Evidence FLORENCE- IV! ARRrAT. v.l W^M \w* I n. p, m ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. ON CIBCUMSTANTLAL EVIDENCE. BY FLOEENCE MAEEYAT, AUTHOR OF LOVE'S CONFLICT,"' " MY SISTER THE ACTRESS," "GENTLEMAN AND COURTIER," " A CRO\V r N OF SHAME," ETC., ETC. IN THREE VOL UMES. VOL. T. LONDON: F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, SOUTHAMPTON STKEET, STKAND, W.C. 1889. PRINTED BY KELLY AND CO., MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES; AND GATK STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS W.C. ? I 8-3 3 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. — "Unexpected Visitors" . 1 II. — Agnes Prudhomme ... 27 III. — On the Ramparts . . .47 IV. — A Warning .... 71 92 V.- — Lady Muriel M T VI.- — Athol Fergusson VII.- —Oakley Court 118 . 144 VIII.— Mrs. Lorrimer • 168 IX.— A New Sister . ■ • . 1S>4 3 X.— The Earl of Hhylton . • -'•' £ ON CIKCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. POPULAR fJEW JMOVELS. Voir Beady, the Seventh Edition of "ARMY SOCIETY." By JOHN STRANGE WINTER, Author of " Booties' Baby." Cloth silt, fis. : also, picture boards, '2s. Also, Now Ready, in Cloth Gilt, 2s. Gd. each. GARRISON GOSSIP. Gathered in Blankhampton. By John Stranoe Winter. Also picture boards, 2*. A SIEGE BABY. By the same Author. Also picture boards, 2*. BEAUTIFUL JIM. By the same Author. IN THE SHIRES. By Sir Randal II. Roberts, Bart. THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT. A Sporting Novel. By Mr-, Edward Kennard. Also picture boards, 2*. BY WOMAN'S WIT. By Mrs. ALEXANDER, Author of "The Wooing O't." Also picture boards, 2s. MONA'S CHOICE. By the same AUTHOR. KILLED IN THE OPEN. By Mrs. Edward Kennard. Also picture boards, 2s. IN A GRASS COUNTRY. By Mrs. H. LOVETT-CaMBRON. Also picture boards. 2s. A DEVOUT LOVER. By the same AUTHOR. THE COST OF A LIE. By the same Autiiok. THE OUTSIDER, B\ Hawley SMART. Also picture boards, 2*. Tin: MASTER OF RATHKELLY. By the same AUTHOR. STRAIGHT AS A DIE. By Mrs. Edward Kennard. Also picture boards, 2s. TWILIGHT TALES. By Mrs. Edward CbNNARD. Illustrated. SHE CAME BETWEEN. By Mrs. ALEXANDER FRASKE. THE CRUSADE OF THE 'EXCELSIOR." By Bret Harte. Also picture boards, 2*. CURB AND SNAFFLE. By SIR RANDAL 11. EtOBMBTB, Bart. A REAL GOOD THING. By MM. EDWARD KENNARD, Also picture Imi: in Is, Si. A CRACK COUNTY. By the same AUTHOR. DBBAM FACES. ByTHBHONBLB. MRS. FBTHBRSTONHAUOH. THE HONBLB. MRS. VBRBKBR, By the Author of "Molly Bawn," F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.O. ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. CHAPTER I. " UNEXPECTED VISITORS." The old Chateau des Lauriers, now sunk into decay, was once the pride and glory of the city in Belgium near which it stood. It was the country seat of the Barons Van Lippen, and their children had been born and flou- rished there for centuries past. It was sur- rounded by a wood of chestnut, beech and elm trees — a dairy farm was attached to the estate — large lawns and flower gardens were laid out in front of it, and a noble avenue of a quarter of a mile in length led to its approach. The Chateau itself, a square white building, with innumerable shuttered win- dows, required a great deal of foliage to vol. i. 1 2 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. render it warm in appearance, and there was a time when no one would have called it cold or comfortless. But the Van Lippens had degenerated of late years, both in taste and morals. The last barons of the name found a country life and the privacy of the Chateau des Lauriers too monotonous for them, and had sought distraction in Paris and Vienna and other fashionable places of amusement, and their pleasures had cost the family estate dear. One by one the avenue had lost its noble trees, until a bare road full of ruts alone marked the place where it had stood ; the rest of the timber followed, and the land was sold for farming purposes, until the poor old Chateau, shorn of all its leafy honours, remained naked and forlorn, like a square white tomb set in the midst of turnip and potato fields — a monument erected to the memory of the past. The last inheritor of the property, Baron Polycarp Van Lippen, had indeed brought his French wife there, "UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 3 in an attempt to somewhat recruit his shat- tered income by living quietly in the country. But it had proved a failure. The fashionable Parisian lady had moped and fretted at being shut out from the world, till she had made life a misery for him and herself, and four children had been born and sickened and died there, which had disgusted Baron Poly- carp with the very name of the place. So he had left it as soon as he could, and never returned again. For years it had been de- livered over to the rats, the mildew and the moth. The gilded and embossed papers hung in strips from the damp walls, and fungi had sprouted in the dark cellars and flagged pas- sages. Xot a Belgian could be induced to re- main in the house at night, there were so many rumours of spoken, i.e., ghosts, being seen upon the premises, and the gardener Joseph who kept the keys, and lived on the pro- duce of the strip of ground still belonging to the Chateau, was the only person who 1—2 4 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. ever went near it. At last the house had fallen into such disrepair that the agent of Baron Poly carp Van Lippen wrote him word that if the place were not seen to, or let, it would tumble to the ground, and he re- ceived orders in consequence to accept the first offer made for its occupation. That offer came from Captain David Grant, a retired officer from the army, with a large family and small means. Captain Grant had done a very foolish thing. Finding it next to impossible to live upon his pay and keep a sickly wife and six children, he had left the profession and commuted for his pension, hoping to make more by commerce than he had done by glory. But an army man in business resembles a fish out of water. He has been too much accustomed to be thought for to be able to think for himself, and this lack of necessity to exercise his mental muscles renders him unfit to compete in the race for wealth, where sharpness will at any " UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 5 time outwit honesty. Captain Grant shared the fate of many another retired officer. He. put his money in a speculation which was warranted to produce a maintenance for his family and himself, and lost it all. Luckily for him his wife had a small income of a hundred a year, and his friends procured him the guardianship of a motherless girl to bring up with his own children — the daugh- ter of an impecunious sprig of nobility who paid him a similar sum for her maintenance, and with these scanty means of subsistence Captain Grant emigrated with all his belong- ings to Eevranches, near which was situated the tumbledown Chateau des Lauriers, which could boast of little by that time but the straggling shrubs from which it derived its name. He had had possession of it now at a nominal rent for the last ten years, and there he had reared a family of six daughters and a son, and given them some sort of an education, and kept ten persons and a couple 6 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. of servants on an income of two hundred a year. . Many people will affirm that this is im- possible and ask how it was done, but they are evidently ignorant of the resources of Eevranches — Eevranch.es, the refuge of the needy and the destitute — the home of the impecunious and out-of-elbows — the sanctu- ary of the swindling and the shady. But even Eevranches cannot produce miracles, and as the children grew up the living grew down, until it could only be called existing. Mrs. Grant reared her chickens, and ducks and rabbits, and carefully collected the wal- nuts and chestnuts that grew on the few trees left at the back of the Chateau, and made Joseph yearly plant every inch of spare ground with potatoes — but the family seldom tasted butcher's meat, nor any luxury but what thev cultivated themselves. The lon£ stone passages of the Chateau and the oak staircase and many of the rooms were guilt- "UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 7 less of covering, and the children's rough shoes clattered up and down the place as if it were a barrack. Eomanie, the Flemish maid of all work, who was stupid as an owl, and obstinate as a mule, and ran home every night at eight o'clock because she was too much afraid of the spoken to sleep at the Chateau, was generally engaged in washing either the floors or the clothes, or feeding the live stock, whilst Mrs. Grant toiled over her paraffin stove, trying hard to eke out her scanty supplies to satisfy the demands of twelve hungry mouths. On the evening when we first see her, she was thus employed — her face flushed with the heat and her hands trembling with weakness. She had been a pretty woman in her day, but care and anxiety and sickness had aged her before her time. Her features were livid and pinched — and her scanty grey hair was tucked away under a Belgian mob-cap. Her black gown, brown with use, fell flat upon 8 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. her attenuated figure and her back was bowed beneath the small square shawl pinned about her shoulders. Her six sturdy girls should have been taking all the trouble of housekeeping off her hands by this time, but they had been allowed to run wild from their babyhood and never thought of offer- ing to help their mother in any way ; and as for her husband Captain Grant — well, whatever he had lost, he had at heart re- tained, as he used proudly to observe, " the feelings of a gentleman," which meant that he expected to be waited upon and made as comfortable as he was in the days of his prosperity. Poor Mrs. Grant indeed seemed to take it as a matter of course that she was to be everybody's servant, from her lord and master down to her son and heir — her little Davie, the youngest of her numerous brood, and the most cherished of them all — Davie, who was familiarly know to his sisters as "the Toad," on account of his being so "UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 9 much spoilt by his mother, and whom she was bringing up to be more like a girl than a boy. He sat in the kitchen by her side now, poring over a picture book, while she stirred and sighed and fumed over the con- tents of the saucepans on the stove, pushing back her grey hair every now and then to cool her heated face. It was the close of a warm day in June, the Feast of Corpus Christi, and the young people had walked into Eevranches, the distance of a mile and a half, and back again, in order to view the procession. The daughters of the house were all growing up fast now, the eldest, Marian, being nineteen and the youngest, Fanny, eleven, the " Toad ' being the only child who had been born in the old Chateau. The scanty crop of grass which grew be- neath the trees behind the house, had been carefully mown by Joseph that morning, and heaped up in a little haycock, which it- was hoped might bring in a few centimes, ID OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. and the loud boisterous voices of Xellv and Eosie might be heard raised in laughter as they pulled it to pieces again, and pelted each other with it. Marian was in her bed- room, renovating an old dress, and Fanny had run across the potato field to catch up her sisters Margaret and Emily, who were strolling about with their arms twined round each other's waists. Romanie had gone over to the farm, now let to tenants, to beg for a drop of milk, and there was no one apparently to help poor Mrs. Grant by f etching her a little more wood. " Davie, my darling," she said coaxingly to the little puny six-year-old who sat at the kitchen table, " go down to the cellar and fetch mother a few sticks of wood. I can't leave this saucepan or the potage will burn." "Xo," replied the spoilt brat, shrugging his shoulders, " I can't, I'm busy ! Where's Agnes? Why can't she go?" , "I don't hear A^nes anywhere. I think "UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 11 she must be out too," said Mrs. Grant in a despondent tone. " No, she isn't ! She's reading on the bench there ! Here ! Agnes," he continued, calling in his shrill treble from the kitchen window, " mother wants more wood. Come and fetch it for her." The girl he addressed rose slowly from her seat and obeyed the summons. She was rather a remarkable-looking young person, the daughter of an English mother and a Bel- gian father, and talking both languages per- fectly. She was not exactly pretty, but she was striking in appearance, with something of a gipsy beauty about her and more than a gipsy's cunning. Agnes Prudhomme was, in fact, cleverer than all the rest of the Chateau household put together. She had been encouraged to mix with the Grant girls at first, because she made herself useful, and her widowed mother was very poor and glad to give her daughter's services in return for 12 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. her food. But Agnes had always secretly re- belled against the arrangement. She believed herself to be quite as good as these poverty- stricken English emigrants, and she only bided her time to show them that she was so. Especially was she jealous of Muriel Darner, Captain Grant's charge, who was now eighteen and beginning to be universally admired. The girls often speculated to each other how soon Muriel's father would recall her to England and what sort of a home she would have there, and Agnes Prudhomme's teeth would gnash with envy as she thought of the chances that might await Miss Darner in the future. She was discontented with her lot; she believed herself to be above it, and yet she could devise no means of better- ing her condition. She hated children and hard work of all sorts, but she cherished a hope that when Muriel Darner left the Chateau to return home, she might take her as her lady's maid, and Agnes felt she would do " UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 13 the rest for herself. For this reason she veiled her natural dislike to Muriel under a semblance of making herself useful to her ; but there was no love lost between the two girls, and they intuitively knew it. As Agnes drew near the kitchen, she made a face behind the back of the "Toad," who had summoned her there. " What is it, madame ? ' she asked in a meek voice as she entered, addressing Mrs. Grant. " Only some more wood, Agnes. You will find it in the basket in the cave. The girls are all out, as usual, or I shouldn't have troubled you." Agnes walked down the cellar steps with- out another word. As soon as Davie saw the matter was to be settled without any dispute, he tore after her. " Here ! I'll take them ! Give them to me," he said, trying to seize the faggots from her. Agnes, ap- pearing to yield to his wishes, gave him a 14 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. good blow over the head with one of the pieces of wood, which set him off roaring. " Why didn't you let me carry them, then?" she inquired as she walked upstair-. "Oh! what is that? Has my darling hurt himself?" cried Mrs. Grant, meeting her at the top, regardless of the burning of her soup. " It is only Davie who hit himself trying to wrest the faggots out of my hands, madame." " Oh, Agnes ! you should be more careful. He is so delicate. My poor boy ! ' "He did it himself," replied the girl sul- lenly, as she turned away. But the next moment she was all excitement. " Madame, madame! there is a carriage coming to the Chateau." Such an event was unheard of. Poor Mrs. Grant turned white with surprise. '" It is impossible, Agnes ! Who would come here in a carriage ? It must be going to Sainte Marie." "UNEXPECTED VISITORS." 15 " Oh, no ! It has long passed the turning. It is coming straight alon^ this road. There is a ladv and a gentleman in it. I can see them quite plainly. Xow they have stopped to question Margaret and Emily, and they point this way. There is no doubt of it, Mrs. Grant. The voiture is coming to the Chateau." "But I can't see any one," cried Mrs. Grant in despair. " I am so untidy. And will they want anything to eat ? Oh ! who can they be ? It must be a mistake." " Perhaps," said Agnes Prudhomme with a sudden intuition, " it is somebody for Miss Darner." Mrs. Grant sunk into a chair, half paralyzed with fright. " You are ri X c + f CHAPTEE II. AGNES PRUDHOMME. She walked out at the back of the house and took her way through the little wood of chestnut and walnut trees to where Madame Sylvestre lived, on the farm which had been once a part of the Van Lippen estate. There she found the stout Flemish serving-wench Eomanie, leaning over the wooden gate that separated the grounds, chattering in her un- couth tongue with a farm hand and quite unmindful of her employers at the Chateau who had sent her there for milk. Agnes sent her flying back with the jug in her hand and a sharp word in her ear, for if Agnes could speak only two or three languages perfectly, she seemed to be able to scold in all, and with Flemish she had been familiar from a child. 28 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Eomanie feared her (young as she was) much more than she did her mistress, for Mrs. Grant was the sort of woman who might have lived fifty years in a country without acquiring its language, and was at the mercy therefore of her Flemish attendants. But the tone in which Agnes Prudhomme reproved Eomanie that evening was unnecessarily severe, and was the emanation of her own envious and malicious feelings. Lady Muriel Darner ! As she walked back to the Chateau with the borrowed coffee her teeth ground together as she pronounced the name, over and over again, until it seemed to leave a bitter, acrid taste upon her tongue that caused her to turn aside and spit upon the ground, as if that action would mitigate her rancour. She could hardly contain herself for jealousy. Muriel Darner, with whom she had associated almost on equal terms, an earl's daughter, to be taken to Paris — that unattainable but dearly-desired heaven of delight — and thence AGNES PRUDHOMME. 29 to London to be introduced into society, whilst she, for no fault of her own, was con- demned to a life of servitude and monotony in Eevranches. The girl could have screamed aloud in the intolerance of her envy. She did indeed give vent to her passions in some way, for she startled the wood-pigeons that were just cooing each other to sleep in the tall fir trees and sent them reeling once more into the still summer air. " Fools ! Brutes," exclaimed Agnes, as their soft tones sounded on her ear and seemed to mock the fury of her spirit, " to be content with such a life as this," and then she flung herself headlong on a wooden bench, and for a moment gave vent to her feelings in a flood of angry tears. That moment sealed her fate. Before she recovered herself a footstep sounded on the pathway, and Colonel de Crespigny stood beside her. It was not without a motive that the colonel had followed her into the little wood. He had made a cigar the excuse to the ladies to 30 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. go out for a few minutes into the open air, but he had not been unmindful of Agnes Prudhomme's presence in the ante-room, and her appearance had attracted him. Colonel de Crespigny was nothing if he were not a sensualist. He lived but to crratifv his senses in every possible way, and his taste lay particularly amongst the lower orders. He did not care much for women whose intel- lect made him aware of the deficiency of his own. The bizarre gipsy-like beauty of Agnes attracted him. Her tangled mass of brown curls and dark cunning eyes, and wide red- lipped mouth, conveyed an idea of wicked- ness, and Colonel de Crespigny, like a few others of his sex, was more attracted by vice than by virtue. Agnes was young — only the same age as Muriel Darner — but there was a world of possibilities in her glance, and of coquetry in her actions, and the colonel thought he would like to see a little more of her. But he little expected to find her on a AGNES PRUDHOMME. 31 garden bench abandoned to some unknown grief. The sight broke down the barriers be- tween them quicker than a year of prudence would have done. " My dear child," exclaimed the colonel as he hastened to her — Colonel de Crespigny was always extremely paternal in his first advances to young girls — " what is the matter ? Have you hurt yourself ? ' Agnes felt ashamed for a moment to have been discovered by a stranger when she was not mistress of herself. She looked up at him half angrily, but the glance of admira- tion with which he regarded her flashing eyes and crimson cheeks soon mitigated her first wrath. " No. I am not hurt," she answered, sit- ting up, " but I am very sorry to hear that Miss Darner is going to leave us." " Is Lady Muriel so great a friend of yours, then? Are you one of the Misses Grant ? " " Oh, no, monsieur ! I do not belong 32 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. to the family. I am called Agnes Prud- homme. But I have known Lady Muriel ever since she came here, and I have always hoped that when she left us she would take me with her as her companion and maid, and that we should go to London together." " And are you so very anxious to see London, then ? " " Oh ! yes, monsieur ! above all other things. My mother is an Englishwoman. She came over to Eevranches as governess in some gentleman's family, and married my father, who was in the carved oak trade. But he died years ago and left us almost destitute, and I am forced to earn my living. But to earn it here and in this way. Bah ! it is not living — it is a prison — a purgatory ! I would as soon be in a convent at once." " Then you have no taste for becoming a nun, Agnes." There was no need of an answer. Agnes had only to lift her eyes to his to assure the AGNES PRUD HOMME. S3 colonel that her proclivities did not tend that way. " And you want to go to England and be Lady Muriel's maid ! Well, I don't see why it should not be accomplished ! Where is the difficulty?" " Do you think you could help me, monsieur ? " demanded the girl boldly, for something in his manner made her bold. " I will do my best, certainly. Is Lady Muriel anxious to take vou with her ? " "I am not sure, but if she had been going to England by herself I think I could have coaxed her to take me too. But this lady coming — this Miss Eutherford " " Oh ! I understand. She is the supposed stumbling-block. Well, I have a little in- fluence with her, Agnes, and I will try what I can do to persuade her to gratify your wish. But if she should be obstinate — and ladies are obstinate sometimes, you know vol. i. 3 34 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, — perhaps I may be able to manage it by myself." " You, monsieur ! " exclaimed Agnes, staring at him. " Yes, /. Oh ! you needn't open your pretty eyes quite so wide with astonishment. I am not going to propose that you shall be my maid (though if I" might keep one, I should never wish for a prettier than your- self), but I have several lady friends, and amongst them all I daresay I can find you a home. What do you say ? If Lady Muriel does not take you into her service will you accept a situation that I find for you ? ' "Monsieur, I should be only too grate- ful. It is the dream of my life to get away from Eevranches." "Well, your looks should prove your for- tune, my dear, for you are pretty enough for anything, and those eyes of yours would turn the head of any man. Here is my card with my club address. When you want my assist- AGNES PRUDHOMME. 