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 A BANKRUPT HEART. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 a
 
 A BANKRUPT HEART. 
 
 BY 
 
 FLORENCE MARRYAT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 1 LOVE'S CONFLICT,' ' MY OWN CHILD,' ' PARSON JONES,' 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 F. V. WHITE & CO., 
 14 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 1894. 
 
 This story being already dramatised, all rights are reserved.
 
 8£3 
 
 v.l 
 
 
 
 
 CON TENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I l 
 
 CHAPTER II 26 
 
 CHAPTER III 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV 60 
 
 CHAPTER V 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI 120 
 
 CHAPTER VII 144 
 
 ^ CHAPTER VIII 168 
 
 CHAPTER IX l86 
 
 4 
 
 f 
 
 CHAPTER X 213
 
 A BANKRUPT HEART.
 
 A BANKRUPT HEART. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Miss Llewellyn was standing at the window 
 of her own room, in the house of Lord 
 Ilfracombe in Grosvenor Square, gazing at 
 the dust-laden and burnt-up leaves and grass 
 in the gardens before her. It was an after- 
 noon towards the close of July, and all the 
 fashionable world was already out of town. 
 Miss Llewellyn had been reared in the 
 country, and she could not help thinking 
 how that same sun that had burnt up all 
 the verdure of which London could boast, 
 had glorified the vegetation of far-off Wales. 
 How it must have enriched the pasture lands, 
 and ripened the waving corn, and decked the 
 very hedges and ditches with beautiful, fresh 
 flowers, which were to be had for the gather- 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 2 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ing. Her thoughts went back to rural Usk 
 where King Arthur built a bower for 
 Guinevere, and in fancy she felt the cool 
 air blowing over its fragrant fields and woods. 
 She heaved a deep sigh as she remembered 
 the place of her birth, and, as if in reproach for 
 such heresy to her present condition, she drew 
 a letter from her pocket and opened its pages. 
 Miss Llewellyn nominally held an inferior 
 position in the house of the Earl of Ilfra- 
 combe. She was his housekeeper. Old- 
 fashioned people who associate their ideas of 
 a housekeeper with the image of a staid, 
 middle-aged woman, whose sole business is 
 to guard the morals and regulate the duties 
 of the maidens of the establishment, would 
 have stared at the notion of calling Miss 
 Llewellyn by that name. All the same she 
 was a very fair specimen of the up-to-date 
 housekeeper of a rich bachelor of the present 
 time, with one exception, perhaps. She was 
 handsome beyond the majority of women. 
 Her figure was a model. Tall and graceful 
 without being thin, with a beautiful bust and 
 shoulders, and a skin like white satin, Miss
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 j 
 
 Llewellyn also possessed a face such as 
 is seldom met with, even in these isles of 
 boasted female beauty. Her features would 
 have suited a princess. They were those of 
 a carved Juno. Her abundant rippling hair 
 was of a bright chestnut colour ; her eyes dark 
 hazel, like the tawny eyes of the leopardess ; her 
 lips full and red ; and her complexion naturally 
 as radiant as it usually is with women of her 
 nationality, though London air had toned it 
 down to a pale cream tint. She was quietly, 
 but well-dressed, too well dressed for one in 
 her station of life perhaps, but that would 
 depend on the wages she earned and the 
 appearance she was expected to make. Her 
 gown of some light black material, like 
 mousseline-de-laine, or canvas cloth, was 
 much trimmed with lace, and on her wrists 
 she wore heavy gold bangles. Her beautiful 
 hair was worn in the prevailing fashion, and 
 round her white throat was a velvet band, 
 clasped by a diamond brooch. The room, 
 too, which Miss Llewellyn occupied, and 
 which was exclusively her own, was far be- 
 yond what we should associate with the idea of
 
 4 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 a dependant. It was a species of half study, 
 half boudoir, and on the drawing-room floor, 
 furnished by Liberty, and replete with every 
 comfort and luxury. Yet Miss Llewellyn did 
 not look out of place in it ; on the contrary, 
 she would have graced a far handsomer 
 apartment by her presence. To whatever 
 station of life she had been brought up, it 
 was evident that circumstances, or habit, had 
 made her quite familiar with her surroundings. 
 As she perused the letter she drew from her 
 pocket for perhaps the twentieth time she 
 looked rather pale and anxious, as though 
 she did not quite comprehend its meaning. 
 Yet it seemed a very ordinary epistle, and 
 one which anybody might have read over 
 her shoulder with impunity. It was written 
 in rather an irregular and unformed hand 
 for a man of thirty, and showed symptoms 
 of a wavering and unsteadfast character. 
 
 1 Dear N., — I find I may be absent from 
 England longer than I thought, so don't stay 
 cooped up in town this beastly hot weather, but 
 take a run down to Brighton, or any watering-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 5 
 
 place you may fancy. Warrender can look 
 after the house. Malta is a deal hotter than 
 London as you may imagine, but I have 
 made several friends here and enjoy the 
 novelty of the place. They won't let me 
 off, I expect, under another month or two, 
 so I shall miss the grouse this season. 
 However, I'm bound to be back in time for 
 the partridges. Be sure and take a good 
 holiday and freshen yourself up. Have you 
 seen Sterndale yet ? If not, you will soon. 
 He has something to tell you. Whatever 
 happens, remember your welfare will always 
 be my first consideration. — Yours truly, 
 
 1 Ilfracombe/ 
 
 Miss Llewellyn read these words over and 
 over again, without arriving at any conclusion 
 respecting their meaning. 
 
 ' What can he mean ? ' she thought ; l why 
 should I see Mr Sterndale, and what can he 
 possibly have to tell me, that I do not already 
 know? I hope Ilfracombe is not going to 
 do anything so stupid as to make a settle- 
 ment on me, for I will not accept it. I much
 
 6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 prefer to go on in the dear old way, and 
 owe all I have to him. Has not my welfare 
 always been his care? Dear Ilfracombe ! 
 How I wish I could persuade him to come 
 home and go to Abergeldie instead ! I am 
 sure he runs a great risk out in that horrid 
 climate, especially after the attack of fever 
 he had last autumn. If he were to fall sick 
 again, without me to nurse him, what should 
 I do?' 
 
 As she spoke thus to herself, she turned 
 involuntarily towards a painted photograph 
 which stood in a silver frame on a side-table. 
 It represented a good-looking young man in 
 a rough shooting suit, with a gun over his 
 shoulder. It was a handsome and aristo- 
 cratic face, but a weak one, as was evidenced 
 by the prominent blue eyes and the receding 
 chin and mouth, which latter, however, was 
 nearly hidden by a flaxen moustache. It is 
 not difficult to discover with what sort of 
 feeling a woman regards a man if you watch 
 her as she is looking at his likeness. As 
 Miss Llewellyn regarded that of Lord Ilfra- 
 combe, her face, so proud in its natural
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 7 
 
 expression, softened until it might have been 
 that of a mother gloating over her first-born. 
 So inextricably is the element of protective 
 love interwoven with the feelings of every 
 true woman for the man who possesses her 
 heart. The tears even rose to Miss Llewel- 
 lyn's handsome eyes, as she gazed at Lord 
 Ilfracombe's picture, but she brushed them 
 away with a nervous laugh. 
 
 'How foolish,' she said to herself, 'and 
 when I am the happiest and most fortunate 
 woman in all the world, and would not change 
 my lot with the Queen herself. And so un- 
 deserving of it all, too.' 
 
 Women who honestly love, invariably 
 think themselves unworthy of their good 
 fortune, when, perhaps, and very often too, 
 the boot (to use a vulgar expression) is on 
 the other foot. But love always makes us 
 humble. If it does not, it is love of ourselves, 
 and not of our lovers. 
 
 A sudden impulse seemed to seize Miss 
 Llewellyn, and, sitting down to her pretty 
 writing-table, she drew out pen, ink and 
 paper, and wrote hurriedly, —
 
 8 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 1 My Dearest, — Do you think I could en- 
 joy a holiday without you ? No ! Whilst you 
 are away, my place is here, watching over 
 your interests, and when you return I shall 
 be too happy to leave you. But come back 
 as soon as you can. I don't want to spoil 
 your pleasure, but I am so afraid for your 
 health. You get so careless when you are 
 alone. Don't go bathing in cold water when 
 you are hot, nor eating things which you know 
 from experience disagree with you. You 
 will laugh at my cautions, but if you only 
 knew how I love you and miss you, you 
 would sympathise with my anxiety — ' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn had written thus far, when 
 a tap sounded on the door of her room, and 
 on her giving permission to enter, a servant 
 appeared and addressed her with all the 
 deference usually extended to the mistress of 
 a house. 
 
 ' If you please, ma'am, there is a young 
 man and woman from Usk below, who want 
 to speak to you.' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn became crimson, and then 
 paled to the tint of a white rose.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 9 
 
 ' From Usk, Mary ? ' she repeated ; ' are 
 you sure? I don't expect anybody this 
 evening. What is the name ? ' 
 
 * Oh, I'm quite sure, ma'am. They said 
 their name was Owen, and they asked parti- 
 cularly for Miss Llewellyn, the housekeeper. 
 
 1 What is the young woman like ? ' 
 
 1 Rather nice-looking, ma'am, that is, for a 
 person from the country. I'm sure they're 
 not Londoners from the way they speak, 
 though I don't know where Usk is ; but she's 
 got nice curly hair, much the colour of yours, 
 
 ma'am.' 
 
 'Well, well, show them into the house- 
 keeper's room, Mary, or stay, as his lordship 
 is away, you may as well put them in the 
 library, and say I will be with them in a 
 minute.' 
 
 As soon as the servant had left her, Miss 
 Llewellyn ran up to her bedroom, with her 
 hand tightly pressed over her heart, and 
 commenced to rapidly pull off her ornaments, 
 and to take a plainer dress out of her ward- 
 robe. 
 
 f If it should be a message from mother,'
 
 io A Bankrttpt Heart. 
 
 she murmured breathlessly, as she stripped 
 off her finery, ' they mustn't go back and say 
 they found me like this. Dear, dear mother. 
 She would break her heart to find out the 
 meaning of it all.' 
 
 She threw the black lace dress upon the 
 bed, and selecting a quaker-looking fawn 
 cashmere from her wardrobe, put it on instead, 
 and having somewhat smoothed down her 
 rippling hair, she tied on a black silk apron? 
 and took her way down to the library. She 
 opened the door with a beating heart, for she 
 had begun to fear lest the strangers might 
 prove to be the bearers of bad news to her, 
 but the moment she set eyes on the figure of 
 the young woman, she gave vent to an 
 exclamation of surprise and delight, and 
 rushed into her extended arms. 
 
 ' Hetty ! Hetty!' she cried hysterically, 
 ' my own dear sister ! Oh, how is it you 
 are in London ? Why did you not tell me 
 you were coming ? You have not brought 
 bad news, have you ? Oh, don't tell me that 
 mother is ill, for I couldn't bear it.' 
 
 1 No, Nell, no!' exclaimed the younger
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 1 
 
 sister,' they are all as well at home as can be. 
 Mother and father are just beautiful, and the 
 crops first-rate. But we — that is, Will and I — 
 thought we would give you such a grand sur- 
 prise. We have such news for you ! You'd 
 never guess it, Nell ! Don't you see who's 
 this with me ? William Owen, our old play- 
 mate ! Well, he's my husband. We were 
 married the day before yesterday.' 
 
 * Married !' repeated Miss Llewellyn, incred- 
 ulously. ' Little Hester, who was always such 
 a baby compared to me, really married. This 
 is a surprise ! ' And to prove how much she 
 thought it so, Miss Llewellyn sat down on a 
 sofa and burst into tears. 
 
 1 Oh, Nelly ! you are not vexed because we 
 did not tell you sooner, are you ? ' cried Hetty, 
 kneeling down beside her sister. ' We thought 
 you would like the grand surprise, dear, and 
 I made Will promise that the first thing he 
 did was to bring me up to London town to 
 see my beautiful sister Nell ! And oh, Nell, 
 you do look such a lady. I'm sure I feel so 
 countrified beside you, I can't say.' 
 
 'You look too sweet for anything,' replied
 
 12 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 Miss Llewellyn kissing her, ' and I was only 
 crying a little for joy, Hetty, to think you are 
 so happy. But what a child to be married ! 
 Why, how old are you ? Not more than 
 seventeen, surely ! ' 
 
 * Oh, yes, Nell ; you have not been home 
 for such a time, you forget how it goes on. 
 I was twenty-one last spring, dear ; and you 
 are twenty-four ! But how different you are 
 from what you used to be. Is it London life 
 that makes you so grand ? You look like a 
 queen beside me ! You must think I am a 
 bumpkin in my wedding clothes.' 
 
 ' Nonsense, dear Hetty. One is obliged 
 to be more particular in town than in the 
 country. Besides, I am filling an important 
 situation, you know, and am expected to dress 
 up to it.' 
 
 ' Oh yes, I was telling Will all the way 
 down from Usk, what a fine place you have, 
 and such a rich master. Oh, Nell ! is he at 
 home ? Lord Ilfracombe I mean. I should 
 love to go back and tell them that I had seen 
 a lord.' 
 
 ' No, Hetty, he is away in Malta, and not
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 3 
 
 likely to be back for some time. But I've 
 not spoken to my new brother-in-law yet. I 
 suppose you can scarcely remember me, Will. 
 Five years is a long time to be absent from 
 the old home/ 
 
 * Oh ! I remember you well enough,' re- 
 plied the young man shamefacedly, for he 
 was rather taken aback at encountering such 
 a fine lady, instead of the maid-servant he 
 had expected to see. ' I and my brother 
 Hugh used to have fine games of cricket with 
 you and my little Hetty here, on the 
 island years and years ago. I suppose 
 you've heard that Hugh has been elected 
 to the ministry since you left Usk, Miss 
 Llewellyn ? ' 
 
 * No, indeed, I do not think that Hetty has 
 ever mentioned it in her letters to me. But 
 I remember your brother quite well. He was 
 a very tall, shy lad, fonder of reading than 
 anything else, even when a little boy.' 
 
 'Yes, that's Hugh,' replied the young man, 
 1 and he hasn't forgotten you either, I can 
 answer for that/ 
 
 ' 1 suppose it makes you all very proud to
 
 14 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 have a minister in the family, William ? ' said 
 Miss Llewellyn kindly. 
 
 1 That it does ; and he's a fine preacher too, 
 as Hetty here can tell you, and draws the 
 people to hear him for miles round, so that 
 the parson up at the church is quite jealous 
 of Hugh's influence with his parishioners. 
 And that's something- to be proud of, isn't 
 it?' 
 
 ' It is indeed. And what are you, Will?' 
 . 'Oh, he's a farmer, Nell,' interposed Hetty, 
 ' and we are to live with his parents at Dale 
 V Farm as soon as we go back. So poor 
 mother will be left alone. Oh, Nell, how I 
 wish you could come back to Panty-cuckoo 
 Farm, and stay with mother, now she's lost 
 me.' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn flushed scarlet at the idea. 
 
 ' Hetty, how could I ? How could I leave 
 my place where I have been for so many years 
 now, to go back and be a burden on my par- 
 ents? Besides, dear, I'm used to town life, 
 and don't think I should know how to get on 
 in the country.' 
 
 ' But you care for mother surely ? ' said her
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 5 
 
 sister, somewhat reproachfully ; ' and you can't 
 think how bad she's been with sciatica this 
 spring, quite doubled-up at times, and Dr 
 Cowell says it's bound to come back in the 
 autumn. I'm sure I don't know what she'll 
 do if it does ! You should have heard how 
 she used to cry out for you in the spring, Nell. 
 She's always wanting her beautiful daughter. 
 I'm nothing to mother, and never have been, 
 compared to you. And I've heard her say, 
 dozens of times, that she wished that London 
 town had been burned to the ground before 
 the agency office had persuaded you to take 
 service here. They do seem so hard on ser- 
 vants in this place. Here have you been five 
 years away from home, and never once a 
 holiday ! I think Lord Ilfracombe must be 
 very mean not to think that a servant girl 
 would want to see her own people once in a 
 way ! ' 
 
 'You mustn't blame Lord Ilfracombe, 
 Hetty ! ' said her sister, hastily, ' for it's not 
 his fault. He would let me go to Usk if I 
 asked him, I daresay ; but I have the charge 
 of all the other servants you see, and where
 
 1 6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 would the house be without me? It is not 
 as if there was a lady at the head of affairs.' 
 
 1 Then why doesn't he marry and get his 
 wife to do all that for him ? ' demanded Hetty, 
 with the audacity of ignorance. ' It does seem 
 strange that a gentleman with such a heap of 
 money should remain a bachelor. What does 
 he do with it all, I wonder ? And what is the 
 good of such a big house to a man without 
 a wife ? Wouldn't you rather that he was 
 married, Nell ? It must be so funny taking 
 all your orders from a man.' 
 
 'You don't understand, Hetty,' said Miss 
 Llewellyn. ' Lord Ilfracombe does not give 
 me any orders. He never interferes in the 
 household arrangements. It is to save himself 
 all that trouble that he has engaged me. I 
 hardly ever see him — that is, about dinners, 
 or anything of that sort. When he is going 
 to have a party, he tells me the number of 
 people whom he expects, and I prepare for 
 them accordingly. But this is all beyond your 
 comprehension. It is past five o'clock. You 
 and William will be glad of some tea.' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn rose and rang the bell as
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 7 
 
 she spoke, and having given her orders to a 
 very magnificent looking footman, at whose 
 servility Hetty stared, she resumed the con- 
 versation. 
 
 ' Where are you two staying in town ? ' 
 
 1 We have some rooms in Oxford Street,' 
 replied her sister. ' Do you remember Mrs 
 Potter, Nell, who took Mrs Upjohn's cottage 
 when her husband died? Her sister lets 
 lodgings, and when she heard we were com- 
 ing to London for our honeymoon, she wrote 
 to her sister to take us in, and we are very 
 comfortable there, aren't we, Will ? And it's 
 such a grand situation, such lots of things to 
 see ; and Mrs Potter said, as it might be our 
 last chance for many a day, we ought to see 
 as much as we could whilst we are here.' 
 
 ' 1 think she is quite right,' replied Miss 
 Llewellyn, smiling ; ' and I should like to add 
 to your pleasure if possible. Will you come 
 out with me and have some dinner after your 
 tea, and go to a theatre in the evening ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, Nell, we had our dinner at one o'clock 
 — roast pork and French beans, and very 
 good it was, I suppose, for London town, 
 vol. 1. B
 
 1 8 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 though nothing like our pork at Usk. And 
 aren't the strawberries and cherries dear 
 here ? Will gave sixpence this morning for 
 a leaf of fruit that you'd throw over the hedge 
 to a beggar child in Usk. I told the woman 
 in the shop that she ought to come to Panty- 
 cuckoo Farm if she wanted to see straw- 
 berries ; but she said she had never heard of 
 such a place.' 
 
 1 1 think you'll be quite ready for the 
 dinner, Hetty, for you will find our London 
 teas very different from country ones/ said 
 Miss Llewellyn, as the footman reappeared 
 with a teapot and cups and saucers, and a 
 plate of very thin bread and butter on a silver 
 tray ; [ and the theatre will keep us up rather 
 late. I suppose you have been nowhere yet ? ' 
 
 No, of course they had been nowhere, and 
 Miss Llewellyn selected the Adelphi as the 
 theatre most likely to give them pleasure. 
 
 1 Nell,' whispered Hetty, in a tone of awe 
 as they found themselves once more alone, 
 ' do you always have a silver tray to eat your 
 tea off?' 
 
 Nell coloured. She found a little evasion
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 19 
 
 would be necessary in order to circumvent 
 the sharp eyes of her sister. 
 
 'Not always, Hetty/ she answered; 'but 
 as nobody else wants it just now, I suppose 
 John thought we might as well have the 
 advantage of it. When the cat's away, you 
 know, the mice will play. And we can't 
 wear it out by using it a little.' 
 
 Hetty looked thoughtful. 
 
 ' But I think mother would say,' she an 
 swered after a pause/ that we ought not to 
 use it unless Lord Ilfracombe knew of it and 
 gave his leave. I remember once when Annie 
 Roberts came to tea with me, and boasted of 
 having broughther mistress's umbrella because 
 she was away and it looked like rain, mother 
 sent her straight home again, and threatened 
 if Annie did not tell Mrs Carey of what she 
 had done, that she would tell her herself.' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn looked just a little vexed. 
 One might have seen that by the way she bit 
 her lip and tapped the carpet with her neat 
 little shoe. 
 
 1 But your sister is not in the same posi- 
 tion as Annie Roberts, Hetty, my dear,'
 
 20 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 interposed William Owen, observing their 
 hostess's discomfiture. 
 
 * No, that is just it,' said Miss Llewellyn, 
 recovering herself. ' I am allowed — all the 
 servants know that they may bring these 
 things up to me when I have friends. Life 
 in London is so different from life in the 
 country — one expects more privileges. But 
 there, Hetty, dear, don't let us speak of it 
 any more. You don't quite understand, but 
 you may be sure I would not do anything 
 of which Lord Ifracombe woul not approve. 
 
 1 Oh, no, dear Nell, indeed you need not 
 have told me that. I was only a little sur- 
 prised. I am not used to such fine things, 
 you know, and I just thought if your master 
 was to walk in, how astonished he would 
 be.' 
 
 * Not at all,' said Miss Llewellyn gaily. 
 
 ■ You don't know how good and kind he is 
 to us all. He would just laugh and tell us to 
 go on enjoying ourselves. But if we are to 
 go to the theatre, I must run up and put on 
 my things. William, will you have a glass 
 of wine before we start ? I have a bottle of
 
 A Bankrupt Heai't. 2 1 
 
 my own, so Hetty need not think I am 
 going to drink Lord Ilfracombe's.' 
 
 Young Owen refused the wine, but Hetty 
 was eager to accompany her sister to her bed- 
 room. This was just what Miss Llewellyn 
 did not wish her to do. She was in a quan- 
 dary. But her woman's wit (some people 
 would say, her woman's trick of lying) came 
 to her aid, and she answered, — 
 
 'Come upstairs with me by all means, 
 Hetty. I should like you to see the house, 
 but I will take you to one of the spare bed- 
 rooms, for mine is not habitable just at pre- 
 sent. Plasterers and painters all over that 
 floor. Come in here,' and she turned as she 
 spoke into a magnificently furnished apartment 
 usually reserved for Lord Ilfracombe's guests. 
 
 Hetty stared with all her eyes at the mag- 
 nificence surrounding her. 
 
 ' Oh, Nell, how I wish mother could 
 see this. It looks fit for a duchess to 
 me.' 
 
 1 Well, it was actually a duke who slept in 
 it last, you little goose,' cried Miss Llewellyn, 
 as she hastily assumed a bonnet and mantle
 
 22 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 which she had desired a servant to fetch from 
 her own chamber. ' But I don't think he was 
 worthy of it. A nasty, bloated little fellow, 
 with a face covered with pimples, and an 
 eyeglass always stuck in his eye/ 
 
 1 Doesn't Lord Ilfracombe wear an eye- 
 glass, Nell?' 
 
 1 Oh, no, thank goodness. I wouldn't — ' 
 But here Miss Llewellyn checked herself 
 suddenly, and added, — ' I mean, he would 
 never do anything so silly. He can see per- 
 fectly well, and does not need a glass. But 
 come, Hetty, dear, we are going to walk 
 down to the theatre, so we had better start if 
 we wish to get good seats.' 
 
 As they entered the porch of the Adelphi, 
 a sudden thought struck innocent Hetty. 
 She sidled up to her sister and whispered, — 
 
 1 You must let William pay for our places, 
 Nell.' 
 
 1 Nonsense, child, what are you thinking 
 of? This is my treat. I asked you to come 
 as my guests.' 
 
 'But it isn't fair,' continued the little 
 bumpkin,' for you to pay for us all out of
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 2 
 
 3 
 
 your wages. Won't it cramp you for the 
 next quarter, Nell ? ' 
 
 1 No, dear, no ; I have plenty for us all,' 
 returned her sister hastily, as she paid for 
 three places in the dress circle, and con- 
 ducted her relations to their destination. 
 Here, seated well out of observation of the 
 stalls, as she thought, Miss Llewellyn felt 
 free for the next two hours at least, to 
 remain quiet and think, an operation for 
 which she had had no time since her sister 
 had burst in so unexpectedly upon her. 
 William and Hetty had naturally no eyes 
 except for the play, the like of which they 
 had never seen before. They followed 
 the sensational incidents of one of Sim's 
 and Buchanan's melodramas with absorbing 
 interest. The varied scenes ; the clap-trap 
 changes ; the pretty dresses, all chained them, 
 eyes and ears, to the stage, whilst an occa- 
 sional breathless exclamation from Hetty, of 
 1 Oh, Nell, isn't that beautiful ? ' was all the 
 demand they made upon her attention. She 
 had seen the piece before, and if she had 
 not done so, she had no heart to attend to
 
 24 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 it now. Her memories of home, and the old 
 life she had led there, had all been awakened 
 by the sight of her sister and the manner 
 she had spoken of it ; and while Hetty was 
 engrossed by the novel scenes before her, 
 Miss Llewellyn was in fancy back again at 
 Panty-cuckoo Farm, where she had been 
 born and bred. She was wandering down 
 the steep path which led to the farmhouse, 
 bordered on either side by whitened stones 
 to enable the drivers to keep to it in the 
 dark, and which had given the dear old place 
 its fanciful name of ' The Cuckoo's Dell.' 
 She could see the orchard of apple and pear 
 trees, which grew around the house itself, 
 and under which the pigs were digging with 
 their black snouts for such succulent roots 
 as their swinish souls loved. She sat well 
 back in her seat listening to the notes of 
 the cuckoo from the neighbouring thicket, 
 and the woods that skirted the domains 
 of General Sir Archibald Bowmant, who 
 was the principal landowner for many miles 
 around Usk at that period. What a mar- 
 vellous, magnificent place she had thought
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 25 
 
 the General's house once, when she had 
 been admitted to view the principal rooms, 
 by especial favour of the housekeeper. And 
 now — why, they were nothing compared to 
 Lord Ilfracombe's, the man whom little 
 Hetty had called her ' master.' ' And a 
 very good name for him, too,' thought Miss 
 Llewellyn, as she finished her musings, • for 
 he is my master, body and soul.'
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 At the close of the second act, as she was 
 urging her sister and brother-in-law to take 
 some refreshment, she was disagreeably in- 
 terrupted by hearing a voice which she 
 recognised as that of Mr Portland, a friend 
 of Lord Ilfracombe's. Jack Portland (as he 
 was usually called by his own sex) was a 
 man whom Miss Llewellyn particularly dis- 
 liked, on account of his bad influence over 
 the Earl. He was a well-known betting and 
 sporting man, who lived on the turf, and 
 whose lead Lord Ilfracombe was, unfortu- 
 nately, but too ready to follow. She shrunk 
 back as she encountered him, but Mr Port- 
 land was not easily rebuffed. 
 
 'Ah, Miss Llewellyn,' he exclaimed, as 
 he scrambled over the vacant seats to reach 
 her side, ' is this really you ? I thought I 
 
 recognised you from the stalls, but could 
 
 26
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 27 
 
 hardly believe my eyes. What are you 
 doing in the dress circle ? I have always 
 seen you in a box before.' 
 
 * I am with friends, Mr Portland,' replied 
 Miss Llewellyn, with visible annoyance ; 
 ' and one can see a play like this much better 
 from the circle. We have been enjoying it 
 very much.' 
 
 1 You must be pretty well sick of it by 
 this time, I should think,' returned Mr 
 Portland, with his glass stuck in his eye,' for 
 I've seen you here twice with Ilfracombe 
 already. By the way, how is Ilfracombe? 
 When did you hear from him last ? ' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn was on thorns. 
 
 'Will you excuse me, Mr Portland,' she said, 
 with a face of crimson, ' but I and my friends 
 were just going to have some ices at the buffet. 
 
 ' By Jove, but you won't ! ' exclaimed the 
 officious Portland. * I will send them to you. 
 How many do you want ? Three?' 
 
 1 Yes, three if you please,' answered Miss 
 Llewellyn, who saw no other way of getting 
 rid of her tormentor, and dreaded what he 
 might say before her sister.
 
 2 8 A Ba7ikrupt Heart. 
 
 'Who is that gentleman, Nell ?' inquired 
 Hetty as soon as his back was turned. 
 
 1 No one in particular,' said the other, 
 * only an acquaintance of Lord Ilfracombe's. 
 Don't take any notice of him, Hetty. He 
 talks a lot of nonsense.' 
 
 She was praying all the time that Mr 
 Portland, having given his orders to the 
 waiter, might see he was not wanted, and 
 go back to his stall. But he was not the 
 sort of man who gives something for nothing. 
 He meant to be paid for the attention, 
 though in his own coin. The waiter soon 
 appeared bearing the tray of ices and wafers, 
 and in his train came Mr Jack Portland, 
 smiling as if he knew his welcome was 
 assured. 
 
 * I 've got you Neapolitan, Miss Llewellyn, 
 you see. I remembered that Ilfracombe 
 always orders Neapolitan. By the way, you 
 never told me the contents of his last letter. 
 He's very gay at Malta I hear. Always 
 with those Abingers. Have you heard of 
 the Abingers ? He's the admiral there. 
 By George, Miss Llewellyn, I'd recall
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 29 
 
 Ilfracombe if I were you. Send him home 
 orders, you know. He's been out there 
 quite long enough, don't you think so ? ' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn saw that Hetty and Wil- 
 liam were listening with open eyes to this 
 discourse, and did not know how to stop Mr 
 Portland's tongue. She would fain have got rid 
 of him altogether, but of the two evils she chose 
 what seemed to her the least. She lowered 
 her voice, and begged him to cease his re- 
 marks on Lord Ilfracombe till they were alone. 
 
 1 That's the way the land lies,' he replied, 
 with a wink in the direction of Hetty. ' All 
 right, mum's the word ! How deucedly 
 handsome you are looking to-night,' he added 
 in a lower voice, as he brought his bloated 
 face in close proximity to hers. ' Tell you 
 what, Miss Llewellyn, Ilfracombe's a fool ! — a 
 d — d fool, by George ! to leave such a face 
 and figure as yours, whilst he goes gallivanting 
 after a set of noodles at Malta ! ' 
 
 At this remark Nell flushed indignantly, 
 and, turning her back on the intruder, directed 
 her attention to her sister, upon which Mr 
 Portland, with a familiar nod, and an easy
 
 30 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 good-night, took himself away. As soon as 
 he was out of hearing Hetty pestered Nell 
 to tell her his name, and to confess if he was 
 anything to her. 
 
 1 1 can't say I think he's handsome,' she 
 said, with a little moue y ' his face is so red, and 
 he stares so ; but do tell me the truth, Nell. 
 Is he your young man ? ' 
 
 1 My young man ? Gracious, no, child ! 
 Why, I hate the fellow ! I think he is the 
 most odious, impertinent, presuming person 
 I know ! But he is a friend of Lord Ilfra- 
 combe's, so I am obliged to be civil to him.' 
 
