and broken,
+and by day a vague fear haunted her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The evil boded was to happen soon now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these oppressive thoughts mingled
+the memory of the tall and handsome dark-eyed
+lad she loved&mdash;it seemed so long ago,
+and she longed to hear his voice again, and
+for his breast to lay her head upon.  But
+where was Florian now?  Months had passed
+without her hearing of him, and she might
+never hear again!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little could she have conceived the foul
+trick that Shafto had played them both in the
+matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for
+herself, she had not seen the last of that
+enterprising young gentleman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She felt miserably that her heart was lonely
+and heavy, and that, young as she was, light
+and joy, with the absence and ruin of Florian,
+had gone out of her life.  She was alone
+always with her great sorrow, and longed
+much for tears; but as her past life had been
+a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had
+been little&mdash;if at all&mdash;given to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One morning her father did not appear at
+breakfast as usual.  As yet undressed her
+red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke
+and caress, was floating in a great loose mass
+on her back and shoulders, and her blue eyes
+looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had, as was her daily wont, arranged
+his letters, cut and aired the morning papers
+for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on
+the table, with a basket of delicate peaches,
+which she knew he liked, from the famous
+south wall of the garden, with green fig
+leaves round them, for Dulcie did everything
+prettily and tastefully, however trivial.  Then
+she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his
+tea, and waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still he did not appear.  She knocked on
+his bedroom door, but received no answer,
+and saw, with surprise, that his boots were
+still on the mat outside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She peeped in and called on him&mdash;'Papa,
+papa!' but there was no response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The room was empty, and the morning sun
+streamed through the uncurtained window.
+The bed had not been slept in!  Again she
+called his name, and rushed downstairs in
+alarm and affright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gas was burning in his writing-room;
+the window was still closed as it had been
+overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with
+his hands and arms stretched out on the table,
+sat Llewellen Carlyon, with his head bent
+forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually
+gone to sleep over his horrid weary work.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She leaned over his chair; wound her soft
+arms round his neck and bowed grey head&mdash;her
+lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness,
+her sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as
+she laid her cheek upon it, a mortal chill
+struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is this&mdash;papa?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was
+the sleep of death!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was disease of the heart, the doctors
+said, and he had thus passed away&mdash;died in
+harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right
+hand, and an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the
+servants to her own room&mdash;they were old and
+affectionate country folks, who had been long
+with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and
+his daughter well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious,
+the sudden shock was so dreadful to her, and
+when she woke from it, the old curate,
+Mr. Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and
+herself, was standing near her bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly
+and tenderly, as he passed his wrinkled hand
+over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What has happened?' she asked wildly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You fainted, Dulcie.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why&mdash;I never fainted before.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered
+an old servant, who saw the vague and
+wild inquiring expression of her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,'
+said the curate, putting a cup of coffee and
+piece of toast before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Something happened&mdash;something
+dreadful&mdash;what was it&mdash;oh, what was it?' asked
+Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She drank of the coffee thirstily; but
+declined the bread.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he;
+'I feared you might be unable to eat yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering
+and troubled look, and to become less
+wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry
+escaped her, and she said, with a calmness
+more terrible and painful than fainting or hysterics:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, I remember now&mdash;papa&mdash;poor papa&mdash;dead!
+Found dead!  Oh, my God! help
+me to bear it, or take me too&mdash;take me too!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long ago was it&mdash;yesterday&mdash;a
+month ago, or when?  I seem&mdash;I feel as if
+I had grown quite old, yet you all look just
+the same&mdash;just the same; how is this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes,
+'your dire calamity happened but a short time
+ago&mdash;little more than an hour since.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her response was a deep and heavy sob,
+that seemed to come from her overcharged
+heart rather than her slender throat, and
+which was the result of the unnatural tension
+of her mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come to my house with me,' said the
+kind old curate; but Dulcie shook her head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I
+wish to be with him, and alone.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake
+in grief to avoid contact with the world.
+The mind only gets sadder and deeper into
+its gloom of melancholy.  If you could but
+sleep, child, a little.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sleep&mdash;I feel as if I had been asleep for
+years; and it was this morning, you tell
+me&mdash;only this morning I had my arms round
+his neck&mdash;dead&mdash;my darling papa dead!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She started to her feet as if to go where
+the body lay under the now useless hands of
+the doctor, but would have fallen had she not
+clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who
+upheld and restrained her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The awful thought of her future loneliness
+now that she had thus suddenly lost her
+father, as she had not another relation in the
+world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and
+deprived her of the power of taking food or
+obtaining sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In vain her old servants, who had known
+her from infancy, coaxed her to attempt
+both, but sleep would not come, and the food
+remained untasted before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A little water,' she would say; 'give me
+a little water, for thirst parches me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All that passed subsequently seemed like
+one long and terrible dream to Dulcie.  She
+was alone in the world, and when her father
+was laid in his last home at Revelstoke, within
+sound of the tumbling waves, in addition to
+being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless,
+for her father had nothing to leave her
+but the old furniture of the house they had
+inhabited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was sold, and she was to remain with
+the family of the curate till some situation
+could be procured for her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had long since ceased to expect any
+letter from or tidings of Florian.  She began
+to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of
+his new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well,
+it was the way of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never would she forget the day she quitted
+her old home.  Her father's hat, his coat and
+cane were in the hall; all that he had used and
+that belonged to him were still there, to bring
+his presence before her with fresh poignancy,
+and to impress upon her that she was fatherless,
+all but friendless, and an orphan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The superstitious people about Revelstoke
+now remembered that in Lawyer Carlyon's
+garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time
+appeared on more than one of his apple-trees,
+a certain sign of coming death to one of his
+household.  But who can tell in this
+ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One evening&mdash;she never forgot it&mdash;she had
+been visiting her father's grave, and was
+slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground,
+when a man like a soldier approached her
+in haste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his
+name, but it died away on her bloodless lips.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVI.
+<br /><br />
+''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+A poet says:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Not by appointment do we meet delight<br />
+  And joy: they need not our expectancy.<br />
+  But round some corner in the streets of life,<br />
+  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Florian it was who stood before her, but
+though he gazed at her earnestly, wistfully,
+and with great pity in his tender eyes as he
+surveyed her pale face and deep mourning,
+he made no attempt to take the hands she
+yearningly extended towards him.  She saw
+that he was in the uniform of a private soldier,
+over which he wore a light dust-coat as a sort
+of disguise, but there was no mistaking his
+glengarry&mdash;that head-dress which is odious
+and absurd for English and Irish regiments,
+and which in his instance bore a brass
+badge&mdash;the sphinx, for Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon
+the expression of his eye grew doubtful and
+cloudy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing
+voice, in which something of upbraiding
+blended with tones of surprise and grief; and
+yet the fact of his presence seemed so unreal
+that she lingered for a moment before she
+flung herself into his arms, and was clasped
+to his breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of
+this dress?' she asked, lifting her face and
+surveying him again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It means that I am a soldier&mdash;like him
+whose son I thought myself&mdash;a soldier of the
+Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with
+some bitterness of tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!'
+said Dulcie wringing her interlaced fingers.
+'Could not Shafto&mdash;your cousin&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto cast me off&mdash;seemed as if he could
+not get rid of me too soon.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How cruel, when he might have done so
+much for you, to use you so!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would
+not stoop to seek favours even from him, and
+our paths in life will never cross each other
+again; but a time may come&mdash;I know not
+when&mdash;in which I may seek forgiveness of
+enemies as well as friends&mdash;the bad and the
+good together&mdash;for a soldier's life is one of
+peril.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of horror&mdash;to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping
+freely on his breast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why
+did you cast me off in my utter adversity and
+return to me my locket?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie looked up in astonishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What <i>do</i> you mean, Florian&mdash;have you
+lost your senses?' she asked in sore perplexity.
+'Where have you come from last?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice
+of your terrible loss, and resolved to see, even
+if I could not speak with you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you came&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To see you, my lost darling, once again.
+Oh, Dulcie, I thought I should die if I left
+England and sailed for Africa without doing
+so.  I got a day's leave and am here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But why have you done this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This&mdash;what?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Soldiering!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I
+do?&mdash;besides, I thought you had cast me off
+when you sent me back this locket,' he added,
+producing the gift referred to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That locket was stolen from me on the
+night you left Revelstoke&mdash;literally wrenched
+from my neck, as I told you in my letter&mdash;the
+letter you never answered.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I received no letter, Dulcie&mdash;but your
+locket was taken from you by whom?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The double villain!  He must have intercepted
+that letter, and utilised the envelope
+with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,
+and effect a breach between us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie,
+and now I almost wish you had.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is little use to remember me now&mdash;I
+am so poor and hopeless.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After all,' said she, taking his face between
+her hands caressingly, 'what does poverty
+matter if we love each other still?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you love me, Dulcie&mdash;love me yet!'
+exclaimed Florian passionately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And shall never, never cease to do so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I am so much beneath you now in
+position, Dulcie&mdash;and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;' his voice
+broke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, darling?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'May never rise.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you
+because you were unfortunate?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; but you are more than a woman,
+Dulcie&mdash;you are a golden-haired angel!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow
+your cheeks are!  You have suffered&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Much since last we parted here in dear
+old Devonshire.  But Shafto's villainy
+surpasses all I could have imagined!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And where is Shafto now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I
+am glad that we have unravelled that which
+was to me a source of sorrow and dismay&mdash;the
+returned locket.  So you cannot take
+back your heart, Dulcie, nor give me mine?'
+said Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied,
+sweetly and simply.  'Though poor, we are
+all the world to each other now.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day
+existence is, there is&mdash;even in these
+railway times&mdash;much of strange and painful
+romance woven up with many a life; and
+so it seems to be with mine&mdash;with ours,
+Dulcie.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you
+were so!' exclaimed the girl, as a great pity
+filled her heart, when she thought of her
+lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes,
+and the humble and most perilous course that
+was before him in South Africa, where the
+clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too,
+am poor, Florian&mdash;very poor; dear papa died
+involved, leaving me penniless, and I must
+cast about to earn my own bread.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is horrible&mdash;how shall I endure it?'
+said he fiercely, while regarding her with a
+loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What would you have done if you had not
+met me by chance here?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Loafed about till the last moment, and
+then done something desperate.  I <i>would</i> have
+seen you, and after that&mdash;the Deluge!  In
+two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added,
+casting a glance at the old church of
+Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our
+parents lie, Dulcie&mdash;yours at least, and those
+that I, till lately, thought were mine.  There
+is something very strange and mysterious in
+this change of relationship and position
+between Shafto and myself.  I cannot understand
+it.  Why was I misled all my life by
+one who loved me so well?  How often have
+I stood with the Major by a gravestone
+yonder inscribed with the name of Flora
+MacIan and heard him repeat while looking
+at it&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'A thousand would call the spot dreary<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where thou takest thy long repose;<br />
+  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the frame that suffering knows.<br />
+  I never rejoiced more sincerely<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Than at thy funeral hour,<br />
+  Assured that the one I loved dearly<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was beyond affliction's power!<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Why did he quote all this to me, and tell
+me never to forget that spot, or who was
+buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt,
+and not my mother?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian felt keenly for the position of
+Dulcie Carlyon, and the perils and mortifications
+that might beset her path now; but
+he was too young, too healthy and full of
+animal life and spirits, to be altogether
+weighed down by the thought of his humble
+position and all that was before him; and
+now that he had seen her again, restored to
+her bosom the locket, and that he knew she
+was true to him, and had never for a moment
+wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to
+become suddenly full of new impulses and
+hopes for him, and he thought prayerfully
+that all might yet be well for them both.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To Dulcie there seemed something noble
+in the hopeful spirit that, under her influence,
+animated her grave lover now.  He seemed
+to become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap
+what might, she felt he would ever be true
+to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He seemed brave and tender and true&mdash;'tender
+and true' as a Douglas of old, and
+Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it
+would be to have such a handsome young husband
+as he to take care of her always, and see
+that all she did was right and proper and wise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A long embrace, and he was gone to catch
+the inexorable train.  She was again alone,
+and for the first time she perceived that the
+sun had set, that the waves looked black as
+they rounded Revelstoke promontory, and
+that all the landscape had grown dark,
+desolate, and dreary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a hopeless future seemed to stretch
+before these two creatures, so young and so
+loving!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian was gone&mdash;gone to serve as a
+private soldier on the burning coast of Africa.
+It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to
+think of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Every morning and evening I shall pray
+for you, Florian,' wailed the girl in her heart;
+'pray that you may be happy, good, and
+rich, and&mdash;and that we shall yet meet in
+heaven if we never meet on earth.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the second morning after this separation,
+when Dulcie was pillowed in sleep, and
+the rising sun was shining brightly on the
+waves that rolled in Cawsand Bay and
+danced over the Mewstone, a great white
+'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under
+sail and steam, with the blue-peter flying at
+its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded
+with red coats, all waving their caps and
+taking a farewell look at Old England&mdash;the
+last look it proved to many&mdash;and, led by Bob
+Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of
+the Warwickshire, hundreds of voices joined
+chorusing:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Merrily, my lads, so ho!<br />
+  They may talk of a life at sea,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But a life on the land<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With sword in hand<br />
+  Is the life, my lads, for me!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+But there was one young soldier whose
+voice failed him in the chorus, and whose
+eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of
+the Yealm till these and other familiar features
+of the coast melted into the widening
+Channel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was roused to exertion from the
+stupor of grief that had come upon her by
+tidings that a situation had been found for
+her as companion&mdash;one in which she would
+have to make herself useful, amiable, and
+agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and
+wealth, to whom she would be sent by
+influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate
+was her lot now, cast to seek her bread
+among utter strangers; and if she became ill,
+delicate, or unable to work, what would become
+of her?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her separation from Florian seemed now
+greater than ever; but, as Heine has it:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Tis but the old, old story,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yet it ever abideth new;<br />
+  And to whomsoever it cometh<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The heart it breaks in two.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie had been born and bred there,
+and all the villagers in Revelstoke loved
+and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were
+deeply interested in the future of his daughter;
+thus, on the day of her departure no one
+made any pretence of work or working.
+Heads were popping out and in of the windows
+of the village street all morning, and a
+cluster&mdash;a veritable crowd&mdash;of kindly folks
+accompanied Mr. Pentreath and the weeping
+girl to the railway station, for she wept freely
+at all this display of regard and sympathy,
+especially from the old, whom she might
+never see again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the train swept her away, and she
+lost sight of the last familiar feature of her
+native place, a strange and heavy sense of
+utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and
+but for the presence of other passengers she
+would have stooped her head upon her hot
+hands and sobbed aloud, for she thought of
+her dead parents&mdash;when did she not think of
+them now?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have
+loved and gone before us can see afar off
+those they have left, surely the mother who
+had passed from earth might tremble now
+for her child, standing so terribly alone in the
+midst of a seething sea of danger and temptations?'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVII.
+<br /><br />
+AT CRAIGENGOWAN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+With the new understanding&mdash;the tacit
+engagement that existed between herself and
+Vivian Hammersley&mdash;Finella writhed with
+annoyance when privately and pointedly
+spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'
+Shafto's attentions and hopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn,
+'I don't see why I may not marry
+whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl
+who has nothing in the world.  Indeed, in
+that case I am pretty sure that neither you
+nor cousin Shafto would want me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn,
+when reporting this plain reply to
+Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not
+take her to London again, yet awhile.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are right,' replied that somewhat
+grim matron; 'and when once this Captain
+Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat
+too <i>èpris</i> with her, is gone, you can easily
+find some pretext for remaining at Craigengowan;
+or shall I have her with me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn,
+who knew that the Drumshoddy <i>mènage</i> did
+not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I
+think she is better here&mdash;propinquity and all
+that sort of thing may be productive of good.
+I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made
+up, and, as I said before, she must settle
+soon.  We can't have twenty thousand a year
+slipping out of the family.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella thought little of their wishes or
+those of Shafto.  She thought only of that
+passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,
+where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips
+were pressed to hers; of the close throb of
+heart to heart, and that the great secret of
+her young girl's life was his now and hers no
+longer, but aware of the opposition and
+antagonism he would be sure to encounter just
+then, she urged upon him a caution and a
+secrecy of the engagement which his proud
+spirit somewhat resented.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thought it scarcely honourable to take
+advantage of Lord Fettercairn's hospitality,
+and gain the love of Finella without his
+permission; but as both knew that would
+never be accorded&mdash;that to ask for it would
+cut short his visit, and as he was so soon
+going on distant service, with Finella he
+agreed that their engagement should be kept
+a secret till his return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to blind the eyes of the watchful or
+suspicious he actually found himself flirting
+with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young
+ladies who thought they spoke the purest
+English, though it was with that accent which
+Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of
+Edinburgh;' and, perceiving this, Lady
+Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and
+Finella was excessively amused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not so the astute Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is all a d&mdash;&mdash;d game!' muttered that
+young gentleman; 'a red herring drawn
+across the scent.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?'
+asked Finella one evening, when she and her
+lover found themselves alone for a few
+minutes, during which she had been
+contemplating his dark face in silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My leave of absence is running out so
+fast&mdash;by Jove, faster than ever apparently
+now!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl
+softly and after a pause, her dark eyes
+darkening and seeming to become more
+intense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No,' he replied, with hesitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell me, then&mdash;what is the other?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You know how I love you&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I&mdash;you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But in one sense my love is so liable to
+misconstruction&mdash;so hopeless of proof.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hopeless, Vivian&mdash;after all I have
+admitted?' she asked reproachfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mean because I am almost penniless as
+compared to you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What does that matter?  Surely I have
+enough for two,' said she, laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I fear the bitter opposition of your
+family.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the
+independent little beauty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have heard a rumour that one of the
+Melforts who made a pure love-marriage was
+cut off root and branch.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I
+was born.  Well&mdash;they can't cut <i>me</i> off.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They will never consent; and when I am
+far away, as I soon shall be, if their evil
+influence&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!'
+exclaimed the girl, her dark eyes sparkling
+through their unshed tears.  'Think not of
+their influencing me, for a moment.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you a thousand times for the
+assurance, my love.  It was vile of me to
+think of such things.  I have a sure conviction
+that your cousin Shafto dislikes me most
+certainly,' said Hammersley, after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't doubt it,' said she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They mean you for him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They&mdash;who?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your grandparents.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know they do&mdash;but don't tease me by
+speaking of a subject so distasteful,' exclaimed
+Finella, making a pretty moue expression of
+disdain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on
+her hair, and his lips quickly found their way
+to hers, after they had been pressed on her
+snow-white eyelids.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,'
+he exclaimed passionately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in
+that style of iteration of which lovers never
+grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,
+which it was a pity the gathering gloom
+prevented him from seeing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they walked slowly towards the house,
+she quickly withdrew her hands, which were
+clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto
+approached them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt
+act, and drew his own conclusions therefrom,
+and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned
+abruptly away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So that is the amiable youth for whom
+they design you,' said he in a whisper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Did I not say you were not to speak of
+him?  To tell you the truth, I am at times
+somewhat afraid of him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My darling&mdash;I must give you an amulet&mdash;a
+charm against his evil influence,' said
+Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring
+on her wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is this&mdash;oh, Vivian! actually a
+wedding-ring&mdash;but I cannot wear, though I
+may keep it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then wear this until you can, when I
+return, darling,' said he, as he slipped a
+gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and
+stooping, kissed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl
+happily.  'Well, Vivian, none other than the
+hoop you have now given me shall be my
+wedding-ring!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this
+she would have had good reason to fear that
+Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping
+away from the Craigengowan family, all the
+more so that the scene of this tender
+interview was a spot below the mansion-house,
+said to be traditionally fatal to the Melforts
+of Fettercairn, the Howe of Craigengowan&mdash;for
+there a terrible adventure occurred to the
+first Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of
+whom the men of the Mearns were wont to
+say he had not only sold his country to her
+enemies, but that he had also sold his soul to
+the evil one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It chanced that in the gloaming of the
+28th of April, 1708, the first anniversary of
+that day on which the Scottish Parliament
+dissolved to meet no more, he was walking
+in a place which he had bought with his
+Union bribe&mdash;the Howe of Craigengowan,
+then a secluded dell, overshadowed by great
+alders and whin bushes&mdash;when he saw at the
+opposite end the figure of a man approaching
+pace for pace with himself, and his outline
+was distinctly seen against the red flush of
+the western sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they neared each other slowly, a strange
+emotion of superstitious awe stole into the
+hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong
+was this that he paused for a minute, and
+rested on his cane.  The stranger did
+precisely the same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The peer&mdash;the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited
+Estates&mdash;'pulled himself together,'
+and put his left hand jauntily into the silver
+hilt of his sword&mdash;a motion imitated exactly,
+and to all appearance mockingly, by the
+other, whose gait, bearing, and costume&mdash;a
+square-skirted crimson coat, a long-flapped
+white vest, black breeches and stockings
+rolled over the knee, and a Ramillie wig&mdash;were
+all the same in cut and colour as his
+own!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert
+that he would never be able to describe the
+undefinable, the strange and awful sensation
+that crept over him when, as they neared
+each other, pace by pace, he saw in the
+other's visage the features of himself
+reproduced, as if he had been looking into a
+mirror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A cold horror ran through every vein.
+He knew and felt that his own features were
+pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and
+dismay, while he could see that those of his
+dreadful counterpart were radiant with spite
+and triumphant malice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Himself seemed to look upon himself&mdash;the
+same in face, figure, dress; every
+detail was the same, save that the other
+clutched a canvas bag, inscribed '£500'
+the price of the Union vote (or, as some
+said, the price of his soul)&mdash;on seeing which
+my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in an agony
+of terror, and fell prone on his face&mdash;a
+fiendish yell and laugh from the other making
+all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How long he lay there he knew not precisely;
+but when he opened his eyes the pale
+April moon was shining down the Howe,
+producing weird and eerie shadows, the alder
+and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,
+and the window lights were shining redly in
+the tall and sombre mass of Craigengowan,
+the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood
+up against the starry sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He never quite recovered the shock, but
+died some years after; and even now on
+dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak,
+toads crawl, and the clock at Craigengowan
+strikes twelve, something strange&mdash;no one
+can exactly say what&mdash;is to be seen in the
+Howe, even within sound of the railway
+engine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But to resume our own story:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though a day for parting&mdash;for a separation
+involving distance, time, and no small
+danger to one&mdash;was inexorably approaching,
+Finella was very happy just then, with a
+happiness she had never known before, and
+with a completeness that made life&mdash;even to
+her who had known London for a brilliant
+season&mdash;seem radiant.  She had been joyous
+like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before
+the renewal and fuller development of her
+intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she
+was infinitely more joyous and content now.
+''Twas but the old, old story' of a girl's love,
+and in all her sentiments and all her hopes
+for the future Vivian shared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beautiful dreams of a dual life had
+been partly&mdash;if not fully&mdash;realised through
+him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a
+perfect hero: though he was only a smart
+linesman, a handsome young fellow like a
+thousand others, yet he possessed every
+quality to render a girl happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite
+'cut the ground from under his feet' with
+Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in
+consequence, and being a master in cunning
+and finesse, wonderfully so for his years, he
+resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to
+Craigengowan cut short at all hazards, and
+he was not long in putting his scheme in
+operation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lovers thus were not quite unconscious
+of being watched by eyes that were quickened
+by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,
+they were very, very happy&mdash;in Elysium, in
+fact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finding that Hammersley had suddenly
+become averse to gambling, after a long day
+among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure
+him into play one evening in the smoke-room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto
+was remarkably sharp at cards, having become
+somewhat efficient after years of almost
+nightly play in the bar-room of the Torrington
+Arms at Revelstoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's manner on this evening became
+almost insulting, and he taunted him with
+'taking deuced good care of such money as
+he had.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know
+that you are rather&mdash;well&mdash;ah&mdash;rude?' said
+Hammersley, removing his cigar for a
+moment and staring at the speaker.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perhaps you had better make that your
+way,' said Hammersley, his brown cheek
+reddening as he indicated the room-door with
+his cigar.  Then suddenly remembering that
+he must preserve certain amenities, and as
+guest&mdash;especially one circumstanced as he was
+secretly&mdash;he pushed his cigar-case towards
+Shafto, saying&mdash;'Try one of these&mdash;they are
+Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, piqued by the manner of the latter,
+and having been lured into drinking a little
+more brandy and soda than was good for him
+after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman
+sat down to play, and though he did so
+carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while
+not caring to win, he won greatly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a
+very considerable sum had passed into his
+hands, and, handsome though Shafto's
+quarterly allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid
+duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could not help the
+lengthening of his visage, and the growing
+pallor of it, while his shifty eyes rolled about
+in his anxiety and anger; and Lord Fettercairn
+and young Kippilaw, who were present,
+looked on&mdash;the former with some annoyance,
+and the latter with amused interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hey&mdash;what the deuce is this?  Captain
+Hammersley, you have dropped a card.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he picked one up from that officer's
+side, and laid it on the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have
+<i>already</i> played that card!' exclaimed Shafto,
+with fierce triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whose, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How the devil should I know?' asked
+Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your luck has been marvellous, but not
+so much so when we know that you play with
+double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his
+cards and starting from the table, as the other
+did, now pallid with just rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the
+officer, in a hoarse tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful
+fact speaks for itself; and I think you have
+been quite long enough among us in
+Craigengowan,' he added, coarsely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Vivian Hammersley was pale as death,
+and speechless with rage.  He thought first
+of Finella and then of his own injured
+honour; and we know not what turn this
+episode might have taken had not Lord
+Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been
+quietly looking on from a corner, said gravely,
+sharply, and even with pain, as he started
+forward:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto!  I saw you drop <i>that card</i>, where
+Mr. Kippilaw picked it up&mdash;drop it, whether
+purposely or not I do not say&mdash;but drop it
+you did.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Impossible, sir!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is <i>not</i> impossible,' said the peer, irately;
+'and I am not blind or liable to make
+mistakes; and you too manifestly did so;
+whence this foul accusation of a guest in
+my own house&mdash;a gentleman to whom
+you owe a humble and most complete
+apology.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled
+spite at the new and sudden turn his scheme
+had taken, and at being circumvented in his
+own villainy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I
+thank you!' said Hammersley, drawing himself
+up proudly, looking greatly relieved in
+mind, and, turning next to Shafto, evidently
+waited for the suggested apology.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in that he was disappointed, as the
+'heir' of Fettercairn turned abruptly on his
+heel and left the room, leaving his lordship
+to make the <i>amende</i>, which he did in very
+graceful terms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it was impossible now for both to remain
+longer under the same roof after a fracas of
+this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to
+take his departure for the south by a morning
+train; but Lord Fettercairn, who, with all his
+selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the
+episode, and by several other ugly matters
+connected with his newly found 'grandson,'
+would by no means permit of that
+movement; and in this spirit of hospitality even
+Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him to
+remain and finish his visit, as first intended,
+while Shafto, in a gust of baffled rage and
+resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella
+and of the domestics, betook himself to
+Edinburgh, thus for a time leaving his rival more
+than ever in full possession of the field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whether she is influenced by Captain
+Hammersley I cannot say,' were the parting
+words of Lady Fettercairn to this young
+hopeful; 'but you seem by this last untoward
+affair to have lost even her friendship, and it
+will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her
+money should be lost to you too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear
+grandmother' that it would be a pity
+indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a gentleman and man with a keen sense
+of honour, Hammersley disliked exceedingly
+the secrecy of the engagement he had made
+with Finella, and felt himself actually colour
+more than once when Lord Fettercairn
+addressed him; but his compunctions about it
+grew less when he thought of the awful
+escape he had made from a perilous accusation,
+that might have 'smashed' him in the
+Service, and of the trickery of which Shafto
+was capable&mdash;a trickery of which he had not
+yet seen the end.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+<br /><br />
+AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The evening of the 10th January was closing
+in, and the blood-red African sun, through a
+blended haze of gold and pale green, red and
+fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous
+crimson globe at the horizon, tinging with
+the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad
+waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards
+Rorke's Drift.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There a picquet of the Centre or Second
+column of infantry (of the army then
+advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard
+Glyn of the 24th Regiment, was posted for
+the night.  The main body of the picquet,
+under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart
+young officer, was bivouacked among some
+mealies at a little distance from the bank of
+the river, along the margin of which his
+advanced sentinels were posted at proper
+distances apart, and there each man stood
+motionless as a statue, in his red tunic and
+white tropical helmet, with his rifle at the
+'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that
+quarter in which the Zulu army was supposed
+to be hovering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To reach the Buffalo River the various
+columns of Lord Chelmsford's army could
+not march by regular roads, as no such thing
+exists in Zululand, and the sole guides of our
+officers in selecting the line of advance
+through these savage regions were the
+grass-covered ruts left by the waggon-wheels of
+some occasional trader or sportsman in past
+times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the column had been halted for the
+night, at a considerable distance in rear of
+the outlying picquet, the men of the latter
+had their provisions with them ready cooked,
+and were now having their supper in a grassy
+donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was
+their table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being
+more luxurious than the rest, had spread
+thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the <i>Times</i>;
+but the appetites of all were good, and their
+temperament cheery and hearty.  Their rifles
+were piled, and they brewed their coffee over
+a blazing fire, the flame of which glowed on
+their sun-burned and beardless young faces,
+and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own
+fire, jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed
+great mouthfuls of their favourite liquor
+'scoff.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend
+closely to his own duties, and the moment
+the evening meal was over, he desired the
+sergeant of the picquet to 'go round the
+advanced sentries.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sergeant, a young and slender man,
+and who was no other than Florian, touched
+the barrel of his rifle and departed on his
+mission&mdash;to visit the sentinels in rotation by
+the river bank, and see that they were in
+communication with those of the picquets on
+the right and left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scenery around was savage and
+desolate; long feathery grass covered the
+veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features
+in it were some blue gum trees, and on a
+koppie, or little eminence, the deserted ruins
+of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump
+of eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground
+were some bustards and blue Kaffir cranes
+by the river bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Short service and disease had given Florian
+rapid promotion; for our soldiers, if brave,
+had no longer the power of manly endurance
+of their predecessors under the old system.
+According to General Crealock, the extreme
+youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered
+their powers for toil very small; while the
+Naval Brigade, composed of older men, had
+scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu
+campaign was a very trying one; there were
+the nightly entrenchments, the picquet duty
+amid high grass, and the absence of all
+confidence that discipline and that long mutual
+knowledge of each other give in the ranks.
+He added most emphatically that our younger
+soldiers were unfit for European campaigning;
+that half the First Division were 'sick;'
+there were always some 200 weak lads in
+hospital, 'crawling about like sick flies,' and,
+like him, every officer was dead against the
+short-service system.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The face of our young sergeant was handsome
+as ever; but it was strangely altered
+since late events had come to pass.  There
+was a haggard and worn look in the features,
+particularly in the eyes.  The latter looked
+feverish and dim&mdash;their brightness less at
+times, while a shadow seemed below them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian having, as he now deemed, no
+right to the name of Melfort, or even that of
+MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name,
+as that by which he had been known from
+infancy, lest he might make a false
+attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from,
+even if it was his&mdash;which at times he doubted!
+His regiment was the brave old 24th, or
+Second Warwickshire, which had been raised
+in the eventful year 1689 by Sir Edward
+Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of
+one of the few undoubted Saxon families in
+England, and it was afterwards commanded
+in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Second to none in the annals of war during
+the reigns of Anne and the early Georges,
+the 24th in later times served with valour at
+the first capture of the Cape of Good Hope,
+in the old Egyptian campaign, in the wars of
+Spain and India, and now they were once
+again to cover themselves with a somewhat
+clouded and desperate glory in conflict with
+the gallant Zulus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian in his new career found himself
+occasionally among a somewhat mixed and
+rough lot&mdash;the raw, weedy soldiers of the
+new disastrous system&mdash;but there were many
+who were of a better type; and the thought
+of Dulcie Carlyon&mdash;the only friend he had in
+the world, the only human creature who loved
+him&mdash;kept him free from the temptations and
+evil habits of the former; and he strove to
+live a steady, pure, and brave life, that he
+might yet be worthy of her, and give her no
+cause to blush for him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He got through his drilling as quickly as
+he could, and soon discovered that the sooner
+a soldier takes his place in the ranks the
+better for himself.  He found that though
+many of his comrades were noisy, talkative,
+and quarrelsome, that the English soldier
+quicker than any other discovers and appreciates
+a gentleman.  His officers soon learned
+to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity
+with which he won his three chevrons, and
+Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though he
+was, he could trust Florian to go round the
+sentinels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Each was at his post, and the attention of
+each increased as the gloom after sunset
+deepened, for none knew who or what might
+be approaching stealthily and unseen among
+the long wavy grass and mossy dongas that
+yawned amid the country in front.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill,
+whom he heard singing merrily to himself,
+'you should be mute as a fish on outpost
+duty, and keep your ears open as well as your
+eyes.  What have you got in your head,
+Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the
+author of the "Red Rag" says, we soldiers
+have not much in our heads at any time, or
+we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls
+or bullets with them.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob,
+'but I can't think what made you&mdash;a
+gentleman&mdash;enlist.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I
+suppose.  And you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Through one I wish I never had seen?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who was that?'
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'The handsome young girl,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With her fringe in curl,<br />
+  That worked a sewing-machine,'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian
+returned to report 'all right' to Mr. Sheldrake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though the actual cause of the Zulu war
+lies a little apart from our story, it may be
+necessary to mention that we invaded the
+country of Cetewayo after giving him a
+certain time, up to the 11th of January, to
+accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative
+for war, by delivering up certain of his subjects
+who had violated British territory, attacked a
+police-station, and committed many outrages,&mdash;among
+others, carrying off two women, one
+of whom they put to a barbarous death near
+the Buffalo River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But instead of making any apology, or
+giving an indemnity, Cetewayo prepared to
+defend himself at the head of an enormous
+army of hardy Zulu warriors, all trained in a
+fashion of their own, divided into strong
+regiments, furnished with powerful shields
+of ox-hide, and armed with rifles, war clubs,
+and assegais&mdash;a name with which we are now
+so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages
+five feet in length, with the diameter of
+an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the assegai
+tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre,
+and furnished with a spear-head.  Some are
+barbed, some double-barbed, and the tang of
+the blade is fitted&mdash;when red-hot&mdash;into the
+wood, not the latter into the blade, which is
+then secured by a thong of wet hide, and
+is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his
+head with it; and it is a weapon which
+they can launch with deadly and unerring
+skill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was
+unable to sign his own name, 'and was as
+ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,'
+and he thought no more of putting women,
+'especially young girls, to death, than Bluff
+King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all
+this was to see him presented at Osborne,
+and to become the petted and fêted exile of
+Melbury Road, Kensington.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This night by the Buffalo River was
+Florian's first experience of outpost duty,
+and he felt&mdash;though not the responsible
+party&mdash;anxious, wakeful, and weary after a
+long and toilsome day's march.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew enough of military matters to be
+well aware that the importance of outposts,
+especially when dealing with a wily and savage
+enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no
+force, when encamped in the field, can be
+deemed for a moment safe without them.
+Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great
+that it was pardonable to be defeated, but
+never to be surprised.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't understand all this change that
+has come over my life,' thought he, as he
+stretched himself on the bare earth near the
+picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and
+mother can see and think of me where they
+are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with
+a kind of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they
+were near me and watching over me, so they
+must see and think too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she
+doing?  How supporting herself, as she said
+she would have to do?  Had she found
+friends, or, months ago, been trodden, with
+all her tender beauty, down in the mire of
+misfortune and adversity?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These were maddening thoughts for one
+so far away and so utterly powerless to help
+her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him
+at times more reckless of his own existence
+because it was useless to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air around was heavy with the dewy
+fragrance of strange and tropical plants, and
+vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their
+shadows over him as he strove to snatch the
+proverbial 'forty winks' before again going
+'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for
+they are always hourly when before an enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when our weary young soldier did
+sleep, he dreamt, not of the quick-coming
+strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with
+her wealth of red golden hair, but, as the
+tender smile on his lips might have showed,
+of the time when his mother watched him in
+his little cot, with idolizing gaze, and when he,
+the now bronzed and moustached soldier, was
+a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair
+curling over his white forehead; when his
+cheeks had a rosy flush, and his tiny mouth
+a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands
+that lay outside the snow-white coverlet her
+own deft fingers had made&mdash;the two wee
+hands that held his mother's heart between
+them&mdash;the heart that had long since mouldered
+by Revelstoke Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so he slept and dreamed till roused
+by the inevitable cry of 'Sentry, go!' and,
+that duty over, as he composed himself to
+sleep again, with his knapsack under his
+head for a pillow, he thought as a soldier&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet<br />
+  On any human being rose or set!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIX.
+<br /><br />
+ELANDSBERGEN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Next morning when the picquet was relieved
+young Sheldrake, who paid Hammersley's
+company in absence of the latter, who was soon
+expected with a strong draft from England,
+said to Florian&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid
+mistake.  The company's money I have left
+among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond
+Elandsbergen, and I have got the Colonel's
+permission to send you back for it.  This
+is just like me&mdash;I've a head, and so has a
+pin!  The Quartermaster will lend you his
+horse, and you can have my spare revolver
+and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you
+go,' he added, proffering his case, 'and look
+sharp after yourself and the money.  There
+is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you
+are going back to.  We don't advance from
+this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of
+time to be with us ere we cross the river, if
+you start at once.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he
+saluted and went away to obtain the horse,
+the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which
+he intensely disliked, and almost doubted his
+power to carry out, as it took him rearward
+through a country of which he was ignorant,
+which was almost without roads, and where
+he would be single-handed, if not among
+savages, among those who were quite as
+bad, for in some of these districts, as in the
+Orange Free State and Boerland, there
+swarmed broken ruffians of every kind,
+many of them deserters; and, says an
+officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number
+of these undesirable specimens of our
+countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone
+that night was truly made hideous with
+their howlings, respectable persons were
+afraid to leave their houses after nightfall,
+and the report of revolvers ceased to elicit
+surprise or curiosity.  I have been in some
+of the most notorious camps and towns in
+the territories and mining districts of the
+United States, but can safely assert that I
+never felt more thankful than when I found
+my horse sufficiently rested here to continue
+my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the
+wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses
+were devoured by them; the tiger-cat and
+the aarde-wolf also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a knowledge of all this Florian
+loaded his revolver, looked carefully to the
+bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse,
+received a note from Mr. Sheldrake to the
+officer commanding the little fort near the
+foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp
+of No. 2 column on his solitary journey,
+steering his way by the natural features of
+the country so far as he could recall them
+after the advance of the 10th January, and
+watching carefully for the wheel tracks or
+other indications of a roadway leading in a
+westerly direction; and many of his comrades,
+including Bob Edgehill, watched him with
+interest and kindly anxiety till his white
+helmet disappeared as he descended into a
+long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's
+Drift.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The evening passed and the following day
+dawned&mdash;the important 12th&mdash;when Zululand
+was to be invaded at three points by the three
+columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance
+party detailed from Colonel Glyn's brigade
+to reconnoitre the ground in front got under
+arms and began to move off, and Sheldrake
+and others began to feel somewhat uneasy,
+for there was still no appearance of the
+absent one.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The country through which Florian rode
+was lonely, and farmhouses were few and
+many miles apart.  Its natural features were
+undulating downs covered with tall waving
+grass, furrowed by deep, reedy water-courses;
+here and there were abrupt rocky eminences,
+and dense brushwood grew in the rugged
+kloofs and ravines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air was delightful, and in spite of his
+thoughts the blood coursed freely through
+his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated
+by the pace at which his horse went, he could
+not help giving a loud 'Whoop!' now and
+then when a gnu, with its curved horns and
+white mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the
+upland slopes, or a baboon grinned at him
+from amid the bushes of a kloof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before him stretched miles of open and
+grassy veldt, and the flat-topped hills of the
+Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The
+vast stretch of plain, across which ever and
+anon swept herds of beautiful little antelopes,
+was covered with luxuriant grass, which
+seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it
+went the track, which he was always afraid of
+losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the
+veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by
+the grass were everywhere deep holes
+burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his
+horse's forelegs sank ever and anon, to the
+peril of the animal and his rider too.  Thus
+Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter
+with his reins loose, while he sat tight and
+prepared for swerving when his nag, which was a
+native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent
+hole, which they can do with wonderful sagacity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Florian was not sorry when he left the
+veldt behind him, and after a ride of about
+thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small
+fort at the foot of Drakensberg appear in
+front with a little Union Jack fluttering on a
+flagstaff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was about mid-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anxious to return as soon as he could rest
+his horse, he lost no time in delivering
+Sheldrake's note to the officer in command,
+and with the key of a trunk indicated
+therein among his best uniform, and amid
+girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button
+bouquets, rare pipes, and an omnium-gatherum
+of various things, the bag was found,
+with the company's money, and delivered to
+Florian, who, after a two hours' halt, set out
+on his return journey; but he had not
+proceeded many miles when he found that his
+horse was utterly failing him, and, regretting
+that he had not remained at the post for the
+night, he resolved to spend it in the little
+town of Elandsbergen, towards which he bent
+his way, leading the now halting nag by the
+bridle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely
+detached cottages studding both sides of a
+broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt
+or prairie, with fragmentary attempts at
+cultivation here and there; and how the people
+lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows
+of stunted oaks lined the street, if such it
+could be called, and through it flowed a rill of
+pure water, at which the poor nag drank
+thirstily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry,
+dignified by the title of the Royal Hotel,
+where 'civil entertainment for man and beast'
+was promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It
+was a somewhat substantial edifice of two
+storeys, built of baked brick, square in form,
+with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work,
+covered with half-bricks and with clayey
+mortar to render it impervious to the torrents
+of the South African rainy season.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In some of the windows were glass panes;
+in others sheepskin with the wool off, which,
+in consequence of extreme tension, attains a
+certain transparency.  Giving his horse to a
+Kaffir ostler, whose sole raiment was a
+waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,
+Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,'
+the proprietor of which started and changed
+colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he
+might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard,
+sedulously cultivated, and a shock head of
+hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one
+of the many deserters from our troops,
+already referred to, and, though apparently
+anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian
+of the worst kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The room into which he ushered Florian
+was bare-walled, the furniture was of the
+plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was
+formed of cow-dung over wet clay, all
+kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it could
+be polished, a process learned from the Zulus
+in the construction of their kraals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap
+portrait of Sir Bartle Frere, and the skull of
+an eland with its spiral horns were the only
+decorations of the apartment, and the literature
+of 'the day' was represented by three
+tattered copies of the <i>Cape Argus</i>, <i>Natal
+Mercury</i>, and the <i>Boer Volksteem</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in
+person was quite as dirty as a Boer; his loose
+cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt
+with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin
+pouch and an ugly hunting-knife with a
+cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were
+stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered
+remnant of an ostrich feather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in,
+and announced something in his own language
+to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to
+Florian, said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How&mdash;what do you mean?' demanded Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That your horse is dying.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dying!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian in no small anxiety and excitement
+hurried out to the stable, in which two other
+nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor
+animal he had ridden lying among the straw
+in strong convulsions, labouring under that
+curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a
+most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly
+attacked it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The animal had looked sullen and dull all
+morning, and in the stable had been assailed
+by the distemper and its usual symptoms,
+heaving flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy
+eyes, and a projecting tongue tightly clenched
+between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions,
+and he was dead in half an hour,
+and Florian found that he would probably
+have to travel afoot for more than twenty
+miles before he could rejoin the column on
+the morrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Where have you come from, Sergeant?'
+asked Josh Jarrett, when they returned to the
+public room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett,
+with a portentous wink and a brightening eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Fellows do so every day now in these
+short-service times.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I was going to the front, when my horse
+fell lame.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The dismounted now, I think,' replied
+Florian.  'I should like to rest here for the
+night, and push on as best I can to-morrow;
+so what can I have for supper?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he
+thought a sergeant's purse would not go far
+in the way of luxuries, and then replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef
+and a good glass of squareface or Cape smoke,
+which you please.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The first will do, and a glass of the
+squareface, which means Hollands, I suppose.
+Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied
+Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet
+and seated himself in a large cane-bottomed
+chair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked
+Jarrett.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks&mdash;well, no&mdash;I am used to it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' said the other surlily, and
+summoning in a loud voice a female named
+'Nan,' left the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The latter laid the table, brought in the
+frugal supper, with a case bottle of squareface,
+and, instead of leaving the room, seated
+herself near a window and entered into conversation,
+with what object Florian scarcely knew,
+but he disliked the circumstance, till he began
+to remember that she probably considered
+herself his equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When his hasty repast was over, taking a
+hint from a remark that he was weary, she
+withdrew, and then Florian began to consider
+the situation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was fully twenty miles from the regiment;
+a rough country, not to be traversed
+even by daylight, infested with wild animals,
+and many obnoxious things, such as
+puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between; and
+unless Jarrett would accommodate him with
+a horse, which was very unlikely (he seemed
+such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would
+have to travel the journey on foot, and begin
+betimes on the morrow as soon as dawn would
+enable him to see the track eastward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver
+and its ammunition, reloading the six
+chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the
+company's money; and tempted, he knew
+not by what rash impulse unless it was mere
+boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by
+which the paymaster had secured the mouth
+of the bag to have a peep at the gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had never seen a hundred sovereigns
+before, and never before had so much money
+in his possession.  Some of the glittering
+coins fell out on the clay floor; and as he
+gathered them up a sound made him look
+round, and from the window he saw a human
+face suddenly vanish outside, thus showing
+that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been
+furtively watching him, and he strongly
+suspected it to be the woman Nan, prompted,
+perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he
+concealed the gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was the more convinced of the lurker
+being she when, soon after, she entered, retook
+her seat by the window, through which the
+evening sun was streaming now, and began
+to address him in a light and flippant manner,
+as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior
+purposes; but his suspicions were awakened
+now, and Florian was on his guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He perceived that she had made some
+alterations and improvements in her tawdry
+dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of
+large old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped
+like small rams' horns of real gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She seemed to be about thirty years of
+age, and was not without personal attractions,
+though all bloom was past, and the
+expression of her face was marred by its being
+alternately leering, mocking, and&mdash;even in
+spite of herself&mdash;cruel.  Yet her eyes were
+dark and sparkling.  She wore a fringe of
+thick brown hair close down to them,
+concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth,
+if large, was handsome, but lascivious-looking,
+and Florian, whose barrack-room
+experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,'
+thought&mdash;though he was not ungallant
+enough to say so&mdash;that her absence would
+be preferable to her company, which she
+seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But
+guests were doubtless scarce in these parts,
+and the 'Royal Hotel,' Elandsbergen, had
+probably not many visitors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She asked him innumerable questions&mdash;his
+age, country, regiment, and so forth&mdash;and all
+in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his
+hair, and once attempted to seat herself on
+his knee; but he rose and repelled her, and
+then it was that the unmistakably cruel
+expression came flashing into her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are too young and too handsome
+to be killed and disembowelled by the big
+Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could
+eat a boy like you.  Why don't you desert
+and go to the Diamond Fields?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?'
+she said sneeringly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have read&mdash;I have some book-knowledge,
+you see&mdash;that when a Swiss officer
+was reproached by a French one that he
+fought for pay, and not like himself for
+honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we
+each of us fight for that which he is most in
+need of."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't see the allusion in this instance:
+a soldier, I do my duty and obey orders.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Have a drop more of the squareface&mdash;you
+can't be so rude as to refuse a lady,'
+she continued, filling up a long glass, which
+she put to her lips, and then to those of
+Florian, who pretended to sip and then put
+the glass down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was at a loss to understand her and
+her advances.  Vanity quite apart, he knew
+that he was a good-looking young fellow,
+and that his uniform 'set him off;' but he
+remembered the face at the window, and was
+on his guard against her in every way.
+Would she have acted thus with an officer? he
+thought; and in what relation did she
+stand to the truculent-looking landlord&mdash;wife,
+daughter, or sister?  Probably none
+of them at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared
+to do so, and seating herself at a rickety old
+piano, which Florian had not noticed before,
+she, while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded
+to sing a once-popular flash song, long since
+forgotten in England, and probably taken
+out by some ancient settler, generations
+ago, to the Cape Colony:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Took it into his noddle to die,<br />
+  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I think I'd know very well <i>why</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief&mdash;<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not sink with the weight of my care:<br />
+  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>where</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Another kind mate should give me what fate<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Would not from the former allow;<br />
+  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I'd know very well <i>how</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No judge of the conjugal lot;<br />
+  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>what</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+This she sang with a skill and power that
+savoured of the music hall, and then tried
+her blandishments again to induce Florian to
+drink of the fiery squareface; but he resisted
+all her inducement to take 'just one little
+glass more.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why was she so anxious that he should
+imbibe that treacherous spirit, which he
+would have to pay for?  And why did the
+landlord, who certainly seemed full of
+curiosity about him, leave him so entirely
+in her society?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard
+shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is Josh,' said she impatiently;
+'bother him, what does he want now?  Josh
+is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as
+he now hoped to be rid of her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have
+one glass more, dear, before I leave you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he turned impatiently away, and she
+withdrew, closing a scene which caused
+Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He
+remembered to have read, that 'man destroys
+with the horns of a bull, or with paws like a
+bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or
+by embracing like a serpent.'  And he was
+in toils here unseen as yet!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light faded out beyond the dark
+ridges of the Drakensberg, and Florian
+requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment,
+which was on the upper storey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may hear a roaring lot here
+by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you are a soldier,
+and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You
+will be tired, too, after your ride.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man had now a sneaking and wicked
+look in his eyes, which avoided meeting
+those of Florian, and which the latter did
+not like, but there was no help for it then.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will call me early if I sleep too
+long,' said Florian, as Jarrett gave him a
+candle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hand of the latter shook as he did
+so&mdash;he had evidently been drinking heavily,
+and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot,
+and his voice thick, as he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound
+enough,' and closed the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a sigh almost of relief Florian found
+himself alone.  He set down the sputtering
+candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It
+was without a lock, and secured only by a
+latch, by which it could be opened from the
+outside as well as within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On making this startling discovery, Florian's
+heart glowed with indignation and growing
+alarm!  He felt himself trapped!
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XX.
+<br /><br />
+BAFFLED!
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only
+furniture was a table, chair, and truckle-bed&mdash;all
+obviously of Dutch construction&mdash;and,
+unless he could find some means to secure
+his door, he resolved to remain awake till
+dawn.  The only window in the room
+overlooked the roof of the stable where the
+dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and
+shook in the night wind, and he could see
+the bright and, to him, new constellations
+glittering in the southern sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian contrived to secure the door by
+placing the chair on the floor as a wedge or
+barrier between it and the bedstead, on the
+mattress of which&mdash;though not very savoury
+in appearance&mdash;he cast himself, for he was
+weary, worn, and felt that there was an
+absolute necessity for husbanding his strength,
+as he knew not what might be before him, so
+he extinguished the candle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Something in the general aspect and bearing
+of the man Josh Jarrett, and in those of the
+woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and
+something, too, in his general surroundings
+and isolated situation&mdash;for the few scattered
+houses of Elandsbergen were all far
+apart&mdash;together with the memory of the prying face
+he had seen at the window, at the very
+moment he was picking up the gold, all
+served to put Florian on his guard; thus he
+lay down without undressing, and, longing
+only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the
+butt of his pistol.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some time past he had been unused
+to the luxury of even a truckle-bed or other
+arrangements for repose than his grey
+greatcoat and ammunition blanket, with a
+knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite his
+keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep,
+for how long he knew not; but he suddenly
+started up as the sound of voices below came
+to his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar
+whereabouts rushed on him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but
+not loud&mdash;voices of persons talking in low
+and concentrated tones in the room beneath,
+separated from him only by the ill-fitting boarding
+of the floor, between the joints of which
+lines of light were visible, and one bright
+upward flake, through a hole from which a
+knot had dropped out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could
+smash the life out of him by one blow of
+my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett,
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Others responded to this, but in low,
+stealthy, and husky tones.  Certain that
+some mischief with regard to himself was on
+the <i>tapis</i>.  Florian crept softly to the orifice
+in the floor, and looked down.  Round a
+dirty and sloppy table, covered with
+drinking-vessels, pipes and tobacco-pouches, bottles
+of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh
+Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like
+fellows, with Nan among them, all drinking;
+and a vile-looking quintette they were,
+especially the woman, with her hair all
+dishevelled now, and her face inflamed by
+that maddening compound known as Cape
+smoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When I was ass enough to be in the
+Queen's service,' said Jarrett with a horrible
+imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and
+non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they
+said it was my own fault that I was always
+drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may,
+I've one of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll
+sarve him out for what they made me
+undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my
+purpose as well as another.  Nan, you did
+your best to screw him, but he was
+wary&mdash;infernally wary.  Blest if I don't think the
+fellow is a Scotsman after all, for all his
+English lingo.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped
+the amiable Nan; 'you should have drugged
+it, Josh.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But then we didn't know that he had all
+this chink about him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who
+had not yet spoken, but was prodding the
+table with a knife he had drawn from his
+belt; 'we'll give him a through ticket to the
+other world&mdash;one with the down train.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian felt beads of perspiration on his
+brow; he was one against five&mdash;entrapped,
+baited, done to death&mdash;and if he did not
+appear at headquarters with the fatal money,
+what would be thought of him but that he
+had deserted with it, and his name would
+be branded as that of a coward and robber.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked
+him, but it nerved him too.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another truculent-looking fellow now came
+in, making five men in all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He has money galore on him&mdash;Nan saw
+the gold&mdash;money in a canvas bag.  How
+comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his
+grab, unless he stole it?' said Jarrett, in
+explanation to the new-comer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course he stole it&mdash;it's regimental
+money, and evidently he is deserting with
+it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like
+Jarrett, a Queen's bad bargain also; for he
+added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's short-service
+soldiers care about their chances of
+pension or promotion&mdash;that's the reason he
+has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't we
+make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife
+into him, and then burying him out in the
+veldt before daylight.  Even if he was
+traced here, who is to be accountable for a
+deserter?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And this practical ruffian proceeded at
+once to put a finer edge and point upon his
+long bowie knife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely
+to use it in his sleep, especially when we pin
+him by the throat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was but one against five armed and
+reckless desperadoes; and there was the
+woman, too, whose hands were ready for
+evil work.  The stair that led to his room
+was narrow&mdash;so much so that there was but
+space for one on a step.  The lower or outer
+door he knew to be securely locked and
+bolted.  The window of his room, we have
+said, overlooked the lean-to roof of the
+stable, where he knew that two horses were
+in stall&mdash;a sure means of escape could he
+reach one; but the door, he was aware, was
+locked, and the key in possession of the
+Kaffir groom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was maddened by the thought that his
+barbarous and obscure death would brand
+him with a double disgrace; and death is
+more than ever hard when suffered at the
+hands of cowards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is the use of all this blooming
+talk?' said one, starting from the table; 'let
+us set about the job at once!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll
+perhaps try to escape by the stable-roof, so
+while you fellows go up the stair, I go round
+to the back of the house and cut off his
+retreat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my
+only chance lies that way.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He opened the window at the very
+moment that stealthy steps sounded on the
+wooden stair, and a red light streamed under
+the door, which their felon hands failed to
+force, so firmly was the chair wedged
+between it and the bed.  He slid down the
+stable-roof, and dropped safely on the ground,
+to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing
+on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him
+down, firing two chambers into his very
+teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare
+out into the open veldt, leaving the ruffian
+wallowing in his blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew not and cared not in what
+direction he ran at first, as he could hear the
+oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over
+whom his youth, lightness, and activity gave
+him an advantage; but after a time red-dawn
+began to streak the eastern sky, and he
+knew that was the direction which, if he was
+spared, would take him to the bank of the
+Buffalo River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He continued to run at a good steady
+double, saving his wind as he did so, and his
+courage and confidence rose when he found
+that he was distancing his pursuers so much
+that he could neither see nor hear anything
+of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he ran on he thought for a moment or
+two of the fierce gleaming eyes and glistening
+teeth of Jarrett&mdash;of the blood he had shed,
+and the life he had perhaps taken for the
+first time, remorsefully; but had he not acted
+thus, what would he have been?  A gashed
+corpse!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier&mdash;why
+such thoughts at all?  Why should I
+have mercy when these wretches would have
+had none?' and he began to regret that he
+had not fired a random shot or two through
+the room-door and knocked over some of
+them on the staircase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A sound now struck his ear; it was the
+thud of galloping hoofs upon the veldt, and
+his heart sank as he remembered the two
+horses in the stable, where his dead nag was
+lying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked back, and there, sure enough,
+in the grey dawn were two mounted men
+riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he
+could not for a moment doubt they were two
+of Jarrett's companions in pursuit, thirsting
+with avarice and for revenge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made his way, stumbling wildly and
+breathlessly down a wooded ravine to elude
+their sight; on and on he strove till a vine
+root caught his foot: his hands outstretched
+beat the air for a moment, and then he fell
+headlong forward and downward into a
+donga full of brushwood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment he had a sense of strange
+palms, and giant cacti, and of great plants
+with long spiky leaves being about him, and
+then he became unconscious as he lay there
+stunned and bleeding profusely from a wound
+in his forehead, which had come in contact
+with a stone.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+END OF VOL. I.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+BILLING &amp; SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 68293 ***</div>
+</body>
+
+</html>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3), by
+James Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3)
+       A novel
+
+Author: James Grant
+
+Release Date: June 11, 2022 [eBook #68293]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Al Haines
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF
+3) ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  DULCIE CARLYON.
+
+
+  A Novel.
+
+
+
+  BY
+
+  JAMES GRANT,
+
+  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.
+
+
+  IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+  VOL. I.
+
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  WARD AND DOWNEY,
+  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
+
+  1886.
+
+  [_All Rights Reserved._]
+
+
+
+
+NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.
+
+
+FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.
+
+COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.
+
+MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.
+
+AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.
+
+WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3
+vols.
+
+IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.
+
+AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.
+
+LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.
+
+
+WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+In Loving Memory
+
+OF
+
+MY ELDEST SON,
+
+JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,
+
+_Captain Cheshire Regiment,_
+
+I INSCRIBE
+
+THIS MILITARY STORY.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I. IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS
+
+II. WEDDED
+
+III. THE SPURNED OFFER
+
+IV. REVELSTOKE COTTAGE
+
+V. DULCIE
+
+VI. THE SECRET PACKET
+
+VII. A FAREWELL
+
+VIII. THE SILVER LOCKET
+
+IX. MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+
+X. ALONE IN THE WORLD
+
+XI. SHAFTO IN CLOVER
+
+XII. VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY
+
+XIII. AMONG THE GROUSE
+
+XIV. THE TWO FINELLAS
+
+XV. AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN
+
+XVI. ''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'
+
+XVII. AT CRAIGENGOWAN
+
+XVIII. AT THE BUFFALO RIVER
+
+XIX. ELANDSBERGEN
+
+XX. BAFFLED!