53 a ace, write to me there, and I'll see what I can do for you." " Oh, monsieur is too good. I will take the utmost care of his card," replied Agnes as she dropped it into her pocket. At that moment Eomanie came flying from the Chateau to say that madame demanded her coffee. " The coffee ! " exclaimed Agnes, starting to her feet. " I had forgotten all about it ! Monsieur will say nothing of this indoors," she continued hurriedly, tapping her pocket sig- nificantly, " for if I do not leave with Lady Muriel there may be some difficulty about my getting away." " I understand, and I will keep the secret," replied Colonel de Crespigny, as she ran away from him to make the coffee. Miss Eutherford was getting very impa- tient, not to say rude, before it appeared. Mrs. Grant was still her sole entertainer, for though the daughters of the house had re- turned, they had all slunk up to the bedroom 3—2 36 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. story, and nothing had yet been seen of Captain Grant, the " Toad," or Lady Muriel Darner. " Isn't it very extraordinary, Mrs. Grant," inquired Miss Eutherford, " that it should be nearly nine o'clock, and Muriel has not come back, or is it the custom in Eevranches for young ladies to run about by themselves up to all hours of the night ? " " Oh ! no," replied her unfortunate hostess with a sickly smile. " You mustn't think so badly of us as that. But this is a very quiet place, you see, and the dear girls have been accustomed to run about it since they were children. They know every one in Eevranches, and are perfectly safe. But it is unfortunate that dear Muriel should be later than usual this evening. I have sent my little boy after her, but the Eamparts extend for some distance and they may not meet." " And Captain Grant — is he also in the AGNES PKUDHOMME. 37 habit of running about the Eamparts until midnight?" demanded Miss Butherford sar- castically. " I am almost afraid to say when he will be home, either. Of course, if you had given us any warning of your visit, he would have made a point of meeting you ; but he usually spends his evenings at the Eevranches Club with the other English gentlemen, and some- times they do not break up till late." " Well, it is impossible that I can stay here much longer," said her visitor peevishly, " for my niece is expecting me back at the hotel; and we have a great many prepara- tions to make before we start for Paris. Therefore I think we had better return to Eevranches, and my friend Colonel de Cres- pigny will call here for Lady Muriel at ten o'clock to-morrow morning. You said you would do me this favour, didn't you, colonel?' 1 she added in a much sweeter tone to her travelling companion. 38 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. "With all the pleasure in the world, n replied the colonel, bowing. "But, Miss Eutherford," pleaded Mrs. Grant in a distressed voice, " consider. Ten o'clock to-morrow. How is it possible for me to get Lady Muriel ready to accompany you in so short a time ? She has no clothes to wear, except her convent uniform. It was her papa's wish that she should be educated with my girls at the Convent of the Ursulines at Steinbock ; and the pupils there are not permitted to wear anything but black and white. Lady Muriel's attire is quite unfit to go into society with." " Nonsense, my good lady. She will see no society but ours till she gets to Paris, and there Lord Ehylton has commissioned me to get her everything she may require. So please make no more excuses, but see that my little cousin is ready in time to accom- pany Colonel de Crespigny whenever he may call for her. Is this one of your daughters ? " AONES PRUDHOMME. 39 continued Miss Kutherford as Agnes Prud- homnie handed her a cup of coffee. Mrs. Grant's pale cheeks flushed pink with annoyance, and she put on a dignified air. " Certainly not, Miss Rutherford. That is my servant, Agnes Prudhomme." It was Agnes's turn to flush now, as she darted an angry glance towards her em- ployer. "I have always understood that servants received wages," she interposed saucily, " but you have never paid me any, madame." " Agnes, it is not your place to take any part in the conversation. Please to remem- ber who you are," returned Mrs. Grant with mild deprecation. The girl did not speak again, but she directed a look of signifi- cance towards Colonel de Crespigny, which did not pass unnoticed. As he passed out of the door a few minutes afterwards, in the wake of Miss Eutherford and Mrs. Grant, he managed to stoop towards her and whisper : 40 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Good-bye, pretty one. I will do my best for you, and if I fail, write and tell me where to address you." " Bon soir, monsieur," replied Agnes with a demure courtesy, but a glance that spoke volumes. As soon as she found herself alone again with her companion, Miss Eutherford was loud and emphatic in her denunciation of everything concerning the household at the Chateau. "My dear colonel, did you ever see such a place in your life ? Why, you might have scraped the dirt off the windows and floors, and the disorder of it ! If it were not so big, it would be for all the world like an Irish cabin. The passage was full of ducks and fowls as we came away. I can't think what Ehylton can have been thinking of to have left Muriel there for ten years. She cannot have had enough to eat. I believe the whole family have been living on her allowance. AGNES PRUDHOMME. 41 And I quite tremble to think what the dear child may be like. One cannot fancy that woman, Mrs. Grant, being fit to bring up any girl — a poor, weak, nerveless thing. ' " Yes, but a lady, notwithstanding all her disadvantages," observed the colonel. " But imagine a young girl of eighteen allowed to go about without any chaperon- age. It is shocking. Ehylton has not come into the title a day too soon. What might not have happened had she been left there much longer ? " " Lady Muriel is certainly quite old enough to return to her father's care. Did you notice that young girl who brought in the coffee ? " " A dark creature, with curls and an im- pudent face ? Yes ; I saw her." " She was in the garden crying when I strolled out with my cigar, and she told me that Lady Muriel has promised to take her to England as her maid, and she is most anxious 42 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. to go. She seems a nice-spoken, lady-like girl, and I suppose her little ladyship will require an attendant. Would it not be as well to give her the place ? " " My dear colonel," cried Miss Eutherford tartly, " what are you thinking of ? My cousin Ehylton gave me no orders about maids, and if he had, I wouldn't engage an inexperienced, pert-looking girl like that. And indeed, betweeen you and me, I am not at all sure that Muriel will have a maid to herself. You mustn't forget that if Ehylton has the title, his wife has the money, and may not be disposed to spend too much of it on her step-daughter. I expect Miss Seton and Muriel will have to share a maid between them. Fancy that Belgian girl having the impudence to address you on the subject." " It wasn't her fault, I assure you. I found her in tears and demanded the reason. It seems a pity a girl like that shouldn't have a chance of bettering her position. She seems AGNES PRUDHOMME. 43 much above it, and tells me she has asso- ciated with Lady Muriel and the Misses Grant since they were children." "Then that's all the more reason they should part now," returned Miss Eutherford sharply, for she did not approve of the colonel's championship of Agnes Prudhomme. " If they have been brought up together, she would never keep her place as a lady's maid. But really, colonel," she continued, more affably, "I shall have to look after you if you go playiug knight-errant in this way to any distressed damsel you may chance to en- counter. You will make me jealous. I shall think you have got tired of looking after me" "You will never do me that injustice, I hope," replied Colonel de Crespigny, his bold eyes beaming almost as fascinatingly as if his vis-a-vis had been twenty instead of fifty ; " but when we get to Paris, I fancy our positions will be reversed, and it is you who will have to look after me." 44 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. He spoke the truth there, for the secret of his travelling in company with Miss Euther- ford and her niece Lina Walford, was that he had but lately come into a large fortune and retired from the army, and was entirely ignorant of the ways, manners or language of France and Belgium. Miss Eutherford, who had been accustomed to live on her slender pittance wherever it was cheapest — who had shivered in German boarding-houses all through the winter, herded with the art students in Italy, and occupied the meanest floor in a pension the other side of the Seine in Paris — was an able cicerone and knew every step of the trottoir she had so often walked over. Colonel de Crespigny had therefore found it very convenient to cross the Channel in her company, and had not been backward to pay his way, by various little offerings such as ladies love ; but un- fortunately, Miss Eutherford mistook his attentions for a feeling of a warmer nature. AGNES PRUD1I0MME. 45 Let us say at once that Miss Eutherford had been much in the habit during her loner life- time, of mistaking gentlemen's attentions, and that, after many failures, she still considered herself an eligible object for matrimony. She quite believed that the colonel had fallen a victim to her fascinations, and was only waiting the moment when he should make his intentions plainly known. She con- sidered his age and appearance and income all most suitable to herself, and never stopped to consider that a handsome man in the prime of life, with a princely fortune, might require some one younger and fresher to fill the place of his first wife. For Colonel de Crespigny was a widower, with two grown-up sons, of whom he was very much ashamed and whose existence he never mentioned unless obliged. He considered himself quite as juvenile in his way as did Miss Eutherford, and was really such a general lover of the sex that he could make himself agreeable to 46 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. all, without doing much violence to his own feelings. He did so on the present occasion with such success, that by the time they reached Eevranches, Miss Eutherford was whispering and giggling to him as if she had been seventeen, and the subject of Agnes Prudhomme was no more mentioned between them. iT^S^Sl CHAPTEE IE. OX THE RAMPARTS. The Eamparts of Eevranches extended from Sainte Marie on the one side to Bois Gilbert on the other, and formed at all times the favourite walk of the residents in the city. They were cool in summer and high and dry in winter. They were sheltered to the rear by the outlying buildings of Eevranches, and in front of them flowed the placid canal, fringed with long grass and bulrushes, upon whose bosom every now and then came float- ing ponderous barges, laden with wool or wheat, whilst a sturdy Flemish cart horse tramped along the towing-path, and helped them on their way. It was here that Lady Muriel Darner lingered, all unconscious of the equivocal good fortune in store for her, whilst 48 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. such important events were passing at the Chateau. It was a glorious summer evening. The dusk had hardly fallen at nine o'clock, and none of the loiterers on the Eamparts were surprised to see her, sitting on the wooden benches, or strolling up and down the broad pathway in company with Athol Fenmsson. The sight had been familiar to them at intervals for a twelvemonth past, and they all considered it quite a settled thing that Miss Darner and Mr. Fergusson were some day to marry each other. Muriel thought of it too, in her girlish way, but it was too remote a contingency to assume very sub- stantial proportions in her eyes. In fact her whole future was a mystery to her as her life had been, and whenever she tried to speculate on what might happen, she felt as if she were looking into the dark. She was a graceful girl with a slight willowy figure, which even her ill-cut and ill-becoming conventual dress was unable to spoil, although it showed it off ON THE EAMPARTS. 49 to the worst advantage. From beneath the brim of her old-fashioned black straw hat her fair hair fell in loose wavy curls half- way down her back. Her face was oval and her complexion rather pale, but her large grey eyes were luminous with hidden feel- ing, and her mouth was full of passion. She was clinging to the arm of Athol Fergusson with a very confident air of possession, whilst he looked down upon her upturned face with the deepest love apparent in every feature of his own. He was little, older than herself, being only twenty-two ^ but he had already passed through a furnace of affliction that had added ten years to his age — not in appearance but in feeling. His father, Mr. Fergusson, had been a very wealthy man, a great landowner, and a well- known member of the Jockey Club and frequenter of the turf. His home had been lapped in luxury, and his children brought up to want nothing that they had set their vol. i. 4 60 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. hearts upon. But in the midst of their utmost prosperity — when Athol, the only son and heir, had just entered a military college and . the two daughters were being educated in Paris — the sword of Damocles which un- known to themselves had been suspended above them by a single hair for many years past, descended without warning and de- stroyed all their happiness at one blow. Mr. Fergusson lost everything of which he had been possessed, even to his wife's jointure, on the racecourse, and cravenly shot himself to avoid the disgrace which must ensue, leaving it all to be borne by his unfortunate widow and orphans. By the kindness of his uncle, Sir Eobert Fergusson, Athol continued at college to pursue his studies for the army, whilst his mother and sisters retired to Kev- ranches and maintained themselves by teach- ing. Muriel had been their pupil for singing, and so an intimacy had sprung up between her and Athol, during the young man's half- v ON THE RAMPARTS. 51 yearly visits home, which had culminated in a sort of engagement between them, recog- nized, however, by no one but themselves. But whatever Muriel's intentions may have been, Athol Fergusson was thoroughly in earnest. He loved the girl with all the strength of his nature and never dreamt of making any other woman his wife. His was a very serious nature too, one that had thought and suffered deeply, and there was a grave expression in his dark blue eyes, like a summer cloud above the Lake of Como, that seemed to tell the tale. He had had but one thought before he met Muriel, how he should soonest make money to relieve the necessities of his mother and sisters, but now was added to it the fonder desire to make a home for this girl who had wound herself about the very tendons of his heart, and for whom no one seemed to care but himself. He loved her and she loved him, and his nature was too pure and earnest to suppose 4—2 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 12 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. that such a love could end in anything but marriage, even if they had to wait for years before accomplishing it. What were years, or life itself, to lovers ? To love was, in his young and ardent estimation, to love for ever. " And so, " said Muriel with a smile and a sigh, " the important event is really over, and you have passed your examination ! How pleased Mrs. Fergusson must be." "Yes," he answered with another sigh, " the papers arrived this morning, and I have passed with honours." "And yet we both sigh! Aren't we stupid, Athol?" "Oh, no! darling, it is but natural. To pass with me, means to pass away. I shall be gazetted to the Horse Artillery and may have to leave England, and have no oppor- tunity again of seeing Eevranches or you. Is Lhat not sufficient to make me sigh ? ' " But if you are not gazetted to the army, you will never get on. You must look at ON THE EAMPARTS. 53 it in that light," said Muriel practically. "And if you don't get on " "I shall never be able to marry my dear little wife," said Athol, kissing her — they were alone now, the Eamparts being almost deserted. " Oh, yes ! don't be afraid. I have not forgotten that ; it is the only bright spot I have to look forward to. But the prospect of parting now makes me very, very sad, Muriel." " Is it certain you will go away ? ' "Almost. I am bound to take whatever they choose to give me. My uncle, Sir Eobert, has generously offered, in case of my being appointed to a battalion in England, to make me an allowance of a hundred a year, but (dearly as I should like to be near you) I would rather be independent at once and live upon my pay." " But your uncle is very rich ! Why shouldn't he allow you something? A hun- dred pounds a year would be nothing to him." 54 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Next to nothing, certainly ; but, Muriel, I must try and help my mother and sisters a little. You cannot think how hard they work nor how poorly they live, and I could not do that with any comfort on another man's money. And then there are my poor father's creditors. It has been the dream of my life to be able to satisfy their claims, if only in part." "But you will never be able to marry at all at that rate," pouted Muriel. " I shall be a horrible old maid long before you have accomplished one half what you design to do." " Oh, darling, don't say that ; you make me feel so wretched," replied Atliol fer- vently. " You don't know how I shall save and screw to pay off something of these heavy debts that hang like a weight upon my heart. And then my poor mother! She has suffered so terribly, and her health is failing so fast. I should feel as if God would forsake me if I ever forsook her." ON THE RAMPARTS. 55 Muriel hung her head, and something very like a tear stood in her eye. But it was a tear of wounded vanity. She thought that Athol prized his relations above herself. " What is the matter, Muriel ? " he de- manded, when silence had reigned between them for a moment. " You are not offended, dearest, surely, at what I have said. You cannot suppose that the claims (even of my mother) can come before those of my promised wife. But you will help me, won't you, and be the most economical of little housekeepers, for my poor mother's sake ? ' " It strikes me," said Muriel slowly, " that with such a drain upon you, it would be very silly to think of marriage." Her words were perfectly true, but they struck chill to her lover's heart. " My darling girl," he exclaimed, " don't cast a doubt upon our marriage, or I shall lose all my courage. What have I been working for, if not for that ? It cannot be 56 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. yet. It may not be for many years ; but you will wait for me, Muriel, will you not ? You have promised that you will wait for me. " Oh, yes, indeed I will," she answered warmly, for her heart was more firmly wedded to Athol Fergusson than she was aware of herself. " Why, aren't we as good as married already ? Look at my wedding ring, sir," she continued playfully, as she held out a slim finger, adorned with a twisted gold ring, for his inspection. " Didn't you put that on six months ago, and make me promise I would never remove it until you could replace it with a real one ? And I never have, Athol. It has been on my finger night and day since, and it will remain there till we are married." Athol Fergusson took the girlish hand in his, and raised it to his lips. " And such a rubbishy ring as it is, too," he murmured. " It is not good enough for ON THE RAMPARTS. 57 this dear hand, but it was the best that I could manage, Muriel. Some day perhaps I may be able to give you a better one. They say it is unlucky to wear a ring upon the wedding finger before you are married, but I can believe in no ill luck whilst you are faithful to me, Muriel." " Of course not ! It is all nonsense. But I wonder what I shall say if papa ever sends for me home again, and asks me what this ring means ? " " Has he sent for you ? " demanded Athol with sudden interest. " Oh, dear, no ! I haven't even had a letter from him for the last three months. Captain Grant is thinking of writing to his solicitor. He says something must be the matter." " I don't think so. You would have heard fast enough in that case. But it is very strange, Muriel, that Mr. Darner should have left you here all these years, isn't it ? ' 58 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. "Why, what could he have done with me, Athol? I have no mother, and papa lives at his club. I could not have kept house by myself." "But now you are a woman you could keep house for him." " Perhaps he likes his club better, and I am not at all sure that I should like him! Bessie Ealston, who came over last year to stay with the Churchills, met him several times in London, and she says he is an ugly, scraggy little man, with a huge nose." M But, my dear child, can't you remember your father ? How long is it since you met ? ' " Years and years. He has only seen me twice since I came to Eevranches, and that is ten years ago. Once I was sent to him in Brussels for a couple of days, and once to Paris for a week, but he didn't seem to care anything about me, and he was out all day, and I remember I was very glad to get home again." ON THE KAMPAKTS. 59 " But he surely will not leave you here for ever ? " " I hope he will, Athol ; that is," said Muriel shyly, " until — until you come and take me away." " My own darling ! How I wish I could take you away at once. But we shall have to get Mr. Darner's consent first, and some- times, Muriel, I feel so afraid that he will never give it." "But why? You are a gentleman, and you cannot be more." " But I am so poor, dear Muriel. When Mr. Darner sees you, he may think you ought to make a better match than an officer with nothing but his pay." " Then I hope he never may see me. And if he attempts to part us, Athol, I will leave him and run away to you, and then you will be obliged to marry me, that is if you would" "Wouldn't I?" cried the young man in 60 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. an ecstasy of affection, squeezing her to him, and thinking what a treasure the love of such a pure-minded, noble heart would be. " And if my father neglects me much longer," continued Muriel, " I think I shall be quite justified in taking the law into my own hands, for if it were not for you, Athol, I don't think I could stand the life at the Chateau. Eeally, it is too dreadful ! I didn't perceive it whilst I was a child, run- ning all over Eevranches as I felt inclined. I was too hungry then to care what I had for dinner, so long as there was enough to eat, but now that I am grown-up, I feel quite differently, and the common food and the dirt and disorder sicken me. Do you know." she continued, lowering her voice, " that sometimes we do not have meat on the table for days together ; nothing but potage and fromage, and I am often quite hungry when I go to bed at night." "Oh, Muriel," exclaimed Athol, who was OX THE RAMPARTS. 61 still quite young enough to sympathize with such a privation, " Mr. Darner ought to know of this. He cannot be aware of the way in which you are treated. I have always understood that he makes the Grants a handsome allowance (for Revranches) for your maintenance, and it is a shame that you should not even be fed properly." " But that is not all, Athol. Papa allows Mrs. Grant carte-blanche for my clothes, but I never have a decent thing to wear, for before they are half worn out she passes them on to Margaret or Emily, and leaves me with only one dress or cloak for myself. I am sure I have worn these old things for nearly a year," said the girl, with a nervous little laugh, twitching at her scanty black skirt. "My pretty Muriel, who ought to be fed and clothed like a princess if she had her dues, it is too bad," replied Athol Fergusson, " and I feel half inclined to write to your 62 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. father myself about it. Only that might make him take you away from Eevranches at once, and I should lose you for the re- mainder of the vacation. Am I not selfish, Muriel ? " " Not at all. I couldn't bear to go away whilst you were here, Athol. I'd rather live on dry bread and come out and walk with you on the Eamparts every evening, than live in a palace whilst you were in Eev- ranches. How could I be happy anywhere without you?" "My own sweetheart!' exclaimed the young man as he bent over her again and kissed her rapturously. They were startled from their position by a loud laugh, and Muriel sprang apart from her lover to en- counter a Belgian girl, Sylvie Brissot, who went to school at the same convent as she did. " Good-night, my friends," called out Sylvie in her own language. " A pleasant time to you. Do you know that it is half-past nine, ON THE RAMPARTS. 