 ' Ah, well, I wish you had a young man, 
 Nell, all the same. Mother would be so glad 
 to hear you were thinking of getting married. 
 She often says that it is high time you were 
 settled, and that you're far too handsome to 
 be single in London, for that it's a dread- 
 ful dangerous place for girls, and especially if 
 they're good looking. She would be pleased 
 to hear you were keeping company with any- 
 one that could keep you like a lady.' 
 
 ' But I'm not, Hetty, dear, nor likely to be, 
 so you mustn't get any ideas of that sort into
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 3 1 
 
 your head. But let us attend to what is going 
 on. I hope Will and you are enjoying your- 
 selves.' 
 
 ' Oh, lovely ! ' said Hetty, with a sigh of 
 ineffable content. 
 
 But Miss Llewellyn had not got rid of Mr 
 Portland yet. As she was pushing her way 
 out of the corridor when the play was over, 
 she found him again by her side. 
 
 1 Will you be at home to-morrow, Miss 
 Llewellyn ? ' he asked in a low voice. 
 
 ' I believe so. Why ? ' 
 
 4 Because I particularly want to speak to 
 you. May I call about three ? ' 
 
 1 Certainly, if you really wish to speak to 
 me ; but I cannot imagine what you can have 
 to say that you cannot say now ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, that would be quite impossible, 7 re- 
 joined Mr Portland, looking her straight in 
 the eyes ; ' I couldn't even explain what my 
 business with you is, but you shall hear all 
 about it if you will be so good as to receive 
 me about three.' 
 
 1 I shall be at home,' replied Miss Llewel- 
 lyn coldly, as she pushed her way out into
 
 32 A Bankrttpt Heart. 
 
 j 
 
 the street and entered a passing cab with her 
 companions. 
 
 ' I shall call for you both to-morrow about 
 six o'clock, Hetty,' she said, as she deposited 
 them at the door of their lodgings, ' and take 
 you to the Alhambra. You'll see something 
 there more beautiful than you have ever seen 
 before.' 
 
 1 Oh, Nell, you are good ! ' cried her sister ; 
 ' and what a lot of money you must receive. 
 It makes me wish that I, too, had come up to 
 London town when you did, and gone to ser- 
 vice, for then I might have saved some money 
 to help Will furnish our rooms. I brought 
 him nothing, you know, Nell — not even a 
 penny, It seems so sad, doesn't it ? ' 
 
 ' What nonsense ! ' replied Miss Llewellyn. 
 ' You brought him your true, pure heart and 
 your honest soul, and they are worth all the 
 money in the world, Hetty, and I am sure 
 William thinks the same. Good-night. We 
 shall meet again to-morrow.' 
 
 And with a wave of her hand, she drove 
 away to Grosvenor Square. 
 
 Her maid was waiting up for her, all con-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. ^>Z 
 
 sternation to find she had left the house with- 
 out calling in her assistance. 
 
 ' Dear me, ma'am ! ' she exclaimed, as she 
 knelt down on the floor of Miss Llewellyn's 
 bedroom to unbutton her dainty boots, 'to 
 think you could go out, and me not to 
 dress you. When John told me you had left 
 the house, and not even taken the carriage, 
 you might have knocked me down with a 
 feather. And in this dress and mantle, too ! 
 Dear, dear, wherever did you go ? Not to 
 the theatre, surely ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, I did,' responded her mistress. ' I 
 took some young friends from the country 
 with me to the Adelphi ; and you see, 
 Susan, the fact is, they are not used to 
 fashionable dressing, so I thought I would 
 not make them feel uncomfortable by being 
 smarter than themselves/ 
 
 ■ Many ladies think the same/ remarked 
 the maid ; ' though I don't hold with it, for 
 it's a real pleasure to look at such dresses as 
 yours, even if one can't have 'em for oneself.' 
 
 She spoke rather more familiarly than ser- 
 vants usually do to their mistresses, for she 
 vol. i. c
 
 34 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 knew perfectly well, though she dared not say 
 so openly, that Miss Llewellyn was not a 
 gentlewoman any more than herself, but it was, 
 she thought, to her profit to appear to think so. 
 The Court favourite is generally the object of 
 adulation and sycophancy until her reign is 
 over. But Ellen Llewellyn had been accustomed 
 to subservience for so long now that she had 
 almost forgotten that it was not hers by right. 
 It was only at times that the truth was borne 
 in upon her that she held the luxuries of life on 
 an uncertain tenure. Her maid undressed 
 her, and put her blue cashmere dressing-gown 
 about her shoulders, and would have hovered 
 around her for an indefinite period, chattering 
 of every bit of news she had heard that day, 
 but Miss Llewellyn was in no mood to indulge 
 her, and dismissed her at last rather abruptly. 
 She wanted to be alone to ponder over the 
 surprise she had had that afternoon — to dream 
 again of Panty-cuckoo Farm ; to wonder how 
 the dear old garden looked under the July sun ; 
 if her mother had aged much during the last 
 five years; whether her father's figure was more 
 bent and his steps feebler — above all, she
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 35 
 
 wanted to communicate her thoughts to some- 
 one who would sympathise with them. She 
 felt too excited to rest, so she took up her pen 
 again and finished the letter in the writing of 
 which she had been interrupted that afternoon 
 by her sister's arrival. 
 
 ' I had written thus far, my dearest, when I 
 was interrupted by the appearance of my little 
 sister Hetty, from Usk, and her husband, 
 William Owen, when I never even knew that 
 they were married. Oh, Ilfracombe, I was so 
 surprised ! They have come up to town for 
 their wedding trip expressly to see me, so I 
 felt compelled to show them some attention. 
 But I was so nervous ! I hurried them out of 
 the house as soon as I could, and took them 
 to the Adelphi ; and there, who should spy us 
 out but Mr Portland, who would keep on talk- 
 ing to me of you till I was fairly obliged to 
 run away from him. What a fool he must be 
 to speak so openly before strangers. I could 
 have boxed his ears ! Oh, I never feel safe 
 or happy except when I am by your side. 
 How very glad I shall be when you come 
 home again. Then you will take me up to
 
 2,6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 Abergeldie with you for the shooting, won't 
 you ? Till then I shall not stir. How could 
 I enjoy myself at a watering-place all alone ? 
 I have seen nothing of Mr Sterndale yet, and 
 cannot imagine what he should have to say to 
 me. We never had much in common ; indeed, 
 I regularly dislike him. He always looks at 
 me so suspiciously as if he thought I was a 
 wretched harpy, like some women we know of, 
 and cared for nothing but your money and 
 your title. Instead of which I love you so 
 dearly that I could almost wish you were a 
 ruined costermonger, Ilfracombe, instead of 
 the grand gentleman you are, that I might 
 prove my love by working for you and with 
 you. Ah, if I only could do something to 
 return all your goodness to me ; but it is hope- 
 less, and will never be. You are too high 
 above me. All I can do is to love you/ 
 
 And with much more in this strain the letter 
 ended. The excitement that had been en- 
 gendered in Nell by seeing friends from home 
 had been continued by writing her feelings to 
 the man she loved ; but now that it was over, 
 and she lay down on her bed, the natural re-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 37 
 
 action set in, and she turned her beautiful face 
 on her pillow and shed a few quiet tears. 
 
 1 Oh, how I wish Ilfracombe were here,' she 
 sobbed. ' He has been away four months 
 now, and my life is a desert without him. It 
 is hardly bearable. And if Hetty or William 
 should hear — if by chance anyone who knows 
 it, like that officious Jack Portland, should 
 come across them and mention it, and they 
 should tell mother, it would break her heart 
 and mine too. If he would only have the 
 courage to end it, and do what's right. But 
 it's too much to expect. I must not think of 
 such a thing. I have always known it was 
 impossible. And I am as certain as I am 
 that there is a heaven that he will never for- 
 sake me ; he has said it so often. I am as 
 secure as if I were really his wife. Only this 
 world is so hard — so bitterly, bitterly hard ! ' 
 
 And so Nell cried herself to sleep. 
 
 But the next morning she was as bright and 
 as gloriously beautiful as ever, and when she 
 descended to breakfast the butler and footman 
 waited on her as assiduously as if she had 
 been a countess, and the coachman sent up to
 
 38 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 her for orders concerning the carriage, and 
 the cook submitted the menu for that day's 
 dinner for her approval. As soon as her 
 breakfast was concluded she gave an interview 
 to Lord Ilfracombe's stud groom, and went 
 with him into the forage and stable accounts, 
 detecting several errors that he had passed 
 over, and consulting him as to whether his 
 master might not, with some benefit to him- 
 self, try another corn merchant. So much 
 had she had identified herself with all the 
 earl's interests that she more than once used 
 the plural pronoun in speaking of the high 
 prices quoted to her. 
 
 1 This wiil never do, Farningham,' she said 
 once ; * we cannot afford to go on with Field 
 at this rate. His charges are enough to ruin 
 a millionaire. With four horses here, and 
 eleven down at Thistlemere, we shall have 
 nothing left to feed ourselves soon.' 
 
 1 Very well, ma'am,' replied the man, ■ I'll 
 get the price list from two or three other corn 
 merchants, and submit them to you. I don't 
 fancy you'll find much difference, though, in 
 their prices. You see, with the long drought
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 39 
 
 we have had this season, hay has risen terribly, 
 and oats ain't much better ; they're so poor 
 I've had to increase the feeds. Will his lord- 
 ship be home for the hunting, ma'am ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, yes, I hope so sincerely, Farningham. 
 He says he shall miss the grouse this year ; 
 but I quite expect him for the partridge-shoot- 
 ing. And after that he is sure to go down to 
 Thistlemere for the hunting season. He 
 couldn't live without his horses for long, Far- 
 ningham/ 
 
 * No, ma'am, he's a true nobleman for that is 
 his lordship, and I guessed as much ; but I'm 
 glad to hear you say so, for there's no heart in 
 getting horses in first-rate order if no one's to 
 see 'em or use 'em. Good morning, ma'am, 
 and I hope we shall see his lordship soon 
 again, for all our sakes,' which hope Miss 
 Llewellyn heartily echoed.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The morning was beautiful, though very 
 warm, and Miss Llewellyn thought she could 
 not spend it better than in taking a long 
 drive. She felt as if she could not stay in 
 the house. Some intuitive dread or fear, she 
 knew not which, possessed her — as if she 
 had an enemy in ambush, and anticipated an 
 assault. When she tried to analyse this feel- 
 ing, she laid it to the proximity of her rela- 
 tions and the possibility of their hearing 
 more of her domestic life than she wished 
 them to know. 
 
 1 But it is all because Ilfracombe is not at 
 home,' she said to herself. ' If he were here, 
 he would laugh me out of such a piece of 
 folly. As if they possibly could hear. Who 
 could tell them, when they know no one in 
 London. I am a silly fool.' 
 
 When she entered the open carriage, and 
 
 4 o
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 41 
 
 the footman attended her orders, she told 
 him to drive as far into the country as 
 possible. 
 
 ' Tell Jenkins to go right away from town, 
 up to Hampstead, or out to Barnes. I want 
 all the fresh air I can get.' 
 
 So she was carried swiftly towards Wimble- 
 don, and had soon left the hot bricks and mor- 
 tar behind her, and was revelling in the sight 
 of green hedges and stretches of common. 
 
 * How fresh and sweet it all seems,' she 
 thought ; ' but not half so fresh and sweet as 
 round Usk and by dear Panty-cuckoo Farm. 
 How luscious the honeysuckle used to smell, 
 that trailed over the porch by the side door. 
 And how thickly it grew. I used to tear off 
 the blossoms by thousands to suck their 
 petals. And the apple orchard, it was a 
 mass of white and pink flowers in spring, 
 like a bridal bouquet. They must have all 
 fallen by this time, and left the little green 
 apples in their stead. What a thief I was 
 in my early days. I can remember lanky 
 Hugh Owen catching me robbing Mr Potter's 
 plum tree, and the long-winded lecture he
 
 42 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 gave me on the rights of meum and tuum. 
 I wonder if the sermons he preaches now 
 are as prosy and as long. If so, I pity his 
 congregation. He was always so terribly in 
 earnest. What would he say if he knew all 
 about me now ? ' 
 
 And here Miss Llewellyn's thoughts took 
 a rather melancholy turn, and she sat in the 
 carriage with folded arms, hardly noticing the 
 rural scenes through which she was passing, 
 as her memory went back to her girlhood's 
 days and her girlhood's companions. She did 
 not notice the time either, until a church clock 
 struck two, and reminded her that she had 
 had no luncheon. She gave the order for 
 home then, but it was nearly three before she 
 reached Grosvenor Square, and the first words 
 the footman, who opened the door to her, said, 
 were to the effect that Mr Portland was wait- 
 ing for her in the drawing-room. Nell started. 
 She had entirely forgotten the appointment of 
 the day before, 
 
 1 In the drawing-room, did you say ?' she 
 ejaculated. ' I will go to him at once.' 
 
 ' Luncheon is on the table, madam,' added
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 43 
 
 the servant ; * shall I tell them to take it 
 downstairs till you are ready ? ' 
 
 'It is not worth while,' replied Miss 
 Llewellyn, ' I shall only be a few minutes/ 
 
 She walked straight up to the drawing- 
 room as she spoke, throwing the hat she had 
 worn on a side table as she entered. 
 
 1 1 am sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr 
 Portland,' she said as he held out his hand to 
 her, ■ but I have been for a country drive, 
 and quite forgot the time.' 
 
 'That is a very cruel speech, Miss 
 Llewellyn,' remonstrated her visitor; 'and 
 when I have been counting the moments till 
 we should meet.' 
 
 Jack Portland was always a ' horsey ' look- 
 ing man, and it struck Nell that to-day he 
 seemed more horsey than usual. By birth, 
 he was a gentleman ; but, like many other 
 gentlemen by birth, he had degraded himself 
 by a life of dissipation, till he had lost nearly 
 all claim to the title. His features, good 
 enough in themselves, were swollen and 
 bloated by indulgence in drink ; his manners 
 were forward and repulsive ; he had lost all
 
 44 A Bankrupt Heai't. 
 
 respect for women, and only regarded them 
 as expensive animals who cost, as a rule, 
 much more than they were worth. To Nell 
 he had always been most offensive, not in 
 words, but looks and manners, and she was 
 only decently civil to him for the earl's sake. 
 Now, as he seemed disposed to approach her 
 side, she got further and further away from 
 him, till she had reached a sofa at the other 
 end of the room. Mr Portland was ' got-up 
 in the flashiest style, but was evidently 
 nervous, though she could not imagine why. 
 His suit was cut in the latest racing fashion, 
 and he wore an enormous ' buttonhole/ 
 But his florid face was more flushed than 
 usual, and he kept fidgeting with his watch 
 chain in a curious manner. At last he found 
 his tongue. 
 
 'Were you very much surprised when I 
 asked you for an interview, Miss Llewellyn ?' 
 he commenced. 
 
 ' I was, rather. Because I cannot think 
 what you can possibly have to say to me. 
 We have but one subject of interest in 
 common — Ilfracombe — and he is quite well
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 45 
 
 and happy. Else, I might have frightened 
 myself by imagining you had some bad news 
 to tell me concerning him.' 
 
 Jack Portland looked at her rather curi- 
 ously as he replied, — 
 
 4 Oh, no, the old chap's all right. How 
 often do you hear from him now? Every 
 day. Is that the ticket? ' 
 
 1 1 hear constantly/ replied Miss 
 Llewellyn in a dignified tone. ' I had a 
 letter yesterday. I was in hopes he might 
 have fixed the date of his return, but he says 
 his friends will not be persuaded to let him 
 go, so that he shall be detained in Malta 
 longer than he expected.' 
 
 * Ah ! his friends are the Abingers, of 
 course/ said Mr Portland, sticking his glass 
 in his eye, the better to observe her features. 
 
 * Perhaps. He did not mention them by 
 name/ she replied, ' but I daresay you are 
 right. However, he is sure to be home for 
 the pheasant-shooting.' 
 
 ' Doubtless,' replied Mr Portland, 
 4 unless his friends persuade him to go 
 somewhere else. But what are you
 
 46 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 going to do with yourself meanwhile, Miss 
 Llewellyn ? ' 
 
 1 I ? Oh, I shall remain in town till his 
 return, and then I suppose we shall go to the 
 Highlands as usual. Ilfracombe wants me 
 to go away at once to some watering-place 
 to recruit, but I should be wretched there by 
 myself. I shall wait for him at home. He 
 is sure to come straight to London, because 
 all his things are here/ 
 
 She was looking as handsome as paint 
 that day. The long drive had tinged her 
 face with a soft pink, and her lovely hazel 
 eyes were humid with emotion, engendered 
 by her subject. Her rich hair had become 
 somewhat disordered by the open air and 
 the haste with which she had removed her 
 hat, and was ruffled and untidy. But that 
 only added to her charms. What pretty 
 woman ever looked so well with neatly 
 arranged hair, as when it is rumpled and 
 blown about ? She was half sitting, half 
 reclining on the sofa, and her fine figure was 
 shewn to the best advantage. Portland's 
 eyes glistened as he gazed at her. What a
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 47 
 
 handsome hostess she would make — what a 
 presider over the destinies of his bachelor 
 establishment ! How proud he would be to 
 introduce her to his sporting and Bohemian 
 friends — the only friends whom he affected, 
 and be able to tell them that this glorious 
 creature was his own ! He became so ex- 
 cited by the idea that he dashed into the 
 subject rather suddenly. 
 
 ' Miss Llewellyn,' he said, ' you are aware, 
 I think, of my position in life. Ilfracombe, 
 dear old chap, has doubtless told you that I 
 make a very neat little income, and that I 
 am perfectly unencumbered.' 
 
 This seemingly vague address made her 
 stare. 
 
 ' He has never entered into details with 
 me, Mr Portland ; but I have heard him say 
 you are very well off — the luckiest fellow he 
 knows he called you.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid I'm not quite that,' said Mr 
 Portland ; ' but still I am in a position to give 
 any reasonable woman everything she can 
 possibly require. My income is pretty regu- 
 lar, and I would engage to make a handsome
 
 48 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 allowance to any lady who honoured me 
 with her preference. I tell you this because 
 Ilfracombe has often told me that you have 
 an excellent head for business. By George ! ' 
 said Mr Portland, again screwing his glass 
 into his unhappy and long-suffering eye, 'with 
 such beauty as yours, you have no right to 
 know anything about business ; still, if you 
 do — there you are, you see ! ' 
 
 ' But what has all this to do with me, Mr 
 Portland,' remarked Miss Llewellyn with a 
 puzzled air. ' I am sure any lady you may 
 choose to marry will be a very lucky woman. 
 Ilfracombe has often called you the best 
 fellow he knows. But why should you tell 
 me this ? Are you already engaged to be 
 married ? ' 
 
 1 By Jove ! no, and not likely to be. Do 
 I look like a marrying man, Miss Llewellyn ? 
 But there ! — I can't beat about the bush any 
 longer ! You must have seen my admira- 
 tion — my worship for you! It is on you 
 my choice has fallen ! Say that I have not 
 been too presumptuous ; that you will con- 
 sent to share my fortune ; that you will, in
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 49 
 
 fact, look as kindly on me as you have on 
 my. fortunate friend, Ilfracombe? ' 
 
 At first she did not understand his mean- 
 ing ; she did not realise that this farrago of 
 nonsense had been addressed to herself. It 
 was so entirely unexpected, so utterly un- 
 thought of. But when she did take in the 
 meaning of his words, when she awoke to 
 the knowledge that Mr Portland, the inti- 
 mate friend of Lord Ilfracombe, had dared to 
 offer her his protection, Nell sprung from 
 her position on the sofa, and retreated to the 
 back of it. Her tawny eyes were blazing 
 with fire, her hands were clenched, her 
 breast heaved violently, she could hardly 
 speak. Under the indignation of her burn- 
 ing glances, the man before her seemed to 
 shrivel like a dry leaf before the flame. 
 
 ' How dare you ? ' she panted. ' How dare 
 you insult me like that ? What do you 
 mean ? How can I be your friend, or the 
 friend of any man but Ilfracombe ? I am his 
 wife ; you know I am ; and shall be till I die ! ' 
 
 'His wife? pooh!' said Jack Portland, 
 ' don't talk rubbish to me like that.' 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 1 Yes, his wife ! How can I be more his 
 wife than I am ? I love him — he loves me ! 
 We are essentially one in heart and word and 
 deed. What could a marriage ceremony have 
 done more for us, than our mutual love has 
 done. And then you> who know all this, 
 who have known us so many years, you 
 dare to come here and insult me, in my own 
 house, and under the pretence of friendship 
 deal the deadliest insult you could possibly 
 have hurled at my head ! Oh, how I wish 
 Ilfracombe had been at home to protect me 
 from your insolence ! He would not have 
 let you finish your cowardly sentence ! You 
 would not have dared utter it had he been 
 standing by ! He would have taken you by 
 the collar and spurned you from the door. 
 I have no words in which to tell you how I 
 despise you ; how low and mean a thing 
 you seem to me ; how I wish I were a 
 man that I might put you out of this room 
 and this house myself! But rest assured 
 that Lord Ilfracombe shall hear of your base- 
 ness, and will punish you as you deserve ! ' 
 
 Jack Portland still kept his glass fixed in
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 5 1 
 
 his eye and stared insolently at her. He 
 had elevated his brows once or twice as 
 she proceeded with her speech, and shrugged 
 his shoulders, as if she were not worth a 
 second thought of his ; and as she men- 
 tioned her lover's name he smiled scornfully 
 and waved his hand. 
 
 * Pray don't take it in this fashion,' he said, 
 as she concluded. ' I am sure Ilfracombe 
 would tell you it was not worth making such 
 a fuss about. As for insulting you, that is 
 the last idea in my mind. I admire you far 
 too much. Most ladies would, I flatter my- 
 self, have regarded my offer in a totally 
 different light ; indeed, no reasonable person 
 could say that it was an insult, especially 
 from a man of my birth and position.' 
 
 1 It becomes an insult,' she answered hotly, 
 ' when you address your proposals to the wife 
 of another man, and that man your greatest 
 friend.' 
 
 1 Perhaps it would, if she were his wife, 
 or ever likely to be so,' returned Mr Portland, 
 with a sneer. 
 
 1 But I a?n, I am' cried Nell passionately, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 IS LIBRARY!
 
 52 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 stamping her feet, 'and each fresh word 
 you say is a fresh affront. People with your 
 low conceptions of life cannot understand the 
 strength of the tie between Ilfracombe and my- 
 self, because it has not been ratified by the law. 
 You are not honourable enough to see that 
 that very fact renders it still more binding 
 on a man of honour. Ilfracombe would die 
 sooner than part from me, and I would die 
 a thousand deaths sooner than part from 
 him. Our lives are bound up in each 
 other. And even if it were not so, I could 
 never exchange him for you. Now, do you 
 understand, or must I say it all over again ? ' 
 Under the sting of what his proposal had 
 suggested to her, she was blazing away at 
 him with twice her natural ferocity. At that 
 moment she hated him with such a deadly 
 hatred for having presumed to remind her 
 of the real position she held, that she could 
 gladly have killed him. 
 
 ' Pray say no more ! ' exclaimed Mr Port- 
 land, as he prepared to leave her, 'you've 
 said more than enough, my pretty tigress, 
 already ; but the day may come when you
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 53 
 
 will regret that you treated my offer with so 
 much disdain. Young men's fancies do not 
 last for ever, my dear, and a good, sound 
 settlement is worth many vows. If Ilfra- 
 combe ever tires of you (or rather let me 
 say when he tires of you), you will remember 
 my words. Meanwhile, luckily for me, there 
 are as good fish in the sea as ever came out 
 of it. So good-bye, my handsome fury. 
 Won't you give me one kiss before we part, 
 just to show there's no ill feeling? No? 
 Well, I must try to do without it then, for 
 the present at least, and hope for better 
 luck next time. Remember me to old Ilfra- 
 combe when next you write. Ta-ta.' 
 
 He lingered near her for a moment, as 
 though expecting she would raise her eyes 
 or put out her hand ; but Nell did neither, 
 and, after a while, he turned on his heel, 
 and, insolently humming a tune, went on his 
 way. 
 
 As soon as Miss Llewellyn heard the hall 
 door close after him, she rushed up to her 
 own room, and, after locking the door, threw 
 herself on the sofa, face downwards, and
 
 54 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 sobbed and cried in the strength of her 
 wounded feelings and the terrible doubt 
 which Mr Portland's words had seemed to 
 imply. The servants came knocking at her 
 door, and worrying her to come down to 
 luncheon, which was getting cold, in the 
 dining-room, but she would not stir nor speak 
 to any of them. 
 
 It was the first time since her acquaintance 
 with the Earl of Ilfracombe that the untena- 
 bility of her illegal position had been brought 
 so forcibly before her, and she felt all the 
 more angry because she had no right to feel 
 angry at all. She believed implicitly in her 
 lover. She had accepted his assurances of 
 fidelity as gospel truth, and she was passion- 
 ately indignant and sorely outraged because 
 Mr Portland had not considered the tie be- 
 tween her and his friend as inviolable as she 
 did. And yet she was not Lord Ilfracombe's 
 wife. Beautiful Nell Llewellyn knew this 
 only too well as she lay on the couch, sob- 
 bing as if her heart would break. Say what 
 women will in these days of misrule about 
 the charms of liberty, and the horror of being
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 55 
 
 enchained for life, there is a comfortable 
 sense of security in knowing oneself to be 
 honourably united to the man one loves ; to 
 have no need of concealment or mis-stating 
 facts ; no necessity of avoiding one's fellow 
 men ; no fear of encountering insult from 
 one's inferiors in birth and morals, because 
 one does not wear a wedding-ring upon one's 
 finger — that insignia of possession which is 
 so insignificant and yet so powerful. What 
 would poor Nell Llewellyn not have given 
 to have had one upon her finger now ? 
 
 How terrible is the first dread of the in- 
 stability of the love on which one has fixed 
 all one's earthly hopes ! Had her lover been 
 within reach, Nell would have rushed to him 
 with the story of her trouble, and received 
 a consolatory reassurance of his affection at 
 once. But she was alone. She could con- 
 fide in no one, and Mr Portland's proposal, 
 having made her see in what light men of the 
 world regarded her tie to Lord Ilfracombe, 
 had made her heart question if they could be 
 correct, and he looked on it as they did. 
 Her passionate nature, which was not formed
 
 56 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 for patience or long - suffering or humility, 
 cried out against the suspense to which it 
 was subjected, and raised such violent emo- 
 tions in her breast that by the time they were 
 exhausted she was quite ill. When at last 
 she raised herself from her downcast position 
 on the sofa, and tried, with swollen eyes and 
 throbbing brain, to collect her thoughts, she 
 found to her dismay that it was past five 
 o'clock, and she had promised to call for 
 Hetty and her husband at six. Her first 
 thought was to remove the traces of her 
 tears. She could not bear that the servants 
 should see that she had been crying. She 
 would never let them perceive that her posi- 
 tion in the house cost her any anxiety or 
 remorse, but bore herself bravely in their 
 presence as their mistress, who had not a 
 thought of ever being otherwise. As soon as 
 she had bathed her eyes and arranged her 
 hair, Miss Llewellyn sat down at a davenport 
 that stood by her sofa and scribbled a note 
 to Hetty, enclosing her the seats for the 
 Alhambra for that evening, and excusing 
 herself from accompanying them on the score
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 57 
 
 of a violent attack of neuralgia. Then she 
 rung the bell for her maid, and desired her 
 to send the letter at once to Oxford Street 
 by hand. 
 
 1 One of the grooms can go on horseback/ 
 she said, 'or James can take a hansom ; but 
 it must be delivered as soon as possible. And 
 then you can bring me a cup of coffee, Susan, 
 for I have such a headache that I can hardly 
 open my eyes.' 
 
 * Lor' ! yes, ma'am, you do look bad ! ' re- 
 turned the servant. ' Your eyes are quite 
 red-like, as if they was inflamed. You must 
 have caught cold last night. I thought you 
 would, staying out so late, and without the 
 carriage.' 
 
 1 Well, never mind, go and do as I tell you/ 
 replied Miss Llewellyn, who felt as if she 
 could not endure her chatter one moment 
 longer. 
 
 It was characteristic of this woman that what 
 had occurred had planted far less dread of the 
 insecurity of the position she held in her mind 
 than a deep sense of the insult that had been 
 offered to her love and Lord Ilfracombe's.
 