+
+
+
+
+DULCIE CARLYON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.
+
+'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and you know how I hate
+scenes.'
+
+'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'
+
+'I shall need all my self-possession to get over the _esclandre_ this
+affair may cause,' exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.
+
+'Well, life is made up of getting over things,' responded her husband.
+
+'But not things so disgraceful as this, Fettercairn!'
+
+'Is this son of yours in his senses?'
+
+'Who is that loves? it has been asked,' said the culprit referred to.
+
+'A marriage between you and a penniless girl in her rank of life is
+not to be thought of, Lennard.'
+
+'Her rank of life, father?'
+
+'Yes!'
+
+'Her father's rank was superior to that of the first of our family,
+when life began with him.'
+
+'What is that to you or to me now?'
+
+'Much to me.'
+
+'Too much, it would seem.'
+
+The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn, his wife,
+the Lady thereof, and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a captain
+of the line, home on leave from India, who had been somewhat timidly
+venturing to break--knowing the inordinate family vanity of his
+parents--we say to break the news of his love for a girl possessed of
+more beauty than this world's goods; and, in his excitement and
+indignation, his lordship's usual easy, indolent, and drawling way
+was forgotten now when addressing his son.
+
+Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and Strathfinella in the Mearns)
+was by nature a proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man, whose
+chief passion in life was a combined spirit of enormous vanity and
+acquisitiveness, which he inherited from his predecessors, whom he
+resembled in political caution and selfishness, and also in personal
+appearance, to judge from the portraits of three generations, by Sir
+John de Medina, Aikman, and Raeburn, adorning the walls of the
+stately room in the house of Craigengowan, where this rather stormy
+interview took place.
+
+Tall and thin in figure, with flat square shoulders and
+sandy-coloured hair, cold grey eyes, and irregular features, he was
+altogether a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited his slightly
+aquiline nose and perfect face from his mother, but his firm dark
+eyes and rich brown hair from a previous generation; and these,
+together with an olive complexion, rendered more dusky by five years'
+exposure to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very striking one.
+
+My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding were, as Sir Bernard Burke
+had recorded, irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a _grande
+dame_ to the tips of her long slender fingers.  She was about
+forty-five years of age, but looked ten younger.  The upper part of
+her aristocratic face was strikingly handsome; but the lower, with
+its proud and firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her
+complexion was almost colourless, her hair of the lightest brown,
+like her eyebrows and lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as
+an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought with a sigh, they seemed
+quite as--cold.
+
+Her manner was always calm, assured, and self-possessed.  She would
+smile, but that smile never degenerated into honest laughter, while
+her pale and impressive face was without a line--especially on her
+forehead--that seemed to indicate either thought or reflection, and
+certainly she had never known care or sorrow or even annoyance until
+now.
+
+'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the young man, breaking an ominous
+silence, with reference to the object of his love.
+
+'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn,
+cresting up her handsome head haughtily, and a whole volume of
+intense pride and hauteur was centred in the last word she spoke.
+
+'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls herself?' asked his father in
+a similar tone; 'but I need not ask.  You have already told us she is
+the governess in a house you have been recently visiting--that of
+Lady Drumshoddy--a governess, with all her beauty, poor and obscure.'
+
+'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of red passing under the tan
+of his olive cheek; 'her father was a gallant old officer of the
+Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the battle of Khooshab, in
+Persia, and her only brother and support fell when leading on his
+Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The old captain was, as his
+name imports, a cadet of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'
+
+'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt, from the grounding of the
+Ark to the battle of Culloden,' sneered his father.
+
+'Then his family would end soon after ours began,' retorted the son,
+becoming greatly ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't count much
+beyond three generations ourselves.'
+
+Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his sorest point, grew white with
+anger.
+
+'We always suspected you of having some secret, Lennard,' said his
+mother severely.
+
+'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one says, a secret is like a hole
+in your coat--the more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'
+
+'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar; does _she_ teach you this
+style of thing?' asked the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened again
+with annoyance, and gave his dark moustache a vicious twist, but
+sighed and strove to keep his temper.
+
+'I have found and felt it very bitter, father, to live under false
+colours,' said he gently and appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret
+from you both, which should be no secret at all.'
+
+'We would rather not have heard this secret,' replied Lord
+Fettercairn sternly, while tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop
+whiskers.
+
+'Then would you have preferred that I should be deceitful to you, and
+false to the dear girl who loves and trusts me?'
+
+'I do not choose to consider _her_,'  was the cold reply.
+
+'But I do, and must, now!'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because we are already married--she is my wife,' was the steady
+response.
+
+'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother with one accord, as they
+started from their chairs together, and another ominous silence of a
+minute ensued.
+
+'My poor, lost boy--the prey of an artful minx!' said Lady
+Fettercairn, looking as if she would like to weep; but tears were
+rather strangers to her cold blue eyes.
+
+'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew her, you would not talk thus
+of Flora,' urged Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in our
+power to give love and to withhold it, easy indeed would our progress
+be through life.'
+
+'Love--nonsense!'
+
+'Save to the two most interested, who are judges of it,' said
+Lennard.  'Surely you loved my father, and he you.'
+
+'Our case was very different,' replied Lady Fettercairn, in her anger
+actually forgetting herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan
+with her firm white teeth.
+
+'How, mother dear?'
+
+'In rank and wealth we were equal.'
+
+Lennard sighed, and said:
+
+'I little thought that you, who loved me so, would prove all but one
+of the mothers of Society.'
+
+'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his father.
+
+'What a writer says.'
+
+'And what the devil does he say?'
+
+'That "love seems such a poor and contemptible thing in their eyes in
+comparison with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their own youth;
+one does, they say, when he outlives romance.  And I suppose bread
+and butter is better than poetry any day."'
+
+'I should think so.'
+
+'We had other and brilliant views for you,' said his mother in a tone
+of intense mortification, 'but now----'
+
+'Leave us and begone, and let us look upon your face no more,'
+interrupted his father in a voice of indescribable sternness, almost
+hoarse with passion, as he pointed to the door.
+
+'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh, mother!'  But she averted
+her face, cold as a woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'
+
+'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and sadly, as he drew himself up
+to the full height of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome and
+comely fellow he looked as he turned away and left the room.
+
+'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is yet left to us!' exclaimed
+Lady Fettercairn earnestly.
+
+It was the last time in this life he ever heard his mother's voice,
+and he quitted the house.  On the terrace without, carefully he
+knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root, put it with equal
+care into its velvet-lined case, put the case into his pocket, and
+walked slowly off with a grim and resolute expression in his fine
+young face, upon which from that day forth his father and mother
+never looked again.
+
+Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet face of the young girl who
+had united her fortunes with his, and who was anxiously awaiting the
+result of the interview we have described.
+
+Sorrow, mortification, and no small indignation were in the heart of
+Lennard Melfort at the result of the late interview.
+
+'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying poor Flora without their
+permission, but that they would never have accorded, even had they
+seen her; and none fairer or more beautiful ever came as a bride to
+Craigengowan.'
+
+Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look at the house so named--the
+home of his boyhood.
+
+It stands at some distance from the Valley of the Dee (which forms
+the natural communication between the central Highlands and the
+fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid
+luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan obtained from the highway
+only excite curiosity without gratifying it, but a nearer approach
+reveals its picturesque architectural features.
+
+These are the elements common to most northern mansions that are
+built in the old Scottish style--a multitude of conical turrets,
+steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets, encrusted with the
+monograms and armorial bearings of the race who were its lords when
+the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood and drawers of water.
+
+The turrets rise into kindred forms in the towers and gables, and are
+the gradual accumulation of additions made at various times on the
+original old square tower, rather than a part of the original design,
+but the effect of the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.
+
+In the old Scottish garden was an ancient sun and moon dial, mossy
+and grey, by which many a lover had reckoned the time in the days of
+other years.
+
+Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled and attainted Jacobite
+family, from whom it passed readily enough into the hands of the
+second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and unscrupulous Commissioner on
+the forfeited estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had now many
+modern comforts and appliances; the entrance-hall was a marble-paved
+apartment, off which the principal sitting-rooms opened, and now a
+handsome staircase led to the upper chambers, whilom the abode of
+barons who ate the beef and mutton their neighbours fed in the valley
+of the Dee.
+
+The grounds were extensive and beautiful, and Lord Fettercairn's
+flower gardens and conservatories were renowned throughout Angus and
+the Mearns.
+
+To the bitter storm that existed in his own breast, and that which he
+had left in those of his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked the
+old house and the summer scenery to Lennard--the place on which he
+probably would never gaze again.
+
+There was a breeze that rustled the green leaves in the thickets, but
+no wind.  Beautiful and soft white clouds floated lazily in the deep
+blue sky, and a recent shower had freshened up every tree, meadow,
+and hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or golden by the banks
+of the Bervie, and the voice of the cushat dove came from the autumn
+woods from time to time as with a sigh Lennard Melfort turned his
+back on Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went, the pride of his
+family, for, though not an old one, by title or territory, they were
+as proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.
+
+The first prominent member of the family, Lennard Melfort, had been a
+Commissioner for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament, and for
+political services had been raised to the peerage by Queen Anne as
+Lord Fettercairn and Strathfinella, and was famous for nothing but
+selling his Union vote for the same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,
+and for having afterwards 'a rug at the compensation,' as the English
+equivalent money was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir saw
+half the old peerages of Scotland attainted, he obtained
+Craigengowan, and was one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie said,
+'wad sell his soul to the deil for a crackit saxpence.'
+
+With the ex-Commissioner the talent--such as it was--of the race
+ended, and for three generations the Lords of Fettercairn had been
+neither better nor worse than peers of Scotland generally; that is,
+they were totally oblivious of the political interests of that
+country, and of everything but their own self-aggrandisement by
+marriage or otherwise.
+
+Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the family that proved untrue to
+its old instincts.
+
+'And I had made up my mind that he should marry Lady Drumshoddy's
+daughter--she has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady Fettercairn.
+
+'Married my governess--the girl MacIan!' snorted my Lady Drumshoddy
+when she heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why marry the creature?
+He might love her, of course--all men are alike weak--but to marry
+her--oh, no!'
+
+And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very moral woman according to her
+standard, and carried her head very high.
+
+When tidings were bruited abroad of what happened, and the split in
+the family circle at Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and
+indignation expressed in the servants' hall, the gamekeepers' lodges,
+and the home farm, for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a
+favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates; and Mrs. Prim, his
+mother's maid, actually shed many tears over the untoward fate he had
+brought upon himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WEDDED.
+
+'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite of this bitter affront
+to which you are subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.
+
+'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love you, Lennard--love you so
+much,' she added, while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like
+lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I would die!'
+
+'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he responded, while tenderly
+caressing her.
+
+'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion, Lennard?'
+
+'Foolish?'
+
+'Yes--or rash.  I have heard that it is not lucky for people to love
+each other so much as we do.'
+
+'Could we love each other less?'
+
+'I don't think so,' said she simply and sweetly, as he laid her cheek
+on his breast with her upturned eyes gazing into his.
+
+The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect was every curve of her
+shapely figure, which was destitute of any straight line; even her
+nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.  Her beautifully arched
+mouth, the scarlet line of her upper lip, and the full round of the
+nether one were parted in a tender smile, just enough to show her
+teeth, defied all criticism; her complexion was pure and soft, and
+her eyes were of the most liquid hazel, with almost black lashes.
+Her hair was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a lady to perfection,
+especially by the whiteness and delicacy of her beautifully shaped
+little hands.
+
+When she walked she did so gracefully, as all Highland women do, and
+like them held her head poised on her slender neck so airily and
+prettily that her nurse, Madelon, called her 'the swan.'
+
+'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she, after a pause, 'as I thought of
+the _mauvais quart d'heure_ you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'
+
+'It was a _mauvais_ hour and more, darling.'
+
+'And ever and anon I felt that strange chill, or shudder, which Nurse
+Madelon says people feel when some one crosses the place where their
+grave is to be.  How can your parents be so cruel to you?'
+
+'And to you, Flora!'
+
+'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with her eyes full of unshed
+tears, and in a pained voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very
+designing girl; but in spite of that, you will always care for me as
+much as you do now?'
+
+'Why such fears?  Ever and always--ever and always, my darling,' said
+Lennard Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most effectually for a
+time.
+
+'Oh, if you should ever come to regret, and with regret to love me
+less!' said she, in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment fixed on
+vacancy.
+
+'Why that boding thought, Flora?'
+
+'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'
+
+He kissed her again as the readiest response.
+
+But the sequel proved that his great love outlasted her own life,
+poor girl!
+
+Then they sat long silent, hand locked in hand, while the gloaming
+deepened round them, for words seem poor and feeble when the heart is
+very full.
+
+'How long will they continue to despise me?' said Flora suddenly,
+while across her soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a long and
+gallant line of Celtic ancestors.
+
+An exclamation of bitterness--almost impatience, escaped Lennard.
+
+'Let us forget them--father, mother, all!' said he.
+
+The girl looked passionately into the face of her lover-husband--the
+husband of a month; and never did her bright hazel eyes seem more
+tender and soft than now, with all the fire of love and pride
+sparkling in their depths, for her Highland spirit and nature
+revolted at the affront to which she was subjected.
+
+The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the poise of his close-shorn head
+told that he was a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the style of
+his light grey suit showed how thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to
+Flora's loving and partial eye he was every-way a model man.
+
+They had been married just a month, we have said, a month that very
+day, and Lennard had brought his bride to the little burgh town,
+within a short distance of Craigengowan, and left her in their
+apartments while he sought with his father and mother the bootless
+interview just narrated.
+
+For three days before he had the courage to bring it about, they had
+spent the time together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling along
+the banks of the pretty Bervie, from the blue current of which ever
+and anon the bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or in the
+deep and leafy recourses of the adjacent woods, and climbing the
+rugged coast, against which the waves of the German Sea were rolling
+in golden foam; or ascending Craig David, so called from David II. of
+Scotland--a landmark from the sea for fifteen leagues--for both had a
+true and warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature in all her
+moods and aspects.
+
+The sounds of autumn were about them now; the hum of insects and the
+song of the few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the golden
+broom and the sweet briar, with a score of other sweet and
+indefinable scents and balmy breaths.  All around them was scenic
+beauty and peace, and yet with all their great love for each other,
+their hearts were heavy at the prospect of their future, which must
+be a life of banishment in India, and to the heaviness of Lennard was
+added indignation and sorrow.  But he could scarcely accuse himself
+of having acted rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to that his
+family would never have consented; and he often thought could his
+mother but see Flora in her beauty and brightness, looking so
+charming in her smart sealskin and bewitching cap and feather, and
+long skirt of golden-brown silk that matched her hair and eyes--every
+way a most piquante-looking girl!
+
+Young though he was, and though a second son, Lennard Melfort had
+been a favourite with more than one Belgravian belle and her mamma,
+and there were few who had not something pleasant or complimentary to
+say of him since his return from India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and
+water parties, girls had given him the preference to many who seemed
+more eligible, had reserved for him dances on their programmes, sang
+for him, made unmistakable _œillades_, and so forth; for his
+handsome figure and his position made him very acceptable, though he
+had not the prospects of his elder brother, the Hon. Cosmo.
+
+Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was regarded and valued well, and
+nourished great hopes therefrom; but this was all over and done with
+now.
+
+To her it seemed as if he had thrown his very life away, and that
+when his marriage with a needy governess--however beautiful and well
+born she might be--became known, all that charmed and charming circle
+in Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as a black sheep indeed;
+would shake their aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and Lady
+Fettercairn for having such a renegade son.
+
+Flora's chief attendant--a Highland woman who had nursed her in
+infancy--was comically vituperative and indignant at the affront put
+by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she called her.
+
+Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy, active, and only in her
+fortieth year, with black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion, a
+set of magnificent white teeth, and her manner was full of emphatic,
+almost violent, gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders, who seem
+to talk with their hands and arms quite as much as the tongue.
+
+Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native Gaelic, but generally in the
+dialect of the Lowlands.
+
+'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha are the Melforts o'
+Fettercairn, that they should slight you--_laoghe mo chri_?' she
+added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a pity it is ye canna fling
+at their heads the gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna yowl
+gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've begun wi' love and marriage,
+and a gude beginning mak's a gude ending.'
+
+'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon, and I have ruined my poor
+Lennard,' urged Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.
+
+'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak' but a wersh breakfast,'
+laughed Madelon; 'but you're no sae puir as that comes to, my
+darling.'
+
+'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in turn.  'Yet I have
+sorely injured my husband's prospects.'
+
+'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo, but he weds only whar his
+weird lies; and so Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?  Then
+what is a Lord that we should _lippen_ to _him_?  As long as ye serve
+a tod ye maun carry his tail?  And your father's daughter may carry
+her head wi' the highest.'
+
+Lennard Melfort now resolved neither verbally nor by letter to have
+further intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or elsewhere, but
+before he could make up his mind what to do or could betake him
+south, as he meant to quit Scotland without delay, on the day
+subsequent to the stormy interview Madelon announced a visitor, and
+on a salver brought in a card inscribed--'MR. KENNETH KIPPILAW, W.S.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SPURNED OFFER.
+
+'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,' said Lennard, in answer to
+her inquiring glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing her to
+their visitor, who bowed with a critical glance and appreciative
+smile.
+
+'I have been telegraphed for by your father, Captain Melfort,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw, as they shook hands and he was motioned to a chair.
+
+A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like man, about forty years
+of age, Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible to
+begin the matter in hand by any remarks about youthful imprudence,
+early marriages, or so forth, as he knew the pride and temperament of
+the young man before him, but laid down his hat, and, after some of
+that familiar weather talk which is the invariable prelude to any
+conversation over all the British Isles, he gently approached the
+object of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity and terror of
+her heart, never doubted was a separation of some kind between
+herself and Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and withdrew.
+
+'To what am I indebted for the pleasure of this--a--unexpected
+interview?' asked Lennard, a little stiffly.
+
+'Instructions just received from your father, Captain Melfort.'
+
+'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'
+
+'Straight.'
+
+'Has he made up his mind to accept my wife as his daughter-in-law?'
+
+'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'
+
+Lennard's face darkened with indignation, and he gave his moustache
+an angry twist.
+
+'Are my father and mother determined to ignore the fact that she is a
+lady by birth?' asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.
+
+'Yes--they know, of course, that she is a lady,' stammered Mr.
+Kippilaw, feeling his mission an ungracious one, 'but poor--one who
+has sunk into obscurity and dependence--pardon me, I but use their
+own identical words.
+
+'Well?'
+
+'What is done in this instance unfortunately cannot be undone,
+Captain Melfort; but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in the
+matter, is willing to continue your allowance, and even to double it,
+on one condition.
+
+'Name it.'
+
+Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a lawyer, considerably hardened,
+he felt the delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's dark eyes
+seemed to focus and pierce him.
+
+'The condition--to the point!'
+
+'Is--that you will return to India----'
+
+'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted Lennard sharply.
+
+'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain, but never attempt to
+intrude Mrs. Melfort upon your family or their circle, and contrive,
+if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'
+
+'Insolent--and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed Lennard Melfort as he
+started from his chair and paced about the room, with his dark eyes
+flashing and the veins in his forehead swollen like whip-cord.
+
+'The words I speak are not my own,' said Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.
+
+'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my father that I reject his bribe
+to insult my wife--for a bribe it is--with the scorn it merits.  Not
+a penny of his money will I accept while my sword and pay, or life
+itself, are left me.  Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view
+myself as their son no more.  As they discard me, so do I discard
+them; and even their _very name_ I shall not keep--remember that!'
+
+'Dear me--dear me, all this is very sad!'
+
+'They have thrust me from them as if I had been guilty of a crime----'
+
+'Captain Melfort!'
+
+'A crime I say--yet a day may come when they will repent it; and from
+this hour I swear----'
+
+'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw, entreatingly; 'take no
+hasty vow in your present temper.'
+
+'I swear that to them and theirs I shall be--from this hour--as one
+in the grave!'
+
+'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose--which God forbid--that aught
+happened to your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'
+
+'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my interest in the title--it
+may become dormant, extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor
+any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I again set foot in
+Craigengowan, or on the lands around it--no, never again, never
+again!'
+
+To every argument of the kind-hearted Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved
+the Fettercairn family and esteemed the high-spirited Lennard, the
+latter turned a deaf ear.
+
+He departed in despair of softening matters between the rash son and
+indignant parents.  To them he greatly modified the nature of the
+useless interview, but they heard of Lennard's determination with
+perfect unconcern, and even with a grim smile of contempt, never
+doubting that when money pressure came upon him they would find him
+at their mercy.  But that time never came.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and there the affair seemed to
+end.
+
+The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to him were said smilingly and
+loftily:--
+
+'The French have a little phrase, which in six words expresses all
+our experiences in life.'
+
+'And this phrase, my lord?'
+
+'Is simply--_tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse_--that we outlive
+everything in turn and in time--and so this matter of Lennard's pride
+will be a matter of time only.  Be assured we shall outlive the
+indignation of our misguided son.'
+
+'But will you outlive your own?'
+
+'Never!'
+
+'I can but hope that you will, my lord.  Remember the hackneyed
+quotation from Pope--"To err is human, to forgive divine."
+
+'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.
+
+The name of Lennard was never uttered again by his parents, nor even
+by his brother Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the hour for
+forgiveness was past; and even Cosmo they contrived to innoculate
+with their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of hostility.
+Lennard's portrait was removed from its place of honour in the
+dining-hall, and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods, chattels,
+and mementoes he left at home were scattered and dispersed; even his
+horses were sold, and the saddles he had used; and the Fettercairn
+family would--could they have done so--have obliterated his name from
+the great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard Burke.
+
+Heedless of all that, the young husband and his dark-eyed girl-wife
+were all the world to each other.
+
+'After mamma followed papa to the grave, Lennard--for she never held
+up her head after she heard of his death at Khooshab,' said Flora, as
+she nestled her head in his neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life
+of hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till I met you, dearest.
+I felt that even the love of some dumb animal--a dog or a horse--was
+better than the entire absence of affection in the narrow circle of
+my life.  I did so long for something or some one to love me
+exclusively--I felt so miserably, so utterly alone in the world.  Now
+I have you--_you_ to love me.  But in winning you I have robbed you
+of the love of all your people.'
+
+'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest Flora.  We are now more
+than ever all in all to each other.'
+
+The money bribe, offered in such a way and for such a purpose,
+exasperated Lennard still more against his family, and drew many a
+tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.
+
+She thought that she had wrought Lennard a great wrong by winning his
+love for herself, and she was now burning with impatience to turn her
+back on the shores of Britain and find a new home in India; and
+there, by staff or other employments and allowances, Lennard knew
+that he could gain more than the yearly sum his father so
+mortifyingly offered him.
+
+Flora wept much over it all, we say, and her appetite became
+impaired; but she did not--like the heroine of a three-volume
+novel--starve herself into a fright.
+
+But a short time before she had been a childish and simple
+maiden--one sorely tried, however, and crushed by evil fortune; but
+with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had come into her existence and
+awakened her soul, and she was a woman--innocent still--but yet a
+woman.'
+
+The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly lovely in the purity
+and richness of its verdure and varied artistic views, for the woods
+were profusely tinted with gold, russet brown, and red, when Lennard
+Melfort turned his back upon it and his native home for ever!
+
+The birds were chirping blithly, and the voice of the corncraik, with
+
+  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'
+
+came on the evening breeze together.  The old kirk bell was tolling
+in the distance, and its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart of
+home like that of an old friend.  The river was rolling under its
+great arch of some eighty feet in span, the downward reflection of
+the latter in the water making a complete circle like a giant O.  The
+old castle of Halgreen, with its loopholed battlements of the
+fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon its wave-beaten
+eminence, and the blue smoke of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher
+village, curled up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded out in
+the distance.
+
+Flora became marvellously cheerful when their journey fairly began,
+and laughingly she sung in Lennard's ear--
+
+  'The world goes up and the world goes down,
+  But _yesterday's_ smile and _yesterday's_ frown
+  Can never come back again, sweet friend--
+  Can never come back again!'
+
+
+Means were not forgotten to support nurse Madelon in her native
+place, where we shall leave her till she reappears in our narrative
+again.
+
+So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for India, full of love for each
+other and hope for their own lonely and unaided future, and both
+passed for ever out of the lives and apparently out of the memory of
+the family at Craigengowan.
+
+Times there were when he hoped to distinguish himself, so that the
+circle there--those who had renounced him--would be proud of him; but
+in seeking that distinction rashly, he might throw away his life, and
+thus leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy of a cold world
+and a proverbially ungrateful Government.
+
+But they could not forget home, and many a time and oft, where the
+sun-baked cantonments of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the fierce
+light of the Indian sun, where the temples of Hurdwar from their
+steep of marble steps look down upon the Ganges, or where the
+bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah, garlanded with fragrant jasmine,
+stand by the rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and baubool trees,
+with their golden balls loading the air with perfume, while the giant
+heron stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked in the ooze,
+and the Brahmin ducks floated overhead, Flora's sweet voice made
+Lennard's heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of the land they
+had resolved never to look upon again, even when that sound so
+stirring to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far away, the
+pipes of a Highland regiment, poured their notes on the hot sunny air.
+
+At home none seemed to care or think of the discarded son but the
+worthy lawyer Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a lad, and could
+not get his hard fate out of his mind.
+
+From time to time, inspired by kindness and curiosity, he watched his
+name among the captains in the military lists of that thick
+compendium which no Scottish business establishment is ever
+without--'Oliver and Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while, the
+name of Lennard Melfort _disappeared_, but whether he was dead, had
+sold out, or 'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the Signet could
+not discover, and he not unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a
+lost life.
+
+And here we end that which is a species of prologue to our story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.
+
+More than twenty years had elapsed after the episodes we have
+described, and Lennard and Flora had found a new home, and she, her
+_last one_, more than four hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies
+from where Craigengowan looks down on the German Sea.  But none that
+looked on Lennard Melfort now would have recognised in the
+prematurely aged man the handsome young fellow who in ire and disgust
+had quitted his native land.
+
+In two years after he had gone eastward a dreadful fever, contracted
+in a place where he had volunteered on a certain duty to gain money
+for the support of his wife and her little Indian establishment--the
+Terrai of Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which lies along
+the great forest of the Himalayas, and has an evil repute even among
+the natives of the country in the wet season when the leaves are
+falling.
+
+This fever broke Lennard's health completely, and so changed him that
+his rich brown hair and moustache were grey at six-and-twenty, and
+ere long he looked like a man of twice his age.
+
+'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort of the Fusiliers?  Why, he
+is a veritable Knight of the Rueful Countenance!' exclaimed some old
+friends who saw him at 'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a place
+of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as it subsequently chanced to
+be.
+
+Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider, and near a beautiful
+little bay into which the waters of the British Channel rippled,
+stood the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied, as 'Major MacIan,'
+with his son and a nephew.
+
+The wooded hills around it were not all covered with orchards,
+however, and the little road that wound round the bay ran under
+eminences that, from their aspect, might make a tourist think he was
+skirting a Swiss lake.  Others were heath-clad and fringed at the
+base by a margin of grey rocks.
+
+Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and transparent always.  Here
+salmon trout were often found, and the young men spent hours at its
+estuary angling for rock fish.
+
+A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray to be 'the sweetest object
+that the poet, the artist, or the lover of the romantic could desire
+to see,' and such a cottage was that of Major MacIan, the name now
+adopted by Lennard--that of Flora's father--in fulfilment of the vow
+he had made to renounce the name, title, and existence of his family.
+
+Around it, and in front sloping down to the bay, was a beautiful
+garden, teeming with the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On three
+sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis work of which was covered by
+a woven clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper, which, in the
+first year of her residence there, Flora's pretty hands, cased in
+garden gloves, were never tired of tending; and now the Virginia
+creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils, emerald green in summer, russet
+and red in autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof and around the
+chimney stalks, making it, as Flora was wont to say exultingly,
+'quite a love of a place!'
+
+On one hand lay the rolling waters of the Channel, foaming about the
+Mewstone Rock; on the other, a peep was given amid the coppice of the
+ancient church of Revelstoke, and here the married pair lived happily
+and alone for a brief time.
+
+Save for the advent of a ship passing in sight of the little bay, it
+was a sleepy place in which Lennard, now retired as a major, had
+'pitched his tent,' as he said--the Cottage of Revelstoke.  Even in
+these railway times people thereabout were content with yesterday's
+news.  There was no gas to spoil the complexions of the young, and no
+water rates to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never came, in their
+orange-tinted envelopes, to startle the hearts of the feeble and the
+sickly.
+
+No monetary transactions having taken place, and no correspondence
+being necessary, between Lennard and his family or their legal agent,
+Mr. Kippilaw, for more than twenty years now, he had quite passed
+away from their knowledge, and almost from their memory; and many who
+knew them once cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife were in the
+land of the living.
+
+A son, we have said, had been born to them, and Lennard named the
+child Florian, after his mother (here again ignoring his own family),
+whom that event cost dear, for the sweet and loving Flora never
+recovered her health or strength--injured, no doubt, in India--but
+fell into a decline, and, two years after, passed away in the arms of
+Lennard and her old nurse, Madelon.
+
+Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel now, though an orphan
+nephew of Flora--the son of her only sister--came to reside with
+him--Shafto Gyle by name--one who will figure largely in our story.
+
+Would Lennard ever forget the day of her departure, when she sank
+under that wasting illness with which no doctor could grapple?  Ever
+and always he could recall the sweet but pallid face, the white,
+wasted hands, the fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so
+unnaturally large when, after one harrowing night of pain and
+delirium, she became gentle and quiet, and lovingly told him to take
+a little rest--for old-looking he was; old, worn, and wasted far
+beyond his years--and he obeyed her, saying he would take a little
+turn in the garden among the roses--the roses her hands would tend no
+more--sick at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber and all it
+suggested, and maddened by the loud ticking of the watchful doctor's
+repeater as it lay on a table littered with useless phials; and how,
+ere he had been ten minutes in the sunny morning air, amid the
+perfume of the roses, he was wildly summoned by Madelon Galbraith
+with white cheeks and affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of death
+it proved to be; for it was on the brow of Death he pressed his
+passionate kisses, and to ears that could hear no more he uttered his
+heartrending entreaties that she would not leave him, or would give
+him one farewell word; and ever after would the perfume of roses be
+associated in his mind with that morning--the most terrible one of
+his life!
+
+Beside Revelstoke Church--old, picturesque, and rendered comely by a
+wealth of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed around its hoary walls
+to flutter in the sea breeze--she was laid, and the heart of Lennard
+seemed to be buried with her.
+
+It is a lonely old building, spotted with lichens, worn by storms,
+and perched upon the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the salt
+spray comes at times to the burial-ground.  It is near the end of
+Mothcombe Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the southward.
+
+Not a house is near it, the solitary hills and waves encompass it,
+and it is said that its smouldering tombstones would furnish ample
+matter for the 'meditations' of a Hervey.  So there Flora was laid,
+and there Lennard was to be laid by her side when the time came.
+
+Her death hardened his heart more than ever against his own family,
+and he began almost to forget that he ever bore any other name than
+hers--his adopted one.
+
+In the kindness of his heart the major, as the lads--his son and
+nephew--grew up together, introduced both to neighbours and strangers
+equally as his sons, but most unwisely, as we shall ere long have to
+record.
+
+Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did he reveal his real name, or
+the story of the quarrel with his family and their work; thus in and
+about Revelstoke all three passed under the name of MacIan now.
+
+Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her mistress on her death-bed,
+and nursed her baby into boyhood, had now gone back to her native
+glen in the wilds of Ross.  She proved, Lennard found, somewhat
+unfitted for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways and ideas were
+foreign to those of the folks thereabouts; but she will have a
+prominent place in our story in the future.
+
+But long, long Madelon wept over Florian, and pressed him often to
+her breast--'the baby of her bairn,' as she had called him--for as
+she had nursed him, so had she nursed his mother before him in the
+days when the victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents at
+Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.
+
+'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting words; 'I'll see ye yet
+again, Florian.  If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DULCIE.
+
+All trace of Lennard Melfort had been obliterated at Craigengowan, we
+have said.  He was never mentioned there, and though his family tried
+to think of him as dead, they did not quite succeed; but the
+disappearance of his name from the Army List first excited a little
+speculation, but no inquiry, until a terrible event occurred.
+
+The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married the daughter of Lady
+Drumshoddy, thus securing her thousands, and did his best to console
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the disgrace' brought upon them by
+Lennard, and they regarded him quite as a model son.
+
+He shone as Chairman at all kinds of county meetings; became M.P. for
+a cluster of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish member,
+mightily interested when such grand Imperial matters as the
+gravelling of Park Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the
+improvements at Hyde Park Corner were before the House, but was
+oblivious of all Scottish interests, or that such a place as Scotland
+existed.  When she wanted--like other parts of the empire--but never
+got them--grants for necessary purposes, the Hon. Cosmo was mute as a
+fish, or if he spoke it was to record his vote against them.
+
+Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and with natural grief and dismay,
+that Cosmo had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking near
+Glentilt.  He had wounded a large stag, the captain of its herd, and
+approached rashly or incautiously when the infuriated animal was at
+bay.  It broke its bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great
+shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo was trampled under foot and
+gored to death by its horns.
+
+As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the scene where that death must
+have happened, under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel builds his
+nest and the great mountain eagle has his eyry, and the Tilt comes
+thundering down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never again would
+his eyes rest on such glorious scenes as these.
+
+Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella, who took up her abode with
+her grandparents at Craigengowan, but no son, and Lennard knew that
+by this tragedy he was now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave
+a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her grave and made no sign.
+
+'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting for a time much that had
+occurred, and how completely Cosmo had leagued with father and mother
+against him, his memory went back to the pleasant days of their happy
+boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot together, shared the same
+bedroom in Craigengowan, and conned their tasks from the same books.
+
+'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over and done with long, long
+ago.'
+
+He made no sign, we say, but let time pass by, not foreseeing the
+complications that were eventually to arise by his doing so.
+
+Florian, born two years after the adoption of Shafto Gyle in his
+infancy, always regarded and looked up to the latter as a species of
+elder brother and undoubted senior.
+
+In his twentieth year Florian was really a handsome fellow, and if,
+without absurdity, the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a young
+man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.  Tall in figure, hard and
+well developed in muscle, regular in features, he had clear, dark,
+honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's, and a dark, silky moustache.
+
+Shafto's face was in some respects handsome too, but an evil one to
+look at, in one way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and had a way of
+meeting in a dark frown when he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes
+were shifty, and were given him, like his tongue, to conceal rather
+than express his thoughts, for they were sharp and cunning.  His
+nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips, suggestive of
+cruelty, while his massive jaw and thick neck were equally so--we
+must say almost to brutality.
+
+They were rather a contrast, these two young men--a contrast no less
+great in their dispositions and minds than in their outward
+appearance.  They were so dissimilar--one being dark and the other
+fair--that no one would have taken them for brothers, as they were
+generally supposed to be, so affectionate was the Major to both, and
+both bearing his name in the locality.
+
+As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant reputation for jockeying
+his companions, 'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats, marbles, and
+money, and for skilfully shifting punishments on the wrong shoulders
+when opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on those of the
+unsuspecting Florian.
+
+From some of his proclivities, the Major thought Shafto would make a
+good attorney, and so had him duly installed in the office of
+Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer, while for his own boy,
+Florian, he had higher hopes and aspirations, to make him, like
+himself, a soldier; but though far from idle, or lacking application,
+Florian failed, under the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'
+to pass, and not a few--Shafto particularly--laid it to the account
+of a certain damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed, with some
+truth, to occupy too much of his thoughts.
+
+Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,' Florian would at once
+have enlisted, like so many others, who rush as privates for
+commissions nowadays; but his father's fast-failing health, his love
+for Dulcie Carlyon, and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope that
+'something would turn up,' kept him hanging on day by day aimlessly
+at Revelstoke, without even the apparent future that had opened to
+Shafto when elevated to a high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.
+
+As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or MacIan as he called himself),
+though he had a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for
+business to all appearance, cleverness, and strength of character,
+turned with greater pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear open
+brow and honest manly eyes bore nature's unmistakable impress of a
+truer nobility than ever appertained to the truculent and
+anti-national lords of Fettercairn.
+
+Though to all appearance the best of friends before the world, the
+cousins were rivals; but as Florian was the successful lover, Shafto
+had a good basis for bitterness, if not secret hate.
+
+In common with the few neighbours who were in that sequestered
+quarter, the lawyer liked the Major--he was so gentle, suave,
+retiring in manner, and courteously polite.  He liked Florian too,
+but deemed him idle, and there his liking ended.
+
+He took Shafto into his office at the Major's urgent request, as a
+species of apprentice, but he--after the aphorism of 'Dr. Fell'--did
+not much affect the young man, though he found him sharp enough--too
+sharp at times; and, like most of the neighbours, he never cared to
+inquire into the precise relationship of the Major and the two lads,
+both of whom from boyhood had called the latter 'Papa.'
+
+Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited circle in which she
+moved, and a very limited circle it was; but she was pretty enough to
+have been the belle of a much larger orbit; for she was the very
+ideal of a sweet, bright English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth
+year, and the boy and girl romance in the lives of her and Florian
+had lasted since they were children and playmates together, and they
+seemed now to regard each other with 'the love that is given once in
+a lifetime.'
+
+'Could I but separate these two!' muttered Shafto, as with eyes full
+of envy and evil he watched one of their meetings, amid the bushes
+that fringed an old quarry not far from Revelstoke Church.
+
+From the summit where he lurked there was a magnificent view of the
+sea and the surrounding country.  On one hand lay the lonely old
+church and all the solitary hills that overlook its wave-beaten
+promontory; on the other were the white-crested waves of the British
+Channel, rolling in sunshine; but Shafto saw only the face and figure
+of Dulcie Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of picturing her,
+in a jacket of navy blue, fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt
+with clinging folds of the same--a costume which invests an English
+girl with an air equally nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses
+always fitted her exquisitely, and her small head, with smart hat and
+feather, set gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a
+_soupçon_ of pride in its contour and bearing.
+
+Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like complexion which is
+so peculiarly English, Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with
+eyes deeply and beautifully blue, reddish-golden hair, a laughing
+mouth that some thought too large for perfect beauty, but it was
+fully redeemed by its vivid colour and faultless teeth.
+
+'Could I but separate them!' muttered Shafto, through his clenched
+teeth, while their murmured words and mutual caresses maddened him.
+
+Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in an open locket which
+Florian had just given her--a likeness, no doubt, of himself--and she
+did so repeatedly, and ever and anon held it admiringly at arm's
+length.  Then she closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver
+necklet to which it was attached round her slender white throat; and
+with a bright fond smile she concealed it among the lace frilling of
+her collarette, and let the locket, for security, drop into the cleft
+of her bosom, little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in her
+life.
+
+Shafto's face would not have been pleasant to look upon as he saw
+this episode, and his shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he
+watched it.
+
+'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a kind of boyish rapture, as he
+placed a hand on each of her shoulders and gazed into her eyes, 'I am
+most terribly in love with you.'
+
+'Why should there be any terror in it?' asked Dulcie, with a sweet
+silvery laugh.
+
+'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your love, and being always
+with you, that--that a fear comes over me lest we should be some day
+parted.'
+
+'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she with a pretty pout, while
+her long lashes drooped.
+
+'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have you ever had an
+emotion that comes uncalled for--that which people call a
+presentiment?'
+
+'Yes; often.'
+
+'Has it ever come true?'
+
+'Sometimes.'
+
+'Well--I have a presentiment this evening which tells me that
+something is about to happen to me--to us--and very soon too!'
+
+'What can happen to us--we are so happy?' said Dulcie, her blue eyes
+dilating.
+
+Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown to Florian, mysteriously
+prompt this thought--this boding fear.  Shafto heard the words, and a
+strange smile spread over his face as he shook his clenched hand at
+the absorbed pair, and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving two
+foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from which they might be
+roughly awakened--leaving the happy Florian, with that sweet and
+winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and with whom he had played even as a
+child; with whom he had shared many a pot of clotted cream; with whom
+he had fished for trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with fearful
+steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern there, where lie thick the
+fossil bones of the elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for hours
+by the moors, among mossy rocks and mossy trees, and in woody
+labyrinthine lanes, and many a time and oft by the sea shore, where
+the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in a manner beyond description,
+but so loosely bound together that waves rend them asunder, and shape
+them into forms like ruined castles and stranded ships; till, as
+years went on, heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life had been
+left behind; and that dream-time came in which they seemed to live
+for years.
+
+No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of coquetry, her nature was too
+truthful and open for that; thus she had never for a moment wavered
+in her preference between Florian and Shafto, and spent with the
+former those bright and hopeful hours that seldom come again with the
+same keen intensity in a lifetime, though often clouded by vague
+doubts.
+
+As yet they had led a kind of Paul and Virginia life, without very
+defined ideas of their future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering
+what that future might be.
+
+They only knew, like the impassioned boy and girl in the beautiful
+story of Bernardin St. Pierre, that they loved each other very
+dearly, and for the sweet present that sufficed; while cunning Shafto
+Gyle looked darkly, gloomily, and enviously on them.
+
+Perhaps it was his fast failing health that prevented Lennard Melfort
+from looking more closely into this matter, or it may be that he
+remembered the youthful love of his own heart; for he could never
+forget her whom he was so soon to join now, and who, 'after life's
+fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall of Revelstoke, within sound of
+the restless sea.
+
+Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard rumours of these meetings and
+rambles, and probably liked them as little as the Major did; but he
+was a busy man absorbed in his work, and had been used to seeing the
+pair together since they were toddling children.  Lennard, perhaps,
+thought it was as well to let them alone, as nothing would come of
+it, while the lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.
+
+'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day, 'what is to be the end of
+all this philandering but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do you
+expect a young fellow to marry you who has no money, no prospects, no
+position in the world?'
+
+'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing painfully, for though
+an only and motherless child she stood in awe of her father.
+
+'Position--a deuced bad one, I think!'
+
+'The other two items will come in time, papa,' said Dulcie, laughing
+now.
+
+'When?'
+
+Dulcie was silent, and--for the first time in her life--thought
+sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But she pressed a pretty white hand upon the
+silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw courage therefrom as from
+an amulet.
+
+'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of a _cob_ cottage over your
+head.'
+
+'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire proverb--a good cob, a
+good hat and shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'
+
+'Right, lass, and a good heart have you, my darling,' said Mr.
+Carlyon, kissing her peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and
+good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his exterior, and more
+like a grazier than a lawyer.  'You are both too young to know what
+you are talking about.  He'll be going away, however--can't live
+always on his father, and _he_, poor fellow, won't last long.  The
+fancy of you both will wear itself out, like any other summer
+flirtation--I had many such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,
+'and got safely over them all.  So will you, lass, and marry into
+some good family, getting a husband that will give you a comfortable
+home--for instance, Job Holbeton, with his pits of Bovey coal.'
+
+Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could scarcely restrain her tears at
+the hard, practical suggestions of her father.  Hard-featured, stout,
+and grizzled Joe Holbeton versus her handsome Florian!
+
+Her father spoke, too, of his probable 'going away.'  Was this the
+presentiment to which her lover had referred?  It almost seemed so.
+
+In the sunset she went forth into the garden to work with her wools,
+and even to have a 'good cry' over what her father had said; but in
+this she was prevented by suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the
+grass at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree--Shafto, whom she could
+only tolerate for Florian's sake.
+
+'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,' she asked, with unconcealed
+annoyance.
+
+'Staring, was I?'
+
+'Yes, like an owl.'
+
+'I always like to see girls working.'
+
+'Indeed!'
+
+'And the work, what do you call it?'
+
+'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'
+
+'Yes, especially when the work is done by hands so pretty and white.'
+
+'As mine, you mean, of course?'
+
+'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'
+
+'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy compliments, Shafto, or I
+shall quit the garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking with a
+half-frightened, half-defiant expression into the keen, shifty, and
+pale grey ones of Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.
+
+He could see the outline of the locket with every respiration of her
+bosom.  Could he but possess himself of it, thought he, as he
+proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.
+
+'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in ladies' society unless with
+permission,' said Dulcie.
+
+'Never bother about that, little one, please.  But may I smoke?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up at her with eyes full of
+admiration.  'I feel like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'
+
+'I don't know who he was, or what you feel, but do you know what you
+look like?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom, with his ass's head, at the
+feet of Titania.  "Dost like the picture?"'
+
+Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so that Dulcie laughed
+merrily, showing all her pearly teeth at her reply.
+
+'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,' said he, bluntly and
+coarsely; 'doing the Huguenot business, the _pose_ of Millais'
+picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'
+
+'Millais and I?'
+
+'No; you and Florian!'
+
+'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face growing very pale in spite
+of herself at the bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable anger of
+his tone and bearing.
+
+'Yes--with your tomfoolery.'
+
+'How?--why?'
+
+'Penniless as you are--he at least.'
+
+'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant, to say the least of
+it,' said Dulcie, as she gathered up her wools and sailed into the
+house, while his eyes followed her with a menacing and very ugly
+expression indeed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SECRET PACKET.
+
+The broken health brought by Lennard from the miasmatic Terai of
+Nepaul was rapidly becoming more broken than ever, and, though not
+yet fifty, he was a premature old man, and it seemed as if the first
+part of Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming sorrow would
+soon be fulfilled.
+
+His steps became very feeble, and he could only get about, in the
+autumn sunshine, with the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and the
+latter watched him with grief and pain, tottering like the aged,
+panting and leaning heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he insisted
+on being led up a steep slope from which he could clearly see the old
+church of Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory, overlooked by sad
+and solitary hills, and his hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it,
+with a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed to be at peace,
+and by the side of her he had laid there, it seemed long years ago--a
+lifetime ago.
+
+Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb, and all who looked upon him
+thought so; yet his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed no fear.
+
+One day when Florian was absent--no doubt sketching, boating with
+Dulcie on the Yealm, or idling with her on the moors--Lennard
+besought Shafto to stay beside him as he sat feeble and languid in
+his easy chair, sinking with the wasting and internal fever, with
+which the country practitioners were totally incapable of grappling;
+and on this day, for the first time, he began to speak to him of
+Scotland and the home he once had there; and he was listened to with
+the keenest interest by Shafto, who had ever--even as a child--been
+cunning, selfish, and avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and
+complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he remembered only
+Flora's dead and devoted sister.
+
+'I have been thinking over old times and other days, Shafto,' said
+he, with his attenuated hands crossed on the head of his bamboo cane;
+'and, all things considered, it seems an occupation I had better
+avoid did the memory concern myself alone: but I must think of others
+and their interests--of Florian and of you--so I can't help it, boy,
+in my present state of health, or rather want of health,' he added,
+as a violent fit of spasmodic coughing came upon him.
+
+After a pause he spoke again.
+
+'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older than Florian, and are, in
+many ways, several years older in thought and experience by the short
+training you have received in Carlyon's office.'
+
+The Major paused again, leaving Shafto full of wonder and curiosity
+as to what this preamble was leading up to.
+
+The former had begun to see things more clearly and temperately with
+regard to the sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that, though he had
+renounced all family ties, name, and wealth, so far as concerned
+himself, to die, with the secret of all untold, would be to inflict a
+cruel wrong on Florian.  At one time Lennard thought of putting his
+papers and the whole matter in the hands of Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and
+it was a pity he did not do so instead of choosing to entrust them to
+his long-headed nephew.
+
+'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for me--my hands are so tremulous,'
+said he.
+
+When this was done he selected a packet from a private drawer, and
+briefly and rapidly told the story of his life, his proper name, and
+rank to Shafto, who listened with open-eyed amazement.
+
+When the latter had thoroughly digested the whole information, he
+said, after a long pause:
+
+'This must be told to Florian!'
+
+And with Florian came the thought of Dulcie, and how this sudden
+accession of her lover to fortune and position would affect her.
+
+'Nay, Shafto--not yet--not till I am gone--a short time now.  I can
+trust you, with your sharpness and legal acumen, with the handling of
+this matter entirely.  When I am gone, and laid beside your aunt
+Flora, by the wall of the old church yonder,' he continued with a
+very broken voice--one almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the
+person to whom this packet is addressed, Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer
+to the Signet in Edinburgh--he is alive still; place these in his
+hands, and he will do all that is required; but treasure them,
+Shafto--be careful of them as you would of your soul's salvation--for
+my sake, and more than all for the sake of Florian!  Now, my good
+lad, give me the composing draught--I feel sleepy and so weary with
+all this talking, and the thoughts that have come unbidden--unbidden,
+sad, bitter, and angry thoughts--to memory.'
+
+Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and, giving his uncle the
+draught, stole softly away to his own room with the papers, to con
+them over and to--think!
+
+He had not sat at a desk for three years in Lawyer Carlyon's office
+without having his wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the documents
+away.
+
+'Stop--stop--let me think, let me consider!' he exclaimed to himself,
+and he certainly did consider to some purpose.  He was cold and
+calculating; he was never unusually agitated or flustered, but he
+became both with the thoughts that occurred to him now.
+
+Among the papers and letters entrusted to him were the certificates
+of the marriage of Lennard and Flora, and another which ran thus:
+
+'Certificate of entry of birth, under section 37 of 17 and 18 Vict.,
+cap. 80.'  It authenticated the birth of their child Florian at
+Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.
+
+These documents were enclosed in a letter written in a tremulous and
+uncertain hand by Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, part of
+which was in these terms:
+
+The child was baptized by a neighbouring clergyman--the Rev. Paul
+Pentreath--who has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he gave me,
+and, dying as I now feel myself to be, I pray earnestly that my
+father and mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let them not--as
+they one day hope for mercy at that dread throne before which I am
+soon to appear--visit upon his innocent head my supposed and most
+heavily punished offence.  Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to
+that which is his due; let him succeed to all I renounced in
+anger--an anger that has passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I
+am aged beyond my years, and my hair is now white as snow through
+ill-health contracted in India, where, to procure money necessary for
+my poor Flora, I volunteered on desperate service, and in seasons
+destructive to existence.  In your hands I leave the matter with
+perfect hope and confidence.  The bearer will tell you all more that
+may be necessary.'
+
+After having read, reread, and made himself thoroughly master of the
+contents of this to him certainly most astounding packet, he
+requested the Major to re-address it in his own tremulous and all but
+illegible handwriting, and seal it up with his long-disused signet
+ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.
+
+Prior to having all this done, Shafto had operated on one of the
+documents most dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!
+
+'A peerage! a peerage!--rank, wealth, money, mine--all mine!' he
+muttered under his breath, as he stored the packet away in a sure and
+secret place, and while whistling softly to himself, a way he had
+when brooding (as he often did) over mischief, he recalled the lines
+of Robert Herrick:
+
+  'Our life is like a narrow raft,
+    Afloat upon the hungry sea;
+  Hereon is but a little space,
+  And all men, eager for a place,
+    Do thrust each other in the sea.'
+
+'So why should I not thrust him into the hungry briny?  If life is a
+raft--and, by Jove, I find it so!--why should one not grasp at all
+one can, and make the best of life for one's self, by making the
+worst of it for other folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank and
+wealth come often to any one's hands?  No! and I should be the
+biggest of fools--the most enormous of idiots--not to avail myself to
+the fullest extent.  I see my little game clearly, but must play
+warily.  "Eat, drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for to-morrow we
+die."  They say the devil can quote Scripture, and so can Shafto
+Gyle.  But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to have a jolly good
+spell for many a year to come!'
+
+And in the wild exuberance of his spirits he tossed his hat again and
+again to the ceiling.
+
+From that day forward the health of Lennard Melfort seemed to decline
+more rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by the chill winds of the
+season to remain in bed, quite unable to take his place at table or
+move about, save when wheeled in a chair to the window, where he
+loved to watch the setting sun.
+
+Then came one evening when, for the last time, he begged to be
+propped up there in his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over
+Revelstoke Church, and throwing its picturesque outline strongly
+forward, in a dark indigo tint, against the golden and crimson flush
+of the west, and all the waves around the promontory were glittering
+in light.
+
+But Lennard saw nothing of all this, though he felt the feeble warmth
+of the wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn hands towards it;
+his eyesight was gone, and would never come again!  There was
+something very pathetic in the withered face and sightless eyes, and
+the drooping white moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,
+and waxed _à l'Empereur_.
+
+His dream of life was over, and his last mutterings were a prayer for
+Florian, on whose breast his head lay as he breathed his last.
+
+The two lads looked at each other in that supreme moment--but with
+very different thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only
+desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto, in the awful presence
+of Death, felt alone in the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FAREWELL.
+
+As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and attenuated man, whose
+hair was like the thistledown, none would have recognised in him the
+dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous young subaltern who only twenty-four
+years before had led his company at the storming of the Redan, who
+had planted the scaling-ladder against the scarp, and shouted in a
+voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse musketry:
+
+'Come on, men! ladders to the front, eight men per ladder; up and at
+them, lads, with the bayonet,' and fought his way into an embrasure,
+while round-shot tore up the earth beneath his feet, and men were
+swept away in sections of twenty; or the hardy soldier who faced
+fever and foes alike in the Terai of Nepaul.
+
+How still and peaceful he lay now as the coffin-lid was closed over
+him.
+
+Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the hard ground, and the
+waves seemed to leap and sob heavily round the old church of
+Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid beside the now old and
+flattened grave of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind lifted
+the silver hair of the Rev. Paul Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or
+on the buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of the pall held by
+Florian, who felt as one in a dreadful dream--amid a dread and unreal
+phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed to twitch angrily the
+pall-ribbon from the hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort
+recover it, as more than one present, with their Devonian
+superstition, remarked, and remembered when other things came to pass.
+
+At last all was over; the mourners departed, and Lennard Melfort was
+left alone--alone with the dead of yesterday and of ages; and
+Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and pressed his hand, strove to
+commit to memory the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,
+'There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor sighing; for God
+shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'
+
+Shafto now let little time pass before he proceeded to inform Florian
+of what he called their 'relative position,' and of their journey
+into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.
+
+It has been said that in life we have sometimes moments so full of
+emotion that they seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach again;
+and this sharp turn, young and startled Florian seemed to pass, when
+he learned that since infancy he had been misled, and that the man,
+so tender and so loving, whom he had deemed his father was but his
+uncle!
+
+How came it all to pass now?  Yet the old Major had ever been so kind
+and affectionate to him--to both, in fact, equally so, treating them
+as his sons--that he felt only a stunning surprise, a crushing grief
+and bitter mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his love for
+the dead was too keen and deep for that.
+
+The packet, sealed and addressed to Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents
+were as yet unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the strange
+intelligence of Shafto; but the question naturally occurred to
+Florian, 'For what end or purpose had this lifelong mystery and
+change in their positions been brought about?'
+
+He asked this of Shafto again and again.
+
+'It seems we have been very curiously deluded,' said that personage,
+not daring to look the sorrowful Florian straight in the face, and
+pretended to be intent on stuffing his pipe.
+
+'Deluded--how?'
+
+'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed Shafto, with petulance and
+assumed irritation, 'that the contents of this packet prove that _I_
+am the only son of Major Melfort (not MacIan at all), and that
+you--you----'
+
+'What?'
+
+'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew--adopted as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will
+tell you all about it.'
+
+'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian, scarcely knowing, in his
+bewilderment, what he said.
+
+'Mean to go in for my proper position--my title, and all that sort of
+thing, don't you see?'
+
+'And act--how!'
+
+'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback, I hope.  I'll do something
+handsome for you, of course.'
+
+'I want nothing done for me while I have two hands, Shafto.'
+
+'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing vigorously at his pipe.
+'I have had enough of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance in
+the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he, after a long pause; 'and,
+by all the devils, I'll have no more of it now that I am going to be
+rich.'
+
+Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort entrusting him with the
+packet, Shafto had done little else at the office but study the laws
+of succession in Scotland and England.
+
+'How much you love money, Shafto!' said Florian, eying him wistfully.
+
+'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from having had so precious little
+of it in my time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought he
+exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully, how many matrons
+with daughters unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to me!  And
+Dulcie Carlyon I might have for asking; but I'll fly at higher game
+now, by Jove!'
+
+As further credentials, Shafto now possessed himself of Major
+Melfort's sword, commissions, and medals, while Florian looked in
+blank dismay and growing mortification--puzzled by the new position
+in which he found himself, of being no longer his father's son--a
+source of unfathomable mystery.
+
+Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to leave Revelstoke and its
+vicinity behind him.  It was too late for regrets or repentance now.
+Not that he felt either, we suppose; and what he had done he would do
+again if there was no chance of being found out.  In the growing
+exuberance of his spirits, he could not help, a day or two after,
+taunting Florian about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a
+quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a scornful laugh:
+
+'You can't marry her--a fellow without a shilling in the world; and I
+wouldn't now, if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'
+
+Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised grief and astonishment of
+these events, and of the approaching departure of the cousins.
+
+The cottage home was being broken up; the dear old Major was in his
+grave; and Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the lover of her
+girlhood, was going away--she scarcely knew to where.  They might be
+permitted to correspond by letter, but when, thought Dulcie--oh, when
+should they meet again?
+
+The sun was shedding its light and warmth around her as usual, on
+woodland and hill, on wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out, the
+perfume to pass from the early spring flowers, the glory from land
+and sea, and a dim mist of passionate tears clouded the sweet and
+tender blue eyes of the affectionate girl.
+
+He would return, he said, as he strove to console her; but how and
+when, and to what end? thought both so despairingly.  Their future
+seemed such a vague, a blank one!
+
+'I am penniless, Dulcie--a beggar on the face of the earth--twice
+beggared now, I think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.
+
+'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly, with piteous lips that were
+tremulous as his own, and her eyes drowned in tears.
+
+They had left the road now, and wandered among the trees in a
+thicket, and seated themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place
+endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.
+
+He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue, as if his own were
+striving to take away a memory of her face--a memory that would last
+for eternity.
+
+'And you really go to-night?' she asked, in piteous and broken
+accents.
+
+'Yes--with Shafto.  I am in a fever, darling, to seek out a position
+for myself.  Surely Shafto may assist me in that--though I shrink
+from asking him.'
+
+'Your own cousin?'
+
+'Yes--but sometimes he looks like a supplanter now, and his bearing
+has been so unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said Florian.