63 Muriel ? The good mother will wonder what has become of her stray lamb." " Half-past nine ! " echoed Muriel in as- tonishment. " Why, I thought it was eight o'clock that sounded just now from Saint Jacques. Athol ! I must go home, or they will be locking up the Chateau.'* " Then I will see you across those dark fields," he answered as they turned their steps in the direction of the Chateau des Lauriers. As soon as they had left the last estaminet behind them and entered the road full of ruts and inequalities which had so tried the patience of Miss Eutherford, Athol Fergusson threw his arm around Muriel's slight form and bent down his face to hers whilst he whispered a thousand promises of love and fidelity into her ears, which she was not slow to respond to and reiterate. " Kiss me once more, dearest," he said as they stood together outside the Chateau gates. " Put your arms round my neck and 64 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. swear you will be faithful and true to me until I can make you my wife." "Oh, Athol ! I have said it so often. You know that it is true. Why should you want me to say it over again ? " " I don't know, Muriel. I feel sad to-night. I have a kind of foreboding that there is trouble for us in the future. And if it comes, I shall feel the happier to re- member that you have sworn, under any circumstances, to remain faithful to me." "You frighten me, Athol! But indeed it is all fancy. You know you will have to go away and it makes vou melancholy. But your vacation lasts for four weeks more. We shall have many pleasant walks on the dear old Eamparts yet. But if it will please you, I swear — yes, Athol, I swear that no- body but you shall ever be my husband. Oh, how could you think such a thing of me, after the long, long time that we have loved each other ? " ON THE RAMPARTS. 65 "I did not doubt you, dearest, believe me — and if I had, your oath has made me quite happy again. We belong to each other now, Muriel — remember that, whatever may betide ; for I too swear with you in the presence of God, that no other woman shall ever be my wife. So Heaven bless you, dear," said Athol Fergusson with a solemn gravity far beyond his years, as he tenderly laid his lips upon her forehead, " and keep you in every way. Shall I help you over the gate, Muriel, or will you ring ? " " No, Athol ; there is a plank in the grass out there. Throw it across the ditch and I'll be over in no time. Once more £ood-niofht," and with a last kiss the young lovers parted, although Athol did not leave the spot until she had turned on the doorstep and waved her hand to him by the dim light of the oil lamp which hung above the portal. There was no need for Muriel to knock or ring for admittance. The doors of the Cha- vol. i. 5 60 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. teau always stood on the latch until they were barred for the night, and in another moment she had burst in upon the family party at supper. They were all assembled there, even down to little Davie (who had never gone farther than the bridge, from which he had amused himself by throwing stones into the water, in his search for Muriel), but they had not commenced the meal, and a profound gloom seemed to have settled on every one. Mrs. Grant was whin- ing and sniffling into her handkerchief: the girls were huddled together whispering in the corners ; and Captain Grant (who had just returned from his club, where he in- dulged in games of halfpenny whist during the evenings) was walking up and down the room in a state of unusual perturba- tion. " I said something was wrong ; I was sure something was wrong," he was reiter- ating as Muriel appeared ; " but to keep ON THE RAMPARTS. 67 us in the dark in this way for three mouths and then to take the girl away without any warning is disgraceful, perfectly disgraceful." " What is disgraceful ? " asked Muriel, standing on the threshold. " Oh, here she is ! Oh, mother, do tell her," burst simultaneously from the daugh- ters, who were dying to see how Muriel would receive the wonderful news of her exaltation to the peerage. "Oh, Muriel! My dear child — Lady Muriel, as I should say," exclaimed Mrs. Grant, " such a wonderful thing has hap- pened." " Yes, Lady Muriel !— Lady Muriel Darner ! " echoed Margaret and Emily and Fanny, dancing round her. Muriel looked utterly perplexed. She had never been told that her father had the remotest chance of coming into the earldom. It is doubtful if she had ever heard there was a title in her family, so much had she 5—2 68 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. been left to her own thoughts and the pro- tection of the Grants ; and the words used by her adopted sisters conveyed no meaning to her ears. " I don't understand you," she answered smiling. "Is it a joke? Are you all laughing at me ? " "Hold your tongues, girls," said Captain Grant authoritatively. "It is my business to inform Muriel of the news we have just received." " Nothing unpleasant I hope, papa," she answered (for she had always called Captain Grant "papa" with the! other children) as she went up to him and touched his arm. " Well, my dear, it may be pleasant for you, but it is quite the reverse for us. A lady called here this evening — your aunt, I believe " " No, no, David ; her father's cousin, Miss Rutherford ! " corrected Mrs. Grant. " It's all the same," he returned impa- ON THE RAMPARTS. 69 tientlv. "Your father's cousin came here, Muriel, to tell us that Mr. Darner has lately come into the family title — I suppose you knew there was a title in your family, Muriel ? " " No, I didn't," she said shaking her head. "No one ever told me." "Well, your father is now the Earl of Ehylton and he was married again last week to a lady called the Honourable Mrs. Seton, and they are on their honeymoon trip to Italy." " My father is married again ! " repeated Muriel in surprise. " Oh, I'm sure I shan't like that. I wonder what she is like." "I believe she is (or was) a great beauty, and I daresay you will be very happy with her. So now you understand why you are Lady Muriel Darner." " But how can it alter my name ? ' " It does, my dear, and it will alter you in many ways beside. But I have not told 70 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE you all, Muriel. Lord Ehylton's orders are, that you leave us to-morrow morning, to go with Miss Eutherford to Paris." CHAPTEE IV. A WARNING. At these words Muriel, who had displayed no emotion on hearing that her father had gained an earldom and a new wife and her- self a title, gave a loud cry of dismay, and. rushing forward, fell on her knees beside Mrs. Grant and buried her face in her lap. " Oh, no, no ! " she exclaimed as she commenced to sob violently. " I cannot — I will not! Oh, mamma, don't send me from you ! " " My dear child," replied Mrs. Grant, be- ginning to cry too, for they were all genuinely fond of Muriel (except Agnes), " what can I do ? Do you suppose we would let you go if we could help it ? But against your father's will we have no remedy. 72 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. I entreated — I implored Miss Eutlierford to give us a little more time to get accustomed to the idea, but she was inexorable, and Colonel de Crespigny is to call for you to- morrow morning at ten o'clock. I shall have barely time to pack your things." " Miss Eutlierford, Colonel de Crespigny ! ' reiterated Muriel looking up through her tears. "But who are they? I never heard of them before." " Oh, it's all right, my dear ; there is no doubt of that. Miss Eutlierford is vour father's cousin, and the colonel is a friend of hers : a fine, handsome-looking man too." " Late of the 84th Eioters," interposed Captain Grant, who was a walking Army List, "gazetted in 1860, retired in 18S4 ; must be fifty or thereabouts. One of his sons is in the 26th Eangers, the other in the Indian Staff Corps. Yes, there is no doubt about it ; it's a genuine thing.'' "But why" demanded Muriel with quiver- A WARNING. 73 ing lips, " why, if my father is in Italy with his new wife, must I leave Eevranches directly : why cannot I remain here till he returns to England ? There is no one for me to go to. Oh, papa, do write and ask him to let me stay with you for a few weeks longer." "My dear girl, it would be of no avail, even if I knew the earl's present address. You hear what mamma says, that she pleaded for a little delay, but they had arranged everything before they called here." " Everything" echoed Mrs. Grant, " even down to the time of starting. So now, dear Muriel, all you have to do is to eat your supper and get to bed as soon as you may. Agnes and I will look after the packing." " I cannot eat anything — my heart is break- ing," cried Muriel in another burst of tears, as she broke from them and sought the refuge of her own apartment. 74 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Poor darling ! How bitterly she feels it," said Mrs. Grant with her handkerchief to her eyes. " I expect she will often sigh, in the gay life she is going to lead, for the peace of the old Chateau. Agnes, go after Lady Muriel, and see if you can help her, and if she refuses to come down stairs again, per- suade her to go to bed. And now, children, take } r our supper, for we must all be up early to-morrow morning." Agnes Prudhomme lighted the little pet role lamp and obeyed her mistress's orders cheer- fully. It afforded her the opportunity she had been longing for, to speak to Muriel privately, about taking her to England. But she found the girl indisposed to listen to anything but the wild regrets of her own heart. She was lying across her pallet bed, in an aban- donment of urief, sobbing as if she had lost everything in the world. The spectacle filled Agnes's breast with genuine surprise. An earl's daughter ! soinu to Paris and London, A WARNING. 75 and crying as if some great misfortune had overtaken her. It was inexplicable. u But, mademoiselle," she said (for Agnes sometimes addressed the young ladies by their Christian names, and sometimes as if she were their servant), " surely, all these tears are not for leaving the old Chateau. Ah ! if I had but the good luck to be going too. You would not see me do anything but laugh. Fancy, mademoiselle, you are going to Paris ! Picture to yourself the shops, the boule- vards, the theatres — all the delights of that heavenly place, and you will soon realize the folly of crying over this stupid, piggish, out- of-the way old Eevranches." " Oh ! Agnes," replied Muriel lifting her stained and swollen face from the pillows, " it is not only because I am going to leave Eevranches that I shed tears ; indeed it is not for Eevranches at all — it is — it is because of poor Athol." "For Monsieur Femusson," exclaimed 76 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Agnes with well-acted surprise, although she had known well enough why. Muriel wept. " Oh ! mademoiselle, a gentleman like Monsieur Fergusson can go anywhere. Doubtless he will follow you to Paris. It is the business of the men to follow the women, and you will see him again before long. I would not cry for that if I were you." " Ah ! Agnes, you do not know every- thing. There are more difficulties in the way than you think of. Athol and I love each other, oh ! so dearly, but he is not rich, you know, and we must wait, perhaps for many years, before we are married, and in all that time what am I to do ? If I had stayed here, I should have seen him sometimes, but now that I am going away we may never, never meet again." Agnes had tried to look sympathetic during this confidence, but she had not felt so. It had long been a great cause for jealousy with her, that Muriel had won the heart of - A WARNING. 77 the handsome young Englishman, whom she had tried to attract herself in vain, and she was maliciously glad to think that they would be parted. But . her answering words con- tained the very essence of comfort. " Mademoiselle, surely you are doing Monsieur Fergusson a great wrong by such a doubt. Of coarse you will meet again. Depend on it, he will make lots of money — a brave, handsome, clever gentleman like that — and then he will find you out and pour it all at your feet. Oh ! mademoiselle mustn't cry for that. The future contains nothing but happiness for her. I am sure of it." " But, Agnes, how can I let Athol know that I am going away? Ten o'clock to- morrow morning. It is so horribly soon. And when we parted at the gate this evening, he said — poor darling ! — that he had a kind of foreboding that trouble was coming for us. And it has come sure enough." " You must write to him, mademoiselle." 78 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " And you will give him my letter, Agnes, will you not, and explain how it was that I could not see him asrain?" • "Yes, if I am here — and if not, we will post it." " Why do you say, if you are here, Agnes ? " demanded Muriel. " Ah ! Muriel — miladi, as I suppose I must say now — have you forgotten your promise to take me to England with you as your maid ? ' "Did I promise it?' said Muriel wearily, " but that must have been when I thought my father would come himself to fetch me, and I could talk to him about such things. But now I feel quite alone and friendless. I am going out into this strange world, Agnes, as if it were a wilderness, and Athol and Eevranches were the only home that I had ever known." " But won't you speak for me to Colonel de Crespigny, mademoiselle, when he calls for you to-morrow morning ?" A WARNING. 79 " I don't know. I cannot promise. How can I besrin at once to talk to a strange man about such things ? It is all so hurried — so entirely without warning. ■ I don't feel as if I quite knew what I want, or do not want." " Love does make us very selfish as a rule," observed Agnes with sententious im- pudence, as she turned away and busied her- self with emptying Muriel's chest drawers. Her companion did not fail to notice her manner, but remembered that she needed her help to convey her last farewell to Athol Fergusson. "Don't be hard on me, Agnes," she answered gently, " for I am very, very un- happy. But I will mention your name to my cousin (I promise you that), and if I am to have a maid, perhaps it may be managed that you shall get the place. And you will take a letter for me to Mr. Fergusson as soon as ever you can, to-morrow, won't you, Agnes? 80 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. and tell him — tell him how utterly wretched I was to go away." Here Muriel broke down again, but presently rising with an effort, wrote a blistered scrawl, full of vows of love and fidelity, to Athol Fergusson, pro- mising to write to him and let him know her address, and inclosing a little seal with a cupid engraved on it and the motto " Tou- jours" (the only thing she had to give him), as a parting present. She had barely time to confide the packet to Agnes' keeping, when Mrs. Grant and her boisterous daughters came upstairs and after having packed Muriel's scanty wardrobe in a box, persuaded her to retire to rest. But the poor child could not sleep. Visions of the unknown , future that lay before her, and regret for the life she was leaving behind, combined to keep her awake and grieving, until her sobs disturbed Mrs. Grant also, and brought the weak- minded but kindly-hearted woman to her bedside to try and soothe her grief. A WARNING. 81 " Why, Muriel, my dear, is it possible you are still awake ? What will you look like to-morrow morning if you continue to cry like this? Indeed, my dear, you will make yourself ill. You must try to be more com- posed. It is very sweet of you to regret parting with us so much (and we have all loved you very dearly, Muriel) ; but perhaps Lord Ehylton will permit you to come back and see us sometimes — that is, if you do not grow too fine to wish to revisit our poor,, humble home." Lady Muriel was somewhat weak in cha- racter, and easily led, but she was honest, and her foster mother's speech made her feel guilty. She knew she was not grieving to leave the old Chateau des Lauriers, nor the discomforts of which she had justly com- plained, and she could not accept the merit which was not her due. " Dear mamma," she said affectionately as she sat up in bed and laid her aching head vol. i. 6 82 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. on Mrs. Grant's shoulder, " you have all been very kind to me, and this is the only home that I have ever known. I should have been sorry, under any circumstances, to leave you and the girls, and to go out into a world of which I am so ignorant and a little afraid. But I am not crying only for that. This sudden departure is a terrible grief to me because — because " " Because tvhat, my dear ? Surely you have no secrets from me." " I have had — not quite a secret though, because you have known that we were great friends, and always walked together " " Are you alluding to young Fergusson, Muriel ? " " Yes, mamma ! but I have never told you yet, how fond we have grown of each other, and that I have promised to marry him as soon as ever he is able to keep a wife." " To marry Athol Fergusson! Oh, my dear child, that is an impossibility. It can never A WARNING. 83 be. You must put it all out of your head at once. A promise from a girl like you, and without your father's knowledge, goes for nothing. You will have forgotten all about such nonsense three months hence." " Indeed, Mrs. Grant, I shall never forget it, for I love him as dearly as he loves me. Besides, why should it be impossible that I should ever marry him ? " " Because he is a pauper, my dear, and has no expectations of any sort. His poor mother was lamenting over it to me only the other day. She mentioned that very fact that her son would never be able to marry, because he will have nothing but his pay, and may have to support her as well as him- self. You see, Muriel, the daughters may get husbands who would object to having their mother-in-law in the house, and it leaves very little chance for poor young Athol in my opinion." " Still, I mean to wait for him," said Lady G— 2 84 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Muriel stoutly ; u I have promised and I will keep to it. Besides, I love him, and I shall be wretched without him," she cried relapsing into tears. " MurieJ ! be warned by me," said Mrs. Grant solemnly, " and don't think of marry- ing a man who has no money. Just look to what I have fallen. Ah ! my dear girl, innocent as you are of the world and its ways, I am sure you have found out for your- self that we are not in the position we should be. And yet I married with fair prospects. Captain Grant was an officer on good pay, and we expected it to increase every year. But a large family and sickness weighed us down, until we could not possibly exist upon it with any comfort. Then — in an evil moment — my husband sold out of the army and lost all his money in speculation, and brought me down to this. You see what my life is, Muriel. I am no better than a ser- vant, and I have not a servant's strength to A WARNING. 85 compete with labour. And how do you sup- pose it will end. A few more years at the most of this drudgery, and I shall sink into the grave, and be thankful to have rest even there, from the miseries that a poverty- stricken marriage has brought upon me. Oh, Muriel, be wise, and cast away all idea of marrying Athol Fergusson, for even if you remain faithful to him (which is very doubt- ful), I am sure his lordship will never sanction your making so poor a match." " But I love him, and I will marry no one else," reiterated Muriel. "If papa won't con- sent to it, I will wait till I am twenty-one, and then I will run away with Athol and no one will be able to separate us. You forget, mamma, that I am eighteen," continued the girl drawing herself up, " I am not a child like Fanny. I am a woman and I know my own mind perfectly on this matter and am resolved to have my own way." " I am very sorry'to hear it, my dear," re- 86 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. plied Mrs. Grant with a sigh, " and I only hope Lord Ehylton will not think that Captain Grant and I have encouraged you in such a piece of folly. I had no idea that Mr. Fer- gusson liked you better than he did the other girls. I thought you were all friendly together, and I am grieved to find that, in your case, it has gone further. Pray make the earl understand that we had nothing whatever to do with the matter." " Yes, yes ; if he should ever ask me, of course I will ; but, mamma, you will be kind to poor Athol for my sake, won't you ? You will ask him to the Chateau and talk to him of me and give him a little comfort, for I know he will be so very miserable when he hears that I am gone." " No ! Muriel, my dear, you mustn't ask me to do it, for I couldn't. If he had been your friend only, it would have been different ; but what you have told me now puts it entirely out of the question. I must be A WARNING. 87 prepared (in case the earl calls me to ac- count for this) to say that I never knew of or encouraged it." " Oh, mamma ! you speak as if I had com- mitted a crime. "i " Poverty is a crime, my dear, for it leads to crime. When it comes on us like an armed man, all we can do is to fight it as best we may, but if ever you feel inclined to rush into it, Muriel, of your own accord, think of me, for God's sake, and of all the misery you have witnessed here, and turn your steps deliberately the other way." Mrs. Grant was so unusually decided as she said these words, and her careworn, anxious face looked so full of pain, that Lady Muriel shrunk within herself, frightened at the fancied glimpse she had taken into the future. " Oh, don't talk of it any more now," she exclaimed wearily ; " I don't want to think of it. I can only realize that I am going 88 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. away from dear Eevranches and that I may never, never see it again/' Mrs. Grant consoled her as well as she was able, but Muriel slept no more that night, and when the bright June morning broke, she was a blot upon it, with her swollen eyelids and white tear-stained cheeks. Yet Colonel de Crespigny on first beholding her, thought she was one of the loveliest girls he had ever seen, and wondered how such a handsome, graceful daughter could belong to the high-shouldered, pigeon-breasted, ugly and awkward Earl of Ehylton. The first thought that struck him as Ladv Muriel came shyly forward to greet him was that he should have liked to know her mother. The colonel was very punctual, and as he explained that he had received directions to take his charge straight to the railway depot to meet Miss Rutherford, there was nothing to be done but to carry Muriel's: solitary box to the voiture and bid her their A WARNING. 89 last farewells. Agnes Prudhomme stood by while these went on, with something very- like a frown upon her countenance. She had caught the admiring gaze with which Colonel de Crespigny had received Lady Muriel, and imagined she had outstripped her in his estimation. But as soon as he thought that he was unobserved, the colonel drew nearer to her side. " And so it is not to be this time, Agnes ? " he commenced. " So it appears, monsieur. I spoke to Miladi Muriel last night about it, but she said she could do nothing without asking you or Miss Eutherford. And you have for- gotten all about me, doubtless." " Indeed ! you do me wrong. I broached the subject to Miss Eutherford as soon as we got clear of the Chateau gates, but she has received no directions about engaging a lady's maid, and is afraid to take the responsibility on her own shoulders. I ex- 90 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. pect you will have to depend upon me after all, Agnes." " I will accept any situation monsieur is £Ood enough to find for me." " Then you will soon be suited, and indeed I think I know the very place for you. Wait till I return to England next month, Agnes, and you shall hear from me. Where shall I address you ? " " At the Poste Eestante, Revranches, mon- sieur," replied the girl hurriedly as Lady Muriel turned towards them. " Good-bye, Agnes. I am sorry you can- not come with me. It would have seemed like carrying away a bit of the old home to the new one ; " and then she laid her hands on the girl's shoulders, and kissed her on the cheeks. " Adieu I ma chcrc, and you won't forget what you promised to do for me — will you ? " " Trust me, mademoiselle," returned the girl, " I will do it as quickly as you would A WAKNING. 