 58 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 She felt it on his account, more than on her 
 own — that anyone should have dared so to 
 question his honour, and suspect his con- 
 stancy. Hers was so ardent and generous a 
 temperament, that where she gave, she gave 
 all, and without a question if she should gain 
 or lose by the transaction. She loved the 
 man whom she regarded as her husband with 
 the very deepest feelings she possessed ; it is 
 not too much to say that she adored him, for 
 he was so much above her, in rank and birth 
 and station, that she looked up to him as a 
 god — the only god, indeed, that poor Nell 
 had learned to acknowledge. He was her 
 world — her all ! That they should ever be 
 separated never entered into her calculations. 
 He had been struck with her unusual beauty, 
 three years before, and taken her from a 
 very lowly position as nursemaid to be his 
 housekeeper — then, by degrees, the rest had 
 followed. All Lord Ilfracombe's friends 
 knew and admired her, and considered him a 
 deuced lucky fellow to have secured such 
 a goddess to preside over his bachelor 
 establishment. Naturally, the elder ones
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 59 
 
 said it was a pity, and it was to be hoped 
 that Lord Ilfracombe's eyes would be opened 
 before long to the necessity of marriage 
 and an heir to the fine old estate and title. 
 Especially did his father's old friend and 
 adviser, Mr Sterndale, lament over the con- 
 nection, and try by every means in his power 
 to persuade Ilfracombe to dissolve it. But 
 the earl was of a careless and frivolous 
 nature — easily led in some things, and very 
 blind as yet to the necessity of marriage. 
 Besides, he loved Nell — not as she loved 
 him by any manner of means, but in an 
 indolent, indulgent fashion, which granted 
 her all her desires, and gave her as much 
 money as she knew what to do with. But 
 had he been asked if he would marry her, he 
 would have answered decidedly, ' No.'
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Meantime the golden hours were slipping 
 away in a very agreeable manner for Lord 
 Ilfracombeat Malta. He had been accustomed 
 to spend several weeks of each summer yacht- 
 ing with a few chosen companions, and as soon 
 as his little yacht, Debutante, had anchored in 
 view of Valetta, a score of husbands, fathers 
 and brothers had scrambled aboard, carrying 
 a score of invitations for the newcomer from 
 their womankind. A young, good-looking 
 and unmarried earl was not so common a 
 visitor to Malta as to be allowed to consider 
 himself neglected, and before Lord Ilfra- 
 combe and his friends had been located a 
 week in Valetta, they were the lions of the 
 place, each family vying with the other to do 
 them honour. Naturally, the earl was pretty 
 
 well used to that sort of thing, especially as 
 
 60
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 61 
 
 he had enjoyed his title for the last ten years. 
 There is such an ingrained snobbishness in 
 the English nature, that it is only necessary 
 to have a handle to one's name to get off 
 scot-free, whatever one may do. There was 
 a divorce case, not so very long ago, which 
 was as flagrant as such a case could well be ; 
 but where the titled wife came off triumphant, 
 simply because the titled husband had been 
 as immoral as herself. The lady had money 
 and the lady had good looks — how far they 
 went to salve over the little errors of which 
 she had been accused it is impossible to say, 
 but the bulk of the public forgave her, and 
 the parsons prayed over her, and she is to be 
 met everywhere, and usually surrounded by 
 a clique of adoring tuft hunters. Sometimes 
 I have wondered, had she been plain Mrs 
 Brown, instead of Lady Marcus Marengo, if 
 the satellites would have continued to revolve 
 so faithfully. But in sweet, simple Christian 
 England, a title, even a borrowed one, covers 
 a multitude of sins. The Earl of Ilfracombe 
 had naturally not been left to find out this 
 truth for herself, but to give him his due, it
 
 62 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 had never affected him in the least. He 
 despised servility, though, like most of his 
 sex, he was open to flattery — the flattery of 
 deeds, not words. Amongst the many 
 families who threw wide their doors to him 
 in Malta was that of Admiral Sir Richard 
 Abinger, who had been stationed there for 
 many years. Sir Richard was a regular 
 family man. He had married sons and 
 daughters ; a bevy of girls on their promo- 
 tion ; and a nursery of little ones. The 
 Abinger girls, as they were called, were an 
 institution in Valetta. On account of their 
 father's professional duties, and their mother's 
 constant occupation with her younger chil- 
 dren, they were allowed to go about a great 
 deal alone, and had become frank and fear- 
 less, and very well able to take care of them- 
 selves in consequence. They personally con- 
 ducted Lord Ilfracombe and his friends to see 
 everything worth seeing in Malta, and a con- 
 siderable intimacy was the result. There were 
 three sisters of the respective ages of eighteen, 
 twenty and twenty-two, and it was the 
 middle one of these three, Leonora, or Nora,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 63 
 
 as she was generally called, who attracted 
 Lord Ufracombe most. She was not exactly 
 pretty, but graceful and piquant. Her com- 
 plexion was pale. Her eyes brown and not 
 very large ; her nose sharp and inclined to be 
 long ; her mouth of an ordinary size, but her 
 teeth ravishingly white and regular. A con- 
 noisseur, summing up her perfections, would 
 have totalled them by pronouncing her to have 
 long eyelashes, well-marked eyebrows, good 
 teeth and red lips. But Nora Abinger's chief 
 charm did not lie in physical attractions. To 
 many it would not have counted as a charm at 
 all. They would have set it down as a decided 
 disqualification. This was her freedom of 
 speech ; her quickness of repartee ; her sense 
 of the ridiculous ; and her power of sustain- 
 ing a conversation. Young men of the 
 present day, who find their greatest pleasure 
 in associating with women whom they would 
 not dare introduce to their mothers and 
 sisters, are apt to become rather dumb when 
 they find themselves in respectable society. 
 This had been much the case hitherto with 
 the Earl of Ufracombe. He had assiduously
 
 64 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 neglected his duties to society (if indeed we 
 do owe any duty to such a mass of corruption 
 and deceit) and had found his pleasure 
 amongst his own sex, and in pursuing the 
 delights of sport, not excepting that of the 
 racing field, on which he had lost, at times, 
 a considerable amount of money. To find 
 that his ignorance of society squibs and 
 fashions, his slowness of speech and ideas, 
 his inability to make jokes, and sometimes 
 even to see them, was no drawback in Nora's 
 eyes, and that she chatted no less glibly 
 because he was silent, raised him in his own 
 estimation. In fact, Nora was a girl who 
 made conversation for her companions. She 
 rubbed up their wits by friction with her 
 own ; and people who had been half an hour 
 in her company felt all the brightness with 
 which she had infused them, and were better 
 pleased with themselves in consequence. 
 Lord Ilfracombe experienced this to the 
 fullest extent. For the first time perhaps 
 in his life he walked and talked with a young 
 lady without feeling himself ill at ease, or 
 with nothing to say. Nora talked with him
 
 A Bankrtcpt Heart. 65 
 
 about Malta and its inhabitants, many of 
 whom she took off to the life for his amuse- 
 ment. She drew him out on the subject of 
 England (which she had not visited since she 
 was a child), and his particular bit of England 
 before all the rest ; made him tell her of his 
 favourite pursuits, and found, strange to say, 
 that they all agreed with her own tastes; and 
 lamented often and openly that there was no 
 chance of her father leaving that abominable, 
 stupid island of which she was so sick. Miss 
 Nora Abinger had indeed determined from 
 the very first to secure the earl if possible for 
 herself. Her two sisters, Mabel and Susan, 
 entertained the same aspiration, but they 
 stood no chance against keen-witted Nora, 
 who was as knowing a young lady as the 
 present century can produce. She was 
 tired to death, as she frankly said, of their 
 family life. The admiral would have been 
 well off if he had not had such a large family ; 
 but thirteen children are enough to try the 
 resources of any profession. Five of the 
 brothers and sisters were married, and should 
 have been independent, but the many ex- 
 vol. 1. E
 
 66 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 penses contingent on matrimony, and the 
 numerous grandchildren with which they 
 annually endowed him, often brought them 
 back in forma pauperis on their father's 
 hands. His nursery offspring, too, would 
 soon be needing education and a return to 
 England, so that Sir Richard had to think 
 twice before he acceded to the requests of 
 his marriageable maidens for ball dresses and 
 pocket-money. All these drawbacks in her 
 domestic life Nora confided, little by little, to 
 her new friend, the earl, until the young man 
 yearned to carry the girl away to England 
 with him and give her all that she desired. 
 He could not help thinking, as he listened to 
 her gay, rattling talk, how splendidly she 
 would do the honours of Thistlemere and 
 Cotswood for him ; what a graceful, elegant } 
 witty countess she would make ; what an 
 attraction for his bachelor friends ; what a 
 hostess to receive the ladies of his family. 
 The upshot was just what might have been 
 expected. Lounging one day on a bench 
 under the shade of the orange-trees which 
 overhang the water's edge, whilst their com-
 
 A .Bankrupt Heart. 6y 
 
 panions had wandered along the quay, Lord 
 Ilfracombe asked her if she would go back to 
 England with him. Nora was secretly de- 
 lighted with the offer, but not at all taken 
 aback. 
 
 4 What do you think ? ' she inquired, look- 
 ing up at him archly with her bright eyes. 
 'You know I've liked you ever since you 
 came here, and if you can manage to pull 
 along with me, I'm sure I can with you.' 
 
 ' Pull along with you, my darling ! ' cried 
 the young man. 'Why, I adore you be- 
 yond anything. I don't know how I should 
 get on now without your bright talk and 
 fascinating ways to cheer my life.' 
 
 ' Well, you'll have to talk to papa about it, 
 you know/ resumed Nora. ' I don't suppose 
 he'll make any objection (he'll be a great fool 
 if he does), still there's just the chance of it, 
 so I can't say anything for certain till you've 
 seen him. He's awfully particular, very reli- 
 gious, you know, and always says he'd rather 
 marry us to parsons without a halfpenny, 
 than dukes who were not all they ought to 
 be. But that may be all talkee - talkee !
 
 68 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 Though I hope you're a good boy, all the 
 same, for my own sake ! ' 
 
 1 Oh, I'm an awfully good boy,' replied 
 Lord Ilfracombe. * This is the very first 
 offer I ever made a girl in my life, and if 
 you won't have me, Nora, it will be the last. 
 Say you like me a little, darling, whatever 
 papa may say.' 
 
 1 I do like you ever so much, and I 
 don't believe there'll be any hitch in the 
 matter.' 
 
 * But if there were — if your father has any 
 objection to me as a son-in-law — will that 
 make you break with me, Nora ? ' 
 
 1 Of course not. There's my hand on it ! 
 But I don't see how we are to get married in 
 this poky little place without his consent. 
 But there — don't let us think of such a thing. 
 He'll give it fast enough. But we had better 
 go home now and get the matter over at 
 once.' 
 
 1 You'll give me one kiss before we go, 
 Nora,' pleaded Ilfracombe ; ' no one can see 
 us here. Just one, to prove you love 
 me ! '
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 69 
 
 1 Out in the open ! ' cried the girl, with 
 comical dismay. ' Oh, Lord Ilfracombe, what 
 are you thinking of? You don't know what 
 a horrid place this is for scandal ! Why, if a 
 boatman or beggar came by, it would be all 
 over the town before the evening. Oh, no ; 
 you must wait till we are properly engaged 
 before you ask for such a thing.' 
 
 1 I'll take my revenge on you, then,' said 
 the young man gaily ; but he was disap- 
 pointed, all the same, that Nora had not given 
 in to him. 
 
 Sir Richard Abinger was unaffectedly sur- 
 prised when the earl asked for an interview, 
 and made his wishes known. His daughters 
 had walked about and talked with so many 
 men before, without receiving a proposal. 
 And that Lord Ilfracombe should have fixed 
 on Nora seemed to him the greatest surprise 
 of all. 
 
 'Nora?' he reiterated, 'Nora? Are you 
 sure that you mean Nora ? I should have 
 thought that Mabel or Susie would have been 
 more likely to take your fancy. People tell 
 me that Susie is the beauty of the family —
 
 7<D A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 that she is so very much admired. We have 
 always considered Nora to be the plainest of 
 them all/ 
 
 ' I do not consider her so, Sir Richard, I 
 can assure you/ replied the earl, 'although, 
 at the same time, I have chosen her much 
 more for her mind than her looks. She is 
 the most charmingly vivacious girl I have 
 ever come across. She is as clever as 
 they're made.' 
 
 ' Oh, yes, yes, very clever,' said the old 
 man ; * but now we come to the most im- 
 portant matter — ' 
 
 1 The settlements ? Oh, yes ! I hope I 
 shall be able to satisfy you thoroughly with 
 respect to them.' 
 
 ' No, Lord Ifracombe, not the settlements, 
 though, of course, they are necessary ; but, 
 in my eyes, quite a minor consideration. 
 My daughter, Nora, is — well, to be frank 
 with you, she is not my favourite daughter. 
 Perhaps it is our own fault (for the poor child 
 has been left a great deal to herself), but she 
 is more heedless, less reliable — how shall I 
 put it ? Let me say, more headstrong and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 7 1 
 
 inclined to have her own way than her sisters. 
 It will require a strong man, and a sensible 
 man, to guide her through life ; ay, more 
 than these, a good man. The position you 
 offer her is a very brilliant one, and I should 
 be proud to see her fill it ; but, before I 
 give my consent to her marrying you, I 
 must be assured that the example you set 
 her will be such as to raise instead of debase 
 her.' 
 
 * I do not understand what you mean,' 
 replied the young man, with a puzzled 
 air. ' How can you possibly suspect me of 
 setting my wife a bad example ? ' 
 
 ' Not practically, perhaps, but theoreti- 
 cally, Lord Ilfracombe. Forgive me, if I touch 
 upon a delicate subject ; but, in the interests 
 of my daughter, I must lay aside all false 
 scruples. I have heard something of your 
 domestic life in England, from the men 
 who have come over here, and I must 
 ascertain for certain that everything of that 
 kind will be put a stop to before you marry 
 Nora.' 
 
 Lord Ilfracombe reddened with shame.
 
 j 2 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 * Of course, of course,' he said, after a 
 pause. ' How can you doubt it ? ' 
 
 1 I am aware,' continued the admiral, ' that 
 men of the present day think little of such 
 matters — that they believe all that goes on 
 before marriage is of no consequence to any- 
 one but themselves. But it is not so. Some 
 years back, perhaps, our women were kept in 
 such ignorance of the ways of the world, that 
 they only believed what their husbands chose 
 to tell them. Now it is very different. Their 
 eyes seem to have been opened, and they see 
 for themselves, and act for themselves. I 
 am often astonished at the insight given to 
 me by my own daughters to female nature. 
 Where they have learned it in this quiet, little 
 place, I cannot imagine. It seems to me as 
 if they were born wide-awake. And Nora is 
 especially so. She is ready to be anything 
 you choose to make her. And if she found 
 out that you had deceived her, I would not 
 answer for the consequences.' 
 
 ' You may rely on my word, sir, that, in the 
 future, I will never deceive her. With regard 
 to the past, I should like to make a clean
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 7 
 
 1 
 
 breast to you, in order that hereafter you may 
 not be able to say I have kept anything back. 
 Others may also have represented my life as 
 worse than it has been, and, as my future 
 father-in-law, I should wish you to think the 
 best of me. Some three years ago, I fell in 
 with a very beautiful young woman, in a 
 humble station of life, whom I took into my 
 household as housekeeper. After a while — 
 there was nothing coarse or vulgar about her, 
 and her beauty was something extraordinary 
 — I succumbed to the temptation of seeing 
 her constantly before my eyes, and raised her 
 to the position of my mistress.' 
 
 • I beg your pardon, Lord Ilfracombe,' said 
 the admiral, looking up. 
 
 1 Well, not raised exactly, perhaps, but you 
 know what I mean. We were mutually 
 attracted, but, of course, it was understood 
 from the beginning that the connection would 
 only last until I thought fit to marry. Now, 
 of course, I shall pension her off, and have 
 already written to my solicitor on the subject. 
 That is really all that any man can say 
 against me, Sir Richard, and it is far less than
 
 74 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 the generality of young fellows of the present 
 day have to confess to. My life has always 
 been a clean one. I have no debts, my pro- 
 perty is unencumbered, and I have no 
 proclivities for low tastes or companions. 
 If you will trust your daughter to my 
 care, I promise that her private rights 
 shall be protected as rigorously as her public 
 ones.' 
 
 4 It is a grand position,' said the father, 
 thoughtfully, * and I do not know that I should 
 be justified in refusing it for Nora. Only 
 it seems very terrible to me about this 
 other young woman. How is your marriage 
 likely to affect her. I could have no faith 
 in the stability of my daughter's happi- 
 ness if it were built up on the misery of 
 another.' 
 
 Lord Ilfracombe looked up aston- 
 ished. 
 
 ' Oh, Sir Richard, you need have no 
 scruples on that account, I assure you. These 
 people do not feel as we do. I should have 
 ended the business any way, for I was getting 
 rather sick of it. To prove what I say is
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 75 
 
 correct, I have already written to my man of 
 business, Mr Sterndale, to draw up a deed 
 settling five thousand pounds upon her, which 
 will secure an ample annuity for a woman in 
 her sphere of life. She was only a country 
 girl somewhere out of Scotland, I believe. 
 She will be all right, and, honestly, I never 
 wish to hear her name again.' 
 
 1 Very well, Lord Ilfracombe, of course, 
 under any circumstances, the termination of 
 such a connection is a good thing, and I am 
 glad to hear that the remembrance of it is 
 distasteful to you. You are a man of honour, 
 and, therefore, I accept your assurance that it 
 is all over henceforth, and that you will make 
 my daughter a kind and faithful husband. 
 But be careful of her, and don't let her have 
 too much of her own way. I've seen the bad 
 effects of such a course of behaviour before 
 now/ 
 
 So it was a settled thing that Miss Nora 
 Abingerwas to become the Countess of Ilfra- 
 combe, and she rose in the estimation of the 
 residents of Malta accordingly. She had been 
 a fast, bold, flirting girl as Nora Abinger, but
 
 J 6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 when she was announced as the future Lady 
 Ilfracombe, it was suddenly discovered that 
 she was really excessively clever and witty, 
 and though no one could call her exactly 
 pretty, there was something, a je ne sais quoi, 
 about her manner of holding herself and the 
 way she turned her head that was certainly 
 very fascinating. Her promised husband, 
 who had discovered her fascinations before, 
 and was admitted to the full enjoyments of all 
 her wilful moods and witty sayings, fell more 
 deeply in love with her every day, and had 
 hardly patience to wait till the wedding pre- 
 parations were completed for the fulfilment 
 of his happiness. If a thought of Nell 
 Llewellyn crossed his mind at this period 
 it was only to hope that her interview with 
 Sterndale had passed off quietly, and that she 
 would have the sense to clear out without any 
 fuss. So intensely selfish does a new passion 
 make a man ! The time had been when Nell, 
 who was twice as strong, mentally and 
 physically, as Nora Abinger, was Lord Ilfra- 
 combe's ideal of a woman. Her finely 
 moulded form had seemed to him the per-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart yy 
 
 fection of symmetry; her majestic movements, 
 the bearing of a queen ; the calm, classic 
 expression of her features, just what that of 
 a well-bred gentlewoman's should be. Now 
 he was gazing rapturously, day after day, 
 upon Nora's mobile face, on her slim and 
 lissom figure, which, stripped of its clothing, 
 resembled nothing better than a willow wand, 
 and listening eagerly to her flow of nonsensi- 
 cal chatter, during which she successively 
 1 cheeked ' her parents and himself, ridiculed 
 her acquaintances scolded her younger 
 brethren, and took her own way in everything. 
 In truth, she differed as greatly from the 
 loving, submissive woman, who lived but to 
 please him, in England, as she possibly could 
 do, and herein lay her attraction for him, 
 Nell Llewellyn was more beautiful, more 
 obedient and more loving, but Nora was more 
 new. He had become just a little bit tired of 
 Nell, and he had never met a girl who treated 
 him as Nora did, before. She spoke to him 
 exactly as she chose ; she didn't seem to 
 care a pin about his title or his money. She 
 contradicted him freely ; refused his wishes
 
 j 8 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 whenever they clashed in any degree with 
 her own, and let him fully understand that 
 she intended to do exactly as she chose 
 for the remainder of her life. She was a new 
 experience to Lord Ilfracombe, who had been 
 accustomed to be deferred to in everything. 
 Perhaps she knew this ; perhaps she was 
 ' cute ' enough to guess the likeliest method by 
 which to snare the fish she had set her heart 
 on catching ; anyway the bait took and the 
 gudgeon was netted. The Earl of Ilfra- 
 combe and Miss Nora Abinger were formally 
 engaged and the wedding-day was fixed. 
 But still the young lady did not relax her 
 discipline, and her lover's privileges remained 
 few and far between. 
 
 1 Paws off Pompey ! ' she would cry if he 
 attempted to take any of the familiarities 
 permissible to engaged people. * Do you 
 want Vicenzo or Giorgione to make us the 
 jest of Valetta? Don't you know that 
 u spooning" is out of fashion ? We leave all 
 that sort of thing to the oi polloi now-a- 
 days.' 
 
 1 Oh, do we ? ' the young man would
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 79 
 
 retort, playfully; 'then I'll belong to the 
 oi polloiy Nora, if you please ! At all events, 
 I'm going to have a kiss ! ' 
 
 'At all events, you're going to have no 
 such thing ; at least, not now. There'll be 
 plenty of time for all that kind of nonsense 
 after we're married, and we're not there yet, 
 you know. Don't forget "there's many a 
 slip 'twixt cup and lip." ' 
 
 Then, seeing him frown, she would 
 add coaxingly, twisting her mouth up 
 into the most seductive curves as she 
 spoke, — 
 
 1 There, don't be vexed, you'll have 
 too much of kissing some day, you know. 
 Come out in the boat with me. You're 
 the most troublesome boy I ever knew. 
 There's no keeping you in order in the 
 house.' 
 
 So he would follow her obediently, with his 
 longing still ungratified, and always looking 
 forward to a luckier to-morrow. Whoever 
 had been her instructor, Miss Nora Abineer 
 had certainly learnt the art of keeping a man 
 at her feet. Perhaps the same thought
 
 80 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 struck him also, for one day, when they 
 were alone together, he asked her if he 
 were the only man she had ever loved. 
 Nora looked at him with the keenest ap- 
 preciation lurking in the corners of her 
 mirthful eyes. 
 
 'Are you the only man I've ever 
 loved, Ilfracombe?' she repeated after 
 him. ' Well, I don't think so.' 
 
 1 You don't think so ? Good heavens, do 
 you mean to tell me you've had lovers be- 
 side myself ! ' he exclaimed, getting into a 
 sudden fury. 
 
 * My dear boy, do you know how old 
 I am ? Twenty, last birthday ! What are 
 you dreaming of? Do you suppose all the 
 men in Malta are deaf, dumb, and blind ? 
 Of course I've had other lovers — scores of 
 them ! ' 
 
 * But you didn't love them, Nora ; not 
 as you love me,' Lord Ilfracombe asked 
 anxiously. 
 
 4 Well, before I can answer that question, 
 we must decide how much I do love you. 
 Anyway, I didn't marry any of them, though
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 81 
 
 I might have had a dozen husbands by this 
 time if I had accepted them all. As it is, 
 you see, I chucked them over/ 
 
 ' But were you engaged to any of them, 
 Nora ? ' he persisted. 
 
 She might easily have said ' no,' but it 
 was not in this girl's nature to deceive. She 
 was frankly naughty, defiantly so, some 
 people might have said, and rather glorified 
 in her faults than otherwise. Besides, she 
 dearly loved to tease her lover, and tyrannise 
 over him. 
 
 ' Oh, yes I was,' she replied, ' that is, 
 I had a kind of a sort of an engagement with 
 several of them. But it amounted to no- 
 thing. There was only one of the whole lot 
 I shed a single tear for.' 
 
 4 And pray, who may he have been ? ' de- 
 manded Lord Ilfracombe, with a sudden 
 access of dignity. 
 
 ' Find it out for yourself/ she said pertly. 
 ' Oh, he was a dear, quite six foot high, with 
 the goldenest golden hair you ever saw ; not 
 a bit like yours. I call yours flaxen. It's 
 too pale, but his had a rich tinge in it, and he 
 vol. I. f
 
 82 A Bankrztpt Heart. 
 
 had such lovely eyes, just like a summer 
 night, I nearly cried myself blind when he 
 left Malta.' 
 
 1 It seems to me,' said the earl, with the 
 same offended air he had assumed before, 
 1 that I am de trop here, since the recollection 
 of this fascinating admirer is still so fresh. 
 Perhaps I had better resign in favour of him 
 while there is still time ? ' 
 
 1 Just as you like ! ' returned Nora in- 
 differently. ' I have no wish to bias your 
 movements in any way. But if you did 
 not w T ant an answer, why did you put the 
 question to me ? ' 
 
 1 But, Nora, my darling, you did not mean 
 what you said ? You did not waste any of 
 your precious tears on this brute, surely ? 
 You said it only to tease me ? ' 
 
 1 Indeed I did not ! Do you imagine you 
 are the only nice man I have ever seen — 
 that I have been shut up on this island like 
 poor Miranda and never met a man before? 
 What a simpleton you must be ! Of course 
 I was engaged to him, and should have been 
 married to him by this time, only the poor
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 83 
 
 dear had no certain income, and papa would 
 not hear of it ! And I cried for weeks after- 
 wards whenever I heard his name mentioned. 
 Would you have had me an insensible block, 
 and not care whether we had to give each 
 other up or no ? ' 
 
 I No, no, of course not, but it is terrible 
 to me, Nora, to think you could have cared 
 for another man.' 
 
 ' Rubbish ! ' cried the young lady. ' How 
 many women have you cared for yourself? 
 Come now, let us have the list ? ' 
 
 The earl blushed uneasily. 
 
 I I have told you already,' he replied, ' that 
 you are the first woman I have ever asked 
 to be the Countess of Ilfracombe ! ' 
 
 ' And I didn't ask you how many women 
 you had proposed to, but how many you 
 had thought you loved. The list can't 
 be so long that you have forgotten them 
 all? Let's begin at the end. That will 
 make it easier. Who was the last woman 
 before me ? ' 
 
 ' That is a very silly question, Nora, and 
 I consider that I have already answered it.
 
 84 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 Besides, I am not a young lady, and that 
 makes all the difference.' 
 
 { In your idea, Ilfracombe, perhaps, but not 
 mine. We women see no difference in the 
 two things at all. And if you cannot produce 
 a clean bill of health in the matter of having 
 loved before, you have no right to expect it 
 of me. Besides, my dear boy,' she continued 
 in a more soothing voice, ' do you mean to 
 tell me, in this nineteenth century, that you 
 have reached your present age — what is your 
 present age, Ilfracombe, nine-and-twenty, is it 
 not ? — without having made love to heaps of 
 women ? Not that I care one jot ! I am 
 not such a zany ! I think it's all for the best 
 since "pot will not be able to call kettle 
 black," eh ? ' 
 
 And she glanced up into his face from 
 under her long eyelashes in so fascinating 
 a manner, that the earl caught her in his 
 arms before she had time to remonstrate, 
 and forgot all about the former lover. So 
 the time wore away, each day more delightful 
 than the last, spent under the orange and 
 myrtle trees, or in sailing round the bay,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 85 
 
 until the longed-for wedding morning broke, 
 and they were married in the English church 
 at Malta. Their plans were to go to an 
 hotel higher up in the island, for a fortnight's 
 honeymoon, after which they were to start 
 in the Ddbutante for the Grecian Isles, before 
 returning to England. A few days after his 
 marriage, Lord Ilfracombe received a letter 
 by the English mail that seemed greatly to 
 disturb him. He was most anxious to con- 
 ceal it, and his own feelings regarding it, 
 from the observation of his wife, and this he 
 had no difficulty in doing, as she did not 
 appear even to have noticed that he was un- 
 like himself. The letter was from a woman, 
 long and diffusive, and he read it many times. 
 Then he entered the sitting-room and ad- 
 dressed Lady Ilfracombe. 
 
 ' Have you torn up the paper that con- 
 tained the description of our marriage, 
 darling ? ' he inquired. 
 
 'What, that local thing? No, I never 
 looked at it a second time. It is somewhere 
 about. What can you possibly want with it, 
 Ilfracombe ? '
 
 86 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 1 Only to send to one of my English friends, 
 Nora. It is so funnily worded, it will amuse 
 them.' 
 
 And then he found it, and put it in a 
 wrapper and directed it to Miss Llewellyn, 
 999 Grosvenor Square, London.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Miss Llewellyn had almost forgotten that 
 she was to expect a visit from Lord Ilfra- 
 combe's solicitor, Mr Sterndale, when one 
 day, as she was sitting- alone, his card was 
 brought in to her. Hetty and William had 
 returned to Usk by this time. Their modest 
 resources could not stand out against more 
 than a week in London, though their sister 
 had helped them as much as they would allow 
 her. So they were gone, taking the fresh 
 smell of the country with them, and leaving 
 Miss Llewellyn more melancholy and de- 
 pressed than they had found her. For she 
 had not heard again from Lord Ilfracombe 
 since the few lines she had received on the 
 day of their arrival, and she was beginning 
 to dread all sorts of unlikely things, just 
 because the unusual silence frightened her, 
 
 87
 
 88 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 like a child left alone in the dark. Hetty 
 and Will had been most urgent that she 
 should accompany them back to Usk, and 
 for a moment Nell thought the temptation 
 too great to be resisted. What would she 
 not give for a sight of her dear mother's 
 face, she thought — for her father's grave 
 smile ; for a night or two spent in the old 
 farmhouse where she had been so careless 
 and so happy ; to lie down to sleep with the 
 scent of the climbing roses and honeysuckle 
 in her nostrils, and the lowing of the cattle 
 and twittering of the wild birds in her ears. 
 And Ilfracombe had urged her to take change 
 of air, too. He would be pleased to hear 
 she had left London for awhile ! But here 
 came the idea that he might return home any 
 day, perhaps unexpectedly and sooner than 
 he imagined, and then if she were absent 
 what would he think ? — what would she 
 suffer? She would not cease to reproach 
 herself. Oh, no, it was useless for Hetty to 
 plead with her. She would come back some 
 day, when she could have a holiday without 
 inconvenience, but just now with the master
 
 A Bankncpt Heart. 89 
 
 of the house absent, her mother would under- 
 stand it was impossible ; it would not be right 
 for her, in her position as housekeeper, to 
 leave the servants to look after themselves. 
 So Hetty, having been brought up very 
 strictly with regard to duty, was fain to 
 acquiesce in her sister's decision, and comfort 
 herself with the hope that she would fulfil 
 her promise some day. But when they had 
 left London, Nell felt as if she had escaped 
 a great danger, and was only just able to 
 breathe freely again. And had she accom- 
 panied them to Usk, and gone to stay at 
 Panty-cuckoo Farm, she would have felt 
 almost as bad. To live under the eyes of 
 her parents day after day ; to have to submit 
 to their eager questioning ; to evade their 
 sharpness — for country people are some- 
 times very sharp in matters that affect their 
 domestic happiness and very eager for re- 
 venge when their family honour is com- 
 promised ; all this Nell felt she dared not, 
 under present circumstances, undergo. So 
 she was sorry and glad to part with her 
 sister at the same time ; but her advent had
 
 90 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 so put other matters out of her head, that 
 she was quite startled at receiving Mr Stern- 
 dale's card. It revived all the old curiosity, 
 which the first notice of his coming had 
 evoked in her mind. What on earth could 
 he possibly have to say to her ? However, 
 that question would soon be put to rest, 
 and she was bound, for Ilfracombe's sake, 
 to receive him. She happened to be in 
 her boudoir at the time, and told the servant 
 to desire her visitor to walk up there. Nell 
 knew that the lawyer did not like her, and 
 the feeling was reciprocal. Mr Sterndale 
 was a little, old man of sixty, with silver 
 hair. A very cute lawyer, and a firm friend, 
 but uncompromising to a degree — a man 
 from whom a fallen woman might expect 
 no mercy. Miss Llewellyn had said in her 
 letter to hen lover, that she knew Mr Stern- 
 dale regarded her as a harpy who cared 
 for nothing but his money, and this estimate 
 of his opinion was strictly true. With him, 
 women were divided into only two classes 
 — moral and immoral. The class to which 
 poor Nell belonged was generally mercenary
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 91 
 
 and grasping, and deserted a poor man to 
 join a richer one, and he had no idea that 
 she was any different, She was beautiful, 
 he saw, so much the more dangerous ; and 
 all his fear of late years had been lest the 
 earl should have taken it in his head to 
 marry her, as indeed, except for Mr Stern- 
 dale's constant warnings and entreaties, he 
 would have done. Now he rejoiced to think 
 that his client was about to be wedded to 
 a woman ' in his own sphere of life, for the 
 news of the marriage had not yet reached 
 England, and he had come to Grosvenor 
 Square to fulfil Lord Ilfracombe's request 
 that he would break the intelligence to Miss 
 Llewellyn, as calmly and deliberately as if 
 he were the bearer of the best of news. 
 She did not rise as he entered, but, bowing 
 rather curtly, begged he would be seated 
 and disclose his business with her. She 
 had been accustomed for so long to be 
 treated by this man as the mistress of the 
 establishment, that she had come to regard 
 him much as Lord Ilfracombe did, in the 
 light of a servant. Mr Sterndale noted the
 
 92 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 easy familiarity with which she motioned 
 him to take a chair, and chuckled inwardly, 
 to think how soon their relative positions 
 would be reversed. 
 