+'But you will wait for me, Dulcie, and not be persuaded to marry
+anyone else?' he added imploringly, as he clasped each of her hands
+in his.
+
+'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should be for twenty years!'
+exclaimed the girl, in a low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering
+the magnitude and peril of such a promise.
+
+'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he bending down and kissing her
+lips with ardour, and, though on the eve of parting, they felt almost
+happy in the confidence of the blissful present.
+
+'How often shall I recall this last meeting by the fallen tree, when
+you are far, far away from Revelstoke and--me,' said Dulcie.
+
+'You will often come here to be reminded of me?'
+
+'Do you think, Florian, I will require to be reminded of you?' asked
+the girl, with a little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she
+kissed the silver locket containing his likeness, and all the sweet
+iteration of lover-talk, promises, and pledges went on for a time,
+and new hopes began to render this last interview more bearable to
+the young pair who were on the eve of separation, without any very
+distinct arrangement about correspondence in the interval of it.
+
+The sun was setting now redly, and amid dun winter clouds, beaming on
+each chimney-head, on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless tree-tops
+his farewell radiance.
+
+Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie, and with the emotion of a
+wrench in his heart, was gone, and she was alone.
+
+A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were all that remained to him
+of her--both to be looked upon again and again, till his eyes ached,
+but never grew weary.
+
+Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and the memory of that parting
+kiss was still hovering on her quivering lips when, in a lonely lane
+not far from her home, she found herself suddenly face to face with
+Shafto.
+
+She had known him from his boyhood, ever since he came an orphan to
+Lennard Melfort's cottage; and although she always distrusted and
+never liked him, his face was a familiar one she might never see
+more; thus she resolved to part with him as with the best of friends,
+and to remember that he was the only kinsman of Florian, whose
+companion and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey the end of
+which she scarcely understood.  So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad
+smile in her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand, which Shafto
+grasped and retained promptly enough.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SILVER LOCKET.
+
+Shafto had just been with her father.  How contemptuously he had eyed
+the corner and the high old stool on which he had sat in the latter's
+legal establishment, and all its surroundings; the fly-blown county
+maps of Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of sales--property,
+mangold wurzel, oats and hay, Thorley's food for cattle, and so
+forth; the tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of papers in red
+tape; the well-thumbed ledgers; day and letter books, and all the
+paraphernalia of a country solicitor's office.
+
+Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed them all.  Now it was all over and
+done with.
+
+The three poor lads in the office, whose cheap cigars and beer he had
+often shared at the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended to notice,
+while they regarded him with something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer
+Carlyon his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal of the lease
+of the Major's pretty cottage, and of all the goods and chattels that
+were therein.
+
+Had Florian been present he would have felt only shame and abasement
+at the tone and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion; but worthy
+Lawyer Carlyon, who did not believe a bit in the rumoured accession
+of Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed softly to himself, and
+thought his 'pride would have a sore fall one of these fine days.'
+
+And even now, when face to face with Dulcie, his general bearing, his
+coolness and insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief, indignant
+and defiant ultimately.
+
+How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl looked, from the smart
+scarlet feather in her little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her
+veil was tightly tied across her face, showing only the tip of her
+nose, her ripe red lips, and pretty white chin--its point, like her
+cheeks, reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from the Channel.  Her
+gloved hands were in her small muff, and the collar of her sealskin
+jacket was encircled by the necklet at which her silver locket
+hung--the locket Shafto had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed
+it on her, while he looked close by, with his heart full of envy,
+jealousy, and hatred, and now it was the first thing that attracted
+his eye.
+
+'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?' she said softly.
+
+'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester and the north.  My estates,
+you know, are in Scotland.'
+
+'These changes are all strange and most startling,' said she, with a
+sob in her slender throat.
+
+'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I suppose it is the result
+of progress,' he added sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers
+and grandmothers contrived to mope over and yawn out their dull and
+emotionless existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'
+
+'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'
+
+'Who knows; though life, however sweet now, won't be worth living for
+then, I fancy.'
+
+Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in admiring silence, for he had a
+high appreciation of her bright and delicate beauty, and loved
+her--if we may degrade the phrase--in his own selfish and peculiar
+way, though now resolved--as he had often thought vainly--to 'fly at
+higher game;' and so, full of ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own,
+if he had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at least, ceased for a
+space to trouble her.
+
+'Florian will be writing to you, of course?' said he, after a pause.
+
+'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement; and then, you know, papa----'
+
+'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell advice to you, Dulcie,
+is--Don't put off your time thinking of Florian--his ship will never
+come home.'
+
+'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.
+
+'You think so--but you are wrong.'
+
+'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'
+
+'I have read somewhere that ships of the kind rarely do come home in
+this prosaic and disappointing world; that some get wrecked almost
+within sight of land; others go down without the flapping of a sail,
+and sometimes after long and firm battling with adverse winds and
+tides; but _my ship_ is a sure craft, Dulcie,' he added, as he
+thought of the packet in his possession--that precious packet on
+which all his hopes rested and his daring ambition was founded.
+
+Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully, and thought--
+
+'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were always selfish and evil.
+Tide what may,' she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years and more
+for Florian.'
+
+'The more fool you, then!  And so die an old maid?'
+
+'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'
+
+'And if he never can marry you--or marries some one else when he
+can?' asked Shafto viciously.
+
+'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or women's rights, and all that
+sort of thing,' said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant
+attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while Shafto eyed her
+angrily.
+
+'How fond you are of that silver locket--you never wear any other!'
+
+'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'
+
+'And none you prize so much?'
+
+'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.
+
+'Is that the reason you wear it with all kinds of dresses?  What is
+in it--anything?'
+
+'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting her right hand on it and
+instinctively drawing back a pace, for there was a menacing
+expression in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.
+
+'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her hand in his.
+
+'No.'
+
+'You shall!'
+
+'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes sparkling now as his grasp upon
+her hand tightened.
+
+An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with his eyes aflame and his
+cheeks pale with jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and
+wrenched by brutal force the locket from her, breaking the silver
+necklet as he did so.
+
+'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and thief--how dare you?
+Surrender that locket instantly!'
+
+'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly, holding the prized trinket
+before her at arm's length.
+
+'But for Florian's sake, I would at once apply to the police.'
+
+'A vulgar resort--no, my pretty Dulcie, you wouldn't.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Not for Florian's sake?'
+
+'Whose, then?'
+
+'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have your old pump of a father
+down on you; and so you dare not make a row about it, my pretty
+little fury.'
+
+'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that photo,' said Dulcie, her
+tears welling forth.
+
+'No; I won't.'
+
+'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'
+
+'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to whom a villainous idea just
+then occurred.
+
+'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her muff drop and clasping her
+slim little hands.
+
+'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined to put my heel upon it--but
+I won't.'
+
+'This robbery is cruel and infamous!' exclaimed Dulcie, trembling
+with grief and just indignation; but Shafto only laughed in anger and
+bitterness--and a very hyena-like laugh it was, and as some one was
+coming down the secluded lane, he turned away and left her in the
+twilight.
+
+He felt himself safe from opprobrium and punishment, as he knew well
+she was loth to make any complaint to her father on the subject; and
+just then she knew not how to communicate with Florian, as the
+darkness was falling fast, and the hour of his departure was close at
+hand.  She thought it not improbable that Shafto would relent and
+return the locket to her; but the night was far advanced ere that
+hope was dissipated, and she attained some outward appearance of
+composure, though her father's sharp and affectionate eyes detected
+that she had been suffering.
+
+He had heard from her some confused and rambling story about the
+family secret, the packet, and the peerage, a story of which he could
+make nothing, though Shafto's bearing to himself that evening seemed
+to confirm the idea that 'there was something in it.'  Anyway, Mr.
+Carlyon was not indisposed to turn the event to account in one sense.
+
+'Likely--likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said he; 'and so you'll hear no
+more of these two lads, if they are likely to become great folks, and
+belong to what is called the upper ten; they'll never think again of
+a poor village belle like you, though there is not a prettier face in
+all Devonshire than my Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'
+
+He meant this kindly, and spoke with a purpose; and his words and the
+warning they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender heart of poor
+Dulcie.
+
+By this time the cousins were sweeping through the darkness in the
+express train by Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were very
+silent, and each was full of his own thoughts, and what these were
+the reader may very well imagine.
+
+Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles of Shafto, Florian, from
+time to time, drew forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining lock of
+red-golden hair, his sole links between the past and the present; and
+already he felt as if a score of years had lapsed since they sat side
+by side upon the fallen tree.
+
+Then, that he might give his whole thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to
+sleep; but Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat quietly enough
+with his face in shadow, his travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled
+well down over his watchful and shifty grey-green eyes, the lamp
+overhead giving a miserable glimmer suited to the concealment of
+expression and thought; and as the swift train sped northward, the
+cousins addressed not a word to each other concerning those they had
+left behind, what was before them, or anything else.
+
+After a time, Shafto really slept--slept the slumber which is
+supposed to be the reward of the just and conscientious, but which is
+much more often enjoyed by those who have no conscience at all.
+
+Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to Florian detailing the
+outrage to which she had been subjected by Shafto; but time passed
+on, and, for a reason we shall give in its place, the letter never
+reached him.
+
+Again and again she recalled and rehearsed her farewell with Florian,
+and thought regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate
+poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with Shafto; and she still
+seemed to see his beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while
+her own welled freely and bitterly.
+
+When could they meet again, if ever, and where and how?  Her heart
+and brain ached with these questions.
+
+Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though her cheek paled a little, and
+she felt--even at her early years--as if life seemed over and done
+with, and in her passionate love for the absent, that existence alone
+was left to her, and so forth.
+
+And as she was her father's housekeeper now, kept the keys and paid
+all the servants, paid all accounts and made the preserves, he was in
+no way sorry that the young men were gone; that the 'aimless
+philandering,' as he deemed it, had come to an end; and that much
+would be attended to in his cosy little household which he
+suspected--but unjustly--had been neglected hitherto.
+
+To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native place, the breezy moors,
+the solitary hills, the mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,
+the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the Yealm, where they had
+been wont to boat and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn, were
+all full of the haunting presence of the absent--the poor but proud
+and handsome lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had loved her,
+and who now seemed to have slipped out of her existence.
+
+Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine flooded hill and dale, and
+lit up the waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the far-stretching
+Channel, tinting with wondrous gleams and hues the waves that rolled
+upon the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre Rock, and the
+sea-beaten promontory of Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was gone
+from land and water: she heard no more, by letter or otherwise, of
+the love of her youth; he seemed to have dropped utterly out of her
+sphere; and though mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of
+the bursting June roses--the Marshal Neil and Gloire de Dijon--and
+treasured them carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a task in
+which she had often been assisted by Florian, she felt and
+thought--'Ichabod!  Ichabod! the glory has departed!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+
+Shafto found himself a little nervous when he and Florian were
+actually in Edinburgh, a city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of
+rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and temple, so foreign-looking
+to English eyes, and so utterly unlike everything they had ever seen
+or conceived before.
+
+Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.  His father's
+death--though called an uncle now, but Florian always felt for and
+thought of him as a parent--the loss of Dulcie, their abrupt
+departure from Devonshire, and rough uprootal of all early
+associations, had made a kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life,
+and it was only now when he found himself amid the strange streets
+and picturesque splendour of Edinburgh that he began--like one
+recovering consciousness after a long illness--to gather up again the
+ravelled threads of thought, but with curious want of concern and
+energy; while Shafto felt that he personally had both, and that now
+he required to have all his wits about him.
+
+Florian stood for a time that night at the door of their hotel in
+Princes Street looking at the wonderful lights of the Old Town
+sparkling in mid air, and some that were in the Castle must, he
+thought, be stars, they were so high above the earth.  Scores of cabs
+and carriages went by, eastward and westward, but no carts or wains
+or lorries, such as one sees in London or Glasgow--vehicles with
+bright lamps and well muffled occupants, gentlemen in evening suits,
+and ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of pedestrians,
+under the brilliant gas lights and long boulevard-like lines of
+trees--the ever-changing human panorama of a great city street before
+midnight.
+
+How odd, how strange and lonely poor Florian felt; he seemed to
+belong to no one, and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for him;
+and ever and anon his eyes rested on the mighty castled rock that
+towers above streets, monuments, and gardens, with a wonderous
+history all its own, 'where treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,'
+and with them the only ancient crown in the British Isles.  'Brave
+kings and the fairest of crowned women have slept and been cradled in
+that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic English writer; 'heroes have fought
+upon its slopes; English armies have stormed it; dukes, earls, and
+barons have been immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted Queen
+prayed and yielded up her last breath there eight centuries ago.  It
+is an imperishable relic--a monument that needs no carving to tell
+its tale, and it has the nation's worship; and the different church
+sects cling round its base as if they would fight again for the
+guardianship of a venerable mother.....  And if Scotland has no
+longer a king and Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown is at
+least safely kept up there amid strong iron stanchions, as a sacred
+memorial of her inextinguishable independence, and, if need were, for
+future use.'
+
+Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he felt a keen interest in
+all that now surrounded him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the
+smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of the morrow, and unwisely
+seeking to fortify himself by imbibing more brandy and soda than
+Florian had ever seen him take before.
+
+After a sound night's rest and a substantial Scottish breakfast had
+fitted Shafto, as he thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited
+him and Florian (who was now beginning to marvel why he had travelled
+so far in a matter that concerned him not, in reality) at the
+residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, W.S., in Charlotte Square--a noble
+specimen of Adams Street architecture, having four stately
+symmetrical corresponding façades, overlooked by the dome of St.
+George's Church.
+
+'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,' said Shafto, as he looked at
+the mansion of Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the modest
+establishment of Lawyer Carlyon; 'but foxes will flourish as long as
+there are geese to be plucked.'
+
+Mr. Kippilaw was at home--indeed he was just finishing breakfast,
+before going to the Parliament House--as they were informed by the
+liveried valet, who led them through a pillared and marble-floored
+vestibule, and ushered them into what seemed a library, as the walls
+from floor to ceiling were lined with handsome books; but every
+professional man's private office has generally this aspect in
+Scotland.
+
+In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared with a puzzled and perplexed
+expression in his face, as he alternatively looked at his two
+visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year; his long since grizzled
+hair had now become white, and had shrunk to two patches far apart,
+one over each ear, and brushed stiffly up.  His eyebrows were also
+white, shaggy, and under them his keen eyes peered sharply through
+the rims of a gold pince-nez balanced on the bridge of his long
+aquiline nose.
+
+Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant dryness about his
+tongue and lips.
+
+'_Mr. Shafto Melfort?_' said Mr. Kippilaw inquiringly, and referring
+to the card again.  'I was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto
+Melfort--any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'
+
+'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.
+
+'This gentleman with the dark eyes?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to
+the silent Florian.
+
+'No--myself,' said Shafto sharply and firmly.
+
+'You are most unlike the family, who have always been remarkable for
+regularity of features.  Then you are the son--of--of--'
+
+'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died a few weeks ago----'
+
+'Good Heavens, where?'
+
+'On the west coast of Devonshire, near Revelstoke, where he had long
+resided under the assumed name of MacIan.'
+
+'That of his wife?'
+
+'Precisely so--my mother.'
+
+'And this young gentleman, whose face and features seem curiously
+familiar to me, though I never saw him before, he is your brother of
+course.'
+
+'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.  I am an only son, but
+the Major ever treated us as if he had been the father of both, so
+great and good was his kindness of heart.'
+
+'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a breathless voice, as he
+seated himself in an ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,
+which was covered with documents and letters all arranged by his
+junior clerk in the most orderly manner.
+
+'This is very sudden and most unexpected intelligence,' said he,
+carefully wiping his glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a
+closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all these years past the real
+name and position of your father, and that he left Kincardineshire
+more than twenty years ago after a very grave quarrel with his
+parents at Craigengowan?'
+
+'No--I only learned who he was, and who we really were, when he was
+almost on his deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his only son,
+and because I had been bred to the law; and on that melancholy
+occasion he entrusted me with this important packet addressed to
+_you_.'
+
+With an expression of the deepest interest pervading his well-lined
+face, Mr. Kippilaw took the packet and carefully examined the seal
+and the superscription, penned in a shaky handwriting, with both of
+which he was familiar enough, though he had seen neither for fully
+twenty years, and finally he examined the envelope, which looked old
+and yellow.
+
+'If all be true and correct, these tidings will make some stir at
+Craigengowan,' he muttered as if to himself, and cut round the seal
+with a penknife.
+
+'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I have alleged,' said
+Shafto, who now felt that the crisis was at hand.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and wonder, drew forth the
+documents and read and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding the
+papers, but not offensively, between him and the light to see if the
+dates and water-marks tallied.
+
+'The slow way this old devil goes on would exasperate an oyster!'
+thought Shafto, whose apparently perfect coolness and self-possession
+rather surprised and repelled the lawyer.
+
+There were the certificate of Lennard's marriage with Flora MacIan,
+which Mr. Kippilaw could remember he had seen of old; the
+'certificate of entry of birth of their son, born at Revelstoke at 6
+h. 50 m. on the 28th October P.M., 18--,' signed by the Registrar,
+and the Major's farewell letter to his old friend, entrusting his son
+and his son's interests to his care.
+
+'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after he had read for the
+second time, and saw that the letter of Lennard Melfort was
+undoubtedly authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of your Christian
+name is _torn out_ of the birth certificate, and the surname
+_Melfort_ alone remains?'
+
+'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently startled in turn.
+
+'There is a rough little hole in the document where the name _should
+be_.  Do you know the date of your birth?' asked Mr. Kippilaw, partly
+covering the document with his hand, unconsciously as it were.
+
+'Yes--28th October.'
+
+'And the year?'
+
+Shafto gave it from memory.
+
+'Quite correct--as given here,' said Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old
+for the date of this certificate.'
+
+'I always looked older than my years,' replied Shafto.
+
+Florian, who might have claimed the date as that of his own birth,
+was--luckily for Shafto--away at a window, gazing intently on a party
+of soldiers marching past, with a piper playing before them.
+
+'Another certificate can be got if necessary,' said Mr. Kippilaw, as
+he glanced at the Registrar's signature, a suggestion which made
+Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have come from the Major in this
+mutilated state,' he added, re-examining with legal care and
+suspicion the address on the envelope and the seal, which, as we have
+said, he had cut round; 'but it is strange that he has made no
+mention of it being so in his letter to me.  Poor fellow! he was more
+of a soldier than a man of business, however.  Allow me to
+congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new prospects.  Rank and a
+very fine estate are before you.'
+
+He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who began to be more reassured;
+and saying, 'I must carefully preserve the documents for the
+inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked them fast in a drawer of
+his writing-table, and spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,
+while warming his person in the fashion peculiar to the genuine
+'Britisher,' he eyed Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant
+remarks on the Fettercairn family, the fertility and beauty of
+Craigengowan, the stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth, and
+the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'--as he called him--and about
+whom he asked innumerable questions, all of which Shafto could answer
+truly and with a clear conscience enough, as he was master of all
+that.
+
+The latter was asked 'what he thought of Edinburgh--if he had ever
+been there before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a little 'Guide
+Book' into which he had certainly dipped, so as to be ready for
+anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque beauties and
+historical associations of the Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's
+heart began to warm to so intelligent a young man, while of the
+silent Florian, staring out into the sun-lit square and its beautiful
+garden and statues, he took little notice, beyond wondering _where_
+he had seen his eyes and features before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ALONE IN THE WORLD.
+
+'And you were bred to the law, you say, Mr. Melfort?' remarked the
+old Writer to the Signet after a pause.
+
+'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'
+
+'Very good--very good indeed; that is well!  We generally think in
+Scotland that a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it teaches
+the laird to haud his ain; but I forgot that you are southland bred,
+and born too--the more is the pity--and can't understand me.'
+
+Shafto did not understand him, but thought that his time spent in
+Lawyer Carlyon's office had not been thrown away now; experience
+there had 'put him up to a trick or two.'
+
+'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first post,' said Mr. Kippilaw
+after another of those thoughtful pauses during which he attentively
+eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady Fettercairn--like myself now
+creeping up the vale of years--(Hope they may soon see the end of it!
+thought Shafto) will, I have no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the
+sequence and tenor of the documents you have brought me that you are
+their grandson--the son of the expatriated Lennard--and when I hear
+from them I shall let you know the result without delay.  You are
+putting up at--what hotel?'
+
+'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'
+
+'Ah! very well.'
+
+'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'
+
+'And your cousin--he will, of course, go with you to Craigengowan?'
+
+Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as Florian could detect.
+
+'What are your intentions or views?' Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.
+
+'He failed to pass for the army,' said Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so
+I don't know what he means to do _now_.  I believe that he scarcely
+knows himself.'
+
+'Have you no friends on your mother's side, Mr. Florian?'
+
+'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection of voice.
+
+'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'
+
+'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied Florian bitterly and a
+little defiantly, as Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and good
+fortune, roused his pride and galled his heart, which sank as he
+thought of Dulcie Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie, so
+far away.
+
+Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the young man's answer.
+
+'I have some little influence in many ways, and if I can assist your
+future views you may command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with fatherly
+kindness, for he had reared--yea and lost--more than one fine lad of
+his own.
+
+It has been said that one must know mankind very well before having
+the courage to be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's
+knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited, he felt his eye quail more
+than once under the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.
+
+'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter, 'that after the death
+of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt, when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so
+anxious to discover and recall his younger brother as the next and
+only heir to the title and estates, we totally failed to trace him.
+We applied to the War Office for the whereabouts of Major Lennard
+Melfort, but the authorities there, acting upon a certain principle,
+declined to afford any information.  Advertisements, some plainly
+distinct, others somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in the
+_Scotsman_ and _Times_, but without the least avail.
+
+'As for the _Scotsman_,' said Shafto, 'the Major----'
+
+'Your father, you mean?'
+
+'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more likely to see such a
+provincial print in Devonshire than the Roman _Diritto_ or the
+Prussian _Kreuz Zeitung_; and the _Times_, if he saw it--which I
+doubt--he must have ignored.  Till the time of his death drew near,
+his feelings were bitter, his hostility to his family great.'
+
+'I can well understand that, poor fellow!' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+glancing at his watch, as he added--'You must excuse me till
+to-morrow: I am already overdue at the Parliament House.'
+
+He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit square.
+
+'You seem to have lost your tongue, Florian, and to have a
+disappointed look,' said Shafto snappishly, as they walked slowly
+towards the hotel together.
+
+'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps, but I have no reason to
+repine or complain save at our change of relative positions, but
+certainly not at your unexpected good fortune, Shafto.  It is only
+right and just that your father's only son should inherit all that is
+legally and justly his.'
+
+Even at these words Shafto never winced or wavered in plans or
+purpose.
+
+It was apparent, however, to Florian, that he had for some time past
+looked restless and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at any
+unusual sound, while a shadow rested on his not usually very open
+countenance.
+
+Betimes next morning a note came to him at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel
+from Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as possible, and on
+this errand he departed alone.
+
+He found the old lawyer radiant, with a letter in his hand from Lord
+Fettercairn (in answer to his own) expressive of astonishment and joy
+at the sudden appearance of this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he
+was full of ardour and anxiety to see.
+
+'You will lose no time in starting for Craigengowan,' said Mr.
+Kippilaw.  'You take the train at the Waverley Station and go _viâ_
+Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk--or stay, I think we shall
+proceed together, taking your papers with us.'
+
+'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow that the presence of Mr.
+Kippilaw at the coming interview would take some of the
+responsibility off his own shoulders.
+
+'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will put on its brightest smile
+to welcome you.'
+
+'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto, who felt but ill at ease in
+his new role of adventurer, and unwisely adopted a free-and-easy
+audacity of manner.
+
+'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for present emergencies,' said Mr.
+Kippilaw, opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours we shall meet at
+the station.'
+
+'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'
+
+'I would do much for your father's son, Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer,
+emphatically.
+
+'And what about Florian?'
+
+'The letter ignores him--a curious omission.  In their joy, perhaps
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter
+for him that came by the London mail.'
+
+'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly, while his heart grew sick
+with apprehension, he knew not of what.
+
+'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to me,' said Mr. Kippilaw
+aloud; but to himself, 'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen
+features like his before?  He reminds me curiously of Lennard
+Melfort.'
+
+Shafto gave a nervous start.
+
+The letter was a bulky one, and bore the Wembury and other
+post-marks, and to Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the
+familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.
+
+He chuckled, and a great thought worthy of himself occurred to him.
+
+In the solitude of his own room at the hotel, he moistened and opened
+the gummed envelope, and drew forth four closely written sheets of
+paper full of the outpourings of the girl's passionate heart, of her
+wrath at the theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning that she
+had incidentally got the address of Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and
+desiring him to write to her, and she would watch for and intercept
+the postman by the sea-shore.
+
+'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and cast into the fire
+Dulcie's letter, all save a postscript, written on a separate scrap
+of paper, and which ran thus:--
+
+'You have all the love of my heart, Florian; but, as I feel and fear
+we may never meet again, I send you this, which I have worn next my
+heart, to keep.'
+
+_This_ was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.
+
+'Three stamps on all this raggabash!' exclaimed Shafto, whom the
+girl's terms of endearment to Florian filled with a tempest of
+jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had wrenched from Dulcie's
+neck in soft paper, and placed it with the postscript in the
+envelope, which he carefully closed and re-gummed, placed near the
+fire, and the moment it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.
+
+If the latter was surprised to see a letter to himself, addressed in
+Dulcie's large, clear, and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer
+Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also struck dumb when he found
+in the envelope the locket, the likeness, and the apparently curt
+farewell contained in one brief sentence!
+
+For a time he stood like one petrified.  Could it all be real?  Alas!
+there was no doubting the postal marks and stamps upon this most
+fatal cover; and while he was examining it and passing his hand
+wildly more than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto was
+smoking quietly at a window, and to all appearance intent on watching
+the towering rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in morning
+sunshine--batteries whereon steel morions and Scottish spears had
+often gleamed of old.
+
+Though his soul shrank from doing so, Florian could not resist taking
+Shafto into his confidence about this unexplainable event; and the
+latter acted astonishment to the life!
+
+Was the locket thus returned through the post in obedience to her
+father's orders, after he had probably discovered the contents of it?
+
+But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing his attention to the tenor
+of the pithy scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that it had
+been done under any other influence than her own change of mind.
+
+'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he prepared to take his departure
+for Craigengowan; 'now you had better proceed at once to cultivate
+the wear-the-willow state of mind.'
+
+Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith and truth and of true
+women were suddenly and cruelly shattered now!
+
+'She has killed all that was good in me, and the mischief of the
+future will be at her door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky voice.
+
+'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto, who actually did feel a
+little for him; and just then, when they were on the eve of
+separation, even his false and artful heart did feel a pang, with the
+sting of fear, at the career of falsehood to which he had committed
+himself; but his ambition, innate greed, selfishness, and pride urged
+him on that career steadily and without an idea of flinching.
+
+After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning how the face of Florian
+interested him, and actually that he bore a likeness to the dead
+Major--to his own father, in fact--Shafto became more than desirous
+to be rid of him in any way.  He thought with dread of the discovery
+and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of the fierce light thrown by the law
+on that gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction he had none!
+
+'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from the hotel with his
+portmanteau, 'I must keep up this game at all hazards now.  I have
+stolen--not only Florian's name--but his place, so let him paddle his
+own canoe!'
+
+'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were his parting words--a promise
+which he never fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their mutual
+purse now, might have offered to supply the well-nigh penniless lad
+with money, but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of him--to hear
+of him no more.  He had a dread of his presence, of his society, of
+his very existence, and now had but one hope, wish, and desire--that
+Florian Melfort should cross his path never again.  And now that he
+had achieved a separation between him and Dulcie, he conceived that
+Florian would never again go near Revelstoke, of which
+he--Shafto--had for many reasons a nervous dread!
+
+Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel desertion of him, which he
+considered due to calm consideration of his change of fortune--or
+rather total want of it--Florian felt numbly indifferent to the
+matter Shafto had in hand and all about himself.
+
+While very nearly moved to girlish tears at parting from one with
+whom he had lived since infancy--with whom he had shared the same
+sleeping-room, shared in the same sports and studies--with whom he
+had read the same books to some extent, and had ever viewed as a
+brother--Florian was rather surprised, even shocked, by the
+impatience of that kinsman, the only one he had in all the wide
+world, to part from him and begone, and to see he was calm and hard
+as flint or steel.
+
+'Different natures have different ways of showing grief, I suppose,'
+thought the simple Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a grudge
+at me because of the false but winsome Dulcie?  If affection for me
+is hidden in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No letter ever
+came from Craigengowan.  The pride of Florian was justly roused, and
+he resolved that he would not take the initiative, and attempt to
+open a correspondence with one who seemed to ignore him, and whose
+manner at departing he seemed to see more clearly and vividly now.
+
+The fact soon became grimly apparent.  He could not remain idling in
+such a fashionable hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he settled his
+bill there, and took his portmanteau in his hand, and issued into the
+streets--into the world, in fact.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SHAFTO IN CLOVER.
+
+About six months had elapsed since Shafto and Florian parted, as we
+have described, at Edinburgh.
+
+It was June now.  The luxurious woods around Craigengowan were in all
+their leafy beauty, and under their shadows the dun deer panted in
+the heat as they made their lair among the feathery braken; the
+emerald green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was smooth as a
+billiard-table and soft as three-pile velvet.
+
+The air was laden with the wafted fragrance of roses and innumerable
+other flowers; and the picturesque old house, with its multitude of
+conical turrets furnished with glittering vanes, its crow-stepped
+gables and massive chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep blue
+sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful looked the pretty village,
+seen in middle distance, through a foliated vista in the woodlands,
+with the white smoke ascending from its humble hearths, the only
+thing that seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful were the
+colours some of its thatched roofs presented--greenest moss, brown
+lichen, and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while the murmur of a
+rivulet (a tributary of the Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch,
+'the auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would be heard at times,
+amid the pleasant voices of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the
+glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers below the stately terrace,
+that had long since replaced the moat that encircled the old
+fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite lord had ridden
+forth to fight and die for James VIII., on the field of
+Sheriffmuir--King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, as the
+unflinching Jacobites had it.
+
+A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis party was busy tossing
+the balls from side to side among several courts; but apart from all,
+and almost conspicuously so--a young fellow, in a handsome light
+tennis suit of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were carrying
+on a very palpable flirtation.
+
+The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion was Finella Melfort,
+Cosmo's orphan daughter (an heiress through her mother), who had
+returned a month before from a protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They
+seemed to be on excellent terms with each other, and doubtless the
+natural gaiety of the girl's disposition, her vivacity of manner, and
+their supposed mutual relationship, had opened the way to speedy
+familiarity.
+
+She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but very white-skinned little
+beauty, with a perfect _mignonne_ face, a petite but round and
+compact figure, gracefully formed, and very coquettish and
+_spirituelle_ in all her ways.
+
+She had received her peculiar Christian name at the special request
+of her grandfather, that silly peer being desirous that her name
+might go down in the peerage in connection with that of the famous
+Finella of Fettercairn.
+
+'A winsome pair they would make,' was the smiling remark of Mr.
+Kenneth Kippilaw, who was of the party (with three romping daughters
+from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn, who smirked a grim assent, as
+if it was a matter of indifference to him, which it was not, as his
+legal adviser very well knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard the
+remark, bestowed upon him a bright and approving smile in return for
+a knowing glance through the glasses of his gold _pince-nez_.
+
+In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto Gyle had found his veritable
+Capua--he was literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard himself
+addressed by his assumed name without experiencing a strange sinking
+and fluttering of the heart.
+
+The once-despised Lennard Melfort's sword, his commission, and his
+hard-won medals earned in Central India and the Terai of Nepaul were
+now looked upon as precious relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir
+at Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the lumber-attic, his portrait,
+taken in early life, was again hung in a place of honour in the
+dining-hall.
+
+'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his claim on such a place as
+this, and all for the face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto
+to himself when first he came to Craigengowan, and then he looked
+fearfully around him lest the word _uncle_ might have been overheard
+by some one; and he thought--'If rascally the trick I have played my
+simple and love-stricken cousin--and rascally it was and is--surely
+it was worth while to be the heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To
+reckon as mine in future all this grand panorama of heath-clad hills,
+of green and golden fields, of purple muirland, and stately woods of
+oak and pine where the deer rove in herds; as mine the trout-streams
+that flow towards the Bervie; the cascades that roar down the cliffs;
+the beautiful old house, with its stables, kennels, and terrace; its
+cellars, pictures, plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of
+marble and jasper, china and Japanese work; and I possess all that
+rank and wealth can give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,
+with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his years.
+
+To the fair inheritance he had come to steal he could not, however,
+add as his the blue sky above it, or the waves of the German Sea,
+which the North Esk flowed to join; but he was not without sense
+appreciative enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming earth, of
+the pine forests where the brown squirrels leaped from branch to
+branch, and on the mountain side the perfume of the golden whin and
+gorse.
+
+Appraising everything, these ideas were ever recurring to his mind,
+and it was full of them now as he looked around him, and at times,
+like one in a dream, heard the pretty babble of the high-bred,
+coquettish girl, who, to amuse herself, made _œillades_ at him;
+who called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and who, with her splendid
+fortune, he was now beginning to include among the many goods and
+chattels which must one day accrue to him.
+
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course, fully twenty years older
+than when we saw them last, full of wrath and indignation at Lennard
+for his so-called _mésalliance_.  Both were cold in heart and
+self-absorbed in nature as ever.  The latter was determined to be a
+beauty still, though now upon the confines of that decade 'when the
+cunning of cosmetics can no longer dissemble the retribution of Time
+the avenger.'  The former was bald now, and the remains of his once
+sandy-coloured hair had become grizzled, and a multitude of puckers
+were about his cold, grey eyes, while there was a perceptible stoop
+in his whilom flat, square shoulders.
+
+He was as full of family pride as ever, and the discovery of an
+unexpected and authentic heir and grandson to his title, that had
+never been won in the field or cabinet, but was simply the reward of
+bribery and corruption, and for which not one patriotic act had been
+performed by four generations, had given him intense satisfaction,
+and caused much blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol about
+the country-side; and smiles that were bright and genuine frequently
+wreathed the usually pale and immobile face of Lady Fettercairn when
+they rested on Shafto.
+
+We all know how the weak and easy adoption of a pretender by a titled
+mother in a famous and most protracted case not many years ago caused
+the most peculiar complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more
+pardonable, posted up as she was with documentary evidence, in
+accepting Shafto Gyle as her grandson.
+
+We have described her as being singularly, perhaps aristocratically,
+cold.  As a mother, she had never been given to kissing, caressing,
+or fondling her two sons (as she did a succession of odious pugs and
+lap-dogs), but, throwing their little hearts back upon themselves,
+left nurses and maids to 'do all that sort of tiresome thing.'
+
+So Finella, though an heiress, came in for very little of it either,
+with all her sweetness, beauty, and pretty winning ways, even from
+Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man who cared so little for his own
+country and her local and vital interests was little likely to care
+much for any flesh and blood that did not stand in his own boots.
+
+Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son' from time to time
+with--for her--deep apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic
+regret and indignation, much of the obscure story of his boyhood and
+past life, at least so much as he chose to tell her; and she bitterly
+resented that Lennard Melfort should have sought to put the 'nephew
+of that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army, while placing 'his own
+son' Shafto into the office of a miserable village lawyer, and so
+forth--and so forth!
+
+Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this happened in an obscure
+village in Devonshire, and far away from Craigengowan and all its
+aristocratic surroundings.
+
+She also thought it strange that Shafto--('Whence came that name?'
+she would mutter angrily)--should be so unlike her dark and handsome
+Lennard.  His eyebrows were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,
+watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck thick, and his hair
+somewhat sandy in hue.  Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what her
+husband, the present Lord Fettercairn, must have been at the same age.
+
+As for the Peer himself, he was only too thankful that an heir had
+turned up for his ill-gotten coronet, and that now--so far as one
+life was concerned--Sir Bernard Burke would not rate it among the
+dormant and attainted titles--those of the best and bravest men that
+Scotland ever knew.
+
+As for their mutual scheme concerning Shafto and their granddaughter
+Finella, with her beauty and many attractive parts, the former was
+craftily most desirous of furthering it, knowing well that, _happen
+what might_ in the future, she was an heiress; that marriage with her
+would give him a firm hold on the Fettercairn family, though the
+money of her mother was wisely settled on the young lady herself.
+
+Indeed, Finella had not been many weeks home from London, at
+Craigengowan, before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches, and spoke
+pretty plainly to him on the subject.
+
+Waving her large fan slowly to and fro, and eyeing Shafto closely
+over the top of it, she said:
+
+'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find your cousin Finella--the
+daughter of my dead darling Cosmo--a lovable kind of girl.  But even
+were she not so--and all say she is--you must not feel a prejudice
+against her, because--because----'
+
+'What, grandmother?'
+
+'Because it is our warmest desire that you may marry her.'
+
+'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked Shafto, with one of his
+dissembling smiles.
+
+'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but one is always the better
+to have more, and you must not feel----'
+
+'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.
+
+'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean that you must not be
+prejudiced against her as an expected_ parti_.'
+
+'Why should I?'
+
+'One hears and reads so much of such things.'
+
+'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so pretty and eligible, why the
+dickens----'
+
+'Shafto!'
+
+'What now?' he asked, with some irritability, as she often took him
+to task for his solecisms.
+
+'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations that were suited to
+the atmosphere of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will not do in
+Craigengowan!'
+
+'Well--she won't look at me with your eyes, grandmother.'
+
+'How--her eyes----'
+
+'They will never seem so bright and beautiful.'
+
+'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my Lady Fettercairn, with a smile
+and pleased flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet' had soon
+discovered that she was far from insensible to adulation.
+
+Shafto certainly availed himself of the opportunities afforded by
+'cousinship,' propinquity, and residence together in a country house,
+and sought to gain a place in the good graces or heart of Finella;
+but with all his cunning and earnest wishes in the matter--apart from
+the wonderful beauty of the girl--he feared that he made no more
+progress with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.
+
+She talked, played, danced, and even romped with him; they rambled
+and read together, and were as much companions as any two lovers
+would be; but he felt nearly certain that though she flirted with
+him, because it was partly her habit to appear to do so with most
+men, whenever he attempted to become tender she openly laughed at him
+or changed the subject skilfully; and also that if he essayed to
+touch or take her hand it was very deliberately withdrawn from his
+reach, and never did she make him more sensible of all this than when
+he contrived to draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon of the
+lawn-tennis party.
+
+She had long ere this been made perfectly aware that love and
+marriage were objects of all his attention, yet she amused herself
+with him by her coquettish _œillades_ and waggish speeches.
+
+'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating voice, as he stooped over
+her, 'I hope that with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant mode
+of treating me, you will see your way to carry out the fondest desire
+of my heart and that of our grandparents.'
+
+'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And the object to which I am to
+see my way is to marry you, cousin Shafto?'
+
+'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her half-averted ear.
+
+'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I couldn't think of such a thing.'
+
+'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'
+
+'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'
+
+'And these are?'
+
+'Firstly, people should marry to please themselves, not others.
+Grandpapa and grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am quite
+independent enough to do as I please and choose.'
+
+'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'
+
+'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!' said she, looking upward
+at him with one of her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.
+
+'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'
+
+'I have not said that either.'
+
+'You may yet love me, then?'
+
+'No; not as you wish it.'
+
+'But why?'
+
+'You have no right to ask me.'
+
+His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a gleam came into his cold, grey
+eyes as he asked, after a pause:
+
+'Is there anyone else you prefer?'
+
+'You have no right to inquire,' replied she, and a keener observer
+might have detected that his question brought a tiny blush to her
+cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so please to let this
+matter drop, once and for ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such
+delightful friends--such jolly cousins.'
+
+And so ended one of many such conversations on this
+topic--conversations that developed indifference, if not quite
+aversion, on the part of Finella, the clue to which Shafto was fated
+to find in a few weeks after.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.
+
+The persistent attentions of Shafto were alternately a source of
+amusement and worry to Finella Melfort; and when she found them
+become the latter, she had more than once retreated to the residence
+of her maternal grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she infinitely
+preferred being at Craigengowan, where the general circle was more
+refined and of a much better style; for Lady Drumshoddy--natheless
+her title--was not quite one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow
+of an advocate, who, having done without scruple the usual amount of
+work to please his party and the Lord Advocate, had been rewarded
+therefor by an appointment (and knighthood) in Bengal, where he had
+gone, at a lucky time, with the old advice and idea--
+
+  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree
+    Pluck India's endless riches,
+  And then I swore that time should see
+    Huge pockets in my breeches.'
+
+Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets were so well filled that when he
+came home to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be deemed a
+'great catch' by the Fettercairn family, though her grandfather had
+been--no one knew precisely what.
+
+And now Finella, by education, careful training, and by her own habit
+of thought, was naturally so refined that, with all her waggery and
+disposition to laughter and merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches
+occasionally irritated her.
+
+'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a man may get the love of the
+girl he wants, even if she cares little for him, if he only asks her
+at the right time; but, so far as you are concerned, Finella, the
+right moment has not come for me, I suppose.'
+
+'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,' she replied, fanning
+herself, and eyeing him with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in
+her dark eyes.
+
+Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion Lord Fettercairn came
+hurriedly to him, saying,
+
+'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley, from London, will arrive here
+to-morrow for a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he leaves for his
+regiment in Africa.  You will do your best to be attentive to him,
+Shafto.'
+
+'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily, however, all the more
+so that he was quick enough to detect that, at the mention of the
+visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour crossed the cheek of
+Finella.
+
+Something in his tone attracted the attention of Lord Fettercairn,
+who said,
+
+'After the 12th I hope you will find a legitimate use for your
+gun--you know what I mean.'
+
+Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as his grandfather referred to
+a mischievous act of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn a pair of majestic
+osprey had built their nest, guarded by the morass around them, and
+there they bred and reared a pair of beautiful eaglets.  No one had
+been allowed to approach them, so that nothing should occur to break
+the confidence of safety which the pair of osprey acquired in their
+lonely summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to Craigengowan, and
+by four rounds from his breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,
+to the indignation of the neighbourhood and even of my Lord
+Fettercairn.
+
+Not that the latter cared a straw about these eagles as objects of
+natural history; but the fact of their existence formed the subject
+of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was wounded on finding that
+one of his family had acted thus.
+
+So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family circle at Craigengowan had
+two or three accessions to its number--friends invited for the 12th
+of August--among others Mr. Kippilaw the younger, a spruce and dapper
+Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,' Shafto said, 'thought no small
+beer of himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of the
+Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive and, to one who was present,
+most decided addition to their society.
+
+His regular features were well tanned by the sun in Natal; his dark
+hair was shorn short; his moustaches were pointed well out; and his
+dark eyes had a bright and merry yet firm and steady expression, as
+those of a man born to command men, who had more than once faced
+danger, and was ready to face it again.
+
+He was in his twenty-seventh year, and was every way a courteous and
+finished English gentleman, though Shafto, in his secret heart, and
+more than once in the stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited
+beast.'
+
+Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot big game in Southern Africa,
+hunted in the English shires, taking his fences--even double
+ones--like a bird; he had lost and won with a good grace at Ascot and
+the Clubs, flirted 'all round,' and, though far from rich, was a good
+specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and open-hearted young officer,
+a favourite with all women, and particularly with his regiment.
+
+After luncheon he was seated beside Lady Fettercairn; he was too wise
+in his generation to have placed himself where he would have wished,
+beside Finella, whose little hand, on entering, Shafto thought he
+retained in his rather longer than etiquette required; for if
+Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly sharp, and he soon
+found that though Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her
+time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself, 'now that this
+fellow Hammersley had come,' he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a
+very bad word indeed.
+
+We have said that Finella had paid a protracted and--to her--most
+enjoyable visit to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties, and in
+the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley repeatedly; and these meetings
+had not been without a deep and tender interest to them both; and
+when they were parted finally by her return to Craigengowan, though
+no declaration of regard had escaped him, he had been burning to
+speak to her in that sweet and untutored language by which the inmost
+secrets of the loving heart can be read; and now that they had met
+again, they had a thousand London objects to talk about safely in
+common, which made them seem to be what they were, quite old friends
+in fact, and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like Shafto, to listen
+and look darkly and doubtfully on.
+
+But when they were alone, which was seldom, or merely apart from
+others, there was between them a new consciousness now--a secret but
+sweet understanding, born of eye speaking to eye--all the sweeter for
+its secrecy and being all their own, a conscious emotion that
+rendered them at times almost afraid to speak or glance lest curious
+eyes or ears might discover what that secret was.
+
+What was to be the sequel to all this?  Hammersley was far from rich
+according to the standard of wealth formed by Lady Fettercairn, and
+the latter had destined her granddaughter with all her accumulated
+wealth to be the bride of Shafto.  Hammersley knew nothing of this;
+he only knew his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'
+but then youth, we are told, 'is sanguine and full of faith and hope
+in an untried future.  It looks out over the pathway of life towards
+the goal of its ambition, seeing only the end desired, and giving
+little or no heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents, that may
+be met with on the way.'  So, happy in the good fortune that threw
+him once more in the sweet society of bright Finella Melfort, Captain
+Hammersley gave full swing in secret to the most delightful of
+day-dreams.
+
+In all this, however, we are somewhat anticipating our narrative.
+
+But, like a wise man, while the luncheon lasted he was most attentive
+to his hostess, from whose old but still handsome face, like that of
+Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless, icily regular, and
+splendidly null,' he ever and anon turned to that of Finella--that
+_mignonne_ face, which was so full of varying expression, warmth,
+light, and colour.
+
+'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn.  'You
+will scarcely credit how long I have had it in the cellar.  I bought
+a whole lot of it--when was it, Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the
+solemn old butler behind him.
+
+'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'
+
+'Everything at Craigengowan seems to take date before or after that
+event,' said Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do you mean for
+India, Grapeston?'
+
+'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who had carried 'Master Lennard'
+in his arms as a baby.
+
+'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance at the colour.'
+
+Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes were bent on the face of
+Finella.
+
+'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull, but every place is so after
+London.'
+
+'True, we live so fast there that we never seem to have time to do
+anything.'
+
+And now, understanding that Shafto was to be his chief companion at
+the covies on the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of hammerless
+guns, of central fire, of the mode of breaking in dogs, training
+setters, and so forth; and as these subjects had not been included in
+Shafto's education at Lawyer Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he
+listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.
+
+'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'the
+Bervie yields capital salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has
+filled more than one basket with the latter, but Shafto is somewhat
+of a duffer with his rod--he breaks many a rod, and has never landed
+a salmon yet.'
+
+'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.
+
+'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty, Fasque, Hobseat, and my
+own, as I hope you will find to-morrow.'
+
+'Thanks--indeed, I am sure I shall.'
+
+'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the probable bag of grouse and
+black game is from 400 to 500 brace.'
+
+After dinner that evening Finella was found singing at the
+piano--singing, as she always did, without requiring pressure and
+apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a thrush on a rose bush
+sings; but now she sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt
+instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness was roused when he
+heard her, in a pause, whisper:
+
+'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto turn the leaves.  He likes to
+do it, though he can do little else in the way of music.'
+
+This kind of confidence seemed to imply foregone conclusions and a
+mutual understanding, however slight; but, to some extent, Finella
+had a kind of dread of Shafto.
+
+Hammersley smiled and drew back, after placing a piece of music
+before her; but not before remarking:
+
+'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'
+
+'No--it is old as the days when George IV. was king--it is one you
+gave me some weeks ago in London, you remember?'
+
+'Am I likely to forget?'
+
+'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said Finella, adjusting her dress
+over the music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves at the proper time.'
+
+'Captain Hammersley will do that better than I,' said Shafto, drawing
+almost sulkily away, while the former resumed his place by Finella,
+with an unmistakable smile rippling over his face.
+
+This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley had given her, was an old
+one, long since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,' and jealous
+anger gathered in Shafto's heart as he listened and heard
+Hammersley's voice blend with Finella's in the last line of each
+verse:
+
+  'We met not in the sylvan scene
+    Where lovers wish to meet,
+  Where skies are bright and woods are green,
+    And bursting blossoms sweet;
+  But in the city's busy din,
+    Where Mammon holds his reign,
+  Sweet intercourse we sought to win
+    'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;
+  Above us was a murky sky,
+    Around a crowded space,
+  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,
+    Was this, our _trysting place_.'
+
+  'They are who say Love only dwells
+    'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;
+  Alike to him are gloomy cells
+    Or gay and smiling bowers;
+  Love works not on insensate things
+    His sweet and magic art;
+  No outward shrine arrests his wings,
+    His home is in the heart;
+  And dearest hearts like _thine_ and _mine_,
+    With rapture must retrace--
+  How often Love has deigned to shine
+    On this our _trysting place_.'
+
+
+'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more sweetly than ever!' said
+Hammersley in a low voice as he bent over her.
+
+'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself; 'where was this trysting
+place?  I feel inclined to put a charge of shot into him to-morrow.
+I will, too, if the day is foggy!'
+
+Finella, though pressed, declined to sing more, as the Misses
+Kippilaw, who were rather irrepressible young ladies, now proposed a
+carpet-dance, and she drew on her gloves; and while she fumbled away,
+almost nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew that
+Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and admiringly bent on her, till he
+came to the rescue, and did the buttoning required; and to Shafto it
+seemed the process was a very protracted one, and was a pretty little
+connivance, as in reality it was.
+
+Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion, was summoned, and she--poor
+creature--had to furnish music for the occasion, till at last Finella
+good-naturedly relieved her.
+
+So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and then Shafto, though an
+indifferent waltzer, thought he might excel in a square dance with
+Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation at any time, and on this
+occasion his attempts at it proved a great failure, and when he
+compared this with the animation of Hammersley and Finella in the
+Lancers, he was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.  The former did
+not seem to undergo that agony so often felt by Shafto, of having
+out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have to rack his brain
+for anecdotes or jokes, but to be able to keep up an easy flow of
+well-bred talk on persons, places, and things, which seemed to amuse
+Finella excessively, as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily while
+fanning herself, and looking more sparkling and piquante than ever.
+
+'What the deuce can he find to say to her?' thought Shafto; but
+Hammersley was only finding the links--the threads of a dear old
+story begun in London months ago.
+
+So passed the first day of Hammersley's arrival at Craigengowan, and
+Finella laid her head on her pillow full of bright and happy
+thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no share.
+
+But while these emotions and events were in progress, where, in the
+meantime, was Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+AMONG THE GROUSE.
+
+Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the unamiable Shafto and his
+threats muttered in secret, the shooting next day passed off without
+any peril being encountered by the unconscious
+Hammersley--unconscious at least of the enmity his presence was
+inspiring.  However, it was not so the second; and Finella and her
+fair friends agreed that if he looked so well and handsome in his
+heather-coloured knickerbocker shooting-dress, with ribbed stockings
+of Alloa yarn, his gun under his arm, and shot-belt over his
+shoulder, how gallant must he look when in full uniform.
+
+In the field the vicinity of Shafto was avoided as much as possible,
+as he shot wildly indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and people
+generally on the estate he was simply detested for the severity of
+his manner, his tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness in
+every way; though at first, when he came to Craigengowan, they had
+laboured in vain, and vied with each other in their attempts to
+initiate him into those field-sports so dear to Britons generally,
+and to the Scots in particular; but when shooting grouse especially,
+the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine dread of him, and, when fog was
+on, sometimes refused to attend him, and he was, as they said among
+themselves, 'a new experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'
+
+'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a midden,' said the old
+head-gamekeeper wrathfully, as he drew his bonnet over his beetling
+brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and tell my tale to the wind
+that blaws o'er Craigengowan.'
+
+Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn, hale and hearty, was in
+the field with his central-fire gun with fine Damascus barrels.
+Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw, and four others made up the party.
+
+The morning was a lovely one, and lovely too was the scenery, for
+August is a month richly tinted with the last touches of summer,
+blended with the russet tones of autumn; the pleasant meadows are yet
+green, and over the ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the ocean
+when nearly asleep.
+
+Apart from the joyous exhilaration of shooting, and that out-door
+exercise so dear to every English gentleman, Vivian Hammersley felt
+all that which comes from the romantic beauty of his
+surroundings--the scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which is a low
+champaign and highly cultivated country, studded with handsome
+mansions, and ornamented by rich plantations and thriving villages.
+
+Ere long the open muirs were reached, and the hill-sides, the steep,
+purple ridges of which the sportsmen had to breast; and, keen
+sportsman though he was, Hammersley had soon to admit that
+grouse-shooting was the most fatiguing work he had yet encountered;
+but soon came the excitements of the first point, the first brood,
+and the first shot or two.
+
+To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown partridges, grouse look dusky
+and even black, and they seem to hug the purple heather, but when one
+becomes accustomed to them they are as easy to knock over as the tame
+birds; and now the crack of the guns began to ring out along the
+hill-slopes.
+
+Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty yards apart, and twice when a
+bird rose before the latter, it was brought down wounded but not
+killed by the former.
+
+Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,' as Shafto should not have
+fired, unless he had missed or passed it; but he only bit his lip and
+smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn remarked the discourtesy, and
+added,
+
+'Shafto, I do wish you would take an example from Captain Hammersley.'
+
+'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.
+
+'He kills his game clean--few birds run from him with broken wings
+and so forth.'
+
+'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto, whose mode of life in
+Devonshire had made him rather soft, and he was beginning to think
+that nerves of iron and lungs like a bagpipe were requisite for
+breasting up the hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.
+
+Hammersley worked away silently, neither looking to his right nor
+left, feeling that though several elements are requisite for 'sport,'
+the chief then was to kill as much grouse as possible in a given
+time, but was more than once irritated and discomposed by Shafto, and
+even young Kippilaw, shooting in a blundering way along the line even
+when the birds were not flying high; and he proceeded in a
+workmanlike way to bring down one bird as it approached, the next
+when it was past him, and so on.
+
+The first portion of the day the Fettercairn party shot to points,
+and then to drivers, and in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the
+latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he loathed the whole
+thing, and was now 'completely blown--pumped out,' as he phrased it,
+he was not sorry when the magic word 'lunch' was uttered; and
+Hammersley certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came Finella, and
+with her arrival--to him--the most delightful part of the day.
+
+She came tooling along the sunny pathway that traversed the bottom of
+a glen, driving with her tightly gauntleted and deft little hands a
+pair of beautiful white ponies, which drew the daintiest of
+basket-phaetons, containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample
+luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for halting was a green oasis
+amid the dark heather, where a spring of deliciously cool water was
+bubbling up, called Finella's Well.
+
+'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn, 'please to draw your
+cartridges.  I was once nearly shot in this very place by a stupid
+fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you have come, Finella darling,
+we are all hungry as hawks, and thirsty too.'
+
+Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look in her coquettish hat and
+well-fitting jacket, while the drive, the occasion, and the touch of
+Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to alight gave her cheek an
+unwonted colour, and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and the
+soldier thought that certainly there was nothing in the world so
+pleasant to a man's eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.
+
+'You have had good sport,' said she to the group, while her eye
+rested on Hammersley, and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces
+on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze with her,' as the gentlemen
+thought, and had a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of greeting
+the members of the party was different, as to some she gave her hand
+like a little queen, while to others she smiled, or simply bowed; but
+provoked an angry snort from Shafto by expressing a hope that he 'had
+not shot anyone yet.'
+
+And then he grew white as he recalled his angry thoughts of the
+preceding night.
+
+'Why did you take the trouble to drive here?' he asked her, in a low
+voice.
+
+'Because I chose to come; and I do so love driving these plump
+darlings of ponies,' replied the girl, patting the sleek animals with
+her tiny, slim hand.
+
+'Old Grapeston would have done well enough; and why did you not bring
+one of the Kippilaw girls?'
+
+'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I could please you--not an
+easy task--I should have tried to bring them all, though that is
+rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'
+
+Shafto never for a moment doubted that she had come over to
+superintend the luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley' was one of
+the party; and in this suspicion perhaps he was right.
+
+As for Hammersley, being ignorant of Shafto's antecedents, his
+present hopes, and those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not comprehend
+how the grandson and heir-apparent of a peer came to be 'such bad
+form--bad style, and all that sort of thing,' as he thought; and all
+that became rather worse when Shafto was under the influence of
+sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno administered by Mr. Grapeston.
+
+As the sportsmen lounged on the grass, and the luncheon proceeded
+under the superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston, Finella, the
+presiding goddess, looked unusually bright and happy--a consummation
+which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and jealousy, came of the
+presence of Vivian Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all the
+result of another man's society--not his certainly, and hence he
+would have preferred that she was not light-hearted at all.
+
+He could see that with all her _espieglerie_ Finella found no
+occasion to laugh at Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as
+she did himself, but the attentions of Hammersley were delicately and
+seductively paid.  Deferential and gentle at all times, to all women,
+he had always been so to Finella Melfort, and she was able to feel
+more than his words, looks, or manner suggested to others; and he
+imagined--nay, he was becoming certain--and a glow of great joy came
+with the certainty--that Finella's sweet dark eyes grew brighter at
+his approach; that a rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and
+there came a slight quiver into her voice when she replied to him,
+
+'Was it all really so?'
+
+Fate was soon to decide that which he had been too slow or timid to
+decide for himself.
+
+As he said one of the merest commonplaces to her, their eyes met.
+
+It was only one lingering glance!
+
+But looks can say so much more than the voice, the eyes surpassing
+the lips, breaking or revealing what the silence of months, it may be
+years, has hidden, and leading heart to heart.
+
+'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and just before driving off, 'do
+you shoot over this ground to-morrow?'
+
+'To a certain extent we shall--but why?'
+
+'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'
+
+'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'
+
+'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!' said she, with a bow to
+all, and a merry glance which included most certainly Vivian
+Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed to darken with her departure.
+
+'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,' said Lord Fettercairn,
+who knew by old experience that when the afternoon shadows, and more
+especially those of evening, begin to lengthen, the slopes of the
+hills are seen better, that the birds, too, lie better, and that as
+the air becomes more fresh and cool, men can shoot with greater care
+and deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But Hammersley, full of
+his own thoughts, full of the image of Finella and that tale-telling
+glance they had exchanged, missed nearly every bird, to the great
+exultation of Shafto, who made an incredible number of bad and clumsy
+jokes thereon--jokes which the young Englishman heard with perfect
+indifference and equanimity.
+
+Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the result of the next day's
+expedition, and certainly Hammersley did not do so either.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TWO FINELLAS.
+
+Next day, when the grouse-shooting had been in progress for an hour
+or two, a mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted his ankle in a
+turnip-field, fell heavily on one side, and staggered up too lame to
+take further share in the sport for that day at least.