91 have done it yourself. It is quite safe with me." And then, with one more embrace all round, and a longing desire to wrench her- self away and run to Athol, Lady Muriel Darner suffered Colonel de Crespigny to lead her to the voiture, where she flung herself down upon the seat in an agony of despair. ->-#^ CHAPTEE V. LADY MURIEL. Her travelling companion did not attempt to speak to her until she was somewhat calmer. But as they left the fields that surrounded the Chateau behind them and approached the town of Eevranches, he ventured to lay his gloved hand very gently upon hers and say, " Try and compose yourself, dear Lady Muriel. In a few minutes we shall be at the depot, and Miss Eutherford will be very grieved to receive you like this. She has your happiness so much at heart." "I don't know her," sobbed Muriel child- ishly. " But you soon will, and you ought to have known her long ago, for she is your father's first cousin. Miss Walford is travelling with LADY MURIEL. 03 us too — a voung lady not much older, I imagine, than yourself — so we shall be a charming parti carre in Paris, just the risrht number to go about to theatres and exhibi- tions together. Are you fond of the theatre, Lady Muriel ? " " I have never been to one," she answered, drying her eyes vigorously with her handker- chief. " Never been to one ! " echoed Colonel de Crespigny with surprise. "What a treat there is in store for you ! How you will enjoy it ! I have promised Miss Eutherford to take her the round of the Parisian theatres." " Are you her cousin too ? " demanded Muriel, who was beginning to feel interested in her new acquaintance. " I am not, I am sorry to say, else I should be able to claim some sort of relationship to yourself. But I am an old friend of the family. I knew your father, Lord Ehylton, when he was a boy, but I never had the plea- 94 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. sure of seeing your mother. I was in India during the time of his first marriage." " And my new mamma, the lady papa has just married, do you know her too ? ' asked Muriel eagerly. " Very well. I have known her for several years." " Oh, do tell me what she is like," said the girl, sitting straight upright and forgetting all about her tears. " She is very handsome, and some time ago she was considered a great beauty. But she is no longer young. Her daughter, Miss Seton, must be twenty. But she is very rich, and she looks a countess every inch of her." " I am glad she is rich," said Lady Muriel naively. " I suppose papa married her for that, for it is a terrible thing to be poor. If he had been rich, I am sure he would not have left me all those years at the Chateau des Lauriers." LADY MURIEL. 95 "Have you been unhappy there, Lady Muriel ? " " Not exactly, but somehow I wish I had left it years and years ago," she answered with a sigh. Colonel de Crespigny was very sharp where matters of the heart were concerned, and he guessed at once that Lady Muriel's sigh was connected with some person in Eevranches dearer to her than the uninteresting family at the Chateau. But he was not so impolitic as to allude to it. He merely said : "It certainly was not a suitable place for you to be brought up in, and were Lord Ehylton to see it, I am sure he would say so too. However, that is all over and best for- gotten. You will never be placed in such a position again. You are a grown-up young lady now, and will be able to do pretty well as you please." " Do you really think so ? " asked Muriel with a brighter look. 96 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Certainly I do. Lady Muriel Darner, living in her father's house, will be a very different person from little Muriel Darner running about the Chateau des Lauriers. Don't you agree with me ? Why, life has but just opened before you, Lady Muriel, and you have every prospect of a long and healthy one in which to have all manner of enjoy- ment. I envy you, upon my soul I do. But here we are at the depot, and there is Miss Eutherford's voiture just in front of us. Allow me to help you," and as he gave her his hand in alighting, Muriel (who until that moment had jumped in and out of carriages without any offer of assistance) descended to the ground like a grown-up woman, and felt ten years older for the proceeding. Her eyes were dry now and her voice steady, but she looked a very quaint, old-fashioned little figure as Colonel de Crespigny presented her to Miss Eutherford. " Here is Lady Muriel Darner," he said, LADY MURIEL. 97 " and you had better take her into the salle d'attente, while I settle with these thieving cockers" "Oh, my dear child," cried Miss Eutherford effusively, as she embraced her young rela- tion, " and so this is really you. Why, how tall you are — taller than Lina or myself, I do declare — but you are sadly pale. Well, well, we will soon remedy that. You must feel quite at home with us, you know, dear, until you join your papa, for I am your very own cousin, and Lina is my niece, so that we are one family after all." Muriel thought it very funny at first to be claimed as a cousin by an old lady with sharp features and lines all over her face, and she looked with astonishment from Miss Eutherford's pink cheeks and dark eyebrows and abundance of hair to her juvenile attire and the gay scarlet poppies nodding over the brim of her hat. She did not know how to make the two things agree, but she had no VOL. 1. 7 98 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. time for speculation, for Lina Walford was kissing her on the other side, and the two ladies between them bore her off to the wait- ing room and assailed her with a storm of remarks and inquiries. " Are you not very glad, dear, to get away from that terrible old Chateau and those dread- ful people, the Grants ? Are you not longing to see your father again and Lady Ehylton, and to settle down in London ? Shall we not have a delightful time in Paris, with dear Colonel de Crespigny, who is so good and kind to us ; and don't you anticipate the pleasure of visiting the theatres and the Louvre and all the exhibitions ? And oh, you sly, sly puss, are you not anxious to change that horrid conventual dress for some pretty fashionable costume that will make all the men fall in 'love with vou as soon as they see you ? " Lady Muriel did not know what to answer to such very searching questions. She had LADY MURIEL. 99 been brought up in such a simple country fashion, that the vivacity of her new friends confused and puzzled her, and made her shrink in herself. She blushed when Lina talked of her having lovers, and her lip trembled and the tears rose to her eyes, for the allusion recalled the thought of Atliol ; but she was too proud to show her emotion before strangers, and with a strong effort she choked them back again and only looked foolish and ill at ease. " Don't talk such nonsense, Lina ! " ex- claimed Miss Eutherford, though she had joined in the conversation herself. " Our little cousin is not used to such frivolity. You forget she has been educated at a convent and is much steadier than yourself. But you will try and be happy with us, Muriel, will you not? — and great friends with Lina, or Ehylton will regret that he intrusted you to my care." " Oh, indeed I will, and I am sure I shall 7—2 100 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. be happy," replied Muriel smiling, for she could smile again by this time. Everything around her was so new and interesting, and she began to feel so curious about the great outside world which she had never yet peeped into. In another minute the colonel was amongst them again with his hands full of railway tickets, and in the bustle of looking after her belongings, and being seated in the train, © O 7 © ' Lady Muriel Darner had parted from Eev- ranches and all the surroundings of her child- © hood before she had realized that they were passing away from her. From that moment her life became so entirely altered, that she could never link the two halves together again. It seemed indeed as if she had stepped out of one exist- ence into the other, and that a broad gulf divided them, over which there was no re- passing. As she had suddenly, from being a commoner's daughter, become a lady of LADY MURIEL. 101 title, so did she pass from a retired home and scholastic duties into a world of fashion and amusement, and it was enough to turn the head of any girl. It was not that as soon as she joined the party to Paris, she loved Athol Fergusson less, or desired to think less of him, but they gave her no time to think at all. Miss Eutherford and Miss Walford talked so incessantly of what they had seen, and what they were going to see — of what they had done, and what they were going to do — that Muriel's brain became quite confused, and she was willing only to sit by and listen. She soon found that it was expected that she and Lina were to be companions to each other, and leave Miss Eutherford and Colonel de Crespigny to themselves. For some inexplicable reason these two were always supposed to sit side by side in a carriage, or at a dinner table, and if the party split into half for walking or driving, Muriel invariably found she was 102 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. left behind with Lina Walford. Not that she grumbled at it, for she was indifferent both to the colonel and Miss Butherford, and she found Lina a pleasant and lively companion. Miss Walford was a typical young lady of the nineteenth century. She knew everybody and everything — had read books that her grandmother would have hesitated to open, and was au fait with sub- jects that have (until lately) been held to be fit only for medical disquisition. She was petite and a brunette, in age from twenty to twenty- four, in experience from forty to sixty. She had had more lovers than years, and fell out with them as rapidly as she fell in love with them. As may be imagined from this fact, she had little sentiment in her composition, and laughed at the idea of any woman proving a martyr to the tender pas- sion. Lina had not been many days in close companionship with Lady Muriel Darner before she found out that she had a secret LADY MURIEL. 103 grief, and that it was connected with some lover left behind at Eevranches. The dis- covery did not in the least surprise her. What could a girl do with herself in such an unexciting, dead and alive, sepulchre of a place like Eevranches, unless she fell in love? But a lover who could not be dis- placed at a moment's notice, to make way for new dresses and mantles and hats, for mornings spent in the picture galleries, or at the Bon Marche, and evenings at the theatre or in the Bois, was a revelation to Lina Walford and ended by rousing her curiosity. For, after the first days of excite- ment were over, Muriel's thoughts reverted very tenderly to her absent Athol, and she fell into a state of deep depression. Her new costumes ceased to interest her — she sat, distraite and inattentive, even at the feet of Sara Bernhardt, in the Porte St. Martin, and sauntered through the Louvre, with her thoughts and her eyes 101 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. alike fixed on anything but the pic- tures. " My dear Lina ! what can be the matter with her?' said Miss Eutherford in confi- dence to her niece. " She is positively melan- choly. She cannot possibly regret that tumbledown old pigstye at Kevranches, and those detestable Grants. Has she told you nothing ? " "No, auntie, she has never alluded to the subject, but I have guessed it has something to do with a young man. Have you noticed the ring she wears on her emm^ed fimrer ? ' " I think I have, but surely the child cannot consider herself engaged to any one. Who could she be engaged to?" "You must ask me something easier, auntie, but she never takes that ring off her finder night or dav. I noticed it once when we were in bed together, and told her she would spoil the shape of her hand if she did not remove her ring, but she said she LADY MUKIEL. 105 had worn it for twelve months, and nothing would induce her to take it off again. What do you think of that, auntie ? " "My dear Lina, you must get the truth out of her as soon as possible. Use a little diplomacy, my love. Be sympathetic, but let me have the whole story as soon as may be, for it must be put a stop to. Lord Ehylton would never forgive me if I didn't crush all such nonsense in the bud. He is quite de- termined that Muriel shall make a good marriage (as he writes me to-day), and is de- lighted to hear she promises to be so hand- some. And he is right, too, for the poor child has no money of her own, and I doubt the amiability of Lady Ehylton as a step- mother." "I'll worm it all out of her, auntie. You may depend upon that," replied Lina, and in effect she had heard the whole story of Muriel's love for Athol Fergusson before many days were over her head. 106 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE:. What chance had Muriel against the strategy of such a little woman of the world as Lina Walford ? The poor child stood in need of sympathy, and Lina was so sym- pathetic. She wanted counsel, and Lina (apparently) had passed through just such an ordeal herself. Above all she longed for a friend and confidante, and Lina wooed her confidence so sweetly that her secret was gone from her before she knew it. And then when it was once confessed to her girl friend, what a comfort it was to tell her every- thing — how handsome Athol was, and how good. What an excellent son and brother. What a clever scholar. What a thorough gentleman in every way, with such strong views of right, and hatred pf everything that was mean, or dishonest or wrong. Muriel, with glowing cheeks and tear-suffused eves, o o expatiated on the many excellencies of her young lover, whilst Lina listened and forbore to make a single remark that should stem LADY MUEIEL. 107 the current of her confidence. At last she had heard everything, and Lady Muriel went on to entieat her assistance. " And now, dear Lina, you must see why I am so unhappy. I had to leave Eev- ranches without even bidding him adieu, and I am afraid he will think me unkind. I would have written to him last week, for I promised in the letter I left behind me to let him know my address as soon as I was settled, but I never go out alone and I was afraid you would see his name on the envelope and question me about it. But now I feel much happier, because you understand my difficulty and will help me through it." " Of course I will," said Lina heartily. " In fact if you will trust me with the letter I will post it. I wouldn't tell auntie, if I were you, Muriel. Old ladies don't understand these matters, they have forgotten all about them. I have never told her of one of my loverSj and I've had scores of them." 108 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. "But I don't think Cousin Amelia has forgotten all about them," replied Muriel laughing, " for I'm sure she makes love to Colonel de Crespigny quite openly. I caught her holding his hand on the sofa yesterday." " I daresay," returned Lina carelessly. "They are supposed to be going to make a match of it some day, you know. Not that the colonel's attentions to her are any proof of it, for he makes love to everybody. But that has nothing to do with the matter. If you write your letter / will see it posted." "Oh, thank you, Lina. You have taken a weight off my mind. Athol will be long- ing to hear from me. Oh ! dear, oh ! dear ! I wonder how long it will be before we meet again ? Months and months, perhaps years." " You will have had any number of lovers meantime," laughed Lina. " Lina ! " exclaimed Muriel, in a tone of horrified incredulity. LADY MURIEL. 109 c: You will, my dear, take my word for it. Why, this is only number one. You don't imagine that a pretty girl like yourself is going through life with one lover." " But I have promised to be true to Athol. I am going to marry him," replied Muriel. "When?" " Oh, I can't say ' when.' It must all de- pend on his promotion in the army. But when he is a captain I daresay he will be able to afford to keep a wife." " Do you know how long it takes to make a captain in the British army, when a man has no money to purchase his steps with, Muriel? / do, because I happen to have fallen in love with a ' sub.' once, and it was all explained to me. An officer may remain at the bottom of the ladder till his hair is grey, unless there is a war, and he stands his chance of being shot like the rest." " Oh ! Lina, don't talk like that. You frighten me," said Muriel tearfully. " But 110 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. however long it may be, I must wait for Athol, because I am pledged to become his wife," " Well, dear, I hope you'll enjoy it ; but I would just have one or two flirtations mean- while, if it's only to keep your hand in." Lina laughed heartily to see Lady Muriel's look of horror at the proposition, but she kissed her the next moment to make up for it, and her words were forgotten as soon as uttered. Not so with Muriel's own. They were all repeated to Miss Rutherford on the first opportunity until that lady was au courant of the whole affair. "Now I don't want to tell Ehylton about this, and bring down his wrath upon poor Muriel's head, Lina," she answered, " and there is no need for it, for the poor dear child has done no wron^. She has only been amusing herself, and a season in town will drive it all out of her head, only it must not go any further. If it is checked LADY MURIEL. Ill now, it will die a natural death. Let her write her letter and confide it to your keep- ing, and then bring it to me, Lina, and we'll burn it together. Silence kills a fancy sooner than anything else, and if it is correct that this young man is going out to India with his regiment, why, there will be an end to it. It's ridiculous, my dear ! it could never come to anything. A girl without a sixpence marrying an officer on his pay ! What would it end in? A menage like that terrible Chateau des Lauriers, the very remembrance of which makes me shudder." " Of course, auntie, and nobody with any sense would have thought otherwise, but Lady Muriel is very simple ! She has the most old-fashioned ideas about love and mar- riage you ever heard ! She makes me scream with laughter, sometimes." " Knock them out of her head as fast as you can, Lina. It's the kindest thing you 112 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. can do for her. She will have a splendid opportunity to make a good match next season, for the Ehyltons will launch out well, I expect, for Miss Seton's sake. And I hope dear Muriel will take advantage of it, for Lady Ehylton's temper is so un- certain, I don't know how they'll agree. But Muriel looks quite different in her Parisian costumes and with her hair properly dressed — almost handsome at times. What do you think, Lina ? " " It doesn't much signify what 1 think, auntie," returned the girl, who was pretty enough herself to be able to afford to be generous ; " it's what the gentlemen think ! I know Muriel gets stared at enough where- ever we go, whether we're walking on the Boulevards, or driving in the Bois, and Colonel de Crespigny said yesterday that he thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen." " The colonel!" reiterated Miss Rutherford, LADY MURIEL. 113 reddening violently ; " you must be mis- taken. I don't believe it." " It's true, auntie, upon my word. Not very complimentary to me, was it? but I stood the affront with equanimity because I really don't care what an old widower with two grown-up sons thinks about me, or doesn't." " Lina ! you're growing pert, and I don't like your manner at all. Whatever you may think of our friend Colonel de Crespigny, he is a very fine man, and has a princely for- tune, and there are very few young ladies who would not be glad to jump at him." "I daresay, auntie. Let them jump! I have my eye fixed on my own prospects (as you know) in quite another direction, so I shall never interfere with any of the colonel's amours. But, with regard to this letter, auntie. If I bring it to you, you must promise me not to read it, because I like Muriel too well to allow that." vol. i. 8 114 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Lina, what do you take me for?" cried Miss Butherford, with virtuous indignation. " Come, auntie, you know you've done it once or twice before, and with respect to some people's letters, I might say nothing ; but Muriel is so thoroughly in earnest (just at present, that is to say) that it would seem a shame to pry into her secrets." The upshot of this conversation was that a few davs after Miss Walford brought her aunt a thick letter, closely sealed and ad- dressed to Athol Fergusson, Esq., 74 rue des Pierres, Eevranches." " Double postage, you see," she said gaily, "fifty centimes worth of sighs and kisses and vows of eternal fidelity. Now, auntie, honour bright ! There's no stove alight to pop it into, but we must tear it up at once and scatter it to the four winds of heaven." " Stop, Lina," exclaimed Miss Rutherford, ct on second thoughts, I think it is my duty to send this letter, just as it is, to Muriel's LADY 3IUKIEL. 115 father. Now, don't make any objection, my dear. It is the kindest thing to do after all, for this is a very serious matter, and Lord Ehylton is the proper person to deal with it. If it isn't stopped at once, it may lead to a lifelong misery for Muriel. And should she ever hear of the disposition of her letter (which is very unlikely) you can say that I insisted upon your giving it up to me." And so the long epistle which carried all poor Lady Muriel's hopes and fears with it, travelled to Italy instead of Revranches, and was perused by the Earl of Ehylton instead of Athol Fergusson. His approval of his cousin's prompt action knew no bounds. "You have done perfectly right, my dear Amelia," he wrote in answer, " and I trust you to destroy all future letters that may fall into your hands, either to or from my daughter. I shall not communicate with the young man. It would look like making too much of the foolish affair ; but leave it to die 8—2 116 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. of itself, as it is sure to do. Lady Ehylton and I have decided on returning to Oakley Court next month to make preparations for the shooting season, and we shall expect Miss Seton and Muriel to join us there. Meanwhile, ask de Crespigny, as a favour to me, to do all in his power to divert Muriel's mind by taking her about to places of amusement. Leave her no time to think, my dear Amelia, and pour as much ridicule as you possibly can- on any cases similar to her own, and she will soon forget this loutish lover of Eevranches." Miss Butherford acted faithfully on these instructions, and the days in Paris flew by so quickly in the pursuit of pleasure, that Lady Muriel was astonished to find that a whole fortnight had elapsed since her letter to Athol had been posted. But when she ventured to express her wonder at not having received an answer, to Lina, that young lady's remark was not very consolatory. LADY MURIEL. 