 ' Good morning,' began Miss Llewellyn. 
 ' Ilfracombe wrote me word I might expect 
 to see you, Mr Sterndale, but I have no 
 idea for what purpose.' 
 
 ' Perhaps not, madam/ was the reply, 
 1 but it will soon be explained. Have you 
 heard from his lordship lately ? ' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn raised her head proudly. 
 ' I hear constantly, as you know. Ilfra- 
 combe is well, I am thankful to say, 
 and apparently enjoying himself. He has 
 made some pleasant acquaintances in Valetta, 
 and they are urging him to stay on with 
 them a little longer. Else he would have 
 returned before now. He is longing to get 
 home again, I know.' 
 
 'Ah, perhaps, very likely,' replied Mr 
 Sterndale, who was fumbling with some 
 papers he held in his hand. ' Indeed, I have 
 no doubt his lordship will be back before 
 long — when he has completed another little
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 93 
 
 trip he has in contemplation to the Grecian 
 Isles.' 
 
 Nell's face assumed a look of perplexity. 
 
 ' Another yachting trip, and not home- 
 wards ? Oh, I think you must be mistaken, 
 Mr Sterndale, or are you saying it to tease 
 me ? He has been gone four months already, 
 ever since the fifth of April, and I am expect- 
 ing to hear he has started for home by every 
 mail. What has put such an idea into your 
 head ? ' 
 
 1 No one less than his lordship himself, 
 Miss Llewellyn. In a letter from him, dated 
 the beginning of the month, but which, for 
 reasons which I will explain hereafter, I have 
 not thought fit to bring to you till now, he 
 distinctly says that when certain arrange- 
 ments which he is making in Malta are 
 completed, he intends to sail for the Grecian 
 Isles, and does not expect to be home at 
 Thistlemere till late in the autumn. 
 
 Nell looked fearfully anxious and dis- 
 tressed. 
 
 * I cannot believe it,' she said incredulously. 
 Why should Ilfracombe make such arrange-
 
 94 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ments without consulting me first ? He 
 always has done so. I might have wished 
 to join him in Malta. We have been 
 separated for such a long time now — longer 
 than ever before, and I have told him how 
 sick and weary I am of it — how I long to 
 see him again.' 
 
 ' The money has not run short, has it ? ' 
 inquired the solicitor ; ' for, if so, you should 
 have applied to me.' 
 
 She gave a shrug of impatience. 
 ' My money has never run short, thank 
 you,' she replied. ' Ilfracombe thinks too 
 much of my comfort for that/ 
 
 c It is his prolonged stay abroad, then, that 
 is puzzling you,' continued Mr Sterndale ; 
 ' but I am in a position to explain that. I 
 have a painful duty before me, Miss 
 Llewellyn, but I don't know that I shall 
 make it any better by beating about the 
 bush.' 
 
 'A painful task,' she echoed, with staring 
 eyes. ' For God's sake, don't tell me that 
 my — that Ilfracombe is ill?' 
 
 1 No, no, nothing of the sort. But has
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 95 
 
 it never occurred to you, Miss Llewellyn, 
 that circumstances may alter in this life, 
 that a tie like that between you and Lord 
 Ilfracombe, for example, does not, as a rule, 
 last for ever.' 
 
 1 No, never,' she answered firmly, ' because 
 it is no ordinary tie, and Lord Ilfracombe 
 is a gentleman. I am as sure of him as 
 I am of myself. He would never break his 
 word to me.' 
 
 'There is no question of breaking his 
 word. You knew the conditions under 
 which you took up your residence in this 
 house, and that you have no legal right 
 here/ 
 
 1 Have you come here to insult me ? ' 
 cried Nell shrilly. ' How dare you allude 
 to any agreement between Lord Ilfracombe 
 and myself? I am here, that is quite enough 
 for you to know, and the earl has said 
 that I am to remain. I am sure he never 
 desired you to come here and taunt me 
 with my position ? ' 
 
 ' Taunt, my dear lady. That is scarcely 
 the word to use. I was only reminding
 
 96 A Bankrttpt Heart. 
 
 you, as gently as I knew how, that your 
 position is untenable, and that young men 
 are apt to change their minds.' 
 
 ' Lord Ilfracombe will not change his,' 
 replied Miss Llewellyn proudly. ' I am 
 aware you have done your best to try and 
 make him do so, Mr Sterndale, but you 
 have not succeeded.' 
 
 1 Perhaps not. I have certainly nothing 
 to do with his lordship's prolonged absence 
 from England. But, since you profess to 
 be much attached to him, Miss Llewellyn, 
 has it never occurred to you what a very 
 disadvantageous thing for the earl this 
 connection beween you is ? ' 
 
 ' That is for the earl to decide,' said Miss 
 Llewellyn. 
 
 ' You are right, and he has decided. 
 Lord Ilfracombe is a young man who 
 owes a duty to Society and the exalted 
 station he occupies. His friends and family 
 have been shocked and scandalised for the 
 last three years to witness the outrage he 
 has committed against the world and them, 
 and that he has never considered the im-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 97 
 
 portance of founding a family to succeed 
 him, and of leaving an heir to inherit his 
 ancient title.' 
 
 Miss Llewellyn's lip trembled as she 
 replied, — 
 
 ' All very true, I daresay, but Lord 
 Ilfracombe prefers the present state of 
 affairs to the opinion of the world.' 
 
 ' Happily, I am in a position to inform 
 you, Miss Llewellyn, that he has at last 
 come to his senses, and determined to do 
 his duty in that respect. In this letter,' 
 said Mr Sterndale, dangling one in his 
 hand as he spoke, ' Lord Ilfracombe desires 
 me to break the news to you of his approach- 
 ing marriage with Miss Leonora Abinger, the 
 daughter of Sir Richard Abinger, which is 
 fixed to come off at an early date.' 
 
 * It is a lie!' cried Miss Llewellyn, as 
 she rose to her feet and drew herself up to 
 her full height, 'a mean, wicked lie, which 
 you have forged for some purpose of your 
 own. Oh, you need not look at me like 
 that, Mr Sterndale. I have known for 
 long how you hate me, and how glad you 
 vol. 1. G
 
 98 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 would be to get rid of me. I have too much 
 influence over Ilfracombe to suit your book. 
 If you could persuade me to leave this house, 
 and then convince him that I had gone off 
 with some other man it would fit in nicely 
 with your own little plans, wouldn't it ? 
 But you don't hoodwink me. I know your 
 master too well. He never wished me to 
 leave his protection, nor told you to forge 
 that lie in his name. He has no intention 
 of marrying — if he had he would have told 
 me so himself — and not left it to an attorney 
 to deal the worst blow that life could give me. 
 Leave this house, sir ! Till the man whom 
 I regard as my husband returns to it there is 
 no master here but I. Go ! and take your 
 lies with you. I will believe your statement 
 on no authority but that of Ilfracombe himself.' 
 ' And that is just the authority with which 
 I am armed, Miss Llewellyn, if you will but 
 listen to me quietly. What is the use of 
 making all this fuss over the inevitable? 
 You are acquainted with the earl's hand- 
 writing. Will you kindly glance at this, and 
 tell me if you recognise it as his ? '
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 99 
 
 1 Yes, it is his.' 
 
 ' Let me read it to you, and pray remem- 
 ber that the servants are near at hand, and 
 ready to make copy out of all they hear. 
 Are you listening to me ? ' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' This letter is dated 2d of July. 
 
 * " Dear Sterndale, — You will be sur- 
 prised, and I suppose delighted, to hear that 
 I am engaged to be married to Miss Leo- 
 nora Abinger, the second daughter of Ad- 
 miral Sir Richard Abinger, a young lady 
 of twenty. The wedding will take place 
 within six weeks or so. Of course, the 
 only difficulty with me is Miss Llewellyn. 
 The news will be unexpected to her, and I 
 am not quite sure how she will take it. We 
 have been together now for three years, 
 and that is a long time. However, she 
 is a very sensible woman, and must have 
 known from the beginning that it was im- 
 possible such a state of things could go on for 
 ever. Will you go, like a good soul, and break 
 it to her ? Of course, she must be well pro-
 
 ioo A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 vided for. What would be a suitable sum ? 
 Five thousand pounds ? Draw up a settle- 
 ment for what you consider best, but I want 
 to be generous to her, for she has been very 
 good to me. I should consider myself a 
 scoundrel if I did not provide for her for life ; 
 but she will doubtless marry before long, and 
 a few thousands will form a nice little dot for 
 her. After my marriage I am going to take 
 my wife straight to the Grecian Isles in the 
 De'butante, so that we shall not be home till 
 late in the autumn. You will see, like a good 
 friend, that the coast is quite clear before 
 then. We mean to go to Thistlemere for 
 Christmas, and while the town house is being 
 done up." 
 
 1 There Miss Llewellyn,' said Mr Sterndale, 
 as he came to a full stop, ' that is all of the 
 letter that concerns you. The rest consists of 
 directions about draining and decoration, and 
 matters that ladies do not trouble their heads 
 about. You perfectly understand now, I am 
 sure, and will absolve me from attempting to 
 deceive you in the business.'
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 101 
 
 He glanced at her as he spoke, and observed 
 she was sitting on the couch with her head 
 drooping on her breast. 
 
 1 May I see the letter ? ' was all she said. 
 
 He placed it in her hands, and she perused 
 the portion he had read aloud, mechanically. 
 Then she held it out to him again, and he 
 pocketed it. But he wished she would say 
 something. He did not like her total silence. 
 It was so unlike Miss Llewellyn. With a 
 view to disperse it, he continued, — 
 
 ' I told you I had a reason for not having 
 called on you before. It was because I 
 thought it best to have the settlement, which 
 his lordship proposes to make upon you, drawn 
 up, that you may be perfectly convinced of 
 his good intentions towards you. The deed, 
 of course, will not be complete without his 
 signature, but, with a man of Lord Ilfracombe's 
 honour, you may rest assured of his signing 
 it on the first possible occasion, and mean- 
 while I am prepared, on my own account, to 
 advance you any sum of money of which you 
 may stand in need.' 
 
 Still she did not answer his remarks, but
 
 102 A Banki'tipt Heart. 
 
 sat silent and immovable, with her features 
 concealed by the drooping of her head. 
 
 ' His lordship is sure to be home before the 
 winter, but if you wish to have this sum 
 invested for you at once, I know I shall only 
 be meeting his wishes in helping you to do so. 
 Perhaps you would like me to put the money 
 into the earl's own coal mines, Miss Llewellyn. 
 They are an excellent investment, and the 
 shares are paying seven per cent., a rate of 
 interest which you are not likely to get 
 elsewhere. And it would have this further 
 advantage, that in case of any unforeseen 
 accident, or depreciation in the market, I feel 
 sure the earl would never hear of your losing 
 your money, whatever the other shareholders 
 might do. The John Penn Mine is yielding 
 wonderfully, so is the Llewellyn, which, if I 
 mistake not, the earl called after yourself.' 
 
 * Are you a man ? ' demanded Nell, slowly 
 raising her head, ' or are you a devil ? Cease 
 chattering to me about your coal mines and 
 shareholders ! When I want to invest money, 
 I shall not come to you to help or advise me. 
 Do you suppose that I don't know that if this
 
 A Bankrupt Heart 103 
 
 letter speaks truth — that if my — if the earl 
 contemplates doing what he says, it is not 
 owing in a great measure to your advice and 
 exhortations ? You were for ever dinning the 
 necessity of marriage into his ears. We have 
 laughed over it together.' 
 
 ' Have you indeed ? Well, I don't deny it. 
 I have done my duty by Lord Ilfracombe, 
 and I'm very glad to find that my advice has 
 had a good effect. You laughed too soon you 
 see, Miss Llewellyn. But whatever influence 
 has been brought to bear upon his lordship, 
 the fact remains, that it has been successful, 
 and he is about to he married — may even be 
 married at the present moment. Nothing 
 now remains to be done but for you to look 
 at this settlement and decide how soon it will 
 be convenient for you to leave Grosvenor 
 Square.' 
 
 He laid the paper on her lap as he spoke, 
 but Miss Llewellyn sprang to her feet, and, 
 seizing the document in her strong grasp, 
 tore it across and flung the fragments in the 
 solicitor's face. 
 
 * Go back to your master ! ' she exclaimed,
 
 104 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ' to the man who was good and true and 
 honourable until your crafty advice and in- 
 sinuations made him forget his nobler nature, 
 and tell him to take his money and spend it on 
 the woman he marries, for I will have none of 
 it ! Does he think he can pay me for my love, 
 my faith, my honour? In God's sight, I am 
 the wife of Lord Ilfracombe, and I will not 
 accept his alms, as if I were a beggar. For 
 three years I have lived by his side, sharing 
 all that was his — his pleasures, his troubles, 
 and his pains. He has had all my love, my 
 devotion, my duty ! I have nursed him in 
 sickness, and looked after his interests at all 
 times, and I will not be remunerated for my 
 services as if I were a hireling. Tell him 
 I am his wife, and I throw his money back in 
 his face. He can never pay me for what I 
 have been to him. He will never find another 
 woman to fill my place.' 
 
 1 But, my dear madam, this is folly ! Let 
 me entreat you to be reasonable,' said Mr 
 Sterndale, as he picked up the torn settlement. 
 * You may have thought all this, but you know 
 it is not tenable. You are not Lord Ilfra-
 
 A Bankrupt Heai't. 105 
 
 combe's wife, and you never will be ! You 
 have been the most excellent of friends and 
 companions, I admit that freely ; but the time 
 has come for parting, and the wisest and most 
 sensible thing for you to do is to acquiesce in 
 his lordship's decision, and effect this little 
 alteration in his domestic arrangements as 
 quietly .as possible. It must be, you know! 
 Why not let it pass without scandal ? ' 
 
 1 We have not been only friends and com- 
 panions,' she repeated scornfully, 'we have 
 been the dearest and closest of lovers and 
 confidantes. Oh, why should I speak to you 
 of it ? What should you know of such 
 things? It is not in you to love anyone as I 
 have loved Ilfracombe and he has loved me. 
 But I do not believe your story, not even 
 from the letter you showed me. I don't 
 believe he wrote it. You lawyers are cun- 
 ning enough for anything. You may have 
 forged his writing. So I reject your news 
 and your settlement and yourself. Leave 
 me at once and don't come near me again. 
 I will accept this assurance from no one but 
 Ilfracombe, and I shall not quit his house till
 
 io6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 he tells me to do so. He left me n charge 
 here, and I do not relinquish it till my master 
 bids me go. 
 
 ' He'll bid you fast enough,' replied the 
 solicitor, as he gathered up his papers and 
 prepared to leave her ; ' and it will be your 
 own fault, Miss Llewellyn, if your exit is 
 made more unpleasant to you than it need 
 have been. The decorators will be in the 
 house, probably, before you get any answer 
 to your appeal to his lordship.' 
 
 ' Then I shall superintend the decorators,' 
 she said haughtily. ' As long as anyone 
 sleeps here, I shall sleep here, unless Ilfra- 
 combe himself tells me to go.' 
 
 'Very ill-advised — very foolish,' remarked 
 Mr Sterndale ; 'but don't blame me if you 
 suffer for your obstinacy.' 
 
 'All I want is to get rid of you,' she cried. 
 1 I have always disliked you, and now I hate 
 you like poison.' 
 
 ' Much obliged, I'm sure,' he said, as he 
 left the room. But he revenged himself for 
 the affronts she had put upon him as he went 
 downstairs.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 07 
 
 1 You must tell the women to look after 
 poor Miss Llewellyn,' he whispered to the 
 footman, who let him out, ' for I have been 
 the bearer of bad news to her.' 
 
 1 Indeed, sir?' said the man. 
 
 1 Yes, though it is the best possible for all 
 the rest of you. Your master is about to be 
 married very shortly to a young lady in Malta. 
 There will be high jinks for all of you servants 
 when he brings his bride home to England, 
 but you must know what it will mean for her,' 
 jerking his thumb towards the upper storey. 
 
 'Well, naturally,' acquiesced the footman 
 with a wink. 
 
 ' She won't be here long, but you must 
 make her as comfortable as you can during her 
 stay. And you are welcome to tell the news 
 everywhere. It's no secret. I've a letter 
 from the earl in my pocket to say he will bring 
 her ladyship home in time for the Christmas 
 festivities at Thistlemere. Good morning.' 
 
 1 Good morning, sir,' echoed the footman, 
 and rushed down to the servants' hall to 
 disseminate the tidings. 
 
 Meanwhile Nell, with her limbs as cold as
 
 108 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 stone, and all her pulses at fever heat, was 
 dashing off the impassioned letter which Lord 
 Ilfracombe received a few days after his 
 wedding. 
 
 ' My darling, my own,' she wrote, heed- 
 less of who should see the letter, — ' Mr Stern- 
 dale has just been here to tell me you are 
 thinking of getting married. But it is not true 
 — I don't believe it — I told him so to his face. 
 Oh, Ilfracombe, it cannot be true. Write 
 to me for God's sake as soon as you receive 
 this, and tell me it is a lie. The old man has 
 said it to make me miserable — to try and get 
 rid of me. He has always hated me, and been 
 jealous of my influence over you. And yet — 
 he showed me a letter in your handwriting, 
 or what looked just like it, in which you said 
 that it was true. My God ! is it possible ? 
 Can you seriously think of deserting me ? 
 Oh, no, I will not believe it till you tell me so 
 yourself. You could not part with me after 
 all these years. Darling, think of the time 
 when you first saw me at Mrs Beresford's, 
 when she brought you up into the nursery to
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 109 
 
 see her little baby, and I was sitting on a 
 footstool before the fire nursing it. I stood 
 up when you and my mistress entered, but 
 instead of looking at the baby, you looked 
 at me. I overheard Mrs Beresford chaff 
 you about it as you went downstairs again, 
 and you said, — " Well, you shouldn't have 
 such lovely nursemaids then." I was only 
 twenty, dearest, and with no more sense 
 than a town-bred girl of sixteen. I dreamed 
 of those words of yours, and I dreamed of 
 you as the noblest and handsomest gentle- 
 man I had ever seen, as indeed you were. 
 And then you began to call at Mrs Beres- 
 ford's two and three times a week and to 
 meet me in the park, until that happy day 
 came when you asked me if I would leave 
 my place and be your housekeeper in Gros- 
 venor Square. I thought it was a grand 
 rise for me, and wrote and told my people so ; 
 but even then I didn't guess at what you 
 meant or that you loved me in that way. 
 Ilfracombe, you know I was an innocent, 
 good girl when I first came to this house, 
 and that I shouldn't have ever been other-
 
 1 1 o A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 wise had you not persuaded me that if our 
 hearts were truly each others our marriage 
 would be as lasting as if we had gone to 
 church together. I believed you. I knew 
 it was wrong, but I loved you and I be- 
 lieved you. Oh, my own only darling, don't 
 desert me now. What is to become of me if 
 you do ? I can't go back to my own people. 
 I am no longer fit to associate with them. 
 You have raised me to the dignity of your 
 companionship. You have unfitted me for 
 country life, and how can I go out to service 
 again ? Who would take me ? Everybody 
 knows our history. I have no character. 
 Darling, do you remember the time when 
 you had the typhoid fever and were so ill, 
 we thought that you w T ould die. Oh, what 
 a fearful time that was. And when you re- 
 covered you were going to marry me, at 
 least you said so, and I was so happy, and 
 yet so afraid of what your family would 
 think. But you had quite made up your 
 mind about it, till Mr Sterndale heard you 
 mention the subject and talked you out of 
 it. You never told me, but I guessed it all
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 1 1 
 
 the same. I never reproached you for it, 
 did I ? or reminded you of your promise. I 
 knew I was no fit wife for you — only fit 
 to love and serve you as I have done, gladly 
 and faithfully. How can you marry another 
 woman when I have been your wife for three 
 long, happy years ? Won't the remembrance 
 of me come between you and her ? Won't you 
 often think of the many, many times you have 
 declared you should never think of marrying 
 whilst I lived — that I was your wife to all 
 intents and purposes, and that any other 
 woman would seem an interloper. Oh, Ilfra- 
 combe, do try and remember all these things 
 before you perpetrate an action for which 
 you will reproach yourself all your life. I 
 know your nature. Who should know it so 
 well as I ? You are weak and easily led, but 
 you are sensitive and generous, and I know 
 you will not forget me easily. Dearest, write 
 to me and tell me it is a lie, and I will serve 
 you all my life as no servant and no wife will 
 ever do. For you are far more than a husband 
 to me. You are my world and my all — my 
 one friend — my one hope and support. Oh,
 
 ii2 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 Ilfracombe, don't leave me. I live in you 
 and your love, and if you desert me I can- 
 not live. For God's sake — for the sake of 
 Heaven — for your honour's sake, don't leave 
 me, — Your broken-hearted Nell.' 
 
 So the poor girl wrote, as other poor, for- 
 saken wretches have written before her, 
 thinking to move the heart of a man who was 
 already tired of her. As soon hope to move 
 the heart of a stone as that of a lover hot on 
 a new fancy. Her letter reached him, as we 
 have seen, when the step she deprecated was 
 taken beyond remedy, but it stirred his sense 
 of having committed an injustice if it could 
 not requicken his burnt-out flame. He did 
 not know how to answer it. He had nothing 
 to say in defence of himself, or his broken 
 promises. So, like many a man in similar 
 circumstances, he shirked his duty, and 
 seized the first opportunity that presented 
 itself of putting it on the shoulders of some- 
 one else. Since Sterndale had failed in his 
 commission, the newspaper must convey to 
 his cast-off mistress the news she refused to
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 113 
 
 believe. So he posted the little sheet of 
 paper printed for the edification of the British 
 residents in Malta, to her address, and tran- 
 scribed it in his own hand. She couldn't 
 make any mistake about that, he said to him- 
 self, as he returned to the agreeable task of 
 making love to his countess. But the inci- 
 dent did not increase the flavour of his court- 
 ship. There is a sense called Memory that 
 has on occasions an inconveniently loud voice 
 and not the slightest scruple in making itself 
 heard, when least required. The Earl of 
 Ilfracombe had yet to learn if the charms 
 of his newly-wedded wife were sufficiently 
 powerful to have made it worth his while, in 
 order to possess them, to have invoked the 
 demon of Memory to dog his footsteps for 
 the remainder of his life. But for the nonce 
 he put it away from him as an unclean 
 thing. Nora, Countess of Ilfracombe, reigned 
 triumphant, and Nell Llewellyn, disgraced 
 and disherited, was ordered to ' move on,' and 
 find herself another home ! Meanwhile, she 
 awaited her lover's answer in his own house. 
 She refused to ' move on ' until she received it. 
 vol. 1. H
 
 H4 A Bankrupt Hecirt. 
 
 It was a very miserable fortnight. She 
 felt, for the first time, so debased and de- 
 graded, that she would not leave the house, 
 but sat indoors all day, without employment 
 and without hope, only waiting in silence and 
 despair for the assurance of the calamity that 
 had been announced to her. Her sufferings 
 were augmented at this time by the altered 
 demeanour of the servants towards her. She 
 had always been an indulgent mistress, and 
 they had liked her, so that she did not ex- 
 perience anything like rudeness at their 
 hands. On the contrary, it was the increase of 
 their attentions and familiarity that annoyed 
 and made her more unhappy. She read in it, 
 too surely, the signs of the coming times ; 
 the signs that they knew her reign was over, 
 and the marriage of their master a certain 
 thing. Nell felt as if she had been turned to 
 stone in those days, as if the wheels of her 
 life's machinery had been arrested, and all 
 she could do was to await the verdict. It 
 came all too soon. One lovely night, about a 
 fortnight after she had written to Lord Ilfra- 
 combe, a newspaper was put into her hand.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 1 5 
 
 This was such a very unusual occurrence, 
 that she tore off the wrapper hastily, and 
 turned the sheets over with trembling fingers, 
 She was not long in finding the announce- 
 ment of her death warrant. 
 
 1 On the 28th of July, at Malta, the Right 
 Honourable the Earl of Ilfracombe, to Leo- 
 nora Adelaide Maria, fourth daughter of 
 Admiral Sir Richard Abinger, R.N.C.B.' 
 
 And in another part of the paper was a 
 long description of the wedding festivities, the 
 number of invited guests, and the dresses of 
 the bride and bridesmaids. Miss Llewellyn 
 read the account through to the very end, and 
 then tottered to her feet to seek her bedroom. 
 
 1 Lor', miss, you do look bad ! ' exclaimed a 
 sympathising housemaid, whom she met on 
 the way — it was a significant fact that since 
 the news of his lordship's intended marriage 
 had been made public in the servants' hall, 
 poor Nell had been degraded from madam to 
 miss, — Met me fetch you a cup of tea, or a 
 drop of brandy and water. Now do, there's 
 a dear. You might have seen a ghost by 
 the look of you.'
 
 1 1 6 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 1 No, thank you, Sarah,' replied Miss 
 Llewellyn, with a faint smile ; * you are very 
 kind, but I have not met a ghost, only the 
 day has been warm and I long for a breath 
 of fresh air. Don't worry about me. I will 
 go out into the square for half an hour, and 
 that will do me good.' 
 
 The servant went on her way, and Nell 
 turned into her bedroom. What a luxurious 
 room it was. The furniture was upholstered 
 in soft shades of grey and pink, and the walls 
 were hung with engravings, all chosen by the 
 earl himself. There was a spring couch by 
 the fireplace before which was spread a thick 
 white fur rug. The toilet-table was strewn 
 with toys of china and glass and silver. It 
 was the room of a lady, but it was Nell's no 
 longer. She walked deliberately to the toilet- 
 table, and, opening her, trinket case, examined 
 its contents, to see if everything she had re- 
 ceived at her lover's hands was in its place. 
 Then she quietly took off her dainty little 
 watch, encrusted with diamonds, and her 
 bangle bracelets, and two or three handsome 
 rings w T hich he had given her, amongst
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 117 
 
 which was a wedding-ring which she usually 
 wore. She put them all carefully in the 
 trinket-case, and scribbling on the outside of 
 an old envelope, in pencil, the words, * Good- 
 bye, my only love, I cannot live without you,' 
 she placed it with the jewellery, and, locking 
 the box, threw the key out of the window. 
 
 'That will prevent the servants opening it,' 
 she thought. ' They will be afraid to force the 
 lock, but he will, by-and-by, and then he 
 will guess the truth. I do not rob him much 
 by taking this gown/ she said, smiling mourn- 
 fully, as she gazed at her simple print frock, 
 and he would not mind if I did. He was 
 always generous, to me and everybody. 
 Then, overburdened by a sudden rush of 
 memory, she sank on her knees by the couch 
 crying, ' Oh my love, my love ! why did you 
 leave me ? It is so very, very hard to part 
 with you thus.' 
 
 But when her little outburst was over, 
 Nell dried her eyes, and crept softly down- 
 stairs. It was dark by this time ; the ser- 
 vants were making merry over their supper 
 in the hall ; and the crowds, not having yet
 
 1 1 8 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 issued from the theatres, the streets were 
 comparatively free. Nell walked straight 
 but steadily through Piccadilly and the Strand 
 till she came to Waterloo Street. She was 
 dressed so quietly and walking so deliberately 
 that a stranger might have thought she was 
 going to see a friend ; certainly no one would 
 have dreamt of the fire of passion that was 
 raging in her breast. No one looked round at 
 her — not an official of the law asked her 
 business, or followed in her track. She even 
 turned to cross Waterloo Bridge without ex- 
 citing any suspicion in the bystanders. Why 
 should she not be a peaceful citizen like the 
 rest of them, bent on a common errand ? 
 Had it been later at night, it might have 
 been different. It was the early hour of ten, 
 and the crowded pathway that lulled all 
 suspicion. Yet Nell was as distraught as any 
 lunatic who ever contemplated suicide. She 
 was walking to her death, and it was only 
 a proof of the state of her mind that she 
 went without a thought excepting that the 
 rest of forgetfulness was so near. As she 
 came to the centre of the bridge, she stopped
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 1 9 
 
 for a moment and looked over the coping 
 wall at the calm water. 
 
 ' How deep it is,' she thought. ' What a 
 fool I am to deliberate. It will be over in a 
 minute, and it will be so sweet never to 
 dream again.' 
 
 As she mused in this manner, she gave a 
 sudden leap and was over before the passers- 
 by could catch hold of her clothing. They 
 gave the alarm at once, and a policeman, 
 who was half way down on the other side, 
 heard it and came hurrying up. But the 
 waters of old Father Thames, who has re- 
 ceived so many of his desparing children to 
 his bosom, had already closed over the bright 
 hair and beautiful face of Nell Llewellyn.
 
 CH APTE R VI. 
 
 All the women who had witnessed the 
 accident hung over the parapet of the bridge, 
 screaming at the top of their voices after the 
 manner of their kind, whilst the men ran off 
 for assistance. The police were summoned ; 
 boats, with grappling irons, were put out, 
 and every effort made to rescue the unfortu- 
 nate suicide, but in vain. Nothing was seen 
 or heard of the body. No crafts had been 
 immediately under the bridge at the moment. 
 Two or three empty barges were moored 
 in its vicinity, but their black beams could 
 tell no tales. The search was not given up 
 until it was pronounced unavailing, and 
 the police went back to report the circum- 
 stance at headquarters. Next morning there 
 appeared a paragraph in the dailies with the 
 
 120
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 121 
 
 headline — ' Mysterious Suicide from Waterloo 
 Bridge.' 
 
 * Last evening, as the large audiences were 
 turning out of the transpontine theatres, and 
 wending their way homewards, a thrilling 
 accident, or what may have been so, occurred 
 on Waterloo Bridge. A tall, lady-like, well- 
 dressed young woman, was walking quietly 
 amongst the passengers, apparently as 
 soberly-disposed as any amongst them, when, 
 without sound or warning, she suddenly 
 vaulted over the parapet and dashed into the 
 river. The act was so unpremeditated, and 
 took the bystanders so completely by sur- 
 prise, that there was no opportunity of 
 preventing the terrible catastrophe. The 
 peaceful crowd was immediately transformed 
 into an agitated mass ; all striving to give the 
 alarm, or aid in rescuing the unfortunate 
 woman. The police behaved magnificently 
 on the occasion. In less time than we could 
 write the words, boats were put out and every 
 possible assistance given, but no trace of the 
 body could be found though the grappling- 
 irons were used in every direction. It is
 
 122 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 supposed that she must have fractured her 
 skull against one of the empty barges moored 
 in proximity to the bridge, and sunk beyond 
 recall. The occurrence created a painful 
 sensation among the bystanders. Women 
 were fainting, and men rushing about in 
 all directions. Some people, who had 
 followed the unfortunate woman across the 
 bridge from the Strand, describe her to 
 have had a tall and very elegant figure, 
 and say that she was dressed in a black 
 mantle, and wore a broad, black hat with 
 a drooping feather. Everybody seems 
 agreed that she did not belong to the lower 
 classes, and it is to be feared, from the 
 determination with which she sprang over 
 the parapet, that her loss can be ascribed 
 to nothing but deliberate suicide. The police 
 are on the look-out for the body, which 
 will probably turn up further down the 
 river, when some light may be thrown on 
 the identity of the unfortunate lady. The 
 strangers who walked in her wake across 
 the bridge observed that she possessed an 
 abundant quantity of bright chestnut hair.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 123 
 
 coiled low upon her neck, and that her 
 hands, which were bare, were long and 
 white. This makes the fifteenth suicide that 
 has taken place from Waterloo Bridge in 
 twelve months.' 
 
