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diff --git a/old/68295-0.txt b/old/68295-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6c23708..0000000 --- a/old/68295-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5745 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dulcie Carlyon, Volume III (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 III (of 3) - A novel - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: June 11, 2022 [eBook #68295] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME III -(OF 3) *** - - - - - - - - DULCIE CARLYON. - - - A Novel. - - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT, - - AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' ETC. - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - - VOL. III. - - - - 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.' '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. 'vol. - -LORD VANECOURT'S DAUGHTER. By MABEL COLLINS. 3 vols. - - -WARD AND DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, LONDON. - - - - -CONTENTS OF VOL. III. - - -CHAPTER - -I. THE PURSUIT - -II. WHICH TREATS OF LOVE LETTERS - -III. IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS AGAIN - -IV. EN ROUTE TO ULUNDI - -V. THE LOADED DICE - -VI. SHAFTO'S HORIZON BECOMES CLOUDY - -VII. THE SQUARE AT ULUNDI - -VIII. DISAPPEARANCE OF DULCIE - -IX. FLIGHT - -X. A STARTLING LETTER - -XI. THE PURSUIT OF CETEWAYO - -XII. AT THE 'RAG' - -XIII. A REVELATION - -XIV. IN THE GNOME FOREST - -XV. THE MAJOR PROPOSES - -XVI. A CLOUD DISPELLED - -XVII. FLORIAN DYING - -XVIII. THE TERRIBLE MISTAKE - -XIX. DULCIE'S VISITOR - - - - -DULCIE CARLYON. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE PURSUIT. - -A new emotion--a hot thirst for blood--was in the heart of Florian -now; his whole nature seemed to have undergone a sudden and temporary -change; and to those who could have seen him his face would have been -found deadly pale, and his dark eyes full of sombre fury. - -The longing for retribution and destruction was keen in his mind at -that time. Often he reined up the horse he rode to take a steady -shot between the animal's quivering ears at one or other of the two -desperadoes; but always missed them, and found that time was thus -lost and the distance increased. - -His present charger was not so steady as the old Cape nag, Tattoo, -and Florian's hands, in the intensity of his excitement, trembled too -much for his aim to be true; so the fugitives rode on and on, without -firing a shot in return, thus showing that their ammunition had been -expended, and they had nothing to hope for or trust to but a -successful escape. - -A cry left Florian's lips as the fugitives disappeared into a donga, -and he thought he had lost them; but anon he saw them ascending the -opposite slope at a rasping pace. - -He could only think of the generous and chivalrous Vivian Hammersley, -that good officer and noble Englishman, shot down thus in the pride -of his manhood by the felon hand of an assassin, whose bullet was -meant for himself--Hammersley, whose form stood with a kind of -luminous atmosphere amid the dark surroundings that beset them both -since he (Florian) had come as a soldier to Zululand; and then he -thought of Dulcie's friend Finella, whom he only knew by name. - -Poor girl! the next mail for Britain might bring sorrowful tidings to -her, with the very letter his hand had so recently indited, full of -hope and expressions of happiness. - -Crossing by flying leaps the Umvutshini stream, a tributary of the -greater Umvolosi, the pursuers and pursued traversed an undulating -tract of country, scaring a great troop of the brindled gnu, which -were grazing quietly there; anon a terrified herd of the -koodoo--graceful antelopes, with magnificent spiral horns--swept past -them, where the karoo shrubs and the silvery hair-grass and wild oats -grew; elsewhere their horses' hoofs, as they crushed or bruised the -creeping fibrous roots of the Akerrania, shed a fragrance in the air. - -The Umvolosi had now to be waded through near a rocky kop which -towered on the right hand, and the opposite bank had to be scrambled -up at a place where the tree-fern flourished thickly, and drooping -date-palms overhung the water. - -Next they had to cross a nameless tributary of the Upoko River, and -then to skirt the base of the Mabenge Mountains (within two miles of -Fort Newdigate), where, in some places, an odour, sickly and awful, -loaded the evening air; and by experience they knew it came from the -bodies of slain Zulus lying unburied, or covered only by their -shields and a few loose stones. - -In some places--one particularly--Florian and his companions found -their progress almost arrested by spiky plants of giant size--the -Doornboom, with its ox-horn-like prickles; for there are thickets of -those through which even horses cannot pass--odious and terrible -plants which tear the clothes to rags, and pierce the flesh to the -bone; but they discovered two breaches through which the fugitives -had passed, and, forcing a passage, they rode onward again, and, in -the fierce ardour of pursuit, Florian was all unconscious, till -afterwards, how he and his horse too were lacerated, scratched, and -torn by the sharp spines as he rushed through them at full speed. - -One of the fugitives had evidently found a cartridge, in a pocket -perhaps, for he fired one shot rearward, in Parthian fashion, but -fruitlessly, as it hit no one, and then he rode wildly but steadily -on. - -Believing that if ever he returned to camp it would only be to find -his friend dying or dead, Florian, plunged in grief, maddened by rage -and a thirst for dire vengeance, rode furiously yet silently on, -closely followed by his four infantry men. - -His horse--Hammersley's--was a fine English charger, and soon -outstripped those of his comrades, who erelong began to drop rearward -one after another, though Tom Tyrrell continued to head the rest; but -after a time Florian found himself almost alone; thus it was -fortunate for him that those he pursued were without ammunition. - -Once or twice he lost sight of them, as dongas or eminences -intervened, and then a low cry would escape him; but by the aid of -his field-glass he 'spotted' them again, and gored his horse with the -spurs anew. - -Now broad before them lay the foaming Nondweni River, with the -lion-shaped hill of Isandhlwana about seven miles distant, its rocky -crest then reddened by the western sun, and Florian knew that now the -pursuit had lasted for more than twenty miles from the Euzangonyan -Hill. - -Here the assassins reined up, and seemed to confer for a moment or -two, as if in evident confusion and dismay. To remain was to die, -and to attempt to cross the river would end in death by drowning, it -was so deep and swift, red and swollen by recent storms of such rain -as falls in the tropics only. - -Florian dismounted now, dropped a fresh cartridge into the -breech-block of the rifle he still carried, and just as he threw the -bridle over his arm, Tom Tyrrell came tearing up and also leaped from -his saddle, prepared to fire at four hundred yards range. - -The two fugitives plunged into the water, where trees, branches, -cartloads of enormous leaves and yellow pumpkins were being swept -past, and strove to make their horses breast the stream by turning -them partly at an angle to the current. More than once the animals -snorted with fear, throwing up their heads wildly as their haunches -went down under the weight of their riders. - -Tyrrell fired and shot one in mid-stream; he threw up his hands in -agony or despair, and fell on the mane of his horse, which, with -himself, was swept round a rocky angle and disappeared. - -The other had gained footing on the opposite bank, but at that moment -Florian planted a rifle bullet between his shoulders. - -Sharply rang the report of the rifle, and a shriek mingled with the -rush of the world of waters as the deserter and assassin fell -backward over the crupper of his struggling horse, which gained the -land, while his rider sank to rise no more just as the last red rays -of the sun died out on the stern hill-tops, and in its rush the river -seemed to sweep past with a mightier sound than ever. - -_Which_ of the two he had shot in the twilight Florian knew not, nor -did he care; suffice it that he and Tom Tyrrell 'had polished them -off,' as the latter said, and thereupon proceeded to light his pipe -with an air of profound contentment. - -Hammersley was avenged, certainly. - -Before setting out on his return, Florian paused to draw breath, to -wipe the cold perspiration from his forehead, and nerve himself anew -for aught that might befall him on his homeward way, for with -tropical speed darkness had fallen now, and he was glad when he and -Tyrrell overtook the three mounted men, as they had a most lonely -district to traverse back to camp, and one in which they were not -likely to meet friends; so they now rode somewhat slowly on, -breathing and enjoying what some one calls the cool and mysterious -wind of night. - -Zulus might be about in any number, with rifle, assegai, and -knobkerie; but though Florian and his companions rode with arms -loaded as a precaution, they scarcely thought of them, and were -intent on comparing notes and studying the features of the country as -a guide on their lonely way. - -At last, with supreme satisfaction, after many detours and mistakes, -they saw the red glowworm-like lights of the camp appearing in the -streets of tents, and knew thereby that the last bugle had not -sounded. - -Ere long they heard the challenge of the advanced sentinel of an -outlying piquet, and responding thereto, passed within the lines, -when Florian went at once to the headquarter tents to report himself -to the Adjutant-General, together with the events that had so -recently transpired by the Nondweni River. - -'You have done precisely what the General commanding would have -ordered you to do,' said the Adjutant-General, 'and I am sure he will -thank you for punishing the rascals as they deserved. There are too -many of "Cardwell's recruits" afloat in Cape Colony!' - -'Is Captain Hammersley still alive?' - -'Yes--but little more, I fear.' - -He repaired straight to the sufferer's tent, but was not permitted by -the hospital orderly, acting under the surgeon's strict orders, to -see him--or at least to speak with him. - -The ball had broken some of the short ribs on the left side, nearly -driving them into the lung; thus he was in a dangerous state. -Florian peeped into the bell-tent, and, by a dim lantern hung on the -pole thereof, could see Hammersley lying on his camp-bed asleep, -apparently, and pale as marble; and he thought it a sorrowful sight -to see one whose splendid physique seemed of that kind which no -abstract pain or trouble could crush--who could ever bear himself -like a man--weak now as a little child--levelled by the bullet of a -cowardly assassin. - -Florian, though worn, weary, and sorely athirst after the skirmish by -the Euzangonyan Hill, the subsequent pursuit, and all connected -therewith, before betaking him to his tent, paid his next visit to -Tattoo, for, after his friend, he loved his horse. - -A little way apart from where the store-waggons were parked and the -artillery and other horses knee-haltered, Tattoo was lying on a heap -of dry brown mealie-stalks in a pool of his own blood, -notwithstanding that, awaiting Florian's return and orders, a kindly -trooper of the Mounted Infantry had bound an old scarlet tunic about -the poor animal's off thigh, where the bullet, meant for his rider, -had made a ghastly score-like wound, in one part penetrating at least -seven inches deep; and where Tattoo had remained standing for some -time in one spot, the blood had dripped into a great dark crimson -pool. - -'Can nothing be done to stop it?' asked Florian. - -'Nothing, sir,' replied a Farrier-Sergeant of the Royal Artillery. - -'But the horse will die if this kind of thing goes on.' - -The sergeant shrugged his shoulders, saluted, and turned away, while -Florian put an arm round the drooping head of the horse caressingly; -and, as if sensible of his sympathy, the animal gazed at him with his -large, soft brown eyes, that were streaked with blood-shot veins now. - -'His vitals is safe, sir, anyhow,' said Tom Tyrrell. - -'I can't leave him thus in the cold--for cold it is here, by Jove, at -night; bring a blanket from my tent, Tom, and put it over him.' - -After belting the blanket about Tattoo, by the light of a -stable-lantern, Florian lingered for a time beside the poor nag, who -hung his head with unmistakable symptoms of intense pain, while his -drooping eyes grew dull and heavy. - -Without undressing, Florian threw himself on his humble camp-bed, -which consisted of little else than a blanket and ground sheet, but -was unable to sleep more than ten minutes or so at a stretch. The -fighting, the hot pursuit by hill and stream and karoo--the -excitement of every kind, and the whole work he had been doing--had -fevered his brain, and ever and anon he started from his pillow as if -a snake had been under it; and so passed the few short hours till -drum and bugle announced the _reveille_, and that the day-work of the -camp had begun. - -To those who saw him, he looked haggard in the cold, grey, early -light, as he quitted his camp-bed, unrested and unrefreshed, though -mere repose of the body is supposed to be a relief, and, as it was -too early to disturb Hammersley, he went straight to visit Tattoo. - -He was standing up now among the mealies of his litter, with his head -drooping lower and his bright eyes more dim than ever; but they -actually seemed to dilate and brighten at the sound of his master's -voice. The latter had brought him the half of his ration-biscuit, -soaked in water; and Tattoo looked at it with dumb longing, and -turned it over in Florian's palm with his hot, soft, velvet nose; but -after trying to champ it once or twice he let it fall to the ground. -Tattoo was incapable of swallowing now. - -There was little time to do much, as the troops were soon to march; -but Tom Tyrrell brought some hot water in a bucket, and sluiced the -wound with a sponge, and redressed it with such rough bandages as -could be procured, and Florian got from Doctor Gallipot some laudanum -to mix with the horse's drink to deaden the acuteness of the pain he -suffered; but it was all in vain; Tattoo sank grovelling down upon -his fore-knees and rolled heavily over on his side, and, as the wound -welled forth again, he turned his head and looked at his master, and -if ever eyes expressed a sense of gratitude, those of the old -troop-horse did so then. - -'We march in a very short time, sir,' said the senior officer -commanding the Mounted Infantry, as he reined in his charger for a -minute _en passant_; 'and in the cause of humanity, as your horse -cannot recover, it had better be put out of pain.' - -'Shot?' - -'Yes.' - -'Poor Tattoo!' - -Florian turned away, sick at heart, as he saw a soldier quietly -dropping a cartridge into the breech-block of his rifle in obedience -to the stern but necessary order, for if left thus, the horse would -be devoured while living by the monstrous Kaffir vultures. - -With carefully sighted rifle, and distance as carefully judged, -Florian had 'potted' many a Zulu at various hundreds of yards, in -common with his comrades; he had shot, as he supposed, Josh Jarrett -without an atom of compunction; but now, as he hurried away, he put -his fingers in his ears to shut out the report of the rifle that -announced the death of Tattoo. - -As a souvenir of the latter--for Dulcie, perhaps--he desired Tom -Tyrrell to cut off one of the hoofs, and Tom polished the hoof and -burnished the iron shoe till the latter shone like silver--the hoof -that never again would carry Florian across the wild karoo, or to the -front in the face of the enemy. - -The Second Division now began its march to encamp on the fatal hill -of Isandhlwana--that place of ill omen. - -Hammersley was conveyed with other wounded in an ambulance waggon, -and it was decided that if he recovered sufficiently he should be -sent home on sick leave to Britain. Florian occasionally rode by the -side of the waggon, the motion of which was anything but easy or -pleasant to those who were in pain. - -How pale, he thought, Hammersley looked, with his delicate nostrils, -clearly cut mouth, and dark moustache; and his mind went from thence -to Finella Melfort, the girl he loved, who was so far away, and whom -he might not be spared to see again. - -'Write gently about all this affair to Miss Carlyon,' said Hammersley -feebly. 'But the infernal telegrams will make poor little Finella -_an fait_ of my danger before details can reach her.' Then he -muttered to himself, 'How truly it has been said that the indifferent -are often tied to each other irrevocably, while those who love truly -are parted far as east from west.' - -'So you have fully avenged me, I hear?' he said, after a pause, while -his features were contracted by pain. - -'Of that there is no doubt,' replied Florian. - -'For that I thank you, old fellow, though I am low enough--in that -state, in fact, in which, we are told, we should forgive our enemies, -and pray for those who despitefully use us.' - -'These two rascals are past being forgiven now. I dare say long ere -this their bodies have been swept into the White Umvoloski,' said -Florian, who still felt somewhat savage about the whole episode. - -'Well, I am going to the rear at last, but I hope we shall meet -again. If not,' he added, with a palpable break in his voice, 'my -ring--take and keep it in remembrance of me.' And as he spoke -Hammersley drew from his finger a magnificent gipsy ring, in which -there was a large and valuable opal, and forced it upon the -acceptance of Florian. - -'The opal is said to be a stone of ill-omen,' said Hammersley with a -faint smile, 'but it never brought ill-fortune to me.' - -Florian knew nothing of that, and, if he had, would probably not have -cared about it, though reared in Devonshire, the land of the pixies -and underground dwarfs and fairies. - -'The only reason for the stone being thought unlucky,' said -Hammersley, smiling, 'is that Mark Antony, Nadir Shah, and Potemkin, -wearers of great opals, all came to grief.' - -'Going home, I hear, Hammersley,' lisped a smart young -_aide-de-camp_, cantering up to the ambulance waggon. 'Egad, I envy -you--you'll see something better than Kaffir damsels there!' - -Hammersley, in the midst of his acute pain, somewhat resented the -other's jollity, and said: - -'The poor Kaffir damsels are content with the handiwork of God, and -don't paint their faces red and white, as our English women do in the -Row and Regent Street, Villiers.' - -'You'll soon be home--there is no such thing as distance now,' -rejoined the young staff officer. - -'Yes, Villiers, I am sorry to leave you all; but I am going back to -England--dear old England--the land of fog, as Voltaire says, with -its one sauce and its three hundred and sixty-five religions,' he -added, with a feeble smile, thinking he was perhaps rather sharp in -his tone to Villiers. - -'And you have lost your favourite horse, I hear?' said Hammersley to -Florian. - -'Yes, poor animal.' - -'Then take mine. I need not ask you to be kind to him. Who can say -but you may lend him to me one day for a run at Melton again? Now, -good-bye, old fellow, God bless you!' - -They wrung each other's hands and parted, Florian to ride on to the -new camp at the Isandhlwana Hill, prior to the march for Ulundi, and -Vivian Hammersley to go with the rest of the wounded and sick to the -coast for conveyance to Plymouth. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -WHICH TREATS OF LOVE-LETTERS. - -The middle of July had come, and matters remained almost unchanged in -the family circle at Craigengowan. Lady Fettercairn had not yet -carried out her threat of getting rid of Dulcie Carlyon, though a -vague sense of dislike of the latter was fast growing in her mind. - -Hammersley seemed to be effectually removed from Finella's sphere, -though by what means Lady Fettercairn knew not; but still Shafto made -no progress with the heiress; thus she feared some secret influence -was exerted over him by 'this Miss Carlyon,' and would gladly have -had old Mrs. Prim back again. - -It was July now, we say; and July in London, though Byron says, - - 'The English winter ending in July, - To recommence in August,' - -to the lady's mind was associated only with dinners, concerts, races, -balls, the opera, garden parties, and so forth, all of which she was -relinquishing for an apparently hopeless purpose, while she knew that -all her fashionable friends would be having strange surmises on the -cause of this most unusual rustication, and inquiring of each other, -'What are the Fettercairns about?' - -Dulcie was painfully sensible that the lady of the house had become -cold, stiff, and most exacting in manner to her, even condescending -to sneer at times, with a well-bred tone and bearing that some -high-born ladies can assume when they wish to sting dependants or -equals alike. - -Finella's other grandmother, my Lady Drumshoddy, had ceased to be -quite so indignant at her repulsion to Shafto, as she had a -nephew--son of a sister--coming home on leave from India; and she -thought perhaps the heiress might see her way to present herself and -her thousands to young Major Ronald Garallan, of the Bengal Lancers, -who had the reputation of being a handsome fellow and a regular -'lady-killer.' - -Days and days and long weary weeks passed by--weeks of longing--and -no word of hope, of love, or apology came to Finella across the seas -from distant Africa, evolved as she hoped by the letter of Dulcie to -Florian, and her heart grew sick with hope deferred, while more -battles and skirmishes were fought, and she knew not that a vessel -with the mail containing that missive which Florian posted at the -orderly-room tent had been cast away in the Bight of Benin, and that -the bags had been saved with extreme difficulty. - -She contemplated Vivian Hammersley facing danger in battle and -sickness in camp, marching and toiling in trackless regions, with one -belief ever in his angry heart that she had been false to him--she -who loved him more truly and passionately every day. So time seemed -to pass monotonously on, and her unsatisfied longing to be justified -grew almost to fever heat; and death might take him away before he -knew of her innocence. She tried to be patient, though writhing -under the evil eyes of Shafto, the author of all this mischief. - -Could it be that Vivian had been driven away from her for ever? -Daily she brooded over the unhappy story of her apparent fault and -its bitter punishment, and she would seem to murmur in her heart, -'Come back to me, my darling. Oh, how am I to live on thus without -you?' - -And amid all this no sense of pride or mortification came to support -her. - -By the two girls the Cape news was, of course, closely and nervously -watched. The tidings of Florian's promotion stirred the hearts of -both; but to anyone else in Craigengowan it was, of course, a matter -of profound indifference, if remarked at all. - -A telegram briefly announced, without details, that Captain -Hammersley had been wounded after the skirmish at the Euzangonyan -Hill, but nothing more, as the papers were filled by the death of the -Prince Imperial; so, in the absence of other information, the heart -of Finella was wrung to its core. - -At last there came a morning when, in the house postal-bag, among -others at breakfast, Shafto drew forth a letter for Dulcie. - -'A letter for Miss Carlyon from the Cape,' he exclaimed; 'what a lot -of post-marks! Have you a friend there?' - -'One,' said Dulcie in a low voice; and, with a sigh of joyous -expectation, like a throb in her bosom, she thrust it into her bodice -for perusal by-and-by, when no curious or scrutinizing eyes were upon -her, after she had duly performed the most important duty of the day, -washing and combing Snap, the pug; and the action was seen by Shafto, -who smiled one of his ugly smiles. - -When, after a time, she was at leisure, Finella drew near her, -expectant of some message. - -'Come with me, quick,' said Dulcie; 'I have a letter for you!' - -'For me?' - -'Enclosed in Florian's.' - -Quick as their little feet could take them, the girls hurried to a -secluded part of the shrubberies, where stood a tree known as Queen -Mary's Thorn. Often when visiting her nobles, the latter had been -requested to plant a tree, as if emblematical of prosperity, or in -order that its owners might tend and preserve it in honour of their -illustrious guest. - -Such a tree had been planted there by Queen Mary in the days of the -old and previous family, when on her way north to Aberdeen in the -eventful year 1562, when she rode to Inverness on horseback. Her -room is still pointed out in the house of Craigengowan, and tradition -yet tells in the Howe of the Mearns that, unlike the beer-drinking -Elizabeth (who boxed her courtiers' ears, and would have made Mrs. -Grundy grow pale when she swore like a trooper), thanks to her -exquisite training at the court of Catharine de Medici, her grace and -bearing at table were different from those of her rival, who helped -herself from a platter without fork or spoon, and tore the flesh from -the roast with her teeth, like a Soudanese of the present day. - -But, as Lord Fettercairn was greatly bored by tourists and artists -coming in quest of this thorn-tree, under which the girls now seated -themselves, and he could not make money out of it, at a shilling a -head, like his Grace of Athole for a glimpse of the Falls of Bruar, -he frequently threatened (as he cared about as much for Queen Mary as -he did for the Queen of Sheba) to have it cut down, and would have -done so long since, but for the intervention of old Mr. Kippilaw the -nationalist. - -The delight of Dulcie on unfolding her epistles was only equalled by -the delight and gratitude of Finella on receiving hers. - -'Oh Dulcie, Dulcie!' ran the letter of Florian (with the whole of -which we do not mean to afflict the reader), 'while here--thousands -of miles away from you--how often my heart sickens with hungry -longing for a sight of your face--for the sound of your voice, the -sound I may never hear again; for in war time we know not what an -hour may bring forth, or on each day if we shall see to-morrow. But, -for all that, don't be alarmed about me. I have not the smallest -intention of departing this life prematurely, if I can help it. I'll -turn up again, never fear, darling--assegais, rifles, and so forth, -nevertheless. The chances of our lives ever coming together again -seemed very small when first we parted, yet somehow, dear Dulcie, I -am more hopeful now; and something more may turn up when we least -expect it; and we never know what a day may bring forth.' - -Florian was far, far away from her, yet the sight of his letter, -perhaps the first he had ever written to her, gave the lone Dulcie, -for a time, a blissful sense of love and protection she had never -felt since that fatal morning when she found her father dead 'in -harness'--dead at his desk. Oh, that she could but lay her head on -Florian's breast! - -And as Finella read and re-read Hammersley's letter a bright, sweet, -happy smile curved her lips--the lips that he had kissed in that -first time of supreme happiness, that now seemed so long, long ago. - -'I have been cruel, hard, suspicious,' wrote Hammersley, 'till that -fine young fellow, then a sergeant of ours--the sergeant of my -squadron--a lad of birth and breeding evidently, showed me the letter -of Miss Carlyon--at least that part of it which referred to us, -darling. I did not know till then how bitterly I had been deceived, -and how we had both been imposed upon. Pardon me for the cruel note -I wrote you, and forgive me. But, Finella, as we have often said -before, what view will your people take of us--of me? I am not quite -a poor man, though very much so when compared with you. Think if -monetary matters were reversed, and you accepted a rich man who asked -you to wed him, would not people say it was his money you wanted?' - -'Fiddlesticks!' whispered Finella parenthetically; 'what matters it -what people say, if we love each other? We marry to please -ourselves, Vivian, not them!' - -'There are some arts that come by intuition to some people,' -continued Hammersley, 'and, by Jove! darling, that of soldiering has -come to your friend Miss Carlyon's admirer. His career will be a -sure one; not that I believe the marshal's baton is often found in -the knapsack of Tommy Atkins. He was an enigma to me; his youth and -all that belonged thereto seemed dead and buried--his past a secret, -which he cared about revealing to none; but such are the influences -of camp life and camaraderie that I drew to him, and now I am as -familiar with the name of little Dulcie with the golden hair--golden, -is it not?