IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 I.I 1.25 M 1 2.0 1.8 1.4 IIIIII.6 V] <^ /i ^;; '"a y /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 ^ iP ,\ (V \\ 4f^ ^9) V c> >> '^^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques nformit6 avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. 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Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds it des *aux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trup grand pour gtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. I ' 2 3 32X 1 t 3 ■ #• i" , 6 / AU' A Strange Message BY DORA RUSSELL AUTHOR OF "FOOTPRINTS IN THK SNOW," "BENEATH THE WAVE, ETC., ETC. Toronto : WILLIAM BRYCE, PUBLISHER. Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight 1 eighty-eight, by William Brycf. in fh* - * Agriculture u , . J . , '—.-ixicHi ui v^diiaaa, in tne year one thousand eieht A STRANGE MESSAGE. CHAPTER I. THE MESSAGE. ad eight Dister of It came neither by the post nor the telegraph wires ; it was Iting on the toilet-table of a handsome youn|^ woman when she went up to dress for dinner, before entertaining a party of her friends and neighbors, and this strange com- munication concerned one of these guests. It was an ordinary enough looking letter that Leonora Stewart lifted so carelessly and opened with indifference. She thought it was some account, and yet the envelope was thicker and the writing different to what is common on tradesmen's bills. It contained only a few lines, but as Miss Stewart read these her face first flushed deeply, and then grew extremely pale. The words that caused this emotion were very brief : " If you have any regard for your future happiness and reputation, have nothing further to do with James Bid- dulph." The girl read and re-read this message with a beating, troubled heart. " Who could have written it ? Who could dare to write it ?" she asked herself again and again. She thought of the people staying in the house — Maud and Alice Lee ; of her dead father's cousin, Mrs. Conway- Hope ; but they had scarcely seen Mr. Biddulph, certainly could know nothing of his life. Then she rang the bell sharply, and her maid appeared. " Palmer," she asked, pointing to the letter on the dress- ing-table, "did you put that letter there." "Yes, miss, I did," answered Palmer : "Alfred gave it to me, and, as you were having tea, I thought I would not disturb you, so I laid it there." " Where did Alfred get it ? Go down and ask him, please." A STRANGE MESSAGE. Miss Stewart read the disquieting words again in the absence of her maid, and when Palmer appeared siie looked eagerly round. '' Well ? " she asked. "Alfred says, miss, thai a lady rang at the hall door, and desired him to give it to you at once." "A lady? What sort of lady? Ask Alfred what the lady was like." In a short time Palmer once more returned. " He says, miss, she was quite the lady — a youngish lady." " And — did he know her by sight ? Was she one of the people about here ? " " No, miss, he says not ; she spoke like a South-Country lady." Leoncfra Stewart asked no more questions. '' Help me to dress," slie said ; " I am afraid I am late." But before she descended to the drawing-room to receive her guests, she carefully locked away the mysterious let- ter, taking care that her maid did not see where she placed it. Then (also after Palmer left the room) she went to the looking-glass, and stood for a few moments examining her own face. A handsome woman, with her white skin and dark hair and eyes, in which there was a certain nobleness of expression that betokened a lofty soul. There was, in- deed, nothing small nor mean about this young English- woman, who had but recently inherited the Scottish home in which we find hen She was the daughter and only child of the late Anthony Cust, a well-known London lawyer, and his Scotch wife, Janet Stewart ; and it was from her mother's relations that Leonora Stewart had come into possession of the small estate and large house of Rossmore, which stands on the very verge of one of the most beautiful lochs in the Western Highlands. But there was a condition attached to this bequest, which came from her late mother's brother — the last owner of Rossmore — Leonora was to become a Stewart also if she inherited the old laird's scanty acres, and the girl was quite ready to do this. She knew well the beau- tiful and romantic home that was to become hers ; for each year, when the yellow corn vas ripening on the braes, Mrs. Cust had taken her only child to visit the old house, where she herself had been born. And these visits had filled Leonora's young heart with an almost passionate f lin in the ihe looked liiiil dour, what the youngish one of the i-Country '. am late." to receive 3rious let- vhere she 3nt to the nining her skin and nobleness re was, in- g English- tish home and only n London nd it was 3wart had e house of )ne of the 5 bequest, — the last a Stewart :s, and the the beau- hers ; for the braes. Did house, visits had passionate I i /f ^^TRANCI: MESSAGE. s i f love for tlie bhie lochs and wild mountains of her mother's land. Thus she became Miss Stewart of Rossmore when she was a girl of about twenty-two, and Mr. Cust had also left her a moderate fortune. She was not rich, but still very far from poor, iler father's cousin, Mrs. Conway-IIope, a widow of small means, had proposed to live with her when she came into tlie Scotcli property, but Leonora had declined. " I shall always be pleased to see you, to stay with me. Cousin Margaret," she liad answered with a smile, "but as a visitor." " But the world, Nora ;" said Mrs. Conway-Hope, with mucli gravity, for she was disappointed at not securing a permanent home. " wSo I do consider it." " Then, are you not too young, dear, not to have a cha- peron constantly living under your roof.?" . *' I shall always have friends with me." "Yes; but mere friends are not to be depended on, Nora. I never knew, until poor Conway left me, how sad and dreary it is to have no one to love and cling to. We could be so happy together, I am sure." Nevertheless, Leonora did not accept her relation's pro posal ; but Mrs. Conway-Hope was a frequent visitor both at Rossmore and Leonora's small house in town. And she was staying at Rossmore when Miss Stewart received the strange message that had so greatly disturbed her. But Leonora did not make a confidante of her father's cousin on the subject. And as she entered her drawing-room to receive her ex- pected guests, she found Mrs. Conway-Hope already seated there. A gaunt, gray woman this, with a tall shapeless form, and a manner that jarred on your nerves somehow like a discordant sound. *' Well, dear," she said, rising as Leonora appeared, and looking at her scrutinizingly with her short-sighted eyes, " and are you ready ? So you've got on your new red plush. Well, it's a handsome material, but I am afraid tlie color does not quite become you. It makes you look so pale." " I am sorry you don't like it, Cousin Margaret," answered Leonora, feeling as we all do when we are told that we are not looking well. A STR^I/VCK MESSAGE. • " I like the dresa^ dear, but I don't think it suits you. No, Nora, it docs not," she added, with decision. '*■ ,.; Nora felt annoyed. She had particularly wished to look well this evening, and, in truth, the deep rich hue of her gown became admirably her fair skin and dark liair. But when wc arc told a thing as a fact, our minds naturally veer toward believing that there must be something in it ; and therefore Mrs. Conway-llope, having succeeded in making Nora regard her new plush with disfavor, resumed her seat, feeling that she had made the kindest possible remarks to lier young relation. But this lady had a natural aptitude to be disagreeable, and probably could not help it, for she esteemed herself one of the saints of earth. She also esteemed herself a master, or rather a mistress, of the art of conversation ; and as Nora Stewart's guests began to assemble, she placed herself near first one shrinking man and then the other, and at last succeeded in driving the good-tempered, jovial- faced clergyman of the parish into a convenient corner, where she firmly kept him until dinner was announced. Nora's party consisted almost entirely of young people. Two pretty English girls — Maud and Alice Lee — were staying in the house, and were in love for the time being with everything Scotch, including young Malcolm Fraser, one of Nora Stewart's neighbors. This young Highlander, and his pretty sister Minnie Fraser, were among the first to arrive. "And where are Mr. and Mrs. Fraser ?" asked Nora. "My mother sent her love," answered Minnie, whose hair was of such pale gold color as to look almost white, '* and she could not leave my father to-night ; his rheuma- tism is so bad." " What poor women have to come to, you see," said Maud Lee coquettishly to young Fraser, after hearing this explanation. As the young girl said this, "Mr. Biddulph," was an- nounced, and a tall, grave-faced, distinguished-looking man walked rather slowly into the room; and as he did so, a brighter light stole into Nora Stewart's dark eyes, and a flush came on her fair cheeks, which had been so pale before. " I am afraid I am late," said Mr. Biddulph, courteously, as he shook hands with his young hostess ; " but the loch is so rough to-night we had to tack a bit before we could cross," St A an WJ kil sal m I I l,.„^ I syoti. No, led to look »ue of her Hair. But 1 rally veer in it ; and in making i her scat, 2marks to grecable, d lierself d herself ersation ; fie placed le other, 'd, jovial- t corner, unced. r people. ■ c — were le being I Fraser, blander, the first I^ora. whose : white, heuma- J," said ingthis vas an- ng man I so, a and a o pale Jously, e loch could 4 "I saw it was rough before it got dark," answered Miss Stewart. " It's very intallizing, isn't it ? I can see Rossmore so plainly from my place, and yet I have been more than half an hour in getting here to-night ;" and he; looked at his watch. " Yoti are my nearest neighbor, as the crow flies, you know." " I wish I were a crow, then ; no, I don't think I do — the sable-winged bird has so many bad qualities." *'C)h, the poor crows ! " laughed Leonora. "They are a noisy, quarrelsome set; bad neighbors to my mind — bad to eat — and bad for the wheat." " 1 must confess I like to hear them caw, and see them veering about in their mysterious fashion among the old trees." " That is because you are young and romantic," said Mr. Biddulph, smiling, and looking admiringly at Leonora's face with his gray eyes, in which there was much thought and some sadness. "And do you still like your wild eyrie up here ?" he added. "I love Rossmore — I have always loved it. I used to come here, you know, when I was a little child, with my mother. I remember Colonel Biddulph so well, though we seldom saw him." "I scarcely knew my uncle ; but he was a grim old man." ** He was rather a misanthrope, was he not ? Yet he must have been very kind to think of me as he did." " He hated the world and its crooked ways, or the world hated him. We are apt to become sour when we are dis- appointed, don't you think ?" "I have not been disappointed yet." ** No ; it's a bitter draught — bitterest of all to be disap- pointed in one's self." Leonard looked up with interest in Mr. Biddulph's face, but his eyes were cast down. " I intended you,*' said Leonora, a moment later, with that soft blush of hers which made her so lovely, " to take my cousin, after the Scotch fashion — Mrs. Fraser, of Aird- linn — in to dinner this evening ; but only the young people are here. Therefore " " May I take my neighbor and hostess ? " "If you like." ' " I more than like. Being the oldest man in the room, except the parson, I have been indulging in certain gruo- 8 /f s7h\'iAa/-: AfZ-sstc/'.. some visions of liavinc: to csr ort tlic lady in hiark — I for- get her name — whom I liad tiic honor t)f sitting next to tlio last time I dineil here." "You mean my father's cousin, Mrs. Conway-riopc," laughed Leonora. "Well, I fully enter into your feelings. Just before you came, she tinew a whole bucket of cold water over my self-conceit ; she told »ne my new gown tlid not become me." " It would be presumption, 1 suppose, to say what I think of the new crown ?" " Indeed, no ; my rulTled vanity wants a little binocjtliing down." But the implied compliment was never paid. Dinner was announced, and Leonora was forced to think of her guests. The Rev. Andrew Macdonakl was carried off in triumph by Mrs. Conway-Hope, and Malcolm Fraser was obliged to offer his arm, with a somewhat lowering brow, to one of the pretty P^nglish girls. But there was sup- pressed wrath in the young Highlander's blue eyes, and anger and jealousy in his heart, when he saw Nora Stewart (as the Fraser family always called her) select Mr. Bid- dulph to take her in to dinner. \\\ point of etiquette, Leonora was quite right, for Mr. Hiddulph was the greatest stranger present ; but this did not make the matter any better to the young man, who was certainly in love. Leonora was a good hostess, for a bright, clever woman ever is one. Still, the unhappy Rev. Andrew Macdonald did not enjoy his dinner. He was taken to task during the soup on various occult and theoretical subjects, on which it must be admitted the poor Scotch minister was not con- versant ; his tormentor, for that matter, being nearly equally at sea. But Mrs. Conway-Hope was one of those women who make a few terms try to pass for knowledge, and the Rev. Andrew had not presence of mind to perceive this. His rosy face grew hot, his stalwart form shrsi : visibly away from the searching eyes fixed on him, and the continuous questions poured upon his unwilling ears. "Poor fellow!" said Mr. Biddulph in a low tone to Leonora, looking with sincere pity at the distressed clergy- man ; " I really must try to help him. Mrs. Conway- Hope," he said, raising his voice and addressing that lady, who turned swiftly round, "what do you think of the last new materialist idea ? " The conversation that followed was satisfactory to them both. Mrs. Conway-Hope rushed delightedly into the i 4 i I Ml ■I n A ST/^.i.\'cr. MrssAC/:, ck— I for- ncxt tu the ay- Hope," ir feelings. Jt of cold ■gown did y what I 'ino(jtIiing Dinner ik of her icd off in raser was ing brow, was sup- 3yes, and a Stewart Mr. Bid- etiquette, ; greatest liter any /e. r woman Eicdonald iring the )n which not con- ^ nearly of those )wledge, perceive shr in ■: and the ars. tone to clergy- 'onway- at lady, the last o them nto the fray, and Mr. Hidchiiph had the ploasur-c of eKp-^sing her ignorani «' without licr perceiving it, and pcihap-^ aho of airing hisuwn opinicjns ; antl thi? relief to Llie Scou h iiiiii isler, ; ^'-t, was gicai. Hut it was griMt-M Mill \\iirii t!ic ladies i"o>i to leave the tabk' ; then liic Uev. Macouiiail actually biealhed a sigh. "What an extraordinary woman!" lie said pensively to Mr. Hiddulph, to whom he felt very gratefid. "Truly awful," replied Mr. liiddidph, with a l.uigh. In the meanwhile Mrs. Conway-llope w;.:; giving her opinion of the two gentlemen in the tlrawing-room. "There is nothing in that poor Scotch clergyman," she said ; "but Mr. Bid(lulph is a clever man." The " clever man," however, avoided the snare she laid to entrap him again into conversation when he returned to the drawing-room. The mcx^n had risen, and was shin- ing on the gray towers of Rossmore, and on the thisky steps below. "Come out on the terrace, Miss Stewart," he said, a[)- proaching Leonora, and feeling sure that in October Mrs. Conway-Hopc must have rheumatism in some part of her angular form. " You lov the moonlight, I am quite sure." "And how are you sure ?" asked Leonora, smiling. " By certain signs and tokens ; by that wondrous sym- pathy which makes some natures open to us, while others are a blank, dull page." Tliey went out together, and stood there in the silvered darkness of the night. At first both were almost silent. The great stillness around, the weird white shadows where the moonbeams crept through the tall dark lirs, the thoughts in their own hearts, perhaps, made their lips grow dumb. Leonora was thinking, ''Shall 1 tell him, tell him he has an enemy close at hand trying to do him harm." And Mr. Biddulph was thinki'ig, "This is the sweetest woman. If I were but free ! " And he gave an impatient sigh. Leonora heard that sigh, and glanced up at her com- panion's pale, grave face, on which at this moment a glint- ing moonbeam shone. But the other young pec^ple had now followed the example of their hostess, and appeared on the terrace. Malcolm Fraser was hiding his ini>i:;d feelings by an animated conversation with Miss Maud Lee ; the Rev. Andrew Macdonald, in his mild way, wasdevoii.ig himself to the younger sister ; and Mrs. Conway- Hope, M A STRANGE MESSAGE. mentally thinking how very ill-bred it was of Nora to leave her alone, had talcen refuge in a novel. And wliile her guests are tlius smiusing themselves, we may as well learn something more of this James Biddulph, whom Leonora Stewart had just been so mysteriously warned not to put her trust in. Across the broad blue waters of the loch, which lap round three sides of the jutting headland on which stands the house of Rossmorc, a gray substantial stone mansion is to be seen, which some twenty-five years ago was built by a certain Colonel Biddulph, an Englishman, who lived and died there. A gloomy, disappointed man this, who, it was said, chose this lonely but lovely spot to end his days in, far away from the friends of his youtli and manhood. And he sought no new ones. He buried himself here alone, with his books, and perhaps vague dreams and theories, which sat- isfied his peculiar mind better tlian t!ie passing pleasures of the world. A man must liave somctliing to hope and live for, and maybe this i.^riin old hermit liad fixed his hopes on a higher standard tlian tlujse with whom he used to live. At all events he sought no fellowship with his kind, and an accident only introduced him to his neighbor, Mr. Stewart of Rossmorc. It was in the bitter winter weather, and the loch was rough and dangerous, but this did nut deter Colonel Bid- dulph from crossing the water whenever it suited his con- venience to do so. And one dark December afternoon, as he was returning to Duubaan — s(3 his property was named — a squall struck his light boat, and the old man and his boatman were in imminent danger of their lives as they struggled in the rough and iey surge. The accident was seen from the windows of Rossmore, and the gallant laird lost no time in hurrying to the assist- ance of his ungenial neighbor, 'lisking his own life by doing so, Stewart had a bo.it launched, and, with one of his keepers, put off to endeavor to save the almost ex- hausted men in the water ; and it was only after desperate efforts they were able lo do this, and Colonel Biddulph was carried into the house (if Rossmore in an entirely un- conscious condition. When he recovered, his cold stoicism melted before the natural gratitude of his heart, and from that day Stewart of Rossmore was a welcome y^uest under his roof. And occasionally, also, he would cross the loch, and talk to the A STRANGE MESSAGE. II )ra to leave selves, we Biddulph, yrsteriously which lap ich stands e mansion was built who lived said, chose , far away I he sought :, with his which sat- ^ pleasures hope and d his hopes he used to h his kind, neighbor, loch was lonel Bid- d his con- ernoon, as was named in and his ves as they Rossmore, J the assist- vn life by vith one of almost ex- r desperate Biddulph ntirely un- before the ay Stewart oof. And talk to the laird in that hard, stern fashion of his, in which he ever put the worst coloring on the motives of his fellow-men. Thus Leonora had seen Colonel Biddulph, and tlie colonel knew it was his friend's intention to leave his ancestral acres to his sister's child. , As vears wore oa Mr. Stewart died, and Leonora came into possession of Rossmore ; and a year later, far away from kith and kin, the stern old man who lived at Dunbaan also passed away from a world in which some blight had evidently fallen on the years of his earlier manhood. After he was gone, every one who had lived around him wondered who would be his successor. His elder brothe*', General Biddulph, was dead also, and had left a widow but no children. There was, however, a third Biddulph, a lawyer, and a shrewd man, who had amassed a consider- able fortune, and who lived stilly and was naturally sup- posed to be his brother's heir. But he was not. Dunbaan and a large sum of money were left to the son of this lawyer, James Biddulph, a bar- rister, and a man of some thirty years ; and after a little while, about two months before Leonora Stewart received a strange message about her neighbor, the nevy owner had come to stay at Dunbaan. He made Leonora's acquaintance by bringing over to Rossmore a bequest which his uncle had left to the niece of his old friend. This bequest consisted of a valuable diamond necklace. The colonel had never been married, and Leonora's neighbors wondered where the old man had picked up this splendid heirloom, which he now had left to a stranger, pi*obably out of gratitude to the laird. Be this as it may, the old man's gift drew the two young people into a sudden intimacy. This was but natural. It was a bond between them, and between them also was a strong mutual attraction. Nevertheless, when James Biddulph descended the steep road which led from Leonora's house, after her party was oyer, and her guests had begun to separate, on his way tc the boat, which had to convey him across the loch, tliere was a frown upon his brow, and an angry, dissatisfied feel- ins: in his heart. " When a man," he was thinking, impatiently cutting at a tall bracken with his walking-stick, " has hung a rope round his neck, he may as well hang himself." There was a silver track upon the waters of the loch, and the whole scene was one of grand and serene beauty, 12 A STRANGE MESSAGE. but James Biddulph scarcely noticed this. He was think- ing of the fair woman he had left behind, and of the light in iier dark eyes as lie had clasped her hand in parting. " But it cannot be, I suppose," he muttered gloomily; and in no happy mood he at length rcacluu. the gray old mansion, standing amid the dark trees, that his uncle had left him. As he parsed up the avenue there glided from behind one of these trees the figure of a woman, whose face was thickly veiled. This womf*n had watched his boat cross the silver moon-track on the loch ; had watched and waited long hours to see him pass, and now slowly followed him unseen. be du St I t f Y ■A CHAPTER H. MRS. JOCK FRASER. Mr. Biddulph was Leonora Stewart's nearest neighbor at Rossmore ; but from the lofty headland where she lived she also could plainly see the Erasers' house at Airdlinn, which was situated on