+
+'When Finella comes with the lunch in the pony-phaeton, she will
+drive you home,' said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired one of the
+beaters to give Hammersley the assistance of an arm to the well,
+where the repast was to be laid out as before.
+
+When Shafto saw his rival limping he was delighted, and thought,
+'This will mar his waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less
+delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's natural suggestion.
+
+'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next thought, 'to get a quiet
+drive with her to Craigengowan.'
+
+And Finella's look and exclamation of alarm and interest were not
+lost upon him when she arrived and found Hammersley seated on the
+grass by the side of the well, and saw the difficulty with which he
+rose to greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded gun as he did
+so; and soft, indeed, was the blush of pleasure that crossed her
+delicate face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;' and
+certainly it met, secretly, with the entire approbation of
+Hammersley, who anticipated with delight the drive home with such a
+companion.
+
+After a time the luncheon--though skilfully protracted by Shafto--was
+over, and Finella and her 'patient' were together in the phaeton, and
+she, with a smile and farewell bow, whipped up her petted ponies,
+Flirt and Fairy, whom every day she fed with apples and carrots.
+
+Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that she was in great haste to
+be gone; but more sulky would he have been had he seen, or known that
+when once an angle of the glen was reached where the road dipped out
+of sight, the ponies were permitted to go at their own pace, which
+ere long dwindled into a walk, till they passed the vast ruined
+castle of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley were, however, if very
+happy, very silent, though both enjoyed the drive in the bright
+sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he quite forgot his petty
+misfortune in contemplating the delicate profile and long drooping
+eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and who, with a fluttering
+heart, was perhaps expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,
+especially when he placed his hand on hers, in pretence of guiding
+the ponies, which broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates were
+passed; and glorious as the opportunity accorded him had been,
+Hammersley's heart, while burning with passionate ardour, seemed to
+have lost all courage, for he had a sincere dread of Lady
+Fettercairn, and suspected that her interests were naturally centred
+in Shafto.
+
+At seven-and-twenty a man, who has knocked about the world, with a
+regiment especially, for some nine years or so, does not fall over
+head and ears in love like a rash boy, or without calculating his
+chances of general success; and poor Hammersley, though he did not
+doubt achieving it with Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and
+breakers ahead with her family, and his spirit was a proud one.  To
+make a declaration was to ruin or lose everything, for if the family
+were averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit their roof for ever,
+and Finella would be lost to him, for heiresses seldom elope now,
+save in novels; and he knew that in her circle the motives for
+marriage are more various and questionable than with other and
+untitled ranks of life.  Rank and money were the chief incentives of
+such people as the Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,' says an
+essayist, 'no doubt occur in the humbler classes, but love is more
+frequently the incentive, while with princes and patricians the
+conjugal alliance is, in nine instances out of ten, a mere matter of
+_expedience_.'
+
+Craigengowan was reached, and not a word of the great secret that
+filled his heart had escaped him, for which he cursed his own folly
+and timidity when the drive ended, and a groom took the ponies' heads.
+
+Yet the day was not over, nor was a fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady
+Fettercairn and all her female quests had driven to a flower-show at
+the nearest town--even Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!
+
+Everything in and about Craigengowan seemed conducive to love-talk
+and confidences.  The great and picturesque house itself was
+charming.  The old orchards would ere long be heavy with fruit, and
+were then a sight to see; on the terrace the peacocks were strutting
+to and fro; there were fancy arbours admirably adapted for
+flirtation, and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun and moon
+dial) now gay with all the flowers of August.
+
+On a lounge near an open window facing the latter Hammersley was
+reclining, when Finella, after changing her driving dress, came into
+the drawing-room, and finely her costume suited her dark and piquante
+style of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk, profusely trimmed
+with filmy lace, and a cluster of scarlet flowers on the left
+shoulder among the lace of the collarette that encircled her slender
+neck; and Hammersley, as he looked at her, thought that 'beauty
+unadorned' was rather a fallacy.
+
+His undisguised expression of admiration as he partly rose to receive
+her caused her to colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was
+easier now; but, instead of replying, he said, while venturing
+slightly to touch her hand:
+
+'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by your dear pretty name of
+Finella?  Not from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'
+
+'Ah, I am very unlike her!'
+
+'You are certainly quite as charming!'
+
+'But neither dumb nor pretending to be so,' said the girl, with one
+of her silvery little laughs.
+
+'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to himself, in a low and
+unconsciously loving tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'
+
+'Don't you know?' she asked.
+
+'How could I know?  I know only that I will never forget it.'
+
+'Of course you could not know.  The origin of my name is one of the
+oldest legends of the Howe of the Mearns.'
+
+'Howe--that is Scotch for "hollow," I believe.'
+
+'No; "hollow" is the English for _howe_,' replied Finella, laughing,
+as she recalled a quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.  'You saw
+the great old castle we passed in our drive home?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who lived there.'
+
+'After it fell into ruin?'
+
+'No; before it.'
+
+'Then she must have lived a precious long time ago.'
+
+'She certainly did--some--nearly a thousand years ago.'
+
+'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss Melfort, what joke is this?'
+
+'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously; 'you can read about it
+in our family history--or I shall read it to you in the "Book of
+Fettercairn."'
+
+She took from a table near a handsome volume, which her
+grandfather--to please whom she was named Finella--had in a spirit of
+family vanity prepared for private circulation, and as if to connect
+his title with antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in ancient
+Scottish history, though little known to the Scots of the present day.
+
+We give it from his Lordship's book verbatim as she read it to Vivian
+Hammersley, who--cunning rogue--was not indisposed with such a
+charming and sympathetic companion as Finella to make the most of his
+fall, and reclined rather luxuriously on the velvet lounge, while
+she, seated in a dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely
+listened, so intent was he on watching her sweet face, her white and
+perfect ears, her downcast eyelids with their long lashes--her whole
+self!
+
+The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella) and of that Ilk, take
+their hereditary title from the old castle of that name, which stands
+in the Howe of the Mearns, and is sometimes called the Castle of
+Finella.  It is situated on an eminence, and is now surrounded on
+three sides by a morass.  It is enclosed within an inner and an outer
+wall of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of ground.  The inner
+is composed of vitrified matter, but no lime has been used in its
+construction.  The walls are a congeries of small stones cemented
+together by some molten matter, now harder than the stones
+themselves; and the remarkable event for which this castle is
+celebrated in history is the following:
+
+When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant king (who defeated the Danes at
+the battle of Luncarty, and created on that field the Hays, Earls of
+Errol, Hereditary Constables of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal
+cavalry, thus originating also the noble families of Tweeddale and
+Kinnoull), was on the throne, his favourite residence was the castle
+of Kincardine, the ruins of which still remain about a mile eastward
+of the village of Fettercairn, and from thence he went periodically
+to pay his devotions at the shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the
+Scots, to whom the latter had been sent by Pope Celestine in the
+sixth century to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at
+Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold and precious stones in 1409
+by the Bishop of St. Andrews.
+
+The king had excited the deadly hatred of Finella, the Lady of
+Fettercairn, daughter of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to
+death her son, who was a traitor and had rebelled against him in
+Lochaber; and, with the intention of being revenged, she prepared at
+Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal machine,' with which to
+slay the king.
+
+This engine consisted of a brass statue, which shot out arrows when a
+golden apple was taken from its hand.
+
+Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in hunting the deer, wolf, the
+badger and the boar, when she treacherously invited him to her castle
+of Fettercairn, which was then, as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with
+shady groves and piles of curious buildings,' of which there remained
+no vestiges when he wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither the
+king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle, white tunic, an eagle's
+wing in his helmet, and on its crest a glittering _clach-bhuai_, or
+stone of power, one of the three now in the Scottish regalia.
+
+Dissembling her hate, she entertained the king very splendidly, and
+after dinner conducted him out to view the beauties of the place and
+the structure of her castle; and Kenneth, pleased with her beauty
+(which her raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of blue silk,
+without sleeves, a mantle of fine linen, fastened by a brooch of
+silver, and all her golden hair floating on her shoulders,
+accompanied her into a tower, where, in an upper apartment, and amid
+rich festooned arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the infernal
+machine.
+
+She courteously and smilingly requested the king to take the golden
+apple from the right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by the
+strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing sound was heard within it
+as a string or cord gave way, and from its mouth there came forth two
+barbed arrows which mortally wounded him, and he fell at her feet.
+
+Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth was found by his retinue
+'_bullerand in his blude_.'
+
+Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the genuine spirit of
+legendary lore, to have obtained its name from this princess, who,
+the more readily to evade her pursuers, stepped from the branches of
+one tree to those of another the whole way from her castle to this
+den, which is near the sea, in the parish of St. Cyres, as all the
+country then was a wild forest.
+
+Buchanan deems all this story a fable, though asserted by John Major
+and Hector Boece, and thinks it more probable that the king was slain
+near Fettercairn in an ambush prepared by Finella.
+
+So ended the legend.
+
+As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley had bent lower and lower over
+her, till the tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich dark hair,
+and his arm all but stole round her.  Finella Melfort was quite
+conscious of this close proximity, and though she did not shrink from
+it, that consciousness made her colour deepen and her sweet voice
+become unsteady.
+
+'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,' said she, closing the
+book.
+
+'And to this awful legend of the dark ages, which only wants
+blue-fire, lime-light, and a musical accompaniment to set it off, you
+owe your name?' said he, laughingly.
+
+'Yes--it was grandfather's whim.'
+
+'It is odd that you--the belle of the last London season, should be
+named after such a grotesque old termagant!'
+
+She looked up at him smilingly, and then, as their eyes met, the
+expression of that glance exchanged beside the well on the hills came
+into them again; heart spoke to heart; he bent his face nearer hers,
+and his arm went round her in earnest.
+
+'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as he kissed her unresisting
+lips, her blushing face was hidden on his shoulder.
+
+And _this_ tableau was the result of the two days' shooting--a sudden
+result which neither Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.
+
+Of how long they remained thus neither had any idea.  Time seemed to
+stand still with them.  Finella was only conscious of his hand
+caressing hers, which lay so willingly in his tender, yet firm, clasp.
+
+Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt oblivious of all the world.
+He could think of nothing but Finella, while the latter seemed
+scarcely capable of reflection at all beyond the existing thought
+that he loved her, and though the avowal was a silent and unuttered
+one, the new sense of all it admitted and involved, seemed to
+overwhelm the girl; her brightest day-dreams had come, and she
+nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.
+
+The unwelcome sound of voices and also of carriage-wheels on the
+terrace roused them.  He released her hand, stole one more clinging
+kiss, and forgetful of his fall and all about it started with
+impatience to his feet.
+
+Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had returned from the
+flower-show, and to avoid them and all the world, for a little time
+yet, the lovers, with their hearts still beating too wildly to come
+down to commonplace, tacitly wandered hand in hand into the recesses
+of a conservatory, and lingered there amid the warm, flower-scented
+atmosphere and shaded aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.
+
+Finella was conscious that Vivian Hammersley was talking to her
+lovingly and caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he had never
+talked before, and she felt that she was 'Finella'--the dearest and
+sweetest name in the world to him--and no more Miss Melfort.
+
+* * * *
+
+It would be difficult, and superfluous perhaps, to describe the
+emotions of these two during the next few days.
+
+Though now quite aware that Finella and Hammersley had met each other
+frequently before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy, though
+apparently undemonstrative, grew speedily into suspicious anger.  He
+felt intuitively that _his_ presence made not the slightest
+difference to them, though he did not forget it; and he failed to
+understand how 'this fellow' had so quickly gained his subtle and
+familiar position with Finella.'
+
+It galled him to the quick to see and feel all this, and know that he
+could never please her as she seemed to be pleased with Hammersley;
+for her colour heightened, her eyes brightened, and her eyelashes
+drooped and flickered whenever he approached or addressed her.
+
+Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining Finella and her fortune
+against any discovery that might be made of the falsehood of his
+position, and so wrath and hatred gathered in his heart together.
+
+He was baffled at times by her bright smiles and pretty, irresistible
+manner, but nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to scheme again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.
+
+Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire
+home.
+
+Her father had been dull and gloomy of late, and had more than once
+laid his hand affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and said in a
+prayerful way that 'he hoped he might soon see her well married, and
+that she might never be left friendless!'
+
+'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would reply.
+
+Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for some time past.  Was it
+born of her father's forebodings, or of the presentiment about which
+she had conversed with Florian?  A depression hung over her--an
+undefinable dread of some great calamity about to happen.  At night
+her sleep was restless and broken, and by day a vague fear haunted
+her.
+
+The evil boded was to happen soon now.
+
+With these oppressive thoughts mingled the memory of the tall and
+handsome dark-eyed lad she loved--it seemed so long ago, and she
+longed to hear his voice again, and for his breast to lay her head
+upon.  But where was Florian now?  Months had passed without her
+hearing of him, and she might never hear again!
+
+Little could she have conceived the foul trick that Shafto had played
+them both in the matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for
+herself, she had not seen the last of that enterprising young
+gentleman.
+
+She felt miserably that her heart was lonely and heavy, and that,
+young as she was, light and joy, with the absence and ruin of
+Florian, had gone out of her life.  She was alone always with her
+great sorrow, and longed much for tears; but as her past life had
+been a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had been little--if at
+all--given to them.
+
+One morning her father did not appear at breakfast as usual.  As yet
+undressed her red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke and
+caress, was floating in a great loose mass on her back and shoulders,
+and her blue eyes looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.
+
+She had, as was her daily wont, arranged his letters, cut and aired
+the morning papers for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on the
+table, with a basket of delicate peaches, which she knew he liked,
+from the famous south wall of the garden, with green fig leaves round
+them, for Dulcie did everything prettily and tastefully, however
+trivial.  Then she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his tea,
+and waited.
+
+Still he did not appear.  She knocked on his bedroom door, but
+received no answer, and saw, with surprise, that his boots were still
+on the mat outside.
+
+She peeped in and called on him--'Papa, papa!' but there was no
+response.
+
+The room was empty, and the morning sun streamed through the
+uncurtained window.  The bed had not been slept in!  Again she called
+his name, and rushed downstairs in alarm and affright.
+
+The gas was burning in his writing-room; the window was still closed
+as it had been overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with his
+hands and arms stretched out on the table, sat Llewellen Carlyon,
+with his head bent forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.
+
+'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually gone to sleep over his
+horrid weary work.'
+
+She leaned over his chair; wound her soft arms round his neck and
+bowed grey head--her lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness, her
+sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as she laid her cheek upon
+it, a mortal chill struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped
+her.
+
+'What is this--papa?'
+
+She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was the sleep of death!
+
+It was disease of the heart, the doctors said, and he had thus passed
+away--died in harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right hand, and
+an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.
+
+Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the servants to her own
+room--they were old and affectionate country folks, who had been long
+with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and his daughter well.
+
+Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious, the sudden shock was so
+dreadful to her, and when she woke from it, the old curate, Mr.
+Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and herself, was standing near
+her bed.
+
+'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly and tenderly, as he passed
+his wrinkled hand over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.
+
+'What has happened?' she asked wildly.
+
+'You fainted, Dulcie.'
+
+'Why--I never fainted before.'
+
+'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered an old servant, who saw
+the vague and wild inquiring expression of her eyes.
+
+'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,' said the curate,
+putting a cup of coffee and piece of toast before her.
+
+'Something happened--something dreadful--what was it--oh, what was
+it?' asked Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.
+
+'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.
+
+She drank of the coffee thirstily; but declined the bread.
+
+'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he; 'I feared you might be
+unable to eat yet.'
+
+Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering and troubled look, and to
+become less wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry escaped her,
+and she said, with a calmness more terrible and painful than fainting
+or hysterics:
+
+'Oh, I remember now--papa--poor papa--dead!  Found dead!  Oh, my God!
+help me to bear it, or take me too--take me too!'
+
+'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.
+
+'How long ago was it--yesterday--a month ago, or when?  I seem--I
+feel as if I had grown quite old, yet you all look just the
+same--just the same; how is this?'
+
+'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes, 'your dire calamity
+happened but a short time ago--little more than an hour since.'
+
+Her response was a deep and heavy sob, that seemed to come from her
+overcharged heart rather than her slender throat, and which was the
+result of the unnatural tension of her mind.
+
+'Come to my house with me,' said the kind old curate; but Dulcie
+shook her head.
+
+'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I wish to be with him, and
+alone.'
+
+'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake in grief to avoid contact
+with the world.  The mind only gets sadder and deeper into its gloom
+of melancholy.  If you could but sleep, child, a little.'
+
+'Sleep--I feel as if I had been asleep for years; and it was this
+morning, you tell me--only this morning I had my arms round his
+neck--dead--my darling papa dead!'
+
+She started to her feet as if to go where the body lay under the now
+useless hands of the doctor, but would have fallen had she not
+clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who upheld and restrained her.
+
+The awful thought of her future loneliness now that she had thus
+suddenly lost her father, as she had not another relation in the
+world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and deprived her of the power of
+taking food or obtaining sleep.
+
+In vain her old servants, who had known her from infancy, coaxed her
+to attempt both, but sleep would not come, and the food remained
+untasted before her.
+
+'A little water,' she would say; 'give me a little water, for thirst
+parches me.'
+
+All that passed subsequently seemed like one long and terrible dream
+to Dulcie.  She was alone in the world, and when her father was laid
+in his last home at Revelstoke, within sound of the tumbling waves,
+in addition to being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless, for
+her father had nothing to leave her but the old furniture of the
+house they had inhabited.
+
+That was sold, and she was to remain with the family of the curate
+till some situation could be procured for her.
+
+She had long since ceased to expect any letter from or tidings of
+Florian.  She began to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of his
+new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well, it was the way of the
+world.
+
+Never would she forget the day she quitted her old home.  Her
+father's hat, his coat and cane were in the hall; all that he had
+used and that belonged to him were still there, to bring his presence
+before her with fresh poignancy, and to impress upon her that she was
+fatherless, all but friendless, and an orphan.
+
+The superstitious people about Revelstoke now remembered that in
+Lawyer Carlyon's garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time
+appeared on more than one of his apple-trees, a certain sign of
+coming death to one of his household.  But who can tell in this
+ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!
+
+One evening--she never forgot it--she had been visiting her father's
+grave, and was slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground, when a man
+like a soldier approached her in haste.
+
+'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his name, but it died away on her
+bloodless lips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'
+
+A poet says:
+
+  'Not by appointment do we meet delight
+  And joy: they need not our expectancy.
+  But round some corner in the streets of life,
+  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'
+
+
+Florian it was who stood before her, but though he gazed at her
+earnestly, wistfully, and with great pity in his tender eyes as he
+surveyed her pale face and deep mourning, he made no attempt to take
+the hands she yearningly extended towards him.  She saw that he was
+in the uniform of a private soldier, over which he wore a light
+dust-coat as a sort of disguise, but there was no mistaking his
+glengarry--that head-dress which is odious and absurd for English and
+Irish regiments, and which in his instance bore a brass badge--the
+sphinx, for Egypt.
+
+He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon the expression of his eye
+grew doubtful and cloudy.
+
+'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing voice, in which something
+of upbraiding blended with tones of surprise and grief; and yet the
+fact of his presence seemed so unreal that she lingered for a moment
+before she flung herself into his arms, and was clasped to his
+breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of this dress?' she asked, lifting
+her face and surveying him again.
+
+'It means that I am a soldier--like him whose son I thought myself--a
+soldier of the Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with some
+bitterness of tone.
+
+'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!' said Dulcie wringing her
+interlaced fingers.  'Could not Shafto--your cousin----'
+
+'Shafto cast me off--seemed as if he could not get rid of me too
+soon.'
+
+'How cruel, when he might have done so much for you, to use you so!'
+
+'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would not stoop to seek favours
+even from him, and our paths in life will never cross each other
+again; but a time may come--I know not when--in which I may seek
+forgiveness of enemies as well as friends--the bad and the good
+together--for a soldier's life is one of peril.'
+
+'Of horror--to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping freely on his breast.
+
+'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why did you cast me off in my
+utter adversity and return to me my locket?'
+
+Dulcie looked up in astonishment.
+
+'What _do_ you mean, Florian--have you lost your senses?' she asked
+in sore perplexity.  'Where have you come from last?'
+
+'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice of your terrible loss, and
+resolved to see, even if I could not speak with you.'
+
+'And you came----'
+
+'To see you, my lost darling, once again.  Oh, Dulcie, I thought I
+should die if I left England and sailed for Africa without doing so.
+I got a day's leave and am here.'
+
+'But why have you done this?'
+
+'This--what?'
+
+'Soldiering!'
+
+'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I do?--besides, I thought you
+had cast me off when you sent me back this locket,' he added,
+producing the gift referred to.
+
+'That locket was stolen from me on the night you left
+Revelstoke--literally wrenched from my neck, as I told you in my
+letter--the letter you never answered.'
+
+'I received no letter, Dulcie--but your locket was taken from you by
+whom?'
+
+'Shafto.'
+
+'The double villain!  He must have intercepted that letter, and
+utilised the envelope with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,
+and effect a breach between us.'
+
+'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'
+
+'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie, and now I almost wish you
+had.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'It is little use to remember me now--I am so poor and hopeless.'
+
+'After all,' said she, taking his face between her hands caressingly,
+'what does poverty matter if we love each other still?'
+
+'And you love me, Dulcie--love me yet!' exclaimed Florian
+passionately.
+
+'And shall never, never cease to do so.'
+
+'But I am so much beneath you now in position, Dulcie--and--and----'
+his voice broke.
+
+'What, darling?'
+
+'May never rise.'
+
+'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you because you were
+unfortunate?'
+
+'No; but you are more than a woman, Dulcie--you are a golden-haired
+angel!'
+
+'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow your cheeks are!  You have
+suffered----'
+
+'Much since last we parted here in dear old Devonshire.  But Shafto's
+villainy surpasses all I could have imagined!'
+
+'And where is Shafto now?'
+
+'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I am glad that we have
+unravelled that which was to me a source of sorrow and dismay--the
+returned locket.  So you cannot take back your heart, Dulcie, nor
+give me mine?' said Florian.
+
+'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied, sweetly and simply.
+'Though poor, we are all the world to each other now.'
+
+'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day existence is, there
+is--even in these railway times--much of strange and painful romance
+woven up with many a life; and so it seems to be with mine--with
+ours, Dulcie.'
+
+'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you were so!' exclaimed the
+girl, as a great pity filled her heart, when she thought of her
+lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes, and the humble and
+most perilous course that was before him in South Africa, where the
+clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too, am poor, Florian--very
+poor; dear papa died involved, leaving me penniless, and I must cast
+about to earn my own bread.'
+
+'This is horrible--how shall I endure it?' said he fiercely, while
+regarding her with a loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.
+
+'What would you have done if you had not met me by chance here?'
+
+'Loafed about till the last moment, and then done something
+desperate.  I _would_ have seen you, and after that--the Deluge!  In
+two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added, casting a glance at the
+old church of Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our parents
+lie, Dulcie--yours at least, and those that I, till lately, thought
+were mine.  There is something very strange and mysterious in this
+change of relationship and position between Shafto and myself.  I
+cannot understand it.  Why was I misled all my life by one who loved
+me so well?  How often have I stood with the Major by a gravestone
+yonder inscribed with the name of Flora MacIan and heard him repeat
+while looking at it--
+
+  'A thousand would call the spot dreary
+    Where thou takest thy long repose;
+  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,
+    And the frame that suffering knows.
+  I never rejoiced more sincerely
+    Than at thy funeral hour,
+  Assured that the one I loved dearly
+    Was beyond affliction's power!
+
+Why did he quote all this to me, and tell me never to forget that
+spot, or who was buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt, and not
+my mother?'
+
+Florian felt keenly for the position of Dulcie Carlyon, and the
+perils and mortifications that might beset her path now; but he was
+too young, too healthy and full of animal life and spirits, to be
+altogether weighed down by the thought of his humble position and all
+that was before him; and now that he had seen her again, restored to
+her bosom the locket, and that he knew she was true to him, and had
+never for a moment wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to become
+suddenly full of new impulses and hopes for him, and he thought
+prayerfully that all might yet be well for them both.
+
+But when?
+
+To Dulcie there seemed something noble in the hopeful spirit that,
+under her influence, animated her grave lover now.  He seemed to
+become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap what might, she felt he would
+ever be true to her.
+
+He seemed brave and tender and true--'tender and true' as a Douglas
+of old, and Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it would be to
+have such a handsome young husband as he to take care of her always,
+and see that all she did was right and proper and wise.
+
+A long embrace, and he was gone to catch the inexorable train.  She
+was again alone, and for the first time she perceived that the sun
+had set, that the waves looked black as they rounded Revelstoke
+promontory, and that all the landscape had grown dark, desolate, and
+dreary.
+
+What a hopeless future seemed to stretch before these two creatures,
+so young and so loving!
+
+Florian was gone--gone to serve as a private soldier on the burning
+coast of Africa.  It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to think
+of.
+
+'Every morning and evening I shall pray for you, Florian,' wailed the
+girl in her heart; 'pray that you may be happy, good, and rich,
+and--and that we shall yet meet in heaven if we never meet on earth.'
+
+On the second morning after this separation, when Dulcie was pillowed
+in sleep, and the rising sun was shining brightly on the waves that
+rolled in Cawsand Bay and danced over the Mewstone, a great white
+'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under sail and steam, with the
+blue-peter flying at its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded
+with red coats, all waving their caps and taking a farewell look at
+Old England--the last look it proved to many--and, led by Bob
+Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of the Warwickshire,
+hundreds of voices joined chorusing:
+
+    'Merrily, my lads, so ho!
+  They may talk of a life at sea,
+    But a life on the land
+    With sword in hand
+  Is the life, my lads, for me!'
+
+
+But there was one young soldier whose voice failed him in the chorus,
+and whose eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of the Yealm till
+these and other familiar features of the coast melted into the
+widening Channel.
+
+Dulcie was roused to exertion from the stupor of grief that had come
+upon her by tidings that a situation had been found for her as
+companion--one in which she would have to make herself useful,
+amiable, and agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and wealth, to
+whom she would be sent by influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in
+London.
+
+The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate was her lot now, cast to
+seek her bread among utter strangers; and if she became ill,
+delicate, or unable to work, what would become of her?
+
+Her separation from Florian seemed now greater than ever; but, as
+Heine has it:
+
+  'Tis but the old, old story,
+    Yet it ever abideth new;
+  And to whomsoever it cometh
+    The heart it breaks in two.'
+
+
+To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.
+
+Dulcie had been born and bred there, and all the villagers in
+Revelstoke loved and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were deeply
+interested in the future of his daughter; thus, on the day of her
+departure no one made any pretence of work or working.  Heads were
+popping out and in of the windows of the village street all morning,
+and a cluster--a veritable crowd--of kindly folks accompanied Mr.
+Pentreath and the weeping girl to the railway station, for she wept
+freely at all this display of regard and sympathy, especially from
+the old, whom she might never see again.
+
+When the train swept her away, and she lost sight of the last
+familiar feature of her native place, a strange and heavy sense of
+utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and but for the presence of
+other passengers she would have stooped her head upon her hot hands
+and sobbed aloud, for she thought of her dead parents--when did she
+not think of them now?
+
+'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have loved and gone before us
+can see afar off those they have left, surely the mother who had
+passed from earth might tremble now for her child, standing so
+terribly alone in the midst of a seething sea of danger and
+temptations?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AT CRAIGENGOWAN.
+
+With the new understanding--the tacit engagement that existed between
+herself and Vivian Hammersley--Finella writhed with annoyance when
+privately and pointedly spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'
+Shafto's attentions and hopes.
+
+'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn, 'I don't see why I may
+not marry whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl who has nothing
+in the world.  Indeed, in that case I am pretty sure that neither you
+nor cousin Shafto would want me.'
+
+'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn, when reporting this
+plain reply to Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not take her to
+London again, yet awhile.'
+
+'You are right,' replied that somewhat grim matron; 'and when once
+this Captain Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat too _èpris_
+with her, is gone, you can easily find some pretext for remaining at
+Craigengowan; or shall I have her with me?'
+
+'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn, who knew that the
+Drumshoddy _mènage_ did not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I
+think she is better here--propinquity and all that sort of thing may
+be productive of good.  I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made
+up, and, as I said before, she must settle soon.  We can't have
+twenty thousand a year slipping out of the family.'
+
+Finella thought little of their wishes or those of Shafto.  She
+thought only of that passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,
+where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips were pressed to hers;
+of the close throb of heart to heart, and that the great secret of
+her young girl's life was his now and hers no longer, but aware of
+the opposition and antagonism he would be sure to encounter just
+then, she urged upon him a caution and a secrecy of the engagement
+which his proud spirit somewhat resented.
+
+He thought it scarcely honourable to take advantage of Lord
+Fettercairn's hospitality, and gain the love of Finella without his
+permission; but as both knew that would never be accorded--that to
+ask for it would cut short his visit, and as he was so soon going on
+distant service, with Finella he agreed that their engagement should
+be kept a secret till his return.
+
+And to blind the eyes of the watchful or suspicious he actually found
+himself flirting with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young ladies
+who thought they spoke the purest English, though it was with that
+accent which Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of Edinburgh;' and,
+perceiving this, Lady Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and
+Finella was excessively amused.
+
+Not so the astute Shafto.
+
+'It is all a d----d game!' muttered that young gentleman; 'a red
+herring drawn across the scent.'
+
+'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?' asked Finella one evening,
+when she and her lover found themselves alone for a few minutes,
+during which she had been contemplating his dark face in silence.
+
+'My leave of absence is running out so fast--by Jove, faster than
+ever apparently now!'
+
+'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl softly and after a pause,
+her dark eyes darkening and seeming to become more intense.
+
+'No,' he replied, with hesitation.
+
+'Tell me, then--what is the other?'
+
+'You know how I love you----'
+
+'And I--you.'
+
+'But in one sense my love is so liable to misconstruction--so
+hopeless of proof.'
+
+'Hopeless, Vivian--after all I have admitted?' she asked
+reproachfully.
+
+'I mean because I am almost penniless as compared to you.'
+
+'What does that matter?  Surely I have enough for two,' said she,
+laughing.
+
+'And I fear the bitter opposition of your family.'
+
+'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the independent little beauty.
+
+'I have heard a rumour that one of the Melforts who made a pure
+love-marriage was cut off root and branch.'
+
+'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I was born.  Well--they can't
+cut _me_ off.'
+
+'They will never consent; and when I am far away, as I soon shall be,
+if their evil influence----'
+
+'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!' exclaimed the girl, her dark
+eyes sparkling through their unshed tears.  'Think not of their
+influencing me, for a moment.'
+
+'Thank you a thousand times for the assurance, my love.  It was vile
+of me to think of such things.  I have a sure conviction that your
+cousin Shafto dislikes me most certainly,' said Hammersley, after a
+pause.
+
+'I don't doubt it,' said she.
+
+'They mean you for him.'
+
+'They--who?'
+
+'Your grandparents.'
+
+'I know they do--but don't tease me by speaking of a subject so
+distasteful,' exclaimed Finella, making a pretty moue expression of
+disdain.
+
+He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on her hair, and his lips
+quickly found their way to hers, after they had been pressed on her
+snow-white eyelids.
+
+'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,' he exclaimed passionately.
+
+'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in that style of iteration
+of which lovers never grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,
+which it was a pity the gathering gloom prevented him from seeing.
+
+As they walked slowly towards the house, she quickly withdrew her
+hands, which were clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto approached
+them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt act, and drew his own conclusions
+therefrom, and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned abruptly away.
+
+'So that is the amiable youth for whom they design you,' said he in a
+whisper.
+
+'Did I not say you were not to speak of him?  To tell you the truth,
+I am at times somewhat afraid of him.'
+
+'My darling--I must give you an amulet--a charm against his evil
+influence,' said Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring on her
+wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'
+
+'What is this--oh, Vivian! actually a wedding-ring--but I cannot
+wear, though I may keep it.'
+
+'Then wear this until you can, when I return, darling,' said he, as
+he slipped a gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and stooping, kissed it.
+
+'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl happily.  'Well, Vivian, none
+other than the hoop you have now given me shall be my wedding-ring!'
+
+Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this she would have had good
+reason to fear that Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping
+away from the Craigengowan family, all the more so that the scene of
+this tender interview was a spot below the mansion-house, said to be
+traditionally fatal to the Melforts of Fettercairn, the Howe of
+Craigengowan--for there a terrible adventure occurred to the first
+Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of whom the men of the Mearns
+were wont to say he had not only sold his country to her enemies, but
+that he had also sold his soul to the evil one.
+
+It chanced that in the gloaming of the 28th of April, 1708, the first
+anniversary of that day on which the Scottish Parliament dissolved to
+meet no more, he was walking in a place which he had bought with his
+Union bribe--the Howe of Craigengowan, then a secluded dell,
+overshadowed by great alders and whin bushes--when he saw at the
+opposite end the figure of a man approaching pace for pace with
+himself, and his outline was distinctly seen against the red flush of
+the western sky.
+
+As they neared each other slowly, a strange emotion of superstitious
+awe stole into the hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong was
+this that he paused for a minute, and rested on his cane.  The
+stranger did precisely the same.
+
+The peer--the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited Estates--'pulled himself
+together,' and put his left hand jauntily into the silver hilt of his
+sword--a motion imitated exactly, and to all appearance mockingly, by
+the other, whose gait, bearing, and costume--a square-skirted crimson
+coat, a long-flapped white vest, black breeches and stockings rolled
+over the knee, and a Ramillie wig--were all the same in cut and
+colour as his own!
+
+Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert that he would never be
+able to describe the undefinable, the strange and awful sensation
+that crept over him when, as they neared each other, pace by pace, he
+saw in the other's visage the features of himself reproduced, as if
+he had been looking into a mirror.
+
+A cold horror ran through every vein.  He knew and felt that his own
+features were pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and dismay,
+while he could see that those of his dreadful counterpart were
+radiant with spite and triumphant malice.
+
+Himself seemed to look upon himself--the same in face, figure, dress;
+every detail was the same, save that the other clutched a canvas bag,
+inscribed '£500' the price of the Union vote (or, as some said, the
+price of his soul)--on seeing which my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in
+an agony of terror, and fell prone on his face--a fiendish yell and
+laugh from the other making all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.
+
+How long he lay there he knew not precisely; but when he opened his
+eyes the pale April moon was shining down the Howe, producing weird
+and eerie shadows, the alder and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,
+and the window lights were shining redly in the tall and sombre mass
+of Craigengowan, the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood up
+against the starry sky.
+
+He never quite recovered the shock, but died some years after; and
+even now on dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak, toads crawl,
+and the clock at Craigengowan strikes twelve, something strange--no
+one can exactly say what--is to be seen in the Howe, even within
+sound of the railway engine.
+
+But to resume our own story:
+
+Though a day for parting--for a separation involving distance, time,
+and no small danger to one--was inexorably approaching, Finella was
+very happy just then, with a happiness she had never known before,
+and with a completeness that made life--even to her who had known
+London for a brilliant season--seem radiant.  She had been joyous
+like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before the renewal and
+fuller development of her intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she
+was infinitely more joyous and content now.  ''Twas but the old, old
+story' of a girl's love, and in all her sentiments and all her hopes
+for the future Vivian shared.
+
+The beautiful dreams of a dual life had been partly--if not
+fully--realised through him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a
+perfect hero: though he was only a smart linesman, a handsome young
+fellow like a thousand others, yet he possessed every quality to
+render a girl happy.
+
+Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite 'cut the ground from under his
+feet' with Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in consequence,
+and being a master in cunning and finesse, wonderfully so for his
+years, he resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to Craigengowan
+cut short at all hazards, and he was not long in putting his scheme
+in operation.
+
+The lovers thus were not quite unconscious of being watched by eyes
+that were quickened by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,
+they were very, very happy--in Elysium, in fact.
+
+Finding that Hammersley had suddenly become averse to gambling, after
+a long day among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure him into play
+one evening in the smoke-room.
+
+Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto was remarkably sharp at cards,
+having become somewhat efficient after years of almost nightly play
+in the bar-room of the Torrington Arms at Revelstoke.
+
+Shafto's manner on this evening became almost insulting, and he
+taunted him with 'taking deuced good care of such money as he had.'
+
+''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know that you are
+rather--well--ah--rude?' said Hammersley, removing his cigar for a
+moment and staring at the speaker.
+
+'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.
+
+'Perhaps you had better make that your way,' said Hammersley, his
+brown cheek reddening as he indicated the room-door with his cigar.
+Then suddenly remembering that he must preserve certain amenities,
+and as guest--especially one circumstanced as he was secretly--he
+pushed his cigar-case towards Shafto, saying--'Try one of these--they
+are Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'
+
+'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.
+
+At last, piqued by the manner of the latter, and having been lured
+into drinking a little more brandy and soda than was good for him
+after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman sat down to play, and
+though he did so carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while
+not caring to win, he won greatly.
+
+Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a very considerable sum had
+passed into his hands, and, handsome though Shafto's quarterly
+allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could
+not help the lengthening of his visage, and the growing pallor of it,
+while his shifty eyes rolled about in his anxiety and anger; and Lord
+Fettercairn and young Kippilaw, who were present, looked on--the
+former with some annoyance, and the latter with amused interest.
+
+Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:
+
+'Hey--what the deuce is this?  Captain Hammersley, you have dropped a
+card.'
+
+And he picked one up from that officer's side, and laid it on the
+table.
+
+'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have _already_ played that card!'
+exclaimed Shafto, with fierce triumph.
+
+'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.
+
+'Whose, then?'
+
+'How the devil should I know?' asked Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.
+
+'Your luck has been marvellous, but not so much so when we know that
+you play with double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his cards and
+starting from the table, as the other did, now pallid with just rage.
+
+'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the officer, in a hoarse tone.
+
+'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful fact speaks for itself; and
+I think you have been quite long enough among us in Craigengowan,' he
+added, coarsely.
+
+Vivian Hammersley was pale as death, and speechless with rage.  He
+thought first of Finella and then of his own injured honour; and we
+know not what turn this episode might have taken had not Lord
+Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been quietly looking on from a
+corner, said gravely, sharply, and even with pain, as he started
+forward:
+
+'Shafto!  I saw you drop _that card_, where Mr. Kippilaw picked it
+up--drop it, whether purposely or not I do not say--but drop it you
+did.'
+
+'Impossible, sir!'
+
+'It is _not_ impossible,' said the peer, irately; 'and I am not blind
+or liable to make mistakes; and you too manifestly did so; whence
+this foul accusation of a guest in my own house--a gentleman to whom
+you owe a humble and most complete apology.'
+
+Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled spite at the new and
+sudden turn his scheme had taken, and at being circumvented in his
+own villainy.
+
+'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I thank you!' said Hammersley,
+drawing himself up proudly, looking greatly relieved in mind, and,
+turning next to Shafto, evidently waited for the suggested apology.
+
+But in that he was disappointed, as the 'heir' of Fettercairn turned
+abruptly on his heel and left the room, leaving his lordship to make
+the _amende_, which he did in very graceful terms.
+
+As it was impossible now for both to remain longer under the same
+roof after a fracas of this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to take
+his departure for the south by a morning train; but Lord Fettercairn,
+who, with all his selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the
+episode, and by several other ugly matters connected with his newly
+found 'grandson,' would by no means permit of that movement; and in
+this spirit of hospitality even Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him
+to remain and finish his visit, as first intended, while Shafto, in a
+gust of baffled rage and resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella
+and of the domestics, betook himself to Edinburgh, thus for a time
+leaving his rival more than ever in full possession of the field.
+
+'Whether she is influenced by Captain Hammersley I cannot say,' were
+the parting words of Lady Fettercairn to this young hopeful; 'but you
+seem by this last untoward affair to have lost even her friendship,
+and it will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her money should be
+lost to you too.'
+
+And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear grandmother' that it would be
+a pity indeed.
+
+As a gentleman and man with a keen sense of honour, Hammersley
+disliked exceedingly the secrecy of the engagement he had made with
+Finella, and felt himself actually colour more than once when Lord
+Fettercairn addressed him; but his compunctions about it grew less
+when he thought of the awful escape he had made from a perilous
+accusation, that might have 'smashed' him in the Service, and of the
+trickery of which Shafto was capable--a trickery of which he had not
+yet seen the end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.
+
+The evening of the 10th January was closing in, and the blood-red
+African sun, through a blended haze of gold and pale green, red and
+fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous crimson globe at the
+horizon, tinging with the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad
+waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards Rorke's Drift.
+
+There a picquet of the Centre or Second column of infantry (of the
+army then advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard Glyn of the
+24th Regiment, was posted for the night.  The main body of the
+picquet, under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart young officer,
+was bivouacked among some mealies at a little distance from the bank
+of the river, along the margin of which his advanced sentinels were
+posted at proper distances apart, and there each man stood motionless
+as a statue, in his red tunic and white tropical helmet, with his
+rifle at the 'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that quarter in
+which the Zulu army was supposed to be hovering.
+
+To reach the Buffalo River the various columns of Lord Chelmsford's
+army could not march by regular roads, as no such thing exists in
+Zululand, and the sole guides of our officers in selecting the line
+of advance through these savage regions were the grass-covered ruts
+left by the waggon-wheels of some occasional trader or sportsman in
+past times.
+
+As the column had been halted for the night, at a considerable
+distance in rear of the outlying picquet, the men of the latter had
+their provisions with them ready cooked, and were now having their
+supper in a grassy donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was their
+table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being more luxurious than the rest,
+had spread thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the _Times_; but the
+appetites of all were good, and their temperament cheery and hearty.
+Their rifles were piled, and they brewed their coffee over a blazing
+fire, the flame of which glowed on their sun-burned and beardless
+young faces, and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own fire,
+jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed great mouthfuls of their
+favourite liquor 'scoff.'
+
+Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend closely to his own duties,
+and the moment the evening meal was over, he desired the sergeant of
+the picquet to 'go round the advanced sentries.'
+
+The sergeant, a young and slender man, and who was no other than
+Florian, touched the barrel of his rifle and departed on his
+mission--to visit the sentinels in rotation by the river bank, and
+see that they were in communication with those of the picquets on the
+right and left.
+
+The scenery around was savage and desolate; long feathery grass
+covered the veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features in it
+were some blue gum trees, and on a koppie, or little eminence, the
+deserted ruins of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump of
+eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground were some bustards and blue
+Kaffir cranes by the river bank.
+
+Short service and disease had given Florian rapid promotion; for our
+soldiers, if brave, had no longer the power of manly endurance of
+their predecessors under the old system.  According to General
+Crealock, the extreme youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered
+their powers for toil very small; while the Naval Brigade, composed
+of older men, had scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu campaign
+was a very trying one; there were the nightly entrenchments, the
+picquet duty amid high grass, and the absence of all confidence that
+discipline and that long mutual knowledge of each other give in the
+ranks.  He added most emphatically that our younger soldiers were
+unfit for European campaigning; that half the First Division were
+'sick;' there were always some 200 weak lads in hospital, 'crawling
+about like sick flies,' and, like him, every officer was dead against
+the short-service system.
+
+The face of our young sergeant was handsome as ever; but it was
+strangely altered since late events had come to pass.  There was a
+haggard and worn look in the features, particularly in the eyes.  The
+latter looked feverish and dim--their brightness less at times, while
+a shadow seemed below them.
+
+Florian having, as he now deemed, no right to the name of Melfort, or
+even that of MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name, as that by
+which he had been known from infancy, lest he might make a false
+attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from, even if it was
+his--which at times he doubted!  His regiment was the brave old 24th,
+or Second Warwickshire, which had been raised in the eventful year
+1689 by Sir Edward Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of one of
+the few undoubted Saxon families in England, and it was afterwards
+commanded in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.
+
+Second to none in the annals of war during the reigns of Anne and the
+early Georges, the 24th in later times served with valour at the
+first capture of the Cape of Good Hope, in the old Egyptian campaign,
+in the wars of Spain and India, and now they were once again to cover
+themselves with a somewhat clouded and desperate glory in conflict
+with the gallant Zulus.
+
+Florian in his new career found himself occasionally among a somewhat
+mixed and rough lot--the raw, weedy soldiers of the new disastrous
+system--but there were many who were of a better type; and the
+thought of Dulcie Carlyon--the only friend he had in the world, the
+only human creature who loved him--kept him free from the temptations
+and evil habits of the former; and he strove to live a steady, pure,
+and brave life, that he might yet be worthy of her, and give her no
+cause to blush for him.
+
+He got through his drilling as quickly as he could, and soon
+discovered that the sooner a soldier takes his place in the ranks the
+better for himself.  He found that though many of his comrades were
+noisy, talkative, and quarrelsome, that the English soldier quicker
+than any other discovers and appreciates a gentleman.  His officers
+soon learned to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity with which
+he won his three chevrons, and Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though
+he was, he could trust Florian to go round the sentinels.
+
+Each was at his post, and the attention of each increased as the
+gloom after sunset deepened, for none knew who or what might be
+approaching stealthily and unseen among the long wavy grass and mossy
+dongas that yawned amid the country in front.
+
+'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill, whom he heard singing
+merrily to himself, 'you should be mute as a fish on outpost duty,
+and keep your ears open as well as your eyes.  What have you got in
+your head, Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the author of the
+"Red Rag" says, we soldiers have not much in our heads at any time,
+or we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls or bullets with them.'
+
+'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob, 'but I can't think what made
+you--a gentleman--enlist.'
+
+'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I suppose.  And you?'
+
+'Through one I wish I never had seen?'
+
+'Who was that?'
+
+    'The handsome young girl,
+    With her fringe in curl,
+  That worked a sewing-machine,'
+
+--sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian returned to report 'all
+right' to Mr. Sheldrake.
+
+Though the actual cause of the Zulu war lies a little apart from our
+story, it may be necessary to mention that we invaded the country of
+Cetewayo after giving him a certain time, up to the 11th of January,
+to accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative for war, by
+delivering up certain of his subjects who had violated British
+territory, attacked a police-station, and committed many
+outrages,--among others, carrying off two women, one of whom they put
+to a barbarous death near the Buffalo River.
+
+But instead of making any apology, or giving an indemnity, Cetewayo
+prepared to defend himself at the head of an enormous army of hardy
+Zulu warriors, all trained in a fashion of their own, divided into
+strong regiments, furnished with powerful shields of ox-hide, and
+armed with rifles, war clubs, and assegais--a name with which we are
+now so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages five feet in
+length, with the diameter of an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the
+assegai tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre, and
+furnished with a spear-head.  Some are barbed, some double-barbed,
+and the tang of the blade is fitted--when red-hot--into the wood, not
+the latter into the blade, which is then secured by a thong of wet
+hide, and is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his head with it; and
+it is a weapon which they can launch with deadly and unerring skill.
+
+The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was unable to sign his own name,
+'and was as ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,' and he
+thought no more of putting women, 'especially young girls, to death,
+than Bluff King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all this was to
+see him presented at Osborne, and to become the petted and fêted
+exile of Melbury Road, Kensington.
+
+This night by the Buffalo River was Florian's first experience of
+outpost duty, and he felt--though not the responsible party--anxious,
+wakeful, and weary after a long and toilsome day's march.
+
+He knew enough of military matters to be well aware that the
+importance of outposts, especially when dealing with a wily and
+savage enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no force, when
+encamped in the field, can be deemed for a moment safe without them.
+Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great that it was pardonable to
+be defeated, but never to be surprised.
+
+'I don't understand all this change that has come over my life,'
+thought he, as he stretched himself on the bare earth near the
+picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and mother can see and think
+of me where they are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with a kind
+of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they were near me and watching
+over me, so they must see and think too.'
+
+Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she doing?  How supporting
+herself, as she said she would have to do?  Had she found friends,
+or, months ago, been trodden, with all her tender beauty, down in the
+mire of misfortune and adversity?
+
+These were maddening thoughts for one so far away and so utterly
+powerless to help her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him at
+times more reckless of his own existence because it was useless to
+her.
+
+The air around was heavy with the dewy fragrance of strange and
+tropical plants, and vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their
+shadows over him as he strove to snatch the proverbial 'forty winks'
+before again going 'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for
+they are always hourly when before an enemy.
+
+And when our weary young soldier did sleep, he dreamt, not of the
+quick-coming strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with her wealth of
+red golden hair, but, as the tender smile on his lips might have
+showed, of the time when his mother watched him in his little cot,
+with idolizing gaze, and when he, the now bronzed and moustached
+soldier, was a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair curling
+over his white forehead; when his cheeks had a rosy flush, and his
+tiny mouth a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands that lay
+outside the snow-white coverlet her own deft fingers had made--the
+two wee hands that held his mother's heart between them--the heart
+that had long since mouldered by Revelstoke Church.
+
+And so he slept and dreamed till roused by the inevitable cry of
+'Sentry, go!' and, that duty over, as he composed himself to sleep
+again, with his knapsack under his head for a pillow, he thought as a
+soldier--
+
+  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet
+  On any human being rose or set!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ELANDSBERGEN.
+
+Next morning when the picquet was relieved young Sheldrake, who paid
+Hammersley's company in absence of the latter, who was soon expected
+with a strong draft from England, said to Florian--
+
+'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid mistake.  The company's money
+I have left among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond Elandsbergen,
+and I have got the Colonel's permission to send you back for it.
+This is just like me--I've a head, and so has a pin!  The
+Quartermaster will lend you his horse, and you can have my spare
+revolver and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you go,' he added,
+proffering his case, 'and look sharp after yourself and the money.
+There is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you are going back to.
+We don't advance from this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of time
+to be with us ere we cross the river, if you start at once.'
+
+'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he saluted and went away to
+obtain the horse, the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which he
+intensely disliked, and almost doubted his power to carry out, as it
+took him rearward through a country of which he was ignorant, which
+was almost without roads, and where he would be single-handed, if not
+among savages, among those who were quite as bad, for in some of
+these districts, as in the Orange Free State and Boerland, there
+swarmed broken ruffians of every kind, many of them deserters; and,
+says an officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number of these
+undesirable specimens of our countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone
+that night was truly made hideous with their howlings, respectable
+persons were afraid to leave their houses after nightfall, and the
+report of revolvers ceased to elicit surprise or curiosity.  I have
+been in some of the most notorious camps and towns in the territories
+and mining districts of the United States, but can safely assert that
+I never felt more thankful than when I found my horse sufficiently
+rested here to continue my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the
+wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses were devoured by them;
+the tiger-cat and the aarde-wolf also.
+
+With a knowledge of all this Florian loaded his revolver, looked
+carefully to the bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse, received a
+note from Mr. Sheldrake to the officer commanding the little fort
+near the foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp of No. 2 column
+on his solitary journey, steering his way by the natural features of
+the country so far as he could recall them after the advance of the
+10th January, and watching carefully for the wheel tracks or other
+indications of a roadway leading in a westerly direction; and many of
+his comrades, including Bob Edgehill, watched him with interest and
+kindly anxiety till his white helmet disappeared as he descended into
+a long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's Drift.
+
+The evening passed and the following day dawned--the important
+12th--when Zululand was to be invaded at three points by the three
+columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance party detailed from Colonel
+Glyn's brigade to reconnoitre the ground in front got under arms and
+began to move off, and Sheldrake and others began to feel somewhat
+uneasy, for there was still no appearance of the absent one.
+
+* * * *
+
+The country through which Florian rode was lonely, and farmhouses
+were few and many miles apart.  Its natural features were undulating
+downs covered with tall waving grass, furrowed by deep, reedy
+water-courses; here and there were abrupt rocky eminences, and dense
+brushwood grew in the rugged kloofs and ravines.
+
+The air was delightful, and in spite of his thoughts the blood
+coursed freely through his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated
+by the pace at which his horse went, he could not help giving a loud
+'Whoop!' now and then when a gnu, with its curved horns and white
+mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the upland slopes, or a baboon
+grinned at him from amid the bushes of a kloof.
+
+Before him stretched miles of open and grassy veldt, and the
+flat-topped hills of the Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The
+vast stretch of plain, across which ever and anon swept herds of
+beautiful little antelopes, was covered with luxuriant grass, which
+seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it went the track, which
+he was always afraid of losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the
+veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by the grass were everywhere
+deep holes burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his horse's
+forelegs sank ever and anon, to the peril of the animal and his rider
+too.  Thus Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter with his
+reins loose, while he sat tight and prepared for swerving when his
+nag, which was a native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent hole,
+which they can do with wonderful sagacity.
+
+So Florian was not sorry when he left the veldt behind him, and after
+a ride of about thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small fort at
+the foot of Drakensberg appear in front with a little Union Jack
+fluttering on a flagstaff.
+
+This was about mid-day.
+
+Anxious to return as soon as he could rest his horse, he lost no time
+in delivering Sheldrake's note to the officer in command, and with
+the key of a trunk indicated therein among his best uniform, and amid
+girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button bouquets, rare pipes,
+and an omnium-gatherum of various things, the bag was found, with the
+company's money, and delivered to Florian, who, after a two hours'
+halt, set out on his return journey; but he had not proceeded many
+miles when he found that his horse was utterly failing him, and,
+regretting that he had not remained at the post for the night, he
+resolved to spend it in the little town of Elandsbergen, towards
+which he bent his way, leading the now halting nag by the bridle.
+
+Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely detached cottages studding
+both sides of a broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt or
+prairie, with fragmentary attempts at cultivation here and there; and
+how the people lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows of stunted
+oaks lined the street, if such it could be called, and through it
+flowed a rill of pure water, at which the poor nag drank thirstily.
+
+Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry, dignified by the title of the
+Royal Hotel, where 'civil entertainment for man and beast' was
+promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It was a somewhat
+substantial edifice of two storeys, built of baked brick, square in
+form, with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work, covered with
+half-bricks and with clayey mortar to render it impervious to the
+torrents of the South African rainy season.
+
+In some of the windows were glass panes; in others sheepskin with the
+wool off, which, in consequence of extreme tension, attains a certain
+transparency.  Giving his horse to a Kaffir ostler, whose sole
+raiment was a waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,
+Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,' the proprietor of which
+started and changed colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he
+might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard, sedulously cultivated,
+and a shock head of hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one of
+the many deserters from our troops, already referred to, and, though
+apparently anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian of the
+worst kind.
+
+The room into which he ushered Florian was bare-walled, the furniture
+was of the plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was formed of
+cow-dung over wet clay, all kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it
+could be polished, a process learned from the Zulus in the
+construction of their kraals.
+
+A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap portrait of Sir Bartle Frere,
+and the skull of an eland with its spiral horns were the only
+decorations of the apartment, and the literature of 'the day' was
+represented by three tattered copies of the _Cape Argus_, _Natal
+Mercury_, and the _Boer Volksteem_.
+
+Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in person was quite as
+dirty as a Boer; his loose cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt
+with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin pouch and an ugly
+hunting-knife with a cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were
+stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered remnant of an ostrich
+feather.
+
+The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in, and announced something in
+his own language to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to Florian,
+said--
+
+'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'
+
+'How--what do you mean?' demanded Florian.
+
+'That your horse is dying.'
+
+'Dying!'
+
+'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'
+
+Florian in no small anxiety and excitement hurried out to the stable,
+in which two other nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor
+animal he had ridden lying among the straw in strong convulsions,
+labouring under that curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a
+most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly attacked it.
+
+The animal had looked sullen and dull all morning, and in the stable
+had been assailed by the distemper and its usual symptoms, heaving
+flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy eyes, and a projecting tongue
+tightly clenched between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions, and
+he was dead in half an hour, and Florian found that he would probably
+have to travel afoot for more than twenty miles before he could
+rejoin the column on the morrow.
+
+'Where have you come from, Sergeant?' asked Josh Jarrett, when they
+returned to the public room.
+
+'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'
+
+'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett, with a portentous wink and a
+brightening eye.
+
+'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.
+
+'Fellows do so every day now in these short-service times.'
+
+'I was going to the front, when my horse fell lame.'
+
+'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'
+
+'The dismounted now, I think,' replied Florian.  'I should like to
+rest here for the night, and push on as best I can to-morrow; so what
+can I have for supper?'
+
+Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he thought a sergeant's purse
+would not go far in the way of luxuries, and then replied:
+
+'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef and a good glass of
+squareface or Cape smoke, which you please.'
+
+'The first will do, and a glass of the squareface, which means
+Hollands, I suppose.  Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied
+Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet and seated himself in a
+large cane-bottomed chair.
+
+'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked Jarrett.
+
+'Thanks--well, no--I am used to it.'
+
+'As you please,' said the other surlily, and summoning in a loud
+voice a female named 'Nan,' left the room.
+
+The latter laid the table, brought in the frugal supper, with a case
+bottle of squareface, and, instead of leaving the room, seated
+herself near a window and entered into conversation, with what object
+Florian scarcely knew, but he disliked the circumstance, till he
+began to remember that she probably considered herself his equal.
+
+When his hasty repast was over, taking a hint from a remark that he
+was weary, she withdrew, and then Florian began to consider the
+situation.
+
+He was fully twenty miles from the regiment; a rough country, not to
+be traversed even by daylight, infested with wild animals, and many
+obnoxious things, such as puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between;
+and unless Jarrett would accommodate him with a horse, which was very
+unlikely (he seemed such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would
+have to travel the journey on foot, and begin betimes on the morrow
+as soon as dawn would enable him to see the track eastward.
+
+He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver and its ammunition,
+reloading the six chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the
+company's money; and tempted, he knew not by what rash impulse unless
+it was mere boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by which the
+paymaster had secured the mouth of the bag to have a peep at the gold.
+
+He had never seen a hundred sovereigns before, and never before had
+so much money in his possession.  Some of the glittering coins fell
+out on the clay floor; and as he gathered them up a sound made him
+look round, and from the window he saw a human face suddenly vanish
+outside, thus showing that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been
+furtively watching him, and he strongly suspected it to be the woman
+Nan, prompted, perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he concealed
+the gold.
+
+He was the more convinced of the lurker being she when, soon after,
+she entered, retook her seat by the window, through which the evening
+sun was streaming now, and began to address him in a light and
+flippant manner, as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior
+purposes; but his suspicions were awakened now, and Florian was on
+his guard.
+
+He perceived that she had made some alterations and improvements in
+her tawdry dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of large
+old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped like small rams' horns of real
+gold.
+
+She seemed to be about thirty years of age, and was not without
+personal attractions, though all bloom was past, and the expression
+of her face was marred by its being alternately leering, mocking,
+and--even in spite of herself--cruel.  Yet her eyes were dark and
+sparkling.  She wore a fringe of thick brown hair close down to them,
+concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth, if large, was
+handsome, but lascivious-looking, and Florian, whose barrack-room
+experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,' thought--though he was not
+ungallant enough to say so--that her absence would be preferable to
+her company, which she seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But
+guests were doubtless scarce in these parts, and the 'Royal Hotel,'
+Elandsbergen, had probably not many visitors.