 Mr Sterndale, the solicitor, sitting alone in 
 his office, read this paragraph, and was very- 
 much struck by it, especially as Warrender, 
 Lord Ilfracombe's butler, had been to see 
 him not half an hour ago with the intelligence 
 that Miss Llewellyn had left the house the 
 night before and not been home since. Mr 
 Sterndale, with his cynical ideas concerning 
 women, had not paid much attention nor 
 attached much importance to the man's 
 statement. He thought the quondam house- 
 keeper of Grosvenor Square had found 
 another place, or another lover, and no 
 longer held herself responsible to the earl 
 or anybody else for what she might choose 
 to do. He had told Warrender that he 
 did not think there was any reason for 
 alarm ; that Miss Llewellyn was quite old 
 enough to take care of herself, and that 
 she had probably gone to visit friends and
 
 1 24 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 spent the night with them. She would 
 be sure to return for her boxes. The butler 
 had not seemed satisfied. 
 
 ' But, begging your pardon, sir, the maid 
 who saw her last, Susan, says she was looking 
 very ill, poor lady ! She said she was going 
 into the square for a breath of fresh air, 
 and it was past nine o'clock then. Susan 
 and I waited up for Miss Llewellyn till 
 twelve, and then I only lay down on the 
 bench in the hall till four this morning. 
 But she never came back, and, begging your 
 pardon, sir, it's what Miss Llewellyn haven't 
 never done, not since she's been under 
 his lordship's protection.' 
 
 1 Ah, well, Warrender, she's got her orders 
 to quit, you know, and I daresay she con- 
 siders she can do as she likes, as indeed 
 there's no reason she should not. She's 
 a very obstinate young woman or she 
 would have left the house before now, and 
 she's putting me to a great deal of in- 
 convenience. Indeed, if she does not leave 
 soon, she will compel me to exercise the 
 authority vested in me by Lord Ilfracombe,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 125 
 
 and order her to pack up her boxes and 
 
 go. 
 
 The old servant looked troubled. 
 
 1 Oh, I hope not, sir, I hope not. Per- 
 haps it's not my place to say anything, 
 but Miss Llewellyn has been a kind mistress 
 to us all, and so much at home, and — there, 
 there, I don't understand these things, of 
 course, and what's for his lordship's good 
 is for the good of all of us ; but there's not a 
 servant in the hall but will be sorry that poor 
 Miss Llewellyn is to be the sufferer. She 
 had a kind heart, poor thing ! if any lady had.' 
 
 ' No doubt, Warrender, no doubt. No one 
 denies that she has good qualities, but they 
 have been exercised greatly to the detri- 
 ment of the earl. Young men will be young 
 men, but there comes a time when such 
 things must be put a stop to, and the time 
 has come to stop this. You will have a 
 legal mistress now — a lady of high birth, who 
 will rule the house as it should be ruled, 
 and the sooner you all forget that such 
 a person as Miss Llewellyn existed the 
 better ! '
 
 126 A Bankrupt Hea,7-t. 
 
 * Perhaps so, sir ; but, meanwhile, what 
 are we to do about this ? ' 
 
 1 Do nothing at all ! She will come back 
 safe enough, you may depend upon that, 
 and I will write to her to-morrow and tell 
 her she must fix a day for leaving the 
 house. I want to put the workmen in as 
 soon as possible ! ' 
 
 * Very good, sir,' said the butler, humbly, 
 as he retired. 
 
 But the next thing Mr Sterndale did 
 was to read the account in his Standard 
 of Nell's attempted suicide, and the coin- 
 cidence naturally struck him. It did not 
 flurry him in the least. It only made the 
 thought flash through his mind what a 
 fortunate thing it would be if it were true. 
 He threw up his engagements for the day 
 and took his way at once to the river police 
 station to make all possible inquiries about 
 the suicide. He did not hear much more 
 than he had read ; but the description of 
 the woman's figure and dress, together with 
 the time the accident occurred, all tallied 
 so wonderfully with the fact of Nell's dis-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 127 
 
 appearance, that the solicitor considered that 
 he had every reason to hope it might 
 have been herself who had thus most 
 opportunely left the course clear for the 
 happiness of Lord Ilfracombe and his bride. 
 He seconded the efforts of the police to 
 discover the truth, offering a handsome 
 reward for the recovery of the body for 
 identification, and when a week passed with- 
 out its being found, or Miss Llewellyn 
 returning to Grosvenor Square, he con- 
 sidered it his duty to institute a search 
 amongst the property she had left behind 
 to see if he could find any clue to the 
 mystery. He told the servants that he 
 did so in order to try and find an address 
 to send them after her to ; but they all 
 knew by this time that something had 
 happened to their late mistress, and that 
 it was unlikely they should ever see her 
 again, and, to do them justice, there was 
 very sincere sorrow in the servants' hall 
 at the idea. Mr Sterndale would not allow 
 anybody to assist him in his search. He 
 ransacked poor Nell's chest of drawers and
 
 128 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 wardrobe by himself, turned over her dainty 
 dresses and laced and embroidered stock 
 of linen, opened all her workbags and boxes, 
 her desk and blotting books, but found 
 not a line to intimate she had entertained 
 any idea of taking her own life. 
 
 ' Pooh ! ' said Mr Sterndale to himself, 
 as he wiped the dew off his pale face, ' I've 
 been alarming myself for nothing ! It's 
 another lover the jade will be looking after, 
 and not a watery grave ! People in their 
 right mind don't commit suicide, and she 
 was as sane as I am. She has most 
 probably sought shelter with Mr Jack 
 Portland or some other of the earl's swell 
 friends. I know she was universally ad- 
 mired, and there will be a rush to the 
 bidding as soon as it becomes known that 
 she's put up for sale. However, these pretty 
 things had better be put under lock and 
 key till his lordship sends word how they 
 are to be disposed of.' 
 
 With that he came to the trinket - case 
 which Nell had locked, and the key of which 
 she had thrown out of the window.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 129 
 
 1 Holloa ! ' he thought, * what is this ? An- 
 other workbox? No. I fancy it is the sort 
 of article women keep their rings in. He 
 gave her some beauties ; but I don't suppose 
 she has been such a fool as to leave them 
 behind her.' 
 
 He tried every key on a bunch he had 
 found on the dressing-table, but none would 
 fit ; so, after a few attempts w r ith another 
 bunch from his own pocket, he took out his 
 penknife and prised the lock open. The 
 first thing he saw, laid on the top of the rings, 
 brooches and bracelets, was Nell's pathetic 
 message to her lover. ' Good-bye, my only 
 love — I cannot live without you ! ' Mr Stern- 
 dale read it, and shivered like an aspen leaf. 
 Had Nell's ghost stood by his side, he could 
 not have been more alarmed and nervous. 
 1 Good-bye, my only love — I cannot live with- 
 out you ! ' he muttered to himself, while he 
 trembled anew and glanced fearfully over 
 his shoulder. 
 
 ' So that must really have been her, and 
 she has destroyed herself!' he thought. ' I 
 never really believed it would come to that — 
 vol. 1. 1
 
 130 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 never. But it is Lord Ilfracombe's concern, 
 not mine. It was he that drove her to it. I 
 only acted on his orders, and I am bound to 
 obey him, if he tells me to do a thing. But 
 who would have thought it was in her. She 
 must have felt his marriage very much. I 
 didn't believe it was in women to care for any 
 man to such an extent. But, perhaps, after 
 all, it was only the loss of her position, illegal 
 as it was, that turned her a bit crazy. It can't 
 be pleasant after having enjoyed such a home 
 as this to go back to work. Yet she wouldn't 
 take the money he offered her — a noble com- 
 pensation. She didn't seem to think even 
 that enough. Well, well, it is incomprehen- 
 sible. All the female sex are. To think 
 that she should have preferred death — 
 death! But what am I saying? It may 
 not have been Miss Llewellyn after all. We 
 have no proof. Doubtless, it was some un- 
 fortunate who had come to the end of her 
 tether. But it would never do to tell Lord 
 Ilfracombe my suspicions — not yet, at all 
 events, while he is on his wedding tour. 
 Time enough when he has sobered down
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 3 1 
 
 into a steady married man ; then, perhaps, 
 the news will come rather as a relief from 
 all fear of meeting the object of his youth- 
 ful indiscretion again. Yet, under the water 
 — that beautiful face and figure! It seems 
 too terrible. I must not think of it. There 
 is no reason it should trouble me in the very 
 slightest degree.' 
 
 Mr Sterndale rung the bell at this junc- 
 ture, and ordered the lady's maid, who had 
 waited upon Miss Llewellyn, to have all her 
 belongings properly packed and locked away, 
 until his lordship's pleasure concerning them 
 should be known. But the trinket-box he 
 put his own seal on, and carried off to place 
 in his safe with other property belonging to 
 his client. Yet Mr Sterndale, try as he would, 
 could not lock away with it all remembrance 
 of the woman whom he firmly believed to be 
 lying stark and dead beneath the water. His 
 last interview with her kept on returning to 
 his memory, and made him wretched. Her 
 proud, flashing glances, her complete incre- 
 dulity, and then her bowed head and sub- 
 dued voice ; her attitude of utter despair, her
 
 132 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 silence, and her final accusation that her 
 lover's determination had been brought 
 about through his influence. It had in a 
 great measure been so ; he knew it and had 
 confessed as much to her. And so she had 
 thought fit to end the matter. Very foolish, 
 very rash, and decidedly unpleasant to think 
 of. So he would put the remembrance away 
 from him at once and for ever. He informed 
 the servants that Miss Llewellyn had returned 
 home to her own people, and that her things 
 were to remain there until they received 
 further orders. 
 
 But none of them believed his story. 
 
 Meantime, Nell's complete disappearance, 
 though apparently so mysterious, was in 
 reality no mystery at all. Few things are, 
 when once unravelled. Her precipitate fall 
 into the water had brought her head down- 
 wards against the black side of an empty 
 barge. The blow stunned her, and she was 
 immediately sucked under, and borne by the 
 running current some way lower down, where 
 her body rose under the bows of a rowing 
 boat, whose owners were just preparing to
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 133 
 
 shelve her on the mud-bank which fringes 
 either side the Thames. They were water- 
 men of the lowest class, but honest and 
 kindly-hearted. 
 
 "Ullo, Jim,' cried one of them, as Nell's 
 body rose alongside, ' what's that ? By 
 Gawd, if it isn't a woman's 'and. Here, 
 give us an 'and, and lift 'er over. Quick, 
 now, will yer ? ' 
 
 'It's a corpus,' said Jim, shrinking back, 
 as most people do from contact with the 
 dead. ' Let it be, Garge. Don't bring it 
 over here. It's no concarn of ourn, and 
 the perlice will find it soon enough. Row 
 on, man, do, and leave it be'ind. The look 
 of it's quite enough for me.' 
 
 'You're a nice 'un,' retorted Garge, 
 as he leant over the boat's side and seized 
 hold of Nell Llewellyn. 'What d'ye 
 mean ? Would yer leave a poor gal to 
 drown, when maybe she ain't 'alf dead ? 
 Here, lend an 'and, will yer, or I'll 
 knock yer bloomin' brains out with my 
 oar.' 
 
 Thus admonished, Jim joined his forces
 
 134 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 to those of his comrade, and by their 
 united efforts they hauled the body into 
 the boat. As soon as Garge saw her 
 lovely face, which looked almost unearthly 
 in its beauty, he became eager to take her 
 home to his mother, to be succoured and 
 taken care of. 
 
 * Now, Garge, mark what I'm sayin' of,' 
 argued Jim, 'you 'ad better by 'alf take r er 
 to the station at once. 'Tain't no business 
 of yourn, and you'll maybe get into trouble 
 by taking it on yerself. She's committed 
 suicide, there's where it is, and you should 
 leave 'er to the perlice. I thought I 'eard a 
 lot o' shoutin' from the bridge jest now, and 
 it was after this 'ere, you may take yer oath 
 of it. A bad lot all round, and will bring 
 you into trouble. Now, be wise and jest 
 drop 'er into the water agin. She's as dead 
 as a door-nail ! ' 
 
 'That's yer opinion, is it?' said Garge, 
 contemptuously ; ' and ow long 'ave you sot 
 up as a doctor, eh ? Now, jest do as I 
 tell yer, or I'll know the reason why. Lift 
 'er up by the petticoats, and I'll take 'er
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 135 
 
 'ead and shoulders. That's it, and now for 
 mother's/ 
 
 ' Mother's ' was the cellar floor of one of 
 those tenements which abound on the river's 
 side, and afford shelter for the ' water-rats ' 
 who make their living on its bosom and its 
 shores. The two young men had not far to 
 carry their burden, but Nell was heavy, and 
 they stumbled over the threshold of the 
 house and down the cellar steps, and were 
 glad enough to lay her dripping body on the 
 floor. 
 
 'Hello, lads, what 'ave yer got there?' 
 exclaimed an old woman, who came out of 
 the Cimmerian darkness, carrying a tallow 
 candle stuck in the neck of an old beer bottle. 
 ' Mercy me ! not a corpus, surely ? Why, 
 what on airth made you bring it in 'ere ? 
 A gal too, and a purty one ! Garge ; tell me 
 the rights of it all, or I'll 'ave none of 'er 'ere.' 
 
 ' Theer ain't no rights, nor wrongs neither, 
 mother,' replied Garge, ' only this body 
 floated under our bows, and I don't believe 
 the pore gal is dead, and no one knows 
 better 'ow to rewive a corpus than you do, so
 
 136 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 we carried 'er ome to you at onst. She's a 
 lady, and maybe a rich 'un, and you may git 
 a good reward for rewivin' 'er, from 'er 
 friends. So, wheer's the blankets and the 'ot 
 water? Yer've got some bilin' to make our 
 tea, I know, and I'll go and call Mrs Benson 
 to 'elp yer with 'er.' 
 
 ' That's it my lad,' replied the mother, who, 
 though most people would have designated 
 her as a filthy hag, was a kind-hearted old 
 body. 'And Jim and you must make yerself 
 scarce for to-night, for I can't do nothin' till 
 you two are gone. Take Garge 'ome with 
 you, Jim, and if this gal's too fur gone to do 
 anything with, yer must give notice fust 
 thing in the mornin' to the perlice, for I 
 can't keep a dead body 'ere longer than the 
 mornin'.' 
 
 ' I don't believe as she is dead,' said 
 Garge, who had been bending over Nell's 
 body and listening with his ear upon her 
 chest. ' Yer can't deceive me much, yer know, 
 mother, for I've seen too many on 'em. 
 'Owever, I'll fetch Mrs Benson at once, and 
 I'll look in larst thing to 'ear your news.'
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 137 
 
 The old woman had lighted a fire by this 
 time and dragged the body in front of it, and 
 as soon as her neighbour joined her, they 
 commenced rubbing and thumping and chaf- 
 ing the limbs of the apparently drowned girl, 
 and though their remedies were rough, they 
 were successful, for after some fifteen or 
 twenty minutes of this treatment, Nell sighed 
 deeply, gasped for breath, and finally opened 
 her eyes and looked at her good Samaritans. 
 She attempted to rise, but they held her 
 down with their strong hands, and continued 
 their original massage treatment with 
 redoubled energy. At last their patient 
 ejaculated, ' Where am I ? ' Which is in- 
 variably the first question asked by a woman 
 recovering from a fit of unconsciousness. 
 
 ' Wheer are ye, honey ? ' repeated Garge's 
 mother. ' Why, afore the fire, of course, and 
 on the floor, which is rather a hard bed I 
 'spect for one like you, but we'd no better 
 place to lay you on.' 
 
 ' But how did I come here? ' said Nell, and 
 then, as remembrance poured back upon her, 
 she moaned, — ' Ah, the water, I remember,
 
 138 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 the water ! ' and closed her eyes again. But 
 as her strength returned more fully she started 
 to a sitting posture and cried fiercely, — 
 1 Who brought me here ? Who told you to 
 do this ? What right have you to interfere 
 with me ? I thought it would have been all 
 over by this time, and now it has all to come 
 over again — all over again ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, no, it won't, honey,' replied her 
 companion. ' You won't go to do any think 
 so foolish agin. Why, you've as near lost yer 
 life as possible. It wore jest touch and go 
 with yer, wern't it, Mrs Benson ? ' 
 
 'That it wure, indeed,' said that worthy. 
 1 And you're too fine a gal to throw yerself 
 away in sich a fashion, yer should leave that 
 sorter thing to the poor gutter drabs. My 
 Garge, 'e found yer and brought yer 'ome, 
 and I've no doubt you've fine friends as will 
 be real glad to git yer back agin ! ' 
 
 ' No, I haven't. I have no friends,' said 
 Nell. 
 
 1 What, no father nor mother ? ' exclaimed 
 her hostess. ' Pore gal ! But I daresay you've 
 got a young man, or if yer aven't yer'll git one.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 139 
 
 You're much too fine a gal to go beggin'. 
 And whatever made yer think of makin' an 
 'ole in the water puzzles me. Now, you jest 
 wrap this blanket right round yer, and drink 
 this posset. 'Tain't to yer taste, p'r'aps, but 
 'tis the best thing out to warm your blood 
 arter a soakinV 
 
 She held a filthy mug, filled with a filthy but 
 steaming decoction of treacle and beer to 
 Nell's lips as she spoke, and the girl opened 
 her mouth mechanically and took it all in. 
 Then, sickened of life and everything in it, 
 including the treacle posset, she rolled herself 
 in the blanket, and with her face towards the 
 fire, sunk into a sleep of exhaustion and 
 despair. Garge, true to his trust, sneaked 
 round at about midnight to ask what news 
 there was of his patient, and was delighted 
 in his rough way to hear that she had 
 recovered. 
 
 1 She is a beauty ! ' he exclaimed, as he 
 gazed at her pale face, on which the light 
 of the burning logs was playing ; ' a rale 
 rare 'un, that's wot I thinks ! Don't yer 
 let that fire out afore the morning, mother,
 
 140 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 for she'll feel cold when she wakes though 
 it is so 'ot ; and now, wasn't I wise to 
 bring 'er 'ome, 'stead of the perlice station. 
 I bet yer'll make a pot of money over this, 
 mother, 'stead of the coppers takin' it. 
 Well, good-night, and don't yer let 'er go 
 till I've seen 'er agin in the morninV 
 
 But long before Garge's mother had 
 roused herself again her visitor had gone. 
 The old woman was tired with the exertions 
 she had made on her behalf, and had taken 
 just the smallest drop of gin to quiet her 
 own perturbed feelings before she turned into 
 bed. But Nell had soon started up from her 
 short, feverish slumber, and lain before the 
 fire with wide-open eyes, staring at the flick- 
 ering flames, and wondering what the next 
 move of her unhappy life would be. The 
 old woman's words rane in her ears. * What ! 
 no father nor mother ? Pore £al I ' How 
 ungrateful it had been of her not to remem- 
 ber that she had both father and mother, 
 before she took the fatal plunge which might 
 have separated her from them for ever. 
 Already she felt ashamed of her impetuosity
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 141 
 
 and despair. She resolved, as she lay there, 
 that she would go back to her parents and 
 her home. She would return to Panty- 
 cuckoo Farm, and try to forget that she 
 had ever left it. It would be sweet, she 
 thought feverishly, to smell the woodbine 
 and the roses again— it would cool her brain 
 to lie down on the dewy grass and press 
 her hot cheek to the wild thyme and the 
 daisies that bedecked it. Her mind was still 
 in a bewildered and chaotic state, or Nell 
 would have dreaded the questions that 
 awaited her at Panty-cuckoo Farm ; but, 
 luckily, it led her in the right direction. A 
 sudden horror of the publicity she had 
 courted by her rash act took possession of 
 her, and she panted to get up and away 
 before the good Samaritans who had brought 
 her back to life were able to gain any 
 particulars regarding her name or former 
 condition. With this desire strong upon 
 her, she raised herself, weak as she was, 
 and glanced at her surroundings. The logs 
 still burnt brightly on the hearth ; the old 
 woman snored mellifluously on a pallet in
 
 142 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 the corner — for the rest, she was alone. 
 The clothes they had taken off her were 
 hung out to dry on a chair. Nell felt them. 
 They were fit to put on again. She raised 
 herself gently and resumed her attire, which 
 consisted of a dark print dress, a black 
 mantle and a large straw hat, which had not 
 become detached from her head when she 
 went under the water. But she could not 
 go without leaving some token of her grati- 
 tude behind her. She felt in the pocket of 
 her dress. Her purse was still there, and 
 it contained several pounds. Nell took out 
 two, and, wrapping them in a piece of paper, 
 placed them in a conspicuous position on 
 the chair. Then she crept softly across the 
 cellar, and, climbing the stone steps that led 
 to the entrance of the tenement, found, to 
 her relief, that the outer door was ajar. 
 There were too many people in the house, 
 and they were of too lawless a kind for any- 
 one to notice her departure, or think it singu- 
 lar if they had. The dawn was just breaking 
 as Nell stepped into the open air ; and, 
 though she knew she must look very for-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 143 
 
 lorn, the few wayfarers whom she encountered 
 looked more forlorn still, and no one molested 
 or questioned her. She found she had suf- 
 ficient money to take her straight away to 
 Usk had she so desired, but she dared not 
 present herself before her people in her 
 present draggled state. So she went into 
 a little lodging in the Waterloo Road, where 
 she was confident that no one would recog- 
 nise her ; and, after staying two nights there, 
 she had so far remedied the state of her 
 wardrobe as to feel able to go back to Wales 
 without exciting too much inquiry. But still, 
 Nell was far from being in her normal con- 
 dition, and moved and spoke like a woman 
 in a dream.
 
 CH APTE R VII. 
 
 When visitors went for the first time to Usk, 
 and their hostesses wished to imbue them 
 with a sense of the beauties of the place, they 
 generally said, ' Oh, let us drive to Panty- 
 cuckoo Farm ! You must not leave Usk 
 without seeing Panty-cuckoo Farm ! The 
 sweetest, most picturesque old place you ever 
 set eyes on ; quite a leaf out of the past ages. 
 Sir Archibald Bowmant says it dates from the 
 fourteenth century. And Mrs Llewellyn is 
 such a quaint old woman. You don't meet 
 with such people in her class now-a-days. 
 We always have our eggs and butter and 
 pork from her, and she will give us a lovely 
 cup of tea, with the best of cream. You must 
 come ! ' 
 
 And the visitors usually agreed that their 
 
 144
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 145 
 
 hostess's description of the farm and its in- 
 habitants had not been exaggerated, and 
 came back delighted with what they had seen. 
 They drove for some way out of the town of 
 Usk, along an undulating road, almost over- 
 shadowed by the meeting branches of lofty 
 elm and oak trees, and fringed by hedges, 
 fragrant at this time of year with meadow- 
 sweet and climbing travellers' joy and wild 
 roses. A sudden curve in the road brought 
 them to a wide, white gate, which led by a 
 most precipitous pathway to the farmhouse. 
 On either side this pathway were placed large, 
 whitewashed blocks of stone, to enable the 
 wheels of cart or carriage to keep from rolling 
 into the little trench by which it was bordered. 
 On one side the trench or ditch was a large 
 orchard stretching away beyond where the 
 eye could reach, and well stocked with apple, 
 and pear, and cherry trees. Beneath their 
 shade were numerous coops of hens, with their 
 broods of little white chickens scattered round 
 them like fallen blossoms of May ; and flying 
 like the wind at their mother's call, as the 
 black porkers, for which Farmer Llewellyn 
 vol. 1. k
 
 146 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 was famous, came grunting- behind each other, 
 eating the windfalls, and turning the refuse 
 over with their ringed snouts. Opposite to 
 the orchard was a plot of grass, which ran 
 along the side of the house, and was decorated 
 by garden beds, filled with carnations, lillies, 
 mignonette, geraniums, and such common 
 sweet-smelling flowers. This part of the house 
 had been built subsequently to the original por- 
 tion, and had a side entrance of its own beneath 
 a little porch covered with honeysuckle and 
 clematis. It consisted of only two rooms, and 
 as the farmer's family had never consisted of 
 more than his two daughters, Mrs Llewellyn 
 had been in the habit of letting these rooms to 
 casual visitors to Usk who required a lodging 
 for a few nights. Especially had they been at 
 the service of Sir Archibald Bowmant during 
 the shooting season, as he often had more 
 bachelors staying at Usk Hall than he could 
 accommodate, and knew he could trust their 
 comfort with safety to his old tenant, Mrs 
 Llewellyn. Sir Archibald's woods skirted 
 the road opposite Panty-cuckoo Farm, so 
 that his guests had only to cross the park
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 147 
 
 to gain their nightly lodgings, and so much 
 trust had Mrs Llewellyn in her landlord's 
 visitors, that when her rooms were occupied 
 she let the young gentlemen come and go as 
 they liked, without holding any inquisitorial 
 espionage over their proceedings. But this 
 wing of the house had nothing to do with 
 the farm itself; visitors to the Llewellyns 
 drove straight down the precipitous drive 
 till they turned round at the foot to face the 
 front of the farm, which consisted of a low, 
 rambling building, of dark red brick, with a 
 thatched roof. Before it was a prim, old- 
 fashioned strip of ground, guarded by a row 
 of eight box trees, cut in the shape of 
 peacocks. On the walls of the house 
 were a magnificent magnolia, and some 
 plants of the crimson pyrus japonica, which 
 gave it a wonderfully warm appearance. 
 As soon as carriage wheels were heard, 
 Mrs Llewellyn usually opened the door 
 and came down the bricked path to wel- 
 come her visitors. She would never hear 
 of their leaving before they had partaken of 
 her tea and cream. The parlour was entered
 
 148 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 immediately from the front door, and was 
 wainscotted half-way to the ceiling with 
 rich, dark oak, of which the ceiling itself 
 was formed, divided into squares, with a 
 plain but different device carved in each. 
 The windows of this room were lattice- 
 paned, and contained window-seats in the 
 shape of oak settles, which opened like 
 boxes to store the house linen. The fire- 
 place was a mass of carving, without any 
 mantelpiece, but a wide range below for logs, 
 and iron dogs on either side to support them. 
 Mrs Llewellyn much prided herself on this 
 parlour. She knew the value and beauty of 
 it as much as anybody, though she some- 
 times grumbled at its inconveniences, and 
 said she would exchange it any day for a 
 modern-built house. It opened into a wide, 
 bricked passage, or ante-room, where the 
 farmer hung his coats, and a table stood 
 piled with the prayer-books of the family, 
 ready to be distributed when church time 
 came round again. Nell's still lay amongst 
 them. Her mother often sighed when she 
 accidentally touched it ; sometimes she had
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 149 
 
 been seen to raise it furtively to her lips 
 before she laid it down again. It was out- 
 side this ante-chamber that the two rooms 
 had been added that were occasionally let 
 as lodgings, and the door, which originally 
 had opened from it to the garden, now led 
 to them. Visitors passed through it to the 
 dairy, where the shelves were piled with the 
 year's cheeses, and marble slabs held the 
 mounds of fresh butter, waiting to be made 
 into rolls or pats by the rosy-cheeked dairy- 
 maid, and the pans were standing covered 
 with thick, rich, yellow cream, such as Mrs 
 Llewellyn was famed for all the country side. 
 This dairy led across a covered-in yard to 
 the baking-house, and in the centre of the 
 yard stood a well, centuries old, with an 
 Elizabethan cross surmounting its quaint, 
 arched roof. In fact, there was no end to the 
 curiosities in Panty-cuckoo Farm, and ladies 
 with purses full of money had tried over and 
 over again to induce the farmer and his wife 
 to part with some of their bits of blue china, 
 and yellow lace, and old wood carving, that 
 they might carry them back to adorn their
 
 150 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 drawing-rooms in Kensington or Westminster. 
 But the Llewellyns were steadfast in their 
 courteous refusals. No amount of coin would 
 have made them sell the little relics that 
 adorned their rooms, and had come down to 
 them from unknown ancestors. They would 
 as soon have sold their own flesh and blood. 
 There was something about these people 
 above the general run of farmers and their 
 wives. Countrified they necessarily were, 
 but not vulgar nor common, and even in the 
 lowly position they occupied they managed 
 to infuse so much dignity that even their 
 superiors recognised it, and met it with 
 respect. It was rather an important occasion 
 with Mrs Llewellyn when we are first intro- 
 duced to her, for her daughter Hetty was 
 coming, with her husband and several of her 
 new relations, to take tea at Panty-cuckoo 
 Farm for the first time since her return from 
 London, and her mother was eager to do her 
 honour. Mrs Llewellyn had evidently been 
 a very handsome woman in her youth, and 
 as she moved about her rooms, clad in her 
 gala dress of grey merino, with a white
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 151 
 
 muslin kerchief pinned across her bosom, 
 and a large cap covering her iron-grey hair, 
 it was evident from whom poor Nell had 
 inherited the beauty that had proved such a 
 misfortune to her. Tall and upright, with a 
 fresh colour in her face, and her hazel eyes 
 beaming with expectation and pride in her 
 table, Mrs Llewellyn looked quite a picture 
 as she moved about her room and arranged 
 the feast for her expected guests. The 
 brown bread and fresh butter, the cream 
 and new-laid eggs, the honeycomb and 
 home-made preserves, the cut ham and 
 water-cresses, made up a picture of beauty 
 that any housewife might have been proud 
 of; and Farmer Llewellyn chuckled with 
 satisfaction as he sat in one of the window 
 settles and watched the tempting display. 
 
 1 That's right, wife ! ' he exclaimed, ' stuff 
 them well. You'll get more friends through 
 their stomachs than you'll ever do through 
 their hearts.' 
 
 1 Oh, Griffith,' she replied, ' that's a poor 
 way of looking at it ; not but what a good 
 meal's a good thing after all. But I shouldn't
 
 152 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 like the Owens to go home and say they 
 hadn't had enough to eat. And it's our 
 Hetty's first visit, too,' and here Mrs Llewel- 
 lyn heaved a deep sigh. 
 