the same side of the loch as Dun- baan, though a considerable distance lay between them. On the morning after her "your.g people" had dined with Leonora, about eleven o'clock, Mrs. Fraser of Aird- linn, entered the breakfast-room of her house, dressed for walking. A tall woman, with rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes, and a full form, and a stalwart step. She was dressed in homespun, and wore a black hat, and carried a stout stick, and looked strong alike in body and in mind. Her husband, Jock Fraser of Airdlinn, as he was com- monly tailed, was crouching over the fire, unhappy man ! with a black woollen comforter wrapped lound his head, and a racking pain in his swollen, stiffened jaws. "Jock, I am going out," began Mrs. Jock, approaching him. ** I must see about getting that poor helpless woman's pigs sold, and I mean to go round and ask all t)ie neighbors to take one." "Well, my dear," answered Jock meekly, lifting his brown and usually humorous eyes to his wife's good-look- ing face. His expression at this moment, however, was anything but humorous ; there was endurance in it, and nothing more. ;nt,<'. A STRANGE MESSAGE. n e was think- of the liglit u parting!" d gloomily ; he gray old is uncle had rom behind 3se face was boat cross i and waited >llovved him (tinned Mrs. Jock, "that thei Id 3t neighbor re she lived It Airdlinn, >ch as Dun- sen them. had dined 3r of Aird- dressed for bright blue I'as dressed led a stout ind. was com- ippy man ! :l his head, • proaching r lielpless ask all the lifting his ^ood-look- vever, was in it, and "And I think," contuuiea ivirs. jocK, "tnat tnere wou be no possible ham in my calling on that young Bid- dulph ? The yoimg people met him last night at Nora Stewart's, and Minnie tells me he is a fine-looking man. I think I shall call. What do you say, Jock ? " Jock, who was past jealousy, and all other feelii gs of h'lmanity but his toothache, assented with a groan. " Then I shall cross the loch and go on to Nora Stewart's, and from Rossmore to your brother Alick's." "That will do no good," groaned Jock. "Well, I shall try." " You may try ; " and for the first time a grim smile stole round Mr. Fraser's lips, which, however, was instantly sup- pressed by a sliarp pang of agony. " Poor old man ! " said Mrs. Fraser, commiseratingly, and affectionately patting her husband's broad shoulders. "I am afraid the pain is very bad." Jock found no words to reply ; and Mrs. Fraser, having seen after his comforts (though, indeed, he found none), and after doing everything she could for him — for she was a good wife — strode away on her errand of mercy, and the unhappy Jock was left by his fireside. And now let us follow Mrs. Jock, trudging along with steady, equal steps through a drizzling mist on her way to her new neig' bor's at Dunbaan. The path was rough, and the air so ihick with moisture that on each blade and leaf hung a trembling drop of dew, and before, around lier, and behind her, all was shadow-land. The mist wrapped everything as in a garment, but Mrs. Jock, noth- ing dismayed, walked on by the loch-side, and guided herself with unerring footsteps, until she arrived at the gray mansion (which she could not now distinctly see), where old Colonel Biddulph had dwelt so long. She found her way up the avenue, through the dripping trees, and rang at the house-door bell, and asked if Mr. Biddulph were at home. The gray-haired old man-servant, who had lived with the colonel, answered that he was. " Can I see him ?" said Mrs. Jock, producing her card- case. " Perhaps, madam, you would walk this way," said the old servant ; " I will tell Mr. Biddulph you have called." He ushered Mrs. Fraser into the unused drawing-room of the houcsc. Here was a room where a lady's footstep had never fallen before ! A stiff, uncomfortable room, 14 A STRANGE MESSAGE. f without grace or pleasantness ; a room without a fire, or a flower, or a little table. Had the grim old man, who had furnished it to his taste, no memories left of the time when he must have played by his mother's knee ? Or of I' 1 the days when, perhaps, he had sighed in vam at some fairer shrine ? Seemingly none. Not the ghost of a woman's touch was here — not the shadow of a *' vanished hand." As Mrs. Fraser looked round somewhat disconsolately, the door opened, and a tall, good-looking man entered the room. " I am so sorry, Mrs. Fraser," he said courteously, " that Donald has shown vou into this miserable room. Will you come into my den, where at least I have a good fire ? " "Have I the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Biddulph?" asked Mrs. Jock, favorably regarding her new neighbor. "I am Mr. Biddulph," he answered, with a pleasant smile, leading the way as he spoke to the library, where he had been sitting. This was a very comfortable room ; the walls lined with books of every description, from grave to gay ; the curtains thick, heavy, and red ; the furniture massive, and a Turkey carpet on the floor. " I am afraid the smell of smoke will annoy .you," said Mr. Biddulph, as he placed a chair for his visitor. **Not in the least," answered Mrs. Jock; *'a woman who has a husband and son is used to the smell of smoke ; and speaking of my husband, Mr. Biddulph, reminds me to apologize to you that he has not called on you yet, but he is sufferino terriblv from toothache." ** I am extremely sorry." *' Well, the truth is, he should have two out ; but you know what men are !" Mrs. Jock said the last few words without the least semblance of coquetry, and Mr. Biddulph quickly per- ceived this. " You mean," he said, smiling, " that we are an ob stinate, bad-to-manage race ; and I believe you are right. Mrs. Jock smiled also, but srill without coquetry. " I have come to beg," she said, somewhat abruptly. Mr. Biddulph's face did not lengthen. " The truth is," she went on, '* that a poor man about our place fell from the hayloft last week, and broke his neck, 'and he has left a widow and four small children behind i> ":§: t \. ' /t STRANGE MESSAGE. '5 rails lined 3 gay ; the massive, loy .you," visitor. a woman of smoke ; minds me u yet, but but you the least ckly per- e an ob- re right." rv. iptly. ibout our his neck, n behind him, and nothing of any value except five little pigs, and I'm going to try to sell them among the neighbors, so as to raise a small sum for the widow." ** It's very kind of you, Mrs. Fraser." " I want a pound a-piece for them ; will you take one ?** " I shall be charmed to become the possessor of a little pig," answered Mr. Biddulph, smiling again : " but please allow the value of my pig to be two pounds." " You are very good, but I won't refuse. This will help me on a good bit," added Mrs. Jock, as she placed Mr. Bid- dulph's two sovereigns in her substantial leather bag. ** I am going next to Nora Stewart's ; you dined there last night, didn't you ? My young people told me they had met you." "Yes, I noticed your daughter and son." " Nora Stewart is a fine girl, is she not ? Her mother and my husband were half-cousins, so I look upon her as a child of my own. Do you think her handsome ?" " I think there can be only one opinion about Miss Stew- art's looks." *' Yes, her mother was handsome, too. She has got an awful old woman staying with her, and two English girls, and I shall be obliged to ask them to dinner soon. Will you come to meet them, Mr. Biddulph ?" " I shall be delighted." " No time like the present, then ; let us fix a day. Can you come next Tuesday, at half-past seven sharp ? " " It is very kind of you to ask me, and I shall be very pleased." "That is settled, then ; and now I think I must go." " But how are you going to cross the loch ? " " There will be a boat at the little pier below your house, I expect." ' " Take my boat, and allow me to escort you to the pier." And Mrs. Jock did not refuse this offer, and, as Mr. Bid- dulph walked by her side, she returned to the subject of her pigs. "I will send one of the men over with yours this even- ing," she said ; " and I shall see you have the best one." Biddulph laughed. ** Oh, don't mind the pig," he said ; " let the four small children eat it," "That is nonsense," answered Mrs. Jock, gravely ; "you have paid for it, and you shall have it — and the best, too." Again Biddulph laughed. This lady, so straightforward, iili t6 A Sr RANGE MESSAGE. SO robust, greatly amused him, and he looked with a cer- tain amount of admiration at h^^ fresh face and clear blue eyes, and at the fair hair touched with gray, on which the mist had left tinyvdrops of moisture without destroying the strong natural ripple. He offered to escort her across the loch, but Mrs. Jock declined ; but just as the boat was about to put off, he placed something in her hand. "That was a very sad story, you know," he said, "about the poor fellow breaking his neck. Will you give this to the widow, without saying who sent it? " And when Mrs. Jock looked at her hand, she found it contained a five- pound note. " This is too much," she said. *^ Indeed, no. Good-by. I shall see you on Tuesday ; good-by again until then." He assisted her into the boat, and helped to push it off, and then took off his cap and stood bareheaded for a mo- ment, and Mrs. Jock, with a sigh, admitted to herself that she had never seen a handsomer man. " My poor boy won't have much chance, I am afraid, if he goes in for Nora Stewart," thought the fond mother, *' though Malcolm is a handsome lad." Meanwhile Mr. Biddulph had turned away from the little pier, and walked slowly home through the mist, thinking of Nora Stewart as he went. As he passed up the avenue something white caught his eye on the trunk of one of the trees, and Mr. Biddulph frowned when he saw it was some name or words freshly cut in the bark. He thought some of the servants or some passer-by had done this, and he went out of his way a few steps more closely to examine the injury done to his tree. When he was quite near to it, he stood as if transfixed, and his face grew deadly pale. There, staring at him on the freshly cut bark, was a: name he hated to think of, still more to see — a name that no one knew here ; that he had tried to forget, and tried in vain. "Natalie, commonly Natt." -..'ii These words stood out distinct and clear. Mr. Biddulph rubbed his eyes ; then felt the letters with his trembling hands. But there was no mistake. Some one must have A STRANGE MESSAGE. «7 done this, he told himself with parched, pale lips — some one who knew the secret of his life. put off, he CHAPTER III. ALICK FRASER. Mrs. Jock Fraser, having crossed the misty loch in safety, arrived at Rossmore, and was warmly welcomed by Leo- nora, who liked this stalwart, sterling dame. " And .vhere do you think I have been, my dear ? " asked Mrs. Jock, after she had kissed Leonora on both cheeks, shaken hands in a somewhat cool fashion witli Mrs. Con- way-Hope, and nodded to the two young girls, whom she had interrupted practising a duct at the piano. ^ " Indeed, I can never tell where you have been," smiled Leonora. " I have been calling on your neighbor, Mr. Biddulph ;" and Mrs. Jock was quite quick enough to note the deep blush that spread over Leonora's face at the unexpected mention of Mr. Biddulph's name. "And did you see him ?" she asked, a little nervously. " I saw him, and I goc him to buy a pig, and I have in- vited him to dinner next Tuesday." "A whole host of business, then." " And, moreover, I like him," continued Mrs. Jock ; " he is good-looking and gentlemanly. I wonder if any one knows anything about him before he came here ?" "I think," said Mrs. Conway-Hope, who hated to be left long out of a conversation, and had not forgiven Mr. Bid- dulph, nor Nora either, for preferring the moonlight to her society, " that Mr. Biddulph looks like a man who has a past." "We all have a past, Mrs. Conway-Hope," replied Mrs. Jock, " only a good deal depends on how we have spent it." "Yes, indeed ! " And Mrs. Conway-Hope looked down and sighed, thinking with satisfaction of the exemplary nature of her own life. " However, there he is, as we find him," continued Mrs. Jock, in her downright way, "a pleasant, good-looking man — an addition to the neighborhood ; and I want all you good people to come and meet him at dinner next Tuesday. What do you say, Nora, my dear ? " A STRANGE MESSAGE. i % t \ .■» ■! - 4 " I shall be very pleased, for one," answered Nora. "And you, Mrs. Convvay-Hope ?" ** I have just one question to ask," answered that lady, with a curious little snorting sound, which she deemed a laugh : "how are we to get there ?" " By boat, to be sure !" said Nora. " It will be dark. Nora, my dear, I am sure Mrs. Fraser will not think it rude of me to advise you, but I do advise you Jiot to go." " I am sorry I can't take your advice," answered Nora, with a smile. " I mean to go." "Then you will leave one of your guests at home," said Mrs. Conway-Hope, sinking back in her chair ; " but it is no matter." "If you young people come, it will be all right," said Mrs. Jock unfeelingly. "And now, Nora, my dear, will you buy one of my pigs ? " Then Mrs. Jock repeated the sad story she had told Mr. Biddulph, and Leonora listened with quick sympathy. "Oh, how dreadful, Mrs. Fraser!" she said. "Of course I will buy one of them ; but what else can I do for the poor woman ? " " We must think of that afterward, my dear ; at pre- sent I want just a nice little sum to help the poor crea- ture in the first brunt of her trouble. I am going to Alick Fraser's after I leave you, though Jock does not believe I shall screw a sixpence out of him ; but I mean to try." Leonora laughed. " You must have lunch first, at any rate," she said ; and Mrs. Jock was nothing loth, for the mountain air had whetted her appetite. But she was soon ready to start again on her travels, and, after an affectionate parting with Leonora, and a friendly one with her young half-cousin's three guests, Mrs. Jock left Rossmore, having, however, wounded Mrs. Conway-Hope's susceptible vanity by not a,sking her again to dine at Airdinn on the following Tuesday, though Mrs. Conway-Hope had already declined to do so. " She is very nice, isn't she ? " said Leonora, as she re- entered the room, after seeing Mrs. Jock safely away from the hail door. "Yes, she is nice," answered Mrs. Conway-Hope, her tone contradicting her words ; " but don't you think she is rather loud, my dear ? " " Loud ? Not in the least ; she is a good, warm-hearted, ■'^t M A STRANGE MESSAGE. '9 motherly woman. How can she be called loud ? " replied Leonora indignantly. " She struck me as being so, but I may be mistaken." " I really think you are mistaken," said Leonora ; and Mrs. Conway-Hope gave a little pensive movement of licr head. She was thinking what a pity it was that dear Nora's temper was so quick. A moment later Leonora left the room, and went up- stairs to her own bedroom, and stood looking out over the misty loch. She was thinking of what Mrs. Jock Fiaser had told her of Mr. Biddulph ; for Mrs. Jock had half-whis- pered to her, as they left tlie dining-room together, of Mr. Biddulph's generous gift to the poor bereaved woman at Airdlinn. And she vis thinking, too, of that conversation relating to his past life, wondering about the mysterious warning that yesternight had reached her hand. What could it mean ? Again Leonora read and re-read the strange message that had come to disturb the dawning days of a new sweet hope. And suddenly a blush, a tide of color, dyed the fair and clear skin of Leonora's face. She had tiiought last night, wiien they had stood together in the moonlight, of telling Mr. Biddulph of this secret enemy tliat had been so swift to stab his reputation in the dark. But now, looking again at these mysterious words, she remembered that she could never do this, for they im- plied what did not really exist, except in the deep hidden feelings of her own heart. Therefore she was tongue-tied ; she must meet Mr. Bid- dulph as though this thing had not been ; she had best try to forget it. But Leonora knew this was all but impossi- ble. Still she must try, and having decided to do this, she presently rejoined her guests, though her mind wandered away again and again to the new owner of Dunbaan, who was at this moment in a terrible state of mind, in which perplexity, rage, and bitter anger at his own conduct by turns held sway. For James Biddulph knew well as he read those freshly carved letters on the tree, that the mad folly of his youth must be known to the hand that cut the bark. And lie had hoped to escape the consequences of this folly ; to hide himself away in tliis lonely Highland home, where every- tliing was new to him. But here was that hateful name, the old familiar, long-hated name — ** Natalie, co7nmonly Natt'' — again before him, with its grim significance, its shameful memories and disgrace ! ).; I I III I' M 90 A STh'ANCE MESSAGE. And as he looked at it, a sudden passion, an uncontrol- lable fury, as it were, seized on this ordinarily cahii, col- lected n)an. Snatching his penknife from iiis coat pocket, he began hastily, with muttered curses on his writhing lips, to destroy the letters, to render tlie name illegible ; and long after he had done this he hacke(f and cut at the tree, as though physical labor were some relief to his per- turb jd and angry heart. . In the meanwhile Mrs. Jock was arriving at the house of her brother-in-law, Mr. Alick Fraser, who was the rich man of the family, and as such was naturally regarded with consideration. When old Mr. Fraser of Airdlinn died, he left two sons, Jock and Alexander ; Jock, the elder son, iniieriting the family estate, and Alexander a modest portion of two thousand pounds. But during the thirty-three years which had elapsed since their father's death, a great change had taken place in the fortunes of the two brothers. Jock, the laird, had shot on the hills and fished in the streams ; had married, and his children had grown up around him, but he had got poorer every year. But Alexander, the younger son, had carried his two thousand pounds to Glasgow, had become a shipbuilder there, and gradually had amassed a large fortune, and now, finally, had become a laird, too ; at least, he had bought an estate on the opposite side of the loch to Airdlinn, and had .built himself a bran-new house there, double and more the size of the gray old roof under which he had been born. He was walking up and down on the terrace of his new house, smoking and mentally calculating the profits of his last investment, when his sister-in-law, Mrs. Jock, appeared through the mist. " Ah, Jeanie, is that you ?" said Alick Fraser, in a loud cheery voice, going forward to meet her. "And how is Jock ? And where have you sprung from this misty morn- inir ■>»» " I've been wandering over hill and dale, on business bent," answered Mrs. Jock, with her ready laugh. " And what's up ? What have you been about ?" "Let me go into the house, and I will tell you ;" and Alick Fraser led the way into his well-furnished house, where everything was new and everything was good. And the master of the house was good to look on also. A tall, stalwart, clear-skinned man of some fifty-three A STRANG B. MESSAGE, •I n uncontrol- \y calm, col- coat pocket, lis writhing le illegible ; d cut at the '• to his per- : the house as the rich y legarded ft two sons, eriting the ion of two ears which hange had Jock, the eanis ; had d him, but c younger isgow, had amassed a laird, too ; te side of bran-new y old roof f his new 'fits of his appeared in a loud id Iiowis ty morn- bu > >» smess 1 " and \ house, :)d. on also, ty-three years was Alick Fraser, with a shrewd, well-featured face, and hiim(jrous dark eves, like his brother Jock's. But there was this difference in the expression of their eyes : in Jock's the liumor was kindly, in Alick's it was hard. All the sanie, Alick was the best-looking of the two, and had also a cheery maimer, a long head, and a close hand. "I've just come from Nora Stewart's," said Mrs. Jock, as she seated herself in one of Alick's comfortable arm- chairs. '• Ah, fine girl that — very fine girl ! " •* And as good as she's bonny, I believe. She, and two young girls that are staying with her, and our new neigh- bor, young Biddulph, are going to dine with us next Tues- day, Alick," continued Mrs. Jock, diplomatically. "Will you come too ? " " Next Tuesday ? Don't know anythi-^^ to prevent me. So you've made young Biddulph's acquaintance, then ? " "Yes; I called on him this morning — called on him about a little busine^'s. Malcolm and Minnie met him last night at Nora Stewart's, and he's a gentlemanly man — yes, ccrtainlv a gentlemanly man." "That's all right, then." *• I went to see him because we've had a sad business at Airdlinn, Alick," said Mrs. Jock, cautiously approaching the real object of her visit. " Jock would have been to see y(ju about it before, but he's laid up with a frightful toothache." "Should have 'em out." ''That's what I tell him, but I can't persuade him to ^o through tiic wrench. But to go back to what I was say- ing. Poor Nichols — you remember the red-haired stable- man? — fell from the hay-loft last Wednesday morning and broke his neck. He was killed on the spot, poor fellow, and he's left a widow and four small children, and nothing worth speaking of besides except a litter of five little pigs." There was no pity in Alick's eyes. "They must eat the pigs," he said, with his hard smile. " That would not feed them long. No, Alick ; I am try- ing to sell these pigs to the neighbors round. I have sold one to young Biddulph, one to Nora Stewart, and now I have come to you." " It's a pity you gave yourself the trouble, Jeanie ; I've a splendid litter of pigs — black pigs." " Yes ; but then this is for charity, Alick. I want a «a A STKANGE MESSAGE. Ill I it 1*1 pound a-piece for them, to make up a little sum for the poor widow. Young Biddulph gave mc two pounds for his." " A fool and his money arc soon parted, my dear." *' Ah, but, Alick, do buy one," pleaded Mrs. Jock, quite earnestly. She wanted the money for one thing, and she wanted the triumph for another ; for Jock had told lier she would fail. But Alick only laughed, and shook his head. '•It's no good, Jcanie," he said; ** I never throw away money, and I won't to please you or anyone else. And this is throwing it aw.ay. Suppose you collect a few pounds, it won't keep the woman and her cliildren. They must go to the place the law provides for them, and which we ;dl help to support ; and the sooner they go the better for thetu and you." Mis. Jock did not speak. She was a kind-hearted wt)man, and she felt her anger rise hot within her ; but she was prudent withal. Alick Phaser had much in his power. He was unmarried, and she had children, and for their sakcs she suppressed her wrath. *' Then you won't give anything?" she said. " Not a sixpence, my dear," answered Alick, cheerfully. " At all events, you'll come to dine on Tuesday ?" " Yes, if you'll promise not to name your interesting litter of pigs," said Alick, with a laugh. "There's a good woman, don't le: us hear anything more of them." "Very well," said Mrs. Jock ; and she rose with a smile, and held out her hand to her brother-in-law. " I won't come begging any more to you, Alick." "Not if you are wise," he said, with some significance ; and then they parted in friendly fashion, and Mrs. Jock returned to her poor husband, who looked up from his armchair and his woollen comforter with some interest as she entered the room. " Well," he said, " and did you get anything out of Alick?" Mrs. Jock shook her head. " He was too much for me," she answered ; and she could not resist a laugh at her own defeat. " I told you so," answered Jock, subsiding back into his comforter with some satisfaction. " My firm belief is, when Alick departs from tliis life, he'll contrive somehow to carry his money along with him, or he'll bury it. No one will ever benefit a penny by it." A STRAAiJK MESSAGE, K ' cleai." • Jock, quite '"R. and she ''•'Ul tcjld licr d shook his throw away ' ^*lse. And ilect a few l»en. They » and which J the better ind-heartcd in licr ; but iiuch in his en, and for 'heerfully. y ? " nterestin^ e'sagood I." b a smile, " I won't lificance ; ^rs. Jock from his iterest as : out of and she into his clief is, >mehow it. No CHAPTER IV. MRS. jock's dinner-party. No one would have ever thought that the calm, rather haughty-looking gentleman who entered Mrs. Fraser's drawing-room on tiic evening of her dinner-party was the same James Hiddulph who, witii pale lips and a counte- nance distorted with rage and shame, iiad stood hacking at the tree in his avenue, long after the name, which for him possessed suf:h hateful recollections, had been utterly erased from the bark. Yet it was so. We change our moods like our gar- ments, and one day put on our best, and another our worst. And it had been a bitter day for James Biddulph, yon dreaTy misty one, when he had been suddenly confronted by a past he would fain have forgotten, and all the evil of his nature had for the time held possession of his soul. But his brovv was smooth now, and his smile as ready as if no secret weighed upon his heart. He had a natural grace of manner, and Jock Fraser, whose face by this time had once more assumed its ordinary proportions, as he advanced to meet his guest, was struck (as his wife had been) by Mr. Biddulph's remarkable good' looks. "Glad to see you," said the kindly Jock, warmly shak- ing his hand. ** Your poor uncle was a great stranger among us, but I hope you mean to be a good neighbor." "You are all very kind to receive me as you do," an- swered Biddu'ph, "and I hope to be a good neighbor;" and he smiled. " Y^ou know my wife," continued the master of the house, in his pleasant way, as Mr. Biddulph was shaking hands with Mrs. Jock and her daughter ; and this is my brother, Alick Fraser, and my boy, Malcolm." The uncle and nephew — the good-looking man of fifty and the handsome young man of twenty-one — now both exchanged greetings with the new owner of Dunbaan. Alick Fraser fixed his keen observing eyes for a moment on Biddulph's face. "Glad to make your acquaintance," he said ; and then he looked at Biddulph again. It struck him he had seen him before, though at ihe moment he could not remember where. H A STRANGE MESSAGE, I m " And do you mean to take up your abode among us ? '* continued Alick, still eying the stranger. " For some months in the year, at all events, I hope," replied Biddulph. ** Ah, not a true Scot," said Alick. " The mists will drive you away ; " and he laughed aloud. But as he did so there was a little stir at the door of the room, and Nora Stewart and her two girl friends, the Lees, appeared. Nora entered first, and the eyes of every man present unconsciously followed her. For one thing, she was handsome ; for another, she was a landowner, and a little heiress in her way ; and this last consideration, no doubt, materially added to her charms. " How are you my dear ? " said Jock Fraser, kindly shaking her hand. " Well, young lady, and how are you getting on ? " asked Alick. " Nora, how late you are ? " said Malcolm Fraser, with his blue eyes fixed on Nora's face. Only Mr. Biddulph said nothing ; these two shook hands in silence and during the dinner which followed were placed far apart ; Jock Fraser taking in Nora, and Mr. Biddulph Mrs. Jock ; and somehow Nora found it very hard to keep her attention fixed on the laird's jokes and pleasant homely talk. " She is a fine girl, and the land joins," Alick Fraser sat thinking, as he ate his dinner with appetite and satisfac- tion. "She is beautiful," sigi ed poor Malcolm, who did not feel as hungry as usual, and did not see why Miss Maud Lee sliould always expect him to amuse her. And he felt also a strange dislike growing within him to the good-looking man at the head of the table, who was talking so agreeably to his mother with his fluent tongue. This young Highlanuer, with his stalwart length of limb and breadth of muscle, liis strais^ht features and blue eves and bright, crisp, curling chestnut hair, had been on pretty good terms with himself until the last few weeks, when Mr. Biddulph had arrived at Dunbaan to disturb his equa- nimity. But now with that subtle knowledge which comes to us unsought, which tells us grim truth against our van- ity, our hopes, Malcolm Fraser knew" that this stranger was preferred before him, and that Nora Stewart's dark eyes now seldom met his own. And the young man's natural sunny nature had grown A STRANGE MESSAGE. ^5 among ys ? " '"ts, I hope," ists wiJJ drive ? door of tile ds, the Lees, I every man '^ ^^^'"S-. she 7"er, and a ^^^■ation, no ^ser, kindJy on? "asked Eraser, with ^ook hands ^vved were ^ and Mr. nd it Very jokes and f'raser sat i satisfac- 3 did not Jss Maud 'n him to who was • tongue, of iimi? ^"e eyes " preUy s, when Js equa- 1 comes "r van- tranger s dark grown '% changed. He had become more siler:*:, sometimes sullen, and only his fond mother's eyes guessed the cause. Shj was looking at him now — her handsome boy — and Mrs. Jock gave a little sigh, and Mr. Biddulph heard it, and, glancing at her face, wondered what^^ross this seemingly prosperous, happy woman could have on her path of life. "And you mean to live here?" she said, looking at Biddulph curiously, in the interest of her son. "How can I tell, Mrs. Fraser ? We are driven hither and thither by opposing currents in the stream of life, and know not where they will land us. Six months ago Dun- baan was but a name to me, and my poor uncle never entered my mind. Now, you see, I sit by his hearthstone, and his friends have become mine." "Poor man, he souglit few friends." "Yet I believe for Mr. Stewart of Rossmore — Miss Stew- art's uncle — he had a very strong regard." "Rossmore saved his life, you know. Nora showed me the magnificent necklace he left to her ; it was a strange thought of the old man. I wonder where he got it ? Per- haps there is some romance connected with it ?" and Mrs. Fraser laughed. " I believe in every man's life, who is worthy of tl 3 name, tnere is some romance. I sometimes think, as I sit alone at Dunbaan, of the grim old colonel, shut away there, as it were, from communion with his kind. No doubt he had his romance — some lost love — to keep company with his memory in his lonely horrs." "And^^// must fmd it loiiely, Mr. Biddulph ?" " In a way ; but I am used to be alone, and I am writing a book." " Indeed ! This is interesting. May I ask what sort of book ? " "On men and manners," answered Biddulph, with a laugh. " It serves to amuse me, if it will not amuse tlie world." " I expect you will put us all in. What do you say, now, to my brother-in-law, Alick Fraser, for a good character ? " Biddulph turned his gray eyes in the direction of Alick Fraser, and looked for a moment or two steadily in his face. " There are all the indications there," he said, thought- fully, "of a successful man." "Well, he is one, you know.'' "No inconvenient softness of heart ; no opposing sen- 26 ^ ^"^T/^ANGE MESSAGE. I| :JI timents or «5Pncof I-™ t" know I think Je." ^""^ren-" I should not Hke ">e expression"???-" 1?" '"°"'d be offended T h >• -^nd how do von i-j ' lif'^'r^^^^^^^t i^^ked jocl/r" "'^^ »«l^hbor,NoraV. Mr. BidduJph ? WW T ."''^' ^''^ ^^^ side. ' much." ^ • ^^^i'lt I have seen of him I Ht. « A , " ^ -'^^e very ■L^ora Jaup-hed S.odC,,3- '*" >■■■" <■*«. Mr. P„.e,. .j. ,.,^ •K' •PPo.i'/.'^rJf *";"; .-..W Alick F,„,„ ,„„, mere was a fi-eneml i^ T .^ ^^'^^ y<^u or I." the lad es in th^ ^ "»^.^ vvas over, and the men L' • ^ «"i' actuanAinlnt'irS^;''^" '^^ ^^^'i" ge' Ta^ "So my, brother }tcV h.A ^^''^^^^ s mind. ^ ^^ r . • •J'^^^s my senior and nea,ort,;rt,.^Iif ''•-"^ -''^ '-. he would have been .uch A STRANGE MESSAGE, 27 "It is Mr. Eraser's fun," smiled Nora. " Rather bad fun for me, though," answered Alick, now trying to liide his discomfiture. '" 1 have never had a word with you the whole evening," .the next moment said Mr. Biddulph's voice ; and Nora kurned roup.d with a blusli and a smile, and forgot in an 'instant that such a person as Alick Eraser existed. " I am going to ask a favor," continued Biddulph. " Sliall I say politely it is granted before I know what it is?" " Please say it is granted." " Very well ; it is granted." " Then, it is that I shall be permitted to take you safely across the loch in my boat. It is moonlight, and it is love- ly, and I want something to soothe me, for I feel awfully irritable to-night." "Why don't you take to smoking?" said Nora with a little laugh. " Smoking is all very well when one can get nothing better, but to-night I hope I can. I want you to take my mind away from myself, Miss Stewart ; away from worries and troubles, and all evil tilings." "And have you many worries and troubles?" asked Nora, softly, looking at him as she spoke. '* My share ; perhaps my deserts." " I suppose there is no life without them ?" "None," said Biddulph, abruptly, ahiiost passionately; "our evil deeds, and their black train, come back to us as surely as we live." " And our good deeds ? " " I have none." " Ah ! I do not believe that ; " and again Nora glanced at Biddulph's handsome face, which at this moment looked gloomy enough. But they had no time for any further private conversa- tion. Mrs. Eraser insisted upon their joining a round game which the young people were getting up, and again Bid- dulph found himself separated from Nora. It was not until the party was breaking up, and hats and wraps were being called for, that Biddulph rather pointedly joined her as they quitted the house at Airdlinn, though on her other side young Malcolm Eraser was walking with his stalwart steps. They were not five minutes' walk from the loch, and, as »hoy -Miittcd the sombre shade of the trees in the avenue, 38 /4 STA'A.XGE MEJ;SAGE. .*'!! a scene of wondrous beauty was spread out before them. The moon was at the full, and the great mass of water, the huge mountain range beyond, the steep overhanging rocks on either side, were all alight with the white shining beams, which showed them as plainly as the sun. "Are you an artist, Miss Stewart ?" asked Biddulph, in rather a low tone. " No. Nature is too beautiful ; I cannot portray it." "You mean," said Biddulph, smiling, "you have tried and failed." " That is about the truth," answered Nora, smiling also. "No one can portray nature as it is," said Biddulph, slowly ; "just as no author can give a perfect picture of a human heart. We catch the stilient points ; this man's strong characteristic ; the dip of yon mountain or yon hill. But the million hidden things ; the changing shad- ows of the earth and sky ; the teeming, changing thoughts of each human ? >ul, were never written in ink or painted on canvas." '* You think that no mind, then, can perfectly under- stand the other ?" " I am sure of it. Are we not mysterious to our- selves ? " "Perhaps " But now they had reached the pebbly marge, on which the boatmen and tiie boats were waiting to convey them across the moonlit water. "I claim your promise," said Biddulph, taking Nora's hand and leading her toward his boat. And as Malcolm Fraser saw this action, a flush came to his cheeks and a frown to his brow- " Are you not going with us, Nora •* " he said. " Mr. Biddulph does not cross the loch, you know." "But Mr. Biddulph doeSy' answered Biddulph, with a light laugh, as Nora paused a moment. "I mean to see Miss Stewprt safely to Rossmore." "Then," said Malcolm, almo.: rudely, "cur boat need not go too ; there is plenty of room for the three ladies in one." Yet the moment after he had made this speech he re- ponted it, for he had shortened the time he could be near Nora by his own rashness. "Very well," said Mr. Biddulph, quietly; "I shall take charge of the three ladies. If you will help us to push off, Mr. Fraser, that is all we shall require." A STRANGE MESSAGE. 29 before them, ass of water, overhanging vhite shining sun. Biddulph, in ortray it." Li have tried smiling also, d Biddulph, picture of a ; this man's tain or yon nging shad- ng thoughts k or painted sctly under- )us to our- e, on which onvey them ing Nora's ish came to aid. " Mr. ph, with a »ean to see boat need e ladies in cell he re- Id be near shall take ) push off, Poor Malcolm! He stood there in the moonlight, and watc^hed them glide away with a burning, aching iieart. He heard the dip of the oars, and the soft laughter of the girls ; and then the snatch of a song came floating on the night wind, but it had no sweetness nor music to the young man's ears. He was angry, he was jealous, and the pleas- Jant things of earth were all as gall and bitternessHo his f soul. si' CHAPTER V. AN UNWELCOME GUEST. An hour later, still in the gleaming moonlight, Mr. Biddulph landed at the little pier at Dunbaan. He had seen Miss Stewart and her friends safely home, and then had returned across the loch, and, having quitted his boat, walked on alone toward the house. As he entered the avenue he frowned when he saw the disfigured tree where his own hand had so rudely cut and hacked the bark. The moonlight showed this very plainly, for it lit each fading leaf and bough, the shadows of the trees falling with extraordinary distinctness on the mossy, soddened sward. He frowned, and his thoughts went from the sweet woman he had just quitted, from gay words and mirth, to a woman who was sweet no longer, and whose memory was baneful to his heart. He gave an impatient gesture and a sigh, and then a sudden start. Good heavens ! was he mad ? On this tree, on that tree, on seemingly half a dozen trees, the same name that he had erased the other day was now freshly carved ! " Natalie, commonly Natt." The letters seemed to swim before his eyes ; the weird shadows to shift and change, as he stood there staring blankly before him. But he did not draw out his pen- knife this time. With a muttered curse he walked straight and quickly on to the house, and rang the door-bell vio- lently when he reached it. 1 i 30 A STRANGE MESSAGE. ii;: 'A ill The old serving-man, who had lived with his uncle^ quickly opened it. " Donald, who has been destroying the trees in the avenue during my absence?" he asked, in a loud, angry voice. "Destroying the trees, sir?" repeated Donald, in utter astonishment. "I never heard of such a thing." i " Some one has," went on Biddulph, sternly — '' carving some tomfoolery or other on half a dozen of them. Un- loose the deerhounds ; I'll make an end of this." The old man hesitated for a moment. "Nero is very savage, sir," he said ; "hut still " As he spoke, his master's angry eyes fell, and some shame cnme into his face. "I forgot they are savage," he muttered. " No, don't loose the dogs ; I will see about it to-morrow," and he turned away. But hour after hour, when all the rest of the household were asleep, Mr. Biddulph was walking up and down the library, his heart full of anger, and bitter, bitter pain. "I will make an end of tliis," at last he decided. "I will see Nora again, and then I will go away ; I am best away." Two days later, about twelve o'clock, to the surprise of the ladies at Rossmore, Mr. Biddulph was announced. **I was wishing I could telegraph to you," said Nora, rising to welcome him with her charming blush and smile. "We have been talking about you all the morning," cried Maud Lee, with her shrill laugh. " After such pretty speeches, you may be sure they have a favor to ask you, Mr. Biddulph," said Mrs. Conway- Hope. "I only hope you have," answered Mr. Biddulph, look- ing at Nora. "We really have. We expect you will think us all mad, though ; but we want to get up a picnic — a picnic in October!" " I do not think you mad, but I think you rash," said Biddulph, still looking at Nora. '*We know we are," she replied, brightly. **But the truth is, Mr. Biddulph, that my two friends here, Maud and Alice, declare they have not seen half enough of our lovely loch, and they leave Scotland, to my great regret, t| 01 al 'B ^.- i /t STRANGE MESSAGE. 3' with his uncle ^^^^^ ^"^ ^^ ^^"^ week ; so we want to sail up the loch, land e trees in the 1 a loud, angry )onald, in utter ling." rnly— "carving of them. Un- this." still " E^ell, and some 1. "No, don't ri-ow," and he the household and down the tter pain, decided. " I ay ; I am best le surprise of nounced. ," said Nora, blush and le morning," re they have rs. Conway- dulph, look- hink us all a picnic in I rash," said *'But the lere, Maud >ugh of our reat regret, on some lovely bit of scenery or other, have our lunch, land then go home again. "After taking inliuenza, sore throat, or even consump- tion," suggc '^^ed Mrs. Conway-Hope. ** Oh, Cousin Margaret, do not be so horrid ! " said Kora. "If you said 'sensible' instead of 'horrid,' my dear Nora, it would be more to the point," suggested Mrs. Conway-Hope. "Then, please. Cousin Margaret, do not be so sensible." Mrs. Conway-Hope severely resumed her knitting. "And to return to the picnic," continued Nora, once more addressing Mr. Biddulph, "we want your company for one thing, and to borrow your two boats for another." " My boats and everything I have are entirely jeU your command ; but I called at this unreasonable hour to say good-by." " Good-by !" repeated Nora, blankly. "Yes ; I intend to return to town." " Not until after the picnic, Mr. Biddulph," said Maud Lee. " Indeed we shall not hear of it. Nora, tell him he must stay ; we can't lose one of our best men in this frivolous way;" and again Miss Lee gave her curious little laugh. " I wish you would stay," said Nora, rather in a low tone. Biddulph hesitated. " I should like to stay," he said, "but " " We shall listen to no 'buts,'" said Maud Lee ; "it is settled. Nora, dear, put Mr. Biddulph down on your list." "And his two boats," smiled Mrs. Conway-Hope, raising her eyes from her knitting. "Shall I.-*" asked Nora, almost shyly, looking at Bid- dulph. "Very well " he answered, smiling. I want to ask all the neiglibors," said Nora; "the Frasers, of course, poor Mr. Macdonald, and Lord Glen- doyne, whose father, curiously enough, used to be a client of my father's." *'Glendoyne ? " said Biddulph. "Is that the man who has the shooting-lodge at the head of the loch ?" "Yes, it's the same man. I knew iiim slightly before, and he called yesterday," answered Nora. 3a A STRANGE MESSAGE, " I think the picnic has been thought of siikce his visit," remarked Mrs. Conway-Hope, vigorously going on with her knitting. Nora looked annoyed. "You are quite mistaken," she said, rather sharply. "Maud and I were absolutely talking of it when Lord Glendoyne arrived." " And we asked him and he is coming," said Maud Lee, triumphantly. "And now, when we have secured Mr. Biddulph, we shall have some delightful men." " You do not give them much chance of escape. Miss Lee," suggested Mrs. Gonway-Hope. "One of them, at all events, does not wish to escape, Miss Lee," smiled Biddulph. " It is settled, then ; but you have not told me the day." " W« thought of the day after to-morrov " answered Nora. They discussed the details of the, picnic after this, and presently Biddulph left Rossmore. "I shall say good-by at the picnic," he thought, sadly enough, as he parted with Nora. He returned straight home, and as he entered the hall at Dunbaan, old Donald met him, with a curious expression on his wrinkled, time-seared face. " There is a lady waiting to see you, sir," he said, myste- riously. "A lady ?" repeated Biddulph ; and he bit his lips, and grew a little pale. "Where is she ?" "She is in the library, sir; she said the drawing-room was so cold." Then Biddulph crosr,ed the hall and opened the library door, and, as he did so, a little woman who was standing before the fire turned sharply round. " Well," she said, addressing him rather in a mocking tone, "you did not expect to see me here ?" "I certainly did not," answered Biddulph, sternly. S CI i liiiii CHAPTER VL A HARD BARGAIN, The little woman standing by the fireplace laughed de- fiantly at Biddulph's words. " I thought I should surprise you," she said. since his visit," ' going on with rather sharply. f it when Lord said Maud Lee, VG secured Mr! len." t escape, Miss nsh to escape, < tlien ; but you 3v " answered after this, and thought, sadly tered the hall )us expression e said, myste- t his lips, and rawing- room /f r,rRANGE MESSAGE, 33 " Nothing you could do would surprise me," he an- swered, coldly. " Eut may I ask what is your motive for Coming here ? " Again the woman laughed. "I came to look at your new property," she said. She was not young ; she was not handsome. She was *ark, sallow, and rather stout, with bright, glittering, miling dark eyes, when slie was in good temper. ^pust now she was not in a good temper, and the expres- ^l^ion of her eyes was not smiling, but scornful and dan- ■^■gcrous. "You have nothing to do with my new property," said Biddulpii ; " you regularly receive your income. What do .