+
+She asked him innumerable questions--his age, country, regiment, and
+so forth--and all in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his hair,
+and once attempted to seat herself on his knee; but he rose and
+repelled her, and then it was that the unmistakably cruel expression
+came flashing into her eyes.
+
+'You are too young and too handsome to be killed and disembowelled by
+the big Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could eat a boy like
+you.  Why don't you desert and go to the Diamond Fields?'
+
+'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'
+
+'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?' she said sneeringly.
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'
+
+'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.
+
+'I have read--I have some book-knowledge, you see--that when a Swiss
+officer was reproached by a French one that he fought for pay, and
+not like himself for honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we each
+of us fight for that which he is most in need of."'
+
+'I don't see the allusion in this instance: a soldier, I do my duty
+and obey orders.'
+
+'Have a drop more of the squareface--you can't be so rude as to
+refuse a lady,' she continued, filling up a long glass, which she put
+to her lips, and then to those of Florian, who pretended to sip and
+then put the glass down.
+
+He was at a loss to understand her and her advances.  Vanity quite
+apart, he knew that he was a good-looking young fellow, and that his
+uniform 'set him off;' but he remembered the face at the window, and
+was on his guard against her in every way.  Would she have acted thus
+with an officer? he thought; and in what relation did she stand to
+the truculent-looking landlord--wife, daughter, or sister?  Probably
+none of them at all.
+
+Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared to do so, and seating herself
+at a rickety old piano, which Florian had not noticed before, she,
+while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded to sing a once-popular flash
+song, long since forgotten in England, and probably taken out by some
+ancient settler, generations ago, to the Cape Colony:
+
+  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life
+    Took it into his noddle to die,
+  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,
+    I think I'd know very well _why_.
+
+  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief--
+    Not sink with the weight of my care:
+  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,
+    And I think I know very well _where_.
+
+  'Another kind mate should give me what fate
+    Would not from the former allow;
+  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,
+    And I think I'd know very well _how_.
+
+  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said
+    No judge of the conjugal lot;
+  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,
+    And I think I know very well _what_.'
+
+
+This she sang with a skill and power that savoured of the music hall,
+and then tried her blandishments again to induce Florian to drink of
+the fiery squareface; but he resisted all her inducement to take
+'just one little glass more.'
+
+Why was she so anxious that he should imbibe that treacherous spirit,
+which he would have to pay for?  And why did the landlord, who
+certainly seemed full of curiosity about him, leave him so entirely
+in her society?
+
+Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'
+
+'That is Josh,' said she impatiently; 'bother him, what does he want
+now?  Josh is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'
+
+'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as he now hoped to be rid of
+her.
+
+'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have one glass more, dear, before I
+leave you.'
+
+But he turned impatiently away, and she withdrew, closing a scene
+which caused Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He remembered to
+have read, that 'man destroys with the horns of a bull, or with paws
+like a bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or by embracing like a
+serpent.'  And he was in toils here unseen as yet!
+
+The light faded out beyond the dark ridges of the Drakensberg, and
+Florian requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment, which was on
+the upper storey.
+
+'You may hear a roaring lot here by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you
+are a soldier, and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You will be
+tired, too, after your ride.'
+
+The man had now a sneaking and wicked look in his eyes, which avoided
+meeting those of Florian, and which the latter did not like, but
+there was no help for it then.
+
+'You will call me early if I sleep too long,' said Florian, as
+Jarrett gave him a candle.
+
+The hand of the latter shook as he did so--he had evidently been
+drinking heavily, and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot, and his
+voice thick, as he said:
+
+'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound enough,' and closed the
+door.
+
+With a sigh almost of relief Florian found himself alone.  He set
+down the sputtering candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It was
+without a lock, and secured only by a latch, by which it could be
+opened from the outside as well as within.
+
+On making this startling discovery, Florian's heart glowed with
+indignation and growing alarm!  He felt himself trapped!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BAFFLED!
+
+The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only furniture was a table,
+chair, and truckle-bed--all obviously of Dutch construction--and,
+unless he could find some means to secure his door, he resolved to
+remain awake till dawn.  The only window in the room overlooked the
+roof of the stable where the dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and
+shook in the night wind, and he could see the bright and, to him, new
+constellations glittering in the southern sky.
+
+Florian contrived to secure the door by placing the chair on the
+floor as a wedge or barrier between it and the bedstead, on the
+mattress of which--though not very savoury in appearance--he cast
+himself, for he was weary, worn, and felt that there was an absolute
+necessity for husbanding his strength, as he knew not what might be
+before him, so he extinguished the candle.
+
+Something in the general aspect and bearing of the man Josh Jarrett,
+and in those of the woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and
+something, too, in his general surroundings and isolated
+situation--for the few scattered houses of Elandsbergen were all far
+apart--together with the memory of the prying face he had seen at the
+window, at the very moment he was picking up the gold, all served to
+put Florian on his guard; thus he lay down without undressing, and,
+longing only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the butt of his
+pistol.
+
+For some time past he had been unused to the luxury of even a
+truckle-bed or other arrangements for repose than his grey greatcoat
+and ammunition blanket, with a knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite
+his keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep, for how long he knew
+not; but he suddenly started up as the sound of voices below came to
+his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar whereabouts rushed on him.
+
+Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but not loud--voices of persons
+talking in low and concentrated tones in the room beneath, separated
+from him only by the ill-fitting boarding of the floor, between the
+joints of which lines of light were visible, and one bright upward
+flake, through a hole from which a knot had dropped out.
+
+'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could smash the life out of him by one
+blow of my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett, say.
+
+Others responded to this, but in low, stealthy, and husky tones.
+Certain that some mischief with regard to himself was on the _tapis_.
+Florian crept softly to the orifice in the floor, and looked down.
+Round a dirty and sloppy table, covered with drinking-vessels, pipes
+and tobacco-pouches, bottles of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh
+Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like fellows, with Nan among
+them, all drinking; and a vile-looking quintette they were,
+especially the woman, with her hair all dishevelled now, and her face
+inflamed by that maddening compound known as Cape smoke.
+
+'When I was ass enough to be in the Queen's service,' said Jarrett
+with a horrible imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and
+non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they said it was my own fault
+that I was always drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may, I've one
+of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll sarve him out for what they made
+me undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my purpose as well as another.
+Nan, you did your best to screw him, but he was wary--infernally
+wary.  Blest if I don't think the fellow is a Scotsman after all, for
+all his English lingo.'
+
+'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped the amiable Nan; 'you
+should have drugged it, Josh.'
+
+'But then we didn't know that he had all this chink about him.'
+
+'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who had not yet spoken, but was
+prodding the table with a knife he had drawn from his belt; 'we'll
+give him a through ticket to the other world--one with the down
+train.'
+
+'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.
+
+Florian felt beads of perspiration on his brow; he was one against
+five--entrapped, baited, done to death--and if he did not appear at
+headquarters with the fatal money, what would be thought of him but
+that he had deserted with it, and his name would be branded as that
+of a coward and robber.
+
+Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked him, but it nerved him too.
+
+Another truculent-looking fellow now came in, making five men in all.
+
+'He has money galore on him--Nan saw the gold--money in a canvas bag.
+How comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his grab, unless he
+stole it?' said Jarrett, in explanation to the new-comer.
+
+'Of course he stole it--it's regimental money, and evidently he is
+deserting with it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like Jarrett, a
+Queen's bad bargain also; for he added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's
+short-service soldiers care about their chances of pension or
+promotion--that's the reason he has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't
+we make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife into him, and then
+burying him out in the veldt before daylight.  Even if he was traced
+here, who is to be accountable for a deserter?'
+
+And this practical ruffian proceeded at once to put a finer edge and
+point upon his long bowie knife.
+
+'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.
+
+'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely to use it in his sleep,
+especially when we pin him by the throat.'
+
+He was but one against five armed and reckless desperadoes; and there
+was the woman, too, whose hands were ready for evil work.  The stair
+that led to his room was narrow--so much so that there was but space
+for one on a step.  The lower or outer door he knew to be securely
+locked and bolted.  The window of his room, we have said, overlooked
+the lean-to roof of the stable, where he knew that two horses were in
+stall--a sure means of escape could he reach one; but the door, he
+was aware, was locked, and the key in possession of the Kaffir groom.
+
+He was maddened by the thought that his barbarous and obscure death
+would brand him with a double disgrace; and death is more than ever
+hard when suffered at the hands of cowards.
+
+'What is the use of all this blooming talk?' said one, starting from
+the table; 'let us set about the job at once!'
+
+'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll perhaps try to escape by
+the stable-roof, so while you fellows go up the stair, I go round to
+the back of the house and cut off his retreat.'
+
+'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my only chance lies that way.'
+
+He opened the window at the very moment that stealthy steps sounded
+on the wooden stair, and a red light streamed under the door, which
+their felon hands failed to force, so firmly was the chair wedged
+between it and the bed.  He slid down the stable-roof, and dropped
+safely on the ground, to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing
+on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him down, firing two chambers
+into his very teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare out into the
+open veldt, leaving the ruffian wallowing in his blood.
+
+He knew not and cared not in what direction he ran at first, as he
+could hear the oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over whom his
+youth, lightness, and activity gave him an advantage; but after a
+time red-dawn began to streak the eastern sky, and he knew that was
+the direction which, if he was spared, would take him to the bank of
+the Buffalo River.
+
+He continued to run at a good steady double, saving his wind as he
+did so, and his courage and confidence rose when he found that he was
+distancing his pursuers so much that he could neither see nor hear
+anything of them.
+
+As he ran on he thought for a moment or two of the fierce gleaming
+eyes and glistening teeth of Jarrett--of the blood he had shed, and
+the life he had perhaps taken for the first time, remorsefully; but
+had he not acted thus, what would he have been?  A gashed corpse!
+
+'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier--why such thoughts at all?  Why
+should I have mercy when these wretches would have had none?' and he
+began to regret that he had not fired a random shot or two through
+the room-door and knocked over some of them on the staircase.
+
+A sound now struck his ear; it was the thud of galloping hoofs upon
+the veldt, and his heart sank as he remembered the two horses in the
+stable, where his dead nag was lying.
+
+He looked back, and there, sure enough, in the grey dawn were two
+mounted men riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he could not
+for a moment doubt they were two of Jarrett's companions in pursuit,
+thirsting with avarice and for revenge.
+
+He made his way, stumbling wildly and breathlessly down a wooded
+ravine to elude their sight; on and on he strove till a vine root
+caught his foot: his hands outstretched beat the air for a moment,
+and then he fell headlong forward and downward into a donga full of
+brushwood.
+
+For a moment he had a sense of strange palms, and giant cacti, and of
+great plants with long spiky leaves being about him, and then he
+became unconscious as he lay there stunned and bleeding profusely
+from a wound in his forehead, which had come in contact with a stone.
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+BILLING & SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF
+3) ***
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
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+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume 1, by James Grant
+</title>
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+<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3), by James Grant</p>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Dulcie Carlyon, Volume I (of 3)</p>
+<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A novel</p>
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Grant</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 11, 2022 [eBook #68293]</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
+  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines</p>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF 3) ***</div>
+
+<h1>
+<br /><br />
+  DULCIE CARLYON.<br />
+</h1>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+  A Novel.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  BY<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+  JAMES GRANT,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  IN THREE VOLUMES.<br />
+<br />
+  VOL. I.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  LONDON:<br />
+  WARD AND DOWNEY,<br />
+  12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br />
+<br />
+  1886.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+  [<i>All Rights Reserved.</i>]<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+NEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+FROM THE SILENT PAST.  By Mrs. HERBERT MARTIN.  2 Vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+COWARD AND COQUETTE.  By the Author of 'The Parish of Hilby.'  1 vol.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+MIND, BODY, AND ESTATE.  By the Author of 'Olive Varcoe.'  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+AT THE RED GLOVE.  By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+WHERE TEMPESTS BLOW.  By the Author of 'Miss Elvester's Girls.'  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IN SIGHT OF LAND.  By Lady DUFFUS HARDY.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS.  By F. C. PHILIPS.  1 vol.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER.  By MABEL COLLINS.  3 vols.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+In Loving Memory
+<br />
+OF
+<br />
+MY ELDEST SON,
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+JAMES SIMPSON GRANT,
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<i>Captain Cheshire Regiment,</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+I INSCRIBE
+<br />
+THIS MILITARY STORY.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+I. <a href="#chap01">IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+II. <a href="#chap02">WEDDED</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+III. <a href="#chap03">THE SPURNED OFFER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IV. <a href="#chap04">REVELSTOKE COTTAGE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+V. <a href="#chap05">DULCIE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VI. <a href="#chap06">THE SECRET PACKET</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VII. <a href="#chap07">A FAREWELL</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+VIII. <a href="#chap08">THE SILVER LOCKET</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+IX. <a href="#chap09">MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+X. <a href="#chap10">ALONE IN THE WORLD</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XI. <a href="#chap11">SHAFTO IN CLOVER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XII. <a href="#chap12">VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIII. <a href="#chap13">AMONG THE GROUSE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIV. <a href="#chap14">THE TWO FINELLAS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XV. <a href="#chap15">AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVI. <a href="#chap16">''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY'</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVII. <a href="#chap17">AT CRAIGENGOWAN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XVIII. <a href="#chap18">AT THE BUFFALO RIVER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XIX. <a href="#chap19">ELANDSBERGEN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+XX. <a href="#chap20">BAFFLED!</a>
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap01"></a></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+DULCIE CARLYON.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br /><br />
+IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'This will end in a scene, Fettercairn, and
+you know how I hate scenes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So do I, they are such deuced bad form.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall need all my self-possession to get
+over the <i>esclandre</i> this affair may cause,'
+exclaimed the lady, fanning herself violently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, life is made up of getting over
+things,' responded her husband.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But not things so disgraceful as this,
+Fettercairn!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is this son of yours in his senses?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is that loves? it has been asked,'
+said the culprit referred to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A marriage between you and a penniless
+girl in her rank of life is not to be thought of,
+Lennard.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Her rank of life, father?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Her father's rank was superior to that of
+the first of our family, when life began with
+him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is that to you or to me now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Much to me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Too much, it would seem.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The excited speakers were a Peer, Cosmo,
+Lord Fettercairn, his wife, the Lady thereof,
+and their youngest son, Lennard Melfort, a
+captain of the line, home on leave from
+India, who had been somewhat timidly
+venturing to break&mdash;knowing the inordinate
+family vanity of his parents&mdash;we say to break
+the news of his love for a girl possessed of
+more beauty than this world's goods; and, in
+his excitement and indignation, his lordship's
+usual easy, indolent, and drawling way was
+forgotten now when addressing his son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cosmo, Lord Fettercairn of that Ilk (and
+Strathfinella in the Mearns) was by nature a
+proud, cold, selfish, and calculating man,
+whose chief passion in life was a combined
+spirit of enormous vanity and acquisitiveness,
+which he inherited from his predecessors,
+whom he resembled in political caution and
+selfishness, and also in personal appearance,
+to judge from the portraits of three generations,
+by Sir John de Medina, Aikman, and
+Raeburn, adorning the walls of the stately
+room in the house of Craigengowan, where
+this rather stormy interview took place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tall and thin in figure, with flat square
+shoulders and sandy-coloured hair, cold grey
+eyes, and irregular features, he was altogether
+a contrast to his son Lennard, who inherited
+his slightly aquiline nose and perfect face
+from his mother, but his firm dark eyes and
+rich brown hair from a previous generation;
+and these, together with an olive complexion,
+rendered more dusky by five years' exposure
+to an Indian sun, made his aspect a very
+striking one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My Lady Fettercairn's birth and breeding
+were, as Sir Bernard Burke had recorded,
+irreproachable, and she certainly seemed a
+<i>grande dame</i> to the tips of her long slender
+fingers.  She was about forty-five years of
+age, but looked ten younger.  The upper
+part of her aristocratic face was strikingly
+handsome; but the lower, with its proud and
+firm lips, was less pleasant to look at.  Her
+complexion was almost colourless, her hair
+of the lightest brown, like her eyebrows and
+lashes; while her eyes were clear and blue as
+an Alpine sky, and, as Lennard often thought
+with a sigh, they seemed quite as&mdash;cold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her manner was always calm, assured, and
+self-possessed.  She would smile, but that
+smile never degenerated into honest laughter,
+while her pale and impressive face was
+without a line&mdash;especially on her forehead&mdash;that
+seemed to indicate either thought or
+reflection, and certainly she had never known
+care or sorrow or even annoyance until
+now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She is beautiful, mother,' urged the
+young man, breaking an ominous silence, with
+reference to the object of his love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perhaps; but she is not one of us,'
+exclaimed Lady Fettercairn, cresting up her
+handsome head haughtily, and a whole
+volume of intense pride and hauteur was
+centred in the last word she spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who is this Flora MacIan, as she calls
+herself?' asked his father in a similar tone;
+'but I need not ask.  You have already told
+us she is the governess in a house you have
+been recently visiting&mdash;that of Lady
+Drumshoddy&mdash;a governess, with all her beauty, poor
+and obscure.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not so obscure,' said Lennard, a wave of
+red passing under the tan of his olive cheek;
+'her father was a gallant old officer of the
+Ross-shire Buffs, who earned his V.C. at the
+battle of Khooshab, in Persia, and her only
+brother and support fell when leading on his
+Grenadiers at the storming of Lucknow.  The
+old captain was, as his name imports, a cadet
+of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With a pedigree of his family, no doubt,
+from the grounding of the Ark to the battle
+of Culloden,' sneered his father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then his family would end soon after ours
+began,' retorted the son, becoming greatly
+ruffled now.  'You know, father, we can't
+count much beyond three generations ourselves.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Fettercairn, wounded thus in his
+sorest point, grew white with anger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We always suspected you of having some
+secret, Lennard,' said his mother severely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, mother, unfortunately, as some one
+says, a secret is like a hole in your coat&mdash;the
+more you try to hide it, the more it is seen.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'An aphorism, and consequently vulgar;
+does <i>she</i> teach you this style of thing?' asked
+the haughty lady, while Lennard reddened
+again with annoyance, and gave his dark
+moustache a vicious twist, but sighed and
+strove to keep his temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have found and felt it very bitter, father,
+to live under false colours,' said he gently and
+appealingly, 'and to keep that a secret from
+you both, which should be no secret at all.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We would rather not have heard this
+secret,' replied Lord Fettercairn sternly, while
+tugging at his sandy-coloured mutton-chop
+whiskers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then would you have preferred that I
+should be deceitful to you, and false to the
+dear girl who loves and trusts me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I do not choose to consider <i>her</i>,'  was the
+cold reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I do, and must, now!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because we are already married&mdash;she is
+my wife,' was the steady response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Married!' exclaimed his father and mother
+with one accord, as they started from their
+chairs together, and another ominous silence
+of a minute ensued.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor, lost boy&mdash;the prey of an artful
+minx!' said Lady Fettercairn, looking as if
+she would like to weep; but tears were rather
+strangers to her cold blue eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother, dear mother, if you only knew
+her, you would not talk thus of Flora,' urged
+Lennard almost piteously.  'If we had it in
+our power to give love and to withhold it, easy
+indeed would our progress be through life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Love&mdash;nonsense!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Save to the two most interested, who are
+judges of it,' said Lennard.  'Surely you
+loved my father, and he you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Our case was very different,' replied Lady
+Fettercairn, in her anger actually forgetting
+herself so far as to bite feathers off her fan
+with her firm white teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How, mother dear?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In rank and wealth we were equal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard sighed, and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I little thought that you, who loved me
+so, would prove all but one of the mothers of
+Society.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What do you mean, sir?' demanded his
+father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a writer says.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what the devil does he say?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That "love seems such a poor and
+contemptible thing in their eyes in comparison
+with settlements.  Perhaps they forget their
+own youth; one does, they say, when he
+outlives romance.  And I suppose bread and
+butter is better than poetry any day."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I should think so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We had other and brilliant views for you,'
+said his mother in a tone of intense
+mortification, 'but now&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Leave us and begone, and let us look
+upon your face no more,' interrupted his
+father in a voice of indescribable sternness,
+almost hoarse with passion, as he pointed to
+the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mother!' said Lennard appealingly, 'oh,
+mother!'  But she averted her face, cold as a
+woman of ice, and said, 'Go!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So be it,' replied Lennard, gravely and
+sadly, as he drew himself up to the full height
+of his five feet ten inches, and a handsome
+and comely fellow he looked as he turned
+away and left the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank God, his elder brother, Cosmo, is
+yet left to us!' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn
+earnestly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the last time in this life he ever
+heard his mother's voice, and he quitted the
+house.  On the terrace without, carefully he
+knocked the ashes out of his cherished briar-root,
+put it with equal care into its velvet-lined
+case, put the case into his pocket, and
+walked slowly off with a grim and resolute
+expression in his fine young face, upon which
+from that day forth his father and mother
+never looked again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he was thinking chiefly of the sweet
+face of the young girl who had united her
+fortunes with his, and who was anxiously
+awaiting the result of the interview we have
+described.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sorrow, mortification, and no small
+indignation were in the heart of Lennard Melfort
+at the result of the late interview.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been rash,' he thought, 'in marrying
+poor Flora without their permission, but that
+they would never have accorded, even had
+they seen her; and none fairer or more
+beautiful ever came as a bride to Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pausing, he gave a long and farewell look
+at the house so named&mdash;the home of his boyhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It stands at some distance from the Valley
+of the Dee (which forms the natural
+communication between the central Highlands
+and the fertile Lowlands) in the Hollow or
+Howe of the Mearns.  Situated amid
+luxuriant woods, glimpses of Craigengowan
+obtained from the highway only excite curiosity
+without gratifying it, but a nearer approach
+reveals its picturesque architectural features.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are the elements common to most
+northern mansions that are built in the old
+Scottish style&mdash;a multitude of conical turrets,
+steep crowstepped gables and dormer gablets,
+encrusted with the monograms and armorial
+bearings of the race who were its lords when
+the family of Fettercairn were hewers of wood
+and drawers of water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The turrets rise into kindred forms in the
+towers and gables, and are the gradual
+accumulation of additions made at various times
+on the original old square tower, rather than
+a part of the original design, but the effect of
+the whole is extremely rich and picturesque.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the old Scottish garden was an ancient
+sun and moon dial, mossy and grey, by which
+many a lover had reckoned the time in the
+days of other years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of old, Craigengowan belonged to an exiled
+and attainted Jacobite family, from whom it
+passed readily enough into the hands of the
+second Lord Fettercairn, a greedy and
+unscrupulous Commissioner on the forfeited
+estates of the unfortunate loyalists.  It had
+now many modern comforts and appliances;
+the entrance-hall was a marble-paved apartment,
+off which the principal sitting-rooms
+opened, and now a handsome staircase led to
+the upper chambers, whilom the abode of
+barons who ate the beef and mutton their
+neighbours fed in the valley of the Dee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The grounds were extensive and beautiful,
+and Lord Fettercairn's flower gardens and
+conservatories were renowned throughout
+Angus and the Mearns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the bitter storm that existed in his own
+breast, and that which he had left in those of
+his parents, how peaceful by contrast looked
+the old house and the summer scenery to
+Lennard&mdash;the place on which he probably
+would never gaze again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a breeze that rustled the green
+leaves in the thickets, but no wind.  Beautiful
+and soft white clouds floated lazily in the
+deep blue sky, and a recent shower had
+freshened up every tree, meadow, and
+hedgerow.  The full-eared wheat grew red or
+golden by the banks of the Bervie, and the
+voice of the cushat dove came from the
+autumn woods from time to time as with a
+sigh Lennard Melfort turned his back on
+Craigengowan for ever, cursing, as he went,
+the pride of his family, for, though not an
+old one, by title or territory, they were as
+proud as they were unscrupulous in politics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first prominent member of the family,
+Lennard Melfort, had been a Commissioner
+for the Mearns in the Scottish Parliament,
+and for political services had been raised to
+the peerage by Queen Anne as Lord Fettercairn
+and Strathfinella, and was famous for
+nothing but selling his Union vote for the
+same sum as my Lord Abercairnie, £500,
+and for having afterwards 'a rug at the
+compensation,' as the English equivalent money
+was called.  After the battle of Sheriffmuir
+saw half the old peerages of Scotland
+attainted, he obtained Craigengowan, and was
+one 'who,' as the minister of Inverbervie
+said, 'wad sell his soul to the deil for a
+crackit saxpence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the ex-Commissioner the talent&mdash;such
+as it was&mdash;of the race ended, and for three
+generations the Lords of Fettercairn had
+been neither better nor worse than peers
+of Scotland generally; that is, they were
+totally oblivious of the political interests of
+that country, and of everything but their own
+self-aggrandisement by marriage or otherwise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard Melfort seemed the first of the
+family that proved untrue to its old instincts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I had made up my mind that he
+should marry Lady Drumshoddy's daughter&mdash;she
+has a splendid fortune!' wailed Lady
+Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Married my governess&mdash;the girl MacIan!'
+snorted my Lady Drumshoddy when she
+heard of the dreadful mésalliance.  'Why
+marry the creature?  He might love her, of
+course&mdash;all men are alike weak&mdash;but to marry
+her&mdash;oh, no!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very
+moral woman according to her standard, and
+carried her head very high.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When tidings were bruited abroad of what
+happened, and the split in the family circle at
+Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and
+indignation expressed in the servants' hall,
+the gamekeepers' lodges, and the home farm,
+for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a
+favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates;
+and Mrs. Prim, his mother's maid, actually
+shed many tears over the untoward fate he
+had brought upon himself.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br /><br />
+WEDDED.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite
+of this bitter affront to which you are
+subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love
+you, Lennard&mdash;love you so much,' she added,
+while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like
+lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I
+would die!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he
+responded, while tenderly caressing her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion,
+Lennard?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Foolish?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;or rash.  I have heard that it is
+not lucky for people to love each other so
+much as we do.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could we love each other less?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't think so,' said she simply and
+sweetly, as he laid her cheek on his breast
+with her upturned eyes gazing into his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect
+was every curve of her shapely figure, which
+was destitute of any straight line; even her
+nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline.
+Her beautifully arched mouth, the scarlet
+line of her upper lip, and the full round of
+the nether one were parted in a tender
+smile, just enough to show her teeth, defied
+all criticism; her complexion was pure and
+soft, and her eyes were of the most liquid
+hazel, with almost black lashes.  Her hair
+was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a
+lady to perfection, especially by the whiteness
+and delicacy of her beautifully shaped little
+hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she walked she did so gracefully, as
+all Highland women do, and like them held
+her head poised on her slender neck so
+airily and prettily that her nurse, Madelon,
+called her 'the swan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she,
+after a pause, 'as I thought of the <i>mauvais
+quart d'heure</i> you were undergoing at Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It was a <i>mauvais</i> hour and more, darling.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And ever and anon I felt that strange
+chill, or shudder, which Nurse Madelon says
+people feel when some one crosses the place
+where their grave is to be.  How can your
+parents be so cruel to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And to you, Flora!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with
+her eyes full of unshed tears, and in a pained
+voice.  'Doubtless they consider me a very
+designing girl; but in spite of that, you
+will always care for me as much as you do now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why such fears?  Ever and always&mdash;ever
+and always, my darling,' said Lennard
+Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most
+effectually for a time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, if you should ever come to regret,
+and with regret to love me less!' said she,
+in a low voice, with her eyes for a moment
+fixed on vacancy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why that boding thought, Flora?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because, surely, such great love never lasts.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He kissed her again as the readiest response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the sequel proved that his great love
+outlasted her own life, poor girl!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then they sat long silent, hand locked in
+hand, while the gloaming deepened round
+them, for words seem poor and feeble when
+the heart is very full.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long will they continue to despise
+me?' said Flora suddenly, while across her
+soft cheeks there rushed the hot blood of a
+long and gallant line of Celtic ancestors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An exclamation of bitterness&mdash;almost
+impatience, escaped Lennard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let us forget them&mdash;father, mother, all!' said he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The girl looked passionately into the face
+of her lover-husband&mdash;the husband of a
+month; and never did her bright hazel eyes
+seem more tender and soft than now, with
+all the fire of love and pride sparkling in
+their depths, for her Highland spirit and
+nature revolted at the affront to which she
+was subjected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bearing of Lennard Melfort and the
+poise of his close-shorn head told that he was
+a soldier, and a well-drilled one; and the
+style of his light grey suit showed how
+thoroughly he was a gentleman; and to
+Flora's loving and partial eye he was
+every-way a model man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had been married just a month, we
+have said, a month that very day, and
+Lennard had brought his bride to the little
+burgh town, within a short distance of
+Craigengowan, and left her in their apartments
+while he sought with his father and mother
+the bootless interview just narrated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For three days before he had the courage
+to bring it about, they had spent the time
+together, full of hopeful thoughts, strolling
+along the banks of the pretty Bervie, from
+the blue current of which ever and anon the
+bull-trout and the salmon rise to the flies; or
+in the deep and leafy recourses of the
+adjacent woods, and climbing the rugged
+coast, against which the waves of the German
+Sea were rolling in golden foam; or ascending
+Craig David, so called from David II. of
+Scotland&mdash;a landmark from the sea for
+fifteen leagues&mdash;for both had a true and
+warm appreciation and artistic love of Nature
+in all her moods and aspects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sounds of autumn were about them
+now; the hum of insects and the song of the
+few birds that yet sang; the fragrance of the
+golden broom and the sweet briar, with a
+score of other sweet and indefinable scents
+and balmy breaths.  All around them was
+scenic beauty and peace, and yet with all
+their great love for each other, their hearts
+were heavy at the prospect of their future,
+which must be a life of banishment in India,
+and to the heaviness of Lennard was added
+indignation and sorrow.  But he could
+scarcely accuse himself of having acted
+rashly in the matter of his marriage, for to
+that his family would never have consented;
+and he often thought could his mother but
+see Flora in her beauty and brightness,
+looking so charming in her smart sealskin and
+bewitching cap and feather, and long skirt of
+golden-brown silk that matched her hair and
+eyes&mdash;every way a most piquante-looking
+girl!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young though he was, and though a
+second son, Lennard Melfort had been a
+favourite with more than one Belgravian
+belle and her mamma, and there were few
+who had not something pleasant or complimentary
+to say of him since his return from
+India.  At balls, fêtes, garden and water
+parties, girls had given him the preference
+to many who seemed more eligible, had
+reserved for him dances on their programmes,
+sang for him, made unmistakable <i>œillades</i>,
+and so forth; for his handsome figure and his
+position made him very acceptable, though
+he had not the prospects of his elder brother,
+the Hon. Cosmo.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn knew how Lennard was
+regarded and valued well, and nourished
+great hopes therefrom; but this was all over
+and done with now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To her it seemed as if he had thrown his
+very life away, and that when his marriage
+with a needy governess&mdash;however beautiful
+and well born she might be&mdash;became known,
+all that charmed and charming circle in
+Belgravia and Tyburnia would regard him as
+a black sheep indeed; would shake their
+aristocratic heads, and pity poor Lord and
+Lady Fettercairn for having such a renegade
+son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora's chief attendant&mdash;a Highland woman
+who had nursed her in infancy&mdash;was comically
+vituperative and indignant at the affront put
+by these titled folks upon 'her child' as she
+called her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Madelon Galbraith was strong, healthy,
+active, and only in her fortieth year, with
+black eyes and hair, a rich ruddy complexion,
+a set of magnificent white teeth, and her
+manner was full of emphatic, almost violent,
+gesticulation peculiar to many Highlanders,
+who seem to talk with their hands and arms
+quite as much as the tongue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes Madelon spoke in her native
+Gaelic, but generally in the dialect of the
+Lowlands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Set them up indeed,' she muttered; 'wha
+are the Melforts o' Fettercairn, that they
+should slight you&mdash;<i>laoghe mo chri</i>?' she
+added, softly (calf of my heart).  'What a
+pity it is ye canna fling at their heads the
+gold they love, for even a Lowland dog winna
+yowl gin ye pelt him wi' banes.  But you've
+begun wi' love and marriage, and a gude
+beginning mak's a gude ending.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But we shall be so poor, Nursie Madelon,
+and I have ruined my poor Lennard,' urged
+Flora, as the kind woman caressed her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They say a kiss and a cup of water mak'
+but a wersh breakfast,' laughed Madelon; 'but
+you're no sae puir as that comes to, my
+darling.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not quite' said Flora, laughing faintly, in
+turn.  'Yet I have sorely injured my
+husband's prospects.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tut, tut, my bairn.  Ony man can woo,
+but he weds only whar his weird lies; and so
+Captain Melfort wedded you, and wha better?
+Then what is a Lord that we should <i>lippen</i> to
+<i>him</i>?  As long as ye serve a tod ye maun
+carry his tail?  And your father's daughter
+may carry her head wi' the highest.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard Melfort now resolved neither
+verbally nor by letter to have further
+intercourse with his family at Craigengowan or
+elsewhere, but before he could make up his
+mind what to do or could betake him south,
+as he meant to quit Scotland without delay,
+on the day subsequent to the stormy interview
+Madelon announced a visitor, and on a
+salver brought in a card inscribed&mdash;'MR. KENNETH
+KIPPILAW, W.S.'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br /><br />
+THE SPURNED OFFER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'The family agent from Edinburgh, Flora,'
+said Lennard, in answer to her inquiring
+glance.  'Mrs. Melfort,' he added, introducing
+her to their visitor, who bowed with a
+critical glance and appreciative smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been telegraphed for by your
+father, Captain Melfort,' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+as they shook hands and he was motioned to
+a chair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A hale, hearty, unpretentious, business-like
+man, about forty years of age, Mr. Kenneth
+Kippilaw was too well-bred and too sensible
+to begin the matter in hand by any remarks
+about youthful imprudence, early marriages,
+or so forth, as he knew the pride and
+temperament of the young man before him, but
+laid down his hat, and, after some of that
+familiar weather talk which is the invariable
+prelude to any conversation over all the
+British Isles, he gently approached the object
+of his mission, which Flora, in the simplicity
+and terror of her heart, never doubted was a
+separation of some kind between herself and
+Lennard, so with a pallid face she bowed and
+withdrew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To what am I indebted for the pleasure
+of this&mdash;a&mdash;unexpected interview?' asked
+Lennard, a little stiffly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Instructions just received from your father,
+Captain Melfort.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then you have come from Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Straight.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Has he made up his mind to accept my
+wife as his daughter-in-law?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Quite the reverse, I regret to say.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard's face darkened with indignation,
+and he gave his moustache an angry twist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are my father and mother determined to
+ignore the fact that she is a lady by birth?'
+asked Lennard after a gloomy pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;they know, of course, that she is a
+lady,' stammered Mr. Kippilaw, feeling his
+mission an ungracious one, 'but poor&mdash;one
+who has sunk into obscurity and dependence&mdash;pardon
+me, I but use their own identical words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is done in this instance unfortunately
+cannot be undone, Captain Melfort;
+but his lordship, feeling, of course, keenly in
+the matter, is willing to continue your allowance,
+and even to double it, on one condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Name it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw sighed, for though, as a
+lawyer, considerably hardened, he felt the
+delicacy of the whole situation, and Lennard's
+dark eyes seemed to focus and pierce him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The condition&mdash;to the point!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is&mdash;that you will return to India&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mean to do so forthwith,' interrupted
+Lennard sharply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Or you may live anywhere out of Britain,
+but never attempt to intrude Mrs. Melfort
+upon your family or their circle, and contrive,
+if possible, to let that circle forget your existence.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Insolent&mdash;and cruel as insolent!' exclaimed
+Lennard Melfort as he started from
+his chair and paced about the room, with his
+dark eyes flashing and the veins in his
+forehead swollen like whip-cord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The words I speak are not my own,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw, deprecatingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Return to Craigengowan, and tell my
+father that I reject his bribe to insult my
+wife&mdash;for a bribe it is&mdash;with the scorn it merits.
+Not a penny of his money will I accept while
+my sword and pay, or life itself, are left me.
+Tell Lord and Lady Fettercairn that I view
+myself as their son no more.  As they
+discard me, so do I discard them; and even
+their <i>very name</i> I shall not keep&mdash;remember that!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dear me&mdash;dear me, all this is very sad!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They have thrust me from them as if I
+had been guilty of a crime&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Captain Melfort!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A crime I say&mdash;yet a day may come
+when they will repent it; and from this hour
+I swear&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not in anger,' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw,
+entreatingly; 'take no hasty vow in your
+present temper.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I swear that to them and theirs I shall
+be&mdash;from this hour&mdash;as one in the grave!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But,' urged the lawyer, 'but suppose&mdash;which
+God forbid&mdash;that aught happened to
+your elder brother, Mr. Cosmo Melfort?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I wish Cosmo well; but I care not for my
+interest in the title&mdash;it may become dormant,
+extinct, for aught that I care.  Neither I nor
+any of mine shall ever claim it, nor shall I
+again set foot in Craigengowan, or on the
+lands around it&mdash;no, never again, never again!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To every argument of the kind-hearted
+Mr. Kippilaw, who really loved the Fettercairn
+family and esteemed the high-spirited
+Lennard, the latter turned a deaf ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He departed in despair of softening matters
+between the rash son and indignant parents.
+To them he greatly modified the nature of
+the useless interview, but they heard of
+Lennard's determination with perfect unconcern,
+and even with a grim smile of contempt,
+never doubting that when money pressure
+came upon him they would find him at their
+mercy.  But that time never came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw returned to Edinburgh, and
+there the affair seemed to end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The parting words of Lord Fettercairn to
+him were said smilingly and loftily:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The French have a little phrase, which in
+six words expresses all our experiences in life.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And this phrase, my lord?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is simply&mdash;<i>tout passe, tout casse, tout
+lasse</i>&mdash;that we outlive everything in turn and in
+time&mdash;and so this matter of Lennard's pride
+will be a matter of time only.  Be assured
+we shall outlive the indignation of our
+misguided son.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But will you outlive your own?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can but hope that you will, my lord.
+Remember the hackneyed quotation from
+Pope&mdash;"To err is human, to forgive divine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I never forgive!' replied his lordship bitterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The name of Lennard was never uttered
+again by his parents, nor even by his brother
+Cosmo (then reading up at Oxford) till the
+hour for forgiveness was past; and even
+Cosmo they contrived to innoculate with
+their own cruel and unchristian sentiment of
+hostility.  Lennard's portrait was removed
+from its place of honour in the dining-hall,
+and banished to the lumber-attic; the goods,
+chattels, and mementoes he left at home were
+scattered and dispersed; even his horses were
+sold, and the saddles he had used; and the
+Fettercairn family would&mdash;could they have
+done so&mdash;have obliterated his name from the
+great double-columned tome of Sir Bernard
+Burke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Heedless of all that, the young husband
+and his dark-eyed girl-wife were all the world
+to each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After mamma followed papa to the grave,
+Lennard&mdash;for she never held up her head
+after she heard of his death at Khooshab,'
+said Flora, as she nestled her head in his
+neck, 'I seemed to be condemned to a life of
+hardship, humiliation, and heartlessness, till
+I met you, dearest.  I felt that even the love
+of some dumb animal&mdash;a dog or a horse&mdash;was
+better than the entire absence of affection
+in the narrow circle of my life.  I did so long
+for something or some one to love me
+exclusively&mdash;I felt so miserably, so utterly alone
+in the world.  Now I have you&mdash;<i>you</i> to love
+me.  But in winning you I have robbed you
+of the love of all your people.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Talk not of it, and think not of it, dearest
+Flora.  We are now more than ever all in
+all to each other.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The money bribe, offered in such a way
+and for such a purpose, exasperated Lennard
+still more against his family, and drew many
+a tear of humiliation from Flora in secret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She thought that she had wrought Lennard
+a great wrong by winning his love for herself,
+and she was now burning with impatience to
+turn her back on the shores of Britain and
+find a new home in India; and there, by staff
+or other employments and allowances, Lennard
+knew that he could gain more than the
+yearly sum his father so mortifyingly offered him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora wept much over it all, we say, and
+her appetite became impaired; but she did
+not&mdash;like the heroine of a three-volume
+novel&mdash;starve herself into a fright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But a short time before she had been a
+childish and simple maiden&mdash;one sorely tried,
+however, and crushed by evil fortune; but
+with Lennard Melfort now, 'the prince had
+come into her existence and awakened her
+soul, and she was a woman&mdash;innocent
+still&mdash;but yet a woman.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scenery of the Mearns looked inexpressibly
+lovely in the purity and richness of
+its verdure and varied artistic views, for the
+woods were profusely tinted with gold, russet
+brown, and red, when Lennard Melfort turned
+his back upon it and his native home for
+ever!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The birds were chirping blithly, and the
+voice of the corncraik, with
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The sweet strain that the corn-reapers sang,'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+came on the evening breeze together.  The
+old kirk bell was tolling in the distance, and
+its familiar sound spoke to Lennard's heart
+of home like that of an old friend.  The river
+was rolling under its great arch of some eighty
+feet in span, the downward reflection of the
+latter in the water making a complete circle
+like a giant O.  The old castle of Halgreen,
+with its loopholed battlements of the
+fourteenth century, stood blackly and boldly upon
+its wave-beaten eminence, and the blue smoke
+of picturesque Gourdon, a fisher village, curled
+up on the ambient air, as the scenery faded
+out in the distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flora became marvellously cheerful when
+their journey fairly began, and laughingly she
+sung in Lennard's ear&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The world goes up and the world goes down,<br />
+  But <i>yesterday's</i> smile and <i>yesterday's</i> frown<br />
+  Can never come back again, sweet friend&mdash;<br />
+  Can never come back again!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Means were not forgotten to support nurse
+Madelon in her native place, where we shall
+leave her till she reappears in our narrative
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Lennard and his girl-wife sailed for
+India, full of love for each other and hope for
+their own lonely and unaided future, and both
+passed for ever out of the lives and apparently
+out of the memory of the family at Craigengowan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Times there were when he hoped to distinguish
+himself, so that the circle there&mdash;those
+who had renounced him&mdash;would be
+proud of him; but in seeking that distinction
+rashly, he might throw away his life, and thus
+leave his little Flora penniless on the mercy
+of a cold world and a proverbially ungrateful
+Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they could not forget home, and many
+a time and oft, where the sun-baked cantonments
+of Meerut seemed to vibrate under the
+fierce light of the Indian sun, where the
+temples of Hurdwar from their steep of marble
+steps look down upon the Ganges, or where
+the bungalows of Cawnpore or Etwah,
+garlanded with fragrant jasmine, stand by the
+rolling Jumna amid glorious oleanders and
+baubool trees, with their golden balls loading
+the air with perfume, while the giant heron
+stalked by the river's bed, the alligator basked
+in the ooze, and the Brahmin ducks floated
+overhead, Flora's sweet voice made Lennard's
+heart thrill as she sang to him the songs of
+the land they had resolved never to look
+upon again, even when that sound so stirring
+to the most sluggish Scottish breast when far
+away, the pipes of a Highland regiment,
+poured their notes on the hot sunny air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At home none seemed to care or think of
+the discarded son but the worthy lawyer
+Kenneth Kippilaw, who had loved him as a
+lad, and could not get his hard fate out of his
+mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From time to time, inspired by kindness
+and curiosity, he watched his name among the
+captains in the military lists of that thick
+compendium which no Scottish business
+establishment is ever without&mdash;'Oliver and
+Boyd's Almanack.'  Therein, after a while,
+the name of Lennard Melfort <i>disappeared</i>,
+but whether he was dead, had sold out, or
+'gone to the bad,' the worthy Writer to the
+Signet could not discover, and he not
+unnaturally sighed over what he deemed a lost
+life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here we end that which is a species of
+prologue to our story.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br /><br />
+REVELSTOKE COTTAGE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+More than twenty years had elapsed after
+the episodes we have described, and Lennard
+and Flora had found a new home, and she,
+her <i>last one</i>, more than four hundred and
+fifty miles as the crow flies from where
+Craigengowan looks down on the German
+Sea.  But none that looked on Lennard
+Melfort now would have recognised in the
+prematurely aged man the handsome young
+fellow who in ire and disgust had quitted his
+native land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In two years after he had gone eastward a
+dreadful fever, contracted in a place where
+he had volunteered on a certain duty to
+gain money for the support of his wife and
+her little Indian establishment&mdash;the Terrai of
+Nepaul, that miasmatic border of prairie which
+lies along the great forest of the Himalayas,
+and has an evil repute even among the
+natives of the country in the wet season when
+the leaves are falling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This fever broke Lennard's health completely,
+and so changed him that his rich
+brown hair and moustache were grey at
+six-and-twenty, and ere long he looked like a
+man of twice his age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Can that fellow really be Lennard Melfort
+of the Fusiliers?  Why, he is a veritable
+Knight of the Rueful Countenance!'
+exclaimed some old friends who saw him at
+'The Rag,' when he came home to seek a
+place of quiet and seclusion in Devonshire, as
+it subsequently chanced to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amid the apple bowers of the land of cider,
+and near a beautiful little bay into which the
+waters of the British Channel rippled, stood
+the pretty and secluded cottage he occupied,
+as 'Major MacIan,' with his son and a
+nephew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wooded hills around it were not all
+covered with orchards, however, and the little
+road that wound round the bay ran under
+eminences that, from their aspect, might make
+a tourist think he was skirting a Swiss lake.
+Others were heath-clad and fringed at the
+base by a margin of grey rocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into the bay flowed a stream, blue and
+transparent always.  Here salmon trout were
+often found, and the young men spent hours
+at its estuary angling for rock fish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Devonshire cottage is said by Mrs. Bray
+to be 'the sweetest object that the poet, the
+artist, or the lover of the romantic could
+desire to see,' and such a cottage was that of
+Major MacIan, the name now adopted by
+Lennard&mdash;that of Flora's father&mdash;in fulfilment
+of the vow he had made to renounce the
+name, title, and existence of his family.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Around it, and in front sloping down to
+the bay, was a beautiful garden, teeming with
+the flowers and fruits of Devonshire.  On
+three sides was a rustic verandah, the trellis
+work of which was covered by a woven
+clematis, sweetbriar, and Virginia creeper,
+which, in the first year of her residence there,
+Flora's pretty hands, cased in garden gloves,
+were never tired of tending; and now the
+Virginia creeper, with its luxuriant tendrils,
+emerald green in summer, russet and red in
+autumn, grew in heavy masses over the roof
+and around the chimney stalks, making it, as
+Flora was wont to say exultingly, 'quite a
+love of a place!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On one hand lay the rolling waters of the
+Channel, foaming about the Mewstone Rock;
+on the other, a peep was given amid the
+coppice of the ancient church of Revelstoke,
+and here the married pair lived happily and
+alone for a brief time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Save for the advent of a ship passing in
+sight of the little bay, it was a sleepy place
+in which Lennard, now retired as a major,
+had 'pitched his tent,' as he said&mdash;the Cottage
+of Revelstoke.  Even in these railway times
+people thereabout were content with yesterday's
+news.  There was no gas to spoil the
+complexions of the young, and no water rates
+to 'worrit' the old; and telegrams never
+came, in their orange-tinted envelopes, to
+startle the hearts of the feeble and the sickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No monetary transactions having taken
+place, and no correspondence being necessary,
+between Lennard and his family or their
+legal agent, Mr. Kippilaw, for more than
+twenty years now, he had quite passed away
+from their knowledge, and almost from their
+memory; and many who knew them once
+cared not, perhaps, whether he or his wife
+were in the land of the living.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A son, we have said, had been born to
+them, and Lennard named the child Florian,
+after his mother (here again ignoring his own
+family), whom that event cost dear, for the
+sweet and loving Flora never recovered her
+health or strength&mdash;injured, no doubt, in
+India&mdash;but fell into a decline, and, two years
+after, passed away in the arms of Lennard
+and her old nurse, Madelon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lonely, lonely indeed, did the former feel
+now, though an orphan nephew of Flora&mdash;the
+son of her only sister&mdash;came to reside
+with him&mdash;Shafto Gyle by name&mdash;one who
+will figure largely in our story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Would Lennard ever forget the day of her
+departure, when she sank under that wasting
+illness with which no doctor could grapple?
+Ever and always he could recall the sweet
+but pallid face, the white, wasted hands, the
+fever-lighted dark eyes, which seemed so
+unnaturally large when, after one harrowing
+night of pain and delirium, she became gentle
+and quiet, and lovingly told him to take a
+little rest&mdash;for old-looking he was; old, worn,
+and wasted far beyond his years&mdash;and he
+obeyed her, saying he would take a little
+turn in the garden among the roses&mdash;the
+roses her hands would tend no more&mdash;sick
+at heart with the closeness of the sick-chamber
+and all it suggested, and maddened by the
+loud ticking of the watchful doctor's repeater
+as it lay on a table littered with useless
+phials; and how, ere he had been ten minutes
+in the sunny morning air, amid the perfume
+of the roses, he was wildly summoned by
+Madelon Galbraith with white cheeks and
+affrighted eyes, back to the chamber of
+death it proved to be; for it was on the
+brow of Death he pressed his passionate
+kisses, and to ears that could hear no more
+he uttered his heartrending entreaties that
+she would not leave him, or would give him
+one farewell word; and ever after would the
+perfume of roses be associated in his mind
+with that morning&mdash;the most terrible one of
+his life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beside Revelstoke Church&mdash;old, picturesque,
+and rendered comely by a wealth
+of luxuriant ivy that Time has wreathed
+around its hoary walls to flutter in the sea
+breeze&mdash;she was laid, and the heart of
+Lennard seemed to be buried with her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a lonely old building, spotted with
+lichens, worn by storms, and perched upon
+the verge of a low, rocky cliff, up which the
+salt spray comes at times to the
+burial-ground.  It is near the end of Mothcombe
+Bay, where the shore makes a turn to the
+southward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not a house is near it, the solitary hills
+and waves encompass it, and it is said that
+its smouldering tombstones would furnish
+ample matter for the 'meditations' of a
+Hervey.  So there Flora was laid, and there
+Lennard was to be laid by her side when the
+time came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her death hardened his heart more than
+ever against his own family, and he began
+almost to forget that he ever bore any other
+name than hers&mdash;his adopted one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the kindness of his heart the major, as
+the lads&mdash;his son and nephew&mdash;grew up
+together, introduced both to neighbours and
+strangers equally as his sons, but most
+unwisely, as we shall ere long have to record.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Neither to Florian nor to Shafto Gyle did
+he reveal his real name, or the story of the
+quarrel with his family and their work; thus
+in and about Revelstoke all three passed
+under the name of MacIan now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Madelon Galbraith, who had attended her
+mistress on her death-bed, and nursed her
+baby into boyhood, had now gone back to
+her native glen in the wilds of Ross.  She
+proved, Lennard found, somewhat unfitted
+for the locality of Revelstoke, as her ways
+and ideas were foreign to those of the folks
+thereabouts; but she will have a prominent
+place in our story in the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But long, long Madelon wept over Florian,
+and pressed him often to her breast&mdash;'the
+baby of her bairn,' as she had called
+him&mdash;for as she had nursed him, so had she nursed
+his mother before him in the days when the
+victorious Ross-shire Buffs set up their tents
+at Khooshab, on the plains of Persia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Gude-by, calf of my heart,' were her parting
+words; 'I'll see ye yet again, Florian.
+If it were na for hope, the heart wad break!'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br /><br />
+DULCIE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+All trace of Lennard Melfort had been
+obliterated at Craigengowan, we have said.
+He was never mentioned there, and though
+his family tried to think of him as dead, they
+did not quite succeed; but the disappearance
+of his name from the Army List first excited
+a little speculation, but no inquiry, until a
+terrible event occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The eldest son, the Hon. Cosmo, married
+the daughter of Lady Drumshoddy, thus
+securing her thousands, and did his best to
+console Lord and Lady Fettercairn for 'the
+disgrace' brought upon them by Lennard,
+and they regarded him quite as a model son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shone as Chairman at all kinds of
+county meetings; became M.P. for a cluster
+of northern burghs, and was a typical Scottish
+member, mightily interested when such grand
+Imperial matters as the gravelling of Park
+Lane, the ducks on the Serpentine, and the
+improvements at Hyde Park Corner were
+before the House, but was oblivious of all
+Scottish interests, or that such a place as
+Scotland existed.  When she wanted&mdash;like
+other parts of the empire&mdash;but never got
+them&mdash;grants for necessary purposes, the
+Hon. Cosmo was mute as a fish, or if he
+spoke it was to record his vote against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lennard saw in a chance newspaper, and
+with natural grief and dismay, that Cosmo
+had come to an untimely end when deer-stalking
+near Glentilt.  He had wounded a
+large stag, the captain of its herd, and
+approached rashly or incautiously when the
+infuriated animal was at bay.  It broke its
+bay, attacked him in turn, and ere the great
+shaggy hounds could tear it down, Cosmo
+was trampled under foot and gored to death
+by its horns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Lennard read, his sad mind went to the
+scene where that death must have happened,
+under mighty Ben-y-gloe, where the kestrel
+builds his nest and the great mountain eagle
+has his eyry, and the Tilt comes thundering
+down over its precipices of grey rock.  Never
+again would his eyes rest on such glorious
+scenes as these.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cosmo had left a little daughter, Finella,
+who took up her abode with her grandparents
+at Craigengowan, but no son, and
+Lennard knew that by this tragedy he was
+now the heir to the peerage, but he only gave
+a bitter sigh as he thought of Flora in her
+grave and made no sign.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor Cosmo,' he muttered, and forgetting
+for a time much that had occurred, and how
+completely Cosmo had leagued with father
+and mother against him, his memory went
+back to the pleasant days of their happy
+boyhood, when they rode, fished, and shot
+together, shared the same bedroom in Craigengowan,
+and conned their tasks from the same books.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, well,' he added, 'all that is over
+and done with long, long ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made no sign, we say, but let time pass
+by, not foreseeing the complications that were
+eventually to arise by his doing so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian, born two years after the adoption
+of Shafto Gyle in his infancy, always regarded
+and looked up to the latter as a species of
+elder brother and undoubted senior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his twentieth year Florian was really a
+handsome fellow, and if, without absurdity,
+the term 'beautiful' could be applied to a
+young man, he was so, in his perfect manliness.
+Tall in figure, hard and well developed
+in muscle, regular in features, he had clear,
+dark, honest eyes, with lashes like a girl's,
+and a dark, silky moustache.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's face was in some respects handsome
+too, but an evil one to look at, in one
+way.  His fair eyebrows were heavy, and
+had a way of meeting in a dark frown when
+he was thinking.  His pale grey eyes were
+shifty, and were given him, like his tongue,
+to conceal rather than express his thoughts,
+for they were sharp and cunning.  His
+nostrils were delicate, and, like his thin lips,
+suggestive of cruelty, while his massive jaw
+and thick neck were equally so&mdash;we must say
+almost to brutality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were rather a contrast, these two
+young men&mdash;a contrast no less great in their
+dispositions and minds than in their outward
+appearance.  They were so dissimilar&mdash;one
+being dark and the other fair&mdash;that no one
+would have taken them for brothers, as they
+were generally supposed to be, so affectionate
+was the Major to both, and both bearing his
+name in the locality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a schoolboy Shafto had won an unpleasant
+reputation for jockeying his companions,
+'doing' them out of toys, sweetmeats,
+marbles, and money, and for skilfully shifting
+punishments on the wrong shoulders when
+opportunity offered, and not unfrequently on
+those of the unsuspecting Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From some of his proclivities, the Major
+thought Shafto would make a good attorney,
+and so had him duly installed in the office of
+Lewellen Carlyon, the nearest village lawyer,
+while for his own boy, Florian, he had higher
+hopes and aspirations, to make him, like
+himself, a soldier; but though far from idle,
+or lacking application, Florian failed, under
+the insane high-pressure system of 'cramming,'
+to pass, and not a few&mdash;Shafto particularly&mdash;laid
+it to the account of a certain
+damsel, Dulcie by name, who was supposed,
+with some truth, to occupy too much of his
+thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Disgusted by the result of his last 'exam.,'
+Florian would at once have enlisted, like so
+many others, who rush as privates for
+commissions nowadays; but his father's
+fast-failing health, his love for Dulcie Carlyon,
+and the desperate but 'Micawber'-like hope
+that 'something would turn up,' kept him
+hanging on day by day aimlessly at Revelstoke,
+without even the apparent future that
+had opened to Shafto when elevated to a
+high stool in Lawyer Carlyon's office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As time went on, Lennard Melfort (or
+MacIan as he called himself), though he had
+a high appreciation of Shafto's sense, turn for
+business to all appearance, cleverness, and
+strength of character, turned with greater
+pleasure to his own son Florian, whose clear
+open brow and honest manly eyes bore
+nature's unmistakable impress of a truer
+nobility than ever appertained to the truculent
+and anti-national lords of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though to all appearance the best of
+friends before the world, the cousins were
+rivals; but as Florian was the successful
+lover, Shafto had a good basis for bitterness,
+if not secret hate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In common with the few neighbours who
+were in that sequestered quarter, the lawyer
+liked the Major&mdash;he was so gentle, suave,
+retiring in manner, and courteously polite.