117 " Did you expect to hear, ray dear ? Oh ! you don't know boys. Nothing frightens them so much as having to write a letter. They'd rather walk up to a cannon's mouth any day. I had a boy lover once — a nice young fellow he was, too, and awfully good- looking — but when we parted he couldn't keep up a correspondence with me, and so it came to nothing, and I said, ' No more boys for me, thank you, who don't know their own minds.' " " Oh, but At hoi does know his own mind, Lina, and I am sure he would have written to me, unless something very particular had prevented him." " Perhaps you will hear in a day or two," said Lina soothingly. "Perhaps" echoed Muriel with a sigh. But " to-morrow and to-morrow ' came, without a line from Athol Fergusson, and Lady Muriel Darner turned her back on the country that held him, without having heard a word. CHAPTER VI. ATHOL FERGUSSON. Athol Fekgusson did not walk away from the Chateau des Lauriers directly he had parted from Muriel Darner, on the last night of her residence there. He had more feel- ing than love for this girl. A great sense of protection and ownership was associated with all his thoughts of her, and it seemed quite wrong, somehow, that she should be entering a house where he had no ri^ht to follow her. He stood for some minutes out- side the ^ate, watching the dim li^ht of the petrole lamp through the shuttered window, and as he reluctantly walked away at last, he said half-audiblv, " God bless her and make my love a blessing to her." The night had fallen by this time and he ATHOL FERGUSSOX. 119 had to pick his way rather cautiously over the rutted road, on each side of which was a deep ditch, but he hardly thought where he was going, his mind was so full of Muriel. Oh ! how hard it seemed to contemplate part- ing with her. How much harder than he ever thought it would be ! and how fair the prospect and how light the duties would stretch out before him, if he might only take her with him as his companion and his wife. The contemplation of such an idea made Athol's heart beat like a sledge-hammer. Was it, after all, then, such an utter impos- sibility ? Mr. Darner (as the young man still believed him to be) had systematically neglected his daughter. He had left her for ten long years to the tender mercies of the Grants. He hardly knew indeed what she was like, and he certainly could care nothing at all about her. Was it absurd to imagine then that he might be glad to get rid of her altogether, even to share the somewhat 120 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. uncertain fortunes of an English subaltern. 13ut after all (as Athol proudly thought) — and if this young man had some faults in his character more prominent than others, they were those of overweening pride and ultra-sensitiveness — his birth and position were those of a gentleman, and if he lived he might hold a better position than Mr. Darner himself. He had heard occasional references to Muriel's father, made by visitors to Revranches, and they had not been very favourable ones. He had been described as an intensely selfish and somewhat niggardly character, universally disliked by men and not in much better odour with the women. Such a man might reject his modest over- tures with scorn, or snap at the opportunity to rid himself of the burden of Muriel, and Athol Fergusson almost came to the reso- lution to stand his chance. He was a very deep-thinking and deep-feeling young fellow (as has been already said), and the events of ATHOL FERGUSSON. 121 his life had made him years older than his age, and he decided he would rather know what lay before him at once and shape his course accordingly. This decision and the pleasant dreams it brought in its train warmed his blood and quickened his step, so that by the time he arrived at his mother's rooms in the Eue des Pierres, his face and eyes were glowing. As he entered the little salon Mrs. Fergusson's eyes turned on him with unspeakable affection, and, indeed, he was a son of whom any mother might have been proud. His young, lithe figure was fast developing into that of a well-set-up and muscular man. His face bore the impress of truth and goodness. It seemed impos- sible that his frank deep blue eyes could look you in the face and lie, or that any ribald or offensive language could issue from his cleanly- cut and sensitive mouth. When he appeared amongst them all his women- kind bestirred themselves to do him honour. 122 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Alice commenced to lay the supper-table; Helen moved her easel to one side, and prepared to listen to any news Athol might have to give them, and Mrs. Fergusson put down her needlework, and pulled a chair significantly to her side. " Well, dear boy," she said as her son sat down in it, ' ; and what has kept you out so late this evening ? Alice and Nelly thought you were going to take them for a walk." Thev had him so seldom amongst them, that they all made a great deal of him when he was there, but to his mother Athol was more than to any one else in the world. Mrs. Fergusson loved her girls, but she did not hope to keep them long. Alice was already engaged to marry a Belgian, Baron Eaymond d'Aragon, and Helen was studying to become an artist, and would probably drift away from home on her own account. But Athol was his mother's ATHOL FERGUSSOM. 123 strongliold — the tower of defence she looked to for her old age. He had passed with the highest honours for a noble profession, and she knew that as long as he lived, he would never desert his mother, who was penniless except for the support afforded her by her daughters' earnings as teachers of music and drawing. It had often made Athol's heart ache to see the privations they were compelled to endure at home, and he would have relinquished the hope of marrying Muriel (even if it tore his heart out) sooner than give up the pro- spect of helping his [mother out of his own earnings. It was for this he had studied and striven so hard — that he had denied himself the pleasures natural to his youth — ■ and refused the assistance offered by his uncle — that he might become independent of all but himself, and feel that his mother owed her support to no one but her son. When Mrs. Fergusson asked him where 124 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. lie had been that evening, he blushed a little, for he was still young enough and ingenuous enough to blush. He half sus- pected that she did not entirely approve of his intimacy with Muriel "Darner, but a lie was foreign to his nature and he anwered her without hesitation. " I have been on the Kamparts, mother, with Muriel Darner, and have just returned from seeing her home. I didn't know my sisters expected me to join them, or I should have told them I was engaged." " You are always engaged, it seems to me,*' said Helen, in a tone of annoyance. " Well, why shouldn't he be ? " returned Alice, who was the most amiable of the two sisters. "It's much pleasanter for the dear boy to stroll about the Ramparts with a pretty girl like Muriel, than to be walk- ing after you and me like a footman. Isn't it, Athol?" The young man laughed uneasily, but ATHOL FERGUSSON. 125 said nothing. His mother glanced at him, and then turned to Alice reprovingly. "It may be pleasanter, Alice, but it is certainly not so safe. Mrs. Grant neglects her charge very much, in my opinion, to let Miss Darner run about alone as she does, and what Mr. Damer can be about not to be cognizant of it, beats me altogether. It is quite disgraceful. No modest girl would do it or she would not remain modest long if she did." "You wrong both Miss Damer and my- self there, mother," said Athol hotly. " I'll lav there's not a more modest, nor love- able little girl in the United Kingdom than she is, and that I shall never do anything to violate it. On the contrary, I would give my life to preserve it, for — / have promised to marry her." The murder was out now, and he was al- most astonished at his own audacity in having let it out so freely. lie hung his head a 126 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. bit, when the words were said — not from shame, but dread of the storm that nrisrht ensue, but the Fergussons were ladies, and would not indulge in vituperation. Helen laughed rather sardonically, as if the news were too absurd to be credible. Alice stared and exclaimed, " What non- sense ! How can you ? " — and his mother turned very pale and said, " My boy ! you are not in earnest ! You are playing off a joke upon us." But the accusation of not bein^ in ear- nest irritated Athol more than anv other ■ could have done. " Why should I not be in earnest ? ' he exclaimed. " I was never more so in my life. Muriel and I have been fond of each other for a year past and she engaged her- self to me six months ago ; and I wouldn't give her up for all the world. I would have told you of it sooner, mother, had there been any prospect of my marrying ATHOL FERGUSSOX. 127 her, but now that I . am an officer, it is but right you should hear of my inten- tions." " But what prospect have you of marry- ing her now?" demanded Mrs. Fergusson, with trembling lips. " Not immediately perhaps, but Muriel is quite willing to wait for me, and as for myself, I shall never forget her to the last day of my life." At this declaration Helen laughed im- moderately. " Forgive me, my dear Athol, but it is too absurd. You, at twenty-two, and Muriel at eighteen, vowing a life-long fidelity. Why, it's calf love, dear boy. You will forget all about it before six months are over." Athol drew himself up proudly, but vouchsafed no answer, except what was conveyed by turning round to his mother and saying : " You won't laugh at my trouble in part- 128 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. ing with her, mother. It is a very real and heavy one to me." u No, my dear, of course not; but I sincerely hope, with Helen, that you will get over it. It is very ridiculous, Athol ; every one would say that. You have posi- tively nothing but your pay, and Miss Darner appears to be a pauper. There is no chance of your being able to marry any one for years — if even then. And to sup- pose this schoolgirl will keep faith with you for an indefinite period, is really laugh- able. Indeed, I trust you do not think too seriously of her, for your own sake. If I believed what you say, I should be truly miserable ; but I look upon it as a mere flirtation, that will fade as quickly as it has sprung up." " Then you think wrong," said Athol gloomily. "Well, my opinion is that you're both very hard on the dear boy," interposed ATHOL FERGUSSON. 129 Alice in her cheery voice. " He can't marry now, of course, and I don't suppose he wants to ; but why shouldn't he engage himself to Muriel Darner if he has a fancy that way ? It's the girl's own choice to wait for him, and I think she will show her sense if she does so. He's going into a splendid corps, and will draw good pay, by-and-by ; besides there's always the chance (a poor one I grant, but nil desperandum) of Uncle Eobert and his sickly little son vacating the baronetcy for Athol's benefit." " Oh, my dear, it is you who are talking nonsense now," exclaimed her mother, " and I think it wrong of you to put such ideas into your brother's head. Your cousin Herbert is almost restored to health, and Sir Eobert is likely to outlive us all. I hope Athol will never be so foolish as to indulge in any expectations from that quarter." " Never" said the young man emphatic- ally. " I mean to depend en my own exer- VOL. I. 9 130 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. tions, and wait for no man's shoes. But I thank you for your advocacy, dear Alice, all the same. You know what love is, and will understand me when I say that I would rather wait till I am grey-haired for Muriel, than marry any other woman." " But will she wait for you ? " demanded Helen. " I think so, Nelly," he answered briefly. " We are making much too much of this affair," interposed Mrs. Fergusson fretfully. "After all it is only a boy and girl fancy, and time alone can prove whether it will ever be anything more. But I hope (what- ever happens) that Athol will never forget what he owes to his mother and sisters." " Never ! mother ! " he repeated as earn- estly as before, but he perceived how dis- tasteful his news had been to his hearers, and his natural reticence made him drop the subject. But he only thought of it the more, and walked to the "Ramparts to meet ATHOL FERGUSSOX. 131 Muriel the next evening, with the full de- termination to ask her consent to write at once to Mr. Darner and learn his opinion with regard to their engagement. If he would only consent to their immediate mar- riage (he thought), or agree to its taking place at any definite period, how hard he would work and save, meanwhile, to pro- vide his darling with a comfortable home. It was beyond the usual hour of their meeting, and he had just begun to wonder what had detained her, when he saw Agnes Prudhomme advancing to him. Athol had a particular dislike to this girl. Her in- fluence disturbed and irritated him. The atmosphere of cunning and malignity by which she was surrounded, had nothing in common with his open soul and generous, charitable spirit. Added to this, he felt un- easy in her presence. There was a time when Agnes had tried hard to win the young Englishman for herself and failed, 9—2 132 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. and such misunderstandings between the sexes generally culminate in mutual dislike. He tried to avoid her, on this occasion, by turning quickly back and sauntering down a lower path, but Agnes quickened her foot- steps and overtook him. " Ah ! Monsieur Fergusson ! " she ex- claimed, " so you are running away from me. But you would not do so if you knew the grand news I bring you." " News" he said, wheeling round to face her. " Of whom ? Miss Darner ? " " But, yes ! of Miss Darner. Conceive the consternation we are in, monsieur, at the Chateau. We are deserted. She has left us." Athol turned very white. The intel- ligence came so suddenly that it unnerved him, and, for the moment, all his feeling rushed into his face and betrayed him. It was what Agnes had intended it should do. " Ah ! you are surprised. You did not believe she would leave you like this, with- ATHOL FERGUSSON. 133 out a word, eh? But I knew all along that some day Mademoiselle Darner would play you a trick, and show you what she is." " I don't understand you, Agnes," he said hurriedly. "Do you mean that Muriel has left Eevranches? When did she go? Whom did she go with ? " "That is just what I have come to tell monsieur, if he will but listen. I promised mademoiselle the last thing that I would come here this evening and tell him every- thing. But wait. The greatest surprise of all is, that mademoiselle is no longer made- moiselle, but Miladi Muriel Darner, and mon- sieur son pere is the Earl of Ehylton." " Oh, Agnes ! have pity on me and say it more distinctly. You do not know what I am feeling," he cried, in a voice of genuine distress. " I am telling you the truth, monsieur. Last night an English lady and gentleman — relations of Miladi Muriel — came to the 134 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Chateau to tell us the grand news, and this morning at ten o'clock they fetched her away, and she has gone — I do not know where — with them." 44 And she is actually gone! She has left me," he exclaimed, as he turned his face away from Agnes's scrutinizing stare. " She has, monsieur; but she couldn't help it. She was obliged to go. They would not let her have one day more in Kevranches. Her papa, the earl, has made a grand marriage with much money, and he sent for miladi home at once, that she may be introduced into society. That is what the lady who fetched her, said. And Madame Grant and I were up all night, packing her clothes, and as soon as the dejeuner was over, she went." " But did she leave no letter for me — no message ? ' cried the young man, using all his moral strength to stamp down his rising emotion: ATHOL FERGUSSON. 135 " How could Miladi Muriel write ? What time had she ? " demanded Agnes, shrugging her shoulders at his unreasonableness. " She was crying too much at leaving the Demoiselles Grant and Eevranches, to be able to think of anything. Only she said to me, ' Go to the Eamparts this evening, Agnes, and tell Athol ' — that is how she called you, monsieur — ' why I cannot come, and say I am going home to my papa in London.' " " She might have scribbled me one word," he said despairingly. " But I will write to her instead. What is her address, Agnes?" The girl opened her big eyes at him. " I don't know, monsieur. I don't even know where Miladi Muriel is gone ; but I have heard Captain Grant say that Milord Ehylton is in Italy." " But you can get it for me, Agnes, surely ? " She shook her head. 136 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " But how, monsieur ? If I make such a demand, I shall be asked the reason. They know I cannot need it for myself, and for you, would they disclose it ? " "Oh, you are so clever, I am sure you could find it out if vou choose. You will try, won't you? I shall be so unhappy till I hear from her." " Miladi will write to you herself per- haps. She knows your address," said Agnes, dubiously. " Yes — yes ; you are right. Of course she will. There may be a letter on its way to me, even now. Thank you, Agnes, for the suggestion. I will not despair, though it is hard to part with her like this." " I told miladi you would find it hard ; but parbleu t how can you expect those who go away to feel like those who are left behind ? It was a moment of great excite- ment for her. She could talk and think of nothing but the theatres and operas she was ATHOL FERGUSSON. 137 to see, and the costumes of the newest mode that the lady promised her." "It is no wonder they thrust me out of her mind, 5 ' said Athol sarcastically. " Ah, Monsieur Fergusson, a young girl's affection is not often very strong, and Muriel is too frivolous to love well. She does not know what real love is. It is all very pleasant to amuse oneself (as she did with you) when there is nothing better to do, but I would not give much for her love after she has been to a few balls and parties in that beautiful heaven of London." "There, there, Agnes, that will do," re- turned the young man hastily ; " you wrong her, but it does not signify. It is not likely Muriel would speak of all she felt to you. Never mind the address, I will ifind it out for myself. And now, thank you for coming to meet me, and good-night." He raised his hat and strode away quickly, gnawing his budding moustache as he went. 138 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. The news of Muriel's departure had taken him so completely by surprise that he could hardly believe it was true. Gone from Kev- ranches, and hardly leaving a trace behind her ! She, who but four and twenty hours before had walked with him on that very spot, with her hand clasped in his, and her eyes looking fondly in his face. It appeared im- possible, and yet what reason had he to dis- believe his informant ? His first impulse was to walk straight to the Chateau and ask Mrs. Grant to tell him every particular she might know concerning her ward. But second thoughts made him change his mind. The same pride which had forbid his using Agnes Prudhomme as a go-between, or showing her how deeply her intelligence affected him, prevented his going to the Chateau. What right had the Grants (he thought) to know his secret, or to have the chance of commenting on, or ridiculing it? It was sacred to himself and Muriel, and he ATHOL FERGUSSON. 139 would keep it so. He decided that lie would wait until he heard from Muriel herself, and then ask her leave to address her father. But the light had faded from the bright sum- mer's evening for him as he reflected how his darling might be weeping for him even at that moment ; he could no longer take any pleasure in the sights and sounds around him, and turned his steps towards home, that he might battle with his disappointment unwitnessed and alone. But when he ar- rived there he found his news had preceded him. Gossip was a staple commodity in Eevranches, and the Misses Fergusson had not mixed with their pupils long that day before they had heard the whole story of Muriel Darner's sudden transformation into Lady Muriel Darner, the daughter of the Earl of Ehylton, and how she had been at once sent for to return home and take her proper position in society as one of the aris- tocracv. Athol found his mother and sisters 140 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. brimful of the wonderful intelligence which had just been brought home by Alice, and they assailed him with it as soon as his foot had crossed the threshold. " Well, my dear son," exclaimed Mrs. Fer- gusson, not without a degree of satisfaction in her voice, " and so this is the end of your fairy dream. Your inamorata is trans- formed into an earl's daughter. You must see what an impassable gulf divides you now." " And she left the Chateau without giving you the slightest notice," cried Helen ; " that doesn't look as if she were very responsive. But I don't trust Muriel Darner, and I ex- pect you will say the same, Athol, before long. Miss Bush tells me the ingratitude she displayed towards the Grants was really disgusting, for they have done their best for her, when all's said and done. She left them without the least feeling, and poor Mrs. Grant has been in bed all day from fretting." ATHOL FERGUSSOX. 141 " Poor dear Athol," chimed in Alice com- passionately, " I am really afraid this sudden change will put a stop to your little love affair. You could never hope to aspire to an earl's daughter ; so the sooner you give up the idea the better." " Stop, stop ; you don't know bow you are torturing me," cried Athol in a voice of pain. " I have suffered enough to-day already. For God's sake, spare me your suggestions and surmises. I only know one thing — that my Muriel will be faithful to me through everything, and marry me before the man of highest rank in England. When I hear from her (as I shall do perhaps to- morrow) I will tell you her determination, but till then in pity leave me to bear this unexpected trouble by myself." He walked up to his own room as he spoke, and they saw no more of him until the following morning, and by that time the subject of Lady Muriel Darner had been 142 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. tabooed amongst them by general consent. They were wise enough to see that Athol was too much of a man to be influenced in such a matter by their likes or dislikes, and that the best means to make him forget it was to leave him to himself. They watched his anxious looks and nervous manner as the post came in, day after day, without bringing any letter from Lady Muriel, and though they secretly rejoiced at her defal- cation, they could not help grieving for the young fellow who was so dear to them. At last the weary weeks came to an end, and Athol Fergusson received the news that he was gazetted to a battalion of Horse Artillery, stationed at Malta, and was under orders to join at once. lie came into the salon to communicate this intelligence, which he knew would be received with consterna- tion by his mother and sisters, with a face beaming with expectation. " Mother," he exclaimed, " my orders have ATHOL FERGUSSON. 143 arrived, and I am off to London to-morrow. Will you and the girls see that my things are ready in time ? " " To-morrow ! " echoed the women with dismay. " Oh, Athol, are we really to lose you so soon ? " " Well, you knew it was coming, my dear mother, and since I am doing no good here the sooner I get to work the better." But in his own heart a different tune was ringing. " To-morrow ! To-morrow I shall be in London, and if I die for it, I will see my Muriel and learn the truth of her silence before I go." ^ Te— 1<&&-) CHAPTEE VIII. MRS. LORRIMER. It was considerably past seven o'clock when he arrived there, and some one was evidently on the look-out for him, for the door was flung open as soon as his carriage stopped before it, and a smart-looking female servant, with a profusion of curls over her forehead and an artificial rose stuck in the side of her lace cap, stood under the gas globe, smiling him welcome. Colonel de Crespigny gave his directions to the coachman, and entered the house as if it were his own. "All well, Kosa?" he said interro<2;ativelv, as the maid relieved him of his hat and overcoat. " Yes, sir, thank you, and the mistress is MRS. L0RRIMER. 