--as yourself; so give her a kiss for me. I owe her -much--I owe her the happiness of my life in dispelling the dark cloud -that rose between us--in taking the load from my heart that made me -blind and desperate, so that it is a marvel that I have not been -killed long ago.' - -As she read on, to Finella it seemed that it was all a dream that -there ever had been any bitterness between them at all; that his -fierce, short note, pencilled in haste and delivered by the butler, -had ever existed, or that he had left her abruptly and hastily, -without a word or a glance of tenderness--not even uttering her name, -perhaps, the musical name he was wont to linger over so lovingly; -that he had ever gone from her in a natural and pardonable tempest of -anger and jealousy. - -And now how well and fondly she could recall their first introduction -in London, though it seemed so long ago, when their eyes first met -with a sudden and subtle understanding, 'and their glances seemed to -mingle as two gases meet and take fire,' as a writer says quaintly; -and though they had spoken but little then, and well-bred -commonplaces only, each had felt that there were looks and tones -untranslatable, yet full of sweet and hidden meaning to the sensitive. - -For a time, as if loth to go back to the work-a-day world, both girls -sat under Queen Mary's Thorn, each with letter in hand, lost in a -maze of happy dreams. They could see the shrubberies and the woods -about the mansion in all the glory of midsummer, the smooth spaces of -emerald greensward, the balustraded terrace with its stately flights -of steps, and the pool below it, where the white waterlilies and the -white swans floated in sunshine; but all was seen dreamily, and to -their ears like drowsy music came the hum of the honey-bee and the -twittering and voices of the birds, while a beloved name hovered on -the soft lips of each, and seemed to be reproduced in the songs of -the linnet and thrush. - -'You will write to Captain Hammersley, Finella,' said Dulcie, -suddenly breaking the silence; 'write to him and supplement all I -have written to Florian. You see he is too good, too brave, not to -be completely forgiving.' - -'He has nothing to forgive,' said Finella, with just a little soupçon -of pride. - -'Well, of course not; and his heart has come back to you again, if it -ever left you, when he knows that you love him only, and loved him -always.' - -'He sends you a kiss, Dulcie!' said Finella, pressing her lips to the -girl's soft cheek. - -'Be brave, Vivian,' urged Finella, when she wrote her letter; 'I mean -to be so, so far as I am concerned, and do not be discouraged by any -opposition on the part of grandmamma. I am rich enough to please -myself. Let us have perfect confidence in each other, and we shall -realize our dearest hopes, if God spares you to me. Oh, you dear, -old, passionate silly!--to run away in a furious pet, as you did from -Craigengowan, without seeking a word of explanation. How much all -this has cost me, Heaven alone knows; but it is all over now.' - -Her long and loving letter was despatched--posted by her own hand. - -'But his wound--his wound--when shall I hear more of that?' was her -ever-recurring thought. - -Now Shafto had seen the Cape letter ere Dulcie had time to conceal it -in her bosom, and watching both girls, he had seen them intent on -their missives under the shade of Queen Mary's Thorn. So, knowing -that Dulcie's letter could only be from Florian, intent on making -mischief, he went to Lady Fettercairn, whom he found in her luxurious -boudoir, and asked her if she 'approved of her companion -corresponding with private soldiers.' - -'Certainly not,' replied the dame sharply; 'was her letter this -morning from such?' - -'I am certain of it.' - -'This is excessively bad form!' she exclaimed, reclining in a blue -satin easy-chair, with one slim white hand caressing the smooth, -round head of her goggle-eyed pug dog. 'Send her here.' - -'So you have a military correspondent, Miss Carlyon, I understand?' -said she, when the culprit appeared. - -'Yes, my Lady Fettercairn,' replied Dulcie, colouring painfully. - -'Is he a relation?' - -'No; you saw, and--and were struck with his likeness in my locket,' -faltered poor Dulcie. - -'Well--I do not approve, while under my roof, of your corresponding -with private soldiers, or sergeants, and so forth!' - -'But my letter is from an officer of the 24th Regiment,' said Dulcie, -with a little pardonable pride. - -'So much the worse perhaps--an officer?' - -'Lieutenant Florian MacIan.' - -'Indeed,' said Lady Fettercairn, languidly fanning herself; 'I -remember the name now--he was so called after the girl MacIan,' she -added half to herself. 'MacIan! what a name! It is quite a -calamity. I do not care to have you corresponding with these -people--while here,' she added vaguely. - -Dulcie was on the point of reminding her that the unfriended Florian -was the cousin-german of Shafto, but disdained to do so when the -latter so selfishly forgot that matter herself, and bowing, withdrew -in silence--too happy to feel mortified. - -When she and Finella went to bed that night, though each knew every -word of her letter by heart--they slept with them under their -pillows--yea and for many a night--that they might have them at hand -to read the first thing in the morning, so simply sentimental had the -proud Finella and the fond little Dulcie become! - -Dulcie's head was on her pillow, over which her red-golden hair was -tossed in glorious confusion; but no eyes saw it, save perhaps those -of the man in the moon, the silver light of which shone on the -carpeted floor, and then slowly stole upward in a white line upon her -white coverleted bed, and ere long its soft and tender radiance fell -upon the equally soft and tender face of the young girl, whose heavy -dark lashes lay close on her rounded cheeks, and whose rosebud lips -were parted and smiling, for she had a happy dream, born of her -letter--a dream of Revelstoke and the old days there with Florian, -ere grief, sorrow, separation, and the bitter realities of life came -upon them. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -IN THE HOWE OF THE MEARNS AGAIN. - -Dulcie was light of foot, young, bright, and active, yet with all her -lightness and activity, times there were now when she failed to fly -fast enough for Madame's smelling-bottle, her fan, her Shetland -shawl, her footstool, or down-pillow, especially when the latter had -her headache, or that _migraine_ which could only be cured in the -atmosphere of Belgravia, and made her at times also most irritable -with Finella. - -Dulcie could play well and sing well too, not being one of those who -think that, so long as the music of a song is heard, the words are -quite unnecessary; but Lady Fettercairn 'snubbed' her attempts at -either, and openly hinted that it was as much out of place for a -'companion,' however highly accomplished or trained, to seat herself -at a piano in the drawing-room as to ride about the country lanes -with a daughter of the house; but Dulcie, who was neither highly -accomplished nor trained, but self-taught merely, so far as her music -went, could scarcely believe that Lady Fettercairn meant steadily to -mortify and humble her, till one day, when she thought she was alone, -and was idling over the keys of the piano, singing softly to herself -a verse of a little old song, that was a favourite of Florian's, and -seemed applicable to herself: - - 'I saw her not as others did, - Her spirits free and wild; - I knew her heart was often sad - When carelessly she smiled; - - 'Although amid a happy throng - Her laugh was often loud; - I knew her heart, her secret soul, - By secret grief was bowed,'-- - -she stopped suddenly on finding the cold and inquiring blue eyes of -Lady Fettercairn focusing her with her eyeglass. Indeed, in a -somewhat undignified manner, Madame seemed constantly on the watch -for her now, and was always appearing at unexpected times and in -unexpected places. - -'Please to cease this English ballad, Miss Carlyon; it sounds as if -more suited to the atmosphere of the servants' hall than my -drawing-room, I think.' - -'I thought I was alone,' replied Dulcie, colouring deeply at this -sharp and wanton rebuke; and with tremulous hands she softly closed -the piano and stole away, with difficulty restraining her tears, and -hastened to her first morning work--the washing and combing of Snap, -the fat little ill-natured pug, with an apoplectic-like neck, who was -furnished with a beautiful collar of silver and blue enamel, and -usually took his repose in a mother-of-pearl basket, lined with blue -satin, in the boudoir; and Snap had a pedigree longer than that of -the Melforts of Fettercairn, and, unlike theirs, was not tarnished by -political roguery. - -Impulsive Dulcie had, as we have shown, unintentionally wound herself -round the heart of the equally impulsive Finella, for she had an -honest English truthfulness about her which, united to her naturally -happy and loving nature, made her generally irresistible; and now the -girls had a powerful secret tie of their own between them, and to -Finella Dulcie carried her complaints of her treatment. - -'No woman of heart--no lady would be intentionally unkind to you, -Dulcie,' urged Finella. - -'Not positively so; but she might by a glance or a word remind me of -utter dependence for food and clothing in a way that would be felt -more keenly than an open insult; and, truth to tell, Lady Fettercairn -speaks out plainly now. And then,' added Dulcie with perfect -simplicity, 'a governess or companion, if pretty, is so liable to be -snubbed.' - -But the petty tyranny was continued from time to time. - -Dulcie feared the dog Snap, yet, as she had been accustomed to have -pets at home in Revelstoke, she succeeded in teaching it a few -tricks, and rewarding the educational efforts by biscuits and lumps -of sugar. Snap ere long would sit erect on his hind legs with a -morsel balanced on the point of his remarkably short black nose; and -when she said, 'Ready--present--fire,' and clapped her little hands, -he shot it upward and caught it skilfully with a snap in descending. - -With girlish glee she was showing this feat to Finella, when Lady -Fettercairn appeared and said with a hard, metallic voice: - -'Please not to teach my poor dog these vulgar tricks, Miss Carlyon; -these words of command--did you learn them from your friend the -corporal, or sergeant, or what is he?' - -'Grandmamma!' exclaimed Finella, in a voice of astonishment and -reproach, while Dulcie's heart swelled and her eyes filled with -tears, and as usual she withdrew. 'How can you speak thus to her?' -asked Finella. - -'I mean what I say,' was the cold response; 'moreover, as you seem in -her confidence, perhaps you will be good enough to tell her that if I -permit her in the drawing-room, occasionally to make herself useful -when a little music or a hand at cards is wanted, she must not wear -low bodies or short sleeves on any occasion,' added Lady Fettercairn, -who had detected the eyes of more than one male guest wander -appreciatively to the beautiful arms of Dulcie, that shone like -polished alabaster, especially when contrasted with her black -mourning costume. - -And when Lady Fettercairn took the trouble to be ill, which was -pretty frequently now, as she was worried by being kept away so long -from London and London gaieties, for no purpose or end, apparently, -so far as Finella and Shafto were concerned, she established a -headache as a domestic institution, during the prevalence of which no -one was to address her on any subject whatever--more than all, no one -was to cross her. But Shafto's extravagance and growing evil habits -were becoming a source of perpetual thought to the Craigengowan -household now. - -If Dulcie had her troubles, so had also Finella, for the family -scheme 'anent' Shafto was always cropping up from time to time. -Thus, when that young gentleman, who had a very indifferent seat in -his saddle, got a terrible 'spill' one day, in leaping a hedge, and -was brought home in a very prostrate condition, which his addiction -to wine considerably enhanced, the episode gave the cold, selfish, -and unpatriotic peer, who had no great love for his newly found heir, -some cause for thought and consideration. - -Failing heirs male, the Peerage of Fettercairn, being a Scottish one, -made before the Union, would go to Finella in the female line (as so -many similar peerages do, to the endless confusion of family names -and interests), and to the heirs male of her body. - -It was a kind of consolation, but a sad one. Whom might she marry? -'That fellow Vincent Hammersley perhaps!' - -'Finella,' said Lord Fettercairn, in his hard, dry voice, and with -the nearest attempt at a caress that ever escaped him, 'if aught was -to happen to Shafto--which God forbid!--you will be the heiress to -the title and estates.' - -'Oh, don't talk thus, grandpapa!' she exclaimed. - -'You care for the old name, child!' - -'I do indeed, grandpapa.' - -'And would make a sacrifice for it, if necessary?' - -'Believe me, I would!' - -'To please me?' - -'Yes.' - -'You are a good girl, Finella. I wish then for you, apart from -Shafto, who seems going to the dogs,' he muttered bitterly, 'to marry -some worthy and suitable man, such as I shall select for you,' he -added sententiously, and thinking, but not speaking, of the -home-coming Major Ronald Garallan. - -'Indeed, grandpapa, I will do no such thing,' said the wilful little -beauty, firing up; 'I would rather select a husband for myself.' - -'A day will come, girl,' said he, with an air of undisguised -annoyance, 'when you will thank your grandmother and me, when -thinking of all this matter, so necessary for consideration, when so -much wealth and rank are involved. You are a good and a bright -little pet, Finella, and I would not urge these matters on your -consideration but for your own good.' - -Yet Finella only sighed wearily, and thought of getting away from -Craigengowan, and viciously twisted up her laced handkerchief with -her nervous little hands. - -But if Lord Fettercairn was beginning to be hopeless of the affair of -Shafto and Finella, it was not so with the Lady of that Ilk; she was -still bent upon her matrimonial plans, and as a part thereof she -remonstrated in a somewhat unfeeling way with the innocent and -unoffending Dulcie, who became desperate in consequence. - -Until now, when she became the object of unworthy suspicions, she had -been contentedly enjoying the present, made all the more pleasant to -her by the friendship of Finella, not troubling herself too much -about the future, nor indeed would the question of that, if it meant -ways and means, have been very reassuring to her. She could only -indulge in the visions of 'love's young dream,' and no more, as yet. - -'Your future is a serious consideration,' said Shafto one day, with -reference to the subject, as he was airing his figure, with the aid -of a stick, on the terrace. - -'What does it matter to you--what do you care about it?' asked Dulcie -impatiently. - -'A man must always feel interested in the future of a girl he loves, -or has loved, even though she has deliberately thrown him over, and -flouted him, as you have always done me.' - -'I never could nor can I care for you, even as a friend; so simply -cease this old annoyance, please,' she said angrily. - -'Beware, I say again,' said he, with knitted brows. - -'Oh, you have been manly enough to threaten me before, but you are -not yet the master of Craigengowan, and may never be.' - -This had only reference to his rash course of life, and was but one -of several random speeches or shots made by Dulcie, which always -terrified and maddened Shafto, who suspected that in some mysterious -way she knew more than he was aware of. At these times he could have -strangled her, and now he grew pale with momentary rage. - -'I will no longer submit to your cruelty and cowardice,' said Dulcie, -her blue eyes flashing as she felt desperate. - -'What will you do--tell Lady Fettercairn?' he sneered. - -'No.' - -'What then?' - -'That is my business,' replied Dulcie, who, truth to say, was -beginning to meditate a flight from Craigengowan--whither, she knew -not and cared not. - -Shafto was again silent and alarmed. With all his brilliant -surroundings, he never knew what a day or night might bring forth. - -'After long experience of the world,' says Junius, 'I affirm before -God that I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.' - -'We always want what we cannot have, I suppose,' said Dulcie, after a -pause. 'You are like the fox and the grapes, Mr. Shafto, in more -ways than one; only the fox displayed superior sense by retiring when -he found the coveted clusters beyond his reach, in persuading himself -that they were sour; hence I would advise you to imitate the -proceedings of the fox.' - -Shafto turned away and withdrew without a word, as he beheld the -almost noiseless approach of Lady Fettercairn from a conservatory -door, with her cold, steel-blue eyes, more steely than ever, her -light-brown hair, and firm aristocratic lips. - -Like most fair women, she looked much younger than her years, and, as -we have said in an opening chapter her really fine face was without a -line, as she had never had a cross or care in the world, save the -alleged _mésalliance_ of Lennard with Flora MacIan, and that, in a -general way, was all forgotten now. - -As she fixed her gaze on Dulcie, the expression of her face was -hostile and lowering. - -While feeling certain that something unpleasant was impending, Dulcie -tried to greet her with a smile, though 'the faculty of looking -pleased when one's heart is sick unto death--of fulfilling with -equanimity a hundred petty social exactions, which one's wearied soul -loathes--is a talent verging on the border-land of genius.' - -'Miss Carlyon,' began Lady Fettercairn, most freezingly, 'to my -surprise I overheard you giving some advice in a remarkable and -apparently very familiar way to my grandson, Mr. Shafto Melfort?' - -The remark was a question; but before Dulcie, in her confusion, could -form any reply, Lady Fettercairn spoke again. - -'I have remarked, and intensely disapprove of these apparently secret -meetings, conferences, or confidences, which you will, between -persons in the very different relative positions of my grandson, -young Mr. Melfort, and yourself, Miss Carlyon. They are, to say the -least of them, very unseemly.' - -'Lady Fettercairn!----' began Dulcie, almost passionately, and with -crimsoned cheeks. But the dame, full of one idea only, moved her -head and resumed again, and pretty pointedly too: - -'You are no doubt perfectly aware, as you have resided some months -among us, that my grandson is destined for his cousin, Miss Melfort; -and if her friend--as you say you are--you are somewhat too much in -his society.' - -'Can I help it?' said Dulcie, in the dependency of her position -compelled to temporize. 'I do not thrust mine on him--quite the -reverse, Lady Fettercairn.' - -'Finella does not seem to affect her cousin, I regret to say.' - -'I think so too.' - -'Thus, if she has mortified him, his heart may be easily caught on -the rebound.' - -'By _me_?' asked Dulcie, in a straight-forward manner. - -'Yes,' replied Lady Fettercairn, sharply and icily. - -'My position in your house will never permit me to dishonour myself.' - -'Hoity-toity--dishonour!' - -'A girl who would seek to ensnare a man--as you hint--for wealth or -position, certainly does dishonour herself. Death were better than -such a life as this!' murmured Dulcie wearily. - -'What do you mean by death, Miss Carlyon? I overheard your remark; -it is not fashionable or good form to talk of such unpleasant things, -so please don't do it in future. Besides, at twenty, no one dies of -grief or of mock-sentiment, believe me. A little time will show me -whether you are or are not the real friend of Miss Melfort, and -whether you have not been, perhaps, too long here.' - -'Too long, indeed, for my own peace,' said Dulcie, in a broken voice. - -'I am responsible for the consequences, if he chooses to make a fool -of himself with you,' said Lady Fettercairn, mistaking the meaning of -Dulcie's speech. - -'What do you mean, madam?' asked the latter, as a desperate and -hunted feeling came over her. - -'I am scarcely bound to explain myself, but might act,' replied Lady -Fettercairn, astonished and almost discomfited by this audacity on -the part of a dependant, 'especially so far as you are concerned. If -I mistake not, I employed you, Miss Carlyon, to be my useful -companion, and not to act as a monitress to my grandson, and to turn -your gifts of beauty or accomplishments to the use you are doing.' - -'Oh, this is indeed torture!' exclaimed Dulcie, as hot tears rushed -to her eyes; and as she thought of what her real relations were with -Shafto, and how she loathed him, she exclaimed with genuine agony, -'how can you--how dare you be so cruel?' - -'Miss Carlyon, this tone to me? You forget yourself.' - -'No, Lady Fettercairn,' retorted Dulcie, with kindling cheeks and -blue eyes sparkling through their tears; 'too well do I know, and -have been made to feel, that I am a dependant in Craigengowan; but I -brought into it a spirit as honest and independent as if our places -had been reversed--I the rich lady and you my poor dependant.' - -'If I wrong you I regret it,' said Lady Fettercairn; 'so here, for a -time, let this unpleasant matter end.' - -And, with a slight bow, she sailed away into the conservatory. - -But Dulcie felt that there the matter could not and should not end, -and she began to think seriously of flying from Craigengowan. - -With a little stifled cry that broke from her quivering lips, Dulcie -rushed down the steps of the terrace and fled through the shrubberies -like a hunted animal, looking neither to the right nor left, till she -reached the sequestered spot where stood Queen Mary's Thorn, and, -flinging herself face downwards in the grass, she uttered again and -again her father's name, as if she would summon him to her protection -and aid, amid a flood of passionate tears--tears from the depths of -her despair and intense humiliation. - -Unmindful of the flight of time, or whether she was wanted for -attendance on Lady Fettercairn or Snap, she lay there a whole hour, -while the shadows of tree and shrub were lengthening round her. She -thought her heart was breaking, so keen was her sense of the affronts -to which she had been subjected; for, with all her sweet humility, -Dulcie was not without innate dignity and pride; and in this mournful -condition she was found by Finella, who, suspecting from her -grandmother's bearing and aspect that something was wrong, had kindly -gone in search of her. - -She raised her up, caressed and kissed her, and then heard her story -with no small indignation, though she knew not what to do in the -situation. - -'I shall never, never forget you, Finella,' sobbed Dulcie; 'but when -I leave this I know not what will become of me.' - -'Leave this--why?' - -'Would you have me stay after what I have told you, and to be treated -as I am by Lady Fettercairn? But now, to me, it seems that the -future of my life will be gloomy, indeed, and full of torture and -sorrow.' - -'Don't talk thus, Dulcie; if ever a girl was made for happiness and -to give it to others it is you, my plump little English pet!' said -Finella, taking Dulcie's tear-stained face between her pretty hands, -and kissing it on both cheeks. - -But Dulcie was determined to leave Craigengowan--to go that same -night, indeed. - -'For where?' asked Finella. - -'Anywhere--anywhere!' - -'Impossible!' - -And Finella, by gentleness and kindness, soothed her over for a time, -but a time only, and during that period she was relieved of the -obnoxious presence of Shafto. - -That personage found Craigengowan, when there were no guests thereat, -especially such as he could lure into a game of _écarté_, or pool and -pyramid, 'deuced slow,' so he took his departure for Edinburgh, -where, as when in London, he often assumed the uncommon name of -'Smith' when involved, as he not unfrequently was, in rows and -scrapes which he wished kept from the knowledge of Lord Fettercairn, -and which sometimes led to his figuring before a presiding Bailie -through the medium of the night-police. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -EN ROUTE TO ULUNDI. - -On the 19th of June the Second Division, the operations of which were -now combined with those of Sir Evelyn Wood's Flying Column, resumed -its march to the front after the failure of certain nude ambassadors -from Cetewayo to arrange with Lord Chelmsford, who, on the -16th--three days before his march began--had received the most -mortifying intelligence that he was to be superseded in command of -the South African Field Force by 'the coming man,' Lieutenant-General -Sir Garnet Wolseley, ere whose arrival took place, he hoped to end -the war by one vigorous blow delivered at Ulundi. - -The troops were all in the highest spirits--full of fine ardour, and -longing to wipe out the stain cast upon them by the miserable fate of -the Prince Imperial. - -The first movement of the division was the ascent of the great and -steep Ibabanango Mountain, and when that was accomplished, Sir Evelyn -encamped on the left bank of the River Vemhlatuz, where open country -stretched on the left flank towards where Fort Marshall was built, -while the division encamped in his rear on ground where dwarf acacias -grew, with tangled creepers, wild vines, and cane-like plants. - -Service and exposure had now made deep the bronze of Florian's face -and hands; but the former had matured its expression, and the fine -manliness of it; a careless, not precisely a rackety life--but a camp -life, with perils faced in the field--had made his features and -bearing less boyish than they were when Dulcie bade him farewell at -Revelstoke. - -'A generous friendship no cold medium knows,' says Pope; thus, when -active operations were resumed, Florian became painfully conscious -how much he missed Hammersley at the head of the squadron, a charge -that had now devolved upon himself; for Vivian's spirit of -camaraderie and bonhomie, his manly, gentlemanly, and soldierly -bearing in every way, with the little secret they had to share -between them, even as with Dulcie and Finella at Craigengowan, formed -an additional link. - -When would they meet again? When would they greet each other, if -ever, more? And while surmising thus he viewed with genuine regard -the valuable ring bestowed on him by Hammersley, and patted with -affection the fine charger with which he had also gifted him; but -many more in the ranks of the old 24th missed Hammersley as well as -Florian. - -On the 20th occurred one of those skirmishes with the Zulus which -were of daily occurrence. - -Villiers, the young aide-de-camp, came with orders for the -Irregulars, Buller's Horse, and Florian's little squadron of Mounted -Infantry to reconnoitre the ground between two branches of the -Umhlatoosi River, and for this purpose they quitted the camp as usual -before dawn. - -As they rode on in silence Florian's mind--for he was apt to get lost -in thought--was dwelling on a legend he had heard, that the Zulu -people were the descendants of certain shipwrecked seamen of a fleet -which Pharaoh, King of Egypt, had sent to the Southern Sea, and that -Zululand, some say Sofala, was the ancient Ophir, where forests of -cedar and ebony grew, and gold, diamonds, and all manner of precious -stones existed in certain geological strata. - -As the Mounted Infantry rode on over ground where troops had never -ridden before, herds of spiral-horned koodoos, of eland, of -hartebeest and the striped zebra went scampering before them. - -'What sport we might have here had we not other work in hand!' -exclaimed an officer regretfully. - -In two detachments they examined the hills on the flanks of the way -which was to be the route of the division. Buller's Horse took those -on the right; Florian's Infantry those on the left. The former soon -unearthed some Zulus, who fired a ragged volley and then vanished -over a steep crest, where it was impossible to pursue them. - -Skirmishes of this kind went on almost hourly till the 26th, when -Florian became involved in what seemed a fatal catastrophe. It had -now become evident to the Zulus that these continued advances of the -Second Division menaced the great Royal Kraal of Ulundi. Thus more -and more of them were visible daily. Their opposition was growing, -and they made resolute attempts to burn up all the tall feathery -grass along the route; and being dry as hay, it readily caught fire, -to the peril of ammunition in the pouches, boxes in the gun-limbers -and store-waggons. - -On the 24th Sir Evelyn Wood's column had reached a place called the -Jackal Ridge, and encamped on its summit, while the tents of the -division were pitched at its base in a district where the valleys -were full of beautiful green bushes, where cotton trees and -castor-oil plants grew in the wildest luxuriance, and the tall -scarlet spikes and spear-like leaves were varied by the green of the -spekboom and the _melkbosh_ or spurge plants of various kinds. - -From the camp of the Flying Column on the summit of the ridge a great -kraal, supposed to be Ulundi, was seen in the distance, the kraal of -which traders and native scouts had circulated the most fabulous -descriptions. - -'Vague stories of the wealth of the king went about,' says Captain -Thomasson, adjutant of Buller's Irregular Cavalry. 