 * What's up now ? ' said her husband. { You 
 can't expect to keep your girls with you for 
 ever, you know, Mary ; and William Owen 
 is as good a lad as ever stepped in shoe 
 leather, and will keep our Hetty well. We 
 might have gone further and fared worse for 
 a husband for her.' 
 
 4 Oh, yes, I know that, father, and I'm 
 quite satisfied. I like Will myself. He's like 
 a son to me. No, I wasn't thinking of 
 Hetty at all, but of our Nell. I've been 
 thinking of her a deal lately. I don't seem 
 as if I could get her out of my mind. It 
 seems so hard that Hetty should see her and 
 not I. Five years is a long time not to set 
 eyes on one's own child. Sometimes the 
 longing for a sight of her is so bad, I feel as 
 if I must go up to London, if I walk every 
 step of the way.' 
 
 ' Oh, that's the way the crow flies,' 
 chuckled the farmer. ' You're jealous of your
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 153 
 
 daughter, are you? You'll be worrying me 
 to take you a second honeymoon tour next. 
 You want to see London town, now.' 
 
 ' Oh, Grif, how I wish I could, not for the 
 sake of the sights, you know. The only 
 sight I want is that of my girl. If I had 
 ever thought that servants were such slaves 
 up there, Pd have cut her legs off before 
 she should have left Usk. My pretty Nell ! 
 If she goes and marries away from me, 
 where, perhaps, I may never have a glimpse 
 of her, or her little ones, it would drive me 
 crazy.' 
 
 ' Come now, mistress ! ' exclaimed the 
 farmer in his old-fashioned way, ' you must 
 just put off your fit of the mopes for a bit, 
 for here are all your guests coming down the 
 dell in their wedding bravery. Here's Hetty, 
 blooming like a rose, and trying to look as 
 if nobody had ever been married in the world 
 before her. How are you, my little bride, 
 and how are you, William, my lad ? Mind 
 the step, Mrs Owen, ma'am, for it's broken 
 at the edge. (You mind me to have that set 
 right, Mary !) Well, farmer, you look famous,
 
 154 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 and so does Hugh here. I went to hear 
 you spouting last Sunday night, lad, and you 
 have the gift of the gab and no mistake. 
 You made my wife, here, cry. You hit so 
 neatly on her favourite sins.' 
 
 1 Oh, no, Hugh, you won't believe that, I 
 hope,' cried Mrs Llewellyn, blushing like one 
 of her daughters. ' Father's only chaffing you. 
 It was looking at you and thinking of my 
 Nell that made me cry. The sight of you 
 brings back the time so plain, when you 
 and she used to play and quarrel all day 
 long. You were main sweet on her then, 
 and used to call her your little wife. Ay, 
 but how glad I should be if she had stayed 
 at home like my Hetty and married in Usk. 
 My heart is very sore sometimes, when I 
 think of her so far away and I not near her, 
 in sickness or trouble. Sometimes I fancy 
 I'll never set eyes on her again.' 
 
 ' Oh, mother, you musn't say that,' inter- 
 posed Hetty, ' for Nell promised Will and me 
 that as soon as ever she got a holiday she 
 should come back to see us all at Usk. 
 But Lord Ilfracombe has gone abroad and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 5 5 
 
 left her in charge of everything, so she can't 
 possibly leave the house just yet.' 
 
 4 In charge of everything? Doesn't that 
 seem strange ? ' said the mother, with a 
 proud smile, ' My careless Nell ! Lord 
 Ilfracombe must think a deal of her to 
 trust her like that.' 
 
 * Oh, he does think a deal of her, mother. 
 Anyone could see that. He must give 
 her heaps and heaps of money. You should 
 have seen how she was dressed. Oh, lovely ! 
 And her hair was done just like a lady's, 
 and when we had tea with her, the footman 
 waited- on us as if we had been the owners 
 of the house, and he brought the tea up 
 on a beautiful silver tray and we sat in the 
 best room, and it was like fairlyland, wasn't 
 it, Will ? ' 
 
 ' I hope Nell did not do anything she 
 ought not,' remarked the prudent mother. 
 1 I hope she won't get into a scrape for 
 this.' 
 
 'Just what I said,' laughed Hetty; 'but 
 Nell said Lord Ilfracombe is so good-natured 
 that if he came back, sudden-like, he'd only
 
 156 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 smile and say, — "That's right, go on and 
 enjoy yourselves." And a gentleman who 
 came and spoke to us when we were at 
 the play, and sent us the most beautiful 
 ices, talked as if Lord Ilfracombe thought 
 all the world of our Nell ; didn't he, 
 Will?' 
 
 1 Ay, that's so/ acquiesced Will. 
 
 The farmer and his wife, all unconscious 
 of wrong, rather bridled at this information, 
 but Hugh Owen looked grave and his dark 
 eyes seemed to question eagerly for more. 
 This last was rather a remarkable young 
 man, both outwardly and inwardly. From 
 a child he had been a student, and now 
 might almost have been termed a scholar, 
 though a self-taught one. His face was so 
 earnest and introspective in its expression, 
 that it made one forget that his features 
 were not strictly handsome. His sallow 
 complexion, dark grey eyes, large nose, and 
 thin-lipped mouth, were far less attractive 
 than his younger brother's fair skin and 
 Saxon characteristics, but no one looked 
 twice at William Owen, while few could
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 157 
 
 forget Hugh. His tall, gaunt frame, nervous 
 hands, and straight hair, all told the same 
 tale, of a man who had used his intellect 
 more than his muscle, and cared for his 
 brains before his body. From a child Hugh 
 Owen had felt the power within him, and 
 had delighted to mount a rostrum of his 
 own erection, and hold forth to his play- 
 mates on any subject which occupied his 
 mind at the moment. As he grew into a 
 lad, he scorned farm work and only wanted 
 to be left alone with his books and studies, 
 until his father, not knowing what to make 
 of him, and fearing he was 'daft,' consulted 
 the minister about him. This minister was 
 a Wesleyan, an earnest, devout man, though 
 rather unlearned, who saw in young Owen's 
 proclivities only a ' call ' to the ministry, 
 and persuaded his proud parents to send 
 him to school at Newport, whence, after 
 several years of study, he returned to Usk 
 and was elected to take part in the services 
 of the dissenting chapel. But, added to his 
 ministerial duties, Hugh Owen had taken 
 to preaching at the corners of the bye-roads
 
 158 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 and on the common, or wherever he could 
 collect an audience or obtain a hearing. 
 Some people said he was mad, others, that 
 he was a saint. His parents and friends 
 thought the latter, but he was only a young 
 enthusiast, whose whole heart and soul and 
 mind were filled with one idea, with which 
 he panted to imbue the whole world. As 
 Hetty chattered about Nell, and what she 
 had done and said in London, Hugh's eyes 
 became strained and anxious, and his atten- 
 tion was wholly enchained. 
 
 1 1 never heard before,' he said presently, 
 ' of maid-servants drinking their tea off 
 silver trays and sitting in the best rooms.' 
 
 1 That 's only because you don't know any- 
 thing of London life,' cried Hetty, tossing 
 her little head. ' Nell says it's quite different 
 from the country, and anyone can see so for 
 themselves. Why, the gentleman who met 
 us at the play (I forget his name) spoke 
 to our Nell just as if she was a lady, and 
 took off his hat when we drove away in the 
 cab, as if we were duchesses. Oh, it was 
 lovely ; I wish we lived in London always.'
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 159 
 
 * You've had quite enough of town life 
 for awhile, my lass,' observed her father. 
 ' Your head would be turned with much more. 
 You '11 be expecting mother to give you 
 your tea on a silver tray next.' 
 
 * Oh, never mind the tray ! ' exclaimed Mrs 
 Llewellyn impatiently. ' If it had been of 
 gold, it couldn't have been too good for our 
 Nell. But tell me how she looked, Hetty. 
 Is she quite well and bonny ? Does she seem 
 happy in this grand place ? Does she have 
 plenty to eat, or did you see any signs of 
 fretting after the old home in my girl ? for if 
 so, I'll have her back, ay, if she was house- 
 keeper to twenty lords, or the Prince of 
 Wales himself; God bless him.' 
 
 'Oh, no, mother, don't you worry. Nell 
 is as happy as happy can be. I 'm sure of 
 that. Of course she'd like to come home 
 for a bit. I could see the tears in her eyes 
 when she spoke of you and father — ' 
 
 1 God bless my lass,' cried her mother, 
 interrupting her. ' When you say that, I feel 
 as if I couldn't rest another night without 
 she came home. What a pretty thing she
 
 160 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 was at sixteen — you remember her, Hugh, 
 with her bright hair streaming down her back, 
 and her eyes dancing with fun and mischief. 
 The prettiest lass in all Usk, or for miles 
 around. Everybody said so. Didn't they, 
 Hugh ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, Mrs Llewellyn, you are right ; they 
 did so,' replied Hugh. 
 
 ' A bit wild and wilful-like, but no harm 
 in her,' continued the mother. 'And might 
 have married well if she had stayed here. 
 Well, I miss her sorely, and always have 
 done so, and shall all the more now that 
 Hetty's gone and got married. I've never 
 seen the girl that was a patch on my 
 Nell.' 
 
 ' Now, mother, suppose you stop your be- 
 moanings and pass round the griddle cakes,' 
 interposed the farmer. ' I don't call it much 
 of a compliment to William and Hetty here, 
 for you to amuse us with praises of our Nell. 
 You heard what Het says, that she means 
 to come to Usk the first holiday she gets, 
 and what do you want more ? She might 
 have married and gone out to America, and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 161 
 
 then you'd have had to do without her 
 altogether.' 
 
 * God forbid,' said his wife, as she busied 
 herself with looking after her guests. 
 
 They were soon started on another subject. 
 Farmer Owen had had an uncommonly heavy 
 crop of hay that year, and as most husband- 
 men had lost theirs through the drought, 
 his good luck, and the way he had secured 
 it, formed a grand subject of conversation 
 between him and Mr Llewellyn. The little 
 bride had not half exhausted her tales of 
 the wonders she had been introduced to in 
 London, and they were all in full chatter, 
 asking questions and answering them, when 
 Hugh Owen said suddenly, — 
 
 * Who's this coming down the glen ? ' 
 
 All eyes were instantly directed towards 
 the steep hill which led to the farmhouse, 
 and down which a tall female figure was 
 walking with rather slow footsteps. 
 
 1 It's a lady,' quoth Mrs LUewellyn, won- 
 deringly. 'Whoever can she be? It's a 
 stranger. I've never seen her in Usk 
 before.' 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 1 62 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 The woman was dressed very plainly, but 
 she seemed to wear her clothes differently 
 from the common herd. She raised her head 
 every now and then, expectantly, and yet 
 timidly, and during one of these movements 
 Hetty caught sight of her face. 
 
 1 Mother/ she screamed, as she jumped up 
 from her seat, ' it's our Nell ! ' 
 
 1 Nell! ' echoed her mother. ' Never ! ' 
 
 But Hetty had already left the house, and, 
 meeting the advancing figure, had thrown 
 both her arms around it. 
 
 1 Nell ! Nell ! ' she cried. < Oh, Nell, we 
 were just talking of you. What joy it is to 
 welcome you home.' 
 
 She seized her two hands and dragged 
 her along till she stood in the midst of the 
 astonished group. 
 
 * Mother, can't you see? It is our Nell. 
 She has got her holiday at last, and has come 
 to spend it with us/ 
 
 * Yes, at last ! ' exclaimed Nell, as she fell 
 into her mother's opened arms. ' Mother, 
 I've come home, and I never mean to leave 
 you again.'
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 163 
 
 At first, in their delight and surprise at 
 her unexpected appearance, they could do 
 nothing but kiss her and gaze at her ; but 
 when their excitement had somewhat sub- 
 sided, all their anxiety was to hear why Nell 
 had not given them warning of her return, 
 and when she was going back to her situa- 
 tion again. 
 
 ' Going back,' she echoed, with a shrill 
 laugh ; * I'm never going back at all, mother. 
 I'm going to live with you now, and help 
 you as Hetty used to do. I shall never go 
 back unless you tell me you don't want me.' 
 
 Her mother's only answer was to cry 
 over her, and say how much she had 
 longed for her return, but Hetty was gaz- 
 ing at her sister with amazement. What 
 had happened to her since they had parted 
 in London ? Nell was as pale as death ; 
 she almost looked thinner than when she 
 had seen her last ; her eyes were abnor- 
 mally large, and there were dark lines under 
 them. Above all, there was a harsh shrill- 
 ness in her voice which she had not noticed 
 before.
 
 164 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 * My darling lass,' said Mrs Llewellyn, 
 1 if you wait till your father and I bid you 
 go, you '11 stay here for ever. But have 
 you been ailing, Nell ? Hetty, here, said 
 you were looking so well. But you don't 
 look so to me. London air can't agree 
 with you to leave your cheeks so white and 
 your lips so pale. Are you sure you are 
 quite well, my lass ? If not, your mother 
 will nurse you till you are. She hasn't 
 lost much of her good looks, has she, 
 Hugh ? ' 
 
 'Who's that?' said Nell, turning round. 
 'What, my old sweetheart? How are you, 
 Hugh? How are you Mrs Owen? I 
 didn't know mother had a tea-party, you 
 see, or I would have come to-morrow in- 
 stead of to-day.' 
 
 Then she suddenly burst into a wild fit 
 of laughter. 
 
 1 Isn't it funny to be sitting amongst you 
 all again ? I feel as if I had never left 
 home. Ah, it's a long time ago, isn't it, 
 mother? a long, weary while. But it's 
 over now, thank God, over for good and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 165 
 
 all* I mean to stay at dear Panty-cuckoo 
 Farm for the rest of my life, and look after 
 the dairy and the baking and the washing, 
 and let dear mother sit down and rest. 
 You'll think I've forgotten all about it, 
 mother, but you'll find you're mistaken. 
 In two or three days, I shall have for- 
 gotten that I ever left Usk, and be as 
 good a farm maid as ever/ 
 
 'Oh, Nell, my girl, you know how glad 
 I shall be to have your help, but what made 
 you think of coming home to give it me? 
 I'm fairly puzzled what put it in your mind. 
 Hetty understood you weren't likely to get 
 leave for a long time to come.' 
 
 'What put it in my mind V repeated Nell, 
 with a repetition of her shrill laugh. ' Why, 
 Hetty to be sure. She drew such a pitiful 
 picture of mother, left without a daughter to 
 help in her dairy work, that I couldn't resist 
 the temptation to run home and give you all a 
 surprise. Aren't you glad to see me, father ? 
 Your bonnie girl, as you used to call me. 
 I remember you were vexed enough when 
 I decided to go out to service. You
 
 1 66 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 threatened to lock me up on bread and 
 water.' 
 
 * Glad to have you back, lass ? Ay, more 
 glad than I can say. But I confess you've 
 taken us rather by surprise. What did your 
 master say to your leaving him in such a hurry ? 
 Wasn't he a bit put out ? Hetty said he had 
 left you in charge of the house.' 
 
 Nell flushed suddenly like a scarlet rose. 
 
 ' So he did, but he's altered his plans, and 
 isn't coming home now for a long time. And 
 so, as a servant isn't a slave, I've given him 
 warning. He told me in his last letter I could 
 leave London when I liked, and I liked to do 
 so now — now, at once. I couldn't stay. I 
 wanted my mother. I wanted Panty-cuckoo 
 Farm. I wanted you all — and rest, rest ! ' 
 
 She uttered the last words almost like a 
 sigh. As they escaped her lips she turned 
 and caught Hugh Owen's eyes fixed on her. 
 Nell threw back her head defiantly, as though 
 she dared him to guess at anything she thought 
 or felt. 
 
 1 Rest,' said Mrs Llewellyn sympathising! y, 
 'of course you want rest, my poor child, and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 167 
 
 you shall have it here. They've worked you 
 too hard in London. I was afraid of it when 
 I heard what Hetty had to tell me about you. 
 But you shall rest now, my bonnie lass, you 
 shall rest now ! '
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Farmer Owen was considered quite a pro- 
 ficient on the violin in Usk, and as soon as 
 the party, with the exception of Nell, had dis- 
 cussed the good things provided for them, he 
 drew his instrument from its green baize case, 
 and proceeded to play a plaintive ballad. His 
 friends listened with respectful attention, but 
 the melancholy strain was too much for Nell's 
 over-strung nerves. 
 
 * Oh, give us something livelier, Mr Owen, 
 do,' she cried, jumping up from her seat. 
 " Robin Adair' is enough to give one the 
 blues ! Let's have a dance instead. Here, 
 Hetty, help me to wheel the table into the 
 corner, and we'll stand up for a gool old country 
 reel. Did I tell you that Lord Ilfracombe is 
 married ? We'll dance in honour of the wed- 
 ding.' 
 
 1 68
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 1 69 
 
 1 The earl married! 1 exclaimed her sister, 
 standing still in her amazement. ' Why, 
 Nell, when did that happen ? Wasn't it very- 
 sudden ? You said nothing about it when 
 we were in London/ 
 
 1 Oh, it seems he had been thinking of it 
 for a long while, but gentlemen don't tell their 
 secrets to their servants, you know. They 
 take the responsibility and trouble and ex- 
 pense, and all the servants have to do is to 
 smile and look happy and dance at the wed- 
 ding. Come along, Hugh/ she continued, 
 pulling that young man by the arm, ' you shall 
 be my partner. Hetty and Will must open the 
 ball, of course, but we'll show them how to 
 dance at it. Up the middle and down again ; 
 hands across and turn your partner ; as we 
 used in the days gone by. That's right, Mr 
 Owen, give us " Yankee Doodle." That's the 
 tune to make one's feet fly. Now, Hugh ! ' 
 
 She was dragging at his arm as hard as she 
 could to make him rise from his seat, and she 
 looked so beautiful, with her flushed cheeks 
 and disordered hair, that he found it hard to 
 resist her.
 
 i jo A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 'But Nell — Miss Llewellyn,' he remon- 
 strated shyly, 'you forget — I cannot — it would 
 not be seemly for me in my character as min- 
 ister to dance. I have not done such a thing 
 for years, and I shall never do it again.' 
 
 Nell regarded him for a moment with grave 
 surprise, and then, with a hard laugh, flung his 
 hand away from her. 
 
 1 You stupid ! Do you really mean it ? So 
 much the worse for you. I shall dance with 
 my dad, then. He won't refuse me ; will you, 
 daddy ? You'll have a fling with your girl in 
 honour of her masters wedding. ' 
 
 And she pulled the old farmer into the 
 middle of the room as she spoke, whilst he, 
 well pleased at her audacity and good spirits, 
 allowed himself to be turned and twisted at the 
 will of his handsome daughter, who flew up and 
 down the dance as if she had never had a care 
 or a sorrow in her life. Hugh Owen sat by 
 and watched her with troubled, anxious eyes. 
 He almost regretted at that moment that his 
 chosen vocation forbade his joining in the fes- 
 tivities before him. He would have given a 
 good deal to have had his arm round his old
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 171 
 
 sweetheart's waist and danced hand in hand 
 with her to the merry tune his father played 
 with so much spirit. Mrs Llewellyn, though 
 still on hospitable cares intent, and engaged 
 at the sideboard with currant and orange 
 wine and queen cakes, was delighted to watch 
 the antics of her daughters as they beat time 
 with their flying feet to the strains of " Yankee 
 Doodle," but her pleasure was somewhat tem- 
 pered by anxiety lest Nell should fatigue 
 herself too much after her long journey. 
 
 'There, there, my lass,' she remonstrated, 
 as she heard her urging Mr Owen to play 
 them another country dance, 'you mustn't 
 forget you have come off a tiring journey, 
 and haven't eaten a morsel since you entered 
 the house. You ought to be in bed, my 
 Nell, instead of cutting such jinks. I shall 
 have you ill to-morrow if you don't take 
 care.' 
 
 • 111 ? Tired ? ' cried Nell. ' Fiddle-de-dee, 
 mother ; no such thing. I shall be up at 
 cock-crow to see after the hens and chickens, 
 or to have a ride on Kitty. How's the dear 
 old mare, father?'
 
 172 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ' Old Kitty, my lass ? ' replied Farmer 
 Llewellyn. ' Why, she's been dead the best 
 part of a year. Surely your mother or 
 Hetty told you that. You must have for- 
 gotten it, Nell.' 
 
 A shade came over the young woman's 
 laughing face. 
 
 'Old Kitty dead,' she murmured in a 
 subdued voice. ' Dear old Kitty, that I 
 used to ride astride when I was in short 
 frocks. Oh, I am sorry. No one told me, 
 I am sure. I couldn't have forgotten it. I 
 loved old Kitty so well. She was part of 
 home to me.' 
 
 ' Ah, my girl,' said her father, ' if the old 
 mare is the only thing you've forgotten in 
 Usk you've no call to blame yourself. I've 
 been sometimes afraid that your grand ways 
 and friends up in London might make you 
 too fine for Panty-cuckoo Farm, but it don't 
 seem so now. They've made a lady of you, 
 Nell ; but not too fine a one to forget the 
 old folks at home. Thank God for that! 
 You won't look down on your mother and 
 sister because their ways of speaking are not
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 173 
 
 so grand as what you've been accustomed to 
 hear, nor despise them and the old farm if 
 we can't give you as many luxuries as you 
 get in your fine place in London.' 
 
 1 Despise them ! Look down on them ! ' 
 echoed Nell. ' Oh, dad, you don't know 
 what you are talking of. It is London that 
 I hate and despise and look down upon. 
 It is the people there who are false and 
 cold and cruel. I want to forget it all. I 
 want to forget I ever went there. I hate 
 service. It is degrading and despicable, and 
 oh ! so lonely to be far away from home 
 and mother and you. When I heard Hetty 
 speak of you both I could stand it no longer. 
 I was obliged to come straight back to you 
 all again.' 
 
 1 And now we've got you we shan't let 
 you go again in a hurry, Nell. You must 
 stay and be the comfort of our old age. 
 But you had better be handing round your 
 wine and cakes, wife. It's getting on for 
 ten o'clock, and our friends here have a 
 matter of a couple of miles to walk to Dale 
 Farm. I'll have the mare put in the cart
 
 174 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 in two minutes, farmer, and drive you home 
 myself, if you'll only say the word.' 
 
 ' Not for us, sir,' replied Owen. ' My missus 
 here likes a walk, and as for the young 'uns 
 it does them good. Come on, Hetty. You'll 
 be main proud and happy now you've got 
 your sister back again, and I expect we 
 shall have a job to keep you at Dale 
 Farm. There'll a be message or a summat 
 for Panty-cuckoo most days of the week / 
 know. 
 
 Meanwhile Hugh Owen had drawn near to 
 Nell Llewellyn. 
 
 ' I am glad to find you haven't quite for- 
 gotten me,' he said, as he held her hand, ' and 
 I hope you will let me come sometimes and 
 pay you a visit at Panty-cuckoo Farm as I 
 used to do.' 
 
 ' Why, surely. You are often here with 
 Hetty and Will I suppose ? ' 
 
 c Not often. My duties take up so much 
 of my time. But sometimes I have an hour 
 to spare in the evening, and I shouldn't like 
 to let our friendship drop now it has been 
 renewed. Are you fond of reading ? '
 
 A Bankrupt Hea,7't. 175 
 
 ' It depends on what I have to read. I'm 
 not over fond of sermons, such as you used to 
 give me in the old days, Hugh.' 
 
 The young man coloured. 
 
 ' Used I to give you sermons ? It must 
 have been very presumptuous of me. I will 
 promise to give you no more — at least in 
 private. But I have a very fair library of 
 books, and they are all at your service if 
 you should require them. 7 
 
 ' Thank you. I will tell you if I should 
 want something to amuse me, but for the 
 present I shall be too busy helping mother, 
 and getting my hand in for dairy and laundry 
 work.' 
 
 ' You will never come back to that now. 
 You have grown above it,' replied the young 
 man, gazing admiringly at her smooth, pallid 
 complexion and white hands. 
 
 'What do you know about it?' said Nell 
 curtly. * Don't bet against me, Hugh, or 
 you'll lose your money. Good-night. Mother 
 says you preach out in the fields, and some 
 day I'll come with her to hear you, just for 
 old times' sake. But if you are very prosy
 
 176 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 I shall walk straight home again, so I give 
 you fair warning.' 
 
 ' Only tell me when you're coming, and 
 I'll not be prosy,' cried Hugh eagerly. 
 
 The rest of the party had put on their 
 wraps by this time, and were prepared to 
 start. Hetty wound her arm around her 
 sister's waist, and they walked together up 
 the steep incline to the wide, white gate, 
 where the Dale Farm people joined forces 
 and set out for home. Nell stood in the 
 moonlight, gazing after them till they had 
 disappeared round the turning of the road, 
 and then retraced her footsteps. As she 
 found herself alone in the white moonlight, 
 with only the solitude and the silence, all the 
 forced gaiety she had maintained throughout 
 the evening deserted her, and she staggered 
 and caught at the slender trunk of an apple- 
 tree to prevent herself from falling, ' Oh, my 
 God, my God,' she prayed, ' how shall I bear 
 it?' 
 
 Her eyes were strained to the starry sky ; 
 her face looked ghastly in the moonlight ; 
 her frame trembled as if she could not sup-
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 177 
 
 port herself. She might have remained thus 
 for an indefinite time had she not been 
 roused by the sound of her mother's voice 
 calling her from the farm-house door. 
 
 ' Nell, my lass, where are you ? Come in 
 quick ; there's a dear. You will catch a chill 
 standing out there with nought on.' 
 
 She was hungering, poor mother, to take 
 her stray lamb back to her bosom, and 
 have her all to herself. She had seen with 
 concern that Nell had neither eaten nor 
 drank since she had returned home, and she 
 feared the effect of the excitement on her 
 health. 
 
 At the sound of her appeal, Nell came 
 slowly down the dell again, and entered the 
 sitting-room. 
 
 1 Now, my lass,' said Mrs Llewellyn, ' you 
 must just sit down here on the old settle, and 
 eat and drink a bit. I'm afraid our fare 
 seems different from what you've been accus- 
 tomed to in London ; but you'll soon relish it 
 again. London folk haven't the appetites of 
 country people, so they're obliged to coax 
 their stomachs ; but you'll take this junket, 
 vol. 1. M
 
 178 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 I'm sure, and a glass of wine, just to please 
 your mother.' 
 
 And as she sat her on the settle, and 
 pressed the dainties on her, Nell felt con- 
 strained to eat them, though they tasted like 
 leather in her mouth. 
 
 Now that the excitement was over, her 
 white, strained looks and hollow cheeks went 
 to her mother's heart. 
 
 4 Ay/ she said complainingly, 'but you 
 are thin and pale, my lass. I haven't had 
 time to see you rightly till now. Why, 
 you're shaking like an aspen. Have you 
 been ill, Nell, or is this the effects of 
 London ? ' 
 
 ' No, indeed, I am not ill,' returned Nell, 
 with quivering lips, ' only rather tired after 
 my journey, and maybe the excitement of 
 coming to my dear old home. I think I had 
 better go to bed now. I have taken you 
 terribly by surprise ; but I'm sure you'll find 
 a bed for me somewhere, mother.' 
 
 'Find a bed for you, darling!' said Mrs 
 Llewellyn. ' Why, your father and I would 
 turn out of our own sooner than you shouldn't
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. . 179 
 
 lie easy the first night you come back to us. 
 But your own room is ready for you, Nell. 
 No one has slept in it since you went away, 
 — not even Hetty — and Martha has been 
 setting it to rights for you all the evening. 
 Will you come to it now, my dear, for you 
 look ready to drop with fatigue ? ' 
 
 Nell was only too glad to accept the offer, 
 and Mrs Llewellyn conducted her upstairs, 
 and undressed her, and put her to bed with 
 all the tenderness and solicitude she had 
 shown in performing the same offices when 
 she was a little child. 
 
 Is there ever a time when a mother ceases 
 to regard the creature she has brought into 
 the world as other than a child ? He may 
 be a bearded man, the father of a family, or 
 the hero of a nation — or she may be a weary 
 and harassed woman, full of care and 
 anxieties ; but to their mothers they are 
 always children, to be looked after, loved 
 and cared for. There is no position in which 
 maternal love shines more brightly than when 
 the infant she has nourished at her breast is 
 returned upon her hands, a man or woman,
 
 1 80 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 perhaps in middle age, but weak, ill, helpless, 
 and requiring a mother's care. She may 
 mourn over the necessity, but how she revels 
 in having her baby back again, as dependent 
 on her as when he or she had not yet begun 
 to walk ! Who would nurse him and watch 
 him, and know neither fatigue or privation 
 for his sake as she can do ? Happy those 
 who have a mother to fly to when they are 
 ill or miserable ! 
 
 Mrs Llewellyn smoothed out Nell's luxuri- 
 ant braids of hair, revelling in their beauty, 
 and put her own best night-dress on her, and 
 laid her between the snow-white sheets as if 
 she had been four years old, instead of four- 
 and-twenty. But this latter necessity brought 
 an awkward question in its train. Where 
 had Nell left her own things ? Had she 
 brought them with her and deposited them 
 at the railway station, or were they to follow 
 her from London ? 
 
 At first the girl was silent. She did not 
 know what to say. The awkwardness of the 
 situation had not struck her before. Her 
 face blanched still paler, and her mother saw
 
 A Bankrtipt Heart. 1 8 1 
 
 she had introduced an embarrassing subject. 
 Nell had turned round on her pillow and 
 hidden her face from view. 
 
 1 Never mind thinking about it to-night, 
 my dear,' said Mrs Llewellyn kindly ; 
 1 you're too tired. Try and go to sleep, Nell, 
 and you can tell me everything to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Yes,' murmured Nell, with her face still 
 hidden, 'you shall hear all about it to- 
 morrow. I have no box with me, mother. 
 I — I got into a little scrape — debt, you 
 know — and I had to part with my clothes. 
 You won't be angry with me ? ' 
 
 1 Angry with you, my dear ? Don't get 
 any foolish notions like that into your 
 head. If you sold your things to pay your 
 debt, it was an honest thing to do, and 
 we'd be the last, father and I, to blame 
 you for it. And we've got enongh money 
 in the stocking to buy you more. So 
 set your mind at rest about that, my 
 girl, and now go to sleep and wake 
 bright to-morrow.' 
 
 She kissed her daughter as she spoke, 
 and went back to the parlour to rejoin
 
 1 82 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 her husband. But the first words the 
 farmer uttered fanned the little breath 
 of suspicion which she had entertained 
 about Nell's sudden coming home into a 
 flame. 
 
 'Well, how is she ?' demanded Llewellyn, 
 as his wife entered the parlour. 
 
 'Oh, well enough, Griffith,' she replied; 
 ' very tired, as you may have seen, and 
 a bit inclined to be hysterical, but that'll 
 all wear off by to-morrow.' 
 