+He liked Florian too, but deemed him idle,
+and there his liking ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took Shafto into his office at the
+Major's urgent request, as a species of
+apprentice, but he&mdash;after the aphorism of
+'Dr. Fell'&mdash;did not much affect the young man,
+though he found him sharp enough&mdash;too
+sharp at times; and, like most of the
+neighbours, he never cared to inquire into the
+precise relationship of the Major and the two
+lads, both of whom from boyhood had called
+the latter 'Papa.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie Carlyon was the belle of the limited
+circle in which she moved, and a very limited
+circle it was; but she was pretty enough to
+have been the belle of a much larger orbit;
+for she was the very ideal of a sweet, bright
+English girl, now nearly in her eighteenth
+year, and the boy and girl romance in the
+lives of her and Florian had lasted since they
+were children and playmates together, and
+they seemed now to regard each other with
+'the love that is given once in a lifetime.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could I but separate these two!' muttered
+Shafto, as with eyes full of envy and evil he
+watched one of their meetings, amid the
+bushes that fringed an old quarry not far from
+Revelstoke Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the summit where he lurked there
+was a magnificent view of the sea and the
+surrounding country.  On one hand lay the
+lonely old church and all the solitary hills that
+overlook its wave-beaten promontory; on the
+other were the white-crested waves of the
+British Channel, rolling in sunshine; but
+Shafto saw only the face and figure of Dulcie
+Carlyon, who was clad just as he was fond of
+picturing her, in a jacket of navy blue,
+fastened with gilt buttons, and a skirt with
+clinging folds of the same&mdash;a costume which
+invests an English girl with an air equally
+nautical and coquettish.  Dulcie's dresses
+always fitted her exquisitely, and her small
+head, with smart hat and feather, set
+gracefully on her shapely shoulders, had just a
+<i>soupçon</i> of pride in its contour and bearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slender in figure, with that lovely flower-like
+complexion which is so peculiarly English,
+Dulcie had regular and delicate features, with
+eyes deeply and beautifully blue,
+reddish-golden hair, a laughing mouth that some
+thought too large for perfect beauty, but it
+was fully redeemed by its vivid colour and
+faultless teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Could I but separate them!' muttered
+Shafto, through his clenched teeth, while
+their murmured words and mutual caresses
+maddened him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was laughingly kissing a likeness in
+an open locket which Florian had just given
+her&mdash;a likeness, no doubt, of himself&mdash;and
+she did so repeatedly, and ever and anon
+held it admiringly at arm's length.  Then she
+closed it, and Florian clasped the flat silver
+necklet to which it was attached round her
+slender white throat; and with a bright fond
+smile she concealed it among the lace frilling
+of her collarette, and let the locket, for
+security, drop into the cleft of her bosom,
+little foreseeing the part it was yet to play in
+her life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's face would not have been pleasant
+to look upon as he saw this episode, and his
+shifty grey eyes grew pea-green in hue as he watched it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, Dulcie!' exclaimed Florian, with a
+kind of boyish rapture, as he placed a hand
+on each of her shoulders and gazed into her
+eyes, 'I am most terribly in love with you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why should there be any terror in it?'
+asked Dulcie, with a sweet silvery laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, I feel so full of joy in having your
+love, and being always with you, that&mdash;that
+a fear comes over me lest we should be some
+day parted.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who can part us but ourselves?' said she
+with a pretty pout, while her long lashes
+drooped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dulcie,' said he, after a little pause, 'have
+you ever had an emotion that comes uncalled
+for&mdash;that which people call a presentiment?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes; often.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Has it ever come true?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sometimes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well&mdash;I have a presentiment this evening
+which tells me that something is about to
+happen to me&mdash;to us&mdash;and very soon too!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What can happen to us&mdash;we are so happy?'
+said Dulcie, her blue eyes dilating.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Did the vicinity of Shafto, though unknown
+to Florian, mysteriously prompt this thought&mdash;this
+boding fear.  Shafto heard the words,
+and a strange smile spread over his face as he
+shook his clenched hand at the absorbed pair,
+and stole away from his hiding-place, leaving
+two foolish hearts full of a foolish dream from
+which they might be roughly awakened&mdash;leaving
+the happy Florian, with that sweet
+and winsome Dulcie whom he loved, and
+with whom he had played even as a child;
+with whom he had shared many a pot of
+clotted cream; with whom he had fished for
+trout in the Erme and Yealm; explored with
+fearful steps and awe-stricken heart the cavern
+there, where lie thick the fossil bones of the
+elephant, hyæna, and wolf; and wandered for
+hours by the moors, among mossy rocks and
+mossy trees, and in woody labyrinthine lanes,
+and many a time and oft by the sea shore,
+where the cliffs are upheaved and contorted in
+a manner beyond description, but so loosely
+bound together that waves rend them asunder,
+and shape them into forms like ruined castles
+and stranded ships; till, as years went on,
+heart had spoken to heart; boy and girl life
+had been left behind; and that dream-time
+came in which they seemed to live for years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No one could accuse Dulcie Carlyon of
+coquetry, her nature was too truthful and open
+for that; thus she had never for a moment
+wavered in her preference between Florian
+and Shafto, and spent with the former those
+bright and hopeful hours that seldom come
+again with the same keen intensity in a
+lifetime, though often clouded by vague
+doubts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As yet they had led a kind of Paul and
+Virginia life, without very defined ideas of their
+future; in fact, perhaps scarcely considering
+what that future might be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They only knew, like the impassioned boy
+and girl in the beautiful story of Bernardin
+St. Pierre, that they loved each other very dearly,
+and for the sweet present that sufficed; while
+cunning Shafto Gyle looked darkly, gloomily,
+and enviously on them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps it was his fast failing health that
+prevented Lennard Melfort from looking
+more closely into this matter, or it may be
+that he remembered the youthful love of his
+own heart; for he could never forget her
+whom he was so soon to join now, and who,
+'after life's fitful fever,' slept by the grey wall
+of Revelstoke, within sound of the restless sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie's father, Lawyer Carlyon, heard
+rumours of these meetings and rambles, and
+probably liked them as little as the Major did;
+but he was a busy man absorbed in his work,
+and had been used to seeing the pair together
+since they were toddling children.  Lennard,
+perhaps, thought it was as well to let them
+alone, as nothing would come of it, while the
+lawyer treated it surlily as a kind of joke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, Dulcie, my girl,' said he one day,
+'what is to be the end of all this philandering
+but spoiling your own market, perhaps?  Do
+you expect a young fellow to marry you who
+has no money, no prospects, no position in
+the world?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Position he has,' said poor Dulcie, blushing
+painfully, for though an only and motherless
+child she stood in awe of her father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Position&mdash;a deuced bad one, I think!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The other two items will come in time,
+papa,' said Dulcie, laughing now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was silent, and&mdash;for the first time in
+her life&mdash;thought sadly, 'Yes, when!'  But
+she pressed a pretty white hand upon the
+silver locket in her bosom, as if to draw
+courage therefrom as from an amulet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, lass, he can't keep even the roof of
+a <i>cob</i> cottage over your head.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, papa, remember our hopeful Devonshire
+proverb&mdash;a good cob, a good hat and
+shoes, and a good heart last for ever.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right, lass, and a good heart have you,
+my darling,' said Mr. Carlyon, kissing her
+peach-like cheek, for he was a kind and
+good-hearted man, though somewhat rough in his
+exterior, and more like a grazier than a
+lawyer.  'You are both too young to know
+what you are talking about.  He'll be going
+away, however&mdash;can't live always on his
+father, and <i>he</i>, poor fellow, won't last long.
+The fancy of you both will wear itself out,
+like any other summer flirtation&mdash;I had many
+such in my time,' he added, with a chuckle,
+'and got safely over them all.  So will you,
+lass, and marry into some good family, getting
+a husband that will give you a comfortable
+home&mdash;for instance, Job Holbeton, with his
+pits of Bovey coal.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor little Dulcie shivered, and could
+scarcely restrain her tears at the hard,
+practical suggestions of her father.
+Hard-featured, stout, and grizzled Joe Holbeton
+versus her handsome Florian!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her father spoke, too, of his probable
+'going away.'  Was this the presentiment to
+which her lover had referred?  It almost
+seemed so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the sunset she went forth into the
+garden to work with her wools, and even to
+have a 'good cry' over what her father had
+said; but in this she was prevented by
+suddenly finding Shafto stretched on the grass
+at her feet under a pine chestnut-tree&mdash;Shafto,
+whom she could only tolerate for
+Florian's sake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why do you stare at me so hard, Shafto,'
+she asked, with unconcealed annoyance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Staring, was I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, like an owl.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I always like to see girls working.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the work, what do you call it?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Crewel work.  And you like to see us busy?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, especially when the work is done by
+hands so pretty and white.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As mine, you mean, of course?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, Dulcie.  How you do bewilder a fellow!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't begin as usual to pay me clumsy
+compliments, Shafto, or I shall quit the
+garden,' said Dulcie, her blue eyes looking
+with a half-frightened, half-defiant expression
+into the keen, shifty, and pale grey ones of
+Shafto, who was somewhat given to persecuting her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could see the outline of the locket with
+every respiration of her bosom.  Could he
+but possess himself of it, thought he, as he
+proceeded to fill his meerschaum pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thought gentlemen did not smoke in
+ladies' society unless with permission,' said
+Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never bother about that, little one, please.
+But may I smoke?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks; this is jolly,' said he, looking up
+at her with eyes full of admiration.  'I feel
+like Hercules at the feet of Omphale.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't know who he was, or what you
+feel, but do you know what you look like?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I tell you?' asked Dulcie, her eyes
+sparkling with mischief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, like the Athenian weaver, Bottom,
+with his ass's head, at the feet of Titania.
+"Dost like the picture?"'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto eyed her spitefully, all the more so
+that Dulcie laughed merrily, showing all her
+pearly teeth at her reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oho, this comes of rambling in quarries,'
+said he, bluntly and coarsely; 'doing the
+Huguenot business, the <i>pose</i> of Millais'
+picture.  Bosh!  What can you and he mean?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Millais and I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; you and Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mean!' exclaimed Dulcie, her sweet face
+growing very pale in spite of herself at the
+bluntness of Shafto, and the unmistakable
+anger of his tone and bearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;with your tomfoolery.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How?&mdash;why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Penniless as you are&mdash;he at least.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good evening, Shafto; you are very unpleasant,
+to say the least of it,' said Dulcie, as
+she gathered up her wools and sailed into the
+house, while his eyes followed her with a
+menacing and very ugly expression indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+<br /><br />
+THE SECRET PACKET.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The broken health brought by Lennard from
+the miasmatic Terai of Nepaul was rapidly
+becoming more broken than ever, and,
+though not yet fifty, he was a premature old
+man, and it seemed as if the first part of
+Florian's presentiment or prevision of coming
+sorrow would soon be fulfilled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His steps became very feeble, and he could
+only get about, in the autumn sunshine, with
+the aid of a stick and Florian's arm; and
+the latter watched him with grief and pain,
+tottering like the aged, panting and leaning
+heavily on his cane, as ever and anon he
+insisted on being led up a steep slope from
+which he could clearly see the old church of
+Revelstoke on its wave-beaten promontory,
+overlooked by sad and solitary hills, and his
+hollow eyes glistened as he gazed on it, with
+a kind of yearning expression, as if he longed
+to be at peace, and by the side of her he had
+laid there, it seemed long years ago&mdash;a lifetime ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Lennard was certainly near his tomb,
+and all who looked upon him thought so; yet
+his calm eye, ever looking upward, betrayed
+no fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day when Florian was absent&mdash;no
+doubt sketching, boating with Dulcie on the
+Yealm, or idling with her on the moors&mdash;Lennard
+besought Shafto to stay beside him
+as he sat feeble and languid in his easy chair,
+sinking with the wasting and internal fever,
+with which the country practitioners were
+totally incapable of grappling; and on this
+day, for the first time, he began to speak
+to him of Scotland and the home he once
+had there; and he was listened to with
+the keenest interest by Shafto, who had
+ever&mdash;even as a child&mdash;been cunning, selfish, and
+avaricious, yet wonderfully clever and
+complaisant in his uncle's prejudiced eyes, as he
+remembered only Flora's dead and devoted
+sister.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have been thinking over old times and
+other days, Shafto,' said he, with his
+attenuated hands crossed on the head of his
+bamboo cane; 'and, all things considered, it
+seems an occupation I had better avoid did
+the memory concern myself alone: but I
+must think of others and their interests&mdash;of
+Florian and of you&mdash;so I can't help it, boy,
+in my present state of health, or rather
+want of health,' he added, as a violent fit of
+spasmodic coughing came upon him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a pause he spoke again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You, Shafto, are a couple of years older
+than Florian, and are, in many ways, several
+years older in thought and experience by the
+short training you have received in Carlyon's
+office.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Major paused again, leaving Shafto
+full of wonder and curiosity as to what this
+preamble was leading up to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The former had begun to see things more
+clearly and temperately with regard to the
+sudden death of Cosmo, and to feel that,
+though he had renounced all family ties,
+name, and wealth, so far as concerned himself,
+to die, with the secret of all untold, would
+be to inflict a cruel wrong on Florian.  At
+one time Lennard thought of putting his
+papers and the whole matter in the hands of
+Mr. Lewellen Carlyon, and it was a pity he
+did not do so instead of choosing to entrust
+them to his long-headed nephew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hand here my desk, and unlock it for
+me&mdash;my hands are so tremulous,' said he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When this was done he selected a packet
+from a private drawer, and briefly and rapidly
+told the story of his life, his proper name,
+and rank to Shafto, who listened with
+open-eyed amazement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the latter had thoroughly digested the
+whole information, he said, after a long pause:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This must be told to Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And with Florian came the thought of
+Dulcie, and how this sudden accession of her
+lover to fortune and position would affect her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nay, Shafto&mdash;not yet&mdash;not till I am gone&mdash;a
+short time now.  I can trust you, with
+your sharpness and legal acumen, with the
+handling of this matter entirely.  When I
+am gone, and laid beside your aunt Flora,
+by the wall of the old church yonder,' he
+continued with a very broken voice&mdash;one
+almost a childish treble, 'you will seek the
+person to whom this packet is addressed,
+Kenneth Kippilaw, a Writer to the Signet in
+Edinburgh&mdash;he is alive still; place these in
+his hands, and he will do all that is required;
+but treasure them, Shafto&mdash;be careful of them
+as you would of your soul's salvation&mdash;for
+my sake, and more than all for the sake of
+Florian!  Now, my good lad, give me the
+composing draught&mdash;I feel sleepy and so
+weary with all this talking, and the thoughts
+that have come unbidden&mdash;unbidden, sad,
+bitter, and angry thoughts&mdash;to memory.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto locked the desk, put it aside, and,
+giving his uncle the draught, stole softly away
+to his own room with the papers, to con them
+over and to&mdash;think!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had not sat at a desk for three years in
+Lawyer Carlyon's office without having his
+wits sharpened.  He paused as he put the
+documents away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Stop&mdash;stop&mdash;let me think, let me
+consider!' he exclaimed to himself, and he
+certainly did consider to some purpose.  He
+was cold and calculating; he was never
+unusually agitated or flustered, but he became
+both with the thoughts that occurred to him
+now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the papers and letters entrusted to
+him were the certificates of the marriage of
+Lennard and Flora, and another which ran
+thus:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Certificate of entry of birth, under section
+37 of 17 and 18 Vict., cap. 80.'  It authenticated
+the birth of their child Florian at
+Revelstoke, with the date thereof to a minute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These documents were enclosed in a letter
+written in a tremulous and uncertain hand by
+Lennard Melfort to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+part of which was in these terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The child was baptized by a neighbouring
+clergyman&mdash;the Rev. Paul Pentreath&mdash;who
+has faithfully kept the promise of secrecy he
+gave me, and, dying as I now feel myself to
+be, I pray earnestly that my father and
+mother will be kind to my orphan son.  Let
+them not&mdash;as they one day hope for mercy at
+that dread throne before which I am soon to
+appear&mdash;visit upon his innocent head my
+supposed and most heavily punished offence.
+Let him succeed in poor Cosmo's place to
+that which is his due; let him succeed to all
+I renounced in anger&mdash;an anger that has
+passed away, for now, my dear old friend, I
+am aged beyond my years, and my hair is
+now white as snow through ill-health
+contracted in India, where, to procure money
+necessary for my poor Flora, I volunteered
+on desperate service, and in seasons destructive
+to existence.  In your hands I leave the
+matter with perfect hope and confidence.  The
+bearer will tell you all more that may be
+necessary.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having read, reread, and made himself
+thoroughly master of the contents of this
+to him certainly most astounding packet, he
+requested the Major to re-address it in his own
+tremulous and all but illegible handwriting,
+and seal it up with his long-disused signet
+ring, which bore the arms of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Prior to having all this done, Shafto had
+operated on one of the documents most
+dexterously and destructively with his pen-knife!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A peerage! a peerage!&mdash;rank, wealth,
+money, mine&mdash;all mine!' he muttered under
+his breath, as he stored the packet away in a
+sure and secret place, and while whistling
+softly to himself, a way he had when brooding
+(as he often did) over mischief, he recalled
+the lines of Robert Herrick:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Our life is like a narrow raft,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Afloat upon the hungry sea;<br />
+  Hereon is but a little space,<br />
+  And all men, eager for a place,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Do thrust each other in the sea.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+'So why should I not thrust him into the
+hungry briny?  If life is a raft&mdash;and, by
+Jove, I find it so!&mdash;why should one not grasp
+at all one can, and make the best of life for
+one's self, by making the worst of it for other
+folks?  Does such a chance of winning rank
+and wealth come often to any one's hands?
+No! and I should be the biggest of fools&mdash;the
+most enormous of idiots&mdash;not to avail
+myself to the fullest extent.  I see my little
+game clearly, but must play warily.  "Eat,
+drink, and be merry," says Isaiah, "for
+to-morrow we die."  They say the devil can
+quote Scripture, and so can Shafto Gyle.
+But I don't mean to die to-morrow, but to
+have a jolly good spell for many a year to
+come!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in the wild exuberance of his spirits
+he tossed his hat again and again to the
+ceiling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From that day forward the health of
+Lennard Melfort seemed to decline more
+rapidly, and erelong he was compelled by
+the chill winds of the season to remain in
+bed, quite unable to take his place at table or
+move about, save when wheeled in a chair to
+the window, where he loved to watch the
+setting sun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came one evening when, for the last
+time, he begged to be propped up there in
+his pillowed chair.  The sun was setting over
+Revelstoke Church, and throwing its
+picturesque outline strongly forward, in a dark
+indigo tint, against the golden and crimson
+flush of the west, and all the waves around
+the promontory were glittering in light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Lennard saw nothing of all this,
+though he felt the feeble warmth of the
+wintry sun as he stretched his thin, worn
+hands towards it; his eyesight was gone, and
+would never come again!  There was something
+very pathetic in the withered face and
+sightless eyes, and the drooping white
+moustache that had once been a rich dark-brown,
+and waxed <i>à l'Empereur</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His dream of life was over, and his last
+mutterings were a prayer for Florian, on
+whose breast his head lay as he breathed his
+last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two lads looked at each other in that
+supreme moment&mdash;but with very different
+thoughts in their hearts.  Florian felt only
+desolation, blank and utter, and even Shafto,
+in the awful presence of Death, felt alone in
+the world.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br /><br />
+A FAREWELL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+As he lay dead, that old-looking, wasted, and
+attenuated man, whose hair was like the
+thistledown, none would have recognised in
+him the dark-haired, bronzed, and joyous
+young subaltern who only twenty-four years
+before had led his company at the storming
+of the Redan, who had planted the scaling-ladder
+against the scarp, and shouted in a
+voice heard even amid the roar of the adverse
+musketry:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come on, men! ladders to the front,
+eight men per ladder; up and at them, lads,
+with the bayonet,' and fought his way into
+an embrasure, while round-shot tore up the
+earth beneath his feet, and men were swept
+away in sections of twenty; or the hardy
+soldier who faced fever and foes alike in the
+Terai of Nepaul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How still and peaceful he lay now as the
+coffin-lid was closed over him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Snow-flakes, light and feathery, fell on the
+hard ground, and the waves seemed to leap
+and sob heavily round the old church of
+Revelstoke, when Lennard Melfort was laid
+beside the now old and flattened grave
+of Flora, and keen and sharp the frosty wind
+lifted the silver hair of the Rev. Paul
+Pentreath, whistled among the ivy or on the
+buttresses, and fluttered the black ribbon of
+the pall held by Florian, who felt as one in a
+dreadful dream&mdash;amid a dread and unreal
+phantasmagoria; and the same wind seemed
+to twitch angrily the pall-ribbon from the
+hand of Shafto, nor could he by any effort
+recover it, as more than one present, with
+their Devonian superstition, remarked, and
+remembered when other things came to pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last all was over; the mourners departed,
+and Lennard Melfort was left alone&mdash;alone
+with the dead of yesterday and of ages;
+and Florian, while Dulcie was by his side and
+pressed his hand, strove to commit to memory
+the curate's words from the Book of Revelation,
+'There shall be no more death, neither
+sorrow, nor sighing; for God shall wipe
+away all tears from their eyes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto now let little time pass before he
+proceeded to inform Florian of what he
+called their 'relative position,' and of their
+journey into Scotland to search out Mr. Kippilaw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said that in life we have
+sometimes moments so full of emotion that they
+seem to mark a turn in it we can never reach
+again; and this sharp turn, young and startled
+Florian seemed to pass, when he learned that
+since infancy he had been misled, and that
+the man, so tender and so loving, whom
+he had deemed his father was but his uncle!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How came it all to pass now?  Yet the
+old Major had ever been so kind and affectionate
+to him&mdash;to both, in fact, equally so,
+treating them as his sons&mdash;that he felt only a
+stunning surprise, a crushing grief and bitter
+mortification, but not a vestige of anger; his
+love for the dead was too keen and deep for
+that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The packet, sealed and addressed to
+Mr. Kippilaw, though its contents were as yet
+unknown to him, seemed to corroborate the
+strange intelligence of Shafto; but the
+question naturally occurred to Florian, 'For what
+end or purpose had this lifelong mystery
+and change in their positions been brought
+about?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He asked this of Shafto again and again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It seems we have been very curiously
+deluded,' said that personage, not daring to
+look the sorrowful Florian straight in the
+face, and pretended to be intent on stuffing
+his pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Deluded&mdash;how?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How often am I to tell you,' exclaimed
+Shafto, with petulance and assumed irritation,
+'that the contents of this packet prove that <i>I</i>
+am the only son of Major Melfort (not
+MacIan at all), and that you&mdash;you&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Are Florian Gyle, the nephew&mdash;adopted
+as a son.  Mr. Kippilaw will tell you all
+about it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you, Shafto?' queried Florian,
+scarcely knowing, in his bewilderment, what
+he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mean to go in for my proper position&mdash;my
+title, and all that sort of thing, don't you
+see?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And act&mdash;how!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not the proverbial beggar on horseback,
+I hope.  I'll do something handsome for you,
+of course.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I want nothing done for me while I have
+two hands, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' replied the latter, puffing
+vigorously at his pipe.  'I have had enough
+of hopeless drudgery for a quarterly pittance
+in the dingy office of old Carlyon,' said he,
+after a long pause; 'and, by all the devils,
+I'll have no more of it now that I am going
+to be rich.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, from the day of Lennard Melfort
+entrusting him with the packet, Shafto had
+done little else at the office but study the
+laws of succession in Scotland and England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How much you love money, Shafto!'
+said Florian, eying him wistfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do I?  Well, I suppose that comes from
+having had so precious little of it in my
+time.  I am a poor devil just now, but,' thought
+he exultantly, 'this "plant" achieved successfully,
+how many matrons with daughters
+unmarried will all be anxious to be mother to
+me!  And Dulcie Carlyon I might have for
+asking; but I'll fly at higher game now, by
+Jove!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As further credentials, Shafto now
+possessed himself of Major Melfort's sword,
+commissions, and medals, while Florian
+looked in blank dismay and growing
+mortification&mdash;puzzled by the new position in which
+he found himself, of being no longer his father's
+son&mdash;a source of unfathomable mystery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto was in great haste to be gone, to
+leave Revelstoke and its vicinity behind him.
+It was too late for regrets or repentance now.
+Not that he felt either, we suppose; and
+what he had done he would do again if there
+was no chance of being found out.  In the
+growing exuberance of his spirits, he could
+not help, a day or two after, taunting Florian
+about Dulcie till they were on the verge of a
+quarrel, and wound up by saying, with a
+scornful laugh:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You can't marry her&mdash;a fellow without a
+shilling in the world; and I wouldn't now,
+if she would have me, which I don't doubt.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Dulcie!  She heard with undisguised
+grief and astonishment of these events, and
+of the approaching departure of the cousins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cottage home was being broken up;
+the dear old Major was in his grave; and
+Florian, the playmate of her infancy, the
+lover of her girlhood, was going away&mdash;she
+scarcely knew to where.  They might be
+permitted to correspond by letter, but when,
+thought Dulcie&mdash;oh, when should they meet
+again?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was shedding its light and warmth
+around her as usual, on woodland and hill, on
+wave and rock; but both seemed to fade out,
+the perfume to pass from the early spring
+flowers, the glory from land and sea, and a
+dim mist of passionate tears clouded the
+sweet and tender blue eyes of the affectionate
+girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He would return, he said, as he strove to
+console her; but how and when, and to what
+end? thought both so despairingly.  Their
+future seemed such a vague, a blank one!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am penniless, Dulcie&mdash;a beggar on the
+face of the earth&mdash;twice beggared now, I
+think!' exclaimed Florian, in sorrowful bitterness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't speak thus,' said she imploringly,
+with piteous lips that were tremulous as his
+own, and her eyes drowned in tears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had left the road now, and wandered
+among the trees in a thicket, and seated
+themselves on a fallen trunk, a seat and place
+endeared to them and familiar enough in past time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He gazed into her eyes of deep pansy-blue,
+as if his own were striving to take away a
+memory of her face&mdash;a memory that would
+last for eternity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you really go to-night?' she asked,
+in piteous and broken accents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;with Shafto.  I am in a fever,
+darling, to seek out a position for myself.
+Surely Shafto may assist me in that&mdash;though
+I shrink from asking him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your own cousin?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;but sometimes he looks like a
+supplanter now, and his bearing has been so
+unpleasant to me, especially of late,' said
+Florian.  'But you will wait for me, Dulcie,
+and not be persuaded to marry anyone else?'
+he added imploringly, as he clasped each of
+her hands in his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall wait for you, Florian, if it should
+be for twenty years!' exclaimed the girl, in a
+low and emphatic voice, scarcely considering
+the magnitude and peril of such a promise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you, darling Dulcie!' said he
+bending down and kissing her lips with
+ardour, and, though on the eve of parting,
+they felt almost happy in the confidence of
+the blissful present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How often shall I recall this last meeting
+by the fallen tree, when you are far, far
+away from Revelstoke and&mdash;me,' said Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will often come here to be reminded
+of me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do you think, Florian, I will require to
+be reminded of you?' asked the girl, with a
+little tone of pain in her sweet voice, as she
+kissed the silver locket containing his likeness,
+and all the sweet iteration of lover-talk,
+promises, and pledges went on for a time,
+and new hopes began to render this last
+interview more bearable to the young pair who
+were on the eve of separation, without any
+very distinct arrangement about correspondence
+in the interval of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was setting now redly, and amid
+dun winter clouds, beaming on each chimney-head,
+on Revelstoke Church, and the leafless
+tree-tops his farewell radiance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian took a long, long kiss from Dulcie,
+and with the emotion of a wrench in his
+heart, was gone, and she was alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A photo and a lock of red-golden hair were
+all that remained to him of her&mdash;both to be
+looked upon again and again, till his eyes
+ached, but never grew weary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie's were very red with weeping, and
+the memory of that parting kiss was still
+hovering on her quivering lips when, in
+a lonely lane not far from her home, she
+found herself suddenly face to face with
+Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had known him from his boyhood,
+ever since he came an orphan to Lennard
+Melfort's cottage; and although she always
+distrusted and never liked him, his face was
+a familiar one she might never see more; thus
+she resolved to part with him as with the best
+of friends, and to remember that he was the
+only kinsman of Florian, whose companion
+and fellow-traveller he was to be on a journey
+the end of which she scarcely understood.
+So, frankly and sweetly, with a sad smile in
+her eyes, she proffered her pretty hand,
+which Shafto grasped and retained promptly
+enough.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+<br /><br />
+THE SILVER LOCKET.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shafto had just been with her father.  How
+contemptuously he had eyed the corner and
+the high old stool on which he had sat in the
+latter's legal establishment, and all its
+surroundings; the fly-blown county maps of
+Devon and Cornwall; advertisements of
+sales&mdash;property, mangold wurzel, oats and hay,
+Thorley's food for cattle, and so forth; the
+tin boxes of most legal aspect; dockets of
+papers in red tape; the well-thumbed ledgers;
+day and letter books, and all the paraphernalia
+of a country solicitor's office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ugh!  How well he knew and loathed
+them all.  Now it was all over and done with.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The three poor lads in the office, whose
+cheap cigars and beer he had often shared at
+the Ashburton Arms, he barely condescended
+to notice, while they regarded him with
+something akin to awe, as he gave Lawyer Carlyon
+his final 'instructions' concerning the disposal
+of the lease of the Major's pretty cottage,
+and of all the goods and chattels that were
+therein.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Florian been present he would have
+felt only shame and abasement at the tone
+and manner Shafto adopted on this occasion;
+but worthy Lawyer Carlyon, who did not
+believe a bit in the rumoured accession of
+Shafto to family rank and wealth, laughed
+softly to himself, and thought his 'pride would
+have a sore fall one of these fine days.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And even now, when face to face with
+Dulcie, his general bearing, his coolness and
+insouciance, rendered her, amid all her grief,
+indignant and defiant ultimately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How piquant, compact, and perfect the girl
+looked, from the smart scarlet feather in her
+little hat to her tiny Balmoral boots.  Her
+veil was tightly tied across her face, showing
+only the tip of her nose, her ripe red lips, and
+pretty white chin&mdash;its point, like her cheeks,
+reddened somewhat by the winter breeze from
+the Channel.  Her gloved hands were in her
+small muff, and the collar of her sealskin
+jacket was encircled by the necklet at which
+her silver locket hung&mdash;the locket Shafto
+had seen her kiss when Florian had bestowed
+it on her, while he looked close by, with his
+heart full of envy, jealousy, and hatred, and
+now it was the first thing that attracted his eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you actually leave us to-night, Shafto?'
+she said softly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, Dulcie, by the train for Worcester
+and the north.  My estates, you know, are
+in Scotland.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'These changes are all strange and most
+startling,' said she, with a sob in her slender
+throat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We live in whirligig times, Dulcie; but I
+suppose it is the result of progress,' he added
+sententiously.  'I wonder how our grandfathers
+and grandmothers contrived to mope
+over and yawn out their dull and emotionless
+existence till they reached threescore and ten years.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall never see that age, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who knows; though life, however sweet
+now, won't be worth living for then, I fancy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie sighed, and he regarded her in
+admiring silence, for he had a high appreciation
+of her bright and delicate beauty, and
+loved her&mdash;if we may degrade the phrase&mdash;in
+his own selfish and peculiar way, though
+now resolved&mdash;as he had often thought vainly&mdash;to
+'fly at higher game;' and so, full of
+ideas, hopes, and ambitions of his own, if he
+had ceased to think of Dulcie, he had, at
+least, ceased for a space to trouble her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian will be writing to you, of course?'
+said he, after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Alas! no, we have made no arrangement;
+and then, you know, papa&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Wouldn't approve, of course.  My farewell
+advice to you, Dulcie, is&mdash;Don't put off
+your time thinking of Florian&mdash;his ship will
+never come home.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor yours either, perhaps,' said Dulcie, angrily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You think so&mdash;but you are wrong.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah!  I know these waited for ships rarely do.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have read somewhere that ships of the
+kind rarely do come home in this prosaic and
+disappointing world; that some get wrecked
+almost within sight of land; others go down
+without the flapping of a sail, and sometimes
+after long and firm battling with adverse
+winds and tides; but <i>my ship</i> is a sure craft,
+Dulcie,' he added, as he thought of the packet
+in his possession&mdash;that precious packet on
+which all his hopes rested and his daring
+ambition was founded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully,
+and thought&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why is he so sure?  But his ideas were
+always selfish and evil.  Tide what may,'
+she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years
+and more for Florian.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The more fool you, then!  And so die an
+old maid?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And if he never can marry you&mdash;or
+marries some one else when he can?' asked
+Shafto viciously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or
+women's rights, and all that sort of thing,'
+said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant
+attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while
+Shafto eyed her angrily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How fond you are of that silver locket&mdash;you
+never wear any other!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have so few ornaments, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And none you prize so much?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'None!' said Dulcie, with a sweet, sad smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is that the reason you wear it with all
+kinds of dresses?  What is in it&mdash;anything?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is my secret,' replied Dulcie, putting
+her right hand on it and instinctively drawing
+back a pace, for there was a menacing expression
+in the cold grey eyes of Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Allow me to open it,' said he, taking her
+hand in his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You shall!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Never!' exclaimed Dulcie, her eyes
+sparkling now as his grasp upon her hand
+tightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An imprecation escaped Shafto, and with
+his eyes aflame and his cheeks pale with
+jealousy and rage he tore her hand aside and
+wrenched by brutal force the locket from her,
+breaking the silver necklet as he did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Coward!' exclaimed Dulcie; 'coward and
+thief&mdash;how dare you?  Surrender that locket
+instantly!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not if I know it,' said he, mockingly,
+holding the prized trinket before her at arm's
+length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But for Florian's sake, I would at once
+apply to the police.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A vulgar resort&mdash;no, my pretty Dulcie,
+you wouldn't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not for Florian's sake?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whose, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your own, for you wouldn't like to have
+your old pump of a father down on you; and
+so you dare not make a row about it, my
+pretty little fury.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto, I entreat you, give me back that
+photo,' said Dulcie, her tears welling forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; I won't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of what interest or use can it be to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'More than you imagine,' said Shafto, to
+whom a villainous idea just then occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I entreat you,' said Dulcie, letting her
+muff drop and clasping her slim little hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Entreat away!  I feel deucedly inclined
+to put my heel upon it&mdash;but I won't.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This robbery is cruel and infamous!'
+exclaimed Dulcie, trembling with grief and just
+indignation; but Shafto only laughed in
+anger and bitterness&mdash;and a very hyena-like
+laugh it was, and as some one was coming
+down the secluded lane, he turned away and
+left her in the twilight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He felt himself safe from opprobrium and
+punishment, as he knew well she was loth to
+make any complaint to her father on the
+subject; and just then she knew not how to
+communicate with Florian, as the darkness
+was falling fast, and the hour of his departure
+was close at hand.  She thought it not
+improbable that Shafto would relent and return
+the locket to her; but the night was far
+advanced ere that hope was dissipated, and she
+attained some outward appearance of
+composure, though her father's sharp and
+affectionate eyes detected that she had been
+suffering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had heard from her some confused
+and rambling story about the family secret,
+the packet, and the peerage, a story of which
+he could make nothing, though Shafto's
+bearing to himself that evening seemed to
+confirm the idea that 'there was something in
+it.'  Anyway, Mr. Carlyon was not indisposed
+to turn the event to account in one sense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Likely&mdash;likely enough, Dulcie lass,' said
+he; 'and so you'll hear no more of these
+two lads, if they are likely to become great
+folks, and belong to what is called the upper
+ten; they'll never think again of a poor
+village belle like you, though there is not a
+prettier face in all Devonshire than my
+Dulcie's from Lyme Regis to Cawsand Bay.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He meant this kindly, and spoke with a
+purpose; and his words and the warning
+they conveyed sank bitterly into the tender
+heart of poor Dulcie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time the cousins were sweeping
+through the darkness in the express train by
+Exeter, Taunton, and so forth; both were
+very silent, and each was full of his own
+thoughts, and what these were the reader
+may very well imagine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Heedless of the covert and sneering smiles
+of Shafto, Florian, from time to time, drew
+forth the photo of Dulcie, and her shining
+lock of red-golden hair, his sole links between
+the past and the present; and already he felt
+as if a score of years had lapsed since they
+sat side by side upon the fallen tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, that he might give his whole
+thoughts to Dulcie, he affected to sleep; but
+Shafto did not sleep for hours.  He sat
+quietly enough with his face in shadow, his
+travelling-cap of tweed-check pulled well
+down over his watchful and shifty grey-green
+eyes, the lamp overhead giving a miserable
+glimmer suited to the concealment of expression
+and thought; and as the swift train sped
+northward, the cousins addressed not a word
+to each other concerning those they had left
+behind, what was before them, or anything else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time, Shafto really slept&mdash;slept the
+slumber which is supposed to be the reward
+of the just and conscientious, but which is
+much more often enjoyed by those who have
+no conscience at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie contrived to despatch a letter to
+Florian detailing the outrage to which she
+had been subjected by Shafto; but time
+passed on, and, for a reason we shall give in
+its place, the letter never reached him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again and again she recalled and rehearsed
+her farewell with Florian, and thought
+regretfully of his passionate pride, and desperate
+poverty too probably, if he quarrelled with
+Shafto; and she still seemed to see his
+beautiful dark eyes, dim with unshed tears, while
+her own welled freely and bitterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When could they meet again, if ever, and
+where and how?  Her heart and brain
+ached with these questions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie did not bemoan her fate, though
+her cheek paled a little, and she felt&mdash;even
+at her early years&mdash;as if life seemed over
+and done with, and in her passionate love for
+the absent, that existence alone was left to
+her, and so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as she was her father's housekeeper
+now, kept the keys and paid all the servants,
+paid all accounts and made the preserves, he
+was in no way sorry that the young men were
+gone; that the 'aimless philandering,' as he
+deemed it, had come to an end; and that
+much would be attended to in his cosy little
+household which he suspected&mdash;but unjustly&mdash;had
+been neglected hitherto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To Dulcie, the whole locality of her native
+place, the breezy moors, the solitary hills, the
+mysterious Druid pillars and logan stones,
+the rocky shore, and the pretty estuary of the
+Yealm, where they had been wont to boat
+and fish for pilchards in summer and autumn,
+were all full of the haunting presence of the
+absent&mdash;the poor but proud and handsome
+lad who from boyhood, yea from infancy, had
+loved her, and who now seemed to have
+slipped out of her existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spring melted into summer; golden sunshine
+flooded hill and dale, and lit up the
+waters of the Erm, the Yealm, and the
+far-stretching Channel, tinting with wondrous
+gleams and hues the waves that rolled upon
+the shore, or boiled about the Mewstorre
+Rock, and the sea-beaten promontory of
+Revelstoke; but to Dulcie the glory was
+gone from land and water: she heard no
+more, by letter or otherwise, of the love of
+her youth; he seemed to have dropped
+utterly out of her sphere; and though
+mechanically she gathered the fragrant leaves of
+the bursting June roses&mdash;the Marshal Neil
+and Gloire de Dijon&mdash;and treasured them
+carefully in rare old china jars and vases, a
+task in which she had often been assisted by
+Florian, she felt and thought&mdash;'Ichabod!
+Ichabod! the glory has departed!'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IX.
+<br /><br />
+MR. KIPPILAW, W.S.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shafto found himself a little nervous when
+he and Florian were actually in Edinburgh, a
+city in its beauty, boldness and grandeur of
+rock and mountain, fortress, terrace, and
+temple, so foreign-looking to English eyes,
+and so utterly unlike everything they had
+ever seen or conceived before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian's thoughts were peculiarly his own.
+His father's death&mdash;though called an uncle
+now, but Florian always felt for and thought
+of him as a parent&mdash;the loss of Dulcie, their
+abrupt departure from Devonshire, and rough
+uprootal of all early associations, had made a
+kind of hiatus in the young fellow's life, and
+it was only now when he found himself amid
+the strange streets and picturesque splendour
+of Edinburgh that he began&mdash;like one
+recovering consciousness after a long
+illness&mdash;to gather up again the ravelled threads of
+thought, but with curious want of concern and
+energy; while Shafto felt that he personally
+had both, and that now he required to have
+all his wits about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian stood for a time that night at the
+door of their hotel in Princes Street looking
+at the wonderful lights of the Old Town
+sparkling in mid air, and some that were in
+the Castle must, he thought, be stars, they
+were so high above the earth.  Scores of
+cabs and carriages went by, eastward and
+westward, but no carts or wains or lorries,
+such as one sees in London or Glasgow&mdash;vehicles
+with bright lamps and well muffled
+occupants, gentlemen in evening suits, and
+ladies in ball or dinner dresses, and crowds of
+pedestrians, under the brilliant gas lights and
+long boulevard-like lines of trees&mdash;the
+ever-changing human panorama of a great city
+street before midnight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How odd, how strange and lonely poor
+Florian felt; he seemed to belong to no one,
+and, like the Miller o' Dee, nobody cared for
+him; and ever and anon his eyes rested on
+the mighty castled rock that towers above
+streets, monuments, and gardens, with a
+wonderous history all its own, 'where
+treasured lie the monarchy's last gems,' and
+with them the only ancient crown in the
+British Isles.  'Brave kings and the fairest
+of crowned women have slept and been
+cradled in that eyrie,' says an enthusiastic
+English writer; 'heroes have fought upon its
+slopes; English armies have stormed it;
+dukes, earls, and barons have been
+immured in its strong dungeons; a sainted
+Queen prayed and yielded up her last breath
+there eight centuries ago.  It is an imperishable
+relic&mdash;a monument that needs no carving
+to tell its tale, and it has the nation's worship;
+and the different church sects cling round its
+base as if they would fight again for the
+guardianship of a venerable mother.....
+And if Scotland has no longer a king and
+Parliament all to herself, her imperial crown
+is at least safely kept up there amid strong
+iron stanchions, as a sacred memorial of her
+inextinguishable independence, and, if need
+were, for future use.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian was a reader and a thinker, and he
+felt a keen interest in all that now surrounded
+him; but Shafto lurked in a corner of the
+smoke-room, turning in his mind the task of
+the morrow, and unwisely seeking to fortify
+himself by imbibing more brandy and soda
+than Florian had ever seen him take before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a sound night's rest and a substantial
+Scottish breakfast had fitted Shafto, as he
+thought, for facing anything, a cab deposited
+him and Florian (who was now beginning to
+marvel why he had travelled so far in a
+matter that concerned him not, in reality)
+at the residence of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+W.S., in Charlotte Square&mdash;a noble specimen
+of Adams Street architecture, having four
+stately symmetrical corresponding façades,
+overlooked by the dome of St. George's
+Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Lawyers evidently thrive in Scotland,'
+said Shafto, as he looked at the mansion of
+Mr. Kippilaw, and mentally recalled the
+modest establishment of Lawyer Carlyon;
+'but foxes will flourish as long as there are
+geese to be plucked.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw was at home&mdash;indeed he was
+just finishing breakfast, before going to the
+Parliament House&mdash;as they were informed by
+the liveried valet, who led them through a
+pillared and marble-floored vestibule, and
+ushered them into what seemed a library, as
+the walls from floor to ceiling were lined
+with handsome books; but every professional
+man's private office has generally this
+aspect in Scotland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few minutes Mr. Kippilaw appeared
+with a puzzled and perplexed expression in
+his face, as he alternatively looked at his two
+visitors, and at Shafto's card in his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw was now in his sixtieth year;
+his long since grizzled hair had now become
+white, and had shrunk to two patches far
+apart, one over each ear, and brushed stiffly
+up.  His eyebrows were also white, shaggy,
+and under them his keen eyes peered
+sharply through the rims of a gold pince-nez
+balanced on the bridge of his long aquiline
+nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto felt just then a strange and unpleasant
+dryness about his tongue and lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'<i>Mr. Shafto Melfort?</i>' said Mr. Kippilaw
+inquiringly, and referring to the card again.  'I
+was not aware that there was a Mr. Shafto
+Melfort&mdash;any relation of Lord Fettercairn?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'His grandson,' said Shafto unblushingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This gentleman with the dark eyes?'
+asked Mr. Kippilaw, turning to the silent
+Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;myself,' said Shafto sharply and
+firmly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are most unlike the family, who have
+always been remarkable for regularity of
+features.  Then you are the son&mdash;of&mdash;of&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The late Major Lennard Melfort who died
+a few weeks ago&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good Heavens, where?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'On the west coast of Devonshire, near
+Revelstoke, where he had long resided under
+the assumed name of MacIan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That of his wife?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Precisely so&mdash;my mother.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And this young gentleman, whose face
+and features seem curiously familiar to me,
+though I never saw him before, he is your
+brother of course.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle.
+I am an only son, but the Major ever
+treated us as if he had been the father of both,
+so great and good was his kindness of heart.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a
+breathless voice, as he seated himself in an
+ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table,
+which was covered with documents and
+letters all arranged by his junior clerk in the
+most orderly manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is very sudden and most unexpected
+intelligence,' said he, carefully wiping his
+glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a
+closer scrutiny again.  'Have you known all
+these years past the real name and position of
+your father, and that he left Kincardineshire
+more than twenty years ago after a very grave
+quarrel with his parents at Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;I only learned who he was, and who
+we really were, when he was almost on his
+deathbed.  He confided it to me alone, as his
+only son, and because I had been bred to the
+law; and on that melancholy occasion he
+entrusted me with this important packet
+addressed to <i>you</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With an expression of the deepest interest
+pervading his well-lined face, Mr. Kippilaw
+took the packet and carefully examined the
+seal and the superscription, penned in a
+shaky handwriting, with both of which he was
+familiar enough, though he had seen neither
+for fully twenty years, and finally he
+examined the envelope, which looked old and
+yellow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If all be true and correct, these tidings will
+make some stir at Craigengowan,' he muttered
+as if to himself, and cut round the seal with a
+penknife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will find ample proofs, sir, of all I
+have alleged,' said Shafto, who now felt that
+the crisis was at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw, with growing interest and
+wonder, drew forth the documents and read
+and re-read them slowly and carefully, holding
+the papers, but not offensively, between
+him and the light to see if the dates and
+water-marks tallied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The slow way this old devil goes on
+would exasperate an oyster!' thought Shafto,
+whose apparently perfect coolness and
+self-possession rather surprised and repelled the
+lawyer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were the certificate of Lennard's
+marriage with Flora MacIan, which Mr. Kippilaw
+could remember he had seen of old;
+the 'certificate of entry of birth of their son,
+born at Revelstoke at 6 h. 50 m. on the 28th
+October P.M., 18&mdash;,' signed by the Registrar,
+and the Major's farewell letter to his old
+friend, entrusting his son and his son's
+interests to his care.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But, hallo!' exclaimed Mr. Kippilaw, after
+he had read for the second time, and saw that
+the letter of Lennard Melfort was undoubtedly
+authentic, 'how comes it that the whole of
+your Christian name is <i>torn out</i> of the birth
+certificate, and the surname <i>Melfort</i> alone
+remains?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Torn out!' exclaimed Shafto, apparently
+startled in turn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'There is a rough little hole in the
+document where the name <i>should be</i>.  Do you
+know the date of your birth?' asked
+Mr. Kippilaw, partly covering the document with
+his hand, unconsciously as it were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;28th October.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the year?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto gave it from memory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Quite correct&mdash;as given here,' said
+Mr. Kippilaw; 'but you look old for the date of
+this certificate.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I always looked older than my years,'
+replied Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian, who might have claimed the date
+as that of his own birth, was&mdash;luckily for
+Shafto&mdash;away at a window, gazing intently
+on a party of soldiers marching past, with a
+piper playing before them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Another certificate can be got if necessary,'
+said Mr. Kippilaw, as he glanced at the
+Registrar's signature, a suggestion which
+made Shafto's heart quake.  'It must have
+come from the Major in this mutilated state,'
+he added, re-examining with legal care and
+suspicion the address on the envelope and
+the seal, which, as we have said, he had cut
+round; 'but it is strange that he has made
+no mention of it being so in his letter to me.
+Poor fellow! he was more of a soldier than a
+man of business, however.  Allow me to
+congratulate you, Mr. Melfort, on your new
+prospects.  Rank and a very fine estate are
+before you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He warmly shook the hand of Shafto, who
+began to be more reassured; and saying, 'I
+must carefully preserve the documents for the
+inspection of Lord Fettercairn,' he locked
+them fast in a drawer of his writing-table, and
+spreading out his coat-tails before the fire,
+while warming his person in the fashion
+peculiar to the genuine 'Britisher,' he eyed
+Shafto benignantly, and made a few pleasant
+remarks on the Fettercairn family, the
+fertility and beauty of Craigengowan, the
+stables, kennels, the shootings, and so forth,
+and the many fine qualities of 'Leonard'&mdash;as
+he called him&mdash;and about whom he asked
+innumerable questions, all of which Shafto
+could answer truly and with a clear conscience
+enough, as he was master of all that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The latter was asked 'what he thought
+of Edinburgh&mdash;if he had ever been there
+before,' and so forth.  Shafto remembered a
+little 'Guide Book' into which he had
+certainly dipped, so as to be ready for
+anything, and spoke so warmly of the picturesque
+beauties and historical associations of the
+Modern Athens that the worthy lawyer's
+heart began to warm to so intelligent a
+young man, while of the silent Florian,
+staring out into the sun-lit square and its
+beautiful garden and statues, he took little
+notice, beyond wondering <i>where</i> he had seen
+his eyes and features before!
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER X.
+<br /><br />
+ALONE IN THE WORLD.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+'And you were bred to the law, you say,
+Mr. Melfort?' remarked the old Writer to the
+Signet after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, in Lawyer Carlyon's office.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very good&mdash;very good indeed; that is
+well!  We generally think in Scotland that
+a little knowledge of the law is useful, as it
+teaches the laird to haud his ain; but I
+forgot that you are southland bred, and
+born too&mdash;the more is the pity&mdash;and can't
+understand me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto did not understand him, but thought
+that his time spent in Lawyer Carlyon's
+office had not been thrown away now;
+experience there had 'put him up to a trick or
+two.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall write to Craigengowan by the first
+post,' said Mr. Kippilaw after another of
+those thoughtful pauses during which he
+attentively eyed his visitor.  'Lord and Lady
+Fettercairn&mdash;like myself now creeping up the
+vale of years&mdash;(Hope they may soon see
+the end of it! thought Shafto) will, I have
+no doubt, be perfectly satisfied by the sequence
+and tenor of the documents you have brought
+me that you are their grandson&mdash;the son of
+the expatriated Lennard&mdash;and when I hear
+from them I shall let you know the result
+without delay.  You are putting up at&mdash;what
+hotel?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'At the Duke of Rothesay, in Princes Street.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah! very well.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks; I shall be very impatient to hear.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And your cousin&mdash;he will, of course, go
+with you to Craigengowan?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto hesitated, and actually coloured, as
+Florian could detect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What are your intentions or views?'
+Mr. Kippilaw asked the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He failed to pass for the army,' said
+Shafto bluntly and glibly, 'so I don't know
+what he means to do <i>now</i>.  I believe that he
+scarcely knows himself.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Have you no friends on your mother's
+side, Mr. Florian?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'None!' said Florian, with a sad inflection
+of voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed! and what do you mean to do?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Follow the drum, most probably,' replied
+Florian bitterly and a little defiantly, as
+Shafto's coldness, amid his own great and
+good fortune, roused his pride and galled his
+heart, which sank as he thought of Dulcie
+Carlyon, sweet, golden-haired English Dulcie,
+so far away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Kippilaw shook his bald head at the
+young man's answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have some little influence in many ways,
+and if I can assist your future views you may
+command me, Mr. Florian,' said he with
+fatherly kindness, for he had reared&mdash;yea and
+lost&mdash;more than one fine lad of his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said that one must know mankind
+very well before having the courage to
+be solely and simply oneself; thus, as Shafto's
+knowledge of mankind was somewhat limited,
+he felt his eye quail more than once under
+the steady gaze of Mr. Kippilaw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is a very strange thing,' said the latter,
+'that after the death of Mr. Cosmo in Glentilt,
+when Lord and Lady Fettercairn were so
+anxious to discover and recall his younger
+brother as the next and only heir to the title
+and estates, we totally failed to trace him.
+We applied to the War Office for the
+whereabouts of Major Lennard Melfort, but the
+authorities there, acting upon a certain
+principle, declined to afford any information.
+Advertisements, some plainly distinct, others
+somewhat enigmatical, were often inserted in
+the <i>Scotsman</i> and <i>Times</i>, but without the
+least avail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As for the <i>Scotsman</i>,' said Shafto, 'the Major&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your father, you mean?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said he, reddening, 'was no more
+likely to see such a provincial print in
+Devonshire than the Roman <i>Diritto</i> or the
+Prussian <i>Kreuz Zeitung</i>; and the <i>Times</i>, if
+he saw it&mdash;which I doubt&mdash;he must have
+ignored.  Till the time of his death drew
+near, his feelings were bitter, his hostility to
+his family great.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I can well understand that, poor fellow!'
+said Mr. Kippilaw, glancing at his watch, as
+he added&mdash;'You must excuse me till
+to-morrow: I am already overdue at the
+Parliament House.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He bowed his visitors out into the sun-lit
+square.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You seem to have lost your tongue,
+Florian, and to have a disappointed look,'
+said Shafto snappishly, as they walked
+slowly towards the hotel together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Disappointed I am in one sense, perhaps,
+but I have no reason to repine or complain
+save at our change of relative positions, but
+certainly not at your unexpected good fortune,
+Shafto.  It is only right and just that your
+father's only son should inherit all that is
+legally and justly his.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even at these words Shafto never winced
+or wavered in plans or purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was apparent, however, to Florian, that
+he had for some time past looked restless
+and uneasy, that he started and grew pale at
+any unusual sound, while a shadow rested on
+his not usually very open countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Betimes next morning a note came to him
+at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel from
+Mr. Kippilaw, requesting a visit as early as
+possible, and on this errand he departed alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found the old lawyer radiant, with a
+letter in his hand from Lord Fettercairn (in
+answer to his own) expressive of astonishment
+and joy at the sudden appearance of
+this hitherto unknown grandson, whom he
+was full of ardour and anxiety to see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will lose no time in starting for
+Craigengowan,' said Mr. Kippilaw.  'You
+take the train at the Waverley Station and
+go <i>viâ</i> Burntisland, Arbroath, and Marykirk&mdash;or
+stay, I think we shall proceed together,
+taking your papers with us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks,' said Shafto, feeling somehow
+that the presence of Mr. Kippilaw at the
+coming interview would take some of the
+responsibility off his own shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Craigengowan, your grandfather says, will
+put on its brightest smile to welcome you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very kind of Craigengowan,' said Shafto,
+who felt but ill at ease in his new role of
+adventurer, and unwisely adopted a
+free-and-easy audacity of manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A cheque on the Bank of Scotland for
+present emergencies,' said Mr. Kippilaw,
+opening his cheque-book, 'and in two hours
+we shall meet at the station.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks again.  How kind you are, my dear sir.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I would do much for your father's son,
+Mr. Shafto,' said the lawyer, emphatically.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And what about Florian?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The letter ignores him&mdash;a curious omission.
+In their joy, perhaps Lord and Lady Fettercairn
+forgot.  But, by the way, here is a letter
+for him that came by the London mail.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A letter for him!' said Shafto, faintly,
+while his heart grew sick with apprehension,
+he knew not of what.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Mr. Florian's face is strangely familiar to
+me,' said Mr. Kippilaw aloud; but to himself,
+'Dear me, dear me, where can I have seen
+features like his before?  He reminds me
+curiously of Lennard Melfort.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto gave a nervous start.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The letter was a bulky one, and bore the
+Wembury and other post-marks, and to
+Shafto's infinite relief was addressed in the
+familiar handwriting of Dulcie Carlyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He chuckled, and a great thought worthy
+of himself occurred to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the solitude of his own room at the
+hotel, he moistened and opened the gummed
+envelope, and drew forth four closely written
+sheets of paper full of the outpourings of the
+girl's passionate heart, of her wrath at the
+theft of her locket by Shafto, and mentioning
+that she had incidentally got the address of
+Mr. Kippilaw from her father, and desiring
+him to write to her, and she would watch for
+and intercept the postman by the sea-shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Bosh,' muttered Shafto, as he tore up and
+cast into the fire Dulcie's letter, all save a
+postscript, written on a separate scrap of
+paper, and which ran thus:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have all the love of my heart, Florian;
+but, as I feel and fear we may never meet
+again, I send you this, which I have worn
+next my heart, to keep.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>This</i> was a tiny tuft of forget-me-nots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Three stamps on all this raggabash!'
+exclaimed Shafto, whom the girl's terms of
+endearment to Florian filled with a tempest
+of jealous rage.  He rolled the locket he had
+wrenched from Dulcie's neck in soft paper,
+and placed it with the postscript in the
+envelope, which he carefully closed and
+re-gummed, placed near the fire, and the moment
+it was perfectly dry he gave it to Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the latter was surprised to see a letter to
+himself, addressed in Dulcie's large, clear,
+and pretty handwriting, to the care of 'Lawyer
+Kippilaw,' as she called him, he was also
+struck dumb when he found in the envelope
+the locket, the likeness, and the apparently
+curt farewell contained in one brief sentence!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time he stood like one petrified.
+Could it all be real?  Alas! there was no
+doubting the postal marks and stamps upon
+this most fatal cover; and while he was
+examining it and passing his hand wildly more
+than once across his eyes and forehead, Shafto
+was smoking quietly at a window, and to all
+appearance intent on watching the towering
+rock and batteries of the Castle, bathed in
+morning sunshine&mdash;batteries whereon steel
+morions and Scottish spears had often gleamed
+of old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though his soul shrank from doing so,
+Florian could not resist taking Shafto into
+his confidence about this unexplainable event;
+and the latter acted astonishment to the life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Was the locket thus returned through the
+post in obedience to her father's orders, after
+he had probably discovered the contents of it?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Shafto demolished this hope by drawing
+his attention to the tenor of the pithy
+scrap of paper, which precluded the idea that
+it had been done under any other influence
+than her own change of mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor Florian!' sneered Shafto, as he
+prepared to take his departure for Craigengowan;
+'now you had better proceed at once to
+cultivate the wear-the-willow state of mind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian made no reply.  His ideas of faith
+and truth and of true women were suddenly
+and cruelly shattered now!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She has killed all that was good in me,
+and the mischief of the future will be at her
+door!' he exclaimed, in a low and husky
+voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, Florian, don't say that,' said Shafto,
+who actually did feel a little for him; and
+just then, when they were on the eve of
+separation, even his false and artful heart did
+feel a pang, with the sting of fear, at the
+career of falsehood to which he had committed
+himself; but his ambition, innate greed,
+selfishness, and pride urged him on that
+career steadily and without an idea of flinching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After Mr. Kippilaw's remarks concerning
+how the face of Florian interested him, and
+actually that he bore a likeness to the dead
+Major&mdash;to his own father, in fact&mdash;Shafto
+became more than desirous to be rid of him
+in any way.  He thought with dread of the
+discovery and fate of 'the Claimant,' and of
+the fierce light thrown by the law on that
+gigantic imposture; but genuine compunction
+he had none!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well,' he muttered, as he drove away from
+the hotel with his portmanteau, 'I must
+keep up this game at all hazards now.  I
+have stolen&mdash;not only Florian's name&mdash;but
+his place, so let him paddle his own
+canoe!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I'll write you from Craigengowan,' were
+his parting words&mdash;a promise which he never
+fulfilled.  Shafto, who generally held their
+mutual purse now, might have offered to
+supply the well-nigh penniless lad with money,
+but he did not.  He only longed to be rid of
+him&mdash;to hear of him no more.  He had a
+dread of his presence, of his society, of his
+very existence, and now had but one hope,
+wish, and desire&mdash;that Florian Melfort should
+cross his path never again.  And now that
+he had achieved a separation between him
+and Dulcie, he conceived that Florian would
+never again go near Revelstoke, of which
+he&mdash;Shafto&mdash;had for many reasons a nervous
+dread!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Full of Dulcie and her apparently cruel
+desertion of him, which he considered due to
+calm consideration of his change of fortune&mdash;or
+rather total want of it&mdash;Florian felt numbly
+indifferent to the matter Shafto had in hand
+and all about himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While very nearly moved to girlish tears at
+parting from one with whom he had lived
+since infancy&mdash;with whom he had shared the
+same sleeping-room, shared in the same sports
+and studies&mdash;with whom he had read the
+same books to some extent, and had ever
+viewed as a brother&mdash;Florian was rather
+surprised, even shocked, by the impatience
+of that kinsman, the only one he had in all
+the wide world, to part from him and begone,
+and to see he was calm and hard as flint or
+steel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Different natures have different ways of
+showing grief, I suppose,' thought the simple
+Florian; 'or can it be that he still has a
+grudge at me because of the false but winsome
+Dulcie?  If affection for me is hidden
+in his heart, it is hidden most skilfully.'  No
+letter ever came from Craigengowan.  The
+pride of Florian was justly roused, and he
+resolved that he would not take the initiative,
+and attempt to open a correspondence with
+one who seemed to ignore him, and whose
+manner at departing he seemed to see more
+clearly and vividly now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact soon became grimly apparent.