'Splendid visions -of loot in the shape of ivory, ostrich feathers, and diamonds filled -the soldiers' eyes. Incredible stories of the amount of treasure -taken at Isandhlwana were circulated. It is needless to say these -golden visions were broken, not a man of the regulars being a -sovereign the better for any loot taken. Some of the irregulars got -small sums from deserted kraals. The amount taken altogether was -small.... From here a good view of Ulundi can be seen--the sight we -have waited six long months for. The delight one felt must have been -similar to that which animated the ten thousand at the first sight of -the sea. One was almost tempted to shout Ulundi! Ulundi! as they did -Thalassa! Thalassa! From the same height we could see the sea in the -far distance.' - -Prior to attacking some kraals that were in front, on the 25th Sir -Evelyn Wood's column pushed forward again, and crossed a stream by -laying across it mattings of grass--a process that occupied fully -seven hours--after which the Second Division followed. - -Early on the morning of the 26th, the day we have referred to, Lord -Chelmsford personally paraded a force to attack the enemy. - -It consisted of two squadrons of the 17th Lancers, looking gay in -their smart blue tunics, faced and broadly lapelled with white, their -swallow-tailed banneroles fluttering out upon the wind; Buller's -picturesque-looking Irregular Horse, Florian's Mounted Infantry, -Major Bengough's wild-looking natives, with rifle, shield, and -assegai, and two pieces of cannon. - -The kraals to be attacked stood in a spacious valley, five miles -distant from the camp, and a stern resistance was expected. - -At a canter the horse and artillery took a circuitous route, and -gained an eminence overlooking the kraals, which were speedily set on -fire by shells, and, being of dry and inflammable material, were at -once sheeted with red flame. - -In each of these military kraals were two thousand five hundred huts, -and the dark smoke from them ascended in separate columns of -stupendous height into the clear and ambient African sky, and to -avenge their destruction a great column of some thousands of Zulus, -like a sombre, moving sea, studded with grey and glittering -objects--bull-hide shields and assegai-blades--were seen advancing -swiftly along the green and verdant valley. - -'This will be no crutch-and-toothpick business!' exclaimed Villiers, -the joyous young aide-de-camp, laughingly; 'here they come,' he -added, looking through his field-glasses, 'led by a tearing swell, -with cranes' pinions on his head, and no end of cows' tails at his -waist, and a shield like a door, by Jove!' - -The words had scarcely escaped him when his horse was shot under him, -and he 'came a cropper,' as he phrased it, in doing so nearly -swallowing his cigar. - -But the Royal Artillery 9-pounders opened on them, plumping shell -after shell into their dense dark masses, so they paused, wavered, -faced about, and fled with the wildest precipitation, pursued by the -fiery and active Redvers Buller, of the 60th Rifles (who had served -in the China campaign of 1860, and with the Red River expedition -under Sir Garnet Wolseley), at the head of his Irregular Horse, the -Mounted Basutos, and Florian's Mounted Infantry. - -On they went, over the maimed and torn, the dead and the dying, naked -and bleeding. Many were shot and cut down on every side, and the -casualties would have been more terrible but for the awful state of -the atmosphere, which was steamy, hot, and laden with the -overpowering fragrance of sheets of tropical flowers and plants that -clothed the two faces of the valley. - -In the hot pursuit, as Florian was taking his horse over a -watercourse by a flying leap, there occurred to him one of those -mishaps which, from one circumstance or another, few horsemen have -not experienced. In mid-leap, the fiery animal was suddenly scared -by a huge black _aasvogel_ (a kind of vulture), that flew upward from -among the dwarf bushes with a vicious croak, and caused it to swerve -under him in the saddle, giving his whole frame a painful wrench -that, without a wound or bruise, rendered him for the time incapable -of riding a yard further, and with difficulty he dismounted. - -What was to be done? Advance with the mounted men under Buller he -could not, neither could he return rearward to the camp, now some -eight miles distant, alone! - -In a solitary hut of the nearest kraal--a hut that had escaped the -conflagration of the rest--he was placed till the force could pick -him up on its return. There Tom Tyrrell placed a cloak over him, -loaded his revolver, and left him to continue the pursuit; while his -charger--the gift of Hammersley--was meantime appropriated by -Villiers, the staff officer. - -Perfect rest made the acute pain he was enduring subside; but he -still felt weak and worn, and there he lay alone, amid utter silence -now, 'building castles in the air, with conversations in the -clouds'--conversations with Dulcie, and castles for her to inhabit. - -In the almost darkened hut, dome-shaped, and roofed with thatch and -enormous leaves, and into which light came by the narrow -wattle-framed door alone, he lay thinking of her, and the -unpleasantness of her life at Craigengowan, and marvelled much what -manner of place it was; for, till her letter came, he had scarcely -heard of it before, he felt assured. He thought, too, of the -chances--the problem of their meeting again--and that problem stared -him in the face in the light like an unsolved question, or the game -that one goes to bed leaving unfinished; but with him and with her it -would be the most important move in the game of their young and at -present, divided lives--the lives and loves of two who were bound up -in each other, all the more that they had no one to care for in this -world save each other. - -Meanwhile one anxious hour followed another, and there came no sound -of troops on the sward--no clatter of accoutrements to announce that -the pursuing Horse were returning his way. - -The Second Division and Wood's Flying Column had marched to a -mountain called the Entonjaneni, and there formed a camp about twenty -miles distant from Ulundi as the crow flies. Vast quantities of -thorn-bushes grew on the left of it, and before it spread an open -plain; and to this camp came nearly the last envoys of Cetewayo, -bearing two elephants' tusks as a sign of amity, promising a herd of -cattle, and so forth. The tusks were declined, and the original -conditions insisted on. However, Lord Chelmsford agreed to delay his -final advance till the evening of the 29th of June. - -Buller's Horse and the other mounted men were returning slowly from -their long pursuit, when they drew near the kraals so recently -destroyed, and saw that one hut was burning still, and casting a -lurid light against the evening sky. All thought this strange, as -before the repulse of the Zulus in the valley the fire in every kraal -was completely over, as there seemed nothing more left to burn. - -Suddenly Tom Tyrrell cried out, in a voice of the keenest excitement: - -'The hut in which we left our officer is in flames--the poor fellow -will be burned to death!' - -'Who?' exclaimed Villiers. - -'Our poor officer--Lieutenant MacIan.' - -'God! you don't say so!' - -'See for yourself, sir.' - -'It is too evidently as you say. Forward at a gallop!' - -The flames were sinking fast when they reached the hut, now reduced -to a smouldering heap of ashes, and the horrible odour of burned -human flesh overpowered the perfume of the wild flowers, amid which -the great bees were yet humming; and poking amid the hot _débris_ -with their lances, the men of the 17th found the charred remains of -what had been evidently a human body; and though inured to war, to -bloodshed, and daily human suffering, the soldiers looked blankly and -inquiringly in each other's faces, pausing for orders, and wondering -what was to be done now. - -In the hut the luckless Florian had lain for a time on its -clay-beaten floor listening for every sound. He had a natural fear -of Zulus coming upon him suddenly and assegaiing him in cold -blood--if indeed the blood of these fierce savages was ever cold till -death seized them. - -The idea was intolerable; and he writhed on the hard floor and -hearkened intently with his ear placed close thereto. - -Shots in the far distance announced that fighting was going on -somewhere--that Redvers Buller, the unwearied, was 'at it again'--but -told him nothing more. What if the advanced troops were -defeated--had to fall back towards the Entonjaneni Mountain by some -other route, and had to abandon him to his fate? - -In war, of what value is one human life, save to the proprietor -thereof? - -Anon, amid these exciting and oppressive thoughts, he became -conscious of a singular and awful odour pervading the place. He had -knowledge enough of it by ample past experience to know that it came -from the body of a dead Zulu. He peered about, and in a corner -hitherto unnoticed, near a pile of fresh bull-hides, intended -doubtless for conversion into long shields, partly covered by one, -lay the corpse of a Zulu warrior, whose shaven head, with the -military ring or fillet, and bare feet, with anklets of burnished -copper, were visible. - -Pah! - -Such a companion as this proved too much for his nerves, and at all -risks--the risk of being seen by scouting Zulus--he crawled out of -the hut into the pure and grateful air of heaven, and contrived to -reach a clump of dwarf mimosa-trees at a little distance on the slope -of an eminence, and therein he lay to await the return of his -comrades. - -He had with him his water-bottle and a brandy-flask; and with the -contents of these, a sandwich or two (from his haversack) made of -tinned meat, and a ration of biscuit, he made a meal, as mid-day was -now past, and, lighting a cigarette, strove to study the art of being -patient. - -As he lay there and smoked, numbers of insects, nameless to -him--cicadas, huge moths and butterflies--huge in the tropics--buzzed -and flitted about him; small birds, the gold and emerald cuckoo, -sunbird and finch, with beautiful plumage, flitted from branch to -branch overhead; a lizard or chameleon crawled along. Dazed by the -heat, and under the influence of the latter, and perhaps of his -cigarette, Florian dropped asleep. - -From this he was startled by a trumpet sounding the advance, and was -roused just in time to see the detachment consisting of the two -Lancer Squadrons, the Mounted Infantry, Frontier Horse, and -Bengough's Natives resuming their route to the camp, after -investigating the ashes of the hut he had quitted, and which had no -doubt caught fire from the hot embers of others blown against it by -the wind. - -But Florian's heart sank within him at the contemplation of what -might have _been_ had he slept on--had the trumpet not been sounded, -and the troops had ridden away, leaving him helpless in that solitude. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE LOADED DICE. - -Shafto was located in a quiet hotel in St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, -whither he had come in hope to raise money to meet the difficulties -in which he had become involved. When away from the splendid -thraldom of Craigengowan--for thraldom he deemed it now--he was daily -and nightly in the habit of imbibing more than he would have ventured -to do there; thus he was becoming slow of speech, with the fishy eye -and the fevered breath of the habitual tippler, even at his years, -while in dress he adopted a style that was a curious combination of -the dandy and the groom. - -The many confiding tailors, jewellers, horse-copers, wine-merchants, -and others whom he had honoured by his patronage were now getting -beyond all bounds with their importunity and--as he -thought--impertinent desire to have their bills settled; while, -disgusted with him, Lord Fettercairn had been heard more than once to -say, even to old Mr. Kippilaw: - -'If Finella had been a boy I should not have cared so much about -there being no other grandson of my own to ensure the succession and -carry on the title.' - -But the peer did not yet know the worst. - -Occasional visits to Edinburgh, and still more those to London, were -always involving Shafto in one or other disgraceful scrape; for, -notwithstanding a most liberal allowance, he was often at his wits' -end for money, and was over head and ears in gambling debts. Thus he -was a bitter pill to the patriotic peer, his 'grandfather,' and he -was on the verge, he feared, of dire disgrace, as a whole lot of -post-obits might soon come to light--on the fortune he reckoned would -come to him on Lord Fettercairn's death or his marriage with Finella; -for with two such prospects the Jew money-lenders and other -scoundrels who trade as such, in Pall Mall and elsewhere, under -double names, had seen things in a 'rosy' light, and let him thus -have 'no end of money.' - -And now, as a means of recruiting his exchequer for a time, he -bethought him of young Kippilaw, who had been left £30,000 -unexpectedly by an uncle in Glasgow, and his first thought was to -flatter and fleece the fellow if he could, though the spruce little -W.S. was on the eve of his marriage with one of the many daughters of -Lord Macowkay, the eminent senator of the College of Justice; so he -invited that gentleman to a quiet little dinner at his hotel, 'Just -to pick a bone--sharp eight.' - -Little Kippilaw, who was always flattered by the society of a -prospective peer, as something to talk about in the Parliament House, -accepted with a radiant countenance; and, as he had rather a -showy-looking friend who was passing through Edinburgh on his way to -Drumshoddy Lodge, he asked permission to bring him. - -'Certainly, of course,' said Shafto. - -'Major Garallan is a client of the firm.' - -'What! the old woman Drumshoddy's nephew?' - -'The same.' - -'All right; let us have him.' - -So the Major came in due course. He was the beau-ideal of a cavalry -man--tall, handsome, well set up and put together, dark-complexioned -and regular-featured, with his ears and neck scorched by the Indian -sun to a hue in which red and bistre were blended; but an awkward -accession he proved to Shafto eventually. - -The dinner, with its soup, fish, and many entrées, was all that could -be desired, from the curaçoa to the coffee, and put Shafto's two -guests in excellent humour with themselves and the world generally; -the cloth was drawn, the wine and dessert put on, and, seated at the -head of the table, Shafto almost forgot his troubles, as he took -bumper after bumper of sparkling Pommery-greno, while from the tall -windows could be seen the space of the stately square, with its tall -central column crowned by the colossal statue, of Melville, and all -its many-pillared and palatial banks and public offices whitened by -the silver light of the summer moon. - -The Zulu War was, of course, spoken of, the mishaps at Isandhlwana -and Intombe discussed, though the subject was shirked by Shafto, who -cared nothing about it, save in so far as the _danger_ that then -menaced Florian; but little Kippilaw, who was a full-blown captain in -the Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Brigade, talked a vast amount of 'shop' -to the amused Major Garallan, whom he ventured to instruct in the -'new method of attack,' and thereby drew out the latter insensibly to -talk a little of his Indian experiences, for he had served in the -expedition to Perak, against the Malays, and the Jowaki expedition on -the frontier of Peshawur, and been wounded at the storming of Jummoo; -affairs that, though small in themselves, went rather beyond a sham -fight in the Queen's Park, including the storming of St. Anthony's -Chapel and forming a rallying square in the Hunter's Bog. - -And now the conversation began to flag, though Shafto had circulated -the wine freely, and he thought the time had come to propose 'a -little mild play.' One circumstance surprised him--that though they -were supposed to be connected by marriage, the somewhat haughty Major -never made the slightest reference to the subject. - -'A quiet rubber of whist, with a dummy,' suggested Kippilaw. - -'With a dummy, no,' said Major Garallan. 'I like poker, but----' - -'Poker be hanged!' interrupted Shafto. - -At this abrupt speech the Major, a well-bred man, pushed back his -chair a little way, while Shafto paused and felt in his -waistcoat-pocket a little white square ivory object--of which more -anon. - -It was arranged that Shafto and Kippilaw should have a mild game of -_écarté_, while Major Garallan smoked, idled, and looked on, a course -that the first-named gentleman by no means approved of, as, for -cogent reasons, he had an intense dislike of having his play -overlooked. - -Kippilaw, inflamed by the wine he had taken inconsiderately--while -Shafto, cautious to a degree, had not, to use a phrase of his own, 'a -hair of his coat turned'--allowed himself to be lured into doubling -the stakes again and again; and Shafto, who had his own ultimate end -in view, while playing to all appearance with intense care, allowed -himself to lose eventually the sum of £500, for which, as he had not -the most remote intention of paying it, he with great liberality gave -an 'IOU' to Kippilaw, who, not being an habitual gamester, but by -nature and profession cautious and gentlemanly in spirit, was rather -scared in accepting the document. - -Then a pause ensued in the game, during which more -wine--Pommery-greno--was circulated, fresh cards produced, and Shafto -invited the Major to play, but he declined somewhat curtly, as Shafto -thought. - -He then urged Kippilaw to let him have his 'revenge,' and the latter -was willing enough to let him have back the IOU if he won it, or any -portion thereof, as he disliked to possess such a document signed by -the son of a client of the firm, and thought secretly that he would -not play a shilling beyond that sum; but he had partaken of too much -champagne, which, when the Major's back was turned, Shafto contrived -to dash with brandy, and soon the demon of play, rivalry and -acquisitiveness overruled the reason of Kippilaw; but the nefarious -action of Shafto had not been unnoticed by the Major, who had -affected to be twirling his moustache by the aid of a mirror above -the high black marble mantelpiece. - -Shafto produced a dice-box; he lost, and Kippilaw won, as it was -intended he should, and a silly laugh of exultation escaped him. - -'Another IOU--you're in luck's way to-night, Kippilaw!' exclaimed -Shafto. - -'How much have I won?' - -'A hundred and fifty.' - -The play went on--the dice-box rattled again and again, while the -Major, with his back against the mantelpiece, looked silently and -curiously, but darkly on. Shafto won back--what he had lost as a -lure--his £500, with wonderful celerity, and then another sum of -£100, for which Kippilaw gave him a cheque, signed by a very unsteady -hand. - -'Double or quits,' said Shafto, staking the cheque, with his hand on -the dice-box. - -'Thanks--but I don't think I'll play any more,' said Kippilaw. - -'Oh--indeed--please yourself,' said Shafto scornfully, while biting -his lips with anger and disappointment--'but after gaining £500 from -me--the devil--are you afraid?' - -'No.' - -'What then?' - -'I have played enough--more deeply than I ever did before.' - -'Enough!' repeated Shafto contemptuously. - -'Yes.' - -'Too much, indeed,' said Major Garallan suddenly; 'and, by Jove, you -do right to stop, Kippilaw.' - -'What the devil do you mean?' asked Shafto, becoming pale with sheer -fury. - -'What I say,' replied the officer coolly. - -'Who the ---- gave you a right to interfere?' demanded Shafto in a -bullying tone. - -'I have watched your play, sir, for some time past,' replied the -Major quietly, 'and know right well how and why the tide of fortune -turned so suddenly in your favour.' - -An oath escaped Shafto, and snatching up the cards, he hurled the -pack to a remote corner of the room. - -'What does all this mean?' asked Kippilaw, staring half tipsily and -with a scared air at the speakers. - -'It means, you goose, that you have been playing with a fellow who is -no better than a blackleg,' said the Major, with quiet scorn. 'No, -_you don't_,' he added, grasping, as if with a smith's vice, the -wrist of Shafto, who, uttering a cry like a jackal, seized a -cut-glass decanter, with the fell intention of hurling it at the -speaker's head, but the latter cowed him by one steady glance. - -'You shall repent this insolence,' said Shafto, starting to his feet. -'I will teach you to question a man of honour with impunity.' - -'Honour!' laughed Garallan. - -'You shall hear from me, sir.' - -'In what fashion--an action at law?' - -'No; one perhaps you may shrink from.' - -'Very probably. You don't mean a duel?' - -'I do.' - -'Where?' - -'On the sands at Boulogne.' - -'Fool! People don't fight duels nowadays, and if they did, I am not -required to fight with a--swindler! That is the word, so let us hear -no more high falutin. A man of honour, indeed!' - -Garallan burst into a fit of scornful laughter, and Shafto, mad with -rage and disappointment, was rushing to grasp the poker, when the -former, in a moment, and before the apparently helpless Kippilaw -could interfere, if able to do so, in any way, had struck his -would-be opponent down, and wrenched from his left hand, which he -tore open by main force, something that Shafto had attempted to put -in his mouth, and which, on examination, proved to be--a loaded die. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -SHAFTO'S HORIZON BECOMES CLOUDY. - -The Major had gone to the 'little dinner' at the desire of Kippilaw, -but unwillingly; he had evidently heard something about Shafto--knew -him by reputation, and during the meal had treated him perhaps rather -cavalierly, which Shafto was too self-assertive or too -'thick-skinned' to perceive, though Kippilaw did. - -The little W.S., who had never been in a 'scrimmage' since he left -the High School, was desperately scared by the whole affair, and -especially by the mauling given to Shafto, the son of a client of the -firm, the heir of Lord Fettercairn, by the Major, who made very light -of the matter, and called him 'a d----d cad, and worse than a cad.' - -When Shafto gathered himself up they were gone, and he heard their -footsteps echoing in the now silent square (where the tall column -stood up snowy white in the light of the waning moon) as they turned -westward along George Street, and a feeling closely akin to that of -murder gathered in his heart as he poured the most horrible -maledictions on the Major, and drank a deep draught of foaming -Pommery-greno, well laced with brandy. - -That fellow had spoiled his game, and his nefarious plans against -young Kippilaw, whom he regarded as a wealthy pigeon to pluck. No -good ever came of a quiet third party watching one's play. He would -be even with the Major yet, he muttered, as he ground his teeth; but -how? The Major had carried off the loaded dice, and after splitting -it open, as doubtless he would, exposure everywhere was sure to -follow. - -He was wrong in one supposition, however, as the Major quitted -Edinburgh next morning for Drumshoddy Lodge, and, of course, would be -very unlikely to expose in public one whom he deemed a connection of -his own. - -Intending to attribute the whole affair of the loaded dice--alleged -to be loaded, he would insist--to a tipsy brawl on the Major's part, -to a mistake or confusion, and carry it off somehow, Shafto, driven -to desperation by want of money on one hand, even to settle his hotel -bill in St. Andrew Square, and by some days of terrible doubt and -depression on the other, after writing a private note to Mr. Kenneth -Kippilaw about his affairs, and fixing an hour for a visit -'thereanent,' ventured to present himself at that gentleman's -chambers, where a shock awaited him. - -As he passed through the hall, he saw Madelon--Madelon -Galbraith--seated in a waiting-room. - -'Madelon here--for what purpose?' thought he, with growing anxiety, -as he was ushered into the presence of Mr. Kippilaw, who received him -with intense frigidity--even more than frigidity--as he barely -accorded him a bow, and neither offered his hand nor rose from his -writing-table, but silently pointed to a chair with his pen. - -Despite this cold welcome, Shafto's constitutional insolence of -thought and bearing came to him with a sense of the necessity for -action, for his grim reception by the usually suave and pleasant old -lawyer roused all his wrath and spite to fever-heat. - -'So--so, sir,' began the latter, 'so you, the heir to the estates and -title of Fettercairn, actually tried to rob my simple son by means of -a loaded dice till exposed by Major Garallan, to whom my warmest -gratitude is due; the split fragments are now in my possession; but I -presume it was not on that matter you came to consult me. And, not -content with such vile conduct, you sought to taunt, bully, and -inveigle the Major into a duel, in which perhaps your superior skill -or cunning might achieve his murder. Duels, however, are out of -date; but penal servitude is not, so beware, Mr. Shafto--beware, I -say--there is a rod in pickle for you, I suspect.' - -And as he spoke the keen, glittering eyes of the old lawyer glared at -Shafto above the rims of his _pince-nez_. - -'But you come to confer with me about your private debts, Mr. -Shafto,' he added, lowering his tone. - -'Yes.' - -'You know the total amount, I presume?' - -'Scarcely.' - -'How so?' - -'Well, when letters come to me I open the white envelopes and chuck -all the d----d blue ones into the fire uninspected.' - -'A sensible proceeding--very! How long can it go on?' - -'I don't know--perhaps you do,' was the dogged reply. - -As if it was useless to ask further questions, Mr. Kippilaw looked -over some papers which Shafto had sent for his consideration, and his -countenance lowered and his white bushy eyebrows became closely -knitted as he did so, while Shafto watched him with an aspect of -languid interest which he was far from feeling, and sucked the ivory -head of his crutch-stick the while. - -'Why, Mr. Shafto,' said Mr. Kippilaw, 'this is rank dishonesty.' - -'What is?' - -'This mess I am contemplating.' - -'Don't talk thus to me; the greatest robbers in the world, after -one's own family lawyers----' - -'Sir!' interrupted Mr. Kippilaw, smiting the table with his hand, and -looking dangerous. - -'To business, then,' said Shafto sulkily. - -'There's this bill of Reuben Levi, the London money-lender, of which -I have a note, drawn originally for £500, at three months, bearing -interest at sixty per cent., and renewed three times!' - -'Well?' - -'The money value to the drawer is not likely to be much at the close -of the precious transaction.' - -'D--n, I think not.' - -'Lord Fettercairn will have to take up these.' - -'A few more too, I suspect,' groaned Shafto. - -'This is quite as disgraceful as your affair of the cards at that -Club in Princes Street.' - -'Which?' - -'When you were found playing baccarat with ever so many cards too -much in the pack. I am sick of you and your affairs, as you call -them. The man who can act as you do, in these and other matters, is -not likely to discharge the duties that devolve on the proprietor of -Craigengowan and the title of Fettercairn, alike teeming with -temptations; therefore I think his lordship will put it out of your -power to make ducks and drakes of the inheritance, if he takes my -advice.' - -'_Your_ advice!' thundered Shafto. - -'Precisely so,' said Mr. Kippilaw quietly, as he thrust all Shafto's -papers into a drawer and locked it. 'Lord Fettercairn has lost all -patience with you, sir. People should not incur debts they are -unable to pay. I know of no action more mean or contemptible than to -make some man--a poor one, perhaps--lose for another's amusements and -enjoyments. You ought to consider this.' - -'Thank you, Mr. Kippilaw. You are, I believe, a leading elder in -your kirk, whatever that may mean; but I'll not have you preach to -me.' - -'A man should do anything rather than defraud his neighbour.' - -'D--n you, you old cur! do you speak of "defrauding" to me--you, a -lawyer?' said Shafto, grasping his cane. - -'I do,' replied Mr. Kippilaw firmly. Shafto quailed under his gaze, -and turned to leave the room. 'Mr. Gyle!' said the lawyer, ere he -could do so. - -Shafto turned and faced him. - -'Ha!--you answer to your name, I see!' - -'What do you mean?' - -'Simply that I begin to think you are an impostor!' - -Shafto glared at him, white with rage and dismay, while a minute's -silence ensued. - -Perhaps the astute lawyer had read that remarkable essay by Lord -Bacon on cunning, wherein he tells us that an unexpected question or -assertion may startle a man and lay him open. 