 1 1 hope it may,' said the farmer ; ' but I 
 don't quite understand why she came home 
 without giving us the least warning. It 
 seems queer now, don't it ? Here was 
 the girl in a first-class place, drawing big 
 wages, as Hetty said she must from the 
 lavish way in which she spent money whilst 
 they were in town, and without word or 
 warning she chucks it all up and rushes 
 home to us.' 
 
 ' Well, father, you wouldn't be the one 
 to blame her for that, surely ? ' 
 
 4 Not I, if she'd done it in a decent way. 
 Haven't I asked her a dozen times since
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 183 
 
 she left us to come home if she felt in- 
 clined ? But big situations ain't thrown up 
 in that way, Mary. Servants have to 
 give a month's notice before they leave. 
 Has she left Lord Ilfracombe's service 
 before he has got someone to fill her 
 place? There's something I don't under- 
 stand about it all, and I wish Nell had 
 come back in a more regular manner. 
 Where's her boxes and things ? Has she 
 left them in London, or brought them 
 with her ? And if so, why didn't she 
 bring them on in Johnson's fly, or ask 
 me to send Bob with the cart to fetch 
 them ? ' 
 
 At this query Mrs Llewellyn almost 
 began to cry. 
 
 ' Oh, Griffith, my man, you mustn't be 
 hard on the lass, but she hasn't got 
 anything with her. No box, nor nothing 
 — only the clothes she stands upright in. 
 She has just told me so.' 
 
 'What, from a situation like Lord Ilfra- 
 combe's ! ' exclaimed the farmer. ' What 
 has she done with them then ? There's
 
 184 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 some mystery about all this that I don't 
 like, Mary, and I mean to get to the 
 bottom of it.' 
 
 * There's no mystery, Griffith, only a 
 misfortune. Nell has told me all about 
 it. I think she must have spent more than 
 she could afford — perhaps on her sister 
 when she was in London — any way our 
 Nell got in debt, and sold her things to 
 pay it. It was very unfortunate, but it 
 was honourable, you see. And she is but 
 a girl after all. We mustn't judge her 
 too hardly. She didn't know how much 
 she owed perhaps, or she thought she'd 
 make it up from her wages, and then this 
 marriage took place, and she left and found 
 herself in a fix. It seems very plain to 
 me.' 
 
 * But why should she leave when his 
 lordship got married ? He'll want a house- 
 keeper just the same. And likely would 
 have raised Nell's wages. It was the very 
 time for her to stay on.' 
 
 ' Ah, well, father, she longed to see us all 
 again. You heard the dear lass say so, and
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 185 
 
 you'd be the last to blame her for that, I'm 
 sure.' 
 
 1 Of course,' replied her husband, ' no 
 one is better pleased to have the girl 
 back than I am, but I wish it had been 
 all straight and above board, and with 
 no mystery about it. For I'd lay my 
 life you haven't got at the bottom of it 
 yet, wife, nor ever will if the jade don't 
 mean you to. You don't know the tricks 
 they learns them up in London. Well, 
 now she's come back, she stays. I won't 
 have no more London, and no more 
 mysteries. She's welcome back as the 
 flowers in May, but I wish she'd told 
 the whole truth about it.'
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Nell slept only by snatches through that 
 night, and waked the next morning with 
 a heart of lead in her bosom. She had 
 been so long unused to country sights 
 and sounds, that she opened her eyes 
 with the first gleam of sunshine that 
 streamed through her window. The air 
 was so pure, and the surroundings so 
 peaceful, that she could hear the gardeners 
 wetting their scythes in Sir Archibald 
 Bowmant's grounds, and the milkers whistl- 
 ing, or talking to each other, as they 
 took their way to the cowsheds. A lark 
 was executing his wonderful, untaught trills 
 far up somewhere in the blue heavens, and 
 the farmyard chorus had commenced to 
 tune up — hens clucking, ducks quacking, 
 
 pigs grunting, and cows lowing, as they 
 
 186
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 187 
 
 asked to be delivered of their burden of 
 milk. The honeysuckle and roses, which 
 clambered outside her window and tapped 
 against the panes, were filling the morning 
 air with their fragrance ; the dew - laden 
 grass sent forth a sweet, faint odour ; the 
 smell of ripening fruit and ripened vegetables 
 permeated the air. These were the things 
 of which Nell had dreamed in her town 
 life with intense longing ; which she had 
 sickened to see and hear again ; the re- 
 enjoyment of which, she had believed 
 would prove the panacea for every pain, 
 the cure for every trouble. And now 
 they were all before her in their fullest 
 beauty, and she turned her face from them 
 and hid it on her pillows. The innocent 
 sights and sounds made her tremble and 
 turn faint with despair. They were no 
 longer for her ; she had outgrown them. 
 The simple tastes of her childhood mocked 
 her as she lay there — a deceiver, a pre- 
 tender, an acting lie in her father's house- 
 hold. Nell had kept back the truth for 
 years, but she had never perverted it
 
 1 88 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 before — stooped to falsehoods to hide her 
 shame, deceived her father and her mother, 
 and come back to take her place amongst 
 them as a pure woman, when she knew her- 
 self to be no longer pure. The very things 
 which she had believed would be her 
 balm had proved her bane. The very 
 daisies and buttercups rose up in judg- 
 ment against her, until she felt herself un- 
 worthy even to pluck the flowers of the 
 field. These thoughts so depressed her, 
 that she rose in a melancholy mood, that 
 quite precluded her keeping up the farce 
 of gaiety which she had played the night 
 before. She appeared at the breakfast- 
 table so pale and heavy-eyed and languid, 
 that her father gazed at her with surprise, 
 and her mother, in pity for her looks, tried 
 to divert her husband's attention from them 
 as much as possible by talking of Hetty 
 and their acquaintances in Usk. The con- 
 versation came round in time to their 
 landlord, Sir Archibald Bowmant. 
 
 ' Are the family at home, mother ? ' asked 
 Nell. ' I could hear the men mowing the
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 189 
 
 lawn distinctly from my window this 
 morning, and I fancied I could smell the 
 scent from those huge mounds of heliotrope 
 they used to have in front of the dining- 
 room windows. I have never seen helio- 
 trope grow in such profusion anywhere 
 else.' 
 
 ' No, my girl, there's nobody there, nor 
 likely to be till the summer is well over. 
 Sir Archibald is our landlord, and a liberal 
 one, so we've no call to say anything against 
 him, and perhaps it's no business of ours, 
 but he is a very different gentleman since 
 he married again. The first Lady Bowmant 
 was a good woman, and though I suppose 
 Sir Archibald was always inclined to be wild, 
 she kept him straight as you may say. But 
 since his second marriage, well, Usk Hall 
 is not the same place.' 
 
 'How is it altered?' said Nell, trying to 
 take a languid interest in her mother's con- 
 versation. 
 
 ' Oh, in everything, my dear. In my lady's 
 time (I always call her my lady, you know, 
 Nell, on account of my having been her
 
 190 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 maid before her marriage) the family used 
 to go to church regularly every Sunday ; 
 he and she in their carriage, and as many 
 servants as could be spared following them 
 up the aisle. But now their pew's empty 
 from week's end to week's end. Of course, 
 if the master and mistress don't attend 
 church, the servants can't be expected to 
 do so. And I doubt if they'd have the 
 time, for they seem to be kept working 
 more on Sundays than on any other day 
 in the week.' 
 
 ' How is that, mother?' 
 
 1 They keep such a heap of company, 
 my dear, and when they're not tearing 
 over the country on horseback, they're 
 playing cards all day. James Powell, the 
 under footman, says it's something awful 
 — like hell opened, was his words. They 
 begin the first thing after breakfast, and 
 then it's gambling and swearing, and 
 brandies and sodas, till night. My lady 
 seems to think nothing of it. She has 
 a lot of brothers, and I suppose she was 
 brought up amongst it all. She drives a
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 191 
 
 tandem, and has nearly killed several 
 people by her fast driving — she did run 
 over Betsy Rigden's little girl one day ; 
 but it wasn't much hurt, and Sir Archibald 
 sent Betsy a ten-pound note, so nothing 
 more was said about it; but, to my mind, 
 it isn't decent that just as sober people 
 are on their way to church, my lady 
 should come tearing down the road in 
 her tandem, with some young gentleman 
 by her side, and both laughing so loud 
 you might hear them half a mile off. Ah, 
 it's a very different house to what it used 
 to be.' 
 
 ' But they're not at home now, you say.' 
 ' No, my lass, nor won't be till October 
 or thereabouts, and then they will keep it 
 up till it's time to go back to London, or 
 off to some of those foreign places Sir 
 Archibald is so fond of, and where, I hear, 
 they do nothing but gamble. It's a dread- 
 ful habit for them to have got into. I 
 never thought at one time that I should 
 have lived to see Sir Archibald the worse 
 for liquor, but I'm sorry to say I have,
 
 192 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 more than once. However, as I said 
 before, he's been a good landlord to 
 father there, so we're the last as should 
 speak against him. He fills my two 
 rooms every autumn, and far into spring ; 
 and if I had six I could let them to him. 
 Last year he came to ask me to let him 
 have the whole farmhouse, and find beds 
 for ourselves elsewhere, and he would 
 have made it worth our while to, but I 
 told him it couldn't be. I couldn't sleep 
 away from my dairy and bakehouse ; no- 
 thing would go right if I wasn't on the 
 spot.' 
 
 ' Do you go to church still, mother, or 
 to chapel ? ' asked her daughter. 
 
 1 Why, to church, Nell, of course. What 
 makes you think we should change our 
 religion ? You go to church too, I hope ? ' 
 
 Nell waived the question. 
 
 1 Only because of Hugh Owen,' she said. 
 1 You spoke so well of his preaching, that 
 I thought you might have gone over to 
 the Dissenters.' 
 
 ' No, no, my lass. No going over for
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 193 
 
 us. Father and I were born and bred 
 church people, and we'll be buried as such, 
 eh, father ? ' 
 
 1 Why, certainly,' replied the farmer. ' I 
 never hold with chopping and changing. 
 Live as you've been bred. That's my 
 motto.' 
 
 * Of course the Owens have always been 
 Dissenters,' continued Mrs Llewellyn, ' so I 
 would never say anything against Hetty 
 going to chapel with her husband, for 
 where he goes it's her duty to fol- 
 low ; but we only went to hear Hugh 
 preach for friendship's sake. But there, 
 it was beautiful and no mistake. The 
 words seemed to come flowing out of his 
 mouth like milk and honey. They say as 
 Mr Johnson, the curate, is quite jealous of 
 the way that Hugh draws his congrega- 
 tion away to chapel. You must come with 
 me and hear him one evening, Nell. It's 
 mostly Wednesday evenings that he takes 
 the open-air service in Mr Tasker's field. 
 He stands on a high bench, and the people 
 crowd round to hear him. He seems to 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 d. Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 speak so much from his heart. I'm sure 
 if there was one woman crying, last Wed- 
 nesday, there was a dozen.' 
 
 1 Including Mrs Llewellyn,' remarked the 
 farmer, as he rose from table, and shook 
 the crumbs from his coat. 
 
 1 Well, I don't deny it, and I'm not 
 ashamed of it,' replied his wife, * Nell 
 will cry too, maybe, when she hears her 
 old sweetheart talk. It's not much of a 
 match for Hetty, Nell — not such a match 
 as I hope to see you make some day, my 
 girl — but they're good people, the Owens, 
 and she's safe under their care.' 
 
 1 And what do you want more ? ' demanded 
 the farmer. ■ It's far better than if she'd 
 married some half- and -half fellow, who'd 
 have brought her down to poverty, or 
 worse. All I want for my girls is respect- 
 able husbands, men as will stick to them 
 and work for them, not fashionable pop- 
 injays that would give 'em fine clothes and 
 fine words for awhile, and then maybe desert 
 'em for another woman. You had better 
 make a lot of Will Owen, wife, for you
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 195 
 
 won't get another son - in - law as good as 
 he in a hurry.' 
 
 With which Mr Llewellyn took his thick, 
 crabthorn walking-stick, and went on his 
 way. 
 
 1 Lor',' said his wife, as he disappeared, 
 * the way father do stick up for the Owens 
 is wonderful. Not that I've a word to 
 say against them, but I should have looked 
 higher for Hetty myself. William is a good 
 lad, but not more than a labourer on his 
 father's farm, and John Nelson at the post- 
 office proposed twice for her, but she 
 wouldn't look at him, though he makes 
 three hundred a year in hard cash. But 
 I won't hear of any farm-hand for you, 
 Nell. You've got the looks to make a 
 good marriage, my girl, and I hope you'll 
 make it. You're rather peaky now, and 
 your eyes are sunken and dark underneath. 
 I shouldn't wonder if your liver wasn't out 
 of order, but country fare and air will soon 
 set you right again, and then there won't 
 be a prettier girl for miles round. It was 
 time you came back to us, for you'd have
 
 196 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 lost all your good looks if you'd remained 
 in London much longer.' 
 
 Nell had listened to this lengthy discourse 
 almost in silence. She had been thinking 
 all the time, ' Oh, if they knew — if they only 
 knew ! ' She had tried to pull herself to- 
 gether several times, and laugh and chat 
 as she had done the night before, but she 
 had found it impossible. It was as if some 
 weight had been attached to all her mental 
 powers and dragged them down. She had 
 a horrible feeling that if she spoke at all 
 she should blurt out the truth and tell them 
 everything. So she remained silent and 
 miserable, wishing that she had never come 
 back to Usk, but been drowned in the deep 
 bosom of the Thames. 
 
 1 I'm afraid you've got a bit of a head- 
 ache still, my dear,' remarked her voluble 
 mother, as she rose from the breakfast-table, 
 1 and so I won't ask you to come round 
 the dairy with me this morning. You'd 
 rather rest on the sofa and read a book, 
 I daresay ? ' 
 
 1 No, no,' cried Nell, rousing herself,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 197 
 
 1 I'd rather go where you go, mother. I 
 should go mad — I mean, I should feel my 
 headache much more sitting here by myself. 
 Let me come and see all over the dear old 
 house with you. It will do me good — I 
 must keep stirring, or I shall feel things — 
 my headache, so much worse for thinking 
 of it/ 
 
 So she made a great effort, and followed 
 her mother on her various vocations, and 
 made the dairymaids open their eyes to hear 
 the refinement of her speech and to see her 
 graceful movements and the daintiness with 
 which her clothes were made and worn. 
 Had they but been able to read her mind 
 they would have seen with amazement that 
 she shrunk from contact with them, because 
 her dread secret was eating into her very 
 soul and making her feel unfit to associate 
 with her fellow-men. She had only realised 
 the truth, and what her love for Lord Ilfra- 
 combe had made her, by fits and starts in 
 London, but here, in the heart of God's 
 country, it was borne in upon her to such 
 an extent that she felt as if every innocent
 
 198 A Bankrtipt Heart. 
 
 animal, and fresh, modest, wild blossom must 
 proclaim it to the world. So she went 
 moodily about the farmhouse all day, and 
 her mother believed that she was ill, and 
 ransacked her brain to think of a remedy for 
 her. In the evening, as they were all sit- 
 ting quietly together (for Mrs Llewellyn had 
 been asking her husband for some money to 
 get Nell a new outfit, which had recalled to 
 his mind the impoverished condition in 
 which his daughter had returned home), 
 who should walk in amongst them, to the 
 general surprise, but Hugh Owen. He 
 looked rather conscious as he entered the 
 room, but excused his visit on the score of 
 asking how Nell had borne her journey, and 
 to bring her a book which he thought she 
 might like to read. 
 
 'You need no excuses for coming to 
 Panty-cuckoo Farm, my lad ! ' exclaimed 
 the farmer ; ' you're always welcome here. 
 What's the day? Tuesday? Ah, then to- 
 morrow's the grand field-night, which accounts 
 for your having the time to come over this 
 evening.'
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 199 
 
 The young man blushed, and looked at 
 Nell. 
 
 1 Yes,' he answered, ' to-morrow is my 
 field night, as you call it, farmer. I hope it 
 may prove a harvest field.' 
 
 * Now, just tell me how you do it, lad/ said 
 the old man. ' Do you lie awake of nights, 
 and make up all you're going to say, or do you 
 wait till the people are before you, and then 
 just tell 'em what's in your mind ? I'm 
 curious to know, for your flow of words is 
 wonderful, and I can't understand how any 
 man can talk for two mortal hours as you 
 did last Wednesday, unless he's stored it all 
 up beforehand. It beats me altogether. I 
 never heard the like before.' 
 
 He had got Hugh astride his hobby, and 
 the young man found his tongue at once. 
 
 ' Oh, Mr Llewellyn, if you loved the people 
 as I do, you would find it quite as easy as 
 talking to your family at home. I do think 
 of what I wish to say to them ; some- 
 times the thought walks with me, as you 
 might say, all day long ; but I seldom use 
 the words I've been dreaming of. I go to
 
 200 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 the spot with my mind full of some set 
 speech, but when I see the people who wait 
 for me — all of them old neighbours or chil- 
 dren whom I've seen grow up amongst us — 
 and most of them dear friends, I feel as if my 
 very soul went out to meet them, yearning 
 to gather them all safe into the fold. The 
 words in which to warn and entreat them 
 come too quick then to my lips for utterance, 
 and sometimes I've had to swallow down my 
 sobs before I could find a voice with which to 
 speak. The difficulty is not to speak, Mr 
 Llewellyn. The hard part is to keep silence, 
 when one sees so many whom one loves 
 living for nothing but to eat and to 
 drink, and as if there were no God in 
 the world. 1 
 
 The farmer and his wife had been regard- 
 ing Hugh Owen during this speech with 
 open-eyed amazement — Nell, with a scared 
 look, half fear and half annoyance. 
 
 ' Eh, lad,' said Mr Llewellyn, ' but it's a 
 rare gift, and you've got it, there's no doubt 
 of that. But as for living to eat and drink, 
 we must do it, or we shouldn't live at all,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 201 
 
 and we do it for others as well as ourselves. 
 What would become of my missus there, and 
 Nell now for the matter of that, if I didn't 
 see after the ploughing and reaping, and 
 wife after the dairy and the bakehouse. 
 We'd all be dead of starvation by the 
 end of the year if I took to preaching in 
 the fields like you, instead of farming them.' 
 
 1 Indeed, yes, Mr Llewellyn, you quite 
 mistake if you think I consider it part of 
 religion to neglect the work we have been 
 given to do. But we can live to God and 
 do our duty at one and the same time. It 
 seems so difficult to me,' continued the young 
 enthusiast, as he flung his hair off his brow, 
 and lifted his dark eyes to Nell's face, ' to 
 live in the country, surrounded by God's 
 works, and not remember Him. Why, a 
 countryside like Usk is a continual church- 
 going. Every leafy tree is a cathedral — 
 the flowery meadows are altar carpets — 
 each wild bird singing in its thankfulness a 
 chorister. God's face is reflected in the 
 least of His works. How can we look at 
 them and forget Him?'
 
 202 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 'Ay, ay, my lad,' responded the farmer, 
 as with a glance at his wife, as much as 
 to say, 'he's as mad as a March hare,' he 
 rose to quit the house for the stables. 
 
 Hugh directed his attention more particu- 
 larly to Nell. 
 
 ' I hope I haven't worried you,' he said 
 sweetly. ' I do not often introduce these 
 subjects into my ordinary conversation, but 
 your father drew me on before I was quite 
 aware of it. I have brought you a book to 
 read, which cannot fail to interest you, 
 Livingstone's Travels in Africa. Have you 
 seen it yet ? ' 
 
 She took the volume listlessly, and an- 
 swered ' No.' 
 
 ' How I should love to travel amongst 
 those wild tribes,' continued Hugh enthusi- 
 astically ; ' to make friends with them, and 
 bring them to a knowledge of the truth. 
 The fauna and the flora, too, of strange 
 climates, how interesting they must be. To 
 have undertaken such a journey — to have 
 left such a record behind one — would almost 
 satisfy the ambition of a lifetime.'
 
 A Bankrzcpt Heart. 203 
 
 * You should be a missionary,' said Nell ; 
 'you are cut out for it.' 
 
 ( Do you really think so, that I could be 
 worthy of so high a vocation ? I have some- 
 times thought of it, but always shrunk back 
 from so great a responsibility.' 
 
 ' You seem fond of sacrifices,' said Nell, 
 half mockingly ; ' you were talking of mak- 
 ing them just now. You would have plenty 
 then. You would have to leave your parents 
 and brother and sister, perhaps for ever ; 
 and be eaten up by a lion or your interesting 
 cannibals instead.' 
 
 ' Yes, yes, it would be hard,' he answered, 
 ignoring, or not perceiving the joking spirit 
 in which she treated the idea, ' and harder 
 now than it has ever seemed before ; but the 
 prospect will be always before me, to my 
 life's end, as something that may come to 
 pass, if I find no higher duties to keep me 
 at home. But I am tiring you perhaps. 
 You have not yet recovered from your long 
 journey, Nell — if I may call you so — your 
 eyes look weary, and your hands tremble. 
 Are you sure you are quite well ? '
 
 204 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ' Yes, yes, perfectly so, only fatigued, 
 as you surmise, and in need of fresh air. 
 All Londoners are obliged, as a rule, 
 to leave town after the hot season, you 
 know, in order to recruit. I shall be all 
 right when I have spent a few weeks in 
 
 Usk.' 
 
 I And then I hope you will cease to speak 
 or think of yourself as a Londoner. I have 
 never been there, but I have heard it is full 
 of temptations to frivolity and careless living, 
 and that it is difficult to keep close to God in 
 London. Tell me something of your life 
 there, Nell. Had you liberty to go to church 
 whenever you chose, and did you hear any 
 fine preachers, such as Dr Liddon and Dr 
 Irons? Did you ever go amongst the poor 
 — the poor who live in alleys and back slums, 
 or did your employer disapprove of your 
 visiting such ? ' 
 
 I I know nothing — I mean, I can tell you 
 nothing,' cried Nell, suddenly rising to her 
 feet. ■ I am weary. I must go to my own 
 room. It will take me days to recover the 
 fatigue I have gone through. Good-night.
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 205 
 
 Don't think me rude, but I cannot talk to 
 you of such things now/ 
 
 And with a curt nod Nell went off in 
 search of her mother, leaving him alone, and 
 somewhat disconcerted at the abrupt ending 
 of their conversation. Mrs Llewellyn was 
 almost as puzzled as Hugh Owen at her 
 daughter's strange behaviour. She could 
 not understand her. The next day dragged 
 itself disappointingly away. Nell continued 
 in the same passive, indifferent disposition, 
 and when some neighbours, who had heard 
 of her return home, called at Panty-cuckoo 
 Farm expressly to welcome her, she locked 
 herself into her bedroom, and refused even 
 to answer Mrs Llewellyn's entreaties that 
 she would make an effort to come down 
 and see them. Towards evening, however, 
 she became feverishly excitable again, and 
 seemed impatient to find some vent for 
 it. 
 
 1 What can we do, mother ? ' she ex- 
 claimed as they rose from the tea-table. ' Isn't 
 this the night for Hugh Owen's preaching ? 
 Let's go and hear him. It'll make me scream
 
 206 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 with laughter to see old Hugh stuck up as 
 a minister.' 
 
 ' Ay, but, dearie, you mustn't laugh when 
 you get there, or there will be a scandal, and 
 poor Hugh will be main hurt. Besides, you 
 had better rest in the garden ; the field's 
 more than a mile off, and I'm afraid you'll 
 feel tired before you get there.' 
 
 * Not a bit of it,' cried the girl. 'I'm 
 just in the humour for walking this evening, 
 mother. I couldn't remain in the garden ; 
 it's too slow, so, if you don't want to hear 
 Hugh, I'll go by myself.' 
 
 'Oh, no, you don't do that,' replied Mrs 
 Llewellyn hastily. * I'm too proud of getting 
 my handsome daughter back again after 
 so many years to let her go tramping over 
 Usk by herself the first day she is at home. 
 The Owens are sure to be there, and Hetty 
 will be main glad to see us. So put on your 
 hat, Nell, and we'll be off. I wish you'd 
 something a bit smarter to wear than that 
 big black thing ; however, I can't deny but 
 it suits you all the same.' 
 
 So chattering, the old woman trotted
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 207 
 
 off by her tall daughter's side, until they 
 had reached Mr Tasker's field. The open- 
 air service had commenced some time when 
 they arrived there. The thirty or forty 
 people assembled had sung several hymns 
 and listened to Hugh Owens earnest prayer, 
 and were now engrossed by his address. 
 The young preacher stood upon a bench, 
 
 his long hair waving in the summer breeze ; 
 his eyes fixed upon his small congregation, 
 and his arms stretched out as though to 
 embrace them. He was not so enrapt, though, 
 but that he perceived the approach of Nell 
 and her mother, who took up their stand 
 on the outside of the little group. His pale 
 cheek glowed for a moment, and his heart 
 beat more rapidly, but he soon subdued 
 these feelings and threw his soul once more 
 into the work he had appointed himself to 
 do. He paused for one instant to recover 
 his equanimity, and then proceeded with 
 his discourse. 
 
 4 What is the great evil of this world, 
 my friends ? ' he said. ' What is the greatest 
 sin we sin against each other and ourselves ?
 
 208 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 The sin of deceit. We deceive each other 
 in trading — even the smallest grain of cheat- 
 ing, be it the quarter of a quarter of an 
 ounce less in the scales than it should be, 
 is as great a robbery in God's eyes ; as 
 great a wrong to our neighbour ; as great 
 a wrone to ourselves, as if it had been a 
 hundredweight ! We deceive each other in 
 religion. We go to church or chapel because 
 others do, and others would think us irre- 
 ligious if w T e neglected to do so, but we 
 do not tell our neighbours this. We profess 
 that we attend service for the love of God — 
 because we could not be happy without 
 attending ; because the duty is a comfort 
 and a delight to us. Can any duty so 
 fulfilled bring any blessing in its train ? 
 And many of us are living lies! This 
 seems a hard judgment, but look into 
 your own hearts and say if it is not true ! 
 Which of you shows yourself in your true 
 liofht to the world ? Your small meannesses 
 
 o 
 
 — your hasty tempers — your neglected duties 
 — your backbitings — you put them all aside 
 in public, and let your neighbours think
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 209 
 
 you good mistresses ; kind wives and 
 husbands ; liberal parents, and faithful 
 friends. But do you imagine you can 
 deceive God — the God of truth, who hates 
 a lie — from whose heaven, we are told, all 
 liars shall be excluded ? How many of you 
 now before me could enter that heaven 
 to-day? How many are there who, if their 
 real characters were known — if their secret 
 sins were laid bare — would be received 
 with the love and respect which you all 
 accept as your due? Many a pure and 
 beautiful outside conceals a deceitful soul — 
 many an apparently innocent face is the 
 mask for a guilty conscience ; but you can- 
 not deceive your God ; He knows every 
 sin you have committed — every wrong 
 thought you have entertained. Is it not 
 strange that what you are not afraid to 
 let your God know you have done, you 
 would not have your neighbour find out 
 for all the world ! But which is better, to 
 be rejected of men to-day or of God in 
 the days to come ? — to endure a little scorn 
 and contumely now, in a life which can only 
 vol. 1. o
 
 210 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 last at the best for a few years, or to be 
 shut out from God's love for ever ? Think, 
 my dearest friends, of what His love for 
 ever means ! For ever and for ever and 
 for ever ! — without sorrow, or sickness, or 
 sin — wrapped in the arms of His boundless 
 mercy and protection for all time, and then 
 compare it with the paltry gain of keeping 
 the good opinion of your neighbour here 
 below — one, who probably (if the truth 
 were known) has sinned in like proportion 
 with yourself! If I could only make you 
 realise what God's love is like, you would, 
 in order to gain it, throw all earthly con- 
 sideration to the winds and think of Him 
 and of Him only ! He loves you as no 
 mortal man can ever love you, and He hates 
 a liar. He has said He will have none of 
 them — that if men will not confess their 
 sins before the world, He will not number 
 them with His elect in heaven; and this 
 confessing includes — ' 
 
 But here Hugh Owen's discourse was 
 interrupted by a shrill scream, as Nell 
 Llewellyn fell back in her mother's arms
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 2 1 1 
 
 in a fit of violent hysterics. Of course 
 everyone present (who had been longing 
 for the address to be concluded, that they 
 might renew their acquaintance with her) 
 rushed forward simultaneously to offer 
 their advice, or assistance. But Nell 
 shrunk from them all alike, as she tried 
 to quell the distressing cries that rose 
 involuntarily from her, in her mother's 
 bosom. 
 
 'Just stand aside a bit and let the 
 poor lass have air,' said Mrs Llewellyn. 
 ' She's so weak and faint after that 
 nasty London, that the walk's been too 
 much for her. I was afraid it might be, 
 but she was so bent on hearing Hugh 
 Owen preach ! There ! Nell — there, my 
 lass ! try and control yourself, do ! Lean 
 on me, and we'll go slowly home again. 
 I'm main sorry we've interrupted your 
 discourse, Hugh, but I hope you'll go 
 on now all the same! And you must 
 forgive poor Nell ! It's all because 
 she's so weak and upset like.' 
 