^you want more ?" % " 1 want an increase of income for holding my tongue." "Then you won't get it." "Oh, yes, I shall ! It is but just. Your income has in- wcreased, so should mine." ^(i^ "Your income is perfectly adequate." '• "You may think so, but I don't. A husband and wife ,^ should be more on an equality, you know, my dear ;" and 'once more the woman laughed, while Biddulph stood gazing at her with gloomy eyes. " So it was you, then, I suppose," he said, bitterly, "who injured my trees ?" " If you call carving the old beloved name an injury," she answered, scoffingly, " I did it." " I might again ask your motive, but it is wasting my breath." " I shall tell you without asking, then. I wished to remind you of my existence ; my little elfish playfiUness was intended as a small moral tap on your back. When a married man goes boating with a handsome young lady by moonlight it is quite time he had some such re- minder." "Woman !" said Biddulph, passionately, his face flush- ing strangely, "if you go on like this you w^ill tempt me to strike you dead ! " " Oh no, I won't ! If you were to strike me dead you would be hanged, and you are too self-indulgent to like to be hanged." Biddulph muttered a curse between his teeth, and turned away and went to the window of the room, and stood looking out on the fair picture beyond without seeing it. 3 34 A STRAh^GE MESSAGE, "You have a nice place here, but a detestable climate," presently said tlie lady at the fireplace. Then Hiddulph turned round. " Natalie " he began. " N(jt the old familiar Natt, then ? " mocked the woman. "Natalie or Natt, whichever you like, will you listen to reason for a moment, and speak reasonably ? " " I shall be delighted ; I am all attention." '* Reproaches between us are useless ; allusions to a miserable past are useless, too. What do you want to go away from here for ever — to haunt me no more ? " **VVhat do I want? Well, to tell you .the truth, a good many things. I lost a pot of money last winter Pt Monte Carlo, and I'm pretty fairly dipped in town ; and just as I was thinking what on earth I was to do, I heard of your windfall, and hastened to Scotland on the wings of love." " I cannot pay your gambling debts." " It's not my gambling debts — it's my tradesmen's bills I want paid ; and I have a right as your wife to expect you to pay them." " Please do not allude to that right," said Biddulph, coldly and repressively ; "you know well the miserable circumstances under which you acquired it." " Yes ; you found you had to deal with a clever woman instead of a fool." " We will not discuss it. How much money do you wanf to go quietly away ? " "Well, let me see. For one thing, I want my income doubled. A paltry sum like four hundred a year won't keep me ; I can't really make it do. And then, I want two thousand pounds down." "A modest request, truly ! I cannot afford it. Eight hundred a year, and two thousand pounds ! I've not the money to give you." " Oh, yes, you have. I've been making inquiries, and I hear tiie old colonel, who left you this place, left a pretty tidy sum of money as well; therefore you can perfectly afford it. Come, Jim, you'll iiave to pay, so you mny as well do it with a good grace ; it's better than my going to Miss Stewart at Rossmore." Biddulph started as if she had struck him. "Oh, you don't like that ! " cried the woman, tauntingly. "You don't want this last love of yours to hear that your love of long ago, that your wife is still in existence, while you pass yourself off as an unmarried man. But she .*S1 ^ t^ wi ul hi 1( 1 A STRANGE MESSAGE, 3S JtabJe climate " ed th e woman. J you Jisten to ^'iiisions to a >u want to fi-Q Dre ? " truth, a orood ^ter pt Monte 'ind just as I eard of your gs of love." esmen's bills expect you ^ Biddulph, 'e miserable ever woman "ey do you my income year won't 1 want two it. Eight ve not the nes, and r ft a pretty perfectly ou mny as V going to luntinglv, hear that existence, But she shall hear, if you don't give me what I want ; I have given her a slight warning as it is." " VVliat do you mean ? " asked Biddulph, growing pale to the very lips. '* Just a hint — a little message to disturb her love- dream. Don't looi< so white; pray don't faint! Miss |Stevvart knows nothing j^/ about me." '' I pray Heaven she never may ! " Tlie woman shrugged her shoulders. "Hard words won't break me, my dear," she said, con- temptuously. " I came for money, and if I get what I .want I will go away." Biddulph made no answer. He began slowly walking up and down the room, with a bitter, angry heart ; and as he did so, the woman's eyes followed him, and a softer look stole over her face. " Vou are very good-looking," she said after a while ; " better-looking than the boy I married ten years ago." Biddulph looked up with a grim smile. " Your admiration might flatter me," he said, " except for your errand." ** I don't want to flatter you. It is impossible now that we could ever be friends." " Perfectly impossible." " But you are a good-looking man. I have got older looking, I suppose you think ?" " You have the advantage of being many years my senior." " Not so very many, after all ; but, as you say, we need not discuss it." "No, it is a delicate subject," said Biddulph, darkly. " I was a boy, as you say, when an act of madness gave you this power. But I am a man now — a man whose life you have spoilt." " You seem to have a pretty jolly life, I think." " The air will be clearer when you are gone. Will you take one thousand instead of two, and I will agree to double your income ? " " No ; I must have two." " I cannot give you a sum like that at once, without ex- citing remarks that I certainly wish to avoid. Let the other thousand at least stand over until next year ?" " I want it this year. But I tell you what I will do. If you will give me a written acknowledgment that you will pay the second thousand in three months, I will take it and go away, and — hold my tongue." ■Mil 36 A STRANGE MESSAGE. m. Again Biddiilph did not reply for a few minutes. Again he began walking slowly up and down the room, with lii^ eyes cast upon the Moor ; and the woman kept fugitiv* !v watching him, while she atlected to be warming her fcit at the fire. " If I agree to this," said Biddulph at length, "will yoii faitlifiilly promise never again to set ytjur foot in Scoi- land — never by letter, or word, or deed, hint to any one oi the unhappy tie between us ?" The woman laughed aloud. " You mean, never tell Miss Stewart of Rossmore." " Don't you question what I mean. And don't bring the name of this lady into any conversation between us. 1 re- peat, to any one. That is sufficient." "You are very high and mighty." " Will you simply answer my question — yes, or no ? " ** All right ; I promise, for the sake of double my pres- ent income and two thousand down. You keep your bai- gain, and I will keep mine." "There is no fear that I shall not keep to my bargain. And now, when will you leave this place ?" "To-day, if you like. I want to be off to the sunny South." " To the gambling tables at Monte Carlo, I presume ? " The woman shrugged her shoulders. " My dear," she said, " you do not permit me to be do- mesticated ; what can I do ? " "Anything you like," he answered, contemptuously; and then he sat dow^n at the wiuing-table, and proceeded to drawn a check for the money '.3 had promised. After he had done this, he rose and went toward her. "There," he said, "will that satisfy" you ? " And the woman laughed, glanced at the amount, and put the check into a small plush bag she carried in her hand. *' For the present," she said. " And now I will be going. Good-by." And she held out her hand. But Biddulph did not take it. " This is but a mockery," he said. " What ! won't you shake hands ? Come, don't be so surly." And again she held out her hand. " It is no" matter." And Biddulph did now stretch out h*s hand. But, as his cold frigid fingers touched hers, the woman flung them scornfully back. hank you for small mercies!" she cried 'ithout you or your hand-clasp ! " r ..a '^\ « (< uites. Again I |om, with hh )t fiigitivrly >ing her feet fi, "will voi, loot in Scot- Ito a/iy one oi A STKANCK MESSAGE. 37 Arc! the next moment she was gone, and Biclvhilp}i sank iovvn oil a chair by the table, and covered his face with his hands. "I would rather be dead than this," he was thinking, witli intense bitterness. "Would that cither she or I .Acre dead ! " ;more." In't bring t!ic |en us. I rc- , or no ?" ble my prcs- ^'P your bal- my bargain. 3 the sunny presume?" tne to be do- 'mptuously ; i proceeded sed. vard her. And the It the check , II be going. loa't be so stretch out ched hers, CHAPTER VII. AN OCTOnER PICNIC. I. "I Cf can The sun and the sky alike smiled upon Leonora Stewart on the morning of her picnic, and the blue loch lay in summer blueness, though the mighty mountain beyond, whose shadow slept upon its breast, was crowned with snow. Leonora awoke in the early morning, when the pink cloudlets of dawn still streaked t!ie eastern sky. She went to the window, and looked out from her "wild eyrie," as Biddulph had called Rossmore, upon a scene more beauti- ful than the dreams of a true poet's heart. How dull our pens are, how cold and flat our paint, to picture the grand realities of the Maker's hand! Leonora stood there rapt, almost awestruck, at the vastness, the sublimity, of these everlasting hills, which seemed merging in the sky. The girl had that intense, passionate love of nature which is almost pain, for are not all deep feelings akin to it? We grow sad, or at least thoughtful, at the wondrous sights unfolded to us when we behold them for the first time or after long absence. Who has not felt this on the shores of the deep sea, or looking upward on a starlit night at yon luminous vault above ? And as Leonora stood gazing into the blue distance, or on the dark storm-rent firs, which grew thick and strong up the steep sides of the tall headland on which Rossmore stands, there curiously and subtly stole in^.o her heart another feeling, another thought, which also w^as deep and strong, and which seemed to mingle, as in a dream, with her love for the mountains and the braes of her mother's land. She began thinking of James Biddulph. She could plainly see, across the loch, the trees and gray roof of the house at Dunbaan, for every object stood out distinct in 38 J STRANGE MESSAGE. the clear air. And she would see him to-day. This was a sweet thought, and made her sigh softly, and a pink wave steal to lier white skin. But there was a haunting shadow still. Nora could never quite forget the strange words that had warned her not to trust in the man to whom she was so strongly at- tracted. Tills message might mean nothing, and might mean so much. It had left a vague uneasiness in her mind, and siie now began wondering if to-day would cast any liglit on this unsolved enigma. And across the water at Dunbaan, the master at this moment was tossing restlessly, thinking of this same ques- tion. Biddulph felt he had no right any longer to deceive Leonora as to his true position. He was trying to find courage to nip in the bud what was so sweet to him ; to lay what might have been the best hopes of his manhood low. But how could he tell her this shameful, degrading story? How say, "Wlien a boy, I was tricked and de- ceived into a marriage witli a woman I blush to name ?" Such words could not be spoken easily, and Biddulph at last decided to leave them to cliance. " I shall go away," he told himself, " and she will forget me ; " and this idea did not make him feel happier. And when, some hours later, he met her again, his task seemed no lighter. Leonora, fair and gracious, dressed in white serge and otter, with a little fur cap to match, beneath whicli her bright liair curled round her smooth brow, was standing at the hall door when Biddulph arrived at Ross- more, smiling and talking to her guests. Mrs. Jock Fraser was here, attired (sensible woman) in warm, striped homespun, while her pretty daughter Minnie wore a blue and white boating-dress, and her tall hand- some Malcolm his Highland garb. A lick Fraser had also arrived, and was joking with the young people after his usual fashion, when Mr. Biddulph walked in among them, and AHck's brown eyes followed him when he went up to exchange greeting with their young hostess. And other eyes besides Alick Fraser's did this also. Mal- colm's blue eyes, and even the Rev. Andrew Macdonald's neutral-tinted ones, looked with no benign expression on the tall stranger. " I have brought the boats," said Biddulph, smiling, as he shook hands with Nora. " It is so good of you," she answered. al A STRANGE MESSAGE, 39 She looked very bright. The day was beautiful, for one tiling ; for anotlier, an undescribable feeling of pleasure and excitement filled her heart. "The weather is perfect, isn't it?" she said to Bid- dulph. " It looks good all round," he answered ; and his eyes rested on her face as he spoke. " Miss Nora Stewart has bribed the clerk of the weather- office to give us one good day, I believe," said Alick Fraser, with his hard smile. " How have I bribed him, Mr. Fraser ? " said Nora, laugh- ing. '• Perhaps you smiled at him," answered Alick ; " and, unless he was a hard-hearted fellow, he could not resist that." " I did not know you ever said pretty things," said Nora, gayly. "When I find anyone pretty enough to say them to, you see I do." " There, my dear ! " cried Jock Fraser, who had been an amused listener to his brother's compliments; "after that you must make Alick come out of his shell a bit. Come, Alick, what do you say to giving the young ladies a dance in your bran new house ? " But Alick only smiled. It was one thing to make pretty speeches which cost nothing, and another to give dances which might cost a good deal. But just at this last moment the last guest that Nora expected drove up in a dog-cart to the hall-door and a tall, very slender young man, with a dark pale face — an unmistakable Anglo-Indian — appeared. This was Lord Glendoyne, the impoverished heir of a long line, who had been out in India in the Civil Service for many years. He was a graceful man, with a languid manner and smile, and large, wcaried-looking, rather pa- thetic dark eyes. " I am afraid I have kept you wi-.iting," he said to Nora. " I was just wondering whether you had forgotten all about our picnic," she answered, brightly. "Oh, no ! but — shall I confess ? — I am a frightfully lazy man, and it was all I could do to get here so early." " I am very pleased to see you. Allow me to introduce }'t)u to some of your neighbors;" and Nora presented Lord Glendoyne to Mrs. Jock Fraser and her husband, to Mr. Biddulph and Alick Fraser, 40 A STRANGE MESSAGE. lii " I have had some correspondence with you already, my lord, I think ?" said Alick Fraser. "Ah — are you tlie — aK -gentleman from Glasgow who | bought Inismore ? " said Lord Glendoyne, fixing his lan- guid dark eyes on the man who had purchased the old ancestral acres of his house. " 1 am," answered Alick with some pride. "Ah — I knew it was some one from Glasgow," said Glendoyne ; and he turned indifferently away ; and Alick felt injured, for had not many of his hard-earned thou- sands gone into this man's pocket ? " I think we had better go down to the boats now," pro- posed Nora ; and unconsciously she looked at Biddulph as she said this, who at once came to her side. "Allow me, then," he said, "to carry your shawl, and see you safely down the hill." " Deuced cool fellow, I must say that," muttered Alick Fraser. "A gentlemanly man," thought Glendoyne, now turning his languid gaze on Biddulph's face. But the next moment his eyes rested on Minnie Fraser, whose extreme fairness and beauty of complexion at once attracted his attention. " Who is that fair girl ? " he asked of Nora. "That is my half-cousin, Minnie Fraser. Shall I intro- duce you to her ? " " Thanks ; I shall be very pleased." It must be admitted that this was rather cruel of Nora, as her friend, Maud Lee, had intended to monopolize Lord Glendoyne, and had also openly announced her in- tention. But Lord Glendoyne had seen many Maud Lees out in India, and this fair Highland flower was more to his taste. He attached himself, therefore, to Minnie's side, and the young girl was naturally flattered by his attentions. And Maud Lee knew the world too well to show any annoyance at this ; and even when, later on in the day, Mrs. Conway- Hope — who, after all, had declined to be left at home — took the opportunity of whispering in Maud's ear that Lord Glendoyne seemed evidently to admire Minnie Fraser, Maud answered gayly : "Yes ; isn't it sad when 1 hoped he would admire me !" and she laughed, and Mrs. Conway-Hope felt disappointed that the clever girl did not show any disappointment. In the meanwhile Biddulph was walking by Leonora's % A STRANGE MESSAGE. 41 already, my lasgovv who 'ing his ian- lased the old isgovv," said ; and Alicia arned thou- s now," pro- at Biddulph shawl, and ttered Alick now turning mie Fraser, don at once hall I intro- el of Nora, Tionopolize ced her in- Maud Lees IS more to ^e, and the ons. And annoyance . Conway- at home — s ear that e Minnie [lire me ! " appointed nent. Leoqora's side, down the steep avenue which led to the house at Rossmore, beneath the falling leaves. " Mow fast they are coming aown ! " said Leonora, glancing up at her trees. " 1 fancy the touch of frost in the air last night has sent them more quickly to their mossy graves," answered Biddulph. " Poor little leaves ! It's sad to die on a bright day like* tliis." " And would you rather die in gloom and darkness ? — linger on and see your friends fall one by one — which must be the fate of the last leaf on the tree, you know?" Leonora laughed softly. "I cannot make up my mind," she said. "Which would you rather do ? " " Do you mean live a long sad life alone, or a short one full of joy and love.? " " Yes ; " and Leonora's dark eyes fell, and Biddulph saw a wave of color steal to her fair cheeks. " My choice is quickly made," answered Biddulph — "a brief life of love. But," he added, as if a sudden thought had struck him, " we cannot choose ; the thread of our destiny is mostly warped for us, before we realize the bitter truth." Nora did not speak, and the next minute Biddulph changed the conversation. "At a picnic we are permitted, and expected, are we not," he said, turning to Nora with a smile, "each to bring some small contribution to the feast ? " "Oh! no; I never thought of such a thing!" she an- swered, smiling also. "Well, I have brought myself and my boats " "Your boats were invited," said Nora, amused. "And uninvited I presumed to bring some flowers which I telegraphed for yesterday, and some fruit ; and also some green and yellow Chartreuse, which Donald, my uncle's old servitor, assured * the colonel used to set great store on.' " " It is extremely kind of you." " It is very good of you not to be angry. But here we are. There is quite a little flotilla of boats." They had now nearly reached tlie side of the loch, and beneath the small wooden pier which served as a landing- place a little cluster of boats lay floating on the blue water, and one of Biddulph's boats was gp Vv^ith flowers. , jTiilliiaiirfiMWIli iinimlliifliriiM 42 I m A STRANGE MESSAGE. He beckoned to the boatman to row in, and then took out a basket containing a quantity of most beautiful flow- ers, and presented it to Nora, wlio received it witli a vivid bhish of pleasure. " Oh, how lovely they are ! " she said. " How can I thank you?" " Shall I tell you how ? " "Oh, yes." " Come in my boat ; I want to enjoy myself to-day." '' I will gladly go." The other guests were all round th.em now, and the girls eagerly admired the flowers, which the men regarded with jealous, affected indifference, except the genial Jock Fraser and Lord Glendoyne. *' Mr. Biddulph's the man to invite to a picnic," said Jock, in his hearty way. " Nora, you must give me one of your posies, and 1*11 make all the young fellows jealous." With a bright look, Nora picked out a rose and pinned it to the laird's coat. "There !" she said ; "you are smart ;" and then she of- fered all the ladies present some of her flowers, who eager- ly accepted them. "Will you have one, Malcolm ?" she said, kindly, to her young half-cousin. " No, thank you," he answered. " I want none of Mr. Biddulph's flowers." " I shall be pleased to take the rejected gift. Miss Stew- art," said Glendoyne, in his languid fashion. "I am not too proud to accept Mr. Biddulph's flowers." " I am very pleased to give it to you," said Nora, smil- ing, and thinking what a stupid, jealous boy poor Malcolm Fraser was. But presently they were all afloat, and Mrs. Jock, Nora, Minnie Fraser, and Lord Glendoyne fell to Biddulph's share. " I am glad," said Glendoyne to Minnie, " that the man from Glasgow has not come in Mils boat." "Why ?" asked Minnie, glancing with a shy smile at hei mother's amused face. "He looks heavy, for one thing," answered Glendoyne ; *' for another, he reminds me of my poverty." "We must look out for the prettiest spot where to land and have lunch," said Nora, quickly, trying to change the conversation. *' There used to be a lovely little bit of scenery high up K ly- A STRANGE MESSAGE, 43 and then took beautifuJ flow, it with a viviu nvcani thank f to-day." and the girls | egarded with ^3 .1 Jociv Eraser .