'Like to him,' he -continues, 'that having changed his name, and was walking in St. -Paul's, another came behind him, and called him suddenly by his true -one, whereat straightways he looked back.' - -'An impostor, dare you say?' exclaimed Shafto, taking one pace to his -front. - -'Considering your conduct, I begin to think so.' - -Shafto felt for a moment or so relieved, and said: - -'What the devil do you mean? You had a properly attested certificate -of my birth?' - -'Attested--yes.' - -'Was that not all-sufficient, even for your legal mind?' - -'Not--now.' - -'Why not now?' - -'Because I remember that it is mutilated.' - -Shafto winced. - -'It is there, however,' said Mr. Kippilaw, pointing with his pen to a -green charter box labelled 'Fettercairn,' and Shafto thought that if -he did not adopt a high tone he might fail in the matter. - -'You scoundrel,' he exclaimed, as he smashed his cane on the -writing-table, scattering letters and documents in every direction; -'doubt of my identity is an insult now!' - -Mr. Kippilaw did not lose his temper; he puckered up his eyebrows, -actually smiled, and looked cunningly at Shafto as he pulled or -twitched his nether lip with a finger and thumb. He was evidently -reconsidering the situation in his own mind, and coming to the -conclusion that there was a mistake somewhere. - -Shafto was sharp enough to read this at a glance; he thought of -Madelon, and his heart became filled with black fury. - -'I think our interview is ended,' said Mr. Kippilaw quietly, as he -dipped a pen in the ink-bottle and laid his left hand on a bell. -'You will be good enough to leave my chambers, sir, or I shall have -you shown out by the hall-porter.' - -There was nothing left for him but to withdraw, and as he did so, -Madelon Galbraith, who had been evidently waiting an interview, -entered Mr. Kippilaw's room, and as she passed she gave Shafto a -terrible glance with her black, sparkling eyes--a glance of hatred -and triumph--as she had not forgotten, but remembered with true -Highland bitterness, the day of her rough expulsion from -Craigengowan, when he had actually hounded a dog upon her. - -Shafto shivered; he felt as if an iron network was closing round him, -and that a fierce legal light might yet be cast on his secret -villainy. - -Guilt does not always look to the future. It is as well perhaps, -under any circumstances, that we never can see that mystic but -certain period. - -Smarting under Shafto's unbridled insolence to himself, and acting -very probably on some information accorded to him by Madelon -Galbraith, whom he desired to remain at his house in Edinburgh, Mr. -Kippilaw took means to achieve more--means which he should have -adopted immediately after his first interview with Shafto. - -Discomfited, there was nothing left for the latter now but to cast -himself on the mercy of Lord and Lady Fettercairn in the matter of -his debts and involvements; and this, after a few days of doubt, -irresolution, and much hard drinking, he resolved to do, and so set -out for Craigengowan. - -In these few days the strands of Fate had been twisting slowly but -surely into a fatal coil! - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE SQUARE AT ULUNDI. - -In the camp at the Entonjaneni Mountain the troops had two entire -days' rest, which enabled Florian to recover completely from the -effects of the accident which had befallen him in the pursuit of the -Zulus. - -In the afternoon of the 28th a telegram came announcing to Lord -Chelmsford that Sir Garnet Wolseley had arrived, that he had assumed -the entire command, and requesting a plan of the campaign, which, -apparently, Lord Chelmsford, having conducted thus far, was resolved -to finish for himself, as he did. - -With the same messengers came the mails for the troops, and, to -Florian's delight, there came a letter from Dulcie--we say delight at -first, for that sentiment soon gave place to one of anxiety. - -At the sight of her handwriting, his heart went back in a day-dream -to the banks of the Yealm and the Erme and to the exquisite -Devonshire lanes where they had been wont to wander hand in hand -together--lanes bordered by banks of pale green ferns, while the -golden apples hung in clusters overhead. - -Isolated now amid the different worlds in which each lived, these two -were tenderly true to each other, at those years when they who have -been boy and girl lovers usually forget, or form new attachments. - -Florian was struck by a certain confusion in the letter of Dulcie, -which seemed to have been written in haste and under the pressure of -some excitement, so that at times it was almost incoherent. - -'I am not superstitious, as you know, dearest Florian, but I dislike -the brilliant month of June more than any month in the year,' she -wrote. 'Papa died in June, leaving me alone in the world and so -poor--hence I have always strange forebodings of unseen evils to -come--evils that I may be powerless to avert; thus June is ever -associated in my mind with sorrow, death, and mystery. It is then I -have restless nights and broken dreams of trouble haunting me--even -of hideous forms seen dimly, and I leave my pillow in the morning -more weary than when I laid my head upon it at night. It is June -again, and I am in trouble now.' - -She proceeded then to describe her persecution by Shafto, who was -again returning after an absence; that his presence, conjoined to the -taunts, suspicions, and tone of Lady Fettercairn, made life at -Craigengowan a burden to her, and that she had determined on flight -from the house--from Scotland indeed--but where she was to go, or -what she was to do, she knew not. She had resolved not even to -consult her only friend Finella, so that, by the time her letter -reached him, she would be out once again on the bosom of the cold -world! - -So ended this distressing and partly incoherent letter, which was the -_last_ Florian received from Dulcie Carlyon, and by the tenor of it -there seemed a futility in sending any reply to Craigengowan, as too -probably she must have left it some weeks ago. - -'If killed to-day or to-morrow--anyway, before Cetewayo is -caught--I'll never know, probably, _how_ my darling gets over her -trouble,' thought Florian simply but sadly. - -There came by the same post no letter for the absent Hammersley, so -Florian concluded that Finella Melfort must have seen through the -medium of the public prints that he had sailed for Europe on sick -leave. - -It was vain for him to imagine where and amid what surroundings -Dulcie was now, and doubtless with very limited means; it was a -source of absolute agony to him at such a time, when he was so -helpless, so totally unable to assist or advise her, and he seemed as -in a dream to see the camp, with its streets of white tents and -soldiers in thousands loitering about, or stretched on the grass, -laughing, chatting, and smoking in the sunshine. - -In the immediate foreground, on the branch of a tree, hung the -skinned carcase of an eland, from which a powerfully built Hottentot -of the Natal Contingent, all nude save a pair of breeches, was -cutting large slices with a huge knife, and dropping them into Madras -cowrie baskets prior to cooking them in small coppers half full of -mealies. - -A rich plain stretched away to the north; beyond it were mountains -covered with grass and dotted by clumps of trees, and in some that -grew close by the camp, numbers of beautiful squirrels were hopping -from branch to branch in the sunshine. - -Ulundi was now only sixteen miles distant from our outposts, and from -thence came the last messengers of Cetewayo, bringing with them as a -peace-offering the sword of the Prince Imperial--the sword worn by -his father, too probably at Sedan, with a secret message--written by -Cornelius Vign, the Dutch trader--to Lord Chelmsford, telling him -that if he advanced on Ulundi to do it with strength, as the forces -of Cetewayo were many, many thousands strong. - -On the 1st July the division marched again. - -Florian had been scouting with his squadron all the preceding day and -far into the night, and lay in his tent weary and fagged on a ground -sheet only, without taking off either accoutrements or regimentals. -There, though worn, he had dreams, not of Dulcie, but of his dead -comrade, jovial Bob Edgehill, and the little song the latter was wont -to sing came to his dreaming ears: - - 'Merrily lads, so ho! - Some talk of a life at sea; - But a life on the land, - With sword in hand, - Is the life, my lads, for me.' - - -Then he started up as he heard trumpet and drum announcing the 'turn -out'--the latter with the long and continued roll there is no -mistaking. A hasty breakfast was taken--scalding coffee drunk -standing beside the camp fires--the tents were struck, the waggon -teams were inspanned, the Mounted Infantry went cantering to the -front, and the march was begun. - -Beautiful though the district looked when viewed from Entonjaneni, -the country to be traversed proved a rugged one, covered with tall -reed-like grass of giant height, that swayed slowly in the wind, -interspersed with mimosa scrub and enormous cacti, with leaves like -sabre-blades; but by half-past one a.m. the White Umvolosi was -reached. - -More scouting in a dark and moonless night fell to the lot of -Buller's Horse and Florian's Mounted Infantry. They could hear the -war-song of the vast Zulu army--unseen in the darkness, but chiefly -posted at fords on the river, loading the still, dewy air, rising and -falling with wild, weird, and impressive effect, now apparently near, -now distant; but so mighty ever and anon was the volume of sound that -it seemed to corroborate the alarming message of Cornelius Vign. -Among other sounds were the awful shrieks of a dying prisoner, whom -they had impaled on the bank of the stream. - -Much scouting, scampering about, and skirmishing by 'bank, bush, and -scaur' followed for three days, and the 4th of July saw the division -on its way to fight the great and final battle of the war, before -Wolseley could come on the ground--Ulundi. - -The sun was well up in the sky, when the column crossed the river at -a point where sweet-scented bushes, graceful acacias, gigantic -convolvuli, and wild guava fringed its banks, where the bees were -humming, and the Kaffir vultures hovering over the slain of a recent -skirmish; and splendid was its aspect in the brilliant morning -light--the 17th Lancers with their striking uniform and 'pennoned -spears, a stately grove'--the infantry, not clad in hideous -'mud-suits,' but in their glorious scarlet, their polished bayonets -and barrels shining in the sun, while in the hollows under the -shadows of the great mountains, shadows into which the light of day -had scarcely penetrated as yet, the impis or columns of the Zulus -were gathering in their sombre and savage thousands. - -'The troops will form in hollow square!' was now the General's order, -and, with other aides-de camp, Villiers, cigar in mouth, and with -flushed cheek and brightening eye, went cantering along the marching -column, with the details of that formation for the advance--the first -instance of such a movement in modern war, since William Wallace of -Elderslie, the uncrowned King of Scotland, instituted such a system -at the battle of Falkirk, and consequently he, as Green tells us in -his 'History of the English People,' was actually the first founder -of 'that unconquerable British Infantry,' before which the chivalry -of Europe went down. - -As formed by Lord Chelmsford on that eventful 4th of July, the -infantry on the four sides of his oblong square marched in sections -of fours, with all cavalry and other mounted men scouring the front -and flanks, Shepstone's Basutos covering the rear, with the cannon in -the acute angles of three faces of the square; all waggons and carts, -with stores and ammunition, in the centre. - -This was about eight in the morning, and with colours flying and -bands playing merrily in the sunshine, this huge human rectangle -marched in a north-easterly direction, past two great empty kraals -and a vast green tumulus that marks the grave of King Panda, the -father of Cetewayo, who is seated therein, buried in a partly upright -position, according to Zulu custom. - -To the right of the marching square were hills covered with thorn -trees overlooking the White Umvolosi; to its left were other hills -covered with enormous loose stones, and in its rear was a rugged -country tufted with mimosa trees, and others that stood up with -feather-like foliage against the blue-green sky. And in the centre -of a species of a natural amphitheatre stood three military kraals of -vast extent, the principal being named Ulundi. - -At the extremity of this amphitheatre there was visible a long line -of oval-shaped shields, above which black heads and bright points -appeared--the Zulu impis marching forward in double column with a -cloud of skirmishers on their front and flanks, precisely according -to European tactics. - -The square was halted now, the ranks closed up, all facing outwards; -the rifles and cannon were loaded, the ammunition boxes opened, and -two of the kraals were set in flames by the Irregular Horse; but one -was extinguished, lest the dense smoke from it rolling across the -plain might offer a cover for the Zulu advance. - -To lure them on, Florian was sent with twenty Mounted Infantry, and, -on seeing so petty a force riding towards them, the enemy wheeled -back a portion of their front as a trap. - -'Come on, lads,' cried Florian, brandishing his sword, 'come -on!--though not a man of us may return!' he thought. - -But the twenty men only poured in a rifle fire, wheeled about by -fours, and, galloping back, won the shelter of the square, the four -faces of which were fringed by steel and garlanded with jets of fire -and smoke, while the roar of artillery shook the air, and high -overhead was heard the fierce rush of the red rockets as they were -shot into the royal kraal of Ulundi and fired it in many places. - -With the rest of the mounted men, Florian stood in the centre of the -square, holding his horse by the bridle and looking quietly about -him, and, like the rest, his heart beat high, every pulse was -quickened, and the excitement became intense, as the long, long horns -of the Zulu army in its thousands closed round the square, and as the -circle contracted and came within closer range it was a splendid and -thrilling but terrible sight to see the masses mowed down like -swathes of crass beneath a mighty scythe. - -The British troops were formed in ranks four deep, two kneeling as if -to receive cavalry, the rifle-butt placed against the right knee, and -two erect, firing steadily, all with bayonets fixed; and in this -dense formation, sad indeed would have been our casualties had the -Zulu fire been well delivered. - -Closing upon their skirmishers rather than permitting the latter to -fall back upon their lines, their attack embraced the four faces of -the vast hollow square, now shrouded with white whirling smoke, and -edged by glittering fire and flashing steel. Out of the dark masses -that were pouring on came bullets of every calibre, from the sharp -pinging cone of the Martini-Henry to the heavy whirring charge of the -long elephant-gun, and many a man and many a horse was wounded and -done to death thereby. The old Zulu tactics were pursued; the attack -was ever augmented by fresh bodies of infuriated savages, with the -same dire results to them; while all their devotion and desperation -could rarely carry them past the verge of the cloud of smoke -enveloping the square; and thus, of the thousands who came on, only -hundreds remained to waver or prolong the attack. - -Whole crowds of naked and sombre forms seemed to lie as if suddenly -struck dead, each man where he stood; and it was so. Some, however, -succeeded in flinging their bare breasts upon the bayonet points, -and, with dying grasp on the rifle muzzles, went down almost at the -feet of the front rank men, fierce, stern, fearless to the last, -their white teeth set, their eyeballs gleaming like those of -exasperated fiends, and their yells rending the air. - -'Steady, men, steady,' the officers were heard to cry again and -again; 'fire low--low, and not so fast!' - -Drury Lowe was unhorsed by a spent bullet, but vaulted into his -saddle again. Eight companies of the Perthshire Light Infantry, -flanked by seven and nine pounder guns in one face of the square, -fought well and valiantly, though young soldiers, and in physique -unlike those of whom Sir Francis Head wrote when at Paris in 1815, -when he stated 'that a body of Scottish Highlanders, or Lowlanders, -standing shoulder to shoulder, stretched over more ground than a -similar number of inhabitants, soldier or civilian, of any other -nation in Europe.' - -The coolness of the men amid this close strife, while the dead and -dying fell about them fast, was wonderful, the doctors attending the -latter; and in several instances the former, ere they were cold, were -buried to save time, while the chaplain stood by to read the burial -service amid a tempest of bullets. - -'Have a cigar,' said an officer of the Perthshire Light Infantry, -seeing that Florian was somewhat 'blown' after his scamper from the -front to the shelter of the now environed square. - -'Thanks,' said he, selecting one from the speaker's silver case; but -ere the latter could give Florian a light, a ponderous knobkerie, -flung with superhuman force at random--the last force, perhaps, of -some dying savage--smashed his head to pulp in his tropical helmet as -completely as a half-spent cannon ball would have done, and covered -Florian with a sickening mess of blood and brains together. - -In imitation of the British formation, a skilful Zulu Induna formed -his men in a hollow square and hurled them like a mighty wave, with -piercing war-cries and unearthly yells, upon that angle of the great -square where six companies were posted under a Crimean veteran of the -Scots Fusiliers, with two nine-pounder guns. The fight here became -hand to hand, bayonet against assegai, and many a shield, by main -strength of arm, was dashed against the breasts and faces of our men; -but speedily the Zulu square was broken, rolled up, and the survivors -of it fled, stumbling as they ran over their own fallen and the -blood-soaked ground on which the latter writhed and weltered. - -Under the sweeping fire of the Gatlings they went down as forest -leaves do before the last blasts of autumn, and in thirty minutes -from the first opening of our infantry fire they were falling back in -disorganized masses, which speedily, under the storm of shells, took -the form of one vast mob in wild and helpless flight, while the -cavalry were ordered in pursuit, and with a loud cheer the 17th -unslung their lances, and by fours led the way through an opening -made for them in the rear face of the square. The Dragoon Guards, -Buller's Horse, and Florian's Mounted Infantry followed in quick -succession. - -'Front, form troop!' was the first cavalry order. - -'Form squadron--form line--gallop--_charge!_' rang out the trumpets, -as, sweeping round on their left pivots, the Horse took the -formations indicated, and then, with the united force of some dread -and terrible engine, fell swooping down upon the foe, hewing through -the shrinking walls of brave human flesh, after the lances were -relegated to the sling and swords were drawn. - -It was a terrible sight to see how, on right and left, these now red -sword-blades were plied, every man rising in his stirrups to give -deadlier impetus to his stroke, even when the shrapnel shells, fired -with time-fuses, were exploding amid the foe. From the latter there -came no cry for mercy nor for quarter; they looked for none, as they -would have given none; and all who escaped the slaughter of the -pursuit did so by winning the crests of some hills, where horses -could not follow them, and from which they opened a lively fire of -musketry. - -Florian went on in this work like one in a wild, bad dream; and it -was only when the halt was sounded, followed by the order, 'Fours -about--retire,' that he became quite aware of all he had escaped, had -undergone and done, and how mechanically he had hewed about him--when -he found the blade of his sword, even his fingers, stained with -blood, and the sleeves of his tunic all ripped and burst under the -shoulders by the exertions he had used. - -Tom Tyrrell came out of the strife with his helmet gone, his head -bandaged by a bloody handkerchief, and his horse's flanks bleeding -from three assegais that stuck in them; but this was the case with -several others. - -It is remarkable that after the battle of Ulundi not _one_ wounded -Zulu was found on the field. Of all the hundreds upon hundreds who -lay there helpless, every man of them had been despatched in cold -blood by our native allies. - -The power of the nation had departed from it now; and as for -Cetewayo, he fled from Ulundi the day _before_ the battle; and after -the latter event his army began to melt away, as the warriors -returned to their distant kraals, hopeless and sick of the war. - -That named Ulundi was given to the flames by the Irregulars and -Mounted Infantry, and its ten thousand dome-roofed huts all blazing -at once presented a striking spectacle; and after that event the -Second Division and Flying Column began their rearward march to the -camp at the Entonjaneni Mountain, to effect a junction with the First -Division under General Crealock. - -To Florian, as to many others, after the fever of battle had passed -away, there came the usual revulsion of spirit that follows -excitement so intense, and the keen thirst after that excitement and -exertion so great, with the philosophical and not unnatural emotion -of wonder as to 'what it all had been about, and to what end this -terrible slaughter and suffering!' - -And he thought of the strange interments of some of the dead in that -hollow square when under fire--young soldiers, instinct with boyish, -hopeful, and glorious life, ardour and valour, struck down in death, -and huddled into a ghastly hole, over which the bullets swept, ere -their limbs were cold. 'Death is a surprise--a woeful and terrible -surprise--whenever it comes, even though we be by the bedside -watching for it, dreading it, as each breath leaves the lips we -love.' But death seemed thus doubly grim on that day at Ulundi! - -The troops found their tents ready pitched awaiting them at the camp -beside the mountain, and a welcome shelter they proved, as the -rearward march had been performed under drenching torrents of rain. - -Stormy and windy was the night of the 6th of July, the second after -the battle, and, for some days and nights subsequent the falling rain -rendered all operations impossible, and added greatly to the -sufferings of the wounded, causing also a serious mortality among the -cavalry horses and commissariat oxen. - -Mail after mail came into camp as usual bringing letters, some for -the poor fellows who lay under the sod at Ulundi, but there were no -more letters from Dulcie now for Florian, and none from Hammersley, -whom he naturally supposed to be too ill to write by a passing ship -outward bound. - -The letter he had received shortly before the action at Ulundi was, -as stated, the last he ever had from Dulcie, and her sudden and -singular silence deepened his distress and anxiety. - -What had happened? Was she ill, or well? How was she situated, and -where? These thoughts occurred to him in endless iteration amid his -military duties, which were not dull routine, but, so far as the -pursuit of the fugitive King Cetewayo was concerned, were arduous, -full of excitement and perils of various kinds. - -His heart grew heavy, and his future, so far as it was connected with -Dulcie Carlyon, seemed dark and uncertain, like the episodes of a -dream. But it has been said that most life-histories leave hanging -threads that may only be completed in the great web woven by -eternity, and eternity had often been perilously close to Florian of -late. - -Dulcie was the only link he had in life--she seemed to him as friend, -sister, and sweetheart, all in one. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -DISAPPEARANCE OF DULCIE. - -Since the reader last saw Dulcie Carlyon she had become chilled and -changed in manner, under the influence of Lady Fettercairn's bearing -and remarks, to all save Finella. All her natural jollity and -espièglerie of way were gone, and every hour that it was possible to -do so she spent in the seclusion of her own room, one high up in a -square turret of the old house, with windows that opened to a far -vista of the Howe of the Mearns, terminated by a glimpse of the -German Sea. - -Here she was sometimes joined by Finella, who could no longer -persuade her to ramble as of old in the grounds, and never again to -accompany her in the saddle when she took Fern for a spin along the -country roads. - -'Are you not sick of crewel work, and embroidering sage birds of -shapes that never existed upon brown bath-towels?' asked Finella. 'I -know you do it by grandmamma's wish; but what tasteless folly it is.' - -'I would rather, as I did at home, knit stockings for the poor,' said -Dulcie. - -'Better buy than knit them,' responded the heiress, 'and so save -one's self a world of trouble.' - -It became too evident to Dulcie that the time of her dismissal from -Craigengowan was drawing nigh; that it was only delayed by the -absence of Shafto in Edinburgh, and she resolved, ere he returned, to -get the balance of her little salary and quit the place, as it had -now become odious to her. - -Dulcie had old Welsh blood in her veins, and more than once had she -heard her father, Lewellen Carlyon, whose one ewe-lamb she was, -descant on how he could count kith and kin into the remotest past, -when his forefathers wandered through the forest of Caerlyon--whence -his name--had manned Offa's Dyke, and shared the perils of Owain -Glendwr. To speak of such things now, even to Finella, seemed to the -girl vain folly, but they were keenly in her heart nevertheless. - -And so there came an evening, the last she was to spend under the -steep slate roof of Craigengowan. - -Lady Fettercairn was going for a drive among the summer roads that -were all like leafy tunnels or long avenues of foliage, to visit that -famous senator, Lord Maccowkay, who was then at his country house of -Middyn Grange, and Finella, perceiving how pale Dulcie was looking, -said: - -'May Miss Carlyon come with us, grandmamma?' - -'Certainly not,' replied Lady Fettercairn, with hauteur and asperity, -though Dulcie was within hearing, carrying Snap in his satin-lined -basket. 'When is this sort of thing to end, Finella?' - -There came a time when the Lady of that Ilk recalled this remark, and -many others similar, for just then she did not see certainly where -the future was to end. - -So the two ladies drove away, and Dulcie, for companionship, though -then unaware that it would be for the last time, took tea with the -kindly old housekeeper, whom she found busy in her pantry and closets -preparing for that social meal; and Dulcie helped her to cut and -butter the bread, polish the cups and saucers and old silver spoons, -to arrange the brown tea-cakes, crisp biscuits, and luscious Scottish -preserves of home manufacture, and all the while a sadness oppressed -her, for which she could not account. - -This, however, seemed explained when, at dinner that evening, Lady -Fettercairn said, while returning a letter to her pocket: - -'Shafto returns late to-night--or early to-morrow morning.' - -'From where?' asked Finella, though, sooth to say, she cared little -where from. - -'Edinburgh.' - -'And not an hour too soon, I am afraid,' said Lord Fettercairn, with -his sandy-grey eyebrows deeply knitted. - -No one asked 'why,' so a silence ensued, and a little later in the -evening Finella said to Dulcie: - -'Why are you so silent to-night?' - -'Am I so?' - -'Yes--even sad--_triste_.' - -'Sad--you don't mean cross?' - -'No, Dulcie dear, you never are cross.' - -'I am full of very weary thoughts, and wish to retire, if Lady -Fettercairn can spare me,' she added, raising her voice. - -'Of course--go,' replied the latter; and Dulcie, painfully conscious -that her employer had been more than usually cold, hard, and even -bitter to her--all, no doubt, _apropos_ of Shafto's return--bowed and -murmured 'good-night,' with a soft and lingering glance at Finella. - -Shafto returning! Dulcie was always nervous about his future conduct -and her own position, and she could not prepare herself again for -dissembling in public and hating in private--for the inevitable -meetings at table and elsewhere. Over and above all was the dread -that by his intense cunning he might work her mischief--a mischief -that to her might prove social ruin. - -Dulcie had writhed and winced under all Lady Fettercairn's not always -delicately veiled hints as to the social gulf that separated people -and people--to wit, Miss Melfort, of Craigengowan, and the paid -companion, and of young folks of bad taste and little discretion, who -were inclined to step out of their proper sphere; she knew the drift -of all this; her heart swelled within her, and now she withdrew with -a stern and perhaps rash resolve that took active form on the morrow. - -In the corridor before they separated for the night, Finella thought -that Dulcie kissed and clasped her with more than usual tenderness -and effusion, and became aware that there were tears on the girl's -cheek; but this had been too often the case of late to excite remark. - -However, she remembered this emotion with some pain at a future time. - -In the morning the then small circle of Craigengowan assembled in the -charming breakfast-room. Shafto had not come overnight; Lord -Fettercairn had not opened his letters, but--though nothing of a -politician--was idling over a paper which the butler had cut and -aired for him. - -Lady Fettercairn glanced at a handsome antique French clock upon the -grey marble mantelpiece, and said, with as much irritation as she -ever permitted herself to show with reference to Dulcie: - -'Not down yet--when she knows that she has to preside at the tea-urn -and so forth! Is she giving herself the airs of a lady of--what is -the matter?' she exclaimed, as a servant whom she had despatched on -an errand of inquiry returned looking somewhat discomposed. 