169 in the drawing-room. She expected you half-an-hour ago." " I've been detained," he answered care- lessly, " but you can tell Parsons to dish up now." And then he walked deliberately and rather heavily upstairs (for he weighed fifteen stone with his fifty years), and turned the handle of the drawing room door. Mrs. Lorrimer was standing on the hearth- rug, waiting to receive him, and looking very much put out. She was a short woman of about five-and-thirty years of age (though she only confessed to thirty), who might have possessed some title to the beaute de diable in her youth, but had certainly lost all claim to it now. She had become fatally stout with the passing years, and had one of those broad flat faces that cannot keep up with the changing fashions, so that she appeared to be quite out of date. Her flaxen hair was worn in crimped 170 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. bands, parted in the middle, her pale greenish-blue eyes had lost their lustre, and her small straight nose was sunk in two cheeks of pallid fat. She was a woman of a sharp acid temper too, which had aged her before her time. Mrs. Lorrimer was not attractive therefore, nor was she clever, or rich — and so, many people might have wondered at the intimacy between her and the pleasure-loving Colonel de Crespigny. But there are various kinds of affection in this world, and some drag out their course and refuse to die — like the cat's affection for the house she has inhabited — not be- cause there is anything left in them, but because w T e do not know how to tear our- selves away. We huddle over the ashes of a burned-out fire sometimes, when it has lost all power to warm us — and this . was the secret of de Crespigny 's continued friend- ship with Caroline Lcrrimer. She was the widow of one of his brother officers, and MRS. LORRIMER. 171 there had been sundry love-passages be- tween them in the years gone by (for Arthur de Crespigny had never had the honour to spare any woman who was foolish enough to succumb to him), and he was sometimes a little afraid of the mischief her tart tongue might do him, even now. And so it was less troublesome for him to give a sop to Cerberus occasionally, by using her house as his own, and pretending (for it never came difficult to the colonel to make love to any woman) that the sen- timents of the past were not wholly extin- guished in him, than to avow his real sentiments towards her. But Mrs. Lorrimer expected something more from him than this. She had kept very quiet during his wife's lifetime, for her own sake as well as his, but now that he was free and rich, she considered that she had a right to de- mand some satisfaction for her wrongs. Mrs. de Crespigny had now been dead over 172 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. two years, and he had never professed to have any attachment for her. And Mrs. Lorrimer considered it was time he spoke of something more definite than kisses and sighs over a past, which it was in his power to remedy, if not to expunge. She had not been pleased at his trip to Brussels and Paris, taken without her consent and in the company of other women, and she had written to him immediately on his return to beg him to come to her. Colonel de Crespigny had no appearance of a criminal however as he entered her presence. He had been used to consider her for so lon^ as a piece of personal property, which he could not get rid of (as we may keep a hall clock, or a wardrobe which is cumber- some and in the way, simply because it belonged to our great-grandfather) that he never dreamt the relations between them would be altered, or done away with. He walked up to her as coolly as if she had MRS. LORRIMEE. 173 been his mother, and kissed her on the cheek as an established precedent. " Well, my dear, and how are you ? ! here is Arthur," he continued, perceiving a tall lad of fifteen, in Eton jacket and trousers, who stood by Mrs. Lorrimer's side. " Quite well, my boy, and studying hard ? That's right. I'm afraid I'm a little over my time, Carrie, but it was unavoidable ! I have just come up from Richmond." Mrs. Lorrimer consulted her watch. " Ten minutes to eight," she said sharply. " Yes ! that's considerably over seven, but if the fish is spoiled you will have only yourself to blame for it. Artie, dear ! run and tell Parsons we are ready for dinner." " I have ordered it," said the colonel languidly. But the boy had already taken the hint and disappeared. " What did you have him up here for to-night? Can't we ever have an evening 174 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. to ourselves ? " demanded de Crespigny as soon as the door had closed after him. " I thought you took sufficient interest in your godson to want to see him after an interval of six months," replied Mrs. Lor- rimer, tartly. " Besides it is the summer vacation. However, we can easily dispose of him after dinner — if you wish it." " I do wish it ! I have several matters to speak to you about, Caroline, which are no concern of his. He is growing a fine boy, however. Let me see ! What is his age ? ' " Fifteen, last March. I should think you might remember that, Arthur." " Ah ! my memory is not what it was. And I suppose you will put him into his father's profession ? Lorrimer always in- tended it, didn't he ? " " Yes," she answered in a low voice, " but the expenses will be very heavy I am afraid." " Oh ! never mind the expenses. I will see about that. I always intended to do as much MRS. L0RRIMER. 175 for my godson. But here is Eosa to an- nounce dinner. We will talk more of this by-and-by." He gave her his arm to lead her down to the dining-room, but Mrs. Lorrimer's heart was heavy as he did so. Women are very intuitive, and she felt, without knowing why, there was something impending that should blight her hopes. It was genuine feeling that made her stop for a moment as they descended the narrow staircase, and press his arm and whisper, " I have missed you so, Arthur," and her voice shook as she recognized that her power had departed, and she might have to reiterate the senti- ment for many years to come. But de Crespigny squeezed her hand in return and replied so warmly, " Yes, of course, and you can't think how glad I am to be home again," that her pale face brightened, and she was able to go through the meal that followed with comparative cheerfulness. 176 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. As it drew to a conclusion the colonel turned to his godson and said : " And what are you going to do this evening, my fine fellow ? " " I don't know, sir. I have nothing to do in particular," replied the boy, glancing at his mother. De Crespigny drew two sovereigns from his pocket and laid them in his palm. " Then take these, Arthur, and go out and enjoy yourself. There are dozens of places in London where you can spend a few hours pleasantly." The lad reddened with delight. " But is it safe ? " urged Mrs. Lorrimer. " He is only fifteen, you know, and he has never been used to go out by himself at night. Consider the dangers of a town, Colonel de Crespigny. Why ! he might be robbed or murdered." " Eubbish, my dear Carrie. Are you going to bring the boy up as a milksop ? Why, MRS. L0RRIMER. 177 before I was fifteen I knew every nook and corner of London either by night or day, and what harm has it done me ? Let the lad learn to take care of himself. Now, Arthur, off with you ! I want to have a talk with your mother." Mrs. Lorrimer sighed as her son left the room. He was her only child and she was inordinately fond of him, which was the reason perhaps that she still cherished some lingering regard for a man who had long ago proved himself to be utterly selfish^ sensual and self-opinionated. As they found themselves alone, Colonel de Crespigny drew his chair closer to her own. . " I want to interest you in a little protegee of mine, Carrie. A young girl, the orphan daughter of a man for whom I had a great esteem, and who asked me to look after her. She is half Belgian and half English — smart, capable and active — and wants to be a lady's vol. i. 12 178 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. maid. Can't you find room for her in }-our household ? " " My dear Arthur, how can I afford another servant ? You know what my means are, and that I can ibarely pay my way. 1 have never kept a lady's maid in my life." " I don't wish her to be any expense to you, Carrie. / will pay for her board and wages whilst she is with you, and if you don't get on together we will find her another situ- ation. I only want you to receive her on her first arrival in England as she has never left Belgium before." " I have never heard you speak of her," said Mrs. Lorrimer with knitted brows. " My dear Carrie ! As if I told you of every person I have been mixed up with in my roving life. 1 did not even know of the girl's existence until lately. But I fancy you will find her a great help to you in making your dresses and so forth. Her name is MRS. L0RRIMER. 179 Agnes Prudhomme, and she has been a sort of companion to Lady Muriel Darner." "That reminds me, Arthur, about your late tour. A very painful report has reached me concerning it, and though I hate speaking about such matters to you, I must, because — because — my own happiness is involved in it. " What on earth do you mean ? " " If it is not true, you must forgive me, and lay my anxiety to its true cause ; but my informant was a very reliable one. I was told that you have serious thoughts of marry- ing Miss Eutherford." The colonel burst out laughing. " J marry Miss Eutherford ? Why, you must have been out of your senses to believe such a story ! What on earth should I marry her for ? An old woman of forty or fifty — Heaven best knows her age — without beauty, or talents, or money. You must think me a fool. No, no, my dear 12—2 180 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Carrie ; if I should ever be induced to alter my present condition you may depend it will be for some one a little better worth having than Miss Eutherford, or any one like her." And de Crespigny leant back in his chair and puffed collectedly away at his cigar. Mrs. Lorrimer was trembling all over. She could hardly trust herself to speak, for strong as were her claims over this man, she would have renounced them all at once sooner than have let him see that their re- linquishment spoilt her hopes for the future. But when she was a little calmer she said : " Then you do intend to marry again, Arthur." " Possibly. It is on the cards. You can hardly expect a man of my age to remain single for the rest of his life." " And you would do it without any con- sideration for me, or for Arthur," she said, looking full into his face. " Certainly not ! I shall never cease to MRS. LORRIMER. 181 have consideration both for you and for Arthur to the end of my days. I shall always rank you as one of my very best and truest friends. But I don't see what that has to do with the prospect of my marrying again, which, after all, is only a dream which may never be realized." " And do you imagine," continued Mrs. Lorrimer significantly, " that in the event of your marrying some other woman I should continue to be your friend ? " He saw what she was driving at now, but he would not acknowledge it. " Of course vou would, Carrie. What reason is there against it ? Poor Lorrimer confided you with his latest breath to my care, and I can honestly say I have never abused his trust nor forgotten my promise to him." " He did not know " she faltered. "Who ever thought he did," said the colonel pettishly (for he was a man of violent 182 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. passions and his temper was quickly roused). " Not one husband in fifty knows what his wife does when his back is turned. And let us trust he has continued in the same blissful ignorance, or his bed in Heaven cannot be one of roses." "Oh! Arthur! Don't joke on such a solemn subject." " Look here, my dear Carrie. Let us un- derstand each other plainly, and don't try and trade upon an old affair that was done and finished with years ago. Lorrimer has been dead — let me see — for ten years, and the boy is past fifteen. We got well out of the scrape and it can never rise up against us now. Let us rest and be thankful." " You got well out of it, you mean," re- plied Mrs. Lorrimer, with something like the fire of indignation twinkling in her greenish eyes. "And so did you, my dear," said de Cres- pigny coolly; "what have you to com- MRS. L0RRIMER. 183 plain of? Your son is everything (it appears to me) that a mother's heart could desire, and I shall always be ready to forward his interests in life " " Except by giving him a father's pro- tection," she answered. The truth was out now, without further disguise, and the colonel felt he must take the bull by the horns and settle it, once and for ever. It might prove a painful business, but it had to be done, for he had other views for himself, which might attain their fruition any day. And the idea of his marrying Caroline Lorrimer was ridiculous. She had been all very well fifteen years be- fore, as a means of excitement and vicious amusement, when he had been located with his regiment in some out-of-the-way station in India and had nothing else to do. She had also been very faithful and attached to him during the intervening years, and denied herself many comforts and even necessaries, 184 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. in order to rear and educate his son on the scanty pension of a captain's widow. But no good qualities in women, however con- spicuous, had any weight with Arthur de Crespigny, against the fatal error of want of youth, or beauty. Caroline Lorriraer was worse than nothing to him now ; in fact she was a nuisance, for continuing to endure which he had accredited himself with con- siderable virtue during the last ten years. And that she should presume, now that he was free, to put in her claim to fill the place of his late wife incensed and irritated him, and when he answered her, it was with unmistakable tokens of annoyance. " By giving him a father's protection," he echoed, " do you mean to say that you want me to openly acknowledge the lad, and dis- grace both him and yourself in the eyes of the world ? You must be mad." " No ! no ! Arthur," she said with some- thing like a sob in her throat, " you know MRS. L0RRIMER. 185 I don't mean that. He must always retain the name of Lorrimer, but if — if — you made what amends you could, to him and me, I should feel at least that I had a right to leave him to your legal protection." "You would say if I married you," he answered coldly. Her only reply was conveyed by inclining her head, and the burning blood rose in her pale cheeks as she did so. It had not seemed so hard to be his mistress, but it was a terrible thing to have to ask him to do what was right by her, and be refused, as she felt she would be. De Crespigny puffed for a few seconds longer at his cigar to give her time to speak, but finding she continued silent, he took up the parable himself. " We had better discuss this matter openly at once, Carrie," he said, " and then dismiss it from our minds for ever." She knew for certain what he meant to do now and her pride rose in the ascendant. 186 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. She had not much sentiment in her compo- sition, and what little she possessed, she had wasted on this man, hoping that some day might see the idyl of her youth renewed, and her past dream become reality. But the last five minutes had seen that hope die and her sentiment died with it. She sat upright again — she had bowed her head for a moment on her clasped hands — and looked him full in the eves whilst she answered in a steadv voice : " That is just what I desire. Let me hear exactly what you propose to do in the future." "You set me too difficult a task, for I have decided upon nothing definitely. But why have you never mentioned your ideas or wishes (or whatever you may call them) to me before this evening ? ' " Because I waited for you to speak first. I have been expecting you to do so, ever since your wife died." MRS. L0RRIMER. 187 Colonel de Crespigny shrugged his shoulders as who would say, " How unreasonable these women are," but he only answered 1 : " I wish you had taken the initiative. It would have saved a world of misunderstand- ing and trouble. However, I will be candid with you now. I have some intentions — not, as you have been wrongly informed, with regard to Miss Eutherford, but of entering, at no very distant date, into the married state again. But late events have somewhat raised my value in the matri- monial market. I don't want money with my second wife, but I must have birth and quality — something in fact to advance me in the social scale." " And youth and beauty of course," inter- posed his hearer, bitterly. " And youth and beauty," he repeated with the utmost sang-froid; " I should be a fool if I didn't get as much as I could for my money >> 188 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Perhaps you have cast your eye on Miss Lina WalforcL I hear she is both young and pretty," suggested Mrs. Lorrimer. " But of no higher rank than myself," he rejoined. " Ah ! Then it is Lady Muriel Darner," she exclaimed. " You are nearer the mark now," said de Crespigny. " That child. Why ! She is hardly out of the nursery," cried Mrs. Lorrimer, and then, unable to conceal her feelings any longer, she covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. " Now, Carrie, don't be a fool," said the colonel impatiently. "Nothing is settled yet and it never may be, but Lord Rhylton has given me to understand he would not be averse to such an arrangement. And if it comes to pass, you will be one of the first to benefit by the change. I shall set up house in a good style in London, and MRS. L0RRIMER, 1S9 Lady Muriel's name and connections will bring the best society around us. And wherever / am, you know that you will always be welcome," he concluded, patting her shoulder with his hand. " Don't touch me ! I wish I might never see you again," she said in a broken voice. " You will think better of all this nonsense to-morrow, my dear. You are too sensible a woman to stand in your own light — and Arthur's too. Such an establishment as I intend to keep will be of infinite service in launching the boy into society, and rubbing off his rough edges. You may live to see him married to a lady of title too. What should you say to that ? " " I would rather live to see him dead than false to a heart that trusted in him," she replied bitterly. The colonel laughed as if she had uttered a pleasantry. " I am afraid if he takes after his father, 190 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Carrie, that he'll have a lot to answer for some day. But you and I are old enough to have outlived sentimentality. The best part of our lives is over, and our only con- sideration should be, how we can end them most comfortably. I am thinking of you, as much as myself, in contemplating a pos- sible marriage with Lady Muriel Darner." Mrs. Lorrimer knew that this assertion was as false as the man who uttered it, but she had lost the same and she would degrade herself in his eyes no longer. So she rose, and professed to be busy with getting out the spirit flask from the sideboard, and ringing for soda-water and tumblers, and when she sat down a^ain alone with her cuest, she was to all appearance reconciled to his intelli- gence. "You are quite right, Arthur. The news startled me at first, but I am alive to i advantages, both for Arthur and myself, and I am not sure if, after all, I should have felt MRS. L0RRIMER. 191 inclined to change my condition. When do you expect this French girl you spoke of to arrive in London? " " Agnes Prudhomme. I had nearly for- gotten the poor child. Why ! She is only waiting to hear I have procured her a situa- tion. You need not be afraid to give your consent, Carrie. She shall be no expense to you, and you have often told me how much you would like to have a personal attendant." " I know I have, and I will receive her whenever she may come over." " Thank you, my dear. And now, if you will excuse me, I think I will toddle home- wards. We only arrived early this morning, and I have long arrears of sleep to make up. Good-night," and with another placid kiss upon her forehead, Colonel de Crespigny went upon his way. Caroline Lorrimer sat where he had left her, feeling very blank and chill, and as if something which she had con- sidered to be her own possession had passed 192 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. out of her life. She did not weep, as she thought over the events of the evening but her teeth — now somewhat yellow and dis- coloured — clenched over her pale lips, and a light came into her greenish-blue eyes that was not love. She remained there immov- able and thinking, for the best part of another hour, until Arthur Lorrimer ran in breath- less and excited, to tell her of the wonderful things he had seen and heard in an adjacent music hall, where he gained admittance with part of his godfather's handsome present. " Wasn't it kind of him, mother ? ' cried the lad ; " I've got a lot of it left, and may I go with Will McClaren to the Crystal Palace to-morrow and stay there all day, and have a regular blow-out? Will says my godfather must be a jolly old brick, and he wishes he had got another like him for himself ' " Yes, yes, my boy," replied Mrs. Lorrimer hurriedly, and then to Artie's intense surprise she threw her arms round his neck and burst- MRS. LORRIMER. 1C3 ing into tears, exclaimed, " Oh ! Artie, you are all that I have in the world. Be kind and true to me, my darling, or my heart will break." VOL. I. 13 CHAPTEE IX. A NEW SISTER. Lady ^Muriel Damer followed her new maid out of the library of Oakley Court into a vast corridor carpeted with rich velvet pile, and decorated with marble statue?, and up a broad staircase, the walls of which were hunir with oil-paintings, and the banisters made of oak, carved in fanciful wreaths of fruit and flowers. She looked around her at first with some degree of awe, which was soon followed by a feeling of pride to think that she had stepped into her proper position at last. For the difference between those who are born to the purple and those who acquire it through an accident, is, that the former, though bereft of their right for years, never feel so much at home as when they regain it, whilst the latter A NEW SISTER. 105 never feel at home in it at all, but wear it like an ill-fitting garment that refuses to accom- modate itself to the owner's shape. Muriel could scarcely remember any other home but the Chateau des Lauriers, and yet she had always been distinctly conscious that her sur- roundings were beneath her. She had a sensuous and luxurious nature, and shabby clothes, bare rooms, and coarse food, had ever been matters of offence to her fastidious taste. Now, though it seemed strange to think that the smart lady's maid who pre- ceded her upstairs was really her own servant, she who had often helped the Flemish wench Eomanie with the housework of the Chateau, and had even sometimes lighted the poele and prepared the vegetables for dinner, still, some feeling that had been born in her rose in her breast and prevented her evincing anything like surprise. Her visit to Paris had paved the way for this great change in her life, for she had seen there in what luxury the fashion - 13—2 196 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. able people lived, and Miss Eutherford had well impressed, her mind with the grandeur she should meet at Oakley Court, and that she was only entering her proper position by attaining it. She gazed at everything around her therefore with deep interest and curiosity, but she did not make a remark concerning anything, and the maid Fielding was too well schooled to venture one. She felt a decree of pride as she looked at the young lady she was called upon to serve — for domestics often cross swords with one another on the rival merits of their employers— and Lady Muriel was a mistress that any maid might have been proud of. Miss Eutherford had made her put on one of her most becoming costumes, to meet her father and step-mother, and with the colour which excitement had called into her face, she was looking her very best. " This way, my lady," said Fielding, as they reached the head of the staircase, and found themselves in another corridor as vast and as A NEW SISTER. 