^ ic," said Jock, | 2 one of jour alous." e and pinned then she of- s, who eager- :indly, to her none of Mr. t, Miss Stew- I am not (< Nora, smil- 5or Malcolm Jock, Nora, Biddulph's lat the man smile at hei jrlendoyne ; lere to land cliange the Ty high up he loch on Inismore, and I suppose it is there still ; why hould we not lunch there, Miss Stewart ?" asked Glen- oyne. " Perhaps," hesitated Nora, thinking of Alick FraFer, you would not care to go now." " On account of being reminded of my poverty," smiled rlendoyne. " The presence of a man from Glasgow ren- ers forgetfulness impossible." "He is my brother-in-law," .said Mrs. Jock Fraser, quick- y. thinking it was quite time Lord Glendoyne should know. " He is my uncle," gasped poor Minnie, with a burning lush. Lord Glendoyne looked from one to the other, and ever o faint a color stole beneath his dusky skin. " I wish he was ny uncle," he said, sententiously ; and very one laughed at this, for Mrs. Jock could always en- oy a joke at the expense of her brother-in-law. They had now reached the very centre of the loch, on ither side of which huge overhanging rocks ascended high, heir enormous shadows falling on the blue water, and re- producing there each rift and fissure in the gray granite masses, as well as the green patches of verdure which here and there dotted the mountain sides. " This is beautiful," said Biddulph in a low tone to Nora ; and she answered more by her expression than her words. " When I was in India," said Glendoyne, " I sometimes used to shut my eyes and try to fancy myself here, or, rather, to see Inismore as a picture in my brain, and it used to make me feel veiy strange." " I am afraid it would make you feel sad ? " said Nora, gently. " I don't know. What is sadness ? " " Can you define it, Mr. Biddulph ? " smiled Nora. "It is regret, but not bitter regret, isn't it ? The sharp Bting is gone. When we are sad we are resigned ; but there re some tilings to which we never become resigned," answered Biddulph ; and he cast his eyes down gloomily as he spoke. "I suppose, then, it made me sad," said Glendoyne, "to tliink of Inismore, for I was resigned to part with it, because I could not help myself." ■ But you kept the shooting-lodge, did you not ? " asked IBiddulph. " Yes : I have still a hillside or two, and a few black- 44 A STI?ANGE MESSAGE, cocks. The man from- the rest.'' I mean Mr. Frascr purchased V. I "There is my brother-in law's house," said Mrs. Jock, pointing out Alick Eraser's grand new mansion ; and Lord Glendoyne looked at the house languidly for a moment and then dropped his eyes. " It looks too new, somehow, among the grand old hills," said Biddulph, ** It suits the new master, then," smiled Glendoyne. But this injured Mrs. Jock's family pride, and her rosy cheeks took a deeper hue. ** Alick Fraser comes of a good old stock, though," she said c^aickly. He has bought a new property, certainly ; but he can sec from it Airdlinn, where his people have lived for generations." "That must be very gratifying," answered Glendoyne, with an unmoved countenance ; and Mrs. Jock turned red- der still, for she thought he was amusing himself at her expense. Nora, however, adroitly changed the conversation, and the rest of their row up the loch was spent very pleasantly. Then they landed near a picturesque spot, where a mossy bank of turf was broken up by huge fragments of gray granite, which Biddulph suggested would serve as seats for the party. Hampers were now produced, and there were jests and mirth ; and Biddulph ordered the cushions from his boat to be brought on shore, and, liaving piled them into a comfortable seat, and placed a fur carriage-rug over them, he turned to seek Nora Stewart, for whom he intended this place of honor. She was a fevv steps apart from him, and just as he opened his lips to address her, to his intense disgust Mrs. Conway-Hope espied his seat, and instantly deposited her angular form upon it. "What a delightful seat ! I shall secure it at once," she said to Biddulph ; and he was too gentlemanly to ask her to rise. All the same, he admitted to Nora, a few mo- ments later, that he bitterly regretted Mrs. Conway-Hope was a woman. But Nora was quite content to sit on one of the granite blocks, on which Biddulph had placed a plaid. He sat at her feet, and looked sometimes up into her bright smiling face with his gray sombre eyes. " That fellow pays Nora Stewart great attention," said A STRAXGE MESSAGE, ser purchased d Mrs. Jock, )n ; and Lord moment and nd old hills," ndoyne. and her rosy though," she y, certainly ; people have Glendoyne, i turned red- mself at her 3rsation, and y pleasantly, lere a mossy 3nts of gray Tve as seats tre jests and Dm his boat them into a ^ over them, he intended just as he lisgust Mrs. jposited her t once," she T to ask her a few mo- nway-Hope the granite He sat at ght smiling ntion," said 45 i.'i* I -f^ ■■"% Alick Fraser to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Jock, over his veni- son and aspic jelly. " I think he admires her," answered Mrs. Jock. Alick said nothing more. He ate his lunch and drank his champagne, and tasted both the green and yellow Chartreuse critically ; but all tlie while lie was thinking of Nora Stewart, and the land that lay next his own with such tempting advantage. And by-and-by he saw Nora and Biddulph wander away together up some of the steep, craggy, rising ground be- hind where they had been sitting, and then the rest of -the party also dispersed. The men began to smoke, except Biddulph and Glendoyne, who went away in another direction with pretty, blushing Minnie Fraser, and the rest of the young people amused themselves as best they could. But now let us follow Biddulph and Nora in their steep ascent up the craggy mountain-side. A wild and some- what dangerous walk this, for there were rifts in the rock through which the winter torrents poured down with tremendous force, rendering the path in places certainly unsafe. But Biddulph, with his strong, firm hand, was nenr to assist Nora, and she was not afraid. They stopped at length to breathe and rest, and the scene below, above, and around them was magnificently beautiful and wild. But presently Biddulph pointed to the highest peak of the mountain range. "See," he said, "the mist is gathering round the mon- arch's brow, and shortly will come stealing upon us. I think we had better go down." " Let us stay a little longer," she answered ; " I never saw the world so beautiful before." Almost as she spoke she quitted his side. Going a few steps apart, and 'ever thinking of danger, she mjunted on what she deemed to be a jutting, storm-beaten block of solid rock. But in an instant, as her light weight rested on it, this crng, which had probably rolled down the moun- tain-side during some winter torrent, and been stayed on its way by a slight impediment, now received a fresh im- petus, and, before Nora could spring back from it, com- menced again its downward course, carrying the poor girl along with it. It was well that Biddulph had a cool head and a firm hand. He heard the rumble behind him, and Nora's 46 A STRANG P. MESSAGE, shriek, and in one moment had sprung forward, seizing the skirt of her gown as she was hurled past him, and dragging her back by main force. She fell heavily. It was a hair-breadth escape, for Bid- dulph had only caught the very edge of her white serge gown, and when he lifted her up, she uttered a sharp and sudden cry of pain. "Are you hurt ?" he asked, anxiously. " I — I cannot stand," gasped Nora, leaning back on Bid- dulph, trembling, and very pale. Then with great gentleness he placed her on a little patch of sward near them. % " It — it was so dreadful," said Nora, in a broken voice ; " in — another moment " And she closed her eyes, and shuddered. "The other moment was not permitted to do any harm, you see," answered Biddulph, kindly, and speaking reas- suringly. He thought she was only frightened, and noth- ing more. "You — you saved my life." " Then I thank God," said Biddulph, almost solemnly. But," he added, a moment later, bending over her, "you feel better now, don't you ? Will yo« take my arm, and let us try to get down the hill ? I shall take care you make no more false steps ; " and he smiled. He tried to raise her again as he spoke, but no sooner had he done so, than Nora sank down once more with an exclamation of great agony. ** I cannot bear it," she said ; " I am in dreadful pain. I cannot stand." Biddulph now saw that there was something seriously wrong, " I am afraid you have sprained your ankle ; let me feel if I can find out where it is." He took one small dainty foot in his hand after the other, j\nd Nora moaned with pain as he did so. Both ankles were terribly injured by her sudden fall on the hard rock. Her feet must have struck first, and the shock had dis- placed, if not broken, some of the bones. " There is no more walking for you to-day," said Bid- dulph, trying to speak cheerfully, though he now fully realized the severe nature of the accident. " The question is, what shall we do ? I have luckily a dog-whistle in my pocket ; perhaps they may hear it below. You have got a bad sprain." so A STRANGE MESSAGE. A1 •ward, seizing 1 )ast him, and -ipe, for Bid- r white serge 1 a sharp and back on Bid- Jr on a little )roken voice ; her eyes, and 3o any harm, )eaking reas- ed, and notli- 3st solemnly, m er her, ''you my arm, and ire you make | ut no sooner ^ e more with readful pain. ng seriously ^ ; let me feel M erthe other, Both ankles e hard rock. )ck had dis- '," said Bid- B now fully 'he question listle in my I have got a He rose and whistled loudly; but already the falling Icrag, whicli had plunged in its headlong career from one rocky step to the other, had attracted the attention of the party below. Alick Fraser, indeed, who had come armed with a new ield-glass strapped across his shoulder, had never in real- ity lost sight of the two climbing up the mountain-side, land had sat smoking, and reflecting grimly that he would .like to find out something about this new man, who seemed so favored by a lady whose acres marched wi.h his own. Then, when the crag fell tumbling into some abyss be- low, and Biddulph's whistle was faintly heard, Alick at once unstrapped his new glass. " Something has liappened," he said, the next minute. " Nora Stewart is lying on the gr' nd, and that fellow Biddulph standing whistling besid icr. We had best go up to them, Jock, as fast as we can, and sec." It took a very few minutes for the two sturdy High- landers, who had been born among the hills, to reach the spot where Nora lay ; and still fewer for Biddulph to ex- plain how the accident had happened. Then they held a consultation, and it was agreed that Nora must at once be carried down the hill. " My dear girl ! " said the kindly Jock, with a sort of moisture stealing into his brown eyes, as he knelt down and took Nora's hand. " An awkward alTair," remarked Alick, in his brusque way. By this time Mrs. Jock, and actually Mrs. Conway-Hope, had succeeded in reaching the group on the hill-side. " My dear Nora, this is very sad," said Mrs. Conway- Hope ; " but I knew something would happen. You know I told you so, don't you remember, dear ? And perhaps it might have been worse." But Nora, suppressing the moans that rose on her white lips, scarcely thought it could have been. CHAPTER VHI. WHAT HE CALLED FATE. They carried Nora down the steep hill, on one of the cushions brought from the boats, Jock Fraser, Alick, and Biddulph alone being her bearers. Young Malcolm, who 48 A STRANGE MESSAGE. had now arrived on the scene, in a pitiable state of emotion and excitement, would fain have assisted. But his father saw ho was at once too much agitated to be of any reaij service. *' No, my lad," he said, laying his brown, bony hand onj his son's broad shoulder ; " tiie way you can help Nora^ most is to make the best use you can of your young legs and run down by the loch-side to Balla, and tell Dr. Alexj ander togo on at once to Rossmore, so that we shall find him there when we reach the little pier. You had best go at o.ice, Malcolm ;" and the young man, after one more dis- tracted glance at Nora's white face, obeyed his father, and started ofif at headlong speed down the hill. I Then poor Nora was carefully lifted on the cushion, Biddulph holding fast the trembling little hand. "You stay close to me," slie whispered, lifting her dark eyes a moment to his face. He grew a little paler, and his lips moved, but neither Jock nor his wife, who also were bending over Nora, heard any word. But he took his place by her side, and no one disputed it. He and Jock Fraser carried the end of the cushion on which Nora's head rested, and Alick Fraser the other end. It was a somewhat perilous descent ; but Alick, strong and sturdy and good cragsman, never placed his foot down without testing the ground. They reached the boats, therefore, without further accident, and poor . Nora, still on her cushion, was lifted in ; and almost as they started on their homeward journey, the mist, as Bid- dulph had prophesied, came creeping down the mountain- side, and began stealing over the darkening \/ater of the loch, producing an indescribable chilliness and change of atmosphere, and a little shiver passed through Nora's frame. "You are cold," said Biddulpli ; and he asked for the fur carriage-rug, and wrapped it carefully round her, and doubled a cushion, on which he lifted her head. Mrs. Conway-Hope w^as looking after her own comforts, and Mrs. Jock after her Minnie, who had disappeared somewhere in the mist, with Lord Glendoyne by her side. Jock and Alick were helping to push oflf the boats, but Bid- dulph never left Nora. He sat on one of the cross seats, where he could support her and hold her in her place ; and he held her hand all the way as they were rowed down the loch, until the little palm grew warm under the fur rug, and Nora's heart was beatinor fast. A STKA.VGE MESSAGE. 49 to of emotion nt his fatlierj of any reai but neither Nora, heani and no onr ; end of the : Frascr the escent ; but lever placed hey reached t, and poor d almost as nist, as Bid- | 2 mountain- /ater of the 1 change of Jgh Nora's ked for the nd her, and 1. n comforts, lisappeared 3y her side. ts, but Bid- cross seats, her place ; 3wed down er the fur " Is the pain any less now ?" he asked, with unconscious [enderness in his voice, bending over her a little more ;losely. " Yes, it is not so bad." " fshall never forgive myself for taking you up there." •' But it was I who wanted to go ; and — and I owe you M ly She could not complete the sentence. Tears rushed in- to her eyes, and a choking sob rose in her throat. She )wed him this best gift, then — her life, and Nora knew it rould have been less sweet from any other. He did not speak ; lie clasped her hand tighter and turned away his head, and Jock Fraser, whose honest eyes lappened at this moment to be resting on Biddulph, won- lered what caused the great look of pain that passed over ihe man's face. It was almost dark when they reached the little pier at iRossmore, but througli the mist they could discern that ■there were figures waiting for them. The doctor was there I — a tall, gaunt Scotchman — and Malcolm Fraser, pale, and still half breathless, as he i^.ad run the whole way to Balla at utmost speed. He was waiting to pull in the boats now — or rather the boat where poor Nora lay, for he saw, or at I least heeded, no other. He helped to lift Nora on the pier, and took his Uncle Alick's place in carrying her up the hill to the house at Rossinore. It was a melancholy home-coming. She had gone forth so gay and full of joyous expectation and ex- citement, and was now returning pale, exhausted, almost in a fainting condition ; and as soon as they reached the hall at Rossmore, the doctor stepped to the front. "Now, Mrs. Jock," he said, in his broad Scotch accent, to Mrs. Fraser, whose children he had attended since their first appearance in the world, " ye'U please, ma'am, to turn every one out of the room but yerself and me. The young leedy must not be worried, and ye're a sensible woman, and I can trust ye." "All right, doctor," answered Mrs. Jock ; and sl:e stood by Nora's bedside when her injuries were examined, and the stockings cut from the small, slender, white feet. The doctor looked very grave when he saw the condition of the right foot. " We'll not ha' ye dancing any reels this winter, anyhow, Miss Stewart," he said ; *' eh, my poor lassie, you must ha' had a fearsome fall." 50 A iHT RANGE MESSAGE, "Shall I ever be able to walk again, doctor ?" asked Nora, in a low tone. ''Walk again? To be sure ye will — ay, and dance, too , but ye'll ha' to bide a wee ; we ha' a broken bane or two to deal with." Nora's right foot was, in truth, so terribly injured that, after doing all he could. Dr. Alexander drew Mrs. Jock aside. "If yc don't mind, Mrs. Jock," he said, " and as the young leedy can weel afford it, I sliould like further advice from Edinbro'. Ye see, the right foot is sare displaced, and my hand is not quite what it used to be, nor my sight either, for that matter." People said, indeed, that the poor doctor, during his long weary rides across brae and stream to the outlying hamlets in the neighborhood, was too fond of stopping to refresh himself with the " mountain dew " of his native land ; and that on one occasion found, to his extreme surprise, a rosy babe nestling in the mother's arms, when he was quite unconscious of having assisted in placing it there on the previous evening. " What bairn is this ? " he asked, when the mother proudly showed the little head. " Why, doctor ? " cried the woman, in the utmost aston- ishment. "Ay, ay, to be sure," said the doctor, who was shrewd, and began to understand ; " I needn't ask whose bairn. It's the living image of ye, and a bonnier bairn I never saw ; " and the woman sank back with a gratified smile. But, in spite of this weakness, the man was clever, well- read, and had a kindly heart. "One gets a bit down, ye know, Mrs. Jock," he used sometimes to say to his friend and neighbor at Airdlinn ; and Mrs. Jock was always ready with her good word for the doctor. "If you had to ride twenty or thirty miles in a driz- zling mist or a snow-storm, Alick, and most likely not get paid for your day's work," she once said to her brother-in- law, " how would you like it ? And even if the poor doc- tor does take a drop of whiskey too much, it's hard to blame him." " Well, he'll be found in a snow-drift some day, Jeanie," answered Alick, with his cold smile ; but Mrs. Jock sighed, and was ready to forgive an over-worked, conscientious, and clever man his one failiniJ:. A STRANGE MESSAGE, 5« And slic went downstairs to the dnuviiig-room, where Nora's ji^iicsts were waiting to hear tlie doctor's opinion, with a very grave face. She beckoned to her liusband as she entered the rooai, and he at once went toward her. "Joci<," she said, " I'll not leave Rossniore until Nora Stewart can leave her room." '* Well, my dear," he answered, resignedly, though he knew he would be very uncomfortable without her. " How is she, Jeanie ? " asked Alick Fraser, now ad- vancing. "Very bad, I am afraid, Alick ; Dr. Alexander wants a telegram sent first thing in the morning to Edinburgh for a doctor." "That looks serious," said Alick. Mr. Hiddulph heard this conversation, and a moment later approached Mrs. Jock. "What doctor does he want, Mrs. Fraser?" he said, speaking sharply and quickly to hide his feelings. " 1 will ride to the station in the morning and meet the first train, if Dr. Alexander will name the doctor he would like." " It is very kind of you," said Mrs. Jock, who felt some- what resentful toward Biddulph, as she thought he must have led Nora into danger; "but some of us— some of her own people, I think — had better send the telegram." Hiddulph bit his lips, and stood silent. " I'll send a groom to meet the first train with a tele- gram," said Alick Fraser. " I'll go now and see Alexander, and consult what doctor to telegraph for." He quitted the room as he spoke, and again Mrs. Jock turned to her husband. " Now, Jock, my dear," she suggested, "don't you think you and the young people should be going home ? The quieter the house is kept the better for Nora. I mean, of course, to stay." "But, my dear Mrs. Fraser, do not inconvenience your- self by doing so," said Mrs. Conway-Hope. " I shall be quite able to manage without further assistance until Nora is well." "Nora wishes me to stay," replied Mrs. Jock, firmly. "Oh, i(. that case " "We have settled it all upstairs," said Mrs. Jock; "and now I am going back to her, and wish yon all good- night." She looked round for Biddulph, but he had disappeared. - :!;i i\ : 52 A STRANGE MESSAGE, Lord Glendoyne, however, advanced and held out hisj hand. "Will you tell Miss Stewart from me, Mrs. Fraser," liel said, in his slow, graceful way, " how deeply I regret thai such an unfortunate accident should have occurred, on| what otherwise would have been a most delightful day." " I will tell her, Lord Glendoyne ; and I hope you will] look us up at Airdlinn." " I have already asked permission to do so. I shall cer- tainly give myself that pleasure." " My husband, I am sure, will be pleased to see you.l I mean to remain here for the present, with Miss Stewart.| Good-night." She shook hands with him, and then returned to Nora's] bedside, who looked up with interest as she entered. " I hope they are having tea, and everything downstairs that they require ? " asked poor Nora, who was very hos- pitable, " My dear, I've sent them all away, Jock and the chil- dren among the rest." "Oh, Mrs. Fraser I And— Lord Glendoyne and Mr. Biddulph?" " Lord Glendoyne was just going as I came upstairs, and Mr. Biddulph had disappeared, so I suppose he is gone, too. And now, my dear child, you must try to get to sleep, and not worry yourself about any of them." But Nora could not sleep ; the pain was too great, and the shock to her nerves too recent. And presently the doctor came in to have another look at her, and then went out to smoke his pipe on the terrace in the misty atm.os- phere, for he meant to stay all night with his young p.i- tient at Rossmore. As he walked up and down, his tall, gaunt figure, visible only when he passed the lighted windows, another figure emerged from the shade of the dark firs, and a moment later Mr. Biddulph had joined him. " I must introduce myself to you. Dr. Alexander," he said, raising his cap with that grave courtesy of manner which always distinguished him. " I am Mr. Biddulph, of Dunbaan." " Ay ; the old colonel's nephew. I heard ye were in these parts." " I have waited to see you. I particularly wish to know what you think of Miss Stewart, as the accident happened while she was with me." A STRANGE MESSAGE. 53 le and Mr. ' were in '* Ay, but she told me she owed her life to ye, Mr. Bid- [dulpli, and the tears were in her bonny dark eyes when 'she was telling the story. What do I think of her ? W'eel, I'm sare afraid it's a bad job." " Is she so injured ? " '• Badly hurt. It will be many a lang day before she can put her foot to the ground." Biddulph did not speak ; but he was so visibly moved thut the kindly doctor had a word of consolation to add. " And it might ha' been a deal worse but for ye ; the poor lassie might ha' been lying deed amang the crags." " Will you tell her," began Biddulph, in a husky voice, " that I — feel this most deeply ; that I trust and hope soon " He could not end the sentence ; but the doctor, with the fine delicacy of feeling which was part of his nature, hid- den in so rough a garb, understood. '' I'll tell her, Mr. Biddulph. Eh, now," he added, with a sniile stealing over his large features, as he turned his shrewd eyes on Biddulph's face, "ye'd like to bear the pain for her, wouldn't ye ? And so would I at your age, but not now ;" and the poor doctor gave rather a rueful laugh. "Bear the pain?" repeated Biddulph, quickly. "I would bear a hundred thousand times the pain to spare her one pang. But what folly to talk thus ! Any man would do the same." *' Not they," answered the doctor, who was a bit of a philosopher ; "man is a se-fish animal, as a rule, Mr. Bid- dulph, and doesn't like to put his limbi, or anything that afifects his personal ease, in jeopardy. Now, there's Miss Stewart, with a fine, sensitive physical frame, yet she's ly- ing quieter than many alang-legged loon v ould do, if his foot was twisted as badly as hers." " She has a noble nature — you can see it on her face — and all noble natures can endure." "To a certain point, yes ; they can bear the big troubles of life, though, better than the small ones. But it's a weary life, after all, Mr. Biddulph," and the doctor sighed. " Often a very bitter one," answered Biddulph, And the doctor wondered what bitterness had come to the lot of this apparently fortunate man. They parted on friendly terms a few minutes later, and Biddulph went home with a disturbed and heavy heart. " I meant to have said good-by to-day," he told himself gloomily, as he strained his eyes through the mist to watch 54 A STRANGE MESSAGE. the twinkling lights of che house at Rossmore, as his men rowed him across the loch ; " but now it cannot be. Blind, irresistible fate holds me fast, and the end is hidden from my sight." - CHAPTER IX. ALICKS CLERK. Alick Fraser despatched two telegrams early the next morning. One to the surgeon in Edinburgh, that Dr. Alexander wislied to meet ; and the other to his own clerk at Glasgow, who was named Mr. Sandford Hill. When Alick Fraser retired from the firm of ship-build- ers, of which he was then the head, he. did not invest all the large fortune he had acquired in the somewhat un- profitable Highland acres that it had been his life-long am- bition to possess. He bought Lord Glendoyne's property, w^hich was then in the market ; but the bulk of his money was left in the busy city where he had made it. He was the owner of houses, railway shares, canal shares, and steamers. In fact, he was rich ; and, though he assumed the laird at In- ismore, in Glasgow he was still a shrewd, clever man of business ; and Mr. Sandford Hill, at a humble distance, followed in his footsteps. Alick, in his telegram, had summoned Mr. Hill to Inis- more, and on the following day Mr. Hill had arrived. A little dapper man this, with a round face, fresh complex- ion, and eager, greenish-blue eyes. He had light, short, sandy hair and was universally in Glasgow called Sandy Hiil. He liad never before been invited to Inismore, and was pleased and proud to receive this token of his em- ployer's favor. '* Well, Sandy," said Alick, who was sitting writing, looking round when " Mr. Hill " was announced, but not rising. Then lie held out his hard, strong hand, which was clasped with respectful fervor by hi's clerk. *'And what do you think of the place?" asked Alick, now moving his chair, so as to have a fuller view of Mr. Hill. " Princely," replied Mr. Hill, almost in a tone of awe, glancing round Alick's well-furnished room, and finally A STRANGE MESSAGE. 