'I hope -she is not ill, especially with anything infectious?' - -'No, my lady--not ill.' - -'Not ill--that is fortunate.' - -'No.' - -'Where then is she--why not here?' - -'She isn't there, my lady.' - -'There--where?' - -'In her room--nor anywhere in the house.' - -Finella remembered the peculiar bearing of Dulcie the previous night, -and her tremulous sisterly kiss, with a species of pang, and hurried -upstairs to the square turret-room. - -'Of course she is interested!' said Lady Fettercairn scoffingly. - -'There is always an exuberant vitality--a great flow of animal -spirits about Finella,' replied her husband. - -'All of which I deem hoydenish and bad form.' - -Finella returned, looking pale and scared, to report that Miss -Carlyon's bed did not appear to have been slept in last night, that -her wardrobe was all tumbled about, leaving evident traces of -selections and packing, and that to all appearance she was gone from -the house. - -'Gone--then I hope it is not with Shafto!' exclaimed Lady -Fettercairn, paling at her own idea. - -'Scarcely: is he not coming here, as his letter yesterday announces?' -said Lord Fettercairn. - -'Gone--and in that rude and unceremonious, and certainly most -mysterious manner, which through local gossip will find its way in -some odious mode into every local paper!' said Lady Fettercairn, -while she grimly directed Finella to officiate at the tea-board. - -'She is away, poor thing, without a doubt,' said the butler, who was -carving at the sideboard; 'and must have left the house by the -conservatory door--I found it open this morning.' - -'I hope that she has not----' but even Lady Fettercairn, while -surmising mentally whether her jewel case was all intact, had not the -hardihood to put the cruel suspicion in words. - -'It is most annoying,' said the Peer, with his noble mouth full. - -'Very--she was so useful too--very--with all her faults,' added Lady -Fettercairn, tenderly caressing Snap, who was relegated to a -housemaid for his morning bath. - -She did not expect an escapade of this sort; the great luxury of the -certain dismissal had been denied her; she sank back in her chair for -a minute or so, and sniffed languidly at her gold-topped -scent-bottle, as if nerving herself to hear something horrible, while -the grounds were searched for traces of the fugitive; and she had -ideas of having the Swan's Pool and the adjacent stream dragged. - -Finella thought she would like to run away too; but with all her -wealth it was less easy for an heiress of position to do so than for -the poor and nameless companion; and now that Dulcie was gone, -Finella felt that the link between herself and Hammersley was cut off. - -Apart from that important item in her life, she was deeply sorry, as -she had conceived for Dulcie one of those sudden and so-called -undying friendships for which, we are told, 'the female heart is -specially remarkable.' - -Finella felt that the cold and inquiring eyes of Lady Fettercairn -were upon her, and knew that, if she would not excite remark and draw -reprehension upon herself, breakfast must be partaken of, even though -her heart was breaking. So she bathed her eyes, re-smoothed her -hair, and took her place at the table with as much composure as she -could assume. - -'If her flight is not traced--though why we should care to trace it I -don't know,' said Lady Fettercairn bitterly, 'and if her body is not -found, we may conclude that she has eloped with some low lover. I -hope all the grooms, gardeners, gamekeepers, and so forth, are to be -seen in their places,' she added; 'and with all her faults, in -appearance and style she was a great improvement upon Mrs. Prim, with -her iron-grey hair arranged in corkscrew curls on each side of her -face.' - -Finella thought so too. Lord Fettercairn thought his better half had -been latterly too severe upon the poor little companion, but did not -venture to say so. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -FLIGHT. - -'Go I must,' murmured Dulcie, when in the solitude of her own room -she said her nightly prayers on her knees. 'I cannot help it. I may -come to want bread by the step I am about to take, but better death -than enduring this system of mortification and degradation.' - -She had received her slender quarterly allowance some time before -that crisis, and as yet luckily none of it had been spent. How small -a sum it looked to face the world with! - -She packed and prepared all her clothes, intending to write to the -housekeeper for them when she found another home. In an ample -Gladstone bag she placed carefully all that was requisite for her -immediate need, and, weary with rapid exertion and heavy thought, -laid her head on the pillow of a sofa, fearing to undress or trust -herself in bed, lest a deep sleep might fall upon her. - -All was silent in the great house, and no sound broke the stillness -of the warm summer night save when some dog bayed at the moon from -the quadrangle of the stable-yard. - -Midnight struck on a great and sonorous clock in an adjacent -corridor; anon a little French clock on her chimney-piece chimed out -two on its silver bell, but no sleep came to Dulcie's eyes, nor did -she desire to court it. - -Her mind was full of rambling fancies. She thought of her parents -lying so peacefully side by side in old Revelstoke churchyard, within -sound of the sobbing sea, and of what their emotions would have been -could they have foreseen all that was before her of doubt and -unhappiness; and with the memory of them she tenderly turned over -some withered leaves that lay in a little prayer-book Mr. Pentreath -had given her, and while doing so recalled the sweet lines that -seemed so _apropos_ to them: - - 'Only a bunch of withered leaves, - Brought by a stranger's hand, - But they grew on a spot she dearly loved-- - They bloomed in the dear old land. - Father and mother lie there at rest - Beneath the soft emerald sod, - Under the shelter of the cross, - And close to the house of God,' - -close to the time-worn church of Revelstoke. She thought of Shafto -and the thorn he had proved in her path, and felt a satisfaction from -the conviction that after this night too probably she would never -more look upon his face. - -She thought again and again of Florian. Where was he then, and what -doing? Too probably sleeping the sleep of the weary and worn, on the -bare earth in some tented field, awaiting the coming perils of the -morrow, and then with the idea of Finella came fresh tears for -parting thus from the only friend she had. - -After three had struck she dressed herself quickly in the costume in -which she meant to travel, assured herself that her purse was safe, -that her hat, gloves, and sunshade were at hand, and sat down by a -window to watch for the earliest streak of dawn. - -With all this earnestness of preparation and of purpose she had no -settled plan for the future--no very defined one at least; her sole -desire was to anticipate the final mortification of dismissal, and to -get away from the vicinity of Lady Fettercairn, of Shafto, and of -Craigengowan. - -Save the Rev. Paul Pentreath, far away in her native Devonshire, and -the vicar in London through whom he had befriended her, she had no -one to whom to look forward, and, save for Florian's sake, she felt -at times, as if she cared little what became of her. She would reach -London, take a little lodging there, and look about her for some -employment while her money lasted; and when it was gone--gone, what -then? - -Again came the thought of Finella, whom she loved with all the -passionate earnestness of an impulsive young heart thrust back upon -itself, and yearning for friendship and affection. Even with her -regard it was impossible that she could stay longer in the same house -with him who was now returning--Shafto--even were dismissal not -hanging over her. She could but go away; her presence was necessary -to no one's happiness, and none would miss her--perhaps not even -Finella after a time, for the latter lived in a world--the world of -wealth and rank--a sphere apart from that of poor Dulcie Carlyon. - -Amid these thoughts she started: dawn was breaking in the east, but -the world around her was still involved in gloom and sleep. - -How long, long and chill, the night had seemed; yet it was a short -and warm one of July, when there is only a total darkness of four -hours, especially in a region so far north as the Howe of the Mearns. - -Red light stole along the waters of the distant German Sea; it began -to tip the hilltops and crept gradually down into the woods and glens -below, where the Bervie, the Finella, and the Cowie brawled on their -way to the ocean. - -As one in a dream, she sat for a little time watching the dawn till -the light of the half-risen sun was streaming over the tree-tops and -through the parted curtains of her windows, when she started up with -all the resolution she had taken overnight yet full in her mind. - -With rapid and trembling fingers she assumed the last details of her -travelling costume, smoothed her golden hair, gave a final glance at -herself in the mirror, and saw how pale and unslept she looked after -her past night's vigil, tied her veil tightly across her face, fitted -on her gloves with accuracy, took her travelling bag, and with a -prayer on her lips prepared to go out into the world--alone! - -The clustering roses and clematis were about the windows of the -square turret-room, notwithstanding its great height from the ground; -the birds were twittering among them, and diamond dewdrops gemmed -every leaf. - -Light and shadowy clouds of mist, exhaled upwards by the early -morning sun, hung about the summit of Moelmannoch and other hills, -and in the sunshine the insect world was all astir: the bees were -already abroad, and the blackbirds were hopping about the gravelled -terraces. To Dulcie it seemed that they at least were at home. - -She leaned for a moment out of the window and drank--for the last -time--a deep draught of the pure air that came from the lovely -Scottish landscape over which her eyes wandered, as it stretched away -down the fertile and peaceful Howe of the Mearns, the corn deepening -into gold, the picturesque houses, luxuriant orchards and gardens; -and she bade to each and all farewell, with little regret, perhaps, -for with all their beauty they were too intimately associated with -the idea of Lady Fettercairn and many a humiliation. - -Opening her room-door she stole swiftly down the great carpeted -staircase, passed through the drawing-rooms into the conservatory, -the door of which she knew she could unlock more easily than that of -the great door which opened to the _porte cochère_. There was no one -yet astir in all that numerous household, so, hurrying across the -dewy lawn, she turned her face resolutely towards the station, where -she knew she would reach the early Aberdeen train for the South. - -The country highway was deserted; she met no one but a gamekeeper -returning from a night's watch, perhaps, with his gun under his arm. -She thought he looked at her curiously as she passed him, sorely -weighted by her travelling bag, but he did not address her; and so -without other adventures she reached the little wayside station of -Craigengowan just as the gates were being unclosed, and, quickly -securing her ticket, retired to the seclusion of the waiting-room. - -Her heart had but one aching thought--the parting with Finella. - -In her pride and indignation we must admit that Dulcie, ever a -creature of impulse, was not acting judiciously. She had not stopped -to ask a letter of recommendation--'a character,' she mentally and -bitterly phrased it--from Lady Fettercairn; neither had she risked -the opposition and kind advice of Finella, but had thus left her -present life of irritation and humiliation to rush into a new and -unknown world, that now, even when she had barely crossed the -rubicon, was beginning, as she sat in the lonely and empty wayside -station, to chill and dismay her. - -'In the future that is before me, whom am I to trust in again? How -am I to fight the world's battle alone?' she was beginning to think, -even while the clanking train for the South came sweeping across the -echoing Howe. - -Ay, she so pure, so artless, so unsuspecting of evil in others! - -At last she was in the train and off. She gave one long farewell -glance at the lofty turrets of haunted Craigengowan, because Finella -was there, and felt that never again would they ramble together by -Queen Mary's Thorn, the Swan's Pool, the old gate through which the -fated Lord rode forth to battle, or by the old ruined Castle of -Fettercairn with all its legends. - -Dulcie experienced a kind of relief in the swiftness of the speed -with which the express train flew past station after station, -outstripping the wind apparently; villages and thatched farms were -seen and gone; trees, bridges, ruined towers, those features so -common in the Scottish landscape, fields and hedgerows, swept -rearward, telegraph wires seemed to sink and rise and twist -themselves in one, the poles apparently pursuing each other in the -fury of the pace. - -Now it was Arbroath, where the train, paused for a little -time--Arbroath with its mills, tall chimneys, and substantial houses, -amid which tower the remains of that noble abbey which held the bones -of William the Lion, with its huge round window, for seven hundred -years a landmark from the sea; anon came Droughty Craig with its -ancient tower, under the walls of which have been shed the blood of -English, French, and Germans, with Dundee, 'the gift of God,' amid -the haze of its manufactories, to the westward. - -Here a kindly old railway guard--who whilom as a 1st Royal Scot had -shed his blood at Alma and Inkermann--taking pity on the pale and -weary girl, brought her a cup of warm tea from the buffet, and, as he -said, 'a weel-buttered bap, ye ken,' and most acceptable they were. - -A little time and her train was sweeping through Fife, and she saw -the woods of Falkland--those lovely woods wherein 'the bonnie Earl of -Gowrie' flirted with Anne of Denmark. Soon Cupar was left behind, -and the Eden, flowing through its green and fertile valley; and then, -worn with the vigil of the past night and her own heavy thoughts, -Dulcie fell asleep, without the coveted satisfaction of a dream of -Florian or Finella. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -A STARTLING LETTER. - -The step taken by Dulcie was a source of great mortification to Lady -Fettercairn. - -She regretted that she had not anticipated such an unforeseen event -by dismissal. Visitors, she knew, would miss the bright-faced, -golden-haired English girl who--when permitted--played with such good -execution, and sang so well and sweetly; and Lady Fettercairn could -not, with a clear conscience, say that she had given her her _congé_, -or why. - -'Miss Carlyon has put me in a most awkward position,' she said -querulously; 'her conduct has been most unprincipled, in leaving me -thus abruptly, before I could look about me for a substitute; and I -think Mr. Kippilaw might be instructed to prosecute her criminally. -Don't you think so, Fettercairn?' - -But the Peer only smiled faintly and applied himself to another egg. - -Ere breakfast was over another event occurred. Shafto appeared -suddenly at table. He had heard of Dulcie Carlyon's absence or -flight, and was in no way surprised by the occurrence. - -'You are just in time, Shafto dear,' said Lady Fettercairn, with one -of her made-up smiles; 'tea or coffee?' - -'Tea,' said he curtly, as Finella took the silver teapot, Shafto all -the while looking as if he would rather have had a stiff and -well-iced glass of brandy and soda, for he had a crushed and weary -aspect. - -'We thought you would be here last night,' said Lady Fettercairn. - -'Why?' asked Shafto, who seemed inclined to deal in monosyllables. - -'Your letter led us to expect you.' - -'Did it?' - -'Yes.' - -'Well--I missed the last train.' - -'You always do,' said Lord Fettercairn somewhat pointedly. - -'Ah,' thought Shafto, 'the old fellow's liver is out of order, and -gout threatening, of course--a bad look-out for me.' - -On that morning he did not like the expression of Lord Fettercairn's -face, so he resolved to defer speaking of his 'affairs' till a future -time; but in a little space, as we shall show, the chance was gone -for throwing himself, as he had thought to do, 'on the mercy' of -either Lord or Lady Fettercairn. - -The evening before he had been among a set of very different -people--flashily dressed roughs returning from a local racecourse, -their dirty hands over-bejewelled, with foul pipes and fouler -language in their mouths, speeding hither and thither by train in -search of pigeons to pluck, with their jargon of backing the -favourite, making up books, and playing shilling Nap and Poker by the -dim light of the carriage lamp, while imbibing strong waters from -flasks of all sorts and sizes. - -What a contrast they presented to his present refined surroundings, -with Finella standing out among them, so pure, so patrician, and so -exquisitely lady-like; and in attendance upon him, with hands that -were white as alabaster--Finella, fresh and fragrant as a white moss -rose, attired in a most 'fetching' morning costume to the feminine -eye, suggestive of Regent Street. - -Lord Fettercairn now addressed himself to the task of opening his -letters, after the contents of the household postbag had been -distributed round the table by that rubicund priest of Silenus, old -Mr. Grapeston, the butler. - -There were several blue envelopes for Shafto, which--with an -unuttered malediction on his lips--he thrust unopened into the pocket -of his tweed morning coat. - -Among his letters Lord Fettercairn received one which seemed to -startle him so much that, ignoring all the rest, he read it again and -again, his sandy grey eyebrows becoming more and more knitted, and -the colour going and coming in his now withered cheek, as Shafto, who -was watching him very closely, could plainly see. He seemed -certainly very perturbed, and tossed aside all his other letters, as -if their contents could be of no consequence compared with those of -this particular missive. - -'Your letter seems to disturb you, grandfather,' said Shafto. - -'It does--it does, indeed.' - -'Sorry to hear it: may I inquire what it is about--or from whom it -comes?' - -'It is a letter from Mr. Kippilaw, senior,' replied Lord Fettercairn, -darting from under his shaggy eyebrows, and over the rim of his -_pince-nez_, a glance at Shafto, so keen and inquiring that the -latter felt his heart stand still; yet summoning his constitutional -insolence to his aid, he asked: - -'And what is the old pump up to now?' - -'Shafto!' exclaimed Lady Fettercairn, who detested slang. - -'He refers to something that may prove very unpleasant,' said the -Peer, carefully smoothing out the letter. - -'To--to me?' - -'Yes--and to me, I regret to say, most certainly. He says there are -many matters on which he wishes to confer with me personally; among -others, "A visit from an old Highland woman, named Madelon Galbraith, -a native of Ross-shire, who was nurse to Mr. Lennard's wife in her -infancy, and also to their son. Her revelations, conjoined with -other things, now startle me, as they are most strange, and must be -probed to the bottom." He also says that this woman--Madelon -Galbraith--visited Craigengowan in my absence. Did such a visit take -place?' - -'Yes,' said Lady Fettercairn. - -'And she was expelled very roughly.' - -'Well--I believe so--rather.' - -'Why?' - -'Because she was mad or intoxicated--most insolent, at all events,' -replied Shafto, with a choking sensation in his throat. - -'To you?' - -'Yes--to me.' - -'Well,' resumed Lord Fettercairn, who evidently seemed very much -perturbed, 'she has been with Mr. Kippilaw, as I tell you, and has -made some strange revelations requiring immediate and close -investigation.' - -'May I know what they are?' asked Shafto with a sinking heart, that -only rose when spite and hate and fury gathered in it. - -'No--you may not, yet,' replied Lord Fettercairn, as he folded up the -letter and abruptly left the table; and that same forenoon his -lordship took an early train for Edinburgh. - -Shafto heard of this with growing alarm, which all the brandy and -soda of which he partook freely in the smoking-room, and more than -one huge cabana, could not soothe. Though fearing the worst, through -Madelon Galbraith, he thought that perhaps in the meantime Kippilaw's -business referred to his gambling debts, his bills and promissory -notes, and too probably to his 'row with that cad, Garallan,' as he -mentally termed the affair of the loaded die. - -He rambled long alone in the same stately avenue down which Lennard -Melfort had passed so many years before, when, with a gallant heart -full of anger, wounded pride, and undeserved sorrow, he turned his -back for ever on lordly Craigengowan. - -There he loitered, full of anxious and most unenviable thoughts, -sulkily dragging down his fair moustache; and it has been remarked by -physiognomists that good-natured men always twirl their moustaches -upwards, whereas a morose or suspicious man does just the reverse. - -From the avenue he wandered across the lawn and under the trees, like -a restless or unquiet spirit, his unpleasant face wearing an uneasy -expression, and his eyes, which were seldom raised from the ground, -shifted always from side to side. - -'I may have to make a clean bolt for it,' he muttered as Finella came -suddenly upon him, and, though detesting him, she was too gentle not -to feel some pity for his crushed appearance. - -'Shafto, why are you so disturbed?' she asked. 'Of what are you -afraid?' - -'Of what?' he queried almost savagely. - -'Yes.' - -'I don't know.' - -'Who then can know?' - -'I tell you I don't know what to fear, but things are looking -infernally dark for me. I am going down the hill at a devil of a -pace, and with no skid on.' - -'I do not understand your phraseology,' said Finella coldly. - -'Understand, then, that many of my troubles lie at your door,' said -Shafto, turning abruptly from her, as he thus referred to her -aversion to himself and certainly not unnatural preference for Vivian -Hammersley, and that much of the money he had raised had been -advanced on the chances of his lucrative marriage with her. - -'What is about to happen? When will old Fettercairn return, and in -what mood? What the devil is up--perhaps by this time?' thought -Shafto, as he resumed his solitary promenade. 'I would rather face a -hundred perils in the light of day, than have one, with a nameless -dread, overhanging me in the dark.' - -And as he muttered and thought of Madelon Galbraith, his shifty eyes -gleamed with that savage expression which comes with a thirst for -blood. - -Meanwhile Lord Fettercairn, a man of strict honour in his own way, -though utterly destitute of proper patriotism or love of country, was -being swept on to Edinburgh by an express train; he was full of -bitter thoughts, vexation, pain, even grief and shame, for all that -Shafto was evidently bringing upon his house and home. - -He had secured, he thought, an heir to his ill-gotten title and -estates, and with that knowledge would ever have to drain the bitter -cup of disappointment to the dregs. - -Finella never doubted that, owing to their great mutual regard, -Dulcie would write to her, and tell of her own welfare, safety, and -prospects; but weary, long, and solitary days passed on and became -weeks, and Dulcie never did so. She had perhaps nothing pleasant to -relate of herself, and thus the tenor or spirit of her letters to a -friend so rich might be liable to misconstruction. If written, -perhaps they were intercepted. So, regarding Shafto and Lady -Fettercairn as the mutual cause of the poor girl's flight, and -perhaps destruction, Finella now resolved to leave Craigengowan, and -go on a visit to her maternal grandmother, Lady Drumshoddy, then in -London, when that matron, having now her favourite nephew with her, -began to mature some schemes of her own; but carefully, as she had -read that 'the number of marriages that come to nothing annually -because one or other or both of the innocent victims suddenly -discover they are being thrown together with _intention_, is -inconceivable.' - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE PURSUIT OF CETEWAYO. - -Mail after mail came to head-quarters, brought by post-carts and -orderlies, from the rear, but they brought no letters from Dulcie -Carlyon. So, whether she had, as she threatened she would do, fled -from Craigengowan, or remained there, found friends elsewhere with -happiness or grief, Florian could not know, and the doubt was a -source of torment to him. - -Horseback has been considered a famous place for reflection, but one -could scarcely find it so when serving as a Mounted Infantry-man, -scouting on the outlook for lurking Zulus, with every energy of ear -and eye watching donga, boulder, bush, and tuft of reedy grass. - -Sir Garnet Wolseley's orders to the army reached the camp of Lord -Chelmsford at Entonjaneni on the 8th July, and the latter prepared at -once to resign his command and return home. - -Two days afterwards, that retrograde movement which so puzzled and -elated the Zulus began, and after four days' marching the Second -Division and the Flying Column reached Fort Marshall, on the Upoko -River, whence a long train of sick and wounded were sent to the -village of Ladysmith, in Kannaland, escorted by two companies of the -Scots Fusiliers and Major Bengough's Natives, attired in all their -fighting bravery--cowtails, copper anklets and armlets, necklaces of -monkeys' teeth, and plumes of feathers. - -'Great changes are on the _tapis_,' said Villiers, as he lay on the -grass in Florian's tent, smoking, and sharing with him some hard -biscuits with 'square-face' and water. 'The 17th Lancers start for -India; Newdigate's column is to be broken up, and chiefly to garrison -that chain of forts which Chelmsford has so skilfully constructed -along the whole Zulu frontier from the Blood River to the Indian -Ocean; but Cetewayo is yet to be captured. Sir Evelyn Wood and the -heroic Buller are going home, and so is your humble servant.' - -'You--why?' asked Florian. - -'Sir Garnet has brought out his entire staff, and I have not the good -luck to be one of the Wolseley _ring_,' replied Villiers, with a -haughty smile, as he twirled up his moustache and applied himself for -consolation to the 'square-face.' - -When, on an evening in July, Sir Garnet, with his new staff, amid a -storm of wind and rain, rode into the camp of the First Division -under General Crealock, the appearance of his party, with their -smoothly shaven chins, brilliant new uniforms, and spotless white -helmets, formed a strong contrast to the war and weather worn -soldiers of Crealock, in their patched and stained attire, with their -unkempt beards; for the use of the razor had long been eschewed in -South Africa, where, however, the officers and men of each column -trimmed their hirsute appendages after the fashion adopted by their -leaders; thus, as General Newdigate affected the style of Henry -VIII., so did his troops; Sir Evelyn Wood trimmed his beard in a -peak, pointed like Philip II. of Spain, and so, we are told, did all -the Flying Column. - -Sir Garnet Wolseley now arranged his future plans for the final -conquest of Zululand, and stationed troops to hold certain lines and -rivers, while the rest were formed in two great columns, under -Colonels Clarke of the 57th and Baker Russell of the 13th Hussars, -two officers of experience, the former having served in Central India -and the Maori War, and the latter in the war of the Mutiny, when he -covered himself with honours at Kurnaul and elsewhere. - -With Clarke's column were five companies of Mounted Infantry, led by -Major Barrow, and one of them was led by Florian, who had now earned -a high reputation as an active scouting officer. - -Clarke's orders were to march northwards and occupy Ulundi, or all -that was left of it. - -Without the capture of the now luckless Cetewayo, the permanent -settlement of the country was deemed impossible; thus a kind of -circle was formed round the district in which he was known to be -lurking, to preclude his escape. - -The traitor Uhamu, with his followers, occupied a district near the -Black Umvolosi; the savage Swazis in thousands under Captain M'Leod -held the bank of the Pongola River, armed with heavy lances and -knobkeries; Russell advanced on a third quarter, and Clarke on a -fourth; thus the sure capture of the fugitive King was deemed only a -matter of time. - -At a steep rocky hill overhanging the Idongo River the column of the -latter, which included three battalions of infantry, was reinforced -by five companies of the 80th (or Staffordshire Volunteers), the -Natal Pioneers, and two Gatling guns, to which were added two -nine-pounders on reaching once more the Entonjaneni Mountain. - -It was now reported that Cetewayo had found shelter in a little kraal -in the recesses of the Ngome forest, a dense primeval wilderness of -giant wood and deep jungle. But the meshes of the net were closing -fast around him. - -Leaving the main body of his column at a redoubt named Fort George, -at the head of only three hundred and forty mounted infantry Colonel -Russell, at daybreak on the 13th of August, rode westward beyond the -Black Umvolosi, into a district occupied by many Zulus, in the hope -of picking up the royal fugitive. - -The scouting advanced guard he entrusted to Florian, whose men rode -forward in loose and open formation, with loaded rifles unslung. - -The country through which they proceeded was very wild, steep, woody, -and rugged, and on seeing how slender his force appeared to be, the -Zulus began to gather in numbers, preparatory to disputing his -further advance. - -'My intention,' said Baker Russell, 'is to reach Umkondo, where -Cetewayo is said to be lurking; you will therefore show a bold front -and clear the way at all hazards.' - -This left Florian no alternative but to fight his opponents, whatever -their strength perhaps, and the region into which they were now -penetrating had the new and most unusual danger of being infested by -lions, as the 1st King's Dragoon Guards found to their cost. - -Manning a narrow gorge fringed with thornwood trees and date palms, -with brandished rifle and assegai and their grey shields uplifted in -defiance, a strong party of the enemy appeared, led by a tall and -powerful-looking chief, whose large armlets and anklets of burnished -copper shone in the evening sunshine, and it was but too evident -that, under his auspices, mischief was at hand. - -That they remarked Florian was an officer was soon apparent, when two -shots were fired from each flank of the gorge; but these whistled -harmlessly past, and starred with white a boulder in his rear. - -'Pick off that fellow who is making himself so prominent,' said -Florian, with some irritation, as his two escapes were narrow ones. - -One of the 24th fired and missed the leader. - -'What distance did you sight your rifle at?' asked Florian. - -'Four hundred yards, sir,' replied the soldier. - -'Absurd! He is certainly six hundred yards off. Do you try, -Tyrrell.' - -Then Tom, who was a deadly shot, reined up, held his rifle straight -between his horse's ears, sighted at six hundred yards, and pressing -the butt firmly against his right shoulder and restraining his -breath, took aim steadily at the chief, who stood prominently on a -fragment of rock, his figure defined clearly against the blue sky -like that of a dark bronze statue. - -He fired; the bullet pierced the Zulu's forehead, as was afterwards -discovered; he fell backward and vanished from sight. - -'By Jove, he's knocked over, sir,' said Tom, with a quiet laugh, as -he dropped another cartridge into his breech-block, and closed it -with a snap. - -'Bravo, Tom--a good shot!' said the men of the 24th, while, with a -yell of rage that reverberated in the gorge, the Zulus fled, and -Florian's scouting party rode on at a canter, and ultimately reached -a deserted German mission station at a place called Rhinstorf. - -As they rode through the gorge, with the indifference that is born of -war and its details, Tom Tyrrell looked with perfect composure on the -man he had shot, and remarked to Florian, with a smile: - -'These Zulus are certainly one of the connecting links that old -Darwin writes about, but links with the devil himself, I think.' - -At the station of Rhinstorf Colonel Russell now ascertained that -fully thirty-five miles of wild and rugged country would have to be -traversed ere he could reach Umkondo, where Cetewayo was reported to -be in concealment. To add to the difficulties of proceeding further, -night had fallen, the native guide, having lost heart, had deserted, -and many of the horses had fallen lame by the roughness of the route -from Fort George; thus Baker Russell came to the conclusion that to -proceed further then would be rash, if not impossible. - -Cetewayo still resisted all the terms offered him, acting under the -influence of Dabulamanzi, who urged him to distrust the British, in -the hope that if the fugitive died of despair in the forest of Ngome, -he himself might succeed to the throne of the Zulus. - -While on this patrol duty our Mounted Infantry came upon the remains -of some of our fellows who had fallen after the attack on the -Inhlobane Mountain in March and lain unburied for nearly six months, -exposed to the weather and the Kaffir vultures. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -AT THE 'RAG.' - -We now turn to a very different scene and locality--to Regent Street, -still deemed the architectural _chef d'œuvre_ of the celebrated -Mr. Nash, though it is all mere brick and plaster. - -The London season was past and over, but one would hardly have -thought so, as the broad pavements seemed still so crowded, and so -many vehicles of every kind were passing in close lines along the -thoroughfare from Waterloo Place to the Langham Hotel. - -It was a bright sunny forenoon, and as Vivian Hammersley, now a -convalescent, and in accurate morning mufti, looked on the -well-dressed throng, the shops filled with everything the mind could -desire or the world produce, and at the entire aspect of the -well-swept street, he thought, after his recent experience of forest -and donga, of rocky mountain and pathless karoo, that there was -nothing like it in Europe for an idler--that it surpassed alike the -Broadway of Uncle Sam and the Grand Boulevard of Paris. - -Enjoying the situation and his surroundings to the fullest extent, he -was walking slowly down towards where the colonnades stood of old, -when suddenly he experienced something between an electric shock and -a cold douche. - -Both well mounted, a handsome fellow attired in excellent taste, with -a tea rose and a green sprig in his lapel, and a graceful girl in a -well-fitting dark blue habit, a dainty hat and short veil, ambled -slowly past him--so slowly that he could observe them well--and in -the latter he recognised Finella! - -Finella Melfort, mounted on her favourite pad Fern; but _who_ was -this with whom she seemed on such easy and laughing terms, and with -whom she was riding through the streets of London, without even the -escort of a groom? - -Erelong quickening their pace to a trot, they turned westward along -Conduit Street, as if intending to 'do a bit of Park,' and he lost -sight of them. - -Her companion was one whom Hammersley had never seen before, but he -could remark that he had all the manner and appearance of a man of -good birth; but there was even something more than that in his -bearing--an undefinable and indescribable air of interest seemed to -hover about them, and Hammersley thought he might prove a very -formidable rival. But surely matters had not come to _that_! - -To letters that he had addressed to Finella at Craigengowan, under -cover to 'Miss Carlyon,' no answer had ever been returned. He knew -not that Dulcie was no longer there, and that the letters referred to -had gone back to the Post Office. And so Finella's silence--was it -indifference--seemed unpleasantly accounted for now. - -He knew not her address in London. The house of the Fettercairn -family was shut up, and he could not accost her while escorted by -'that fellow,' as she seemed ever to be, for on two occasions he saw -them again in the Row; nor could he prosecute any inquiries, as most -of the mutual friends at whose dances and garden parties he had been -wont to meet her in the past times were now out of town. - -It was tantalizing--exasperating! - -Did she suppose he had been killed, and had already forgotten him? -Did her heart shrink from a vacuum, or what? Thus pride soon -supplemented jealousy. - -A few days after the third occasion on which he had seen them, he was -idling in the reading-room of 'The Rag'--as the Army and Navy Club is -colloquially known, from a joke in _Punch_, and the smoking-room of -which has the reputation of being the best in London; and few, -perhaps none, of those who lounge therein are aware that the stately -edifice occupies what was the site till 1790 of Nell Gwynne's house -in Pall Mall. - -'How goes it, Hammersley?' said Villiers, the aide-de-camp, who was -also home on leave, and _en route_ to join his regiment, being -yet--as he grumblingly said--out of 'the Wolseley ring.' 'Has no -Belgravian belle succeeded in capturing you yet--a hero, like myself, -fresh from the assegais of Ulundi and all that sort of thing?' - -'No--I am still at large; but you forget that by the time I reached -town the season was over.' - -'Talking of belles,' said an officer who was lounging in a window, -'here comes one worth looking at.' - -Finella and her cavalier, mounted again, were quietly rambling into -the square from Pall Mall. - -'Ah--she is with Garallan of the Bengal Cavalry,' said Villiers; 'he -has come in for a good thing--has picked up an heiress, I hear.' - -'About the most useful thing a fellow can pick up nowadays,' replied -a tall officer named Gore. - -'That girl is said to be always ahead of the London season.' - -'How?' - -'Dresses direct from Paris.' - -'Garallan?' said Hammersley, turning from the window, as the pair had -disappeared. - -'A Major of the old Second Irregular Cavalry, and gained the V.C. -when serving on the Staff at the storming of Jummoo.' - -'Jummoo--where the devil is that?' asked one. - -'On the Peshawur frontier,' replied another; 'he is now in luck's -way, certainly.' - -'They say,' resumed Villiers in his laughing off-hand way, and who -really knew nothing of Finella, but was merely ventilating some club -gossip, to the intense annoyance of Hammersley; 'they say that she is -a coquette from her finger-tips to her tiny balmorals, and would -flirt with his Grace of Canterbury if she got a chance; and yet, with -all that, she can be most sentimental. There is Gore of ours--a -passed practitioner in the art of philandering----' - -'Villiers, please to shut up,' said Hammersley impatiently in a sotto -voce; 'I know the young lady, and you don't.' - -'The deuce you do?' - -'Intimately.' - -Villiers coloured, and lapsed into silence. - -'I always look upon flirtation as playing with fire,' said Gore; -'never attempt it, but I get into some deuced scrape.' - -'How much money is muddled up with matrimony in the world nowadays!' -said Villiers, thinking probably of the heiress's thousands; 'I -suppose it was different in the days of our grandfathers.' - -'Not much, I fancy,' said Gore. - -Hammersley had now occasion for much and somewhat bitter thought. -Finella and this officer were evidently the subjects of club gossip -and not very well-bred banter; the conviction galled him. - -'Where the deuce or with whom does she reside?' he thought; 'but to -find anyone you want, I don't know a more difficult place than this -big village on Thames.' - -The wrong person--like himself apparently--turning up at the wrong -time is no new experience to anyone; but this intimacy of Finella and -her cavalier seemed to be a daily matter, as Hammersley had seen them -so often; and how often were they too probably together on occasions -that he could know nothing of? - -The germ of jealousy was now planted in his heart, and 'such germs by -force of circumstances sometimes flourish and bear bitter fruit; at -others, nothing assisting, they perish in the mind that gave them -birth;' but a new force was given to the remarks of Villiers by some -that Hammersley overheard the same evening in the same place--the -'Rag.' - -There he suddenly recognised Finella's cavalier in full evening -costume, eating his dinner alone in a corner of the great -dining-room, and all unaware that he was sternly and closely -scrutinized by one man, and the subject of conversation for other -two, whose somewhat flippant remarks from behind a newspaper reached -the ears of the former. - -'Who is he, do you say? His face is new to me.' - -'Ronald Garallan, of the Bengal Cavalry--a lucky dog.' - -'How so?' - -'Is going in for a good thing, I hear.' - -'For what?' - -'His cousin with no end of tin.' - -'His cousin?' questioned the other and Hammersley's heart at the same -time. - -'Yes--the handsome Miss Melfort with the funny name--Finella Melfort.' - -'So they are engaged?' - -'I believe so; but I don't think from all I hear that the Major has -much of a vocation for domesticity.' - -'Even with Finella?' - -'Even with Finella,' replied the other, laughing. - -Hammersley felt a dark frown gather on his brow to hear her Christian -name--_his_ property as he deemed it--used in this off-hand fashion, -and he felt a violent inclination to punch his brother-officer's -head. However, he only moved his chair away from the vicinity of the -speakers, but not before he heard one of them say to Garallan: - -'Been to many dances since your return? England, you know, expects -every marriageable bachelor to do his duty.' - -'The season is over,' replied the Major curtly; and then added, 'you -forget that I am on leave--the sick list, with a Medical Board before -me yet.' - -'What a bore! But you are bound for some festive scene to-night, I -presume?' - -'Only to the Lyceum.' - -'_The Lyceum_--with her perhaps,' thought Hammersley; and to see the -affair out to the bitter end, he resolved to go there too. - -He was cut to the heart again, and bit his nether lip to preserve his -self-control. He had never heard of this cousin, Ronald Garallan; he -certainly found his name in the Army List, but did not believe he was -any cousin at all; and this only served to make matters look more and -more black. - -Hammersley in his natural pride of spirit rather revolted at going to -the theatre, feeling as if he was acting somewhat like a spy, but he -had a right to learn for himself what was on the tapis with regard to -Finella; and the Lyceum was as free a theatre to him as to anyone -else; so a few minutes after saw him bowling along the Strand in a -hansom cab. - -He got a seat on the grand tier, but with difficulty, and, -fortunately for his purpose, a little back and well out of sight; -and, oblivious of the stage and all the usual scenic splendours -there, he swept 'the house' again and again, with the same powerful -field-glass he had so lately used on many a scouting expedition, but -in vain, till the crimson satin curtain of a private box was suddenly -drawn back, and Finella in a perfect costume, yet not quite full -dress, sat there like a little queen, with many a sparkling jewel, -and Garallan half leaning on the back of her chair, as she consulted -the programme, after depositing a beautiful bouquet and her -opera-glass on the front of the box before her. - -Hammersley's heart seemed to give a leap, and then stood still, while -he actually felt an ache in the bullet wound which had so nearly cost -him his life. - -There they were, in a private box together, and without a chaperone, -which certainly looked like cousinship, though every way distasteful -to Hammersley; and Garallan leant over her chair, ignoring the -performance entirely, and evidently entertaining her in 'that -original and delicious strain in which Adam and Eve were probably the -first proficients.' - -And Finella was smiling upwards at times with her radiant eyes and -_riant_ face, with the bright and happy expression of one who had -nothing left to wish for in the world; while he--Vivian -Hammersley--might be, for all she knew or seemed to care, lying -unburied by the banks of the Umvolosi or the Lower Tugela! - -He recalled the words of her letter, so long and so loving, which he -received so unexpectedly in Zululand, in which she urged him to be -brave of heart for her sake, and not to be discouraged by any -opposition on the part of Lady Fettercairn, as she was rich enough to -please herself, adding: - -'Let us have perfect confidence in each other! Oh, you passionate -silly! to run away in a rage as you did without seeking an -explanation. How much it has cost me Heaven alone knows!' - -'Now,' thought he, 'suppose all the explanation she gave Miss Carlyon -at Craigengowan of that remarkable scene in the shrubbery, or that -she was lured into a scrape with that cub Shafto, were mere humbug -after all. It looks deuced like it from what I see going on here in -London. And then the rings I gave her--one a marriage hoop to -keep--an unlucky gift--ha! ha! what a precious ass I have been!' - -Vivian Hammersley, though a tough-looking and well set-up linesman, -was of an imaginative cast, and of a highly sensitive nature, and -such are usually well skilled in the art of elaborate self-torture. - -He now perceived that for a moment she had drawn the glove from off -her left hand--what a lovely little white hand it was! He turned his -powerful field-glass thereon, with more interest and curiosity than -he had done while watching for Zulu warriors, and there--yes--there -by Jove!--his heart gave a bound--was his engagement ring upon her -engaged finger still--there was no doubt about that! - -So what did all this too apparent philandering with another mean, if -not the most arrant coquetry? Had her character changed within a few -short months? It almost seemed so. - -But Hammersley thought that, 'tide what may,' he had seen enough of -the Lyceum for that night, and hurried away to the smoking-room of -the 'Rag.' - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -A REVELATION. - -We have written somewhat ahead of our general narrative, and must now -recur to Lord Fettercairn's visit to Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw in -Edinburgh, at that gentleman's request--one which filled the old Peer -with some surprise. - -'Why the deuce did not his agent visit him?' he thought. - -Smarting under Shafto's insolence, and acting on information given to -him readily by Madelon Galbraith, Mr. Kippilaw took certain measures -to obtain some light on a matter which he should have taken before. - -'You look somewhat unhinged, Kippilaw,' said Lord Fettercairn, as he -seated himself in the former's private business room. - -'I feel so, my lord,' replied the lawyer, in a fidgety way, as he -breathed upon and wiped his spectacles; 'I have to talk over an -unpleasant matter with you.' - -'Business?' - -'Yes; perhaps you would defer it till after dinner?' - -'Not at all--what the deuce is it? Debts of Shafto's?' - -'Worse, my lord!' - -'Worse! You actually seem unwell; have a glass of sherry, if I may -press you in your own house.' - -'No thanks; I am in positive distress.' - -'How--about what?' asked the Peer impatiently. - -'The fact is, my lord, I don't know how to go about it and explain; -but for the first time since I began my career as a W.S.--some forty -years ago now--I have made a great professional blunder, I fear.' - -'Sorry to hear it--but what have I to do with all that?' - -'Much.' - -Lord Fettercairn changed colour. - -'You wrote strangely of Shafto?' - -'No wonder!' groaned Mr. Kippilaw. - -'How?' - -'The matter very nearly affects your lordship's dearest -interests--the honour of your house and title.' - -'The devil!' exclaimed the Peer, starting up, and touched upon his -most tender point. - -'I have had more than one long conversation with the old nurse, -Madelon Galbraith, and therefore instituted certain inquiries, which -I should have done before, and have come to the undoubted and legal -conclusion that--that----' - -'What?' asked Fettercairn, striking the floor with his right heel. - -'That the person who passes as your grandson is not your grandson at -all!' - -'What--how--who the devil is he then?' - -'The son of a Miss MacIan who married a Mr. Shafto Gyle.' - -'D--n the name! Then who and where is my grandson and heir?' - -'One who was lately or is now serving as a soldier in Zululand.' - -'My God! and you tell me all this now--_now_?' - -'When Lennard Melfort lay dying at Revelstoke he entrusted the proofs -of his only son's birth with his older nephew, Shafto, who, with -amazing cunning, used them to usurp his rights and position. I blame -myself much. I should have made closer inquiries at the time; but -the documents seemed all and every way to the point, and I could not -doubt the handwriting or the signatures of your poor dead son. The -result, however, has rather stunned me.' - -'And, d--n it, Kippilaw, it rather stuns me!' exclaimed Lord -Fettercairn, in high wrath. 'May it not be a mistake, this last -idea?' - -'No--everything is too well authenticated.' - -'But, Kippilaw,' said Lord Fettercairn, after a pause, caused by dire -perplexity, 'we had the certificate of birth.' - -'Yes--but not in Shafto's name. The document was mutilated and -without the baptismal certificate, of which I have got this copy from -the Rev. Mr. Paul Pentreath. The name in both is, as you see,' added -Mr. Kippilaw, laying the document on the table, 'Florian, only son of -the Hon. Lennard Melfort (otherwise MacIan) and Flora, his -wife--Florian, called so after her.' - -'You have seen this young man?' - -'Yes--once in this room, and I was struck with his likeness to -Lennard. He is dark, Shafto fair. The true heir has a peculiar mark -on his right arm, says Madelon Galbraith, his nurse. Here is a -letter from a doctor of the regiment stating that Florian has such a -mark, which Shafto has not; and mother-marks, as they are called, -never change, like the two marks of the famous "Claimant." - -'I cannot realize it all--that we have been so befooled!' exclaimed -Lord Fettercairn, walking up and down the room. - -'But you must; it will come home to you soon enough.' - -'Egad, so far as bills and debts go, it has come home to me sharply -enough already. It is a terrible story--a startling one.' - -'Few families have stories like it.' - -'And one does not wish such in one's own experience, Kippilaw. It is -difficult of belief--monstrous, Kippilaw!' - -'Monstrous, indeed, my Lord Fettercairn!' chimed in Mr. Kippilaw, who -then proceeded to unfold a terrible tale of the results of Shafto's -periodical visits to Edinburgh and London--his bills and post-obits -with the money-lenders, who would all be 'diddled' now, as he proved -not to be the heir at all; and though last, not least, his late -disgraceful affair of the loaded die, and the fracas with Major -Garallan. - -'Garallan! that old woman Drumshoddy's nephew--whew!' His lordship -perspired with pure vexation. 'I have to thank you, however, for -finding out the true heir at last.' - -'When there are a fortune and a title in the case, people are easily -found, my lord.' - -'Things come right generally, as they always do, if one waits and -trusts in God,' said Madelon Galbraith, when she was admitted to an -audience, in which, with the garrulity of years, she supplemented all -that Mr. Kippilaw had advanced; and, as she laughed with exultation, -she showed--despite her age--two rows of magnificent teeth--teeth -that were bright as her eyes were dark. - -'Laoghe mo chri! Laoghe mo chri!' she murmured to herself; 'your -only son will be righted yet.' - -Every nation has its own peculiar terms of endearment, so Madelon -naturally referred to Flora in her own native Gaelic. - -'And Florian is--as you say, Kippilaw--serving in Zululand?' said -Lord Fettercairn. - -'Yes.' - -'Serving as a private soldier?' - -'He was----' - -'Was--is he dead?' interrupted the Peer sharply. - -'No; he is now an officer, and a distinguished one--an officer of the -gallant but most unfortunate 24th. I have learned that much.' - -'Write to him at once, and meanwhile telegraph to the -Adjutant-General--no matter what the expense--for immediate -intelligence about him. You will also write to Shafto--you know what -to say to _him_.' - -With right goodwill Mr. Kippilaw hastened to obey the Peer's -injunctions in both instances. - -He wrote to Shafto curtly, relating all that had transpired, adding -that he (Shafto) could not retain his present position for another -day without risking a public trial, and that if he would confess the -vile and cruel imposture of which he had been guilty he might escape -being sent to prison, and obtaining perhaps 'permanent employment' in -the Perth Penitentiary. - -This letter--though not unexpected--proved a most bitter pill to -Shafto! He saw that 'the game was up'--his last card played, that -life had no more in it for him, and that there was nothing left for -him but to fly the country and his debts together. - -His face was set hard, and into his shifty grey eyes came the savage -gleam one may see in those of a cat before it springs, but with this -expression were mingled rage and fear. - -With Mr. Kippilaw's letter were two others, from different parties. -In one he was informed that legal proceedings had been taken against -him, and in default of his putting in an appearance, judgment for -execution and costs had been given against him in an English court, -for £847 16s. 8d., in favour of a Jew, who held another bill, which, -though it originally represented £400, would cost £800 before he -parted with it; and Shafto actually laughed a little bitter and -discordant laugh as he rent the lawyers' letters into fragments and -cast them to the wind. - -Before departing, however, and before his story transpired, he -contrived to borrow from the butler and housekeeper every spare pound -they possessed, and quietly went forth, portmanteau in hand. - -Did he as he thus left the house recall the auspicious day on which -he had first seen, with keen and avaricious exultation, Craigengowan -in all its baronial beauty, its wealth of pasture and meadow-land, of -wood, and moor, and mountain, and deemed that all--all were, or would -be, his? - -He turned his back on the Howe of the Mearns for ever, and from that -hour all trace of him was lost! - -* * * * * - -The reply to Mr. Kippilaw's telegram to South Africa gave him, and -even his noble client, cause for some anxiety. - -It was dated from Headquarters, Ulundi, on the last day of August, -and stated that Lieutenant MacIan 'was down with fever, and not -expected to live.' - -So--if he died--the title of Fettercairn, being a Scottish one, would -go to Finella, and the heir male of whosoever she married. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -IN THE NGOME FOREST. - -We now approach the last scenes of Florian's foreign service. - -By the 13th of August the cordon of European troops and Native lines -drawn round the district in which the fugitive King of the Zulus -lurked had been drawn closer, and it was now distinctly known at -headquarters in Ulundi that he had sought refuge in the Forest of -Ngome, a wild, most savage and untrodden district between two rivers -(with long and grotesque names), tributaries of the Black Umvolosi, -and overshadowed by a mountain chain called the Ngome. - -Various parties detailed for the pursuit, search, and capture failed, -till, on the 26th August, the Chief of the Staff received information -indicating where Cetewayo was certain to be found, and Major Marter, -of the King's Dragoon Guards, was ordered to proceed next day in that -direction with a squadron of his own regiment, a company of the -Native Contingent, Lonsdale's Horse, and a few Mounted Infantry, led -by Florian and another officer. The former was already suffering -from fever caught by exposure to the night dews when scouting, and -felt so weak and giddy that at times he could barely keep in his -saddle; but, full of youthful ardour and zeal, fired by the promotion -and praises he had won, he was anxious only, if life were spared him, -to see the closing act of the great campaign in South Africa. - -The early morning of the 27th saw the Horse depart, the King's -Dragoon Guards leading the way, after the Mounted Infantry scouts; -and picturesque they looked in their bright scarlet tunics and white -helmets, with accoutrements glittering as they rode in Indian file -through the scenery of the tropical forest, and then for a time -debouched upon open ground. - -Nodding in his saddle, Florian felt spiritless and sick at heart, -wishing intensely that the last act was over. - -Far in the distance around extended a range of mountains that were -purple and blue in their hues, even against the greenish-blue of the -sky, and vast tracts of wood, tinted with every hue of green, red, -and golden; in the foreground were brawling streams dashing through -channels of rock to join the Black Umvolosi, under graceful date -palms, mimosa trees, and the undergrowth of baboon ropes and other -giant trailers. Scared troops of the eland, grey and brown herds of -fleet antelopes glided past, and more, than once the roar of a lion -made the wilderness re-echo. - -And this ground had to be traversed under a fierce and burning sun -till the valley of the Ivuno River was reached, prior to which three -Dragoon Guard horses were carried off and devoured by lions. - -So passed the day. The party reached a lonely little kraal on the -summit of the Nenye Mountain, and bivouacked there for the night. - -Stretched on the floor of a hut, after drinking thirstily of some -weak brandy and water, Florian watched the blood-red disc of the sun, -mightier than it is ever seen in Europe, amid the luminous haze, -begin to disappear behind the verge of the vast forest--the sea of -timber--that spread below, casting forward in dark outline the quaint -and grotesque euphorbia trees that at times take the shape of Indian -idols. - -Then a mist stole over the waste below, and a single star shone out -with wondrous brilliance. - -Florian was so weak in the morning that he would fain have abandoned -the duty on which he had come, and remained in the hut at the kraal; -but to linger behind was only to court death by the teeth of wild -animals or the hands of scouting Zulus, so wearily he clambered, -rather than sprang as of old, into his saddle. - -'Pull yourself together, if you can, my dear fellow,' said an -officer; 'our task will soon be over. It is something after a close -run to be in at the death; and it is waking men with their swords, -not dreamers with their pens, who make history.' - -'I am no dreamer,' said Florian, scarcely seeing the point of the -other's remark. - -'I did not mean that you were,' said the other, proffering his -cigar-case; 'have a weed?' - -But Florian shook his head with an emotion of nausea. - -'Forward, in single file from the right,' was the order given, for -the sun would soon be up now. Already the bees were humming loudly -among the tall reeds and giant flowers beside the stream that flowed -downward from the kraal, the forest stems looked black or bronze-like -in the grey and then crimson dawn, while the stars faded out fast. - -In advancing to another kraal on the mountain, Major Marter's force -had to traverse the forest bush, where trees of giant height and -girth, matted and inter-woven by baboon ropes and other trailers, -shut out even the fierce sun of Africa, and made a cool green roof or -leafy shade, where the grass grew tall as a Grenadier, where hideous -apes barked and chattered, bright-hued parrots croaked or screamed, -and where nature seemed to have run wild in unbridled luxuriance -since the Ark rested on Ararat, and the waters of the flood subsided. - -The mountains of the Ngome, and overlooking the forest of that name, -are flat-topped, like all others in South Africa; but Major Marter -found the western slope to be dangerously precipitous, and thence he -and his guides looked down into a densely wooded valley, lying more -than two thousand feet below. - -About two miles distant, thin smoke could be seen ascending amid the -greenery, from a small kraal by the side of a brawling stream, and -therein Cetewayo was known to be. - -As cavalry could not reach the bottom without making