 1 I'm sorry she came this evening/
 
 212 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 replied Hugh, who was the picture of 
 distress,' but let me take her, Mrs 
 Llewellyn, I am stronger than you are 
 and Nell can lean as hard as she likes, 
 on me ! ' 
 
 But Nell turned her head away, and 
 
 at this juncture, one of the neighbours, 
 who lived close by, returned with a 
 little chaise drawn by a ragged pony, 
 which he had been to fetch, and 
 putting Nell and her mother in it, he 
 drove them home ; and Mrs Llewellyn's 
 whole care was then directed to getting 
 her daughter into bed, where she 
 trusted she would sleep and recuperate 
 her exhausted strength. But creeping 
 up an hour afterwards to see how she 
 was going on, she found her so ill that 
 she sent for the village doctor, who pro- 
 nounced her to be in a very critical con- 
 dition, and before another twelve hours 
 were over her head, Nell was raving 
 in the delirium of a nervous fever.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Lord and Lady Ilfracombe had a pleasant 
 time, yachting in the Mediterranean. The 
 weather was perfect; their companions, 
 Captain Knyvett and Mr Castelton, whom 
 they had invited to accompany them, 
 proved to be agreeable and entertaining ; 
 and the Debutante was as luxurious a 
 little vessel as can well be imagined. Nora, 
 who was the only lady on board, fascinated 
 the whole crew, gentlemen and sailors alike. 
 Without being in the least masculine, she 
 was as energetic and as much to the fore 
 as any man aboard. She did not suffer 
 from mal de mer, and had no feminine fads, 
 fancies, or fears. She never failed to 
 appear at the breakfast-table, or to sit up 
 playing cards, or singing songs to her banjo, 
 till the most wakeful among them was ready 
 to turn in. She sat on deck in all weathers, 
 
 213
 
 214 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 even when they encountered a sharp squall 
 and a downpour of rain. Lady Ilfracombe 
 said she preferred the open air to the saloon 
 cabin, and had her wicker chair lashed to the 
 mast, and sat there, enveloped in her hus- 
 band's rough great coat and her own spicy 
 little naval cap with a peaked brim, encourag- 
 ing the efforts of the sailors, and chatting with 
 her friends, as if she did not know the name 
 of danger. She was always lively, interested, 
 and good-tempered, and a general favourite 
 with everybody. And yet the earl, although 
 he admired and was proud of his wife, did 
 not feel so happy in her possession as he had 
 hoped to do. Nora's disposition had not 
 altered with marriage. What woman's ever 
 did ? The prudence or coldness which had 
 induced her to refuse her lover, a kiss or an 
 embrace before marriage, extended in a great 
 measure to her behaviour to her husband. 
 Ilfracombe, like many another man in the 
 same position, had imagined her coolness to 
 be due to maidenly reserve, and thought that 
 it would all disappear with wifehood. The 
 greatest mistake men ever make. Of matri-
 
 A Bankrupt Heai't. 2 1 5 
 
 mony, it might be written, as the terms on 
 which we are supposed to enter heaven are 
 written of in the Bible, ' Let the flirt be a 
 flirt still, and the prude be a prude still.' 
 Marriage is far more likely to cool the ardent, 
 than to warm the cold. And the Countess 
 of Ifracombe had proved the truth of it. She 
 did not actually repulse her bridegroom, but 
 she only permitted his attentions — she never 
 returned them. The earl was more in love 
 with her than ever he had been, perhaps for 
 this very reason, but he could not help wish- 
 ing sometimes, with a sigh of disappointment, 
 that she would put her arms round his neck 
 of her own accord, and press her lips to his, 
 with some little show of passion. Perhaps 
 at such moments a memory would come to 
 him, of a perfect mouth that had been used 
 to cling to his with unconcealed rapture, and 
 a pair of white arms that would hold him so 
 closely, that he would unlock them by force, 
 and tell their owner jestingly, that she would 
 squeeze him to death if she did not take 
 greater care. He had enjoyed these things 
 until he had wearied of them, according to
 
 216 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 the manner of men, and now — He almost 
 thought sometimes that Nora was colder and 
 more distant to him than she had been be- 
 fore marriage, but that seemed an impossi- 
 bility. She preserved the proprieties in 
 public with the greatest care, was always 
 courteous, and even respectful to him, before 
 company — listened quietly whilst he spoke, 
 and deferred to his opinion in everything. 
 But when they were alone, she was just as 
 courteous, that was all ; and if he pressed his 
 attentions on her, was apt to show the least 
 signs of peevishness, or weariness, or sudden 
 illness, which never exhibited itself on other 
 occasions. But men in the flush of a new 
 love are satisfied with very little, and Nora's 
 indifference only served to keep the flame 
 bright and burning. One day, as she was 
 reclining in her wicker chair, surrounded by 
 her court, she gave vent to the wish that 
 they had brought her favourite sister, Susie, 
 with them, as she was sure she would have 
 enjoyed herself so much. 
 
 1 I wish we had,' acquiesced Ilfracombe 
 heartily. * And I wish I had brought my old
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 217 
 
 chum, Jack Portland, with me too ! I invited 
 him to come out with me on the Debutante, 
 but that would have entailed his missing the 
 Derby, and I don't believe Jack would enter 
 heaven, if he had the chance, if the Derby 
 had yet to be run ! ' 
 
 1 Ay ! if he had the chance — which I 
 much doubt he ever will have,' laughed 
 Captain Knyvett. 
 
 * Jack — who ? ' demanded Nora. 
 
 * Jack Portland, my darling,' replied her 
 husband, ' I must have mentioned him to 
 you, surely ! He's one of my greatest friends, 
 we've been a lot together, on the turf and 
 elsewhere. Jack's one of the most reliable 
 prophets I ever came across. He can al- 
 ways give a fellow the straight tip, and he's 
 marvellously correct ; isn't he, Castelton ? ' 
 
 1 Oh, yes, very good, when he likes,' ac- 
 quiesced that gentleman. 
 
 'Oh, come Castelton, that's not fair,' cried 
 the earl ; ' old Jack's always ready to oblige 
 a chum, and I never knew him to make a 
 wrong un. I know he's won me pots of 
 money, over and over again ! '
 
 2 1 8 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ' And lost them for you too, Ilfracombe,' 
 replied Mr Castelton. 
 
 1 Are we likely to see much of this imma- 
 culate being on our return to England ? ' in- 
 quired the countess in a rather tart tone. 
 ' He does not appear to me to be a very 
 desirable acquaintance.' 
 
 1 Oh, my darling, you are quite mistaken,' 
 exclaimed Ilfracombe. ' Poor old Jack is the 
 best-natured fellow in the world. I am sure 
 you will like him immensely. You mustn't 
 think that he obtrudes his sporting proclivi- 
 ties on the drawing-room. No man knows 
 better how to behave in the company of 
 ladies than Jack Portland — indeed, he has 
 rather a character for liking their society too 
 much. See the mischief you have done, 
 Castelton! You have made my wife's lip curl 
 at the mere idea of our sporting friend.' 
 
 ' Indeed, Mr Castelton has done nothing of 
 the sort, Ilfracombe, for, as it happens, I 
 already know Mr Portland, though I had no 
 idea he was one of your friends.' 
 
 ■ You know Jack Portland ! ' cried the earl 
 with unaffected surprise. ' Where on earth
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 2 1 9 
 
 did you meet him, and why have you not 
 spoken of him to me before ? ' 
 
 1 To answer your last question first, Ilfra- 
 combe, simply because the subject was not 
 sufficiently interesting to recall itself to my 
 mind. And as for where I met him, it was 
 of course in Malta, where, as you know, I 
 have vegetated for the best part of my life ! ' 
 
 'In Malta?' echoed the earl;' 'why, of 
 course Jack has been there. It never 
 occurred to me before, but it was his recom- 
 mendation of the place that took me there. 
 So I may almost say that I owe the happi- 
 ness of meeting you to him. Let me see ! 
 How long was it ago ? Two years ? ' 
 
 1 There or thereabouts,' said Nora indiffer- 
 ently. 
 
 ■ And did you not like him, Nora ? Did 
 you not think him a very charming man ? ' 
 
 The countess shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 * Am I to tell you the truth, or to bow 
 to the fact that Mr Portland is one of 
 your greatest friends, Ilfracombe?' she re- 
 plied. 
 
 4 The truth, of course, darling. I can
 
 220 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 hardly expect you to see everybody with 
 the same eyes as myself; but I cannot im- 
 agine anybody, and especially any woman, 
 disliking old Jack. 7 
 
 'Then I'm the odd man out,' said his wife, 
 with a moue. 
 
 ' Really. What did he do to offend you ? 
 I'm sure he must have fallen in love with 
 you ; but you have experienced that sort 
 of thing too often to make it a cause of 
 offence.' 
 
 ' Is it necessary for a person to actually 
 affront you in order to create a dislike? I 
 don't think I saw enough of Mr Portland 
 to do him that honour. He stayed, if I 
 remember rightly, with Captain and Mrs 
 Loveless, in the dockyard, and they brought 
 him to see my mother. He is a tall, broad- 
 shouldered fellow, is he not, with blue eyes 
 and reddish hair ? Well, he struck me as 
 horsey decidedly ; and, perhaps, that was the 
 reason I didn't cotton to him. But, pray, 
 don't imagine, Ilfracombe, that I am going 
 to make myself disagreeable to any friend 
 of yours. It is only that I am indifferent
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 2 2 1 
 
 to him. My welcome will be just in pro- 
 portion to your wishes.' 
 
 ' My dearest girl, I am sure of that, and 
 when you know him better, you will like 
 him as much as I do. He's rattling good 
 fun ; isn't he, Castelton ? ' 
 
 'Yes, according to our ideas, perhaps, 
 Ilfracombe, but he might not suit a lady 
 as well. Jack has drank rather more than 
 he ought to have done of late years, and 
 spoilt his beauty in consequence. Else he 
 used to be one of the handsomest fellows 
 on the turf/ 
 
 ' Is it necessary to talk about Mr Port- 
 land any longer ? ' demanded the countess, 
 with a yawn behind her hand. c Captain 
 Knyvett, do fetch the cards from the 
 saloon, and let us have a game. We've 
 been fooling all the afternoon away. It is 
 time we exercised our brains a little.' 
 
 ■ What a strange thing it seems,' said 
 Ilfracombe afterwards to Castelton, as they 
 were smoking together on the poop, ' that 
 men and women see with such different 
 eyes ! I should have thought Jack Port-
 
 222 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 land would have been an universal favour- 
 ite with the beau sexe. He's a fine, manly, 
 good - looking chap, with any amount of 
 brains ; and yet Lady Ilfracombe, who 
 really admires our sex more than her own 
 — a regular man's woman she is, as any 
 man, I think, would admit — can't see any- 
 thing, apparently, to like in him. It is 
 incredible to me ! I shall make a point of 
 bringing them together as soon as we are 
 settled at Thistlemere. 
 
 * Lady Ilfracombe is so thoroughly charm- 
 ing in every respect,' replied Castelton, with 
 admirable tact, ' that I should feel inclined 
 to trust her judgment before my own. It 
 is not at all necessary that a man and his 
 wife should have the same friends, or so 1 
 take it. That would entail a great deal of 
 irksome duty on your part, paid to women 
 whom, perhaps, you did not like. Mr Jack 
 Portland is bound to get his full dues from 
 so perfect a hostess as Lady Ilfracombe, 
 without thrusting his company continually 
 on her. And between ourselves, old fellow, 
 I really think his conversation and ideas
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 223 
 
 are more fit for the stables than the draw- 
 ing-room.' 
 
 'No, no ! I won't have you say that,' 
 cried the loyal earl. 'Jack's a gentleman, 
 and no man can be more. My wife will 
 learn to like him for my sake. Castelton, 
 old chap ! why don't you get married ? It's 
 the loveliest experience in the world. Don't 
 believe all the humbug people talk on the 
 subject. Only try it, and you'll agree with 
 me.' 
 
 1 Perhaps I might and perhaps I mightn't, 
 my boy,' replied his companion. ' I expect 
 matrimony depends a great deal on the 
 woman, and we can't all expect to draw a 
 prize. You've drawn the lucky number, 
 Ilfracombe, and I might get a blank ; so 
 rest satisfied with your coup de main, and 
 don't persuade your friends to come a crop- 
 per in hopes of clearing the thorny fence 
 as you have. But I congratulate you, old 
 fellow. I never saw a man so spooney in 
 all my life ; and it must really be a delici- 
 ous sensation when the object is your own 
 wife, and not that of some other man.
 
 224 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 By the way, now we are quite alone, may 
 I ask you what has become of Miss 
 Llewellyn ? ' 
 
 The earl looked round to see what his 
 wife was doing before he replied, in a low 
 tone, — 
 
 ' Oh ! that's all right, old boy. I've pen- 
 sioned her off handsomely, and she has gone 
 back to her friends.' 
 
 Castelton opened his eyes. 
 
 1 Really ! I shouldn't have thought she 
 was that sort of woman.' 
 
 1 What do you mean by " that sort of 
 woman " ? ' 
 
 ' No offence, old chappie, be sure of that. 
 No one admired her more than I did. I 
 think she is, without exception, the most 
 beautiful creature I ever saw, and as good 
 as she is beautiful. But I fancied she 
 was too much attached to you to accept a 
 pension.' 
 
 ' Oh, as to that,' said the earl, rather 
 shamefacedly, ' she must be provided for. 
 I wouldn't hear of anything else. You see, 
 Castelton, you mustn't think me a brute ; but
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 225 
 
 it was on the cards that sooner or later I 
 should marry. My uncles were always at 
 me about the necessity of an heir, and all 
 that sort of thing ; and I suppose it is the 
 penalty of inheriting a title, that one must 
 think of carrying it on. You know I was 
 fond of the woman — very fond, at one time 
 — so was she of me, but it had gone on long 
 enough. Sterndale has managed the busi- 
 ness for me. I don't know that I should 
 have had enough nerve to do it for myself. 
 But it's all happily ended by this time, and 
 I'm going to give up such frivolities for the 
 future ! ' 
 
 'Of course, of course — naturally,' said his 
 friend. 
 
 But when Lord Ilfracombe met his wife in 
 the sanctity of their state-cabin, he alluded 
 again to the subject of Jack Portland. 
 
 ' It's the most extraordinary thing in the 
 world to me, Nora,' he commenced, ' that 
 Jack has not told me that he met you in 
 Malta. For I have had two letters from 
 him since our marriage/ 
 
 ' Most likely he did not remember my 
 vol. 1. p
 
 226 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 name/ replied Nora ; ' I was hardly out of 
 the nursery then, remember ! ' 
 
 1 What ! at eighteen ? Nonsense ! You 
 are not a woman for a man to see and 
 forget. He has never said that he met 
 your father. And that you should have 
 never spoken his name, beats me alto- 
 gether/ 
 
 ■ Why, you never mentioned him your- 
 self till to-day,' she retorted. ' Considering 
 he is such an intimate friend of yours, is 
 that not more wonderful than the other ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, I know such lots of men ! ' 
 
 * So do 1/ said Nora. 
 
 She was sitting on the side of the bed 
 as she spoke, nursing her knees and look- 
 ing her husband straight in the face. 
 
 1 You talk like a fool,' she continued hotly, 
 * As if a girl could remember every man she 
 has met ! And you have not mentioned 
 people much nearer home to me. Who is 
 Miss Llewellyn?' 
 
 The question took Ilfracombe so com- 
 pletely by surprise, that he did not know 
 what to say.
 
 A Bankrttpt Heart. 227 
 
 ' Miss Llewellyn !' he stammered. 'Who 
 has ever said anything to you about Miss 
 Llewellyn ? ' 
 
 ' I heard you mention her name this 
 evening to Mr Castelton.' 
 
 1 Indeed ! what sharp ears you must have ! ' 
 
 4 Perhaps, but that is no answer to my 
 question. Who is she?' 
 
 1 Well, if you must know, she is, or 
 rather was, my housekeeper. An interest- 
 ing discovery, isn't it ? ' 
 
 1 Cela depend ! And is she to be our 
 housekeeper now ? ' 
 
 1 Certainly not ! That is to say, she has 
 gone home — her mother was sick and 
 wanted her — ' 
 
 The countess got off the bed, and going 
 up to her husband, laid her hand upon his 
 mouth, — 
 
 ' There, there, that will do/ she said 
 quietly ; ' don't soil your soul any more on 
 my account, for it is a matter of the most 
 perfect indifference to me who she was or 
 why she went. There are plenty more 
 housekeepers to be procured, I suppose, in
 
 228 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 England. But don't forget what I told 
 you in Malta about the pot that called the 
 kettle black, voila tout ! ' 
 
 She gave him a little kiss to sweeten 
 the unpalatable dose as she concluded, and 
 the ordeal was over — only the earl would 
 rather she had shown a little jealousy on 
 the subject instead. He did not know how 
 much or how little she had overheard of his 
 conversation with Castelton, and he did 
 not like to ask, lest she might blurt out 
 some disagreeable truths in his face. But 
 the circumstance made him think a great 
 deal more of Nell Llewellyn than he would 
 otherwise have done whilst on his wedding 
 tour. He wondered more than once if it 
 were possible that Nell would try to make 
 things unpleasant for him and Nora, or if 
 there were any chance of a rencontre be- 
 tween the two women. Nora might overlook 
 or ignore a liason of the sort if it were not 
 brought beneath her immediate notice, but 
 he felt sure she would hold her own — per- 
 haps make a public scandal if it became a 
 personal affront. He had heard nothing
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 229 
 
 from Mr Sterndale since a letter in which 
 he had assured him that his instructions 
 regarding Miss Llewellyn should be faith- 
 fully carried out, and he could not expect to 
 hear more until he met the solicitor in 
 England. He tried as far as possible to 
 dismiss the idea from his mind for the rest 
 of the voyage, but he became restless and 
 uneasy as they approached the termination 
 of it ; and when, towards the end of October, 
 he found himself safely installed with his 
 wife at Thistlemere, the first thing he did 
 was to summon his old friend to render 
 up an account of his stewardship. With 
 the solicitor arrived Mr Portland. Lord 
 Ilfracombe had not advised the countess of 
 his advent. He wanted to give them both 
 a surprise. Perhaps also to find out for 
 himself how far Nora had told the truth 
 concerning her acquaintance with him. 
 Ilfracombe had always been perfectly frank 
 whilst living with Nell Llewellyn. Under 
 the influence of Nora he was beginning to 
 keep back things which, theretofore, he would 
 have never dreamed of concealing. So truly
 
 230 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 do our intimate companions rule, to a great 
 degree, our characters. We are told that 
 we cannot touch pitch without being de- 
 filed. So must we always derive good or 
 evil from those we associate with. But it 
 Lord Ilfracombe fancied he was a match 
 for either his wife or Jack Portland, he was 
 very much mistaken. At any rate, neither 
 he nor anyone could have discovered a 
 domestic plot against his peace from the 
 perfectly natural way in which they met 
 each other, for if anything was apparent, it 
 was an almost unnatural indifference on 
 both sides. The countess was in the 
 drawing-room when her husband entered 
 with both men in his train. 
 
 1 Nora/ he commenced, ' I bring an old 
 friend of yours to offer his congratulations 
 on your having obtained such a prize as 
 myself.' 
 
 Nora glanced at the two gentlemen with 
 affected surprise. 
 
 ' Mr Sterndale is an old friend of yours, 
 I know, Ilfracombe,' she said, sweetly ; 
 'and, therefore, if he will accept me as
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 231 
 
 such, I trust he will consider me his 
 friend also. But — ' turning to where Jack 
 Portland stood bowing lowly before her, 
 1 this gentleman — surely I have met him 
 before! Why, of course, it is the very Mr 
 Portland of whom we spoke once on board 
 the Ddbutante. How are you, Mr Port- 
 land? Do you remember me after all this 
 time? Did we not meet at Captain Love- 
 less's once at a ball ? Were you not staying 
 with them ? ' 
 
 1 1 was, Lady Ilfracombe. Mrs Loveless 
 is my sister. What a long time ago it 
 seems. How little I imagined, when dear old 
 Ilfracombe here wrote me he was engaged 
 to a Miss Abinger, that it actually was the 
 Miss Abinger with whom I had had the 
 honour of dancing ! But there were so 
 many of you ! ' 
 
 1 Dear me, yes — dozens ! I have three 
 sisters married besides myself! Perhaps it 
 was Bella or Marion, after all, whom you 
 danced with instead of me. We are con- 
 sidered very much alike.' 
 
 ' If you will excuse me saying so, I do
 
 232 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 not think I could have made a mistake. 
 But you must have been very young at 
 the time?' 
 
 ' I was eighteen ; I am twenty now,' 
 laughed Nora in a nervous manner. I 
 never conceal my age, and never mean to. 
 It is such folly. If a woman looks too 
 young for it, all the better. If too old, 
 it will only make a bad matter worse to 
 take off a few years. Don't you agree 
 with me, Mr Sterndale ? ' 
 
 ' I agree with everything your ladyship 
 says, even if it went against my own judg- 
 ment,' replied the solicitor. 
 
 1 My goodness, you're quite a courtier ! 
 I thought the law allowed men no time for 
 cultivating the smaller graces. If ever I 
 want to get a separation from Ilfracombe, 
 Mr Sterndale, I shall come to you to make 
 terms for me.' 
 
 1 Oh, dear me ! ' exclaimed the solicitor, 
 laughing ; ' your ladyship must not depend 
 on me in such a case, really! I have 
 been his lordship's man of business for years, 
 and I am not sure if such an unmitigated
 
 A Bankrupt Heart, 233 
 
 piece of treachery would not rank with high 
 treason.' 
 
 ' Well, here is dinner, which appeals to 
 us all alike,' cried Lady Ilfracombe, as she 
 placed her hand on the arm of Mr Jack Port- 
 land, 'so let us drop all discussion, except 
 that of good things, until it is over,' and 
 the earl and the solicitor followed her gaily 
 to the dining-room. But Ilfracombe was 
 longing to have a private interview w T ith Mr 
 Sterndale, and as soon as the meal was con- 
 cluded, he asked the pardon of the others if 
 he detained the solicitor for half an hour. 
 
 ' You can send us word when coffee is 
 ready, Nora,' he said to his wife as Mr 
 Portland held the door open for her lady- 
 ship to pass through, and then, with a nod 
 to his host, went after her. 
 
 As soon as they were well out of hear- 
 ing, Ilfracombe lent over the table and said 
 to Sterndale in a lowered voice, — 
 
 ' 1 don't see why we need go to the 
 library ; I am not in a mood for accounts or 
 anything of that sort to-night. I only want 
 to ask you about Miss Llewellyn. How
 
 234 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 did she take the news of my marriage, 
 Sterndale, and is she well out of England ? 
 Where did she go to, and was she satisfied 
 with the provision I made for her? To 
 tell you the truth, the thought of her has 
 been bothering me a good deal lately. The 
 countess is a noble, generous girl, and 
 quite up to snuff, but she is high-spirited, 
 and if there were any chance of her meet- 
 ing the other, or hearing much about her, 
 I wouldn't answer for the consequences.' 
 
 1 You need not be in the least afraid of 
 that, Lord Ilfracombe,' replied the solicitor. 
 
 1 Are you sure ? Did she accept a sum 
 down, or did you invest the money for her, 
 and if so, how and where? Is she out of 
 England, and likely to remain so ? I dare- 
 say you will vote me an alarmist, Sterndale, 
 but you see, when all's said and done, Nell 
 was very fond of me, and women turn into 
 perfect devils sometimes when they are 
 crossed in such matters/ 
 
 * I repeat, my lord, that you have no cause 
 to fear the least annoyance from Miss 
 Llewellyn.'
 
 A Bankrttpt Heart. 235 
 
 'Thank God for that,' said the earl, 
 with a look of relief. ' And now, tell me 
 all you can about it, Sterndale. Was 
 she much upset at the idea of my giving 
 her up ? Had you any difficulty about it ? 
 Or did she accept the inevitable, and 
 clear out quietly ? ' 
 
 Mr Sterndale prepared himself for a 
 conference, previously to commencing which 
 he rose, and having seen that the dining- 
 room door was securely fastened, sat down 
 again opposite to the earl. 
 
 1 1 have rather a painful duty before 
 me, my lord. Painful, that is to say, in 
 one sense, but, to my mind, providential 
 in another. Your lordship is now happily 
 married, and, doubtless, would wish to cast 
 even the memory of the past behind you.' 
 
 ' It is my desire to do so, to forget 
 it ever existed, if possible/ said the young 
 man eagerly ; ' but still I feel that will 
 not be feasible until I am assured that 
 Miss Llewellyn is well provided for, and 
 in a fair way to be happy.' 
 
 1 Very praiseworthy and generous,' mur-
 
 236 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 mured the solicitor, ' but quite unneces- 
 sary. In the first place, my lord, Miss 
 Llewellyn blankly refused to accept any 
 settlement or provision at your hands. 
 She took the draft which I submitted for 
 her approval and tore it across, and flung 
 the pieces in my face. Indeed, I may 
 say, the young woman was exceedingly 
 rude to me, but I can afford to forgive it 
 now.' 
 
 ' I am sorry to hear that, Sterndale, but 
 I suppose your news upset her. She was 
 not accustomed to be rude in manners 
 or speech to any of my friends. But, 
 doubtless, she apologised. She took the 
 settlement on reconsideration.' 
 
 'Indeed, she did not, Lord Ilfracombe! 
 She has never taken it.' 
 
 1 Then how is she living ? ' asked the 
 earl eagerly. ' Where is she at present ? ' 
 
 ' I must prepare your lordship for a 
 slight shock,' replied the solicitor gravely, 
 1 for it was a shock to me. Miss Llewellyn 
 is no more.' 
 
 1 No more ! Do you mean me to
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 237 
 
 understand that she is dead ? ' exclaimed 
 Ilfracombe with a look of horror. 
 
 1 Exactly so, my lord, The unfortunate 
 young woman is certainly dead. She had 
 an ungovernable temper, and it led her 
 to a rash end. She threw herself into 
 the river.' 
 
 The earl's eyes were almost starting 
 out of his head. 
 
 1 She committed suicide, and for my 
 sake ? ' he exclaimed. ' Oh, my God ! 
 my God ! ' 
 
 He bent his head down on his hands, 
 and the tears trickled through his clasped 
 hands. 
 
 1 Nell dead!' he kept on murmuring, 
 'Nell under the water! Oh, it is im- 
 possible. I cannot believe it. My poor 
 Nell. This news will wreck all my 
 happiness.' 
 
 c Lord Ilfracombe,' exclaimed Mr Stern- 
 dale, quickly, ' I beg of you to compose 
 yourself. What if the servants, or her 
 ladyship, were to enter the room. This 
 unfortunate affair is none of your doing.
 
 238 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 You have no occasion to blame your- 
 self. You did all, and more than most 
 men would have done to secure the 
 welfare of the young person in question, 
 and if she choose to fling your kindness 
 back in your face, the blame lies at 
 her own door/ 
 
 'Are you sure of it?' said Ilfracombe 
 presently, as he made a great effort 
 to control his feelings. ■ How did you 
 hear of it ? Did you actually see and 
 recognise her dead body ? ' 
 
 'No, I cannot go so far as to say 
 that, my lord, but I have every cir- 
 cumstantial evidence of the fact. Miss 
 Llewellyn disappeared from Grosvenor 
 Square, as Warrender can tell you, on 
 the night of the 20th of August, and 
 has never been seen or heard of since. 
 On that night a woman threw herself into 
 the Thames, whose description tallies with 
 hers. Here is the account of the affair 
 published in the next morning's papers,' 
 handing the earl the paragraph he had 
 cut from the Standard, 'and on instituting
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 239 
 
 every inquiry, I had no reason to doubt 
 that the young woman, who either threw 
 herself or fell into the river, was our 
 unfortunate friend. With a view to ascer- 
 taining the truth more accurately, I 
 examined her belongings in Grosvenor 
 Square, none of which she had taken 
 with her, another fact which points con- 
 clusively, in my mind, to the idea of 
 suicide, and amongst them, in her jewel 
 case, I found this scrap of paper, evi- 
 dently addressed to your lordship, and which 
 I preserved with a view of delivering 
 over to you when you should question me 
 as to the matter you left in my charge.' 
 
 Saying which, the solicitor placed the 
 scrap of paper he had found with Nell's 
 trinkets in the earl's hands. Ilfracombe 
 read the poor, pathetic little message over 
 and over again, * Good-bye, my only 
 love. I cannot live without you,' and 
 then without comment, having folded the 
 paper and placed it in his pocket-book, 
 he rose trembling from the table and 
 staggered towards the door.
 
 240 A Bankrupt Heart, 
 
 'Sterndale!' he ejaculated in a faint 
 voice, ' I cannot speak with you about 
 this now, some other time, perhaps, but 
 for the present I must be alone. Go 
 to the countess, there's a good fellow, 
 and keep her from following me. Say 
 I have had a sudden summons to the 
 stables, that there is something wrong 
 with one of the horses, and leave me to 
 tell my own story when I return. I won't 
 be long. Only give me a few minutes 
 in which to overcome this fearful shock. 
 You know I was fond of her, Sterndale, 
 and I must feel her death a little. I 
 never dreamt it would come to this — 
 that death would part us — never, never.' 
 
 And with his pocket handkerchief to 
 his eyes, the earl rushed up to his 
 own room. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr Portland had been saying 
 to the countess, — 
 
 1 By George, Nora, I do think you are 
 the very cleverest woman I know. I 
 always did think so, you know, and now 
 I'm sure of it. No one to see you this
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 241 
 
 afternoon would have imagined we had 
 ever met before.' 
 
 1 Well, naturally, I didn't intend them 
 to think so. I determined on that as 
 soon as Ilfracombe told me you were a 
 friend of his. What is the good of tell- 
 ing everybody everything ? It only leads 
 to quarrels. So as I am quite sure Ilfra- 
 combe has not told me everything that 
 he has done before marriage, I deter- 
 mined he should have a quid pro quo. 
 But, Jack, you must keep the secret now 
 for both our sakes. You will let me have 
 back my letters, won't you ? ' 
 
 ' Of course I will, that is if you are so 
 hard-hearted as to take my only comfort 
 from me. But where is the good of 
 it ? You don't want to read them over 
 yourself, surely ? ' 
 
 ' Goose ! as if I would. They are awful 
 rubbish, from what I can remember. Only 
 it has become dangerous now, you know, 
 and I should never feel easy unless I 
 had destroyed them.' 
 
 1 Won't my destroying them do as well ? ' 
 vol. 1. o
 
 242 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 ' No, because you men are so careless, 
 and something might happen to you 
 during your steeplechases or hunting, and 
 then they would be found, and the news 
 would be all over the shop. You will 
 give them back to me, Jack, won't 
 you ? ' in a pleading tone. 
 
 ' Did I ever refuse you anything, 
 Nora? You shall have the letters, or 
 anything else you set your heart on, 
 only continue to be nice to me as you 
 were in Malta.' 
 
 ' Then give them to me,' she said in 
 an earnest voice. 
 
 . ' Why, you don't imagine I carry them 
 about with me in my waistcoat pocket, 
 do you ? I take much more care of 
 them that. They are at my London 
 diggings, safely locked away in my dis- 
 patch box.' 
 
 * Oh, when shall you go back and 
 fetch them ? ' exclaimed the countess. 
 
 ' That is not very hospitable of you, 
 
 Nora,' said Mr Portland, ' when I have 
 
 not yet spent a day at Thistlemere ! No,
 
 A Bankrupt Heart. 243 
 
 no, you mustn't be quite so impatient 
 as all that. You shall have the precious 
 letters in good time, though why you 
 cannot leave them where they have been 
 for the last two years, beats me al- 
 together.' 
 
 'You know I asked for them back 
 before you left Malta, and you wouldn't 
 give them to me,' said Lady Ilfracombe, 
 'and now it is much more important 
 than it was then. I was a fool not to 
 make my father insist on their return, 
 but I was so dreadfully afraid that he 
 would read them.' 
 
 'Ah, that wouldn't have done, would 
 it ? ' returned Mr Portland carelessly. 
 'You had better leave them with me, 
 Nora. I'm their best custodian. The 
 perusal of them gives me pleasure, whilst 
 on others it might have a contrary 
 effect, eh ? ' 
 
 * No, no, you have promised to return 
 them to me, and you must keep your 
 word,' her ladyship was replying just as 
 Mr Sterndale entered the room, and said, —
 
 244 A Bankrupt Heart. 
 
 1 Lord Ilfracombe sends his apologies 
 to you, my lady, but one of the horses 
 requires his attention and he has strolled 
 out to the stables, but he desired me to 
 tell you that he will not be absent more 
 than a few minutes.' 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 COLSTON AND COMPANY, FRINTERS, EDINBURGH-
 
 
 

 
 
 
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