+He could not remain idling in such a fashionable
+hotel as the Duke of Rothesay, so he
+settled his bill there, and took his portmanteau
+in his hand, and issued into the streets&mdash;into
+the world, in fact.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XI.
+<br /><br />
+SHAFTO IN CLOVER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+About six months had elapsed since Shafto
+and Florian parted, as we have described, at
+Edinburgh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was June now.  The luxurious woods
+around Craigengowan were in all their leafy
+beauty, and under their shadows the dun
+deer panted in the heat as they made their
+lair among the feathery braken; the emerald
+green lawn was mowed and rolled till it was
+smooth as a billiard-table and soft as
+three-pile velvet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air was laden with the wafted fragrance
+of roses and innumerable other flowers; and
+the picturesque old house, with its multitude
+of conical turrets furnished with glittering
+vanes, its crow-stepped gables and massive
+chimneys, stood boldly up against the deep
+blue sky of summer; and how sweetly peaceful
+looked the pretty village, seen in middle
+distance, through a foliated vista in the
+woodlands, with the white smoke ascending
+from its humble hearths, the only thing that
+seemed to be stirring there; and how beautiful
+were the colours some of its thatched
+roofs presented&mdash;greenest moss, brown lichen,
+and stonecrop, now all a blaze of gold, while
+the murmur of a rivulet (a tributary of the
+Esk), that gurgled under its tiny arch, 'the
+auld brig-stane' of Lennard's boyhood, would
+be heard at times, amid the pleasant voices
+of some merrymakers on the lawn, amid the
+glorious shrubberies, and belts of flowers
+below the stately terrace, that had long since
+replaced the moat that encircled the old
+fortified mansion, from whence its last Jacobite
+lord had ridden forth to fight and die for
+James VIII., on the field of Sheriffmuir&mdash;King
+of Scotland, England, France, and
+Ireland, as the unflinching Jacobites had it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A gay and picturesquely dressed lawn-tennis
+party was busy tossing the balls from
+side to side among several courts; but apart
+from all, and almost conspicuously so&mdash;a
+young fellow, in a handsome light tennis suit
+of coloured flannels, and a beautiful girl were
+carrying on a very palpable flirtation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gentleman was Shafto, and his companion
+was Finella Melfort, Cosmo's orphan
+daughter (an heiress through her mother),
+who had returned a month before from a
+protracted visit in Tyburnia.  They seemed
+to be on excellent terms with each other, and
+doubtless the natural gaiety of the girl's
+disposition, her vivacity of manner, and their
+supposed mutual relationship, had opened the
+way to speedy familiarity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was a dark-haired and dark-eyed, but
+very white-skinned little beauty, with a perfect
+<i>mignonne</i> face, a petite but round and compact
+figure, gracefully formed, and very
+coquettish and <i>spirituelle</i> in all her ways.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had received her peculiar Christian
+name at the special request of her grandfather,
+that silly peer being desirous that her name
+might go down in the peerage in connection
+with that of the famous Finella of Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A winsome pair they would make,' was
+the smiling remark of Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw,
+who was of the party (with three romping
+daughters from Edinburgh), to Lord Fettercairn,
+who smirked a grim assent, as if it
+was a matter of indifference to him, which
+it was not, as his legal adviser very well
+knew; and my Lady Drumshoddy, who heard
+the remark, bestowed upon him a bright
+and approving smile in return for a knowing
+glance through the glasses of his gold
+<i>pince-nez</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Craigengowan the adventurous Shafto
+Gyle had found his veritable Capua&mdash;he was
+literally 'in clover.'  Yet he never heard
+himself addressed by his assumed name
+without experiencing a strange sinking and
+fluttering of the heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The once-despised Lennard Melfort's
+sword, his commission, and his hard-won
+medals earned in Central India and the Terai
+of Nepaul were now looked upon as precious
+relics in his mother's luxurious boudoir at
+Craigengowan, and reclaimed from the
+lumber-attic, his portrait, taken in early life,
+was again hung in a place of honour in the
+dining-hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a fool my old uncle was to lose his
+claim on such a place as this, and all for the
+face of a girl!' was the exclamation of Shafto
+to himself when first he came to Craigengowan,
+and then he looked fearfully around
+him lest the word <i>uncle</i> might have been
+overheard by some one; and he thought&mdash;'If
+rascally the trick I have played my simple
+and love-stricken cousin&mdash;and rascally it was
+and is&mdash;surely it was worth while to be the
+heir of this place, Craigengowan.  To reckon
+as mine in future all this grand panorama of
+heath-clad hills, of green and golden fields,
+of purple muirland, and stately woods of oak
+and pine where the deer rove in herds; as
+mine the trout-streams that flow towards the
+Bervie; the cascades that roar down the
+cliffs; the beautiful old house, with its stables,
+kennels, and terrace; its cellars, pictures,
+plate, and jewellery, old china and vases of
+marble and jasper, china and Japanese work;
+and I possess all that rank and wealth can
+give!' and so thought this avaricious rascal,
+with a capacity for evil actions far beyond his
+years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the fair inheritance he had come to
+steal he could not, however, add as his the
+blue sky above it, or the waves of the German
+Sea, which the North Esk flowed to join;
+but he was not without sense appreciative
+enough to enjoy the fragrance of the teeming
+earth, of the pine forests where the brown
+squirrels leaped from branch to branch, and
+on the mountain side the perfume of the
+golden whin and gorse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Appraising everything, these ideas were
+ever recurring to his mind, and it was full of
+them now as he looked around him, and at
+times, like one in a dream, heard the pretty
+babble of the high-bred, coquettish girl, who,
+to amuse herself, made <i>œillades</i> at him; who
+called him so sweetly 'Cousin Shafto,' and
+who, with her splendid fortune, he was now
+beginning to include among the many goods
+and chattels which must one day accrue to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord and Lady Fettercairn were, of course,
+fully twenty years older than when we saw
+them last, full of wrath and indignation at
+Lennard for his so-called <i>mésalliance</i>.  Both
+were cold in heart and self-absorbed in nature
+as ever.  The latter was determined to be a
+beauty still, though now upon the confines of
+that decade 'when the cunning of cosmetics
+can no longer dissemble the retribution of
+Time the avenger.'  The former was bald
+now, and the remains of his once sandy-coloured
+hair had become grizzled, and a
+multitude of puckers were about his cold,
+grey eyes, while there was a perceptible
+stoop in his whilom flat, square shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was as full of family pride as ever, and
+the discovery of an unexpected and authentic
+heir and grandson to his title, that had never
+been won in the field or cabinet, but was
+simply the reward of bribery and corruption,
+and for which not one patriotic act had been
+performed by four generations, had given
+him intense satisfaction, and caused much
+blazing of bonfires and consumption of alcohol
+about the country-side; and smiles that were
+bright and genuine frequently wreathed the
+usually pale and immobile face of Lady
+Fettercairn when they rested on Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We all know how the weak and easy adoption
+of a pretender by a titled mother in a
+famous and most protracted case not many
+years ago caused the most peculiar
+complications; thus Lady Fettercairn was more
+pardonable, posted up as she was with
+documentary evidence, in accepting Shafto Gyle
+as her grandson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have described her as being singularly,
+perhaps aristocratically, cold.  As a mother,
+she had never been given to kissing, caressing,
+or fondling her two sons (as she did a
+succession of odious pugs and lap-dogs), but,
+throwing their little hearts back upon
+themselves, left nurses and maids to 'do all that
+sort of tiresome thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Finella, though an heiress, came in for
+very little of it either, with all her sweetness,
+beauty, and pretty winning ways, even
+from Lord Fettercairn.  In truth, the man
+who cared so little for his own country and
+her local and vital interests was little likely
+to care much for any flesh and blood that did
+not stand in his own boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn heard from her 'grand-son'
+from time to time with&mdash;for her&mdash;deep
+apparent sympathy, and much genuine aristocratic
+regret and indignation, much of the
+obscure story of his boyhood and past life, at
+least so much as he chose to tell her; and
+she bitterly resented that Lennard Melfort
+should have sought to put the 'nephew of
+that woman, Flora MacIan,' into the army,
+while placing 'his own son' Shafto into the
+office of a miserable village lawyer, and so
+forth&mdash;and so forth!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunate it was, she thought, that all this
+happened in an obscure village in Devonshire,
+and far away from Craigengowan and all its
+aristocratic surroundings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She also thought it strange that
+Shafto&mdash;('Whence came that name?' she would
+mutter angrily)&mdash;should be so unlike her
+dark and handsome Lennard.  His eyebrows
+were fair and heavy; his eyes were a pale,
+watery grey; his lips were thin, his neck
+thick, and his hair somewhat sandy in hue.
+Thus, she thought, he was not unlike what
+her husband, the present Lord Fettercairn,
+must have been at the same age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for the Peer himself, he was only too
+thankful that an heir had turned up for his
+ill-gotten coronet, and that now&mdash;so far as one
+life was concerned&mdash;Sir Bernard Burke would
+not rate it among the dormant and attainted
+titles&mdash;those of the best and bravest men that
+Scotland ever knew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for their mutual scheme concerning
+Shafto and their granddaughter Finella, with
+her beauty and many attractive parts, the
+former was craftily most desirous of furthering
+it, knowing well that, <i>happen what might</i>
+in the future, she was an heiress; that
+marriage with her would give him a firm
+hold on the Fettercairn family, though the
+money of her mother was wisely settled on
+the young lady herself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, Finella had not been many
+weeks home from London, at Craigengowan,
+before Lady Fettercairn opened the trenches,
+and spoke pretty plainly to him on the
+subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Waving her large fan slowly to and fro,
+and eyeing Shafto closely over the top of it,
+she said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope, my dearest boy, that you will find
+your cousin Finella&mdash;the daughter of my
+dead darling Cosmo&mdash;a lovable kind of girl.
+But even were she not so&mdash;and all say she
+is&mdash;you must not feel a prejudice against her,
+because&mdash;because&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, grandmother?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because it is our warmest desire that you
+may marry her.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why, haven't I money enough?' asked
+Shafto, with one of his dissembling smiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course, as the heir of Fettercairn; but
+one is always the better to have more, and
+you must not feel&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What?' asked Shafto, with affected impatience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Please not to interrupt me thus.  I mean
+that you must not be prejudiced against her
+as an expected<i> parti</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why should I?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'One hears and reads so much of such
+things.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In novels, I suppose; but as she is so
+pretty and eligible, why the dickens&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What now?' he asked, with some irritability,
+as she often took him to task for his
+solecisms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dickens is not a phrase to use.  Exclamations
+that were suited to the atmosphere
+of Mr. Carlyon's office in Devonshire will
+not do in Craigengowan!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well&mdash;she won't look at me with your
+eyes, grandmother.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How&mdash;her eyes&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They will never seem so bright and
+beautiful.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, you flattering pet!' exclaimed my
+Lady Fettercairn, with a smile and pleased
+flush on her old wrinkled face, for her 'pet'
+had soon discovered that she was far from
+insensible to adulation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto certainly availed himself of the
+opportunities afforded by 'cousinship,'
+propinquity, and residence together in a country
+house, and sought to gain a place in the good
+graces or heart of Finella; but with all his
+cunning and earnest wishes in the matter&mdash;apart
+from the wonderful beauty of the girl&mdash;he
+feared that he made no more progress
+with her than he had done with Dulcie Carlyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She talked, played, danced, and even
+romped with him; they rambled and read
+together, and were as much companions as
+any two lovers would be; but he felt nearly
+certain that though she flirted with him,
+because it was partly her habit to appear to
+do so with most men, whenever he attempted
+to become tender she openly laughed at him
+or changed the subject skilfully; and also
+that if he essayed to touch or take her hand
+it was very deliberately withdrawn from his
+reach, and never did she make him more
+sensible of all this than when he contrived to
+draw her aside to the terrace on the afternoon
+of the lawn-tennis party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had long ere this been made perfectly
+aware that love and marriage were objects of
+all his attention, yet she amused herself with
+him by her coquettish <i>œillades</i> and waggish
+speeches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating
+voice, as he stooped over her, 'I hope that
+with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant
+mode of treating me, you will see your way
+to carry out the fondest desire of my heart
+and that of our grandparents.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such a fearfully elaborate speech!  And
+the object to which I am to see my way is to
+marry you, cousin Shafto?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her
+half-averted ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I
+couldn't think of such a thing.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?  Am I so distasteful to you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And these are?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Firstly, people should marry to please
+themselves, not others.  Grandpapa and
+grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am
+quite independent enough to do as I please
+and choose.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have not said so, you tiresome Shafto!'
+said she, looking upward at him with one of
+her sweetest and most bewitching smiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then I have some hope, dear Finella?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have not said that either.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may yet love me, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; not as you wish it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have no right to ask me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His fair beetling eyebrows knit, and a
+gleam came into his cold, grey eyes as he
+asked, after a pause:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is there anyone else you prefer?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have no right to inquire,' replied she,
+and a keener observer might have detected
+that his question brought a tiny blush to her
+cheek and a fond smile to her curved lips; 'so
+please to let this matter drop, once and for
+ever, dear Shafto, and we can be such
+delightful friends&mdash;such jolly cousins.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so ended one of many such conversations
+on this topic&mdash;conversations that
+developed indifference, if not quite aversion,
+on the part of Finella, the clue to which
+Shafto was fated to find in a few weeks after.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XII.
+<br /><br />
+VIVIAN HAMMERSLEY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The persistent attentions of Shafto were
+alternately a source of amusement and worry
+to Finella Melfort; and when she found them
+become the latter, she had more than once
+retreated to the residence of her maternal
+grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, though she
+infinitely preferred being at Craigengowan,
+where the general circle was more refined
+and of a much better style; for Lady
+Drumshoddy&mdash;natheless her title&mdash;was not quite
+one of the 'upper ten,' being only the widow
+of an advocate, who, having done without
+scruple the usual amount of work to please
+his party and the Lord Advocate, had been
+rewarded therefor by an appointment (and
+knighthood) in Bengal, where he had gone,
+at a lucky time, with the old advice and
+idea&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'They bade me from the Rupee Tree<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pluck India's endless riches,<br />
+  And then I swore that time should see<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Huge pockets in my breeches.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Thus Sir Duncan Drumshoddy's pockets
+were so well filled that when he came home
+to die, his daughter was heiress enough to be
+deemed a 'great catch' by the Fettercairn
+family, though her grandfather had been&mdash;no
+one knew precisely what.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Finella, by education, careful
+training, and by her own habit of thought,
+was naturally so refined that, with all her
+waggery and disposition to laughter and
+merriment, Shafto's clumsy love-speeches
+occasionally irritated her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have somewhere read,' said he, 'that a
+man may get the love of the girl he wants,
+even if she cares little for him, if he only
+asks her at the right time; but, so far as you
+are concerned, Finella, the right moment has
+not come for me, I suppose.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor ever will come, I fear, cousin Shafto,'
+she replied, fanning herself, and eyeing him
+with mingled fun and defiance sparkling in
+her dark eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ere Shafto could resume on this occasion
+Lord Fettercairn came hurriedly to him, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, by-the-bye, young Hammersley,
+from London, will arrive here to-morrow for
+a few weeks' grouse-shooting before he
+leaves for his regiment in Africa.  You will
+do your best to be attentive to him, Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course,' said the latter, rather sulkily,
+however, all the more so that he was quick
+enough to detect that, at the mention of the
+visitor's name, a flush like a wave of colour
+crossed the cheek of Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Something in his tone attracted the
+attention of Lord Fettercairn, who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After the 12th I hope you will find a
+legitimate use for your gun&mdash;you know what
+I mean.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto coloured deeply with annoyance, as
+his grandfather referred to a mischievous act
+of his, which was deemed a kind of outrage
+in the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the ruins of Finella's Castle at Fettercairn
+a pair of majestic osprey had built their
+nest, guarded by the morass around them,
+and there they bred and reared a pair of
+beautiful eaglets.  No one had been allowed
+to approach them, so that nothing should
+occur to break the confidence of safety which
+the pair of osprey acquired in their lonely
+summer haunt, till soon after Shafto came to
+Craigengowan, and by four rounds from his
+breech-loader he contrived to shoot them all,
+to the indignation of the neighbourhood and
+even of my Lord Fettercairn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not that the latter cared a straw about
+these eagles as objects of natural history; but
+the fact of their existence formed the subject
+of newspaper paragraphs, and his vanity was
+wounded on finding that one of his family
+had acted thus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So on the morrow, at luncheon, the family
+circle at Craigengowan had two or three
+accessions to its number&mdash;friends invited for
+the 12th of August&mdash;among others Mr. Kippilaw
+the younger, a spruce and dapper
+Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, 'who,'
+Shafto said, 'thought no small beer of
+himself;' and Vivian Hammersley, a captain of
+the Warwickshire regiment, a very attractive
+and, to one who was present, most decided
+addition to their society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His regular features were well tanned by
+the sun in Natal; his dark hair was shorn
+short; his moustaches were pointed well out;
+and his dark eyes had a bright and merry yet
+firm and steady expression, as those of a man
+born to command men, who had more than
+once faced danger, and was ready to face it
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was in his twenty-seventh year, and
+was every way a courteous and finished
+English gentleman, though Shafto, in his
+secret heart, and more than once in the
+stables, pronounced him to be 'a conceited
+beast.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley had fished in Norway, shot
+big game in Southern Africa, hunted in the
+English shires, taking his fences&mdash;even double
+ones&mdash;like a bird; he had lost and won with a
+good grace at Ascot and the Clubs, flirted 'all
+round,' and, though far from rich, was a good
+specimen of a handsome, open-handed, and
+open-hearted young officer, a favourite with
+all women, and particularly with his regiment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After luncheon he was seated beside Lady
+Fettercairn; he was too wise in his generation
+to have placed himself where he would have
+wished, beside Finella, whose little hand, on
+entering, Shafto thought he retained in his
+rather longer than etiquette required; for if
+Shafto's eyes were shifty, they were particularly
+sharp, and he soon found that though
+Finella, to a certain extent, had filled up her
+time by flirting in a cousinly way with himself,
+'now that this fellow Hammersley had come,'
+he was 'nowhere' as he thought, with a very
+bad word indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have said that Finella had paid a
+protracted and&mdash;to her&mdash;most enjoyable visit
+to Tyburnia.  There at balls, garden parties,
+and in the Row she had met Vivian Hammersley
+repeatedly; and these meetings had
+not been without a deep and tender interest
+to them both; and when they were parted
+finally by her return to Craigengowan, though
+no declaration of regard had escaped him, he
+had been burning to speak to her in that
+sweet and untutored language by which the
+inmost secrets of the loving heart can be read;
+and now that they had met again, they had
+a thousand London objects to talk about
+safely in common, which made them seem to
+be what they were, quite old friends in fact,
+and erelong Lady Fettercairn began, like
+Shafto, to listen and look darkly and doubtfully on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when they were alone, which was seldom,
+or merely apart from others, there was
+between them a new consciousness now&mdash;a
+secret but sweet understanding, born of eye
+speaking to eye&mdash;all the sweeter for its
+secrecy and being all their own, a conscious
+emotion that rendered them at times almost
+afraid to speak or glance lest curious eyes or
+ears might discover what that secret was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What was to be the sequel to all this?
+Hammersley was far from rich according to
+the standard of wealth formed by Lady
+Fettercairn, and the latter had destined her
+granddaughter with all her accumulated
+wealth to be the bride of Shafto.
+Hammersley knew nothing of this; he only knew
+his own shortcoming in the matter of 'pocketability;'
+but then youth, we are told, 'is
+sanguine and full of faith and hope in an
+untried future.  It looks out over the pathway
+of life towards the goal of its ambition, seeing
+only the end desired, and giving little or no
+heed to hills and dales, storms and accidents,
+that may be met with on the way.'  So,
+happy in the good fortune that threw him
+once more in the sweet society of bright
+Finella Melfort, Captain Hammersley gave
+full swing in secret to the most delightful of
+day-dreams.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all this, however, we are somewhat
+anticipating our narrative.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, like a wise man, while the luncheon
+lasted he was most attentive to his hostess,
+from whose old but still handsome face, like
+that of Tennyson's Maud, 'so faultily faultless,
+icily regular, and splendidly null,' he ever and
+anon turned to that of Finella&mdash;that <i>mignonne</i>
+face, which was so full of varying expression,
+warmth, light, and colour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Try that Madeira, Captain Hammersley,'
+said Lord Fettercairn.  'You will scarcely
+credit how long I have had it in the cellar.
+I bought a whole lot of it&mdash;when was it,
+Grapeston?' he asked, turning to the solemn
+old butler behind him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The year Mr. Lennard left home, my Lord.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Everything at Craigengowan seems to
+take date before or after that event,' said
+Lord Fettercairn, with knitted brow.  'Do
+you mean for India, Grapeston?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, my lord,' replied the butler, who
+had carried 'Master Lennard' in his arms as a baby.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Such a rich flavour it has, and just glance
+at the colour.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley affected to do so, but his eyes
+were bent on the face of Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I hope you won't find Craigengowan dull,
+but every place is so after London.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'True, we live so fast there that we never
+seem to have time to do anything.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, understanding that Shafto was
+to be his chief companion at the covies on
+the morrow, Hammersley talked to him of
+hammerless guns, of central fire, of the mode
+of breaking in dogs, training setters, and so
+forth; and as these subjects had not been
+included in Shafto's education at Lawyer
+Carlyon's office, he almost yawned as he
+listened with irritation to what he could not comprehend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If you care for fishing, Hammersley,' said
+Lord Fettercairn, 'the Bervie yields capital
+salmon, sea and yellow trout.  Finella has
+filled more than one basket with the latter,
+but Shafto is somewhat of a duffer with his
+rod&mdash;he breaks many a rod, and has never
+landed a salmon yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the shootings?' said Hammersley inquiringly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, the best in the county are Drumtochty,
+Fasque, Hobseat, and my own, as I
+hope you will find to-morrow.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks&mdash;indeed, I am sure I shall.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have close on 5,000 acres, and the
+probable bag of grouse and black game is
+from 400 to 500 brace.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After dinner that evening Finella was
+found singing at the piano&mdash;singing, as she
+always did, without requiring pressure and
+apparently for the mere pleasure of it, as a
+thrush on a rose bush sings; but now she
+sang for Vivian Hammersley, Shafto felt
+instinctively that she did so, and his bitterness
+was roused when he heard her, in a pause, whisper:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Please, Captain Hammersley, let Shafto
+turn the leaves.  He likes to do it, though he
+can do little else in the way of music.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This kind of confidence seemed to imply
+foregone conclusions and a mutual understanding,
+however slight; but, to some extent,
+Finella had a kind of dread of Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley smiled and drew back, after
+placing a piece of music before her; but not
+before remarking:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This song you are about to sing is not a new one.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No&mdash;it is old as the days when George
+IV. was king&mdash;it is one you gave me some
+weeks ago in London, you remember?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Am I likely to forget?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Turn the leaves, Shafto, please,' said
+Finella, adjusting her dress over the
+music-stool; 'but don't talk to me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It interrupts one so; but turn the leaves
+at the proper time.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Captain Hammersley will do that better
+than I,' said Shafto, drawing almost sulkily
+away, while the former resumed his place by
+Finella, with an unmistakable smile rippling
+over his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley
+had given her, was an old one, long
+since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,'
+and jealous anger gathered in Shafto's heart
+as he listened and heard Hammersley's voice
+blend with Finella's in the last line of each
+verse:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'We met not in the sylvan scene<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where lovers wish to meet,<br />
+  Where skies are bright and woods are green,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And bursting blossoms sweet;<br />
+  But in the city's busy din,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where Mammon holds his reign,<br />
+  Sweet intercourse we sought to win<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid fashion, guile, and gain;<br />
+  Above us was a murky sky,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Around a crowded space,<br />
+  Yet dear, my love, to thee and me,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was this, our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'They are who say Love only dwells<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers;<br />
+  Alike to him are gloomy cells<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or gay and smiling bowers;<br />
+  Love works not on insensate things<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His sweet and magic art;<br />
+  No outward shrine arrests his wings,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His home is in the heart;<br />
+  And dearest hearts like <i>thine</i> and <i>mine</i>,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With rapture must retrace&mdash;<br />
+  How often Love has deigned to shine<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On this our <i>trysting place</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more
+sweetly than ever!' said Hammersley in a
+low voice as he bent over her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself;
+'where was this trysting place?  I feel
+inclined to put a charge of shot into him
+to-morrow.  I will, too, if the day is foggy!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella, though pressed, declined to sing
+more, as the Misses Kippilaw, who were
+rather irrepressible young ladies, now
+proposed a carpet-dance, and she drew on her
+gloves; and while she fumbled away, almost
+nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew
+that Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and
+admiringly bent on her, till he came to the
+rescue, and did the buttoning required; and
+to Shafto it seemed the process was a very
+protracted one, and was a pretty little
+connivance, as in reality it was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion,
+was summoned, and she&mdash;poor creature&mdash;had
+to furnish music for the occasion, till at
+last Finella good-naturedly relieved her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So a carpet-dance closed the evening, and
+then Shafto, though an indifferent waltzer,
+thought he might excel in a square dance
+with Finella; but he seldom shone in conversation
+at any time, and on this occasion his
+attempts at it proved a great failure, and
+when he compared this with the animation of
+Hammersley and Finella in the Lancers, he
+was greatly puzzled and secretly annoyed.
+The former did not seem to undergo that
+agony so often felt by Shafto, of having
+out-run all the topics of conversation, or to have
+to rack his brain for anecdotes or jokes, but
+to be able to keep up an easy flow of
+well-bred talk on persons, places, and things,
+which seemed to amuse Finella excessively,
+as she smiled brightly and laughed merrily
+while fanning herself, and looking more
+sparkling and piquante than ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What the deuce can he find to say to
+her?' thought Shafto; but Hammersley was
+only finding the links&mdash;the threads of a dear
+old story begun in London months ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So passed the first day of Hammersley's
+arrival at Craigengowan, and Finella laid her
+head on her pillow full of bright and happy
+thoughts, in which 'Cousin Shafto' bore no
+share.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But while these emotions and events were
+in progress, where, in the meantime, was
+Florian?  Ay, Shafto Gyle, where?
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIII.
+<br /><br />
+AMONG THE GROUSE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Nathless the vengeful thoughts of the
+unamiable Shafto and his threats muttered in
+secret, the shooting next day passed off
+without any peril being encountered by
+the unconscious Hammersley&mdash;unconscious at
+least of the enmity his presence was inspiring.
+However, it was not so the second; and
+Finella and her fair friends agreed that if he
+looked so well and handsome in his heather-coloured
+knickerbocker shooting-dress, with
+ribbed stockings of Alloa yarn, his gun under
+his arm, and shot-belt over his shoulder, how
+gallant must he look when in full uniform.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the field the vicinity of Shafto was
+avoided as much as possible, as he shot wildly
+indeed.  By the gamekeepers, servants, and
+people generally on the estate he was simply
+detested for the severity of his manner, his
+tyranny, his disposition to bully, and meanness
+in every way; though at first, when he came
+to Craigengowan, they had laboured in vain,
+and vied with each other in their attempts
+to initiate him into those field-sports so dear
+to Britons generally, and to the Scots in
+particular; but when shooting grouse
+especially, the beaters or 'drivers' had genuine
+dread of him, and, when fog was on, sometimes
+refused to attend him, and he was, as
+they said among themselves, 'a new
+experience i' the Howe o' the Mearns.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I've seen as fu' a haggis toomed on a
+midden,' said the old head-gamekeeper wrathfully,
+as he drew his bonnet over his beetling
+brows, 'but I'll keep my mind to mysel', and
+tell my tale to the wind that blaws o'er
+Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though well past sixty now, Lord Fettercairn,
+hale and hearty, was in the field with
+his central-fire gun with fine Damascus
+barrels.  Shafto, Hammersley, young Kippilaw,
+and four others made up the party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The morning was a lovely one, and lovely
+too was the scenery, for August is a month
+richly tinted with the last touches of summer,
+blended with the russet tones of autumn; the
+pleasant meadows are yet green, and over the
+ripened harvest the breeze murmurs like the
+ocean when nearly asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apart from the joyous exhilaration of
+shooting, and that out-door exercise so dear
+to every English gentleman, Vivian
+Hammersley felt all that which comes from the
+romantic beauty of his surroundings&mdash;the
+scenery of the Howe of the Mearns, which
+is a low champaign and highly cultivated
+country, studded with handsome mansions,
+and ornamented by rich plantations and
+thriving villages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ere long the open muirs were reached, and
+the hill-sides, the steep, purple ridges of
+which the sportsmen had to breast; and,
+keen sportsman though he was, Hammersley
+had soon to admit that grouse-shooting was
+the most fatiguing work he had yet
+encountered; but soon came the excitements of
+the first point, the first brood, and the first
+shot or two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the eye chiefly accustomed to brown
+partridges, grouse look dusky and even black,
+and they seem to hug the purple heather, but
+when one becomes accustomed to them they
+are as easy to knock over as the tame birds;
+and now the crack of the guns began to ring
+out along the hill-slopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto and Hammersley were about twenty
+yards apart, and twice when a bird rose
+before the latter, it was brought down
+wounded but not killed by the former.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley felt that this was 'bad form,'
+as Shafto should not have fired, unless he
+had missed or passed it; but he only bit his
+lip and smiled disdainfully.  Lord Fettercairn
+remarked the discourtesy, and added,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto, I do wish you would take an
+example from Captain Hammersley.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In what way?' grumbled Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He kills his game clean&mdash;few birds
+run from him with broken wings and so
+forth.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am glad to hit when I can,' said Shafto,
+whose mode of life in Devonshire had made
+him rather soft, and he was beginning to
+think that nerves of iron and lungs like a
+bagpipe were requisite for breasting up the
+hill-slopes, and then shoot straight at anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley worked away silently, neither
+looking to his right nor left, feeling that
+though several elements are requisite for
+'sport,' the chief then was to kill as much
+grouse as possible in a given time, but was
+more than once irritated and discomposed by
+Shafto, and even young Kippilaw, shooting in
+a blundering way along the line even when
+the birds were not flying high; and he
+proceeded in a workmanlike way to bring
+down one bird as it approached, the next
+when it was past him, and so on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first portion of the day the Fettercairn
+party shot to points, and then to drivers, and
+in their fear of Shafto's wild shooting, the
+latter kept shouting while driving, and, as he
+loathed the whole thing, and was now
+'completely blown&mdash;pumped out,' as he phrased it,
+he was not sorry when the magic word
+'lunch' was uttered; and Hammersley
+certainly hailed it, for with the lunch came
+Finella, and with her arrival&mdash;to him&mdash;the
+most delightful part of the day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She came tooling along the sunny pathway
+that traversed the bottom of a glen, driving
+with her tightly gauntleted and deft little
+hands a pair of beautiful white ponies, which
+drew the daintiest of basket-phaetons,
+containing also Mr. Grapeston and an ample
+luncheon-basket; and the place chosen for
+halting was a green oasis amid the dark
+heather, where a spring of deliciously cool
+water was bubbling up, called Finella's Well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now, gentlemen,' said Lord Fettercairn,
+'please to draw your cartridges.  I was once
+nearly shot in this very place by a stupid
+fellow who omitted to do so.  So glad you
+have come, Finella darling, we are all hungry
+as hawks, and thirsty too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lovely indeed did the piquante girl look
+in her coquettish hat and well-fitting jacket,
+while the drive, the occasion, and the touch
+of Hammersley's hand as he assisted her to
+alight gave her cheek an unwonted colour,
+and lent fresh lustre to her dark eyes, and
+the soldier thought that certainly there was
+nothing in the world so pleasant to a man's
+eye as a young, well-dressed, and beautiful girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You have had good sport,' said she to the
+group, while her eye rested on Hammersley,
+and then on the rows of grouse laid by braces
+on the grass; and she 'brought a breeze
+with her,' as the gentlemen thought, and had
+a pleasant remark for each.  Her mode of
+greeting the members of the party was
+different, as to some she gave her hand like
+a little queen, while to others she smiled, or
+simply bowed; but provoked an angry snort
+from Shafto by expressing a hope that he
+'had not shot anyone yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then he grew white as he recalled his
+angry thoughts of the preceding night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why did you take the trouble to drive
+here?' he asked her, in a low voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because I chose to come; and I do so
+love driving these plump darlings of ponies,'
+replied the girl, patting the sleek animals
+with her tiny, slim hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Old Grapeston would have done well
+enough; and why did you not bring one of
+the Kippilaw girls?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They are at lawn-tennis.  If I thought I
+could please you&mdash;not an easy task&mdash;I should
+have tried to bring them all, though that is
+rather beyond the capacities of my phaeton.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto never for a moment doubted that
+she had come over to superintend the
+luncheon because 'that fellow Hammersley'
+was one of the party; and in this suspicion
+perhaps he was right.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for Hammersley, being ignorant of
+Shafto's antecedents, his present hopes, and
+those of Lady Fettercairn, he could not
+comprehend how the grandson and heir-apparent
+of a peer came to be 'such bad form&mdash;bad
+style, and all that sort of thing,' as he
+thought; and all that became rather worse
+when Shafto was under the influence of
+sundry bumpers of iced Pommery Greno
+administered by Mr. Grapeston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the sportsmen lounged on the grass,
+and the luncheon proceeded under the
+superintendence of old Jasper Grapeston,
+Finella, the presiding goddess, looked
+unusually bright and happy&mdash;a consummation
+which Shafto never doubted, in his rage and
+jealousy, came of the presence of Vivian
+Hammersley, and that her brilliance was all
+the result of another man's society&mdash;not his
+certainly, and hence he would have preferred
+that she was not light-hearted at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could see that with all her <i>espieglerie</i>
+Finella found no occasion to laugh at
+Hammersley or tease or snub that gentleman as
+she did himself, but the attentions of
+Hammersley were delicately and seductively paid.
+Deferential and gentle at all times, to all
+women, he had always been so to Finella
+Melfort, and she was able to feel more than
+his words, looks, or manner suggested to
+others; and he imagined&mdash;nay, he was
+becoming certain&mdash;and a glow of great joy came
+with the certainty&mdash;that Finella's sweet dark
+eyes grew brighter at his approach; that a
+rose-leaf tinge crossed her delicate cheek, and
+there came a slight quiver into her voice
+when she replied to him,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Was it all really so?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fate was soon to decide that which he had
+been too slow or timid to decide for himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he said one of the merest commonplaces
+to her, their eyes met.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was only one lingering glance!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But looks can say so much more than the
+voice, the eyes surpassing the lips, breaking
+or revealing what the silence of months, it
+may be years, has hidden, and leading heart
+to heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Grandpapa,' said Finella, suddenly, and
+just before driving off, 'do you shoot over
+this ground to-morrow?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To a certain extent we shall&mdash;but why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shall I bring the luncheon here?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, pet, to Finella's Well.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So, then, this shall be our trysting-place!'
+said she, with a bow to all, and a merry
+glance which included most certainly Vivian
+Hammersley, to whom the landscape seemed
+to darken with her departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now is the time for shooting to advantage,'
+said Lord Fettercairn, who knew
+by old experience that when the afternoon
+shadows, and more especially those of evening,
+begin to lengthen, the slopes of the hills are
+seen better, that the birds, too, lie better,
+and that as the air becomes more fresh and
+cool, men can shoot with greater care and
+deliberation than in the heat of noon.  But
+Hammersley, full of his own thoughts, full of
+the image of Finella and that tale-telling
+glance they had exchanged, missed nearly
+every bird, to the great exultation of Shafto,
+who made an incredible number of bad and
+clumsy jokes thereon&mdash;jokes which the young
+Englishman heard with perfect indifference
+and equanimity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto, however, scarcely foresaw the
+result of the next day's expedition, and
+certainly Hammersley did not do so either.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIV.
+<br /><br />
+THE TWO FINELLAS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Next day, when the grouse-shooting had
+been in progress for an hour or two, a
+mishap occurred to Hammersley.  He twisted
+his ankle in a turnip-field, fell heavily on
+one side, and staggered up too lame to take
+further share in the sport for that day at
+least.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When Finella comes with the lunch in
+the pony-phaeton, she will drive you home,'
+said Lord Fettercairn, who then desired
+one of the beaters to give Hammersley
+the assistance of an arm to the well,
+where the repast was to be laid out as
+before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Shafto saw his rival limping he was
+delighted, and thought, 'This will mar his
+waltzing for a time at least;' but he was less
+delighted when he heard of Lord Fettercairn's
+natural suggestion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is likely a cunning dodge,' was his next
+thought, 'to get a quiet drive with her to
+Craigengowan.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Finella's look and exclamation of
+alarm and interest were not lost upon him
+when she arrived and found Hammersley
+seated on the grass by the side of the well,
+and saw the difficulty with which he rose to
+greet her, propping himself upon his unloaded
+gun as he did so; and soft, indeed, was the
+blush of pleasure that crossed her delicate
+face when she heard of 'grandpapa's arrangement;'
+and certainly it met, secretly, with the
+entire approbation of Hammersley, who
+anticipated with delight the drive home with such
+a companion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time the luncheon&mdash;though skilfully
+protracted by Shafto&mdash;was over, and
+Finella and her 'patient' were together in
+the phaeton, and she, with a smile and farewell
+bow, whipped up her petted ponies, Flirt
+and Fairy, whom every day she fed with
+apples and carrots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that
+she was in great haste to be gone; but more
+sulky would he have been had he seen, or
+known that when once an angle of the glen
+was reached where the road dipped out of
+sight, the ponies were permitted to go at
+their own pace, which ere long dwindled into
+a walk, till they passed the vast ruined castle
+of Fettercairn.  Finella and Hammersley
+were, however, if very happy, very silent,
+though both enjoyed the drive in the bright
+sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he
+quite forgot his petty misfortune in contemplating
+the delicate profile and long drooping
+eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and
+who, with a fluttering heart, was perhaps
+expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips,
+especially when he placed his hand on hers,
+in pretence of guiding the ponies, which
+broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates
+were passed; and glorious as the opportunity
+accorded him had been, Hammersley's heart,
+while burning with passionate ardour, seemed
+to have lost all courage, for he had a sincere
+dread of Lady Fettercairn, and suspected
+that her interests were naturally centred in
+Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At seven-and-twenty a man, who has
+knocked about the world, with a regiment
+especially, for some nine years or so, does
+not fall over head and ears in love like a
+rash boy, or without calculating his chances
+of general success; and poor Hammersley,
+though he did not doubt achieving it with
+Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and breakers
+ahead with her family, and his spirit was a
+proud one.  To make a declaration was to
+ruin or lose everything, for if the family were
+averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit
+their roof for ever, and Finella would be lost
+to him, for heiresses seldom elope now, save
+in novels; and he knew that in her circle the
+motives for marriage are more various and
+questionable than with other and untitled
+ranks of life.  Rank and money were the
+chief incentives of such people as the
+Melforts of Fettercairn.  'Venal unions,'
+says an essayist, 'no doubt occur in the
+humbler classes, but love is more frequently
+the incentive, while with princes and
+patricians the conjugal alliance is, in nine
+instances out of ten, a mere matter of <i>expedience</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Craigengowan was reached, and not a
+word of the great secret that filled his heart
+had escaped him, for which he cursed his
+own folly and timidity when the drive ended,
+and a groom took the ponies' heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet the day was not over, nor was a
+fresh opportunity wanting.  Lady Fettercairn
+and all her female quests had driven to a
+flower-show at the nearest town&mdash;even
+Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything in and about Craigengowan
+seemed conducive to love-talk and
+confidences.  The great and picturesque house
+itself was charming.  The old orchards
+would ere long be heavy with fruit, and were
+then a sight to see; on the terrace the
+peacocks were strutting to and fro; there were
+fancy arbours admirably adapted for flirtation,
+and a quaint old Scottish garden (with a sun
+and moon dial) now gay with all the flowers
+of August.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On a lounge near an open window facing
+the latter Hammersley was reclining, when
+Finella, after changing her driving dress,
+came into the drawing-room, and finely her
+costume suited her dark and piquante style
+of beauty.  She wore a cream-coloured silk,
+profusely trimmed with filmy lace, and a
+cluster of scarlet flowers on the left shoulder
+among the lace of the collarette that encircled
+her slender neck; and Hammersley, as he
+looked at her, thought that 'beauty
+unadorned' was rather a fallacy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His undisguised expression of admiration
+as he partly rose to receive her caused her to
+colour a little, as she inquired if his hurt was
+easier now; but, instead of replying, he
+said, while venturing slightly to touch her
+hand:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell me, Miss Melfort, how you came by
+your dear pretty name of Finella?  Not
+from Finella in "Peveril of the Peak"?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ah, I am very unlike her!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are certainly quite as charming!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But neither dumb nor pretending to be
+so,' said the girl, with one of her silvery little
+laughs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella!' said Hammersley, as if to
+himself, in a low and unconsciously loving
+tone; 'whence the name?  Is it a family one?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Don't you know?' she asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How could I know?  I know only that I
+will never forget it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course you could not know.  The
+origin of my name is one of the oldest legends
+of the Howe of the Mearns.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Howe&mdash;that is Scotch for "hollow," I
+believe.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; "hollow" is the English for <i>howe</i>,'
+replied Finella, laughing, as she recalled a
+quip of Boucicault's to the same purpose.
+'You saw the great old castle we passed in
+our drive home?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Well, I am called Finella from a lady who
+lived there.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After it fell into ruin?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; before it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then she must have lived a precious long
+time ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She certainly did&mdash;some&mdash;nearly a
+thousand years ago.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What a little quiz you are!  Now, Miss
+Melfort, what joke is this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No joke at all,' said she, quite seriously;
+'you can read about it in our family history&mdash;or
+I shall read it to you in the "Book of
+Fettercairn."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She took from a table near a handsome
+volume, which her grandfather&mdash;to please
+whom she was named Finella&mdash;had in a
+spirit of family vanity prepared for private
+circulation, and as if to connect his title with
+antiquity, prefaced by a story well known in
+ancient Scottish history, though little known
+to the Scots of the present day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We give it from his Lordship's book
+verbatim as she read it to Vivian
+Hammersley, who&mdash;cunning rogue&mdash;was not
+indisposed with such a charming and
+sympathetic companion as Finella to make the
+most of his fall, and reclined rather luxuriously
+on the velvet lounge, while she, seated in a
+dainty little chair, read on; but he scarcely
+listened, so intent was he on watching her
+sweet face, her white and perfect ears, her
+downcast eyelids with their long lashes&mdash;her
+whole self!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Melforts, Lords Fettercairn (Strathfinella)
+and of that Ilk, take their hereditary
+title from the old castle of that name, which
+stands in the Howe of the Mearns, and is
+sometimes called the Castle of Finella.  It
+is situated on an eminence, and is now
+surrounded on three sides by a morass.  It
+is enclosed within an inner and an outer wall
+of oblong form, and occupying half an acre of
+ground.  The inner is composed of vitrified
+matter, but no lime has been used in its
+construction.  The walls are a congeries of
+small stones cemented together by some
+molten matter, now harder than the stones
+themselves; and the remarkable event for
+which this castle is celebrated in history is
+the following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Kenneth III., a wise and valiant
+king (who defeated the Danes at the battle
+of Luncarty, and created on that field the
+Hays, Earls of Errol, Hereditary Constables
+of Scotland, and leaders of the Feudal
+cavalry, thus originating also the noble
+families of Tweeddale and Kinnoull), was on
+the throne, his favourite residence was the
+castle of Kincardine, the ruins of which still
+remain about a mile eastward of the village
+of Fettercairn, and from thence he went
+periodically to pay his devotions at the
+shrine of St. Palladius, Apostle of the Scots,
+to whom the latter had been sent by Pope
+Celestine in the sixth century to oppose
+the Pelagian heresy, and whose bones at
+Fordoun were enclosed in a shrine of gold
+and precious stones in 1409 by the Bishop of
+St. Andrews.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had excited the deadly hatred
+of Finella, the Lady of Fettercairn, daughter
+of the Earl of Angus, by having justly put to
+death her son, who was a traitor and had
+rebelled against him in Lochaber; and, with
+the intention of being revenged, she prepared
+at Fettercairn a singular engine or 'infernal
+machine,' with which to slay the king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This engine consisted of a brass statue,
+which shot out arrows when a golden apple
+was taken from its hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kenneth was at Kincardine, engaged in
+hunting the deer, wolf, the badger and the
+boar, when she treacherously invited him to
+her castle of Fettercairn, which was then,
+as Buchanan records, 'pleasant with shady
+groves and piles of curious buildings,' of
+which there remained no vestiges when he
+wrote in the days of James VI.; and thither
+the king rode, clad in a rich scarlet mantle,
+white tunic, an eagle's wing in his helmet,
+and on its crest a glittering <i>clach-bhuai</i>, or
+stone of power, one of the three now in the
+Scottish regalia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dissembling her hate, she entertained the
+king very splendidly, and after dinner
+conducted him out to view the beauties of the
+place and the structure of her castle; and
+Kenneth, pleased with her beauty (which her
+raiment enhanced), for she wore a dress of
+blue silk, without sleeves, a mantle of fine
+linen, fastened by a brooch of silver, and all
+her golden hair floating on her shoulders,
+accompanied her into a tower, where, in an
+upper apartment, and amid rich festooned
+arras and 'curious sculptures' stood the
+infernal machine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She courteously and smilingly requested
+the king to take the golden apple from the
+right hand of the statue; and he, amazed by
+the strange conceit, did so; on this a rushing
+sound was heard within it as a string or cord
+gave way, and from its mouth there came
+forth two barbed arrows which mortally
+wounded him, and he fell at her feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella fled to Den Finella, and Kenneth
+was found by his retinue '<i>bullerand in his
+blude</i>.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Den Finella, says a writer, is said, in the
+genuine spirit of legendary lore, to have
+obtained its name from this princess, who,
+the more readily to evade her pursuers,
+stepped from the branches of one tree to
+those of another the whole way from her
+castle to this den, which is near the sea, in
+the parish of St. Cyres, as all the country
+then was a wild forest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Buchanan deems all this story a fable,
+though asserted by John Major and Hector
+Boece, and thinks it more probable that the
+king was slain near Fettercairn in an ambush
+prepared by Finella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So ended the legend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the girl read on, Vivian Hammersley
+had bent lower and lower over her, till the
+tip of his moustache nearly touched her rich
+dark hair, and his arm all but stole round
+her.  Finella Melfort was quite conscious of
+this close proximity, and though she did not
+shrink from it, that consciousness made her
+colour deepen and her sweet voice become unsteady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,'
+said she, closing the book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And to this awful legend of the dark
+ages, which only wants blue-fire, lime-light,
+and a musical accompaniment to set it off,
+you owe your name?' said he, laughingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes&mdash;it was grandfather's whim.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is odd that you&mdash;the belle of the last
+London season, should be named after such a
+grotesque old termagant!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She looked up at him smilingly, and then,
+as their eyes met, the expression of that
+glance exchanged beside the well on the hills
+came into them again; heart spoke to heart;
+he bent his face nearer hers, and his arm
+went round her in earnest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as
+he kissed her unresisting lips, her blushing
+face was hidden on his shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And <i>this</i> tableau was the result of the two
+days' shooting&mdash;a sudden result which neither
+Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of how long they remained thus neither
+had any idea.  Time seemed to stand still
+with them.  Finella was only conscious of
+his hand caressing hers, which lay so willingly
+in his tender, yet firm, clasp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt
+oblivious of all the world.  He could think
+of nothing but Finella, while the latter
+seemed scarcely capable of reflection at all
+beyond the existing thought that he loved
+her, and though the avowal was a silent and
+unuttered one, the new sense of all it admitted
+and involved, seemed to overwhelm the girl;
+her brightest day-dreams had come, and she
+nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The unwelcome sound of voices and also
+of carriage-wheels on the terrace roused
+them.  He released her hand, stole one
+more clinging kiss, and forgetful of his fall
+and all about it started with impatience to
+his feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had
+returned from the flower-show, and to avoid
+them and all the world, for a little time yet,
+the lovers, with their hearts still beating too
+wildly to come down to commonplace, tacitly
+wandered hand in hand into the recesses of a
+conservatory, and lingered there amid the
+warm, flower-scented atmosphere and shaded
+aisles, in what seemed a delicious dream.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella was conscious that Vivian
+Hammersley was talking to her lovingly and
+caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he
+had never talked before, and she felt that
+she was 'Finella'&mdash;the dearest and sweetest
+name in the world to him&mdash;and no more
+Miss Melfort.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be difficult, and superfluous
+perhaps, to describe the emotions of these
+two during the next few days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though now quite aware that Finella and
+Hammersley had met each other frequently
+before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy,
+though apparently undemonstrative, grew
+speedily into suspicious anger.  He felt
+intuitively that <i>his</i> presence made not the
+slightest difference to them, though he did
+not forget it; and he failed to understand
+how 'this fellow' had so quickly
+gained his subtle and familiar position with
+Finella.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It galled him to the quick to see and feel
+all this, and know that he could never please
+her as she seemed to be pleased with
+Hammersley; for her colour heightened, her eyes
+brightened, and her eyelashes drooped and
+flickered whenever he approached or
+addressed her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining
+Finella and her fortune against any discovery
+that might be made of the falsehood of his
+position, and so wrath and hatred gathered
+in his heart together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was baffled at times by her bright
+smiles and pretty, irresistible manner, but
+nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to
+scheme again.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XV.
+<br /><br />
+AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon
+Dulcie Carlyon in her Devonshire home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her father had been dull and gloomy of
+late, and had more than once laid his hand
+affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and
+said in a prayerful way that 'he hoped he
+might soon see her well married, and that she
+might never be left friendless!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would
+reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for
+some time past.  Was it born of her father's
+forebodings, or of the presentiment about
+which she had conversed with Florian?  A
+depression hung over her&mdash;an undefinable
+dread of some great calamity about to happen.
+At night her sleep was restless and broken,
+and by day a vague fear haunted her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The evil boded was to happen soon now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these oppressive thoughts mingled
+the memory of the tall and handsome dark-eyed
+lad she loved&mdash;it seemed so long ago,
+and she longed to hear his voice again, and
+for his breast to lay her head upon.  But
+where was Florian now?  Months had passed
+without her hearing of him, and she might
+never hear again!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little could she have conceived the foul
+trick that Shafto had played them both in the
+matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for
+herself, she had not seen the last of that
+enterprising young gentleman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She felt miserably that her heart was lonely
+and heavy, and that, young as she was, light
+and joy, with the absence and ruin of Florian,
+had gone out of her life.  She was alone
+always with her great sorrow, and longed
+much for tears; but as her past life had been
+a happy and joyous one, Dulcie Carlyon had
+been little&mdash;if at all&mdash;given to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One morning her father did not appear at
+breakfast as usual.  As yet undressed her
+red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke
+and caress, was floating in a great loose mass
+on her back and shoulders, and her blue eyes
+looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had, as was her daily wont, arranged
+his letters, cut and aired the morning papers
+for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on
+the table, with a basket of delicate peaches,
+which she knew he liked, from the famous
+south wall of the garden, with green fig
+leaves round them, for Dulcie did everything
+prettily and tastefully, however trivial.  Then
+she cut and buttered his bread, poured out his
+tea, and waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still he did not appear.  She knocked on
+his bedroom door, but received no answer,
+and saw, with surprise, that his boots were
+still on the mat outside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She peeped in and called on him&mdash;'Papa,
+papa!' but there was no response.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The room was empty, and the morning sun
+streamed through the uncurtained window.
+The bed had not been slept in!  Again she
+called his name, and rushed downstairs in
+alarm and affright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gas was burning in his writing-room;
+the window was still closed as it had been
+overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with
+his hands and arms stretched out on the table,
+sat Llewellen Carlyon, with his head bent
+forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually
+gone to sleep over his horrid weary work.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She leaned over his chair; wound her soft
+arms round his neck and bowed grey head&mdash;her
+lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness,
+her sweet face radiant with filial love, till, as
+she laid her cheek upon it, a mortal chill
+struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is this&mdash;papa?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was
+the sleep of death!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was disease of the heart, the doctors
+said, and he had thus passed away&mdash;died in
+harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right
+hand, and an unfinished legal document lay beneath it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the
+servants to her own room&mdash;they were old and
+affectionate country folks, who had been long
+with Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and
+his daughter well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious,
+the sudden shock was so dreadful to her, and
+when she woke from it, the old curate,
+Mr. Pentreath, who had baptized Florian and
+herself, was standing near her bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly
+and tenderly, as he passed his wrinkled hand
+over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What has happened?' she asked wildly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You fainted, Dulcie.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why&mdash;I never fainted before.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered
+an old servant, who saw the vague and
+wild inquiring expression of her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,'
+said the curate, putting a cup of coffee and
+piece of toast before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Something happened&mdash;something
+dreadful&mdash;what was it&mdash;oh, what was it?' asked
+Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She drank of the coffee thirstily; but
+declined the bread.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he;
+'I feared you might be unable to eat yet.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering
+and troubled look, and to become less
+wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry
+escaped her, and she said, with a calmness
+more terrible and painful than fainting or hysterics:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, I remember now&mdash;papa&mdash;poor papa&mdash;dead!
+Found dead!  Oh, my God! help
+me to bear it, or take me too&mdash;take me too!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long ago was it&mdash;yesterday&mdash;a
+month ago, or when?  I seem&mdash;I feel as if
+I had grown quite old, yet you all look just
+the same&mdash;just the same; how is this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes,
+'your dire calamity happened but a short time
+ago&mdash;little more than an hour since.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her response was a deep and heavy sob,
+that seemed to come from her overcharged
+heart rather than her slender throat, and
+which was the result of the unnatural tension
+of her mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Come to my house with me,' said the
+kind old curate; but Dulcie shook her head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive.  I
+wish to be with him, and alone.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake
+in grief to avoid contact with the world.
+The mind only gets sadder and deeper into
+its gloom of melancholy.  If you could but
+sleep, child, a little.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sleep&mdash;I feel as if I had been asleep for
+years; and it was this morning, you tell
+me&mdash;only this morning I had my arms round
+his neck&mdash;dead&mdash;my darling papa dead!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She started to her feet as if to go where
+the body lay under the now useless hands of
+the doctor, but would have fallen had she not
+clutched for support at Mr. Pentreath, who
+upheld and restrained her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The awful thought of her future loneliness
+now that she had thus suddenly lost her
+father, as she had not another relation in the
+world, haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and
+deprived her of the power of taking food or
+obtaining sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In vain her old servants, who had known
+her from infancy, coaxed her to attempt
+both, but sleep would not come, and the food
+remained untasted before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'A little water,' she would say; 'give me
+a little water, for thirst parches me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All that passed subsequently seemed like
+one long and terrible dream to Dulcie.  She
+was alone in the world, and when her father
+was laid in his last home at Revelstoke, within
+sound of the tumbling waves, in addition to
+being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless,
+for her father had nothing to leave her
+but the old furniture of the house they had
+inhabited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was sold, and she was to remain with
+the family of the curate till some situation
+could be procured for her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had long since ceased to expect any
+letter from or tidings of Florian.  She began
+to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of
+his new relations, he had forgotten her.  Well,
+it was the way of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never would she forget the day she quitted
+her old home.  Her father's hat, his coat and
+cane were in the hall; all that he had used and
+that belonged to him were still there, to bring
+his presence before her with fresh poignancy,
+and to impress upon her that she was fatherless,
+all but friendless, and an orphan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The superstitious people about Revelstoke
+now remembered that in Lawyer Carlyon's
+garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time
+appeared on more than one of his apple-trees,
+a certain sign of coming death to one of his
+household.  But who can tell in this
+ever-shifting world what a day may bring forth!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One evening&mdash;she never forgot it&mdash;she had
+been visiting her father's grave, and was
+slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground,
+when a man like a soldier approached her
+in haste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian!'  She attempted to utter his
+name, but it died away on her bloodless lips.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVI.
+<br /><br />
+''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+A poet says:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Not by appointment do we meet delight<br />
+  And joy: they need not our expectancy.<br />
+  But round some corner in the streets of life,<br />
+  They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Florian it was who stood before her, but
+though he gazed at her earnestly, wistfully,
+and with great pity in his tender eyes as he
+surveyed her pale face and deep mourning,
+he made no attempt to take the hands she
+yearningly extended towards him.  She saw
+that he was in the uniform of a private soldier,
+over which he wore a light dust-coat as a sort
+of disguise, but there was no mistaking his
+glengarry&mdash;that head-dress which is odious
+and absurd for English and Irish regiments,
+and which in his instance bore a brass
+badge&mdash;the sphinx, for Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon
+the expression of his eye grew doubtful and
+cloudy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing
+voice, in which something of upbraiding
+blended with tones of surprise and grief; and
+yet the fact of his presence seemed so unreal
+that she lingered for a moment before she
+flung herself into his arms, and was clasped
+to his breast.  'Oh, what is the meaning of
+this dress?' she asked, lifting her face and
+surveying him again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It means that I am a soldier&mdash;like him
+whose son I thought myself&mdash;a soldier of the
+Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with
+some bitterness of tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!'
+said Dulcie wringing her interlaced fingers.