a very long -detour, the Major ordered all the mounted men to lay aside their -bright steel scabbards, and all other accoutrements likely to create -a rattling noise, and these, with the pack horses, were left in -charge of a small party, the command of which was offered to the -sinking Florian, who foolishly declined, and rode with the rest to a -less precipitous slope of the hills three miles distant, down which -the Dragoon Guards led their chargers by the bridle, crossed the -stream referred to, a small fence, and a marsh, and, remounting, made -a dash for the kraal, sword in hand, from the north, while the Native -Contingent formed up south of it on some open ground. - -The capture of Cetewayo is an event too recent to be detailed at -length here. - -It is known how his few followers, on seeing the red-coated cavalry -riding up, shouted, in unison with the Native Contingent: - -'The white men are here--you are taken!' - -Then the fallen royal savage came forth, looking weary, weak, and -footsore; and when a soldier--Tom Tyrrell--attempted to seize him, he -drew himself up with an air of simple dignity, and repelled him. - -'Touch me not, white soldier!' he exclaimed; 'I am a King, and -surrender only to your chief.' - -With their prisoner strictly guarded, the party passed the night of -the 29th August in the forest of Ngome, and Florian, as he flung -himself on the dewy grass, with fevered limbs and aching head, felt -an emotion of thankfulness that all was over, and it was nearly so -with himself now! - -The moon had not yet risen; the darkness was dense around the hut -where lay Cetewayo, guarded by many a sabre and bayonet; and the -jackals and hyenas were making night hideous with their howling, -mingled at times with the yells of wild dogs. - -Ever and anon the barking of baboons, as they swung themselves from -branch to branch, seemed to indicate the approach of some great beast -of prey, and the crackle of dry twigs suggested the slimy crawling of -a poisonous snake. - -So passed the night in the Forest of Ngome. With dawn the trumpet -sounded 'To horse,' and again the whole party moved on the homeward -way to Ulundi. The night in the dreary forest, lying out in the -open, had done its worst for Florian. On reaching the camp he fell -from his saddle into the arms of the watchful Tom Tyrrell, and was -carried to his tent, prostrate and delirious. - -Hence the tenor of the telegram received from the medical staff by -Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw. - -How Florian lived to reach Durban, conveyed there with other sick in -the ambulance waggons, he never knew, so heavily was the hand of -fever laid on him; but many a time he had seen, as in a dream, the -horses straggling through bridgeless torrents, and graves dug amid -the pathless wastes for those who died on the route, and were laid -therein, rolled in their blanket, and covered up before their limbs -were cold, till at last the village of Durban--for it is little else, -though the principal seaport of Natal--was reached, and he was placed -in an extemporised hospital. - -In his weakness, after the delirium passed away, he felt always as -one in a dream. The windows were open to the breeze from the Indian -Ocean, and the roar of the surf could be heard without ceasing on the -sandy beach, while at night the sharp crescent moon shone like a -silver sabre in the clear blue sky, and, laden with the perfume of -many tropical plants, the sweet air without struggled with the close -atmosphere of the crowded hospital wards, in which our 'boy soldiers -died like sick flies,' as a general officer reported. - -And there he lay, hour after hour, wasted by the fever born of miasma -and the jungle, rigid and corpse-like in outline, under the light -white coverlet. For how long or how short this was to last no one -ventured to surmise. - -He had ceased now to toss to and fro on his pillow and pour forth -incoherent babble, in which Revelstoke, Dulcie Carlyon, his boyish -days, and the recent stirring events of the now-ended campaign were -all strangely woven together, while Tom Tyrrell, now his constant -attendant, who nursed him tenderly as a woman would have done, had -listened with alarm and dismay. And more than once Florian had -dreamed that Tom, bearded to the eyes, bronzed to negro darkness, and -clad in an old patched regimental tunic, was not Tom at all, but -Dulcie, the girl he loved so passionately, watching there, smoothing -his pillow and holding the cup with its cooling draught to his -parched lips. - -'They say that fever must run its course, sir, whatever that means,' -said Tom to the doctor. - -'Ah! a fever like this is a very touch-and-go affair,' responded old -Gallipot, in whom the telegrams from headquarters and from Edinburgh -had given a peculiar interest for his patient. - -'Am I dying, doctor--don't fear to tell me?' asked the latter -suddenly in a low, husky voice. - -'Why do you ask, my poor fellow?' replied the doctor, bending over -him. - -'I mean simply, is the end of this illness--death?' - -'To tell you the truth, I greatly fear it is,' replied the doctor, -shaking his head. - -'God's will be done!' said Florian resignedly. 'Well, well, perhaps -it is better so--I am so far gone--but Dulcie!' he added to himself -in a husky whisper--'poor Dulcie, alone--all alone!' - -His senses had quite returned now, but he was so weak that he could -neither move hand nor foot, and his eyelids, unable to uphold their -own weight, closed as soon as raised, and often while his parched -tongue clove to the roof of his mouth as he lay thus he was supposed -to be asleep. - -'Poor fellow!' he heard Tom Tyrrell whisper to an hospital orderly in -a broken voice; 'he's got his marching orders, and will soon be -off--yet he doesn't seem to suffer much.' - -How hard it was to die so young, with what should have been a long -life before him, and now one with honours won to make it valuable. - -Well, well, he thought, if it was God's will it would be no worse for -him than for others. It seemed as natural to die as to be born--our -place in the world is vacant before and after; but yet, again, it was -hard, he thought, to die, and die so young in a distant and barbarous -land, where the savage, the wild animal, and the Kaffir vulture would -be the only loiterers near his lonely and unmarked grave. - -There came a day when the scene changed to him again. He was in the -cabin of a ship, lying near an open port-hole, through which he could -see the ocean rippling like molten gold in the setting sun, the red -light of which bathed in ruddy tints the shore of Durban and the -white lighthouse on the bluff that guards its entrance. - -Anon he heard the tramp overhead of the seamen as they manned the -capstan bars and tripped merrily round to the sound of drum and fife, -heaving short on the anchor, and heaving with a will, till it was -apeak. Then, the canvas was let fall and sheeted home; the -revolution of the screw-propeller was felt to make the great -'trooper' vibrate in all her length, and the glittering waves began -to roll astern as she sped on her homeward way. - -Would he live to see the end of the voyage? It seemed very -problematical. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE MAJOR PROPOSES. - -Meanwhile Hammersley's suspicion and jealousy grew apace, and it has -been said that when the latter emotion begins to reason, we legally -'always hold a brief for the prosecution in such cases, and admit no -evidence save that which tends to a conviction.' - -In his rage he thought of quitting London and going--but where? He -knew not then precisely. - -'Oh, to be well and strong again!' he would mutter; 'out of this -place and back to the regiment and the old life. There is a shindy -brewing fast in the Transvaal, and that will be the place for me.' - -At other times he would think--'I wish that recruit of Cardwell's had -put his bullet through my brain. I would rather he had done so than -feel it throb as it does now.' - -Some loves may dwindle into indifference or turn to hatred, but -seldom or never to mere friendship. Yet it is not easy 'to hate -those we have once loved because we happen to discover a weak point -in their armour, any more than it is easy to love unlovable people -because of their resplendent virtues.' - -No response had ever come to the letters he had written Finella under -cover to Dulce; thus he ceased to send them, all unaware that these -letters addressed to 'Miss Carlyon' had been returned to the Post -Office, endorsed, by order of Lady Fettercairn, 'not known at -Craigengowan;' and now the heavy thoughts of Hammersley affected his -manner and gait, and thus he often walked slowly, as if he were -weary; and so he was weary and sick of heart, for the sense of hope -being dead within the breast will give a droop to the head and a -lagging air to the step. - -Lady Drumshoddy rented a grand old-fashioned house in that very -gloomy quadrangle called St. James's Square, the chief mansion in -which is that of his Grace of Norfolk, and round the still somewhat -scurvy enclosure of which Dr. Johnson and Savage, when friendless and -penniless, spent many a summer night with empty stomachs and hearts -heated with antagonism to the then Government. About a hundred years -before that, Macaulay tells us that St. James's Square 'was a -receptacle for all the offal and cinders, and all the dead cats and -dogs, of Westminster. At one time a cudgel-player kept his ring -there. At another an impudent squatter settled himself there, and -built a shed for rubbish under the windows of the gilded _salons_ in -which the first magnates of the realm--Norfolk, Ormond, Kent, and -Pembroke--gave banquets and balls. It was not till these nuisances -had lasted through a whole generation, and till much had been written -about them, that the inhabitants applied to Parliament for permission -to put up rails and plant trees.' - -Here, then, in this now fashionable locality, had my Lady Drumshoddy -pitched her tent, and hence it was that Vivian Hammersley, being -almost daily at 'The Rag,' close by, saw Finella and her cousin so -frequently; yet it never occurred to him to think of the old -Scoto-Indian Judge's widow, of whom he knew little or nothing. - -The circumstance that Finella was undoubtedly still wearing his -engagement ring made Hammersley, amid all his misery and anger, long -for some more certain information than mere Club gossip and banter -afforded, and for that which was due from her--an explicit -explanation. He thought, as a casuist has it, 'that to know her -false would not be so bitter as to doubt. To mistrust the woman we -love is torture. To have a knowledge of her guilt is the first step -towards burying our love. Our pride is then thoroughly aroused, and -that contempt for treachery, inherent in our nature, flames out.' - -On her part, Finella had some cause for pique--grave cause, she -thought. She had twice, at intervals, seen Vivian Hammersley riding -in the Row, when it was impossible for her to address him or afford -him the least sign; and now, knowing that he was home, and in London, -she naturally thought why did he not make some effort to communicate -with her, in spite of any barrier Lady Fettercairn might raise -between them, if he supposed she still resided at Craigengowan. Thus -she too was beginning to look regretfully back to his love as a dream -that had fled. - -'A pretty kettle of fish they have made of it at Craigengowan, my -dear!' snorted Lady Drumshoddy, when she heard of the late events -that had transpired there. 'They have been imposed upon -fearfully--quite another "Claimant" affair; but I always had my -suspicions, my dear--I always had my suspicions, I am glad to say,' -she coolly added, oblivious of the fact that she always aided and -abetted Shafto in all his plans and hopes to secure Finella and her -fortune. - -It was convenient to ignore or forget all that now. - -'My Ronald is all right,' snorted the hard-featured old dame to -herself; 'he is the right man in the right place; but, as for -Finella, she is like most girls, I suppose--will not fall in love -where and when it is most clearly her duty to do so--provoking minx!' - -It was a prominent feature in the character of my Lady Drumshoddy, -contradiction, though she would not for a second tolerate it in -anyone else; and as Major Garallan was temporarily a resident at her -house in St. James's Square, she, like Lady Fettercairn on the other -occasion, put great faith in cousinship and propinquity. - -What a different kind and style of cousin Ronald Garallan was from -Shafto, Finella naturally thought; not that as yet she loved him a -bit, as he evidently loved her, but he was such a delightful -companion to escort her everywhere. - -She had received plenty of admiration and adulation during her short -season in London before, and to suppose that she was blind to the -young Major's attentions would be to deem her foolish; no woman or -girl is ever blind to that sort of thing. She, like the rest of her -charming sex, knew by instinct when she had won a success; but she -also knew that she had one powerful attraction--money--and knew, too, -that her heart was engaged otherwise; and this knowledge made her -tolerably indifferent to the admiration of her cousin, while the -indifference laid her open to the appearance of receiving his close -attentions. Meanwhile the latter was enjoying his Capua. - -'How delicious all this is!' he often thought, as he lounged by -Finella's side in the drawing-room, or rode with her in the Row, -'after sweltering so long in that hottest and most hateful of -up-country stations, Jehanabad, on the shining rocks of which the -Indian sun pours all its rays for months, till the granite at night -gives out the caloric it has absorbed by day, and so the roasting -process never ceases, and sleep even on a charpoy becomes impossible, -all the more so that hyenas, jackals, and wild cats make night -hideous with their yells. This is indeed an exchange,' he once added -aloud, 'and all the more delicious that I have it with _you_, Cousin -Finella.' - -And Lady Drumshoddy, if she was near, would watch the pair -complacently through her great spectacles, while pretending to be -intent on her only paper (after the _Morning Post_), the _Queen_, -which she read as regularly--more so, we fear--than she read her -night prayers. - -And while Garallan's attentions were gradually warming and leading up -to a declaration, Finella was thinking angrily of Hammersley. - -'Perhaps he has forgotten his love for me--nay, he would never forget -_that!_ but absence, time, change of scene, or a regard for some one -else may have come between us. It is the way with men, I have been -told.' - -So, in the fulness of time, there came one fine forenoon, when Lady -Drumshoddy had judiciously left the cousins quite alone, and when -Finella, in one of her most bewitching costumes, was idling over a -book of prints, with Ronald Garallan by her side, admiring the -contour of her head, the curve of her neck, her pure profile, the -lovely little ear that was next him, and everything else, to the -little bouquet in her bosom that rose and fell with every -respiration, let his passion completely overmaster him, and taking -caressingly within his own her left hand, which she did not withdraw, -he said: - -'I have something to ask you, Finella--you know what it is?' - -'Indeed, I do not.' - -'Then, of course, I must tell you?' - -'I think you must,' said she, looking him calmly in the face for a -second. - -'For weeks you must have known it.' - -'Known--what?' - -'That I love you!' he said in a low voice, and bending till his -moustache touched her cheek; 'and now I ask you to give me yourself.' - -The hand was withdrawn now; she coloured, but not deeply, and her -eyelashes drooped. - -'Give me yourself, darling,' he resumed, 'and trust to me for taking -care of you all the days of your life.' - -Though she must have expected some such ending as this to their late -hourly intimacy, she was nevertheless astonished, and said, with a -little nervous laugh at the abruptness and matter-of-fact form of the -proposal: - -'Cousin Ronald, I can surely take care of myself. But--but do you -want to marry me?' - -'Of course!' replied Cousin Ronald, with very open eyes, while -tugging the ends of his moustache. - -'Well--it can't be.' - -'Can't be?' - -'No. I thank you very much, and like you very much--there are both -my hands on that; but marriage is impossible. Yet don't let us -quarrel, for that would be absurd, but be the best of good friends as -ever.' - -'And this is my answer?' said he, with a very crushed air. - -'Yes,' she replied, colouring deeply now; 'once and for all.' - -'I won't take it,' said he, with mingled sorrow and anger. 'I will -not, darling!--I shall come to it again, when, perhaps, you may think -better of it and of me. Till then good-bye, and God bless you, -dearest Finella!' - -Kissing both her hands, he abruptly withdrew, and soon after leaving -the house took his departure for Brighton; and now the luckless -Finella had to explain the reason thereof, and to undergo the -ever-recurring admonitions, reprehensions, parables, and absolute -scoldings of 'grandmamma Drumshoddy,' who was neither quite so well -bred nor so calm in spirit and outward bearing as Lady Fettercairn, -then 'eating humble pie' at Craigengowan. - -If Florian, the new heir, was indeed dying, as reported, when he was -embarked with other sick and wounded officers and men at Durban, a -prospective peerage, with all the estates, enhanced the value and -position of Finella in the eyes of Lady Drumshoddy, so far as a -marriage with her nephew, the Major, was concerned, and most wrathful -she was indeed to find that her schemes were going 'agee.' - -Lord Fettercairn fully shared her ideas, and knew that whoever -married the only daughter of the House of Melfort, though he might -assume the old name, it and the title too went virtually out of the -family. - -Finella had remarked to herself that for some time past Lady -Fettercairn in her letters never mentioned the name of Shafto, or -hinted of the old wish about marrying _him_. - -Why was this? - -She knew not the reason that his existence was ignored, till Lady -Drumshoddy bluntly referred to 'the pretty kettle of fish' made -lately by the folks at Craigengowan, and then, in the gentleness of -her heart, Finella almost felt pitiful for the now homeless and -worthless one. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -A CLOUD DISPELLED. - -September was creeping on, and in London then the weather is often -steady and pleasant, though in the mornings and evenings the first -chills of the coming winter begin to be felt. The summer-parched and -dust-laden foliage of the trees droops in Park and square, and the -great gorse-bushes are all in golden bloom at Wimbledon, at Barnes -Common, and other fern and heath-covered wastes. - -The Row and other favourite promenades were now empty; Parliament was -not sitting; and shooting and cub-hunting were in full force in the -country. - -Sooner or later one runs up against every one in this whirligig world -of ours; thus Hammersley, still lingering aimlessly in London, coming -one day from the Horse Guards, in crossing the east end of the Mall, -found himself suddenly face to face with her of whom his thoughts -were full--Finella Melfort! - -Finella, in a smart sealskin jacket, with her muff slung by a silken -cord round her slender neck, a most becoming hat, the veil of which -was tied tightly and piquantly across her short upper lip. - -'Finella!' - -'Oh, Vivian!' - -Their exclamations and joyful surprise were mutual, but 'the horns -and hoofs of the green-eyed monster' were still obtruding amid the -thoughts of Hammersley, though she frankly gave him both her plump -little tightly gloved hands, which after a caressing pressure he -speedily dropped, rather to the surprise of the charming proprietor -thereof. - -'Did you know I was in London?' she asked. - -'Yes--too well.' - -'And yet made no effort to see--to write to me!' - -'I knew not where to find you.' - -'You might have inquired--that is, if you cared to know.' - -'Cared--oh, Finella!' - -'And your wound--your cruel wound! Have you recovered from it?' - -'Nearly so--thus I have just been at the Horse Guards about going on -foreign service again. - -'Foreign service--again?' - -'Yes; there are wounds deeper and more lasting than any an enemy can -inflict.' - -She evidently did not understand his mood. - -'Are you not rash, Vivian, to be out in a day so chill as this?' she -said. - -'A little chill, fog, or rain, more or less, are trifles to one whose -thoughts are all of sad and bitter things.' - -'Vivian?--your wound, was it a severe one?' - -'Very. I received a shot that was meant for the assassination of -another.' - -'Who?' - -'Florian; your friend Miss Carlyon's lover, who, poor fellow, I hear -sailed from Durban in a bad way.' - -'Why do you look and speak so coldly, Vivian--Vivian?' she asked, -with her slender fingers interlaced, while he certainly eyed her -wistfully, curiously, and even angrily. - -'Why?' - -'Yes,' said she, impetuously. 'Why are you so cruel--so hard to me?' -she added, with a sob in her voice, as she placed a hand on his arm -and looked earnestly up in his face. 'Surely it is not for me to -plead thus?' - -'Why are you so touched?' - -'Can you ask, while treating me thus?' - -'Like a thorough Scotch girl, you answer one question by asking -another.' - -'Well, in constancy men certainly do not bear the palm,' said she, -drawing back a pace, and inserting her hands in her muff. - -'I think you should be the last to taunt me, at all events, as -appearances go.' - -There was a moment's silence, for both were too honest and true to -have acquired what has been termed 'the useful and social art of -talking platitudes' when their hearts were full. - -'And this is our long-looked-forward-to meeting?' she said, -reproachfully. - -'Yes--alas!' - -'Why do you regard me--not with the furious rage that possessed you -on quitting Craigengowan--but with coldness, doubt, indifference?' - -'Indifference! Oh, no, Finella.' - -'Doubt--suspicion, then?' - -'It may be,' he replied with a doggedness that certainly was not -natural to him. - -'What _have_ I done?' asked the girl, sorely piqued now. - -'Nothing, perhaps,' he replied shrinking from putting his thoughts -into words. - -'Can it be that you are changeable and inconstant? When you saw me, -and knew that I was in London, why did you not come to me at once?' - -'Because I knew not where or with whom you were residing.' - -'Did you go to Fettercairn House?' - -'No.' - -'Why?' she asked curtly, for _her_ suspicions were being kindled now. - -'I knew the family were not in town.' - -'Then you might have asked for Lady Drumshoddy, and, if not, somehow -have heard----' - -'By tipping the butler or Mr. James Plush?' - -'If I wanted to do anything I would grasp at the first chance of -achieving it,' said Finella, her dark eyes sparkling now. - -'Men are seldom creatures of impulse. I reasoned over the matter, -and put two and two together.' - -'Reason generally urges men to do what they wish. But what do you -mean by putting two and two together?' - -'Well, frankly, I referred to you and Major Garallan.' - -'Do you make _four_ of us? Vivian, you are absurd,' said Finella, -after a little pause, during which she coloured and stamped a little -foot impatiently on the ground. - -'Perhaps,' said he sadly and wearily; 'but I heard so much at the -Clubs and elsewhere that I knew not what to think.' - -'About us you mean--Cousin Ronald and me?' - -'Yes.' - -'You heard--what?' - -'That you were about to be married--that is the long and the short of -it.' - -His face crimsoned with annoyance as he spoke; but hers grew pale. - -'And you, Vivian--you believed this?' she asked mournfully and -reproachfully. - -'Much that I saw seemed to confirm it. You and he were so much -together.' - -'How unfortunate I am to have been suspected by you twice! Ronald is -only my cousin.' - -'So was that precious Shafto!' - -'Why hark back upon that episode?' she asked, piteously. 'Have I -offended you? Misunderstanding between us seems to have become our -normal state.' - -'Your cousin may--nay, I doubt not, loves you, Finella; but why do -you permit him to do so?' - -'Can I help it? Ronald was a kind of brother to me--nothing more,' -she continued, ignoring--perhaps at that moment forgetting--his -recent proposal; 'but my heart has never for a moment wandered from -you. See!' she added, while quickly and nervously stripping the kid -glove from her right hand, 'your engagement ring has never, for a -second even, been off my finger since first you placed it there.' - -'My darling--my darling!' he exclaimed, as all his heart went forth -towards her. 'Oh, Finella! what I suffered when I thought I had -again lost you! Yet I would almost undergo it all again--for this!' -he added, as he passionately kissed her, after a swift glance round -to see that no one was nigh. - -So the reconciliation was complete; all doubts were dissipated, and -they lingered long together, talking of themselves and a thousand -kindred topics, in which foreign service was not included; and more -complete it was, when, after escorting her home (Lady Drumshoddy -being absent at Exeter Hall), in the solitude of the drawing-room, -they had a sweeter lingering still, Finella's head resting on his -shoulder, the touch of her cheek thrilling through him, and like some -tender and tuneful melody her soft cooing voice seemed to vibrate in -his head and heart together. - -So they were united again after all! - -At last they had to separate, and looking forward to a visit on the -morrow, Hammersley, seeming to tread on air, in a state of radiance, -both in face and mind, hurried across the square to the Club, where -he came suddenly upon Villiers, whom he had not seen for some days, -and who seemed rather curiously to resent his evident state of high -spirits. - -'Well, Villiers,' said he, 'you do look glum, by Jove! What is the -matter now--the Wolseley ring, and all that--the service going to the -dogs!' - -'You know deuced well that it _has_ gone--went with the regimental -system. No; it is a cursed affair of my own. I have been robbed.' - -'Robbed--how--and of what?' - -'My pocket-book, containing some valuable papers and more than £500 -in Bank of England notes.' - -'Good heavens! I hope you have the numbers?' - -'No--never noted such a thing in my life. Who but a careful screw -would do so?' - -'How came it about?' - -'Well, you see,' said Villiers slowly, while manipulating a cigar, 'I -took a run over to Ostend, and there, as the devil would have it, at -the Casino, and afterwards in the mail boat to Dover, I fell in with -a charming Belgienne, an awfully pretty and seductive creature, who -was on her way to London and quite alone. We had rather a pronounced -flirtation, and exchanged photos--an act of greater folly on her part -than on mine, as the event proved; for, after taking mine from my -pocket-book (which she could see was full of notes), I never saw the -latter again. I dropped asleep, but awoke when the tickets were -collected--awoke to find that she had slipped out at some -intermediate station, and the pocket-book, which I had placed in my -breast-pocket, was gone too! There had been no one else in the -carriage with me--indeed I had quietly tipped the guard to arrange it -so. Thus, as no trace of it could be found, after the most careful -search, she must have deftly abstracted it. Here is her photo--a -deuced dear work of art to me!' - -'She is pretty, indeed!' exclaimed Hammersley; 'such a quantity of -beautiful fair hair!' - -'It was dark golden.' - -'Surely it was rash of her to give you this?' - -'It was vanity, perhaps, when the idea of theft had not occurred to -her.' - -'Throw it in the fire.' - -'Not at all.' - -'What do you mean to do with it--preserve the likeness of a mere -adventuress?' - -'I shall give it to the police as a clue. It may lead to the -recovery of my money, and, what is of more consequence to me, my -correspondence.' - -So the photo of the pretty Belgienne was handed over to the -authorities; but neither Villiers nor Hammersley could quite foresee -what it was to lead to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -FLORIAN DYING. - -After her flight from Craigengowan to London, Dulcie had found -shelter in the same house wherein she had lodged after leaving -Revelstoke, in a gloomy alley that opens northward off Oxford Street. -The vicar, on whose protection and interest she relied, was not in -London, and would be absent therefrom for fully a month; so she had -written to Mr. Pentreath, who quietly, but firmly rebuked her for her -folly in quitting Craigengowan, and expressed his dismay that she -should be alone and unprotected in London, and urged her to come to -him, in Devonshire, at once. - -But Dulcie remembered his slender income, his pinched household, and -notwithstanding all the dear and sad associations of Revelstoke, she -remained in London, thinking that amid its mighty world something -would be sure to turn up. - -The solitude of her little room was so great that times there were -when she thought she might go mad from pure inanition and loneliness; -but greater still seemed the solitude of the streets, which, crowded -as they were by myriads passing to and fro, were without one friend -for her. - -She was not without her occasional _chateaux en Espagne_--dreams of -relations, rich but as yet unknown, who would seek her out and cast a -sunshine on her life; but how sordid seemed all her surroundings -after the comfort and luxury, the splendour and stateliness, of -Craigengowan! - -Dulcie had once had her girlish dreams of life in