197 richly furnished as the first ; " these are your ladyship's rooms, and Miss Seton's are next to them." She threw open a white and gold panelled door as she spoke, and Lady Muriel passed into a bedroom, draped in rose-colour damask and furnished with every possible conveni- ence. A large mirror stood above the mantel- piece, which was decorated with two vases of snowy-white china, and mounted on a chair before them, with her hands filled with flowers from a basket at her side, was the figure of a girl busily employed in filling them. As the door opened she looked round, and as Muriel appeared on the threshold, she gave a startled cry and seemed as if she were going to tumble off the chair altogether. " Why, it's Miss Seton," exclaimed Fielding. " La ! miss, I should think as Watson might have told you as her ladyship had arrived." (Watson was Miss Seton's personal attend- ant, and the two Abigails were already at 198 ON C1ECUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. war because one served an earl's daughter and the other only a commoner.) "Oh! are you Lady Muriel? 5 exclaimed the girl with the colour rushing into her pale face. She was neither pretty, nor prettily dressed, yet Muriel's heart went out to her at once as it had done to no one else of the relations amongst whom she had been so suddenly thrown. Cecilia Seton wore a heavy dark silk dress, unbecoming both for her aire and her appearance ; her face and figure showed symptoms of ill-health, and her features were commonplace and uninteresting ; but there was a yearning look for affection and a fear of giving offence, in her eyes, that were unmistakable, and appealed to the new- comer. " Yes, I am Muriel," she answered with a smile. Miss Seton glanced at her Parisian costume of delicate French crew and the rosebuds A NEW SISTEK. 199 that crowned her bonnet, to the lovely face smiling beneath it, and seemed to grow more timid ' at the sight. " What will you say at finding me in your rooms — and before I had even seen vou ? But I wanted to make your mantelpiece look gay, and so I — I " She did not finish the sentence, but pointed nervously to her basket of flowers. " La ! miss," cried the maid jealously, " / would have done that if you had asked me. It's my business to keep her ladyship's rooms supplied with flowers, that is if her ladyship approves of sleeping with them in the room, which I call very unwholesome." But Muriel's heart was making response to the nervous, twitching mouth, and fright- ened eyes, and a new dignity rose in her. " You can go, Fielding," she said, turning to the servant. "But your ladyship will lay aside your bonnet and mantle." 200 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. "Not now. I will ring when I want you. I wish to be left alone with my sister.'' The woman disappeared affronted, but neither of the girls cared for that. Cecilia had only heard those two welcome words, my sister, and her pale face beamed with anticipa- tion. She jumped off the chair and ran up to Muriel, and threw her arms about her neck. " Oh, is it true ? " she gasped. " Will you really be my sister ? I have never had one, you know. I have been all alone ever since my birth, and I have so longed for you to come to Oakley Court, and yet I have dreaded it at the same time." "Dreaded it. Oh, why? Ever since I heard that my new mamma had a daughter of my own age I have hoped we would be friends." " But you are so pretty, Muriel. I don't think I ever saw any one so pretty as you are before, and I " " Well, what of you ? " A KEW SISTER. 201 " I am quite different, I know that. Mamma is ashamed of me because I am so plain, and your father doesn't like me either. No one likes me, Muriel. I am so stupid and shy, and I care for nothing but books and study- ing all by myself in my own room.'*' " I shall like you, Cecil, and you will not be shy with me, will you ? For I am your sister now, and you must love me dearly." The neglected girl clasped her arms tight round her new sister's neck for a few minutes and buried her face upon her shoulder, and when she lifted it up again it was wet with tears, though lighted with a smile. " Oh, Muriel, I will love you so — so much. I did not think that such happiness was coming to me, or that you would call me 1 sister ' all at once. How nice it will be to ride and drive and walk together. Do you love books and study, Muriel ? " Muriel shook her head. " Not very much. I have been brought 202 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. up in a convent, Cecil, and it was nothing but study there all day long till I was sick of it. But I like novels. I never could uet any nice new ones to read in Revranches, only a volume of Tauchnitz now and then that visitors had left behind them." ' k You must come and see my rooms bv- and-by, and overhaul my bookshelves, Muriel. I have plenty of standard novels in them, and mamma has a box from Mudie everv week. But how do you like your rooms, dear F Are they furnished to your taste ? " <; They are lovely, Cecil," replied Muriel, as she sat down on a rose-covered sofa in front of an elegant writing-table. " I can imagine nothing nicer or more convenient, and pink is my favourite colour. Were they your taste or Lady Ehyltons ? " Cecilia's face fell. " Neither, dear ; though if I had known you were going to be such a darling I would have asked mamma to let me have a voice in A NEW SISTER. 203 arranging them. But she would not have consented. She leaves everything concern- ing the house to the upholsterer, and he does just what he likes." "Never mind. They are very beautiful, and I am more than content. But go on arranging my flowers, Cecil. I shall value them so much because you thought of put- ting them there." "Then I shall keep your vases always sup- plied, dear Muriel," said Cecil kissing her again, " and you will promise me that Fielding shall have nothing to do with them." " Certainly not. Fielding must learn to mind her own business," replied Muriel with the air of a little princess. She did not call in the assistance of the maid at all, but divested herself of her walking apparel, and when the arrangement of the vases was com- plete she wandered with her new sister into the other suite of rooms, and was introduced 204 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. to Cecil's books and birds and flowers, and was fast friends with her before an hour had passed over their heads. As five o'clock struck, Fielding tapped at the door and in- formed the young ladies that the countess had sent up the footman to desire their presence in the library. Cecilia Seton changed colour at the summons. " Oh, I wonder if your papa will be there," she gasped ; " he does frighten me so." " Frighten you" said Muriel, " and why ? ' " I don't know. He never says anything, but I always feel, somehow, when the earl is present as if I were an intruder and in the way and had no right to be there." " What ! in your own mother's house, Cecil ? It is we who should feel like intruders." " Oh, don't say that of yourself. You have made me feel so happy, I could endure fifty step-fathers for your sake. Only mamma and the earl seem so intimate, you know, and she calls him ' darling ' and those kinds of names, A NEW SISTER. 203 and it seems so strange, and as if I shouldn't be by to hear." " I don't think I shall like it better than you do," replied Muriel shrugging her shoul- ders ; " it sounds so silly, doesn't it? in two old people. And I don't think I shall love my father much either, although I shall be obliged to pretend to for the sake of appearances. Bnt we won't stay downstairs any longer than we need, and we will never go there unless we are obliged. We will make that a bargain, Cecil, and for the rest we go together, which is one comfort." " The best comfort in the world," cried Cecil clinging to her. " Oh, Muriel, I feel quite a different girl since you have come." "We seem to have been made for com- panions," said Muriel laughing, " and the same age, too. It is very curious." " But you are onlv eighteen." " And so are you — are you not ? " ' 206 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. " Oh, no, much older than that, I am five-and-twenty, though as I am so little and so fair, I may not look it." " But I am sure Lady Khylton said you were the same age as myself." Cecil coloured. "Perhaps so. Mamma generally tries to make me out younger than I am, because she is ashamed of having so old a daughter. " "But that is very mean," cried Muriel, who was of an exceedingly frank and out- spoken disposition. " I think it is, but I suppose I mustn't say so. Let us go down to the library now, and try and forget it, Muriel, dear, for my sake." But such things are not easily forgotten. The young perceive the faults and weak- nesses of their elders far more distinctly than the old imagine, and are severe critics into the bargain. As the girls walked up to the five o'clock tea-table, Lady Rhylton A NEW SISTER. 207 again fell into ecstasies over Muriel's appear- ance, although her heart sank as she noted how pinched and wan Cecilia's face seemed, and how undeveloped her figure, beside those of her step-sister. " Here are my darlings/' she exclaimed enthusiastically, as she caught sight of them. " Why, Muriel, you look taller than ever without your bonnet.- You bid fair to be a perfect grenadier." And then she turned snappishly to her own daughter. " What on earth makes you wear such a sombre dress, Cecil ? If you will wear silk gowns that are only fit for a grandmother, you might at least choose them of some brighter shade. That funereal green takes all the colour out of Muriel's grey." " I am very sorry, mamma," replied Miss Seton meekly; "but you never objected to it before, and you always say light tints make me look so yellow." " So they do, but there's a medium in all 203 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. things. However, you never had any taste. Muriel, dear, do you know where your darling father is ? " " No, Lady lihylton. I have not seen him since I went upstairs." " Oh, fie, dear, you mustn't call me ' Lady Ehylton.' You must say ' mamma,' or ' Bee,' if you like it better, for I am sure I feel much more like your sister than your mother. Which shall it be, dear? Will you call me ' Bee ? ' " " I would rather call you ' mamma,' replied Muriel gravely. " Very well, darling, just as you please," returned the countess lightly ; " but it seems funny to me to have such tall daughters. The world will begin to say I am quite an old woman. Ah! here is my sweetheart," she continued, as the door opened to admit the earl. " Now, my dearest. Here is your tea, just as you like it, but you shan't have it unless you come and sit down close A NEW SISTER. 209 by me," and as she made room for her husband on the velvet sofa, Lord Bhylton shambled to her side, with scarcely a look at his newly-recovered daughter. Cecil drew Muriel into one of the deep embrasures in the library windows that looked out upon the park, and there talked to her of her horses and her dogs (for riding was one of her chief pleasures), and of the various out- door employments which she had made for herself. Muriel stared to hear Miss Seton speak of having given one hundred pounds for her Arab palfrey, and twenty-five for a St. Bernard mastiff, and at last she ventured to remark : " Oh, Cecil, where do you get the money to do all this ? Your mamma must be very generous to you." " It has nothing to do with her, Muriel. I suppose you have not heard that my poor papa left me independent. He was very rich, and I was his only child, and ever VOL. II. 14 210 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. since I came of age I have had two thousand a year of my own." " Two thousand a year ! " repeated Lady Muriel, with astonishment. " Yes. It seems a lot of monev, doesn't it, for an unmarried girl, but I suppose I shall want it all some day, for mamma says that if I were likely to marry, I should have been picked up long ago, with such a dowry. So I feel almost glad sometimes to think I am so uninteresting, for it would be a ter- rible tiling to be married onlv for one's money." " Well, I shall never be married for that" laughed Muriel, u for I have none." " But the earl will make you an allow- ance now, Muriel. He is sure to do so, and then we will arrange all sorts of pleasures and excursions together, won't we ? ' " Yes, and it will be delightful," sighed Muriel contentedly, as she gazed out upon the wide expanse of foliage and flowers A NEW SISTER. 211 before her, " and I am very glad indeed that my father has married your mother." Her luxurious temperament was beginning to appreciate the comforts by which she was surrounded, and to revel in them, and if she looked back upon the past at all, it was only to wonder how she could ever have put up with it. Even the thought of At hoi Fergusson (if it troubled her occasion- ally) troubled her like a past dream which one would rather leave in oblivion. She had shed many tears over his silence, but had learnt to believe at last that he must have joined his regiment before her letter reached him, and left the country, and she might never meet him again. She had thought she loved him in her girlish way, but the feeling had been but skin-deep, and was easily effaced. It requires time and experience to enable us to analyze a man's character and plant our love upon a goodness that cannot fail, and any passion founded 14—2 212 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. upon a lower basis must, sooner or later, inevitably fade. If Muriel had confessed the truth (or been able to recognize it), she would have known that she had loved Athol Fergusson for his deep blue eyes, with their long lashes, or his tender, caressing manner, or for anything but the worth and solidity of a character which she could not appreciate until she had compared it with others less worthy. It is certain, at any rate, that at this juncture the remembrance of her Revranches lover was fast fading away. The novelty of her life and the pleasures and interests of it, were gradually but surely pushing it to one side. And as the days went on, these distractions in- creased. The delight of learning to ride on horseback with Cecil, of reading new novels and ordering new dresses, of coming down to dinner every evening attired in some pretty costume, and by being waited on by powdered and liveried servants, all thesa A NEW SISTER. 213 things soon turned Lady Muriel Darner's head, and made her past life an unpleasant memory only. And other seductions were soon added to her more innocent pleasures. The gentlemen visitors to Oakley Court — amongst whom Colonel de Crespigny put in a frequent appearance — began to natter the earl's lovely daughter whenever they had an opportunity, and let her plainly know what they thought of her, paid her compli- ments indeed so warm and full-flavoured that they made the remembrance of Athol's simple praises seem poor and cold beside them. There was only one drawback to her enjoyment. Lady Ehylton continued gush- ingly demonstrative in her protestations of affection for her step-daughter ; Cecilia was always kind and loving, and her father never said a word of remonstrance against anything she did. Only, whilst Miss Seton's purse was replete with money, Lady Muriel had never received any allowance, nor had 214 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. the subject been mentioned to her. She was too shy for some weeks to broach so delicate a matter to the earl, but as the time went on, and she found herself depen- dent on Cecilia for the means to defray the expenses of her various little wants, she felt that she must speak openly to him. So one evening in August, when Colonel de Crespigny (who was dining at Oakley Court) had been urging Lady Muriel to join her cousins and himself in a picnic to Maiden- head, she stole away from the drawing-room and found her way to the little room where the Earl of Ehylton usually spent his post- prandial hours alone. CHAPTER X. THE EARL OF RHYLTON. Lord Ehylton was busily employed reading a letter which had come by the evening post, as his daughter tapped at his study door, whilst a pile of unopened ones lay neglected at his elbow. In fact, he could not take off his eyes from (what he con- sidered) the cool impudence of the epistle he was perusing. It was from Athol Fergus- son, and it stated plainly what he hoped, and wished, and prayed for. The young man had made it his first business on arriv- ing in London, to find out the address of Lady Muriel's father, and to inform him of the relations he supposed to exist between his daughter and himself. He felt that he could not in honour keep on an engage- 21G ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. merit with her in her altered position, with- out the sanction of Lord Ehylton, but at the same time it was impossible to him to give her up whilst he believed she loved him. His letter was very respectful and very humble, but it was manly and straight- forward. He stated plainly his own poor prospects, but he proclaimed his earnest love for Lady Muriel and the opportunities it had had to ripen, without any shame. But the earl could only see one thing in it, and that was the confounded assurance of a pauper, in aspiring to the hand of his daughter. He had been annoyed when he heard of the foolish alTair through the a^encv of Miss Eutherford, but as it had not been brought before his notice since, he had hoped that the young people had forgotten it. Jkit now the lover threatened to be troublesome, Lord Ehylton did not quite like the decided manner, expressed in a firm, manly hand, in which Athol Fergusson wrote of his en- THE EARL OF RIIYLTOX. 217 sjaerement to Muriel, and of his determination to wait for her, even if it should be years before he could offer her a home. It was not the love-lorn letter of a timid youth, but the frank avowal of a fearless man, and he felt it must be answered at once and for ever. He was pondering over the matter when Lady Muriel entered, and her appearance added to his determination. He was not exactty fond of his daughter, but he was beginning to be very proud of her, and to want to see her well settled, and as she stood there in a white dress with crimson roses in her hair and at her bosom, she looked a fit consort for a duke. " What is it, my dear ? " he inquired kindly. " Does your mamma want me ? " " No, papa, it is / who want you. May I come in for a minute ? " " Certainly. But what important business has taken you away from the drawing-room ? You'd better make short work of it, or we 218 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. shall have de Crespigny here to fetch you back again." Lady Muriel blushed. " Why Colonel de Crespigny in particular, papa ? Lord Dornton, and several other gentlemen are there also." " Because de Crespign}^ admires you, my dear (as you must know), and I am glad of it, because (though I don't wish you to decide in a hurry) his fortune makes him a good match for any woman in the county.'' " You don't want to get rid of me again so soon, do you, papa ? " said Muriel, laugh- ing and colouring. " No, my dear, but when you do go, I shall make it my business to see you go properly. But what is it you came to say to me ? " " You have made it more difficult than I thought it would be," replied Muriel, tak- ing a seat beside him, " for it has arisen out of a proposal of Colonel de Crespigny's. THE EARL OF EHYLTON. 219 He has been urging mamma to let Cissy and me go to Maidenhead on Thursday, with cousin Amelia, to a picnic-party." "And where's the objection? Doesn't Lady PJrylton approve of it ? " " Oh, yes, papa ; but — but — these excur- sions all cost money, you know. I can't go out for the day with an empty purse — it might be so awkward — and I have posi- tively not a penny. You have forgotten all about my allowance since I came home, so I want you to tell me how much I may spend, and in what way you will pay it me.'' The earl looked unnecessarily discom- posed. " Miss Seton has always money at her command," he said ; " she has a large fortune for so young a woman." " Yes, and she is most generous and would pay for everything if I would let her. But you would not like me to place myself 220 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. under such an obligation for ever, papa. It would be too humiliating a position for your daughter." Lady Muriel drew herself up so proudly as she said this, and spoke in so womanly a manner, that her father felt that she could not be put off with a quibble, but must be told the whole truth. "I am glad you have mentioned the sub- ject, my dear, as it will enable me to explain my exact position to you. With regard to your allowance, well — I suppose I must give you something, but I'm afraid it will be very inadequate to your desires, for (as I suppose you must be aware) I am really very poor." " Isn't mamma's money yours, then ? " cried Lady Muriel, surprised. "No, my dear, not at all. It is strictly tied up on herself. She defrays, naturally all the expenses of the household, but toy miserable pittance of four hundred a year, with the sum that I came into bv this beg- THE EAKL OF RHYLTON. 221 garly earldom, is all the income that I can call my own." " And we are actually pensioners on Lady Ehylton's bounty ? " exclaimed Muriel, tears of wounded pride welling to her eyes. " Well, that's rather an unpleasant light by which to view our position, Muriel ; but there is no doubt that the bulk of the money belongs to my wife, and that she can dispose of it as she chooses. I had hoped she would have seen the necessity of your having an allowance now you have returned to us, and have proposed to give you a cer- tain sum quarterly " " Oh, papa ! I would so much rather take it from you. I don't want Lady Bhylton to give me anything. It is bad enough to know that she pays for everything I eat and drink." "Well, my dear, it will necessarily be a small sum, but I will give you the same allowance I made the Grants for your annual 222 OX CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. expenses. I'm afraid you will have to be very economical with it, but you must make it do. The countess has been already complaining of the expenses of your outfit. Amelia Eutherford has sent us in bills to the amount of two thousand francs." "Well, papa, and what is that? Eighty pounds. It is little enough, when you come to think that I had not a single article of clothing fit to be seen, and had to be fitted out from head to foot." " Your mamma thinks it extravagant, but I told her it was not your fault. But now, my dear Muriel, I must speak to you on another subject. You see how you are situ- ated, and how important it is that you should make a wealthy marriage. I can give you nothing but a title, and (if you wish to live in the position to which you were born) you must exchange it for a fortune." THE EARL OF RHYLTOX. 223 These words brought the remembrance of Athol Fergusson to Muriel's mind, and she looked unhappy and hung her head. " What is the matter ? " said the earl. "It is so miserable to be poor," she answered. "It is the greatest misery this world can bring us. I speak feelingly, for it has been the curse of my life, Muriel. Whatever troubles we may encounter, money has, at least, the power to alleviate them, but the greatest happiness becomes worth- less when we don't know where to look for a shilling. You have seen for yourself now what luxuries money can procure for us. How would you like to give them all up again ? " " Not at all, papa." " To go back to the sour bread and salt butter you tell me that they gave you at Eevranches ; to exchange that pretty robe you wear for your convent dress, and the 224 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. company of your equals for that of the Grants." " Oli ! papa ! don't speak of it. I don't think I could go back to it now. It would seem doubly hard. And yet " she ended with a sigh. " And yet, you had once some idea of spending your whole life in an atmosphere of poverty and privation, and thought it would be a delightful tiling to fol]ow the roving fortunes of a beggarly subaltern." Lady Muriel started. " Papa ! who has told you ? How did you hear ? " Lord Ehylton considered a moment. Would it be wise to let his daughter know that her lover was close at hand? He thought not. Nothing like absence to make a crave for love, and if Lady Muriel could be led to believe that Athol Fergusson had gone completely out of her reach, he might be able to work her according to his will. THE EARL OF RHYLTON. 