55 fixing his round eyes on the decorated ccilii ^ ; "no other word would do, sir — -princely ! " *' It's not bad," said Alick, with suppressed pride. /'Not bad? Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Hill, unable to control his delight. " That is like you, sir — always a joke ; not bad, not bad, indeed ! " "And yonder is my brother's place," continued Alick, rising and proudly pointing across the loch to Airdlinn ; " there is the old roof tree under which I was born." Sandy's face became instantly grave. " It's inspiring, sir," he said ; " I call it absolutely in- spiring. The ancient family home in view of the princely residence raised by — energy, sir, genius, sir, industry, sir ; you have 'em all." " Well, I've not worked for nothing, Sandy, eh ? " smiled Alick. " You've only got your due, sir ; a head like yours must win — a marvellous head ! " " One requires a long head." "Yes, yes ; one requires it — a shrewd, long head and a mind, sir. The mind must be there." " I want you to use yours then, Sandy, at the present moment. I have sent for you on a little business." " I hoped so, sir," answered Sandy, doing his best not to betray his disappointment. He had hoped that Alick had intended to pay him a compliment by inviting him to Inis- more, though he knew this was not Alick's way. " There is a man who has lately arrived here," continued Alick, beginning to pace the room with his stalwart steps ; " a new man, whose past history I want to find out. He is called Biddulph ; and his uncle, the late Colonel Bid- dulph, left him a place across the loch named Dunbaan ; and I have a motive for finding out all about him. Do you understand ?" " Perfectly," said Sandy, who had been listening with profound attention. " I want you to stay on here, then, for a few days ; to mix familiarly with the keepers and others, and learn all you can." But Sandy's face had changed color at the word " keep- ers." " I would do anything for you, as you know, sir," he said, shifting uneasily first one foot and then the other ; "but as regards fire-arms, I'll admit, sir, I am nervous." Alick laughed his loud laugh, 56 A STRASGE MESSAGE. "I forgot you arc a bit of a coward," ^e said. "Mix with the maids then, man, if you like it better; only find out about Biddulph, and report it to me." " Do you wish the report to be favorable or otherwise, sir ?" said Sandy, resuming his business habits. Again Alici< hujghed. " Well, I'm not particularly fond of him," he said. *' I uiid(irstand," answered Sandy; *' Mr. Biddulph's pri- vate life and character to be inquired into. Inquiries, of course, on the fjuiet ? " "Of course. And, Sandy, as these things cost money, there is ten pounds to Ijegin with;" and Alick drew out from his o[)en desk ten so^*reigns, which Sandy respect- fully pocketed. "And I've been thinking," went on Alick, who never al- lowed any fine feelings t(j stand in his way, " that it wouldn't do about liere for you to be known to be in my direct em- ployment. People would not be so open with you as I wish them to be. Vou nuist assume another character, Sanay ; be a j^ainter, or a house decorator — anything." Sandy was n(H cjuite unaccustomed to carry on private !iiquiri(;s. More than once he had ferreted out information that had been of great assistance to Alick Fraser ; but to be recjuested to assume a new character was rather startling. However, alter considering a few moments, he had a sug- gestion to oiler. " I've a brother, sir," he said, " in a small way as an up- holsterer." "The very thing ! " cried Alick. " Be your brother for the next few days. vSome of the upper bedrooms are not furnished yet ; pretend to be taking an inventory of what is wanted. This will throw you with the women about the house, and you'll iiear all their gossip. Not that I want to hear it, though," he added, "except as regards Biddulph." "Only as regards Biddulph," repeated Sandy. "And now, 1 dare say you w-^nt something to eat. I'll ring for my housekeeper, Mrs. Ker, and introduce her to Mr. Hill, the upholsterer, and tell her you are a most respect- able man, (|uiie to be trusted ;" and once more Alick Fra- ser laughed his loud laugh. He carried this programme out. Mrs. Ker, a comely, middle-aged widow, presently received her master's com- mands to treat Mr. Hill, the upholsterer from Glasgow, well and show him the rooms that wanted furnishing, and any- thing about the place that was worth seeing. aid. " Mix J only find othenvise. said. '"^Ph's pri- iquiries, of St money, drew out 7 respect- » never al- t wouldn't ^, direct em- as I wish , Sanay ; n private orniation ^ ; but to startling, id a sug- ^s an up- ther for are not of what 5out the want to dulph." It. I'Ji • to Mr. -spect- kFra- )mely, ' com- \ weJI I any- A STRANGE MESSAGE, 57 " Don't be frightened of him, Mrs. Ker," said Alick, with his peculiar smile ; *' he's a very respectable man." Mrs. Ker smiled, bridled, and blushed. "Mr. Fraser always has his joke, you know," she said to Sandy, as she led the way to her own comfortable sitting- room, and there proceeded to refresh Sandy with Highland mutton and whiskey, to say nothing of oatcake and delicious butter. "This is a charming place, madam," said Sandy, pausing for one moment in his repast. " The scenery's fine, but it's dull," answered Mrs. Ker, who had once been in Edinburgh, and loved the ways of towns. " But you'll have neighbors," said Sandv, with his mouth full. " Few and fur between, as the saying is," replied Mrs. Ker. "Mr. Fraser's brother lives across the loch, and a new gentleman has come to that side lately, Mr. Biddulph ; but our nearest neighbor is Miss Stewart, of Rossmore." "A young lady ?" asked Sandy. "Oh, quite a young lady, and considered handsome, though she's too pale for my taste." " Perhaps she and Mr. Fraser will be making a match of it," said Sandy, helping himself a second time to oatcake and butter. ** Oh dear, no ! She's too young for Mr. Fraser, though he's a fine man. They do say she and Mr. Biddulph are sweethearts ; only they've got up sonic sad stories about him lately ;" rd Mrs. Ker cast down her eyes. " Another lady in the case ? " asked Sandy, facetiously. " So they say. But, Mr. Hill, you must take a little more whiskey after your long journey." " Not unless you'll join me, madam," said Sandy, gal- lantly ; and Mrs. Ker having been persuaded to do so, be- came very communicative, and Sandy heard all he wanted to hear, and a good deal more. Mrs. Ker's late husband's sister was upper housemaid at Dunbaan, and this young woman had spent the afternoon of the previous day with her sister-in-law, and told Mrs. Ker all about the mysterious lady who had arrived at Dunbaan ; and the trees in the avenue which had been felled by the master's orders because "a queer, outlandish woman's name " had been cut in the bark. " They do say, indeed," Mrs. Ker went on, waxing confi- dential, " that old Donald, the man-servant over there, 58 A STRANGE MESSAGE, heard this lady say she was his wedded wife, though she was nothing particular to look at, I'm told ; and Donald said high words passed between them. At all events, hej got rid of her pretty sharp, and Janet says he has never been the same man to look at since — so down-hearted and low." "And what is he like, this gay young party?" asked Sandy, whose spirits the whiskey had now raised to jocose- ness. " As fine a man as I ever saw," replied Mrs. Ker, who spoke with authority, ** with a noble look about his face, and carries himself well ; and they say he has an open hand. It will be a great pity if he has let this person get some hold upon him." " Such things are, Mrs. Ker," answered Sandy, rather insinuating that he had been the victim of female wiles. "Yes, indeed/' sighed Mrs. Ker. But enough of this conversation. Sandy felt he had not wasted his time, and when, during the evening, he had a quiet talk with Alick Fraser outside the house, so that no listening ear might have the benefit of his words, Alick was quite content with the information he had acquired. " This is enough to settle the fellow's pretensions," he thought grimly. " I'll go to Rossmore to-morrow, and have a talk with Mrs. Jock." In the meanwhile, Leonora Stewart was enduring, as bravely as she could, the severe pain that at times seemed almost too great to be borne. The doctor from Edinburgh, as well as Dr. Alexander, had looked very grave when he was examining her right foot, and candidly admitted to Mrs. Jock afterward that he feared " the poor young lady might be slightly lame for life." And when Mrs. Jock re- peated this to Mr. Biddulph, who had called shortly after the doctor left, she noticed he grew very pale. This touched Mrs. Jock's kindly heart. " At all events," she said, " but for you the accident might have been much worse. Nora has told me exactly how it happened— how you were urging her to leave the hill-side, when, without speaking, she foolishly quitted your side and mounted on the loose boulder, that she expected was solid rock. She speaks very highly of your presence of mind in such a sud len emergency," " Yet I always feel as if I had injured her," said Bid- dulph. A STRANGE MESSAGE. 59 " Injury is better than death, at all events, Mr. Bid- dulph." " That is so. I am glad at least you are able to remain with her." ** Oh, my good Jock is getting on very well without me ! " laughed Mrs. Fra°er ; but she was pleased. What woman, or man indeed, is. not pleased to receive a veiled compliment ? Yet, later on in ttie day, Mrs. Jock's kindly feeling tow- ard Mr. Biddulph again veered round ; for her brother- in-law, Alick, arrived at Rossmore, armed with his story against their new neighbor. After inquiring about " Nora Stewart," as he called her, and having heard the doctor's opinion, and also that Mr. Biddulph had called, Alick imparted his news. "I say, Jeanie," he said, "you should give her a hint about that fellow. There's a very ugly story going the round of the countryside about him." " About Mr. Biddulph ? " asked Mrs. Jock. "About Mr. Biddulph, no less. Folks say Mr. Biddulph is married or that he ought to be, and that a lady has been to Dunbaan and kicked up a tremendous row, and that Biddulph had to buy her silence." '* Is this true, Alick ? " said Mrs. Jock, gravely. " Quite true, I'm told. Nora Stewart had best have as little to say to him as possible. I never liked the fellow." " If he is a married man, he has no right to pay Nora Stewart so much attention. I shall certainly tell her what you have told me." " It's only fair she should know. Good-by, Jeanie ; love to Jock and Minnie when you see them." Mrs. Jock walked thoughtfully upstairs after her brother- in-law had left Rossmore. She was not a scandalous wom- an, but, on the other hand, she was a rigidly moral one, and had not much forgiveness nor pity for those who strayed from the right path. Yet she felt this was an awk- ward story to repeat to an unmarried girl ; there might be some truth in it, but it might not be entirely true. But could she have looked into Nora's heart at this mo- ment, she would not long have hesitated in doing what she would have considered her duty. Lying there in great pain, what had given Nora courage heroically to endure it, and power to force back the moans which rose on her pale lips ? A sweet, subtle, soul-pervading thought — a knowledge that he who had saved her loved her, that h« 6o A STRANGE MESSAGE, -iuv. would gladly have borne this pain for licr, and that I1I3 anxiety about her was very great. Dr. Alexander had told her, in his homely, kindly fash- ion, about his talk with Biddulph on the night of the ac- cident. "Eh, but young Icedy, ye must soon get weel, or the poor fellow will go dement," he had said, remembering, perhaps, the days when he, too, as a raw yourg Scotch lad, had sighed and loved. The poor fellow had indeed been unfortunate all the days of his life. The son of a farmer, he had fallen in love during his studious youth with the pretty daughter of one of the small lairds in his neighborhood, and, though he had never spoken to the young lady, his ad- miration for her had influenced his life. He had risen early and worked late ; for her sake he meant to become great, and started for London with twenty pounds in his pocket, determined to laboriously climb the steep ladder of fame. Instead of which he very nearly starved. He struggled on four or five years ; he learned his Janet (the laird's pretty daughter) was mairied, and he gave the fight up. He returned to the Highland hills where he had been born, no richer than when he went away. But he had, of course, acquired knowledge, and he became a badly paid country doctor, instead of a highly feed London physician, which he had aspired to be. And he took a sombre, but still a kindly, view of the world in which he had failed to gain success. " Every man cannot win," he used to say, sadly enough, speaking very good English generally when he philoso- phized, though relapsing into broad Scotch in ordinary conversation. And there was something in Biddulph's face which had taken the fancy of this clever, yet unfortunate man. He had read there indications of a loftier train of thought than he found among those with whom he commonly associated. How strange it is ! Even the words of a letter show signs of the human being that penned the lines. We cannot quite disguise our nature, just as we ca..not turn ugliness to beauty by spurious art. We can make our- selves look better ; we can hide as best we can this fault or the other, and would have the world believe it is not there. But it peeps out ; the mean man is mean still, in spite of some ostentatious gift, and the noble heart noble A STRANGE MESSAGE. 6l still, though evil tim^s may have clouded some of its high hopes. And the Scotch doctor, with those small shrewd eyes of his, saw further than most men. In a pithy sentence lie had once estimated very justly the character of the two Frasers. " Jock's heart is good, and Alick's head," he had dryly remarked of his neighbors ; and in Biddulph's gray eyes he had seen a glimpse, it might be of an erring, but still a loftv soul. He had soon an opportunity of further judging of his character, for a day or two after Nora's accident, as the doctor sat smoking after his mid-day meal, and fortifying himself with a glass of toddy before starting on a long ride through the drizzling rain, Mr. Biddulph was an- nounced, and the doctor rose, and stretched out his lean hand. "Glad to see ye, sir, though this is but a dreary day." '' J have come to place myself under your care, doctor," Sciid Biddulph, a dusky blush stealing to his usually pale skin. "Eh, and what is wrang now ?" asked the doctor, put- ting on his professional air, and eying the healthful coun- tcnance before him. " I suppose it's the climate," answered Biddulph, "but I've got — well, a pain in my shoulder." " Bad ? " inquired the doctor, laconically. "Well, not very bad," answered Biddulph, moving un- easily beneath the shrewd eyes fixed upon him. The doctor went through the usual formalities ; the pa- tient's tongue was red, his pulse strong and steady. "These attacks are vera' subtle," said the doctor, with just a twinkle of humor in his small eyes. "However, I'll gi' ye something to rub on yer shoulder, Mr. Bid- dulph, and send the lad across the loch with it before nightfall." " Oh, I'll call for it to-morrow ; that will do," answered Biddulph, with assumed carelessness. " And how is your other patient this morning — Miss Stewart ?" " Miss Leon )ra Stewart," answered the doctor, with im- perturbable gravity of tone, though that touch of humor still lurked in his eyes, " is doing as weel as we can hope. I must tell her ye're a fellow-sufferer." Biddulph then proceeded to ask various questions about Nora, and then, just as he was going away, he said : " You'll not forget to have that stuff ready in the morn- 6a A STRANGE MESSAGE. ing, then ? I'll call for it about this time, and hope I'll find you at home*" "Then yc're na' in a hurry for it ? " "Oh, to-morrow will 'lo. Good by, doctor." And they shook hands and parted, and as Biddulph turned away, a grim smile stole over Dr. Alexander's face. "De'il a bit of a pain he has," he muttered to himself, as he tinished his whiskey, " unless it's under his left ribs. Eh, but," he added, after a moment's thought, his mind wandering back to his own early love-mischance, " maybe that's the worst pain of a' ;" and the poor djctor heaved a heavy sigh. CHAPTER X. A 15L0W. Nora Stewart grew very impatient after a week's con- fincmient to her room, to jcave it, and finally persuaded Dr. Alexander to allow her to be carried on a couch into the drawing-room, just * i days after the eventful picnic, when she had so nearly lost her life. In the meanwhile, Biddulph had been a most exemplary patient to the doctor, going regularly every day for the embrocation tor his shoulder, and using actually marvellous quantities of it. " What ! more lO-day ! " the doctor said once, in affected surprise. " Eh, mon, ye. must rub yerscl' weel?" "Not a drop left," answered Biddulph, suppressing a smile ; which in truth there was not, as he had emptied the bottle inio he loch as he crossed. The doctor discreetly never asked to look at the afflicted shoulder, as he knew no skin could possibly be left on it if half his bottles had been applied. And thus Biddulph heard every day how Nora was going on ; heard the day she was to be carried into the drawing- room, and sent a message by tlie doctor that l?e hoped to be one of her earliest visitors. And it chanced that he found her alone. Two days after Nora's accident, Mrs. Conway-Hope, who had se- cretly resented Mrs. Jock having been invited to stay at Rossmore, went up to Nora's room, and said, with sup- pressed bitterness : A STRANGE Ar/u^SAGF. ^'3 " My dear Nora, since Mrs. Frascr has taken up her quarters here, and since you seem to prefer her society in your sick-room to mine, 1 iiave taken the opportunity of writing to my poor dear husband's cousins, the Dal- rimples, to tell them I shall have pleasure in gohig to them for a short visit." " Very well, Cousin Margaret," answered Leonora, quietly. Thus, Mrs. Conway-IIopc having disposed of herself, and the two young girls, Maud and Alice l.ce, having also left Rossmore and returned to England, Mrs. Jock and Nora had been left alone during the past week ; and on the very day when Nora had wrung from the doc- tor leave to be carried into the drawing-room, .i note arrived from Jock Fraser for his wife, asking her to go over to Airdlinn during the afternoon, as poor Minnie had already got the household accounts into a terrible muddle. The pretty Minnie, indeed, had been thinking of other things besides household accounts during her mother's absence. Lord Glendoyne had called one day at Aird- liim, and found Jock Fraser and Malcolm were both away on the hills. Glendoyne, however, paid a long visit, and before he left he and Minnie had fixed to meet again. Thus, economic cares had been forgotten, and the giving out of sugar, candles, and soap had become a burden, and Minnie had handed over her mother's sa- cred store-closet key to the cook, and Jock Fraser was disturbed in his mind consiciering sundry good things which sensible Mrs. Jock always kept locked away. Thus he recalled his wife, for a few hours at least, to look after her household treasures, and Mrs. Jock found herself constrained to go. She, however, urged on Nora not to attempt to be moved into the drawing-room un- til her return. But Nora displayed an extraordinary amount of determination, she thought (obstinacy, Mrs. Jock secretly reflected), upon the subject. No, she would not be persuaded ; she would be carried into the drawing-room immediately after lunch, and nothing Mrs. Jock could say had the least effect upon her. And carried in she was. Her couch was placed near a glowing fire, and a new novel put into her hands, and then kindly Mrs. Jock was forced to leave her. "Now, ray dear, if anyone but the doctor calls, I should not see them," was Mrs. Jock's parting advice. /-T^ 64 A sTKAvar-: ^mssAGE. " Indeed, 1 shall, though, apswoved Nora, smiling ; "it will be quite a delightful change." Mrs. Jock shrugged her broad shuulders. " Thank vou, my dear ! " "Oh, you dear, good darling, you know I don't mean you ! " cried Nora from her couch, holding out her hand ; and Mrs. Jock went up to her and kissed her pale, sweet face. " No, I don't think you did, Nora. Well, then, good- by, my dear, until I come back." So Mrs. Jock went away, and Nora was left alone with jier novel and her thoughts. Tlie poor novel had no chance. The characters might have lived in the writer's brain, or only been faintly sketched there — so faintly they took no real semblance to the reader's mind, and it was quite the same to Leonora Stewart, as she lay there with fast-beating heart, listening for the footsteps of the man to whom she believed she owed her life. The doctor, like a man of honor, felt he must do some service for his new patient, in return for the five-pound note that Mr. Biddulph had thrust into his hand in pay- ment for tlie numerous embrocations he had received ; therefore, as before related, he had informed Biddulph of the day, nay, even the hour, on which once more Miss Stewart would be visible to her