London, at a time -when the chances of her ever being there were remote indeed--dreams -that were as the glittering scenes in a pantomime; and now, in her -loneliness, she was appalled by the great Babylon, so terrible in its -vastness, so hideous in its monotony as a wilderness of bricks and -bustle by day, bustle and gas by night, with its huge and dusky dome -over all, with its tens upon thousands of vehicles of every kind--a -whirling vortex, cleft in two by a river of mud and slime, where the -corpses of suicides and the murdered are ploughed up by steamers and -dredges--a river that perhaps hides more crime and dreadful secrets -than any other in Europe; and amid the seething masses of the great -Babylon she felt herself as a grain of sand on the seashore. - -Our neighbours next door know us not, nor care to know; and to the -postman, the milkman, and the message-boy we are only 'a number' as -long as we pay--nothing more. - -So times there were when Dulcie longed intensely for the home of her -childhood, with its shady Devonshire lanes redolent of ripe apples, -wild honeysuckle, and the sycamore-trees, and for the midges dancing -merrily in the clear sunshine above the stream in which she and -Florian were wont to fish together: and but for Shafto and Lady -Fettercairn she would have gladly hailed Craigengowan, with its -ghost-haunted Howe, its old gate of the legend, Queen Mary's Thorn, -and all their lonely adjuncts, could she but share them with Finella; -but she was all unaware that the latter was there no longer. - -Her little stock of money was wearing out, with all her care and -frugality, and her whole hope lay in the return of the vicar, who, -too probably, would also reproach her with precipitation. - -'Things will come right yet--they always do--if one knows how to wait -and trust in God,' said Dulcie to herself, hopefully but tearfully; -'and when two love each other,' she added, thinking of Florian, 'they -may beat Fate itself.' - -Dulcie had not written to Finella, as she was yet without distinct -plans; she only knew that she could not teach, and thus was not 'cut -out' for a governess. Neither did she write to Florian, as she knew -not where to address him, and, knowing not what a day might bring -forth, she could not indicate where she was to send an answer. So -week followed week; her sweet hopefulness began to leave her, and a -presentiment came upon her that she would never see Florian again. -So many misfortunes had befallen her that this would only be one -more; and this presentiment seemed to be realised, and a dreadful -shock was given, when by the merest chance she saw in a paper a few -weeks old the same telegram concerning him which had so excited old -Mr. Kippilaw, and which had found its way into print, as everything -seems to do nowadays. - -The transport with sick and wounded was on its homeward way; but when -it arrived would he be with it, or sleeping under the waves? - -It was a dreadful stroke for Dulcie; her only tie to earth seemed to -be passing or to have passed away. She had no one to confide in, no -one to condole with her, and for a whole day never quitted her -pillow; but, 'at twenty, one must be constitutionally very unsound if -grief is to kill one, or even to leave any permanent and abiding mark -of its presence.' But she had to undergo the terrible mental torture -of waiting--waiting, with idle hands, with throbbing head, and aching -heart, for the bulletin that might crush her whole existence. He -whom she loved with all her heart and soul, who had been woven up -with her life, since childhood, was far away upon the sea, struggling -it might be with death, and she was not by his pillow; and the lips, -that had never aught but soft and tender words for her, might be now -closed for ever! - -Already hope had been departing, we have said. Her heart was now -heavy as lead, and all the brightness of youth seemed to have gone -out of her life. She began to feel a kind of dull apathetic misery, -most difficult to describe, yet mingled with an aching, gnawing sense -of mingled pain. - -Florian dying, probably--that was the latest intelligence of him. -How curt, how brief, how cruel seemed that item of news, among others! - -She opened her silver locket, with the coloured photo of him. The -artist had caught his best expression in a happy moment; and it was -hard--oh, how hard! for the lonely girl to believe that the loving -and smiling face, with its tender dark eyes and crisp brown hair, was -now too probably a lifeless piece of clay, mouldering under the waves -of the tropical sea. - -She had made up her mind to expect the worst, and that she could -never see him more. - -'It seems to me,' she thought, 'as if I had ceased to be young, and -had grown very old. God help me, now!' she added, as she sank -heavily into a chair, with a deathly pale face, and eyes that saw -nothing, though staring into the dingy brick street without; and -though Dulcie's tears came readily enough as a general rule, in the -presence of this new and unexpected calamity, nature failed to grant -her the boon--the relief of weeping freely. 'There is a period in -all our lives,' says a writer, 'when the heaviest grief will hardly -keep us waking; we may sink to slumber with undried tears upon our -face; we may sob and murmur through the long night; but still we have -the happy power of losing consciousness and gaining strength to bear -the next day's trial.' - -So Dulcie, worn with heavy thought, could find oblivion for a time, -and even slept with the roar of mighty London in her ears. - -The vicar had not yet returned, so day followed day with her, -aimlessly and hopelessly. - -She thought the public prints could give her no further tidings now. -She knew not where to seek for intelligence, and could but wait, -dumbly, expectantly, and count the hours as they drifted wearily -past, in the desperate longing that some tidings would reach her at -some time of her dearest, it might be now her dead, one! - -The Parks were completely empty then; the sunshine was pleasant and -warm for the season; the grass was green and beautiful; and lured -thereby one forenoon, the pale girl went forth for a little air, when -there occurred an extraordinary catastrophe that, in her present -weakened state of mind and body, was fully calculated to destroy her! - -The afternoon passed--the evening and the night too, yet she did not -as usual return to her humble lodging. The morning dawned without a -trace of her; the landlady began to appraise her few effects; the -landlord shook his head, winked knowingly, and said, 'She was far too -pretty to live alone,' and deemed it the old story over again--a waif -_lost in London_. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE TERRIBLE MISTAKE. - -Dulcie had thought that no possible harm could accrue to her from -rambling or sitting in that beautiful Park alone, and watching the -children playing with their hoops along the gravelled walk. With -whom could she go? She had no one to escort her. She knew not that -it was not quite etiquette for a young lady to be there alone and -unattended; but the event that occurred to her was one which she -could never have anticipated. - -She had sat for some time, absorbed in her own thoughts, on one of -the rustic sofas not far from Stanhope Gate, all unaware that an -odd-looking and mean-looking, but carefully dressed little man had -been hovering near her, and observing her closely with his keen small -ferret-like eyes, and with an expression of deep interest, destitute, -however, of the slightest admiration, and with a kind of sardonic and -stereotyped smile in which mirth bore no part. - -He scanned her features from time to time, grinned to himself, and -ever and anon consulted something concealed in his hand. - -'Golden hair--sealskin jacket--sable muff--hat and feather--a silver -necklet--all right,' he muttered, and then he advanced close towards -her. - -Dulcie looked up at him with surprise, and then with an emotion of -alarm, mingled with confusion, which he was neither slow to see nor -misinterpret-- - -'May I ask your name?' said he in a mild tone. - -'Miss Carlyon--Dulcie Carlyon.' - -'Ah! you speak good English.' - -'I am English.' - -'And not a furriner?' - -'No,' replied Dulcie in growing alarm. - -'But you reside in London, just now?' - -'Just now--yes,' said Dulcie, seeing that he was comparing her face -with that of a photo in his hand. - -'With your family--friends?' - -'I have no family--no friends,' said Dulcie, with a sob in her -throat, and starting up to withdraw in great alarm. - -'Just so--not here, but at Ostend, perhaps.' - -Thinking her questioner was mad or intoxicated, Dulcie, in growing -terror, was about to move away when he laid a hand very decidedly on -her left arm. - -'Leave me,' she exclaimed, and on looking around her terror increased -on seeing that no male aid was near her; 'who are you that ask these -questions--that dare to molest me?' - -'My name is Grabbley--Mr. Gilpin Grabbley, of Scotland Yard--oh, -you'll know enough o' me, my dear, before I'm done with you. Come -along: you're wanted partiklar--you are. Will you walk with me -quietly?' - -Perceiving that she was about to utter a shriek, he grasped her arm -more tightly, even to the bruising of her soft tender skin, and said -in a sharp hissing tone: - -'Don't--don't make a row: 'taint no use, my beauty--you must come -along with me.' - -'Oh, what do you mean?' moaned Dulcie, almost incapable of standing -now. - -'Mean--why, that you are my prisoner, that is all.' - -'Am I mad or dreaming? Oh, sir, this is some dreadful mistake.' - -'No mistake at all,' said Mr. Grabbley tauntingly. - -They were out in Park Lane now, and Dulcie cast a despairing glance -at the many closed and shuttered windows of the mansions there, as if -she would summon aid. - -'Look here, gal,' said the detective, for such Mr. Grabbley was, 'I -have orders to arrest the original of this fotygraf--you are that -original--look! don't you see yourself, as if in a looking-glass?' - -Dulcie did look, with a kind of horrible fascination, and recognised -in it a very striking resemblance to her face and dress--even to the -luckless silver locket and chain. - -Mr. Grabbley utilised the moments of her bewilderment. He stopped a -passing cab--half lifted, half thrust her in. - -'Marlborough Street,' said he to the driver, and they were driven off. - -'Of what am I accused?' said Dulcie, driven desperate now. - -'Robbery on a railway--that's all; and you knows all about it--the -when and the where.' - -If not the victim of some deliberate outrage, she was certainly the -victim of some inexplicable mistake which might yet be explained; -anyway in her ignorance and in her wild fear she strove to elicit -succour from passers-by, till Mr. Grabbley closed the rattling -glasses of the cab and held her firmly, while, like one in a dreadful -dream, she was rapidly driven through Berkley Square, across Bond -Street and Regent Street, to their destination, where, when the cab -stopped, she was quickly taken indoors, through a passage, in which -several police officers and odd, repulsive-looking people of both -sexes were loitering about, and whence she was conveyed by the -inexorable Grabbley, to whom all appeals were vain, and left in a -state of semi-stupefaction--after being led down a long corridor, -having many doors opening on each side thereof--in a small bare -room--a den it seemed, and if not quite a prison cell, yet dreary, -cold, and comfortless enough to suggest the idea of being one. - -She heard a key turned upon her, and felt that now--more than -ever--she was a prisoner! - -She had no sense of indignation as yet--only a wild and clamorous one -of fear, or dread, she knew not of what--of being disgraced, and, it -might be, the victim of a mad-man's freak. She was in utter -solitude, and no sound seemed to be there but the loud beating of her -heart. - -Past grief and anxiety had rendered her very weak and unable to -withstand the tension on her nerves caused by this astounding -accusation and catastrophe, of which she could neither calculate nor -see the end. Then an exhaustion that was utter and complete -followed, and for a time she was physically and mentally -prostrate--in that awful sense of desolation and heart-broken grief -that God in His mercy permits few to suffer.... So passed the night. - -'A person--a gentleman,' said a commissionaire at the Rag doubtfully -to Villiers as he entered the vestibule, 'has been waiting here for -nearly an hour for you, sir.' - -'Oh--it is you, Mr.--Mr.----' - -'Grabbley, sir,' said the little man affably, his ferret eyes -twinkling, and his vulgar face rippling over with a smile. - -'You have some news, I suppose?' - -'Yes, sir, I've nabbed her.' - -'When?' - -'Yesterday morning.' - -'Where?' - -'In Hyde Park--nigh Stanhope Gate. She speaks English uncommonly -well to be a furriner.' - -'That's sharp work! You are a clever fellow, Grabbley. Was my -pocket-book found upon her?' - -'We did not search her, but she is locked up at Marlborough Street, -where I would like you to see and identify her before making out the -matter in the charge sheet.' - -'All right--get a cab. Come with me, Hammersley, and I'll show you -my little Belgienne.' - -Hammersley went unwillingly, as it was pretty close on the time he -had now begun to visit Finella at her grandmother's residence, and he -cast longing eyes at the windows of the latter as he and his two -companions were driven out of the square. - -'A horrid atmosphere, and a horrid place in all its details,' he -muttered, when the scene of Dulcie's detention was reached, and -throwing away the fag end of a cheap cigar Mr. Grabbley, with an -expression of no small satisfaction, puckering his visage, unlocked -and threw open the door--a sound which roused Dulcie from her -stupefied state--and starting up she stood before them, trembling in -every fibre, with a hunted expression in her dark blue eyes and a -gathering hope in her breast, to find herself confronted by two such -men of unexceptionable appearance and bearing as Hammersley and -Villiers, who raised his hat, and turning with astonishment and some -dismay to the police official said sharply: - -'This is some great--some truly infernal mistake!' - -'A mistake--how, sir?' asked Grabbley. - -'This young lady is _not_ the person whose photo I gave you.' - -'They seems as like as two peas.' - -'The likeness, I admit, is great, but the Belgian girl, I told you, -could not speak a word of English, or scarcely so. I have to offer -you a thousand apologies, though the mistake is not mine, but that of -this man,' said Villiers, bowing low to Dulcie, greatly impressed by -the sweetness of her beauty and terror of the predicament in which -she had been placed. - -'So it's a mistake after all, young gal,' growled Mr. Grabbley, with -intense disappointment and reluctance to relinquish his prey. - -'And may I go, sir?' said Dulcie piteously to Villiers. - -'Most certainly--you are free,' replied Villiers, who was again about -to apologize and explain, but the girl, like a hunted creature, drew -her veil tightly across her tear-blotched face, rushed along the -dingy corridor, and gained the street in an instant. - -That she was a lady in every sense of tone and bearing was evident, -and Villiers felt overcome with shame and contrition, and swore in -pretty round terms at the crestfallen Grabbley. - -'This is a devil of a mistake!' said the latter as he scratched his -head in dire perplexity. - -'A mistake we have not, perhaps, heard the end of. Who is she?' -asked Villiers. - -'I don't know.' - -'Did she give you no name?' - -'Yes--here it is,' said Grabbley, producing a dirty note-book; -'Dulcie Carlyon.' - -'A curious and uncommon name.' - -'Who do you say--Dulcie Carlyon?' exclaimed Hammersley, who had -hitherto been silent, starting forward; and on the name being -repeated to him once or twice, 'Great Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'if it -should be the same!' - -'Same what--or who?' - -'The girl to whom Florian is engaged: you remember Florian of ours.' - -'Of course I do.' - -'Golden hair, blue eyes, under middle height (how often he has -described her to me), and then the name--Dulcie Carlyon; it must be -she--let us overtake her! What an astounding introduction!' - -But that was easier proposed than accomplished. On gaining the -street the two officers saw not a trace of Dulcie Carlyon, so all -hope of discovering her address was gone. - -How Dulcie made her way back to her obscure lodgings she scarcely -knew; but she was long and seriously ill after this startling event. - -There she felt as much at home as a creature so poor and friendless -could feel. Often she lay abed and seemed unconscious, but she was -not so. Her eyes were wide open, and their gaze wandered about; her -lips were generally dry and quivering. She was in the state which -generally comes after a severe mental shock; her mind refused to -grasp the situation. - -Until a drink was given her by Ellen, the kind little maid of all -work, she sometimes knew not how parched her throat was--how sorely -athirst she had been. - -She was afraid to be left alone after that horrible accusation. In -her nervousness she feared that she might see her double--feel a -touch, and on turning find herself face to face with her own -likeness, as that evil Lord of Fettercairn did who sold his country. - -Finella's astonishment to hear from Hammersley the story of where and -under what circumstances he had met Dulcie Carlyon was only equalled -by his own on learning that Florian, his comrade and brother-officer -in the Zulu war, and whilom private soldier in his company of the -24th, was heir to a peerage, and the cousin of his affianced wife, -Finella Melfort. - -For so it was. Lord and Lady Fettercairn had undergone so much in -the mismanagement of family matters latterly, and in years long past, -that they were now well disposed to let Finella alone, and in all -conscience they could not expect her to give to Florian (if he ever -returned) the love she had never given to the now vanished Shafto. - -'Vivian, you must find out the address of dear Dulcie,' said she. - -'If I can.' - -'You must. I shall want her as one of my bridesmaids.' - -From this we may presume that matters between these two were all in -fair training now. - -'Your wish would delight Villiers, my groomsman, who has been -sorrowing about her ever since the time of that terrible mistake.' - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -DULCIE'S VISITOR. - -On an afternoon subsequent to this episode Dulcie was lost in a -day-dream, born of her own sad thoughts, her soft blue eyes fixed -vacantly on the hideous and dingy brick edifices of the thoroughfare -in which she dwelt; and when roused therefrom by the little maid of -all work, she gazed at her with a somewhat dazed expression. - -'What is it, Ellen?' she asked. - -'A gentleman, miss, wishes to see you.' - -Alarm--dread, she knew not of what, was her first idea now. - -'Who is he?' she asked. - -'I don't know, miss.' - -'Is he old or young?' - -'Young.' - -'Then he can't be the vicar?' - -'Oh, lawk, no, miss, he ain't a bit like a clergyman,' replied the -housemaid, laughing. - -'Ask his business, Ellen.' - -She was almost relapsing into her dream again, when she was startled -by seeing a man appear beside her. - -'Dulcie?' said a voice, that made her heart thrill. - -She sprang up to find herself confronted by a gentleman, whose face, -though thin and worn, seemed deeply tanned by the sun, so that his -scorched neck was absolutely red; his dark moustache was thick and -heavy, his shoulders broad and square. - -'Dearest Dulcie, don't you know me?' said he, holding out his hands -and arms. - -'Florian--is this you--really you?' - -'I thought you would not quite forget me.' - -'Forget you!' said Dulcie, in a low and piercing voice, as she fell -upon his breast, and his loving arms went closely round her. - -'Oh, Florian, I did not know you were in England!' - -'We were landed at Plymouth three days ago. I got your address from -good old Paul Pentreath, procured leave of absence, and came on here -without a moment's delay, my own darling.' - -For some minutes neither could find words to speak, so supreme was -the mutual happiness of the sudden reunion. - -'How brown you are! but how thin, and how much older you look!' said -Dulcie, surveying him with bright but tearful eyes. 'I can scarcely -believe you to be the same Florian that left me only a year ago or -so.' - -'Ay, Dulcie, pet; but soldiering, especially soldiering in the ranks, -takes a lot out of a fellow. But I am the same Florian that left you -then, with a heavy and hopeless heart indeed.' - -'And now----' - -'Now I shall leave you no more.' - -'What dreadful places you must have been in, Florian; what dangers -you have faced; what sufferings undergone, my love!' - -'The thought of you lightened and brightened them all to me, Dulcie,' -said he, while into her bright little English face came that -wonderful and adoring smile only possible on the lips and in the eyes -of a woman who is in love, and for the object of her love. - -She told him of her simple plans and humble prospects, of her hope in -the vicar, why she had left Craigengowan, and how she came to be in -that poor and cheap lodging-room near Oxford Street. - -'We must not lose sight of each other now, my darling,' said he, as -she nestled her face on his breast. 'Let us get married at once, -love, and then it must be service in India for me. Are you ready to -face heat, it may be fever, and Heaven knows what more, Dulcie?' - -'Every peril, if with you!' - -'My brave little soldier's wife! But suppose we grow tired of each -other?' - -'You wicked wag!--why think of such a thing?' - -'Married folks do sometimes,' said he, laughing. - -'Then we should part--I would run away.' - -'As a preliminary to that we must be united, Dulcie; so when will you -be ready to marry me?' - -'Oh, Florian!' - -'You must say--we have little time to lose.' - -'I have no trousseau to get--and no money for it--we are so poor, -Florian.' - -'But rich in love--well then--when?' - -'I don't know,' was the shy, coy answer. - -'This day three weeks--I can afford even a special license, Dulcie.' - -'So be it, dear Florian.' - -'Then I shall write to good old Paul Pentreath about it, and then we -must resolutely think of turning our steps to India. We could not -afford to live at home.' - -Their little plans--little, though of vast importance to them--were -all arranged, and discussed so sweetly, so lovingly, again and again, -and at last he left her for his hotel, which was not far off, in -Oxford Street, with a promise to call for her again betimes on the -morrow; and to Dulcie it seemed as if the sun had come with a -glorious burst of radiance at last into the cloudy atmosphere of her -life; that joy had come with it; and that, sorrow and tears--save -those of happiness--had gone for ever. - -So, in three weeks the life of Dulcie Carlyon would be over; and the -life of Dulcie MacIan would begin. - -Dulcie MacIan--how odd it seemed to sound! - -And so, at the appointed time, Mr. Paul Pentreath, summoned to London -for the special occasion, tied the 'fatal knot' of the matrimonial -noose for these two young people; and Dulcie, as in a dream, heard -him ask: - -'Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together -after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony?' - -And in a clear and confident tone little Dulcie said, 'I will,' as -she loved, frankly--loved 'as a fair honest English maiden may with -her heart on her lips, and all her soul shining out of her truthful -eyes.' - -So the marriage passed quietly; there were no lawyers, dressmakers, -outfitters, and all those other folks who never keep time; no -attendants, save Dulcie's landlady, the clerk, and honest Tom -Tyrrell, whose 'time being out,' contrived to turn up about this -crisis to wish, with all the ardour of his gallant heart, his whilom -comrade and officer, with his fair young bride, 'God speed;' and -after a quiet little honeymoon at Richmond--no further off--Florian -set forth to the Horse Guards for the purpose of effecting an -exchange to a regiment in India; but a letter that came to him -altered all his views and plans. - -It was from Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw, W.S., who had seen the marriage -announced in a public print, and had written at once to Florian and -to Lord Fettercairn. - -When Abou Hassan, the merchant of Bagdad, woke up on that remarkable -morning, and he found himself in the palace of Haroun al Raschid, and -treated as the latter by all the beautiful ladies of the Court, and -the black slaves around his couch, he was scarcely more astonished -than our poor Lieutenant of Infantry, when he found himself to be the -heir of Craigengowan and Fettercairn! - -He then knew all about Shafto's villainy, yet in the gentleness of -his spirit he joined with Dulcie in saying: - -'Poor creature! God help and forgive him, as freely as I do.' - -Sooth to say, Dulcie was perhaps less astonished on finding Florian -was the true heir; she had ever thought there was some mystery in the -new position and new relationship, so suddenly assumed by the wily -Shafto, whose tissue of falsehoods had, as usual in such cases, -broken down by an unthought-of point. - -Amid the sudden splendour of his prospects, such was his simplicity -of character, that one of Florian's first thoughts was of a cosy -cottage at Craigengowan for his comrade Tom Tyrrell! - -The news spread like wildfire through all the Mearns, Angus, and -everywhere else. It proved a great godsend, and the vicinity of -Inverbervie was besieged by folks connected with the press, all eager -to glean the last authentic information from Craigengowan, and even -Grapeston, the butler, and MacCrupper, the head groom, were -interviewed and treated--the former with wine, and the latter -copiously with whisky and water--on the subject. - -To Lady Fettercairn the marriage of Florian proved, of course, a -cause of bitter mortification. - -'Another mesalliance--like father, like son!' she exclaimed; 'now -indeed we shall be associated with Freethinkers, franchise folks, -dynamiters, and all kinds of dreadful people!' she wailed out. - -The first alleged and hurriedly accepted heir had proved a ruinous -blackleg; the second and true one was Flora MacIan's son beyond all -doubt--a gallant young fellow, who had 'gone through the ranks to a -commission!' but, alas! he had married Dulcie Carlyon--the Devonshire -lawyer's daughter--her 'companion,' whom she had treated with no -small contumely at Craigengowan, where she was now to be welcomed as -a bride and the future Lady Fettercairn! - -It was all too much for the aristocratic brain of the present holder -of that rank. - -She sat in her boudoir at Craigengowan; it was small, but wonderfully -pretty; the chairs were all of ivory and gilt; the walls hung with -pale blue silk, embroidered with flowers; and she thought ruefully of -the time when--if her Lord predeceased her--she would have to quit -all that, and take up her abode at Finella Lodge, the humble -dower-house--giving place to Dulcie Carlyon. It was all too horrible -to think of! - -But the couple were coming, and already she could hear the distant -cheers of the tenantry. - -Several young ladies--among them the daughters of Mr. Kippilaw--were -seated about the room in expectation and in lounging attitudes, their -garden bonnets or riding habits showing how they had been recently -occupied. - -A distant sound--was it of carriage-wheels--made her lapdog bark. - -'Down, Snap--be quiet,' said Lady Fettercairn with more asperity than -was her wont to that plethoric and pampered cur. - -The volunteers were under arms on the lawn to salute Florian Melfort -as a hero from Zululand; and a salute to his bride was boomed forth -from an old battery of 6-pounders on the terrace; a banner was -flaunting on the old tower, above all the vanes and turrets; bells -were clashing in the distant kirk spire, and the cheers of the -Craigengowan tenantry rang up amid the ancient trees in welcome to -the heir of Fettercairn and his winsome young wife. - -Lord Fettercairn received them at the door with what grace he might; -but the hands of many others were held forth to him, among others -those of old Kenneth Kippilaw, Madelon Galbraith, the aged butler, -and Sandy MacCrupper. - -All shadows had fled away, and the bright sunshine of heaven was over -Craigengowan and in the hearts of all there. - -Even Lady Fettercairn, when she met Florian and saw how like her -youngest son and his portrait he looked, felt all that she had of a -mother's heart go forth to him as it had never done to the vanished -Shafto; while Florian, modest and gentle Florian, whose heart had -never quailed before the enemy, now felt, as he said to Dulcie, -somewhat 'dashed' on being confronted by this tall and aristocratic -grandmother amid such splendid surroundings. - -Dulcie recalled with wonder the humble position she had held at -Craigengowan, and the many fears and mortifications to which she had -been subjected by Lady Fettercairn and Shafto till the eventful -morning of her flight, and how strange it seemed to her to be able to -act as guide and cicerone over his own patrimony to Florian, and to -show him that she was quite at home in that hitherto unknown land to -him--the Howe of the Mearns! - -And in a week or two more Finella and Hammersley were coming thither -on their honeymoon trip. - - - -THE END. - - - -BILLING & SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DULCIE CARLYON, VOLUME III (OF -3) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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