225 So he answered deliberately, " The young man has had the impudence to write, and tell me so himself." " Oh, papa," she cried eagerly, " where is he ? Did he receive my letters ? " "I don't know. He mentioned nothing about letters. As to his whereabouts — if he is not at the bottom of the sea — I conclude he is in India, where he was proceeding with his regiment, when he wrote." " In India " repeated Muriel weeping. "Oh, then I feel I shall never, never see him again." " I don't suppose you will ; nine-tenths of the Englishmen who go to India never return, and the rest are kept there for an indefinite number of years. If you wanted to keep your lover by your side you should have chosen one who was not going to India." "Oh! how could I tell? How could I tell," she cried ; " we were so fond of vol. i. 15 226 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. each other, and I — I — promised to be his wife." wt Now, look here, Muriel," said Lord Ehylton turning to his daughter, '• I want to talk very seriously to you about this matter. I have already pointed out to you the stringent reasons there are, that you should marry well, and according to your station as a woman of title. But I am not going to oppose you in this matter of Mr. Athol Fergusson. He writes me word that you love him, and he considers you are engaged to marry each other. He is a subaltern on eighty pounds a year and with- out any prospects. He has a mother and sisters dependent on him. He may not be pro- moted for ten or fifteen years, and then he will still be a pauper. If, however, you are con- vinced you love him so strongly, and so well, that you will not be happy unless you go following the baj^a^e waggon of his rein- O OJD O Co o ment all over the world, and give up every THE EARL OF RHYLTON. 227 comfort and luxury for his sake, I will not thwart your wishes ; but I shall not keep you here. I shall send you back to Eev- ranches to live with the Grants during the ten or fifteen years you will have to wait for Mr. Fergusson. It would be useless your remaining at Oakley Court, to prove an ex- pense to your mamma and myself, and to cultivate a taste for luxuries which you can never hope to enjoy. So, take your choice, my dear. Either give up this pauper lover of yours, or go back and wait for him in Eevranches." " Go back to Eevranches ! " echoed Lady Muriel, with a look of dismay. " But, papa, I cannot — indeed I cannot." " Well, I give you the alternative, my dear. There is no need for you to leave us, unless you choose to do so. But then you must give up Mr. Athol Fergusson." " It will break his heart. He loves me so," she sobbed. vol. i. 15 — 2 228 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. "Rubbish ! He will get over it sooner than you do. It's the way with men. He is most probably making love to some other girl, even now. Salt water is a wonderful cure for a youthful passion. But if you don't believe me, go back to Revranches." " Do you really Ithink he will get over it so soon, papa ? " " I am sure of it ! " " He certainly might have written to me be- fore he went, for I sent him three long letters." " More fool you, my dear. You made the young fellow think he was sure of you, and so he took no trouble to please you. Now, what are you going to do ? " "I will do as you wish, papa. I cannot go back to Revranches." " My dear girl, this lad will never be able to marry you. He will never have money enough to keep a wife. Be wise, and break it off at once. There is my desk. Sit down and write and tell him so." THE EARL OF RHYLTON. 229 " What shall I say ? she exclaimed despair- ingly, as she took up the pen. " He will think I am such a wicked girl to give him up." " He cannot think you wicked for obeying your father. Say what you like, and I will send it to him and explain all the rest." So Lady Muriel sat down and wrote, whilst her tears fell fast upon the sheet of paper : " Dear Athol, my father says that it is all nonsense, and we can never marry, and that if I do not give you up, he will send me back to Eevranches. And so we had better break off our engagement, and be free, though it gives me dreadful pain to write the words. But I shall never forget you, nor the days at Eevranches " But here Lady Muriel, unable to proceed for the memories that rushed upon her, cast herself prone upon the writing-desk, and burst into tears. "This is ridiculous," exclaimed the earl testily, for he was losing patience with her. 230 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE " Here, you may have the chance of becoming a countess or a duchess, with plenty of money and influence, and you would throw it all away for the sake of a silly lad who will probably jilt you for some other girl, as soon as he gets out to India." " No ! no ! papa ! I wouldn't. I see the folly of it as clearly as you do ; but just at first, you know — it seems so hard." " Then get it over as quickly as you can, my dear. It is like having a tooth out, the harder the wrench, the sooner the ease that follows. What is that gold ring you wear upon your linger ? " " It was his. He gave it me," sighed Muriel. "You must inclose it in your letter." "Must I? Mayn't I keep even this?" " Certainly not. Has this young man any- thing of yours ? " " Only a lock of my hair and a little seal. I had nothing else to give him." THE EARL OF RHYLTON. 231 "Ah, well! lie may keep those, but that ring must decidedly be returned to him. Thank you, my dear," he continued, as Muriel drew the ring from her finger and handed it to him. " You have behaved very sensibly in this matter, and you will have your re- ward. You had better go back to the draw- ing-room now, or your mamma will wonder what has become of you." " Papa ! I cannot. Let me go to bed. My head aches terribly, and I — I — want a little time to myself to — to get over this." " Very well, Muriel. Do as you think best, and I will make }^our excuses to Lady Ehylton. I daresay you feel it just now, my dear. These things are always painful, how- ever necessary, but you will soon laugh to think you were courageous enough to do it. You have saved yourself from a life of poverty, or perhaps from being left, after all, to end your days as an old maid." " But he loved me," replied Lady Muriel, 232 ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. with a choking sob, as she rushed up to the shelter of her own apartments. Lord Ehylton did not join the party in the drawing-room until he had written a short, but peremptory answer to poor Athol Fergusson's appeal, and inclosed the note and ring from his daughter in evidence of her acquiescence in his decision. And then he hoped the foolish affair was ended, and he should never again be troubled with a reference to it. END OF VOLUME I 31 Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. March, 1889. F. V. WHITE & CO.'S LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. NOVELS AT ALL LIBRARIES IN TOWN AND COUNTRY, BEAUTIFUL JIM. By JOHN STRANGE WINTER, Author of "Booties' Baby," " Mignon's Husband," " Booties' Children," &c. 2 Vols. " A story that has the merits of movement and liveliness."— Academy. ** 'Beautiful Jim' is as fresh and engaging a work as this charming writer has produced, while the structure of its plot has a peculiar strength which adds much to the effect of the story as a whole.— .Scotsman." PUEPLE AND FINE LINEN. By Mrs. ALEXANDER FRASER. 3 Vols. LONG ODDS. By HAWLEY SMART. 3 Vols. LANDING A PRIZE. By Mrs. EDWARD KENNARD, Author of "The Girl in the Brown Habit." 3 Vols. ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. By FLORENCE MARRYAT. Author of " My Sister the Actress." 3 Vols. THIS WICKED WORLD. By Mrs. H. LOVETT CAMERON, Author of "In a Grass Country," "A North Country Maid," &c. 3 Vols. 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Amongst the other stories, the one entitled, ' Out of the Mists ' i6, perhaps, the 1 * St written, although the tale of true love it embodies comes to a most melancholy ending."— County Gentleman. BEAUTIFUL JIM. (mavk F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. 5 MRS. EDWARD KENNARD'S SPORTING NOVELS, At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. A CRACK COUNTY, cioth gut, 2/6. THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT. Cloth gilt, 2/6 ; Picture Boards, 2/-. (4th Edition.) 1 ' ' Nell Fitzgerald ' is an irreproachable heroine, full of gentle womanliness, and rich in all virtues that make her kind estimable. — Daily Telegraph. " There is a wonderful freshness about this novel which cannot fail to charm even those who have never ridden to hounds." — Court Journal. KILLED IN THE OPEN. Cloth gilt, 2/6 ; Picture Boards. 2/-. (3rd Edition.) " ' Killed in the Open ' is a book that cannot fail to excite interest. Its tone is thoroughly healthy." — Illustrated London News. "It is in truth a very good love story set in a framework of hounds and horses, but one that could be read with pleasure independently of any such attractions." — Fortnightly Review. " 'Killed in the Open ' is a very superior sort of hunting novel indeed."— Graphic, STRAIGHT AS A DIE. Cloth gilt, 2/6 ; Picture Boards, 2/-. (3rd Edition.) "If you like sporting novels I can recommend to you Mrs. Kennard's ' Straight as a Die.' "—Truth. " Mrs. Edward Kennard can write, and write well. Her descriptions of country life are many of them admirable, and her story will be read to the end. Some of the love passages between Dulcie and Bob are full of beauty and pathos." — Pictorial World. A REAL GOOD THING. Cloth gilt, 2/6. (3rd Edition.) "There are some good country scenes and country spins in ' A Real Good Thing.' The hero, poor old Hopkins, is a strong character."— Academy. TWILIGHT TALES, cute***) cioth g nt, 2/6. . - BY THE SAME AUTHOR. In Paper Cover, 1/- ; Cloth, 1/6. The Second Edition of A GLORIOUS GALLOP. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications HAWLEY SMART'S SPORTINC NOVELS. At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. THE MASTEE OF EATHKELLY. Cloth gilt, 2/6. THE OUTSIDER Cloth gilt, 2/6; Picture Boards, 2/-. (4th Edition.) " Since the deaths of Surtees and Whyte Melville, Captain Hawley Smart has worthily held his place at the head of those writers who devote then bo sport- ing subjects ... his readers know precisely what to expect when they take up one of his books, and they are never disappointed."— Saturday Review. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Each in Paper Cover, 1/- ; Cloth, 1/6. THE LAST COUP. THE PEIDE OF THE PADDOCK. CLEVEELY WON. THE HONOURABLE MRS. FETHERSTONHAUCH S NEW NOVEL. Cloth, 2/6. DEEAM FACES. By the Author of "Kilcorran," " Robin Adair," &c. BRET HARTE'S NEW NOVEL. Cloth, 2/6. THE CEUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOE. By the Author of " The Luck of Soaring Camp," Ac " As a sketcher of the life of the Far West he is still unrivalled. . . . Mr. Bret Hartc's readers will greatly enjoy the amusing account of the travellers' life at the Mexican outpost, and the very clever way in which at last the castaway.- are extri- cated. In this story the author shows a faculty of invention and a literary tact BO noteworthy that we may eyes venture to expect another romance as superior in per- manent value to the delightful crusade of the 'Excelsior' as the latter is to ifcs lengthy predecessor 'Gabriel Conroy." " — Aatihmn. SIR RANDAL ROBERTS' NEW SPORTING NOVEL. Cloth gilt, 2/6. CUEB AND SNAFFLE. By the Author of "In the Shires." &o. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. MRS. H. LOVETT CAMERON'S NOVELS, At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. IN A GEASS COUNTEY. (A Story of Love and Sport.) (7th Edition. ) Cloth gilt, 2/6 ; Picture Boards, 2/-. " We turn with pleasure to the green covers of ' In a Grass Country.' The three heroines are charming each in her own way. It is well sketched, full of character, with sharp observations of men and women — not too hard on anybody — a clear story carefully written, and therefore easily read. . . . recommended." — Punch. " When the days are short and there is an hour or two to be disposed of indoors before dressing time, one is glad to be able to recommend a good and amusing novel. 'In a Grass Country ' may be said to come under this description."— Saturday Review. A NOETH COUNTEY MAID. (3rd Edition. ) Cloth, 2/6 ; Picture Boards, 2/-. A DEAD PAST. (3rd Edition.) Cloth, 2/6; Picture Boards, 2/-. A DEVOUT LOVEE. cioth, 2/ 6. "Without doubt, one of Mrs. Lovett Cameron's best and prettiest stories. The character of Kose de Brefour is admirably drawn. . . . Mrs. Lovett Cameron deserves great credit for having made a good woman interesting." — Ladies' Pictorial. THE COST OF A LIE. cioth, 2/ 6. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Each in Paper Cover, 1/-; Cloth, 1/6. NECK OE NOTHING. "... it is pleasant, easy reading, and the characters act in a way one can understand. "—Saturday Review. " ... is really very bright and readable from first to last. "—Academy. "... is a capital stnry of hunting and love-making combined. . . . Nothing prettier or more natural has been written for some time than the scene^in which Lucy Netterville betrays her cherished secret with such happy results."— Pictoiial World. THE MADNESS OF MAEEIAGE. " Mrs. Lovett Cameron's books are never devoid of merit. . . . The interest in Daisy Carew's fate is well sustained. . . . " — Morning Post. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. 8 F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. MRS. ALEXANDER'S NOVELS. At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. A FALSE SCENT. Paper Cover, 1/- ; Cloth, 1/6. BY WOMAN'S WIT. (3rd Edition.) Cloth 2/6 ; Picture Boards, 2/-. " Mrs. Alexander deserves credit for keeping her readers mystified for some time in the matter of Mrs. Ruthven's rubies. . . How the widow's wit discovers the treachery of the man she loves in spite of it ; how she avenges herself, and the terrible straits Nora is involved in for a season, when she has accepted the wrong man because the right man has been slow to declare himself ; and how all ends well for her and her gentle stepmother, not to mention the old shikari whom she weds, is written in Mrs. Alexander's book, and very readably." — Athenaeum. " In Mrs. Alexander's tale Much art she clearly shows In keeping dark the mystery Until the story's close ! " — Punch. MONA'S CHOICE, awn** "Mrs. Alexander has written a novel quite worthy of her." — Athenaeum. ". . . it is pleasant and unaffected." — Saturday Review. "RITA'S" NEW NOVELS. Each in Paper Cover, 1/- ; Cloth, 1/6. At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. THE MYSTEEY OF A TUEKISH BATH. (2nd Edition.) " Every fresh piece of work which ' Rita ' publishes, shows an increase of power, and a decided advance on the last. The booklet contains some very smart writing indeed." — Whitehall Review. " ' The Mystery of a Turkish Bath ' has a well-wrought out plot of slightly sensa- tional interest, and is written with this author's well-known grace a£ style." — Scotsman. THE SEVENTH DEEAM. A Eomance. "... is a powerful and interesting study in weird effects of fiction. It will hold the close attention of its readers from first to last, and keep them entertained with changing sensations of -wonder."— Scotsman. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. 9 POPULAR WORKS AT ALL BOOKSELLERS AND BOOKSTALLS. A NEW ONE SHILLING NOVEL, OR IN CLOTH, 1/6. THE MYSTERY OFBELGRAVE SQUARE. By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush,"&c. By SAMUEL LAING. A MODERN ZOROASTRIAK By the Author of " Modern Science and Modern Thought," " A Sporting Quixote," &c. 1 Vol. Cloth, 2/6. (Second Edition.) By W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. CELEBRATED ENGLISHWOMEN of the VICTORIAN ERA. By the Author of "England on the Sea," &c. 1 Vol. Cloth, 2/6. By PERCY THORPE. HISTORY OF JAPAN. 1 Vol. Cloth, 3/6. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. 10 F. V. WHITE & Co. s Publications. "SELECT" NOVELS. Crown 8vo., Cloth, 2s. 6d. each. AT ALL BOOKSELLERS AND BOOKSTALLS. BY FLORENCE MARRYAT. 1 THE HEIE PEESUMPTIVE. 2 THE HEAET OF JANE WARNER. 3 UNDER THE LILIES AND ROSES. 4 HER WORLD AGAINST A LIE. 5 FACING THE FOOTLIGHTS. BY ANNIE THOMAS (Mrs. Pender Cudlip). 6 HER SUCCESS. 7 FRIENDS AND LOVERS. 8 JENIFER. 9 KATE VALLIANT. 10 ALLERTON TOWERS. BY LADY CONSTANCE HOWARD. 11 MATED WITH A CLOWN. 12 MOLLIE DARLING. 13 ONLY A VILLAGE MAIDEN. BY MRS. HOUSTOUN, Author of " Recommended to Mercy." 14 BARBARA'S WARNING. BY MRS. ALEXANDER FRASER. 15 A PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY. P. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. 11 " SELECT" HOVELS-(Continued). BY HARRIETT JAY. 16 A MAEEIAGE OF CONVENIENCE. BY IZA DTJFFTJS HARDY. 17 LOVE, HONOUR, AND OBEY. 18 NOT EASILY JEALOUS. 19 ONLY A LOVE STOEY. BY JEAN MIDDLEMASS. 20 POISONED AEEOWS BY MRS. H. LOVETT CAMERON. 21 A NOETH COUNTEY MAID. 22 A DEAD PAST. 23 THE COST OF A LIE. BY LADY VIOLET GrREVILLE. 24 KEITH'S WIFE. BY NELLIE FORTESCTJE HARRISON, Author of " So Euns My Dream." 25 FOE ONE MAN'S PLEASUEE. BY EDMUND LEATHES. 26 THE ACTOE'S WIFE. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. 12 F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. it POPULAR" NOVELS. Picture Boards, 2s. each. AT ALL BOOKSELLERS AND BOOKSTALLS. — ♦ — 1 GARRISON GOSSIP. By John Strange Winter, Author of " A Siege Baby," " In Quarters," " On March," " Mignon's Secret," "That Imp," "Mignon's Husband," &c. (Fourth Edition.) 2 AEMY SOCIETY; Or, Life in a Garrison Town. By the same Author. (Eighth Edition.) 3 THE OUTSIDER. By Hawley Smart, Author of "The Pride of the Paddock," "Cleverly Won," "Bad to Beat," "Lightly Lost," &c. 4 BY WOMAN'S WIT. By Mrs. Alexander, Author of " Mona's Choice," " The Wooing O't," " The Executor," " The Admiral's Ward," &c 5 THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT. By Mrs. Edward Kennard, Author of " Straight as a Die," "Twilight Tales," "A Real Good Thing," " A Glorious Gallop," " A Crack County," &c 6 KILLED IN THE OPEN. By the same Author. 7 STRAIGHT AS A DIE. By Mrs. Edward Kennard, Author of " A Real Good Thing," &e. 8 IN A GRASS COUNTRY: A Story of Love and Sport. By Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron, (Seventh Edition.) 9 A NORTH COUNTRY MAID. By the same Author. 10 A DEAD PAST. By the same Author. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. 13 ft POPULAR" NOVELS-(Continued). 11 POISONED AEEOWS. By Jean Middle- mass, Author of " Wild Greorgie," " Dandy." 12 ONLY A LOVE STOEY. By Iza Duffus Hardy, Author of " Love, Honour, and Obey." 13 THE HEAET OF JANE WAENEE. By Florence Marryat, Author of "Facing the Footlights," "Her World against a Lie," "The Heir Presumptive," " My own Child," &c. 14 UNDEE THE LILIES AND EOSES. By the same Author. 15 KATE VALLIANT. By Annie Thomas (Mrs. Pender Cudlip), Author of " Her Success." 16 KEITH'S WIFE. By Lady Violet Gre- ville, Author of "Zoe: A Girl of Genius," " Creatures of Clay." 17 MATED WITH A CLOWN. By Lady Constance Howard, Author of " Only a Village Maiden," " Mollie Darling." 18 NOT EASILY JEALOUS. By Iza Duffus Hardy, Author of " Love, Honour, and Obey," &c. 19 FOE ONE MAN'S PLEASUEE. By Nellie Fortescue Harrison, Author of "So Euns My Dream," &c. 20 THE CEUSADE OF " THE EXCELSIOE." By Bret Harte. 21 A SIEGE BABY. By John Strange Winter. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31 Southampton Street, Strand. 14 F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. ONE SHILLING NOVELS. In Paper Cover. THOSE MARKED * CAN ALSO BE OBTAINED IN CLOTH (1/6.) At all Booksellers and Bookstalls. 1 *MY POOE DICK. (Fourth Edition.) By John Strange Winter, Author of " Booties' Baby," " Houp La," &c. (With Illustrations by Maurice Greiffenhagen.) 2 *BOOTLES' CHILDEEN. (Fifth Edition.) By the same Author. (With Illustrations by J. Bernard Partridge.) 3 *THE CONFESSIONS OF A PUBLISHES. By the same Author. 4 *MIGNON'S HUSBAND. (Eighth Edition.) By the same Author. 5 *THAT IMP. (Seventh Edition.) By the same Author. 6 *MIGNON'S SECEET. (Eleventh Edi- tion.) By the same Author. 7 *0N MAECH. (Sixth Edition.) By the same Author. 8 *IN QUAETEES. (Seventh Edition.) By the same Author. 9 *A GLOEIOUS GALLOP. (Second Edi- tion.) By Mrs. Edward Kennard, Author of " The Girl in the Brown Habit," " A Real Good Thing," &c 10 *THE MYSTEEY OF A TUEKISH BATH. (Second Edition.) By " Rita," Author of " Dame Durden," « Sheba," " My Lord Conceit," &c 11 *THE SEVENTH DEEAM. A Eomance. By the same Author. 12 *THE PEIDE OF THE PADDOCK. Bv ■ Hawley Smart, Author of "The Outsider," « The Master of Rathkelly," &c F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. 15 ONE SHILLING NOVELS-iContinued). 13 *CLEVEBLY WON. By Hawley Smart 14 *A MILLIONAIRE OF EOUGH AND READY. By Bret Harte, Author of "The Luck of Eoaring Camp," &c. 15 *DEVIL'S FOED. By Bret Harte. 16 *NECK OE NOTHING : A Hunting Story. By Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron, Author of " In a Grass Country," &c. ("Second Edition.) 17 *THE MADNESS OF MAEEIAGE. By Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. 18 *THE FASHION OF THIS WOELD. By Helen Mathers, Author of " Comin' thro' the Eye," &c. 19 *A PLAYWEIGHT'S DAUGHTEE. By Mrs. Annie Edwardes, Author of " Archie Lovell," &c. 20 NO MEDIUM. By Annie Thomas (Mrs. Pender Cudlip), Author of " Her Success," &c. 2 1 A MOMENT OF MADNESS. By Florence Marryat, Author of " My Sister the Actress," &c. 22 SAVED IN TIME. By Mrs. Houstoun, Author of " Eecommended to Mercy," &c. 23 EVEEY INCH A WOMAN. By Mrs. Houstoun. 24 A PAUPEE PEEE. By Major Arthur G-riffiths, Author of " Fast and Loose," &c. 25 *THE WESTHOEPE MYSTEEY. By Iza Duffus Hardy, Author of " Love, Honour, and Obey," &c. 26 *STOBIES OF "THE WOELD." (Ee- printed by Permission.) 27 TWO BLACK PEAELS. By Marie Connor, Author of " A Morganatic Marriage," " Beauty's Queen," &c. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. lfi F. V. WHITE & Co.'s Publications. AT ALL NEWSAGENTS, BOOKSELLERS, AND BOOKSTALLS. c$Lott5ott ^ociefg: A MONTHLY MAGAZINE. PRICE Is. ESTABLISHED 1862. " RITA'S "' New Three-Volume Novel, " SHEBA," commenced in the OCTOBER NUMBER, and SARAH TYTLER S Novel, "DUCHESS FRANCES," in the NOVEMBER NUMBER. 'SOCIAL ECHOES," edited by Mrs. Humphry, appear each Month ; also Articles by well-known "Writers. "There is a marked elevation in the literary character of 'London Society' since it changed hands." — Evening Standard. "... is an excellent number, full of the • light and amusing literature ' it pro- fesses to supply."— Literary World. "... this attractive magazine . . . remarkable for variety of subject and excellence of its light literature."— Public Opinio*. " ' London Society ' deserves great credit for the evenness with which it keeps up to a high standard of excellence in its particular line, that, namely, of wholesome fiction and magazine miscellanea." — Pictorial World. " This gayest of the magazines shows no sign of failing to preserve the tone it has taken from the first. It is above all entertaining, and goes in largely for good fiction by well-known authors. "—Life. "... this favourite magazine . . . " — Society Herald. the CHRISTMAS NUMBER of bonbon ^ociefg {ILLUSTRATED), At all Newsagents, Booksellers, and Bookstalls. Price 1/- CONTAINING CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE FOLLOWING AUTHORS :— JOHN STRANGE "WINTER, MRS. CASHEL HOEY— FLORENCE MARRYAT— THE AUTHOR OF "MOLLY BAWN"— THE COUNTESS DE BREMONT— THE AUTHOR OF " WHO IS SYLVIA ? "—MRS. H. LOVETT CAMERON— JESSIE SALE LLOYD— W. W. FENN— THE AUTHOR OF "MISS MOLLY "—and ELLA CURTIS (Shirley Smith). At all Booksellers, Vol. LIV. of LONDON SOCIETY, 780 pages, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, gilt edges, 10s. 6d. Also Cases for Binding, 2s. each. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand. . w^. i- TJ\ & w m \3> "$ UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIt-URIANA 3 0112 049086991 mi