+'Could not Shafto&mdash;your cousin&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto cast me off&mdash;seemed as if he could
+not get rid of me too soon.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How cruel, when he might have done so
+much for you, to use you so!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would
+not stoop to seek favours even from him, and
+our paths in life will never cross each other
+again; but a time may come&mdash;I know not
+when&mdash;in which I may seek forgiveness of
+enemies as well as friends&mdash;the bad and the
+good together&mdash;for a soldier's life is one of
+peril.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of horror&mdash;to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping
+freely on his breast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie!  Why
+did you cast me off in my utter adversity and
+return to me my locket?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie looked up in astonishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What <i>do</i> you mean, Florian&mdash;have you
+lost your senses?' she asked in sore perplexity.
+'Where have you come from last?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice
+of your terrible loss, and resolved to see, even
+if I could not speak with you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you came&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To see you, my lost darling, once again.
+Oh, Dulcie, I thought I should die if I left
+England and sailed for Africa without doing
+so.  I got a day's leave and am here.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But why have you done this?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This&mdash;what?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Soldiering!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I
+do?&mdash;besides, I thought you had cast me off
+when you sent me back this locket,' he added,
+producing the gift referred to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That locket was stolen from me on the
+night you left Revelstoke&mdash;literally wrenched
+from my neck, as I told you in my letter&mdash;the
+letter you never answered.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I received no letter, Dulcie&mdash;but your
+locket was taken from you by whom?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The double villain!  He must have intercepted
+that letter, and utilised the envelope
+with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me,
+and effect a breach between us.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie,
+and now I almost wish you had.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is little use to remember me now&mdash;I
+am so poor and hopeless.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'After all,' said she, taking his face between
+her hands caressingly, 'what does poverty
+matter if we love each other still?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And you love me, Dulcie&mdash;love me yet!'
+exclaimed Florian passionately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And shall never, never cease to do so.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But I am so much beneath you now in
+position, Dulcie&mdash;and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;' his voice
+broke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What, darling?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'May never rise.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you
+because you were unfortunate?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No; but you are more than a woman,
+Dulcie&mdash;you are a golden-haired angel!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow
+your cheeks are!  You have suffered&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Much since last we parted here in dear
+old Devonshire.  But Shafto's villainy
+surpasses all I could have imagined!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And where is Shafto now?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With his grand relations, I suppose.  I
+am glad that we have unravelled that which
+was to me a source of sorrow and dismay&mdash;the
+returned locket.  So you cannot take
+back your heart, Dulcie, nor give me mine?'
+said Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied,
+sweetly and simply.  'Though poor, we are
+all the world to each other now.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day
+existence is, there is&mdash;even in these
+railway times&mdash;much of strange and painful
+romance woven up with many a life; and
+so it seems to be with mine&mdash;with ours,
+Dulcie.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you
+were so!' exclaimed the girl, as a great pity
+filled her heart, when she thought of her
+lover's blighted life, their own baffled hopes,
+and the humble and most perilous course that
+was before him in South Africa, where the
+clouds of war were gathering fast.  'I, too,
+am poor, Florian&mdash;very poor; dear papa died
+involved, leaving me penniless, and I must
+cast about to earn my own bread.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is horrible&mdash;how shall I endure it?'
+said he fiercely, while regarding her with a
+loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What would you have done if you had not
+met me by chance here?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Loafed about till the last moment, and
+then done something desperate.  I <i>would</i> have
+seen you, and after that&mdash;the Deluge!  In
+two days we embark at Plymouth,' he added,
+casting a glance at the old church of
+Revelstoke and its burying-ground.  'There our
+parents lie, Dulcie&mdash;yours at least, and those
+that I, till lately, thought were mine.  There
+is something very strange and mysterious in
+this change of relationship and position
+between Shafto and myself.  I cannot understand
+it.  Why was I misled all my life by
+one who loved me so well?  How often have
+I stood with the Major by a gravestone
+yonder inscribed with the name of Flora
+MacIan and heard him repeat while looking
+at it&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'A thousand would call the spot dreary<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where thou takest thy long repose;<br />
+  But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the frame that suffering knows.<br />
+  I never rejoiced more sincerely<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Than at thy funeral hour,<br />
+  Assured that the one I loved dearly<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was beyond affliction's power!<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Why did he quote all this to me, and tell
+me never to forget that spot, or who was
+buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt,
+and not my mother?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian felt keenly for the position of
+Dulcie Carlyon, and the perils and mortifications
+that might beset her path now; but
+he was too young, too healthy and full of
+animal life and spirits, to be altogether
+weighed down by the thought of his humble
+position and all that was before him; and
+now that he had seen her again, restored to
+her bosom the locket, and that he knew she
+was true to him, and had never for a moment
+wavered in her girlish love, life seemed to
+become suddenly full of new impulses and
+hopes for him, and he thought prayerfully
+that all might yet be well for them both.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To Dulcie there seemed something noble
+in the hopeful spirit that, under her influence,
+animated her grave lover now.  He seemed
+to become calm, cool, steadfast, and, hap
+what might, she felt he would ever be true
+to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He seemed brave and tender and true&mdash;'tender
+and true' as a Douglas of old, and
+Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it
+would be to have such a handsome young husband
+as he to take care of her always, and see
+that all she did was right and proper and wise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A long embrace, and he was gone to catch
+the inexorable train.  She was again alone,
+and for the first time she perceived that the
+sun had set, that the waves looked black as
+they rounded Revelstoke promontory, and
+that all the landscape had grown dark,
+desolate, and dreary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What a hopeless future seemed to stretch
+before these two creatures, so young and so
+loving!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian was gone&mdash;gone to serve as a
+private soldier on the burning coast of Africa.
+It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to
+think of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Every morning and evening I shall pray
+for you, Florian,' wailed the girl in her heart;
+'pray that you may be happy, good, and
+rich, and&mdash;and that we shall yet meet in
+heaven if we never meet on earth.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the second morning after this separation,
+when Dulcie was pillowed in sleep, and
+the rising sun was shining brightly on the
+waves that rolled in Cawsand Bay and
+danced over the Mewstone, a great white
+'trooper' came out of Plymouth Sound under
+sail and steam, with the blue-peter flying at
+its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded
+with red coats, all waving their caps and
+taking a farewell look at Old England&mdash;the
+last look it proved to many&mdash;and, led by Bob
+Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of
+the Warwickshire, hundreds of voices joined
+chorusing:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Merrily, my lads, so ho!<br />
+  They may talk of a life at sea,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But a life on the land<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With sword in hand<br />
+  Is the life, my lads, for me!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+But there was one young soldier whose
+voice failed him in the chorus, and whose
+eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of
+the Yealm till these and other familiar features
+of the coast melted into the widening
+Channel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie was roused to exertion from the
+stupor of grief that had come upon her by
+tidings that a situation had been found for
+her as companion&mdash;one in which she would
+have to make herself useful, amiable, and
+agreeable in the family of a lady of rank and
+wealth, to whom she would be sent by
+influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate
+was her lot now, cast to seek her bread
+among utter strangers; and if she became ill,
+delicate, or unable to work, what would become
+of her?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her separation from Florian seemed now
+greater than ever; but, as Heine has it:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Tis but the old, old story,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yet it ever abideth new;<br />
+  And to whomsoever it cometh<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The heart it breaks in two.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie had been born and bred there,
+and all the villagers in Revelstoke loved
+and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were
+deeply interested in the future of his daughter;
+thus, on the day of her departure no one
+made any pretence of work or working.
+Heads were popping out and in of the windows
+of the village street all morning, and a
+cluster&mdash;a veritable crowd&mdash;of kindly folks
+accompanied Mr. Pentreath and the weeping
+girl to the railway station, for she wept freely
+at all this display of regard and sympathy,
+especially from the old, whom she might
+never see again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the train swept her away, and she
+lost sight of the last familiar feature of her
+native place, a strange and heavy sense of
+utter desolation came over poor Dulcie, and
+but for the presence of other passengers she
+would have stooped her head upon her hot
+hands and sobbed aloud, for she thought of
+her dead parents&mdash;when did she not think of
+them now?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have
+loved and gone before us can see afar off
+those they have left, surely the mother who
+had passed from earth might tremble now
+for her child, standing so terribly alone in the
+midst of a seething sea of danger and temptations?'
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVII.
+<br /><br />
+AT CRAIGENGOWAN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+With the new understanding&mdash;the tacit
+engagement that existed between herself and
+Vivian Hammersley&mdash;Finella writhed with
+annoyance when privately and pointedly
+spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin'
+Shafto's attentions and hopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn,
+'I don't see why I may not marry
+whom I please.  I am not like a poor girl
+who has nothing in the world.  Indeed, in
+that case I am pretty sure that neither you
+nor cousin Shafto would want me.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn,
+when reporting this plain reply to
+Lady Drumshoddy.  'I certainly shall not
+take her to London again, yet awhile.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are right,' replied that somewhat
+grim matron; 'and when once this Captain
+Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat
+too <i>èpris</i> with her, is gone, you can easily
+find some pretext for remaining at Craigengowan;
+or shall I have her with me?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn,
+who knew that the Drumshoddy <i>mènage</i> did
+not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I
+think she is better here&mdash;propinquity and all
+that sort of thing may be productive of good.
+I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made
+up, and, as I said before, she must settle
+soon.  We can't have twenty thousand a year
+slipping out of the family.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finella thought little of their wishes or
+those of Shafto.  She thought only of that
+passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room,
+where she was alone with Vivian, and his lips
+were pressed to hers; of the close throb of
+heart to heart, and that the great secret of
+her young girl's life was his now and hers no
+longer, but aware of the opposition and
+antagonism he would be sure to encounter just
+then, she urged upon him a caution and a
+secrecy of the engagement which his proud
+spirit somewhat resented.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thought it scarcely honourable to take
+advantage of Lord Fettercairn's hospitality,
+and gain the love of Finella without his
+permission; but as both knew that would
+never be accorded&mdash;that to ask for it would
+cut short his visit, and as he was so soon
+going on distant service, with Finella he
+agreed that their engagement should be kept
+a secret till his return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to blind the eyes of the watchful or
+suspicious he actually found himself flirting
+with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young
+ladies who thought they spoke the purest
+English, though it was with that accent which
+Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of
+Edinburgh;' and, perceiving this, Lady
+Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and
+Finella was excessively amused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not so the astute Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is all a d&mdash;&mdash;d game!' muttered that
+young gentleman; 'a red herring drawn
+across the scent.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?'
+asked Finella one evening, when she and her
+lover found themselves alone for a few
+minutes, during which she had been
+contemplating his dark face in silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My leave of absence is running out so
+fast&mdash;by Jove, faster than ever apparently
+now!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl
+softly and after a pause, her dark eyes
+darkening and seeming to become more
+intense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'No,' he replied, with hesitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tell me, then&mdash;what is the other?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You know how I love you&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I&mdash;you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But in one sense my love is so liable to
+misconstruction&mdash;so hopeless of proof.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hopeless, Vivian&mdash;after all I have
+admitted?' she asked reproachfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I mean because I am almost penniless as
+compared to you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What does that matter?  Surely I have
+enough for two,' said she, laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I fear the bitter opposition of your
+family.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the
+independent little beauty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have heard a rumour that one of the
+Melforts who made a pure love-marriage was
+cut off root and branch.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I
+was born.  Well&mdash;they can't cut <i>me</i> off.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They will never consent; and when I am
+far away, as I soon shall be, if their evil
+influence&mdash;&mdash;'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Should prevail with me?  Oh, Vivian!'
+exclaimed the girl, her dark eyes sparkling
+through their unshed tears.  'Think not of
+their influencing me, for a moment.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you a thousand times for the
+assurance, my love.  It was vile of me to
+think of such things.  I have a sure conviction
+that your cousin Shafto dislikes me most
+certainly,' said Hammersley, after a pause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't doubt it,' said she.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They mean you for him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They&mdash;who?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your grandparents.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I know they do&mdash;but don't tease me by
+speaking of a subject so distasteful,' exclaimed
+Finella, making a pretty moue expression of
+disdain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on
+her hair, and his lips quickly found their way
+to hers, after they had been pressed on her
+snow-white eyelids.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,'
+he exclaimed passionately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in
+that style of iteration of which lovers never
+grow weary, with an adoring upward glance,
+which it was a pity the gathering gloom
+prevented him from seeing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they walked slowly towards the house,
+she quickly withdrew her hands, which were
+clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto
+approached them suddenly.  He saw the abrupt
+act, and drew his own conclusions therefrom,
+and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned
+abruptly away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So that is the amiable youth for whom
+they design you,' said he in a whisper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Did I not say you were not to speak of
+him?  To tell you the truth, I am at times
+somewhat afraid of him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My darling&mdash;I must give you an amulet&mdash;a
+charm against his evil influence,' said
+Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring
+on her wedding-finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is this&mdash;oh, Vivian! actually a
+wedding-ring&mdash;but I cannot wear, though I
+may keep it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Then wear this until you can, when I
+return, darling,' said he, as he slipped a
+gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and
+stooping, kissed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl
+happily.  'Well, Vivian, none other than the
+hoop you have now given me shall be my
+wedding-ring!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this
+she would have had good reason to fear that
+Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping
+away from the Craigengowan family, all the
+more so that the scene of this tender
+interview was a spot below the mansion-house,
+said to be traditionally fatal to the Melforts
+of Fettercairn, the Howe of Craigengowan&mdash;for
+there a terrible adventure occurred to the
+first Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of
+whom the men of the Mearns were wont to
+say he had not only sold his country to her
+enemies, but that he had also sold his soul to
+the evil one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It chanced that in the gloaming of the
+28th of April, 1708, the first anniversary of
+that day on which the Scottish Parliament
+dissolved to meet no more, he was walking
+in a place which he had bought with his
+Union bribe&mdash;the Howe of Craigengowan,
+then a secluded dell, overshadowed by great
+alders and whin bushes&mdash;when he saw at the
+opposite end the figure of a man approaching
+pace for pace with himself, and his outline
+was distinctly seen against the red flush of
+the western sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they neared each other slowly, a strange
+emotion of superstitious awe stole into the
+hard heart of Lord Fettercairn.  So strong
+was this that he paused for a minute, and
+rested on his cane.  The stranger did
+precisely the same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The peer&mdash;the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited
+Estates&mdash;'pulled himself together,'
+and put his left hand jauntily into the silver
+hilt of his sword&mdash;a motion imitated exactly,
+and to all appearance mockingly, by the
+other, whose gait, bearing, and costume&mdash;a
+square-skirted crimson coat, a long-flapped
+white vest, black breeches and stockings
+rolled over the knee, and a Ramillie wig&mdash;were
+all the same in cut and colour as his
+own!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert
+that he would never be able to describe the
+undefinable, the strange and awful sensation
+that crept over him when, as they neared
+each other, pace by pace, he saw in the
+other's visage the features of himself
+reproduced, as if he had been looking into a
+mirror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A cold horror ran through every vein.
+He knew and felt that his own features were
+pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and
+dismay, while he could see that those of his
+dreadful counterpart were radiant with spite
+and triumphant malice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Himself seemed to look upon himself&mdash;the
+same in face, figure, dress; every
+detail was the same, save that the other
+clutched a canvas bag, inscribed '£500'
+the price of the Union vote (or, as some
+said, the price of his soul)&mdash;on seeing which
+my Lord Fettercairn shrieked in an agony
+of terror, and fell prone on his face&mdash;a
+fiendish yell and laugh from the other making
+all the lonely Howe re-echo as he did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How long he lay there he knew not precisely;
+but when he opened his eyes the pale
+April moon was shining down the Howe,
+producing weird and eerie shadows, the alder
+and whin bushes looked black and gloomy,
+and the window lights were shining redly in
+the tall and sombre mass of Craigengowan,
+the gables, turrets, and vanes of which stood
+up against the starry sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He never quite recovered the shock, but
+died some years after; and even now on
+dark nights, when owls hoot, ravens croak,
+toads crawl, and the clock at Craigengowan
+strikes twelve, something strange&mdash;no one
+can exactly say what&mdash;is to be seen in the
+Howe, even within sound of the railway
+engine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But to resume our own story:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though a day for parting&mdash;for a separation
+involving distance, time, and no small
+danger to one&mdash;was inexorably approaching,
+Finella was very happy just then, with a
+happiness she had never known before, and
+with a completeness that made life&mdash;even to
+her who had known London for a brilliant
+season&mdash;seem radiant.  She had been joyous
+like a beautiful bird, and content, too, before
+the renewal and fuller development of her
+intimacy with Vivian Hammersley; but she
+was infinitely more joyous and content now.
+''Twas but the old, old story' of a girl's love,
+and in all her sentiments and all her hopes
+for the future Vivian shared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beautiful dreams of a dual life had
+been partly&mdash;if not fully&mdash;realised through
+him, who seemed to her a perfect being, a
+perfect hero: though he was only a smart
+linesman, a handsome young fellow like a
+thousand others, yet he possessed every
+quality to render a girl happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto felt that Hammersley had quite
+'cut the ground from under his feet' with
+Finella, as he phrased it; and hating him in
+consequence, and being a master in cunning
+and finesse, wonderfully so for his years, he
+resolved to get 'the interloper's' visit to
+Craigengowan cut short at all hazards, and
+he was not long in putting his scheme in
+operation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lovers thus were not quite unconscious
+of being watched by eyes that were quickened
+by avarice, passion, and jealousy; yet, withal,
+they were very, very happy&mdash;in Elysium, in
+fact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finding that Hammersley had suddenly
+become averse to gambling, after a long day
+among the grouse, Shafto strove hard to lure
+him into play one evening in the smoke-room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hammersley declined, aware that Shafto
+was remarkably sharp at cards, having become
+somewhat efficient after years of almost
+nightly play in the bar-room of the Torrington
+Arms at Revelstoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto's manner on this evening became
+almost insulting, and he taunted him with
+'taking deuced good care of such money as
+he had.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+''Pon my soul, young fellow, do you know
+that you are rather&mdash;well&mdash;ah&mdash;rude?' said
+Hammersley, removing his cigar for a
+moment and staring at the speaker.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Sorry, but it's my way,' replied Shafto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Perhaps you had better make that your
+way,' said Hammersley, his brown cheek
+reddening as he indicated the room-door with
+his cigar.  Then suddenly remembering that
+he must preserve certain amenities, and as
+guest&mdash;especially one circumstanced as he was
+secretly&mdash;he pushed his cigar-case towards
+Shafto, saying&mdash;'Try one of these&mdash;they are
+Rio Hondos, and are of the best kind.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks, I prefer my own,' said Shafto, sulkily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, piqued by the manner of the latter,
+and having been lured into drinking a little
+more brandy and soda than was good for him
+after dinner, the unsuspecting Englishman
+sat down to play, and though he did so
+carelessly, his success was wonderful, for, while
+not caring to win, he won greatly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higher and higher rose the stakes, till a
+very considerable sum had passed into his
+hands, and, handsome though Shafto's
+quarterly allowance from his 'grandfather,' paid
+duly by Mr. Kippilaw, he could not help the
+lengthening of his visage, and the growing
+pallor of it, while his shifty eyes rolled about
+in his anxiety and anger; and Lord Fettercairn
+and young Kippilaw, who were present,
+looked on&mdash;the former with some annoyance,
+and the latter with amused interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite suddenly, Kippilaw exclaimed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hey&mdash;what the deuce is this?  Captain
+Hammersley, you have dropped a card.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he picked one up from that officer's
+side, and laid it on the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The ace of spades!  By heaven, you have
+<i>already</i> played that card!' exclaimed Shafto,
+with fierce triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is not mine!' said Hammersley, hotly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whose, then?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How the devil should I know?' asked
+Hammersley, eyeing him firmly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Your luck has been marvellous, but not
+so much so when we know that you play with
+double aces,' said Shafto, throwing down his
+cards and starting from the table, as the other
+did, now pallid with just rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Would you dare to insinuate?' began the
+officer, in a hoarse tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I insinuate nothing; but the disgraceful
+fact speaks for itself; and I think you have
+been quite long enough among us in
+Craigengowan,' he added, coarsely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Vivian Hammersley was pale as death,
+and speechless with rage.  He thought first
+of Finella and then of his own injured
+honour; and we know not what turn this
+episode might have taken had not Lord
+Fettercairn, who, we have said, had been
+quietly looking on from a corner, said gravely,
+sharply, and even with pain, as he started
+forward:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Shafto!  I saw you drop <i>that card</i>, where
+Mr. Kippilaw picked it up&mdash;drop it, whether
+purposely or not I do not say&mdash;but drop it
+you did.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Impossible, sir!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'It is <i>not</i> impossible,' said the peer, irately;
+'and I am not blind or liable to make
+mistakes; and you too manifestly did so;
+whence this foul accusation of a guest in
+my own house&mdash;a gentleman to whom
+you owe a humble and most complete
+apology.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shafto was speechless with rage and baffled
+spite at the new and sudden turn his scheme
+had taken, and at being circumvented in his
+own villainy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My Lord Fettercairn, from my soul I
+thank you!' said Hammersley, drawing himself
+up proudly, looking greatly relieved in
+mind, and, turning next to Shafto, evidently
+waited for the suggested apology.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in that he was disappointed, as the
+'heir' of Fettercairn turned abruptly on his
+heel and left the room, leaving his lordship
+to make the <i>amende</i>, which he did in very
+graceful terms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it was impossible now for both to remain
+longer under the same roof after a fracas of
+this kind, Hammersley proposed at once to
+take his departure for the south by a morning
+train; but Lord Fettercairn, who, with all his
+selfish shortcomings, had been shocked by the
+episode, and by several other ugly matters
+connected with his newly found 'grandson,'
+would by no means permit of that
+movement; and in this spirit of hospitality even
+Lady Fettercairn joined, pressing him to
+remain and finish his visit, as first intended,
+while Shafto, in a gust of baffled rage and
+resentment, greatly to the relief of Finella
+and of the domestics, betook himself to
+Edinburgh, thus for a time leaving his rival more
+than ever in full possession of the field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whether she is influenced by Captain
+Hammersley I cannot say,' were the parting
+words of Lady Fettercairn to this young
+hopeful; 'but you seem by this last untoward
+affair to have lost even her friendship, and it
+will be a dreadful pity, Shafto, if all her
+money should be lost to you too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Shafto fully agreed with his 'dear
+grandmother' that it would be a pity
+indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a gentleman and man with a keen sense
+of honour, Hammersley disliked exceedingly
+the secrecy of the engagement he had made
+with Finella, and felt himself actually colour
+more than once when Lord Fettercairn
+addressed him; but his compunctions about it
+grew less when he thought of the awful
+escape he had made from a perilous accusation,
+that might have 'smashed' him in the
+Service, and of the trickery of which Shafto
+was capable&mdash;a trickery of which he had not
+yet seen the end.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+<br /><br />
+AT THE BUFFALO RIVER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The evening of the 10th January was closing
+in, and the blood-red African sun, through a
+blended haze of gold and pale green, red and
+fiery, seemed to linger like a monstrous
+crimson globe at the horizon, tinging with
+the same hues the Buffalo River as its broad
+waters flowed past the Itelizi Hill towards
+Rorke's Drift.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There a picquet of the Centre or Second
+column of infantry (of the army then
+advancing into Zululand), under Colonel Richard
+Glyn of the 24th Regiment, was posted for
+the night.  The main body of the picquet,
+under Lieutenant Vincent Sheldrake, a smart
+young officer, was bivouacked among some
+mealies at a little distance from the bank of
+the river, along the margin of which his
+advanced sentinels were posted at proper
+distances apart, and there each man stood
+motionless as a statue, in his red tunic and
+white tropical helmet, with his rifle at the
+'order,' and his eyes steadily fixed on that
+quarter in which the Zulu army was supposed
+to be hovering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To reach the Buffalo River the various
+columns of Lord Chelmsford's army could
+not march by regular roads, as no such thing
+exists in Zululand, and the sole guides of our
+officers in selecting the line of advance
+through these savage regions were the
+grass-covered ruts left by the waggon-wheels of
+some occasional trader or sportsman in past
+times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the column had been halted for the
+night, at a considerable distance in rear of
+the outlying picquet, the men of the latter
+had their provisions with them ready cooked,
+and were now having their supper in a grassy
+donga or hollow.  The earthen floor was
+their table, and Lieutenant Sheldrake, being
+more luxurious than the rest, had spread
+thereon as a cloth an old sheet of the <i>Times</i>;
+but the appetites of all were good, and their
+temperament cheery and hearty.  Their rifles
+were piled, and they brewed their coffee over
+a blazing fire, the flame of which glowed on
+their sun-burned and beardless young faces,
+and a few Kaffirs squatted round their own
+fire, jabbered, gesticulated, and swallowed
+great mouthfuls of their favourite liquor
+'scoff.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheldrake was too ill or weary to attend
+closely to his own duties, and the moment
+the evening meal was over, he desired the
+sergeant of the picquet to 'go round the
+advanced sentries.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sergeant, a young and slender man,
+and who was no other than Florian, touched
+the barrel of his rifle and departed on his
+mission&mdash;to visit the sentinels in rotation by
+the river bank, and see that they were in
+communication with those of the picquets on
+the right and left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scenery around was savage and
+desolate; long feathery grass covered the
+veldt for miles upon miles.  The chief features
+in it were some blue gum trees, and on a
+koppie, or little eminence, the deserted ruins
+of a Boer farm under the shadow of a clump
+of eucalyptus trees; and in the foreground
+were some bustards and blue Kaffir cranes
+by the river bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Short service and disease had given Florian
+rapid promotion; for our soldiers, if brave,
+had no longer the power of manly endurance
+of their predecessors under the old system.
+According to General Crealock, the extreme
+youth of our soldiers in South Africa rendered
+their powers for toil very small; while the
+Naval Brigade, composed of older men, had
+scarcely ever a man in hospital.  The Zulu
+campaign was a very trying one; there were
+the nightly entrenchments, the picquet duty
+amid high grass, and the absence of all
+confidence that discipline and that long mutual
+knowledge of each other give in the ranks.
+He added most emphatically that our younger
+soldiers were unfit for European campaigning;
+that half the First Division were 'sick;'
+there were always some 200 weak lads in
+hospital, 'crawling about like sick flies,' and,
+like him, every officer was dead against the
+short-service system.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The face of our young sergeant was handsome
+as ever; but it was strangely altered
+since late events had come to pass.  There
+was a haggard and worn look in the features,
+particularly in the eyes.  The latter looked
+feverish and dim&mdash;their brightness less at
+times, while a shadow seemed below them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian having, as he now deemed, no
+right to the name of Melfort, or even that of
+MacIan, had enlisted under the latter name,
+as that by which he had been known from
+infancy, lest he might make a false
+attestation.  The name of Gyle he shrank from,
+even if it was his&mdash;which at times he doubted!
+His regiment was the brave old 24th, or
+Second Warwickshire, which had been raised
+in the eventful year 1689 by Sir Edward
+Dering, Bart, of Surrenden-Dering, head of
+one of the few undoubted Saxon families in
+England, and it was afterwards commanded
+in 1695 by Louis, Marquis de Puizar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Second to none in the annals of war during
+the reigns of Anne and the early Georges,
+the 24th in later times served with valour at
+the first capture of the Cape of Good Hope,
+in the old Egyptian campaign, in the wars of
+Spain and India, and now they were once
+again to cover themselves with a somewhat
+clouded and desperate glory in conflict with
+the gallant Zulus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian in his new career found himself
+occasionally among a somewhat mixed and
+rough lot&mdash;the raw, weedy soldiers of the
+new disastrous system&mdash;but there were many
+who were of a better type; and the thought
+of Dulcie Carlyon&mdash;the only friend he had in
+the world, the only human creature who loved
+him&mdash;kept him free from the temptations and
+evil habits of the former; and he strove to
+live a steady, pure, and brave life, that he
+might yet be worthy of her, and give her no
+cause to blush for him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He got through his drilling as quickly as
+he could, and soon discovered that the sooner
+a soldier takes his place in the ranks the
+better for himself.  He found that though
+many of his comrades were noisy, talkative,
+and quarrelsome, that the English soldier
+quicker than any other discovers and appreciates
+a gentleman.  His officers soon learned
+to appreciate him too, and hence the rapidity
+with which he won his three chevrons, and
+Mr. Sheldrake felt that, young though he
+was, he could trust Florian to go round the
+sentinels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Each was at his post, and the attention of
+each increased as the gloom after sunset
+deepened, for none knew who or what might
+be approaching stealthily and unseen among
+the long wavy grass and mossy dongas that
+yawned amid the country in front.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hush, Bob!' said he to his comrade, Edgehill,
+whom he heard singing merrily to himself,
+'you should be mute as a fish on outpost
+duty, and keep your ears open as well as your
+eyes.  What have you got in your head,
+Bob, that makes you so silly?  But, as the
+author of the "Red Rag" says, we soldiers
+have not much in our heads at any time, or
+we wouldn't go trying to stop cannon balls
+or bullets with them.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right you are, Sergeant,' replied Bob,
+'but I can't think what made you&mdash;a
+gentleman&mdash;enlist.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Because I was bound to be a soldier, I
+suppose.  And you?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Through one I wish I never had seen?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who was that?'
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'The handsome young girl,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With her fringe in curl,<br />
+  That worked a sewing-machine,'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;sung the irrepressible Bob; and Florian
+returned to report 'all right' to Mr. Sheldrake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though the actual cause of the Zulu war
+lies a little apart from our story, it may be
+necessary to mention that we invaded the
+country of Cetewayo after giving him a
+certain time, up to the 11th of January, to
+accept our ultimatum; to adopt an alternative
+for war, by delivering up certain of his subjects
+who had violated British territory, attacked a
+police-station, and committed many outrages,&mdash;among
+others, carrying off two women, one
+of whom they put to a barbarous death near
+the Buffalo River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But instead of making any apology, or
+giving an indemnity, Cetewayo prepared to
+defend himself at the head of an enormous
+army of hardy Zulu warriors, all trained in a
+fashion of their own, divided into strong
+regiments, furnished with powerful shields
+of ox-hide, and armed with rifles, war clubs,
+and assegais&mdash;a name with which we are now
+so familiar.  The shaft of this weapon averages
+five feet in length, with the diameter of
+an ordinary walking-stick, cut from the assegai
+tree, which is not unlike mahogany in its fibre,
+and furnished with a spear-head.  Some are
+barbed, some double-barbed, and the tang of
+the blade is fitted&mdash;when red-hot&mdash;into the
+wood, not the latter into the blade, which is
+then secured by a thong of wet hide, and
+is so sharp that the Zulu can shave his
+head with it; and it is a weapon which
+they can launch with deadly and unerring
+skill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Zulu king, says Captain Lucas, was
+unable to sign his own name, 'and was as
+ignorant and as savage as our Norman kings,'
+and he thought no more of putting women,
+'especially young girls, to death, than Bluff
+King Hal' himself; yet a little time after all
+this was to see him presented at Osborne,
+and to become the petted and fêted exile of
+Melbury Road, Kensington.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This night by the Buffalo River was
+Florian's first experience of outpost duty,
+and he felt&mdash;though not the responsible
+party&mdash;anxious, wakeful, and weary after a
+long and toilsome day's march.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew enough of military matters to be
+well aware that the importance of outposts,
+especially when dealing with a wily and savage
+enemy, could scarcely be exaggerated, for no
+force, when encamped in the field, can be
+deemed for a moment safe without them.
+Thus it was a maxim of Frederick the Great
+that it was pardonable to be defeated, but
+never to be surprised.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't understand all this change that
+has come over my life,' thought he, as he
+stretched himself on the bare earth near the
+picquet fire; 'but I wonder if my father and
+mother can see and think of me where they
+are.  Yet I sometimes feel,' he added, with
+a kind of boyish gush in his heart, 'as if they
+were near me and watching over me, so they
+must see and think too.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where was Dulcie, then, and what was she
+doing?  How supporting herself, as she said
+she would have to do?  Had she found
+friends, or, months ago, been trodden, with
+all her tender beauty, down in the mire of
+misfortune and adversity?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These were maddening thoughts for one
+so far away and so utterly powerless to help
+her as Florian felt himself, and rendered him
+at times more reckless of his own existence
+because it was useless to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air around was heavy with the dewy
+fragrance of strange and tropical plants, and
+vast, spiky, and fan-shaped leaves cast their
+shadows over him as he strove to snatch the
+proverbial 'forty winks' before again going
+'the rounds,' or posting the hourly reliefs, for
+they are always hourly when before an enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when our weary young soldier did
+sleep, he dreamt, not of the quick-coming
+strife, nor even of blue-eyed Dulcie, with
+her wealth of red golden hair, but, as the
+tender smile on his lips might have showed,
+of the time when his mother watched him in
+his little cot, with idolizing gaze, and when he,
+the now bronzed and moustached soldier, was
+a little child, with rings of soft dusky hair
+curling over his white forehead; when his
+cheeks had a rosy flush, and his tiny mouth
+a smile, and she fondly kissed the little hands
+that lay outside the snow-white coverlet her
+own deft fingers had made&mdash;the two wee
+hands that held his mother's heart between
+them&mdash;the heart that had long since mouldered
+by Revelstoke Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so he slept and dreamed till roused
+by the inevitable cry of 'Sentry, go!' and,
+that duty over, as he composed himself to
+sleep again, with his knapsack under his
+head for a pillow, he thought as a soldier&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'To-day is ours.  To-morrow never yet<br />
+  On any human being rose or set!'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIX.
+<br /><br />
+ELANDSBERGEN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Next morning when the picquet was relieved
+young Sheldrake, who paid Hammersley's
+company in absence of the latter, who was soon
+expected with a strong draft from England,
+said to Florian&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Look here, MacIan, I've made a stupid
+mistake.  The company's money I have left
+among my heavier baggage in the fort beyond
+Elandsbergen, and I have got the Colonel's
+permission to send you back for it.  This
+is just like me&mdash;I've a head, and so has a
+pin!  The Quartermaster will lend you his
+horse, and you can have my spare revolver
+and ammunition.  Have a cigar before you
+go,' he added, proffering his case, 'and look
+sharp after yourself and the money.  There
+is a deuced unchancy lot in the quarter you
+are going back to.  We don't advance from
+this till to-morrow, so you have plenty of
+time to be with us ere we cross the river, if
+you start at once.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Very good, sir,' replied Florian, as he
+saluted and went away to obtain the horse,
+the revolver, and to prepare for a duty which
+he intensely disliked, and almost doubted his
+power to carry out, as it took him rearward
+through a country of which he was ignorant,
+which was almost without roads, and where
+he would be single-handed, if not among
+savages, among those who were quite as
+bad, for in some of these districts, as in the
+Orange Free State and Boerland, there
+swarmed broken ruffians of every kind,
+many of them deserters; and, says an
+officer, 'so great, in fact, was the number
+of these undesirable specimens of our
+countrymen assembled in Harrysmith alone
+that night was truly made hideous with
+their howlings, respectable persons were
+afraid to leave their houses after nightfall,
+and the report of revolvers ceased to elicit
+surprise or curiosity.  I have been in some
+of the most notorious camps and towns in
+the territories and mining districts of the
+United States, but can safely assert that I
+never felt more thankful than when I found
+my horse sufficiently rested here to continue
+my journey.'  There were lions, too, in the
+wild plains, for some of our cavalry horses
+were devoured by them; the tiger-cat and
+the aarde-wolf also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a knowledge of all this Florian
+loaded his revolver, looked carefully to the
+bridle and stirrup leathers of his horse,
+received a note from Mr. Sheldrake to the
+officer commanding the little fort near the
+foot of the Drakensberg, and left the camp
+of No. 2 column on his solitary journey,
+steering his way by the natural features of
+the country so far as he could recall them
+after the advance of the 10th January, and
+watching carefully for the wheel tracks or
+other indications of a roadway leading in a
+westerly direction; and many of his comrades,
+including Bob Edgehill, watched him with
+interest and kindly anxiety till his white
+helmet disappeared as he descended into a
+long grassy donga, about a mile from Rorke's
+Drift.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The evening passed and the following day
+dawned&mdash;the important 12th&mdash;when Zululand
+was to be invaded at three points by the three
+columns of Lord Chelmsford; the advance
+party detailed from Colonel Glyn's brigade
+to reconnoitre the ground in front got under
+arms and began to move off, and Sheldrake
+and others began to feel somewhat uneasy,
+for there was still no appearance of the
+absent one.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The country through which Florian rode
+was lonely, and farmhouses were few and
+many miles apart.  Its natural features were
+undulating downs covered with tall waving
+grass, furrowed by deep, reedy water-courses;
+here and there were abrupt rocky eminences,
+and dense brushwood grew in the rugged
+kloofs and ravines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air was delightful, and in spite of his
+thoughts the blood coursed freely through
+his veins; his spirits rose, and, exhilarated
+by the pace at which his horse went, he could
+not help giving a loud 'Whoop!' now and
+then when a gnu, with its curved horns and
+white mane, or a hartebeest appeared on the
+upland slopes, or a baboon grinned at him
+from amid the bushes of a kloof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before him stretched miles of open and
+grassy veldt, and the flat-topped hills of the
+Drakensberg range closed the horizon.  The
+vast stretch of plain, across which ever and
+anon swept herds of beautiful little antelopes,
+was covered with luxuriant grass, which
+seemed smooth as a billiard-table, and over it
+went the track, which he was always afraid of
+losing.  But, if pleasant to look upon, the
+veldt was treacherous ground, for hidden by
+the grass were everywhere deep holes
+burrowed by the ant-bears, and into these his
+horse's forelegs sank ever and anon, to the
+peril of the animal and his rider too.  Thus
+Florian was compelled to proceed at a canter
+with his reins loose, while he sat tight and
+prepared for swerving when his nag, which was a
+native horse, prepared to dodge an apparent
+hole, which they can do with wonderful sagacity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Florian was not sorry when he left the
+veldt behind him, and after a ride of about
+thirty miles saw the earthworks of the small
+fort at the foot of Drakensberg appear in
+front with a little Union Jack fluttering on a
+flagstaff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was about mid-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anxious to return as soon as he could rest
+his horse, he lost no time in delivering
+Sheldrake's note to the officer in command,
+and with the key of a trunk indicated
+therein among his best uniform, and amid
+girls' photos, bundles of letters, old button
+bouquets, rare pipes, and an omnium-gatherum
+of various things, the bag was found,
+with the company's money, and delivered to
+Florian, who, after a two hours' halt, set out
+on his return journey; but he had not
+proceeded many miles when he found that his
+horse was utterly failing him, and, regretting
+that he had not remained at the post for the
+night, he resolved to spend it in the little
+town of Elandsbergen, towards which he bent
+his way, leading the now halting nag by the
+bridle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elandsbergen consisted of a few widely
+detached cottages studding both sides of a
+broad pathway, amid a vast expanse of veldt
+or prairie, with fragmentary attempts at
+cultivation here and there; and how the people
+lived seemed somewhat of a mystery.  Rows
+of stunted oaks lined the street, if such it
+could be called, and through it flowed a rill of
+pure water, at which the poor nag drank
+thirstily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elandsbergen boasted of one hostelry,
+dignified by the title of the Royal Hotel,
+where 'civil entertainment for man and beast'
+was promised by the landlord, 'Josh Jarrett.'  It
+was a somewhat substantial edifice of two
+storeys, built of baked brick, square in form,
+with a flat roof composed of strong lattice-work,
+covered with half-bricks and with clayey
+mortar to render it impervious to the torrents
+of the South African rainy season.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In some of the windows were glass panes;
+in others sheepskin with the wool off, which,
+in consequence of extreme tension, attains a
+certain transparency.  Giving his horse to a
+Kaffir ostler, whose sole raiment was a
+waistcoat made of a sleeveless regimental tunic,
+Florian somewhat wearily entered the 'hotel,'
+the proprietor of which started and changed
+colour at the sight of his red coat, as well he
+might, for, though disguised by a bushy beard,
+sedulously cultivated, and a shock head of
+hair under his broad-leaved hat, he was one
+of the many deserters from our troops,
+already referred to, and, though apparently
+anxious to appear civil, was secretly a ruffian
+of the worst kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The room into which he ushered Florian
+was bare-walled, the furniture was of the
+plainest and rudest kind, and the floor was
+formed of cow-dung over wet clay, all
+kneaded, trodden, and hardened till it could
+be polished, a process learned from the Zulus
+in the construction of their kraals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fly-blown map of Cape Colony, a cheap
+portrait of Sir Bartle Frere, and the skull of
+an eland with its spiral horns were the only
+decorations of the apartment, and the literature
+of 'the day' was represented by three
+tattered copies of the <i>Cape Argus</i>, <i>Natal
+Mercury</i>, and the <i>Boer Volksteem</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Josh Jarrett was dressed like a Boer, and in
+person was quite as dirty as a Boer; his loose
+cracker-trousers were girt by a broad belt
+with a square buckle, whereat hung a leopard-skin
+pouch and an ugly hunting-knife with a
+cross hilt.  In the band of his broad hat were
+stuck a large meerschaum pipe and the tattered
+remnant of an ostrich feather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Kaffir ostler now came hurriedly in,
+and announced something in his own language
+to the landlord, who, turning abruptly to
+Florian, said&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are in something of a fix, Sergeant!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How&mdash;what do you mean?' demanded Florian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That your horse is dying.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Dying!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, of the regular horse-sickness.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian in no small anxiety and excitement
+hurried out to the stable, in which two other
+nags were stalled, and there he saw the poor
+animal he had ridden lying among the straw
+in strong convulsions, labouring under that
+curse of South Africa, the horse-sickness, a
+most mysterious disorder, which had suddenly
+attacked it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The animal had looked sullen and dull all
+morning, and in the stable had been assailed
+by the distemper and its usual symptoms,
+heaving flanks, disturbed breathing, glassy
+eyes, and a projecting tongue tightly clenched
+between the teeth.  Then came the convulsions,
+and he was dead in half an hour,
+and Florian found that he would probably
+have to travel afoot for more than twenty
+miles before he could rejoin the column on
+the morrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Where have you come from, Sergeant?'
+asked Josh Jarrett, when they returned to the
+public room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The fort at the Drakensberg, last.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Taking French leave, eh?' said Jarrett,
+with a portentous wink and a brightening eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Not at all!' replied Florian, indignantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Fellows do so every day now in these
+short-service times.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I was going to the front, when my horse
+fell lame.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Belong to the Mounted Infantry?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The dismounted now, I think,' replied
+Florian.  'I should like to rest here for the
+night, and push on as best I can to-morrow;
+so what can I have for supper?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Josh Jarrett paused a moment, as if he
+thought a sergeant's purse would not go far
+in the way of luxuries, and then replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Rasher of bacon and eggs, or dried beef
+and a good glass of squareface or Cape smoke,
+which you please.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The first will do, and a glass of the
+squareface, which means Hollands, I suppose.
+Cape smoke is a disagreeable spirit,' replied
+Florian wearily, as he took off his helmet
+and seated himself in a large cane-bottomed
+chair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Won't you lay aside your revolver?' asked
+Jarrett.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thanks&mdash;well, no&mdash;I am used to it.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'As you please,' said the other surlily, and
+summoning in a loud voice a female named
+'Nan,' left the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The latter laid the table, brought in the
+frugal supper, with a case bottle of squareface,
+and, instead of leaving the room, seated
+herself near a window and entered into conversation,
+with what object Florian scarcely knew,
+but he disliked the circumstance, till he began
+to remember that she probably considered
+herself his equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When his hasty repast was over, taking a
+hint from a remark that he was weary, she
+withdrew, and then Florian began to consider
+the situation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was fully twenty miles from the regiment;
+a rough country, not to be traversed
+even by daylight, infested with wild animals,
+and many obnoxious things, such as
+puff-adders, perhaps Zulus, lay between; and
+unless Jarrett would accommodate him with
+a horse, which was very unlikely (he seemed
+such a sullen and forbidding fellow), he would
+have to travel the journey on foot, and begin
+betimes on the morrow as soon as dawn would
+enable him to see the track eastward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He examined Sheldrake's handsome revolver
+and its ammunition, reloading the six
+chambers carefully.  Then he thought of the
+company's money; and tempted, he knew
+not by what rash impulse unless it was mere
+boyish curiosity, he untied the red tape by
+which the paymaster had secured the mouth
+of the bag to have a peep at the gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had never seen a hundred sovereigns
+before, and never before had so much money
+in his possession.  Some of the glittering
+coins fell out on the clay floor; and as he
+gathered them up a sound made him look
+round, and from the window he saw a human
+face suddenly vanish outside, thus showing
+that some one had, hitherto unnoticed, been
+furtively watching him, and he strongly
+suspected it to be the woman Nan, prompted,
+perhaps, by idle curiosity, and in haste he
+concealed the gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was the more convinced of the lurker
+being she when, soon after, she entered, retook
+her seat by the window, through which the
+evening sun was streaming now, and began
+to address him in a light and flippant manner,
+as if to get up a flirtation with him for ulterior
+purposes; but his suspicions were awakened
+now, and Florian was on his guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He perceived that she had made some
+alterations and improvements in her tawdry
+dress, and had hung in her ears a pair of
+large old-fashioned Dutch ear-rings shaped
+like small rams' horns of real gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She seemed to be about thirty years of
+age, and was not without personal attractions,
+though all bloom was past, and the
+expression of her face was marred by its being
+alternately leering, mocking, and&mdash;even in
+spite of herself&mdash;cruel.  Yet her eyes were
+dark and sparkling.  She wore a fringe of
+thick brown hair close down to them,
+concealing nearly all her forehead.  Her mouth,
+if large, was handsome, but lascivious-looking,
+and Florian, whose barrack-room
+experience had somewhat 'opened his eyes,'
+thought&mdash;though he was not ungallant
+enough to say so&mdash;that her absence would
+be preferable to her company, which she
+seemed resolved to thrust upon him.  But
+guests were doubtless scarce in these parts,
+and the 'Royal Hotel,' Elandsbergen, had
+probably not many visitors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She asked him innumerable questions&mdash;his
+age, country, regiment, and so forth&mdash;and all
+in a wheedling coaxing way, toyed with his
+hair, and once attempted to seat herself on
+his knee; but he rose and repelled her, and
+then it was that the unmistakably cruel
+expression came flashing into her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You are too young and too handsome
+to be killed and disembowelled by the big
+Zulus,' said she after a pause; 'they could
+eat a boy like you.  Why don't you desert
+and go to the Diamond Fields?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thank you; I would die rather than do that!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And so you serve the Queen, my dear?'
+she said sneeringly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'For what reason do you fight the poor Zulus?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Honour,' replied Florian curtly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have read&mdash;I have some book-knowledge,
+you see&mdash;that when a Swiss officer
+was reproached by a French one that he
+fought for pay, and not like himself for
+honour, "So be it," replied the Swiss, "we
+each of us fight for that which he is most in
+need of."'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't see the allusion in this instance:
+a soldier, I do my duty and obey orders.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Have a drop more of the squareface&mdash;you
+can't be so rude as to refuse a lady,'
+she continued, filling up a long glass, which
+she put to her lips, and then to those of
+Florian, who pretended to sip and then put
+the glass down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was at a loss to understand her and
+her advances.  Vanity quite apart, he knew
+that he was a good-looking young fellow,
+and that his uniform 'set him off;' but he
+remembered the face at the window, and was
+on his guard against her in every way.
+Would she have acted thus with an officer? he
+thought; and in what relation did she
+stand to the truculent-looking landlord&mdash;wife,
+daughter, or sister?  Probably none
+of them at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly her mood changed, or appeared
+to do so, and seating herself at a rickety old
+piano, which Florian had not noticed before,
+she, while eyeing him waggishly, proceeded
+to sing a once-popular flash song, long since
+forgotten in England, and probably taken
+out by some ancient settler, generations
+ago, to the Cape Colony:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'If I was a wife, and my dearest life<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Took it into his noddle to die,<br />
+  Ere I took the whim to be buried with him,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I think I'd know very well <i>why</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'If poignant my grief, I'd search for relief&mdash;<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not sink with the weight of my care:<br />
+  A salve might be found, no doubt, above ground,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>where</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'Another kind mate should give me what fate<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Would not from the former allow;<br />
+  With him I'd amuse the hours you abuse,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I'd know very well <i>how</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  ''Tis true I'm a maid, and so't may be said<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No judge of the conjugal lot;<br />
+  Yet marriage, I ween, has a cure for the spleen,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And I think I know very well <i>what</i>.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+This she sang with a skill and power that
+savoured of the music hall, and then tried
+her blandishments again to induce Florian to
+drink of the fiery squareface; but he resisted
+all her inducement to take 'just one little
+glass more.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why was she so anxious that he should
+imbibe that treacherous spirit, which he
+would have to pay for?  And why did the
+landlord, who certainly seemed full of
+curiosity about him, leave him so entirely
+in her society?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly the voice of the latter was heard
+shouting, 'Nan, Nan!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That is Josh,' said she impatiently;
+'bother him, what does he want now?  Josh
+is getting old, and nothing improves by age.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Except brandy,' said Florian smiling, as
+he now hoped to be rid of her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Right; and squareface, perhaps.  Have
+one glass more, dear, before I leave you.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he turned impatiently away, and she
+withdrew, closing a scene which caused
+Florian much suspicion and perplexity.  He
+remembered to have read, that 'man destroys
+with the horns of a bull, or with paws like a
+bear; woman by nibbling like a mouse, or
+by embracing like a serpent.'  And he was
+in toils here unseen as yet!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light faded out beyond the dark
+ridges of the Drakensberg, and Florian
+requested to be shown to his sleeping-apartment,
+which was on the upper storey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You may hear a roaring lot here
+by-and-by,' said his host; 'but you are a soldier,
+and I dare say will sleep sound enough.  You
+will be tired, too, after your ride.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man had now a sneaking and wicked
+look in his eyes, which avoided meeting
+those of Florian, and which the latter did
+not like, but there was no help for it then.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You will call me early if I sleep too
+long,' said Florian, as Jarrett gave him a
+candle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hand of the latter shook as he did
+so&mdash;he had evidently been drinking heavily,
+and his yellow-balled eyes were bloodshot,
+and his voice thick, as he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Good-night, Sergeant; you'll sleep sound
+enough,' and closed the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a sigh almost of relief Florian found
+himself alone.  He set down the sputtering
+candle, and turned to fasten the door.  It
+was without a lock, and secured only by a
+latch, by which it could be opened from the
+outside as well as within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On making this startling discovery, Florian's
+heart glowed with indignation and growing
+alarm!  He felt himself trapped!
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XX.
+<br /><br />
+BAFFLED!
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The room was small, low-ceiled, and its only
+furniture was a table, chair, and truckle-bed&mdash;all
+obviously of Dutch construction&mdash;and,
+unless he could find some means to secure
+his door, he resolved to remain awake till
+dawn.  The only window in the room
+overlooked the roof of the stable where the
+dead horse lay.  The sash was loose, and
+shook in the night wind, and he could see
+the bright and, to him, new constellations
+glittering in the southern sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian contrived to secure the door by
+placing the chair on the floor as a wedge or
+barrier between it and the bedstead, on the
+mattress of which&mdash;though not very savoury
+in appearance&mdash;he cast himself, for he was
+weary, worn, and felt that there was an
+absolute necessity for husbanding his strength,
+as he knew not what might be before him, so
+he extinguished the candle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Something in the general aspect and bearing
+of the man Josh Jarrett, and in those of the
+woman, with her efforts to intoxicate him, and
+something, too, in his general surroundings
+and isolated situation&mdash;for the few scattered
+houses of Elandsbergen were all far
+apart&mdash;together with the memory of the prying face
+he had seen at the window, at the very
+moment he was picking up the gold, all
+served to put Florian on his guard; thus he
+lay down without undressing, and, longing
+only for daylight, grasped ever and anon the
+butt of his pistol.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some time past he had been unused
+to the luxury of even a truckle-bed or other
+arrangements for repose than his grey
+greatcoat and ammunition blanket, with a
+knapsack for a pillow; hence, despite his
+keen anxiety, he must have dropped asleep,
+for how long he knew not; but he suddenly
+started up as the sound of voices below came
+to his ear, and the full sense of his peculiar
+whereabouts rushed on him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Voices!  They were coarse and deep, but
+not loud&mdash;voices of persons talking in low
+and concentrated tones in the room beneath,
+separated from him only by the ill-fitting boarding
+of the floor, between the joints of which
+lines of light were visible, and one bright
+upward flake, through a hole from which a
+knot had dropped out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Curse him, he's but a boy; I could
+smash the life out of him by one blow of
+my fist!' he heard his host, Josh Jarrett,
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Others responded to this, but in low,
+stealthy, and husky tones.  Certain that
+some mischief with regard to himself was on
+the <i>tapis</i>.  Florian crept softly to the orifice
+in the floor, and looked down.  Round a
+dirty and sloppy table, covered with
+drinking-vessels, pipes and tobacco-pouches, bottles
+of squareface and Cape smoke, were Josh
+Jarrett and three other ruffians, digger-like
+fellows, with Nan among them, all drinking;
+and a vile-looking quintette they were,
+especially the woman, with her hair all
+dishevelled now, and her face inflamed by
+that maddening compound known as Cape
+smoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When I was ass enough to be in the
+Queen's service,' said Jarrett with a horrible
+imprecation, 'these 'ere blooming officers and
+non-comms. led me a devil of a life; they
+said it was my own fault that I was always
+drunk and in the mill.  Be that as it may,
+I've one of the cursed lot upstairs, and I'll
+sarve him out for what they made me
+undergo, cuss 'em.  One will answer my
+purpose as well as another.  Nan, you did
+your best to screw him, but he was
+wary&mdash;infernally wary.  Blest if I don't think the
+fellow is a Scotsman after all, for all his
+English lingo.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yes, he did shirk his liquor,' hiccupped
+the amiable Nan; 'you should have drugged
+it, Josh.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'But then we didn't know that he had all
+this chink about him.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'That must be ours,' growled a fellow who
+had not yet spoken, but was prodding the
+table with a knife he had drawn from his
+belt; 'we'll give him a through ticket to the
+other world&mdash;one with the down train.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And no return,' added Nan, laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Florian felt beads of perspiration on his
+brow; he was one against five&mdash;entrapped,
+baited, done to death&mdash;and if he did not
+appear at headquarters with the fatal money,
+what would be thought of him but that he
+had deserted with it, and his name would
+be branded as that of a coward and robber.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dulcie!  The thought of Dulcie choked
+him, but it nerved him too.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another truculent-looking fellow now came
+in, making five men in all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He has money galore on him&mdash;Nan saw
+the gold&mdash;money in a canvas bag.  How
+comes he, a sergeant, to have all this in his
+grab, unless he stole it?' said Jarrett, in
+explanation to the new-comer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Of course he stole it&mdash;it's regimental
+money, and evidently he is deserting with
+it,' said the other, who was no doubt, like
+Jarrett, a Queen's bad bargain also; for he
+added, 'What the devil do Cardwell's short-service
+soldiers care about their chances of
+pension or promotion&mdash;that's the reason he
+has the bag of gold; so why shouldn't we
+make it ours?  It is only dolloping a knife
+into him, and then burying him out in the
+veldt before daylight.  Even if he was
+traced here, who is to be accountable for a
+deserter?'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And this practical ruffian proceeded at
+once to put a finer edge and point upon his
+long bowie knife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'You forget that he has a revolver,' said Nan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I don't,' said Jarrett; 'but he ain't likely
+to use it in his sleep, especially when we pin
+him by the throat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was but one against five armed and
+reckless desperadoes; and there was the
+woman, too, whose hands were ready for
+evil work.  The stair that led to his room
+was narrow&mdash;so much so that there was but
+space for one on a step.  The lower or outer
+door he knew to be securely locked and
+bolted.  The window of his room, we have
+said, overlooked the lean-to roof of the
+stable, where he knew that two horses were
+in stall&mdash;a sure means of escape could he
+reach one; but the door, he was aware, was
+locked, and the key in possession of the
+Kaffir groom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was maddened by the thought that his
+barbarous and obscure death would brand
+him with a double disgrace; and death is
+more than ever hard when suffered at the
+hands of cowards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'What is the use of all this blooming
+talk?' said one, starting from the table; 'let
+us set about the job at once!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Look you,' said Jarrett, 'if roused he'll
+perhaps try to escape by the stable-roof, so
+while you fellows go up the stair, I go round
+to the back of the house and cut off his
+retreat.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The stable-roof,' thought Florian, 'my
+only chance lies that way.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He opened the window at the very
+moment that stealthy steps sounded on the
+wooden stair, and a red light streamed under
+the door, which their felon hands failed to
+force, so firmly was the chair wedged
+between it and the bed.  He slid down the
+stable-roof, and dropped safely on the ground,
+to be faced by Josh Jarrett, who came rushing
+on, knife in hand, but Florian shot him
+down, firing two chambers into his very
+teeth, and then he sprang away like a hare
+out into the open veldt, leaving the ruffian
+wallowing in his blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew not and cared not in what
+direction he ran at first, as he could hear the
+oaths and imprecations of his pursuers, over
+whom his youth, lightness, and activity gave
+him an advantage; but after a time red-dawn
+began to streak the eastern sky, and he
+knew that was the direction which, if he was
+spared, would take him to the bank of the
+Buffalo River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He continued to run at a good steady
+double, saving his wind as he did so, and his
+courage and confidence rose when he found
+that he was distancing his pursuers so much
+that he could neither see nor hear anything
+of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he ran on he thought for a moment or
+two of the fierce gleaming eyes and glistening
+teeth of Jarrett&mdash;of the blood he had shed,
+and the life he had perhaps taken for the
+first time, remorsefully; but had he not acted
+thus, what would he have been?  A gashed
+corpse!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Bah!' he said aloud, 'I am a soldier&mdash;why
+such thoughts at all?  Why should I
+have mercy when these wretches would have
+had none?' and he began to regret that he
+had not fired a random shot or two through
+the room-door and knocked over some of
+them on the staircase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A sound now struck his ear; it was the
+thud of galloping hoofs upon the veldt, and
+his heart sank as he remembered the two
+horses in the stable, where his dead nag was
+lying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked back, and there, sure enough,
+in the grey dawn were two mounted men
+riding in scouting fashion, far apart, and he
+could not for a moment doubt they were two
+of Jarrett's companions in pursuit, thirsting
+with avarice and for revenge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made his way, stumbling wildly and
+breathlessly down a wooded ravine to elude
+their sight; on and on he strove till a vine
+root caught his foot: his hands outstretched
+beat the air for a moment, and then he fell
+headlong forward and downward into a
+donga full of brushwood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment he had a sense of strange
+palms, and giant cacti, and of great plants
+with long spiky leaves being about him, and
+then he became unconscious as he lay there
+stunned and bleeding profusely from a wound
+in his forehead, which had come in contact
+with a stone.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+END OF VOL. I.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+BILLING &amp; SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME I (OF 3) ***</div>
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