friends. "Mr. Biddulph asked me to tell ye, Miss Stewart," he had quietly informed Nora, when Mrs. Jock happened to be out of the way, "that he hopes to pay his respects to ye to-morrow — that is, of course," he added, «Jyiy, *' if his rheumatics will permit." *' Has he been ill ? " inquired Nora, with a blush. A grim smile stole over the doctor's rough though kind- ly face. ''Weel, he's na* in danger," he answered ; ** though," he added humorously, " he's unco' fond o' medical advice. I've had him daily, Miss Stewart since yer illness ; he fashes a deal o'er that shoulder o' his." Again Nora blushed ; and blushed more deeply still when, early in the afternoon of her first appearan<:e ii; the drawing-room, the rheumatic patient himself was an- nounced. But Biddulph looked very pale. He went up (to her couch and took her hand almost without a word. "Are— you better?" faltered Nora, vaguely remember- ing in her confusion that Dr. Alexander had said he had been ill. A STRAiXGE MESSAGE. «s lone with 1 had no e writer's 5o faintly titl, and it lay there Ps of the Then Biddulph smiled, still looking at her with thoL-e deep gray eyes of his, which always softened when they rested on her face. "vSo the doctor has been telling you," he said, smiling. " I fear he was too acute for me ; I do not think he be- lieved in my rheumatism." They both laughed, and Biddulph went a step nearer Nora's couch. " I wanted to hear how you were every day. I had to make some excuse, you know." *'Yes ; it was very kind of you." " And how are you, now, when I see you face to face ? " said Biddulph, slowly. " I have heard of you every day, as I have told you — heard of your heroic endurance of t*^e crudest pain." " I am afraid the doctor has exaggerated. I really bear pain very badly." " You have the sensitive organization which feels it acutely ; but we won't talk of it. Has our good friend, Mrs. Jock, left you ?" "Only for a few hours. It seems," added Nora, with a smile, "that the pretty Minnie is not such a good house- keeper as her mother, so my cousin Jock sent for his wife to look after her." " I like both your cousin Jock and his wife, but not Alick Fraser, if he is a cousin, too." "Oh, I don't regard Alick Fraser as a cousin." " I am glad of that. How is it, now, I have an instinctive dislike to that man, yet he has done me no harm ? " "Our likes and dislikes are unaccountable things." " But are they ? " said Biddulph, looking fixedly at Nora. " Perhaps there are laws in these things like the laws of storms, whose effects we feel, though we cannot see them. Our dislikes may be sent as warnings to avoid the people who cause them in our minds. There is a look in Alick Fraser's hard brown eyes I absolutely hate ! " " I never think of him enough to hate him," laughed Nora. " Yet I believe he thinks very often of you. I notice he watches you." " Oh, no ; I believe he thinks of nothing but his money- bags." " Oh, yes, but he does ; he's a money grubber, no doubt, but he is also iimbitious. I expect he wishes to become a very great man, indeed ; to ^ound a family to whom to be- 66 A STRANGE MESSAGE, queath his ancestral acres at Inismorc ;" and Biddulph laughed. Nora laughed, too, and blushed a little. " He will leave his money to Malcolm and Minnie, I should think. Why, he is quite an old man. But talking of Inismore reminds me of Lord Glendoyne ; how do you like him?" " Very well. He is a very gentlemanly man in manner." "In manner?" said Nora, looking up smilingly. " I mean I am not quite sure whether But jSrst tell me your definition of a gentleman ?" "I think it should mean one who is gentle and true in word and deed," answered Nora, looking at Biddulph with her large dark eyes, and his fell as she did so. " It's a hard title to rightly win, then," he said, in a low tone. Nora moved uneasily, and her face flushed. It crossed her mind again at that moment, the strange warning she had received not to trust in Biddulph. " Some day," he said, the next minute, ** I will tell you a story, and you must tell me if the hero has any right to be called a gentleman still." "Very well." " But not to-day. What were we talking of ? - Oh yes — Glendoyne." "Yes ; you said he had a good manner." "And a good appearance altogether ; but nowl am going to make you laugh ; to point out a truer gentleman to my mind than Glendoyne. Guess who it is." "Jock Fraser?" "No. The worthy Jock is an excellent fellow ; a gentle- man according to your definition also, for I dare say he is gentle and true in word and deed. But the lines have fallen for Jock in pleasant places. He married a good woman in his youth ; the good woman is by his s'de still to cheer and comfort him, and help him over life's stony places. Jock Fraser has been a lucky man, and never been tried in ihe cruel crucible of a spoilt life. The man I mean has, and come out of it sad, but not sour. What do you say to your rough Scotch doctor ? " II You mean Dr. Alexander?" said Nora, thoughtfullv. "I mean Dr. Alexander, with his ugly face and his lingo of mixed English and Scotch, and his whiskey ! I like the man. He is humorous, but never coarse. He would share his last penny, or his last bawbee, as in his genial hours he -^ ffliiiii A STRANGE MESSAGE, 67 would no doubt call it, with a friend. And I do not sup- pose he has one in the wide world. I mean a friend whose mind is close akin to his — one whom no time can change." "And you think there are such ?" said Nora, her white cyeliHs, with their long thick lashes, dropping over her dark eyes. "Yes, but few and far between ; a man makes but onem a lifetime." * Nora did not speak for a moment or two ; her breath came a little quicker. Then she said, softly, still without looking up : " I have never thanked you for saving my life. That should be a strong bond of friendship between us." Biddulph bit his lips under his brown moustache, and forced back some words he knew he had no right to speak. " Did it need this bond ?" he said in a low tone, after a little pause. "A Highland gillie would have done what I did as well, and better." "But there was no Highland gillie there. I shudder still when I think of that awful moment." "I too shudder when I think of it ; but. Miss Stewart, if you will permit this to be a bond between us " At this moment the drawing-room door opened, and " Mr. Malcolm Fraser " was announced. And the young man's brown face grew absolutely pale with anger as his eyes fell on Biddulph. He shook hands with Nora, but only acknowledged Biddulph's salutation with a haughty, distant bow. It was impossible, indeed, to mistake his manner, and Biddulph drew himself up and looked steadily in Malcolm's face, whose blue eyes were glaring with defiance. " My mother told me I could see you, Nora," said Mal- colm. *'Yes ; I am very pleased to see my friends again," she answered, with ready tact. " My mother will be here shortly," continued Malcolm, pointedly, neither looking at, nor speaking to, Biddulph. " She told me she would not be long away. And Low have you been gettiiig on without her, Malcolm ? It is so good of her to stay with me." "She was sure to stay with you ; and you are really bet- ter, Nora ! " "Yes, much better. I have just been thanking Mr. Biddulph here, Malcolm, for saving my life." 68 A STRANGE MESSAGE, " It was not a very difficult feat U seize hold of a woman's dress and throw her down." The extreme rudeness of this speech was so great that Nora's fair face flushed angrily. ♦'You are quite right, Mr. Eraser," said Biddulph, cool- ly ; " it was no feat." *' Your presence of mind and courage saved my life, at least," said Nora, quickly, looking gratefully at Biadulph, who quickly changed the conversation by taking up Nora's novel and asking her if she had read it. " I was trying to read it," she answered, smiling, ** when you came." They talked about the book a little while, and Malcolm Fraser stood, turning first red, and then pale, deservedly shut out of the conversation. Then he bade Nora good- by with scant ceremony, and, without a word to Bid- dulph, stalked out of the room. " What is the matter with that very good-looking young Scot ? " asked Biddulph, with a smile, as Malcolm disap- peared. '' I cannot imagine what has come over Malcolm," answered Nora, who, perhaps, really had her suspicions what ailed her young kinsman ; '* he used to be a nice youth." Biddulpli laughed. '* He evidently does not think I am events," said Biddulph, rising. "I sliall Stewart, as I don't wish to tire you. again ? " " Indeed you may." " I shall tell you the promised story, perhaps, next time, and ask your opinion of the hero." "Very well ; good-by, then. Come soon ; I am curious to hear the story." They shook hands and parted, and, as Biddulph went down the steep avenue at Rossmore, to his surprise, near the end of it he found Malcolm Fraser, who was evidently waiting for him, and who raised his cap punctiliously as he approached. " I want a word with you, Mr. Biddulph," he said. ** Certainly," replied Biddulph. "I am Miss Nora Stewart's near kinsman," continued Malcolm, growing pale with excitement, " and as such, have a right to ask why you, a married man, pay my cousin such marked attention." * nice,' at all go now. Miss May I come A STRANGE MESSAGE. 6g It was now Biddulph's turw to grow pale, but his eyes and voice were alilce steady ris he answered the young . Highlander. " You have no right either to ask such a question or to make such an assertion," he said. " I shall find a right," answered Malcolm, haughtily ; " and can you deny my assertion ? " " I deny your right to speak to me in such a tone, or to ask me any questions whatever ; and I do not mean to answer you. Good-morning." ^ Biddulph would have walked on, but, with a fierce ex- clamation, Malcolm sprang to his side. ** Look, Mr. Biddulph, this won't serve you ! You s/iaU answer. Nora Stewart's name shall not be dragged to the dust by you ! " "Qoy!" said Biddulph, "are you mad? Miss Nora Stewart's name is as sacred to me as my own mother's." " I know nothing about your mother," said Malcolm, insolently; "but I do know Miss Stewart is my cousin, and unless you cease your attentions to her " Biddulph's only reply was to commence walking on, while Malcolm fiercely dogged his footsteps. "Will you answer me ?" he almost shouted. Biddulph neither looked round nor made any reply. " You won't speak ? " cried Malcolm, beside himself with rage. " Then you are a coward — a sneaking coward ! Do you hear ? " " Say that again ! '' said Biddulph, sternly, now stop- ping. " I do say it," answered the jealous, maddened young man ; " and I strike you as I would a dog ! " He struck out his clinched hand as he spoke, and dealt a heavy blow right on Biddulph's face, who, completely taken by surprise, reeled back for the moment. But the next he recovered himself. He had been a practised athlete in his earlier days, and now, with all his passions roused by the insult he had received, he attacked Malcolm with such strength and science combined, that the young Scot found it was all he could do to defend himself from the well-directed, iron like blows of the man whose fury he had provoked. Malcolm began to step backward down the steep hill, and presently a heavy thud on his chest sent him sprawl- ing on the ground. " Have you had enough ?" cried Biddulph. 70 A STRAMGE MESSAGE. " No ! " shouted Malcolm, fiercely, springing once more to his feet. , ,. , Again they closed in battle ; but Malcolm, blind and mad with passion, never looked where he was going, and, his foot catching in a rut— for the ground was very uneven— he fell heavily, his head striking against a small block of granite in the rough grab., which cut his fore- head. When he struggled to his knees the blood was streaming down his face, and he grew faint and dizzy. "Are you hurt?" asked Biddulph, approaching him. But Malcolm answered him with a curse, and the victor, seeing he was in no danger, felt a thrill of " stern joy." "The next time you make an assertion," said Bid- dulph, as a parting shot, " I advise you to be sure of your facts;" and with a harsh laugh he turned *away, leaving poor Malcolm to gather himself together as best he could. CHAPTER XI. NOT FIT TO RE SEEN. Biddulph returned to Dunbaan 'with a galling sense of rage in his heart, for he knew this hot-blooded boy must have had something to go upon, or he dare not have spoken as he had done. This was very bitter to a man who was proud and sen- sitive alike. lie did not wish Nora Stewart to hear from other lips than his own the story of the miserable blight which had fallen on his life. He meant to be honest ; to go to her and say, " I setm a free man, but I am not one ; in my rash youth i hung a chain round my neck which binds me still." He would tell her this, he had told himself a hundred times, and then he would go away and leave the sweet woman who had won his love, and only they two would know why they had parted. But to be openly taunted with this abhorred secret was quite another thing. Someone must have betrayed it, Biddulph retiected ; this woman must have broken the bond for which he had paid so heavily, and he was bitterly angry with "'ler for having done so. And he was more angry still when he weut up to dress A STRANGE MESSAGE. 7t for dinner, and saw his own reflection in the looking-glass. Under his left eye, which was much swollen, was a huge red mark, which he knew by his boyish experiences would be black in the morning, and green and discolored for many mornings to come. He stared at it ; he bathed it without avail. He had got what is called in common par- lance "a black eye," and the undignified injury filled his soul with rage. At last he summoned up resolution to send for his friend Dr. Alexander, who held up his hands and relapsed into his broadest Scotch when his eyes fell on Biddulph's visage. " Eh, mon, what's this ? Wha's been putten* their knuck- les too near ve ? " "An ass of a boy," answered Biddulph, in a rage, "at- tacked me without the least provocation. But he got a good punishment for his pains." " The laddie Malcolm Fraser got home in a sare condi- tion this e'en," said the doctor, dryly, who began to under- stand the situn.tion. " Serve him right," said Biddulph, savagely, whose tem- per was not quite what it ought to be ; " he flew at nie like a tiger-cat." "Weel, Mr. Biddulph, all I can say is, if he's not im- proved yer appearance, ye've certainly got the best o' it. Malcolm, wi' bruises a. id rage, is in a v(,ry bad strait." " And did he tell how it happened ? " .-.ked Biddulph. " Na, na. Jock Fraser sent for me, and told me the laddie had had a bad fall and cut his face. But I thought the story a bit lame, and Malcolm seemed sare in mind as well as body." "What could have been his motive?" said Biddulph, beginning to walk up and down the room, ilmost forget- ting his black eye. " The same as most men's motives, I fancy, Mr. Bid- dulpli ; the laddie has let a pair of bonnie dark eyes turn his head." Biddulph bit his lips, and was silent. " His mother will be in a sare way about him," continued the doctor. " I am sorry for that. I like Mrs. Fraser — she is so straightforward and honest ; but I must say she has brought up her son very badly." The doctor shook his head. " The mother's na' to blame, Mr. Biddulph. The lad 7* A STRANTrE MESSAGE. has a fever which must run its course — a fever bad to bear,' and ill to get rid of, and I suppose we've all had it ;" and| the doctor sighed. " I suppose you mean he is in love ? " said Biddulph, with a grim smile. " Ay ; wi' one who does not care a bawbee for him. I have noticed it coming on a long while now. Poor Mal- colm ! " "Well, I wish 'poor Malcolm' had kept his love and his fists to himself, then ! See if you can do anything for me, doctor ; I am not fit to be seen." "Weel, ye'U just ha' to bide in the house a day or two. I'll tell my patient across the water yer rheumatics are fear- some ;" and the doctor laughed. But Biddulph could not laugh. "For heaven's sake," he said, "keep all this a secret from Miss Stewart !" "To be sure, to be sure; and ye'U soon be a* right. Poor Malcolm has got something worse than a black eye." Yet, when Biddulph saw himself the next morning, he was inclined to tiiink nothing could be worse. He was ashamed for his servants to see him, and noticed the ancient Donald's expression when he waited at breakfast with hid- den indignation, for there was an odd twinkle in the old man's eyes which was doubtless aggravating. And scarcely was the meal over, when he sat do\vn to pen an indignant and angry letter to the woman who had spoilt his life. In harsh and biting terms he told her that, as he had paid so heavily to purchase her silence on the subject of the degrading folly of his youth, he would at once reduce her allowance to what it used formerly to be if another whisper of this secret reached his ears. " I know," he added, "you will do anything for money; I advise you, therefore, to keep silent, or you shall certainly lose it." And, strange, at the very moment when Biddulph was writing this scathing sentence at Dunbaan, across the loch at Rossmore Mrs. Jock Fraser was talking to Nora Stewart of the very person to whom Biddulph's letter was addressed. There is no doubt that Mrs. Jock was not a scandalous nor evil-tongued woman, and she had hitherto shrank from telling Nora her brother-in-law Alick Fraser's news about Mr. Biddulph. But when she returned, the night before, to Rossmore, she had found Nora still in the drawing-room, with al in herf "WI " and "Y( svvere( cned. Mrs but s^ nothii a nigl what home be su Th begai "I she s: A STRANG E MESSAGE. 73 with a flush on her handsome face, and a bright, glad light in her dark eyes. "Well, my dear," she said, after she had kissed her, " and did Malcolm come ? " "Yes; he came when Mr. Biddulpli was here," an- swered Nora ; and the color on her cheeks suddenly deep- ened. Mrs. Jock was a shrewd woman, and she saw the blush, but she did not speak without consideration. She said nothing about Mr. Biddulph during the evening, but after a night's reflection she thought it only right to tell Nora what she had heard. Even her good-natured Jock at home had urged her to do this, for Alick Fraser, we may be sure, had carried Sandy Plill's story to Airdlinn. Therefore Mrs. Jock, after Nora's breakfast was over, began in her usual honest, downright way. " I have got something to say to you, Nora, my dear," she said, approaching the invalid's bed with her stalwart steps. "And what have you got to say?" smiled Nora. " There is a strange story going the round of the coun- try-side, I am told, about Mr. Biddulph. They say now tiiat he is a married man, and that his wife has been down here and made a tremendous fuss." Every particle of color faded from Nora's face as she listened to these words : she grew so pale, in fact, Mrs. Jock thought she was going to faint. " It may not be true, of course," said Mrs. Jock. *' It's utterly untrue ! " said Nora, lifting her dark eyes indignantly — " invented by people who are jealous of him ; who — who dislike him because he is superior to them all." Mrs. Jock drew herself up. "The person who told me I do not think could be jeal- ous of him, Nora ; and certainly I do not see that Mr. Bid- dulph ..is any way superior to the other gentlemen about here." "I simply do not believe it," began Nora; and then, as the words escaped her lips, with a sharp and sudden pang she remembered the strange message she had received on the evening when Mr. Biddulph was going to dine at Ross- more, and also words of his own which indicated that a i^Iuidow lay athwart his life. " We know nothing of him, you know, Nora," continued Mrs. Jock, " therefore why should this story not be true ? 74 A STRANGE MESSAGE. At all events, it is true that a woman went to Dunbaan, and had a very stormy interview with him, and that he gave her a large sum to go away ; and it is said she called herself his legal wife, and he did not deny it." ** And who told all this — the servants ? " "That I cannot tell you, but it is known to Jock and Alick, and all the rest ; so I thouglit it but right tu tell you, as you hav^e seen more of him than most of us." ** I owe my life to him," said Nora, her eyes filling in her excitement, with sudden tears, " and I shall not listen to nor believe inanvhing against him. He would do nothing, I am ir^ aat was not noble and true; it is written on his i. : .. "Well, he has . ii v/r^m partisan in you, at all events, Nora," said Mrs. Jock, tu^iing away and leaving the room on some slight excuse, feeling some satisfaction also that a disagreeable conversation was over. And after she was gone, an almost overwhelming rush of emotion swept through Nora's heart. Wliat if this were true ? The thought was like a hot and burning pain. There had often been a look in Biddulph's eyes — a look which had puzzled the woman he loved, and told her by some subtle instinct that he was not happy. Could this dark shadow be the knowledge of some secret and un- welcome chain ? Nora tossed on her bed, and grew so feverish and unhappy that, when the doctor came, his shrewd eyes instantly detected that something was wrong. He told her that she must not be carried into the draw- ing-room again to-day ; but Nora insisted upon going. To lie there racked with her doubts and fears would be impossible, she told herself. But she got little comfort for her trouble, for during the afternoon the Rev. Andrew Macdonald was announced, and the good man, after a little preparatory conversation, commenced on the subject just then foremost in his thouarhts. A young woman with a good fortune always has many lovers, for money is a universal want, and to get it with- out working for it is highly agreeable to many men. And it is astonishing, also, how many men believe in their own chances to win a fortune by marriage. Here was a rosy, stout, middle-aged person, good-looking enough in his way, but without much manner or mind, yet who had act- ually thought of a beautiful, attractive girl like Leonora Sicwn hands s:uis Bidd "I our man. No color indil (( has A STRANGE MJiSSAGE, 7$ Sicwnrt as liis wife. He, too, had been jealous of the liandsome stranger at Diinbaan, and had heard with great s:iiisfaciion llie story that Alick PVascr liad spread about liiildulph. "1 licar," he said, not hooking directly at Nora, **that our new neighbor, Mr. liiddulph, is really a married man." Nora was conscious that her ordinarily pale complexion colored violently. "And have you heard this?" she said, trying to speak indifferently. *' 1 am told it is an absolute fact ; and I hear the lady has been here," answered Mr. Macdonald. *' I never listen to the gossip of servants," said Nora ; "and Mr. Biddulph is quite able to manage his own affairs without our interference. By the by, Mr. Macdonald, about that poor woman who lost her husband at Airdlinn — I should like to pay for her eldest boy going tc t,. vil- lage school." Mr. Macdonald, having been thus recalled to ^ rov dial affairs, shortly afterward took his leave, feeli-,^ v guely that he had not advanced himself in Miss Leono \ Jitew- art's estimation. But he left her with a fresh \\v^ in her heart. There must be something in this, she jegan to think, and the thought was full of bitter pain. Slie did not improve as the doctor expected during the next few days, and her general health, for the first time since her accident, suddenly gave way. Dr. Alexander had been as good as his word, and had told her that Mr. Bid- dulph was ill also. But Nora's sensitive ear caught a change in the kindly doctor's tone as he mentioned his pa- tient at Dunbaan. The truth was, tlie doctor had heard also that Biddulph was a married man, and guessed pretty close- ly why young Malcolm Fraser had attacked him. The doc- tor personally liked Biddulph, and the story made him very sad. And during the next few days, Biddulph, who was still asliamed to show his face, received two letters — one was from the fiery, jealous young Highlander who had disfig- ured him ; and the other from the woman who had caused, as he bitterly told himself, all the troubles of his life. Malcolm Fraser wrote thus : " Sir : After what has passed between us, I demand, as my right, that you appoint a time when we can have a hos- 76 A STNAXGE MESSAGE, tile meeting in France, as the absurd laws of this country foibid a UKiu to avenge his own honor. " Malcolm. Fraser.'* To this Biddulph replied : " Sir : I decline to stain my hands with your young blood, or allow you to commit murder. You interfered where yov; had no right to interfere, and you must take the consequences. James Biddulph." But it was the other letter, the letter from the woman, that tilled Biddulph's heart with the bitterest rage. " Drak James (she wrote) : "You see I always adihess you in a proper and wife- like manner, in spite of your little shortcomings as ;i husband. But to return to the point. I got your letter, and when you receive this I shall be on my way to Scot- land, as I want to find out who has been playing me false. It is quite true that I think more of money, at least from you, than anything else, and I am not going to risk it for the honor of being called by your name. We must make a fresh bargain. 1 shall put up at my old quarters at the village of Balla. Send a line to me there to tell me when it will be convenient to you to see me at Dunbaan. " Yours ever, "Natalie.'* CHAPTER Xir. IN THE GLEN. A fierce storm of passion swept over Biddulph's heart after he had read this letter. He knew this woman's dar- ing, defiant nature too well not to believe she would do as she had written. S)^e was on her way, then, once more to disgrace him - to brmg scorn and scoffs upon his name. Willi bitten lips and uuittered cui-ses he looked at the date of her letter, and saw, as he did so, that Natalie (Madame de Beranger, as she called herself) would probably at this monient be in the little village of Balla, naturally excitinj^ gossip and conunent there. And his anticipations were fully verified. Before the A STRANGE MF.SSACC. 77 evening was over an c.spcci;\l mcssenqfcr from the small hostelry at Halla arrived at Diinbaan, anri a letter was hand- ed to Biddulph, the handwriting of which lie knew only too well. " Dear James " (he read with suppressed fury) : *' Here I am again. Send an answer with the unkempt bearer of my love-letler when it will please you to see your bcioved wife once more at Dunbaan. Do not be long in deciding, for your climate is killing. Yours ever, Natalie." First Biddulph flung tliis letter on the floor, and swore he would neither answer it nor see the writer, liutaftera while wiser and more prudent thoughts prevailed. As she was here, lie was convinced she would not sfo awav aofain unless she was bribed to do so. With intense disgust in his heart, therefore, he sat down to appoint an interview. But not here. Some listener, he knew well, some spy in his hoMsehold, must have spread the story of this unhappy connection in the neighborhood, or how had that wretclied boy heard of the report ? And he too (for he was observing) had noticed a change in tiie kind Scotch doctor's manner — a change in the tone of his voice only, perhaps — and how he had become sud- denly reticent on the subject of Miss Stewart, of Rossmore. And he guessed aright. Jock Fraser and Mrs. Jock had both talked to tlieir friend the doctor about Mr. Biddulph's supposed marriage, and young Malcolm's brow was black as night whenever his name was mentioned. *' It's an unco' pity if it is so," the doctor had answered, "for lie's a vera fine fellow." But even the doctor was forced to admit that no man is justified in passing himself off as unmarried, if he already possessed a wife. " And there is no doubt he pays great attention to Nora Stewart," said Mrs. Jock, **and she will hear nothing against him." ** Well, my dear," replied Jock, philosophicall}^ '* Nora Stewart may know more about this story than we do ; Bid- dulph may have told her himself. My advice, now, is to leave the matter alone. Nora is not a girl to make a fool of lierself with a married man." When "the French woman," therefore, as they called her, returned to the village inn at Balla, her reappearance there excited the greatest interest among the gossips of the neighborhood. The doctor had already lieard that " Mr. 7« A S'rKA.VGF. MFSSACE. Biddulpli's wife" was "back again," when Dlddulph him- self by her own letter became aware of the fact. At last, pale and frowning, he wrote a few words in reply. " Do not, T entreat yon, come here. I will meet yo»r to- morrow afternoon in a secluded spot among tlie hills close to Balla, called the Glen, to which any one in the neigh- borhood can direct y«nj. If you go there at three o'clock alone, I shall be waiting for you. J. li." He despatched this note, and then stood looking gloomily out on the dark waters of the loch. His thoughts were very bitter ones, for it seemed to iiim this endless worry of his life would never cease. Then he tried to raise his mind above the brief joys and sorrows of the world, telling himself as he lifted his eyes from the dark waters to the dark sky, that in a little while it would be all the same, disappointment or success, blame or praise — the woman he loved and the woman he hated, both be as dim shadows wher the end drew near. But with a restless sigh Biddulph knew that now this was not so. It needs, in truth, the chill touch of age to make a true philoscjpher. Through Biddulph's being tlie warm currents of youtli still ran strong and vigorous, and Nora Stewart's sweet face rose before him at this moment, filling his heart with passionate regret. The next day he went to keep the appointment he had made with absolute aversion. To see this woman again, to be asked for more money by her scoffing tongue, was gall and bitterness to Biddulph's soul. Vet he must do it, and so he went, crossing the loch on a gray and dark- some October afternoon, in a mood as gloomy as the sky. The Glen of Balla is one of the wildest and most romantic spots of this romantic land. It is, in truth, a mountain-pass, on either side of which the granite masses rear their shaggy crests amid the waving birchwood and the dark pines. A narrow pathway runs the whole length of the glen, and here, even amid the summer heat, the sunbeams seldom find their way, so dense is the shadow cast by the tower- ing peaks and huge crags which block the golden rays. Biddulph had chosen this silent and secluded spot be- cause he wished, if possible, no one to witness a meeting fraught for him with bitterest pain. And at this season A STRANGE MESSAGE. 79 the prohjihility was that, unless sf)inc pnssinp^ tourist was straying amid the (lamp, nioss-giit rocks, only the wild g:unc would fix their bright inquiring eyes on the two wlujse love had grown so cold. And as Biddulph walked along the narrow way, this expectation seemed fulfilled. Not a sound was to be li(;ard, and he went to the extreme end of the glen with- out encountering a living thing. •* Was she going to play him false ?" he thought, angrily, glancing at his watcii, as he turned to retrace his steps. It was half-pasi three o'clock now ; but then, she might have missed her *vay, lie presently reflected. A moment he stood still, looking upward at the narrow line of gray sky overhead, visible between the steep crags. He sighed impatiently, and some of the vague question- ing doubts which pass and repass througli our minds when the shadows lie athwart our path of life, and the web seems tangled or broken, stole into Biddulph's heart. " Why should this be ?" he thought, moodily ; as we all, perhaps, have thought when some heavy blow falls, and its weight seems too great to bear. He felt oppressed and downcast ; the dark, frowning mountain's side, the gloomy heavens, the murky air, and, maybe, the strange warning instinct that tells the birds of the approaching storm, alike seemed to fdl Biddulph's mind at this moment with a strong sense of impending ill. And suddenly, sharp and distinct, as lie stood, there sounded in his ears the crack of a rifle, and a swift messenger of death passed him, grazing his shoulder, and went on. He started, turned, and the next instant a wild shriek, a scream of terror and fear, seemed to rend the air. "What is it? "cried Biddulph loudly; and his voice echoed through the glen. Another shriek, prolonged and agonized, was the reply — a woTian's shriek. And Biddulph, quickly recovering himself, now ran forward. A jutti'ig block of granite in front, near the spot where he had been standing when the shot passed him, here partly hid the pathway behind it ; but in a momt^nr Bid- dulph had passed this obstruction, and on tho other side of it a woman was half kneeling, waving h;;r arms fran- tically, and, as Biddulph approached her, jhe rose an i came tottering forward, and he saw who it was! So A STRANGE MESSAGE, " Wretch, wretch, you have murdered me ! " she cried in gasps, and then again fell forward, the blood gushing in torrents from her side. " I swear I liave mH I " said Biddulph, running toward lier, and lifting her in his arms. Tlie wonian^s face was ghastly — the face of Natalie^an^. lier breast was heaving in the throes of death. " Wiio has done tiiis?" asked Biddulph, bending over her, and trying to stanch the red tide. She tried to speak, her dark eyes rolled in her head, each breath grew a sob, but no words came from her white lips. Then siie Hung back her head, her arms fell down, a shiver passed through her frame, and she died — died on Biddulph's breast, the woman he liad wedded long a of that ome to a "higlips. leighbor- when a n flic ting, he Gleri, le police ommon- it was," honest > young J. "And did he do this ? " asked Nora, in a strange, altered voice. *' So I understood. Why, Jeanic told me you would not believe he was married, Miss Nora ; but he was, sure enough." "Nor do I believe,'* said Nora, lifting her head and fix- ing iier daik eyes on Alick Eraser's face, h'^r voice broken and vibrating with emotion, " that he would wilfully lift his hand to injure any woman. I believe this story is false : that it is invented by people who hate him." "Well, young lady, if that is your opinion, I think you will find yourself mistaken," said Alick, disagreeably. " But, as this tragedy happened on my property, I must be off to look into it. I know the sheriff very well. Mr. liiddulph shall find to his cost that he cannot indulge in any little private shooting matches in Scotland." He approached her, and would have taken her hand in his strong grasp, but Nora's cold fingers scarcely touched his own. And hardly was he gone, when a sudden reso- lution came into her mind. She would warn Biddulph of his danger ; she would, woman-like, have him do what, under the circumstances, would be the most foolish thing possible. She stretched out her hand and rang a small hand-bell that stood on a table near her ; and when her young foot man, Alfred, replied to her summons, she desired him V^ tell her maid to come to her. A minute or two later a smart, black-eyed girl made hev appearance, and Nora beckoned her to her side. "Palmer," she said, speaking quickly and nervously, "would you be afraid to let Alfred rnvv you across t!'^:; loch ? " "This evening, miss ?" asked Palmer, in srprise. "Yes, now. 1 am going to trust you; I ily want Al- fred to know. 1 — I — want a letter takt- quickly and (jnictly to Mr. Bidclul[)h, at Dunbaan." Palmer cast down her black eyes for a moment conteni- plativclv. In tiic servants' hall already the subject had been discussed (.'f Mr. Biddulph's suppo -d crime. " I will do anything y ai wish, tniss,'" she said, the next instant; "and Alfred will do anything I ask him, she added, with a smile. "They have been talking down- stairs " " Never mind what they have been talking about," inter- rupted Nora, hastily. " Crct on your hat r > quickly as you m S6 A STI^ANGE MESSAGE. can, and tell Alfred to go down to the loch at once and have the boat re;.'ly for yon. Don't tell anyone where you are going ; say I am sending yon witii a message, if yoti are asked. And reach me my wriiing-case ; my letter will be ready in two minutes, and I want you to place it in Mr. Biddiilph's own hands." "I'll be ready directly, miss," said Palmer ; and so she was, and with a trembling hand Nora gave her the few words she had written. " Dear Mr. Biddulph : I wish to see you at once, so will you return across the ' jch with the bearers of this note ? Do please -^ome, ^r^ ■. iS is most important. Very sincerely yours, Leonora Stewart." After she had despatched this, Nora sat counting the minutes by the clock on the mantle-piece with a fast- beating heart. He would have time to r^^o away, she thought, before any official inquiry about this woman's death could be made. Not that she believed the story — it was some invention or mistake ; still, he had better know, had better hear, what Alick Fraser had said. And he would come — yes, she felt sure lie would come, Nora thought, with a flush on her cheeks, and a deep nervous excitr'.nent in her heart. And she was rij;ht. Biddulph was sitting thinking gloGjnily enough at Dunbaan, when he was told a young woman iiad brought a letter for him, and had been ordered to deliver it into liis own hand.^i. He looked up as old Donald gave him this information, and, thinking it was probably from Dr. Alexander, he desired the young woman to \tc shown into the room. And presently che black-eyed, sprightly Palmer ap- nea red. "Miss Stewart desired me to give you this, Mr. Bid- dulph," she said, with a smile ; for 'Mr. Biddulph was very good-looking. Palmer was reflecting, even if he had murdered his wife. Then Biddulph read the letter, and a flush stole to his pale face as he did so. "Miss Stewart wishes to see me," he said, now speak- ing to Palmer. " Is there room in your boat for me to crosj with you ? " "Oh, yes ! " answered Palmer with decision ; " Alfred is VQry slight—he can sit anywhere." A STI^AXGJi MESSAGE, 87 t once and ■ uliercyon '\i?c, if you Kit-'ttcr 'will ce it in Mr. and so she ler the few 'fice, so will tiiis note ? y sincerely EWART." lilting the itfi a fast- «iway, siie Woman's ^ the story lad better lid. And J'lie, Nora J nervous cr thinkin a youn<^ n ordered ip as old is: it was le young- liner ap- Mr. Bid- 'ph was he had e to his ^ speak- )r me to ' Alfred Palmer was generally supposed to be engaged to Alfred, but she always spoke of him rather disparagingly, though he was really a very good-looking young man. " Well, that is settled, then," said Biddulph, with a smile. "I shall be ready in one moment." And half an hour later lie was standing in the presence of Nora Stewart — standing pale and deeply moved, with his gray eyes, full of emotion, fixed upon her changing face. "You sent for me ?" he said, as their hands clasped. *• Yes, because — because " " Because," went on Biddulph, as Nora hesitated, unable to find words, " you have heard what happened this afternoon ? You have sent for me because you at least do not believe I would commit murder ? Is this so ?" " I have sent for you to warn you," answered Nora, with trembling lips. " I kncjw nothing of this story : I trust you — that is enough. 1 do not and will not believe you would wilfully hurt anyone ; but — but if an accident happened " •' An accident happened and a woman died, Miss Stewart, but not by my hand. You have heard some- thing of this story, I dare sav ; shall I tell you the whole of \il " " If you will ; if it will not pain you." " It will pain me, for it has been all shame and pain from the beginning until now. Since — since you have honored me with your friendship, it has often trembled on my lips. ' But I naturally shrank from telling such a tale to you. I shrink now, yet it is better you should hear." " I am ready to listen, Mr. Biddulph." Biddulph did not speak for a moment. He began walking slowly up and down the room, his eyes fixed be- fore him, with a far-away expression on his face. " It is a long time to go back to," he said at length. '* I was a boy of nineteen, a lad at college, when the tragedy that ended to-day began. I was at Cambridge at this time, and an accident happened there on the river one day — a foolish young fellow was nearly drowned. But I need not trouble you with this story ; it is sutficient to tell you I got a chill and a fever, and went home first, and was then sent by my father (my mother was dead) to Calais, for a change. '* I went to a boarding-hoiise there — I knew ?i')tliino of 88 A STRANGE MESSAGE. the world— and this house was kept by a certain Madame Bcianjier and her daughter iV<^A///V. 1 see the old vyonuui still," ' went on Biddulph, with a break in his voice, as if making an effort to speak calmly; " ! see her with her shrewd dark eyes, her dusky skin, and her dyed hair \ And Natalie, she was then about twenty-nine, ten years oldtrr than 1 was, a woman, bright, gay, and I, in my boyish ftdly, thought handsome. But she was not hand- some ; she was flattering, amusing, and clever, and she 1(1 bright, dark eyes, and I believed I was in love with r 1 suppose I believed so — at least we were lovers .ind by and by they told me I must marry her — that a child was about to be born. " iMiss Stewart, I did marry her; I thought in honor I could do nothing else, and then I discovered it was all a lie. There was no child about to be born. Natalie and lier mother had deceived me, iind both now laughed in my fate. At least Natalie did ; the old woman had more prudence, but the young one had none. '*Hut they had secured me, the only son of a rich English lawyer, and they cared for nothing else. It was not until I told them that I had no money of my own — that I was certain that if my father knew of my mad act he would cut me off with a shilling, that they began to doubt whether they had done a good thing for themselves or not. '* The marriage was kept a secret, because they feared if it were known that I should lose my fortune. It is twelv years since now, and it has hung like a rope round my neck ever since. I returned to England, I went back to college, but you can understand with little heart. My life, in fact, was spoilt, and as years went on this tie became to me more and more burdensome. It grew, in- deed, utterly loatiisome, and I never saw the woman I was ashamed to think of as my wife. I passed at the Bar, but did not care to practise ; any name I might have won I knew was already blackened for me, and I did not wish for success, which might only serve to drag to light this disgraceful storv. " My father allowed me an income of eight hundred a year, and this I always shared equally with Natalie. The money was sent regularly through my lawyer, and I never saw nor heard from her for years. Then my uncle died, and I succeeded to the property at Dunbaan, and to a t:onsiderahlc sum o{ ready money. I came down to A STR.A.\'C/C MESSAGE. 89 y feared e. It is e round 'nt back •t. xMy t)us tie if'vv, in- ^nian I lie Har, ve won ot wish lit this Scotland, as you know, and I especially desired my lawyer to keep my accession of fortune a secret, and I have every reason to believe that he did so. Yet one day, Miss Stew- art, about two months after I made your acquaintance, one morning, after I had dined the evening before at your house, I found freshly carved on the trunk of a tree in the avenue at Dunbnan, this woman's name. I was over- whelmed, maddened ; and a few days later she appeared at my house, and told me what she liad come for. She wanted her income doubled, and two thousand pounds. She had found out I had been left money, and she had be- come a notorious gambler. I gave her what she wanted on one condition— she was to go away, and not to utter a single word of the tic between us. "But here let me do myself justice. Miss Stewart, you arc the one friend whom I have made liere, and to you I meant to confide my secret. I meant to tell you, or at least partly to tell you, that day of the picnic on the hills. Ihit you know how that ended ; then your illness inter- fered, and the last time I saw you — the time when young Malcolm Phraser came in whilj I »vas here— to my surprise, on leaving, I found him waiting fcr me in the avenue, and in insulting language he requested me to cease my ac- quaintance with you, his cousin, as I was a married man.'* " What ! " said Nora, a burning blush spreading over her face ; **did Malcolm dare to do this?" " He dared to do this and more. Me absolutely struck me, but he G:ot the w(jrst of that." '* I am asliamed, utterly ashamed of him, Mr. Biddulph. lie is a mad, stupid boy." " But this mad, stupid boy's folly told me one thing, that Natalie had broken her promise, and I wrote and told her so — told her I would reduce her income to its former amount if this went on, and to my great anger she an- swered this letter in person. Miss Stewart, do you now begin to understand ? This unhappy woman came down here, and wrote to ask me when I could see her at Dun- baan ; and, to save further scandal I asked her to meet me in the Glen at Balla, where I hoped our meeting would be unseen." " Oh, Mr. Biddulph ! " cried Nora, bending forward with parted lips and clasped hands. " I went this afternoon," continued Biddulph, with some emotion—" went with a bitter and angry heart, and waited in Miis lonely, silent place ; and as I stood waiting— Mis^ A STh'WCr MFSSAGF. Stewart, T swear to God I am speakinc: the truth— a ball whistled past me, grazed my shoulder and tore my coat. and the next moment Natalie's death-shrieks filled the aii. '♦I ran forward ; I met her terrified, dyiii*;. She died in my arms. Siie thought 1 had murdered her. It was a ghasrly scene; but my hand is guiltless of her blood. You believe this? Do not look so pale ; tell me that you believe mc innocent of a hideous crime ?" "I do, I do!" said Nora, with a sort of sob, stretchin