A search of the house and grounds confirmed the strange intelligence. Doretta Horlock was not to be found.

III.

manded.

"Yes."

"He will never be your husband. Never!" She threw the portrait from her, snapping the chain, so that it went flying into the grass. For one instant she turned on the trembling girl a face distorted with passionate hate, then turned and strode from the spot, proudly and defiantly, but with a tight clasping of the hands, which showed how intense was the feeling by which she was overmastered.

That night two persons only occupied the old parlour at the Grange-the colonel and Isabel. She, in spite of her endeavours to control herself, was often absent and uncongenial: sometimes, too, she would shed tears, but was not this natural, seeing that poor Doretta was at last so unwell as to be unable to quit her room? This was a cloud even upon Horlock's spirits, and they were unusually high that night. The secret influence under which they had risen was at work as it had never been before. In spite of everything he was gay. "Dry your tears, Isa," he said, as the night

ness.

"In a few days I expect a friend on busiHis visit will be a relief, and when he goes we will think of some spot in which to spend a few weeks this fine autumn weather."

Isabel was amazed. She had never heard her father suggest such a thing as holidaykeeping, had never suspected that the solitude of the Grange was distasteful to him. But then she had not from a child seen him in such spirits as during the last few days.

Before she had time to make any reply the door opened and a servant entered hastily and with looks of alarm.

VOL IIL

Not to be found. Days melted into weeks, and still that was the report. There were no signs of the missing one. Inquiry showed that she must have passed out of the house

into the world. No one had seen her go. No villager had met her. There was no reason to suppose that she had taken any vehicle so as to travel a distance: on the other hand, only the absence of evidence of that sort justified the conclusion that she remained in the neighbourhood. Isabel alone had any clue to the cause of this mystery. She alone knew what had passed in the park, having so obvious a relation to what subsequently happened; but she held her peace and kept her own counsel. A burning sense of wrong calcined the natural affections of her heart. She cared not what had become of Doretta, whether she was alive or dead, so long as she was removed from her path, and ceased to be a rival in the affections of the man she loved. Was this monstrous? Truly yes. Was it a solitary instance of a devouring passion swallowing up all meaner things? Unfortunately no. Indifference to the poor girl's fate did not, however, involve lack of curiosity respecting it. Isabel would have been glad to learn that about which she hardly cared to inquire: to know for certain the fate of one who had become indifferent to her.

As time elapsed a vague ghostly fear began to shape itself into something tangible. People asked one of another, Was it possible any harm could have come to Doretta? And if so, had it happened of her own act or by the act of another? When Isabel first heard this question seriously propounded a curious expression came into her face: a strangely serious look, which went as suddenly as it came.

Only Horlock himself observed without understanding it.

began to stir up excitement: people talked of it far and near, and in doing so incidentally awoke the echoes of the past in relation to that older mystery which had led to the colonel's long tenancy of the Grange. Knowing nothing, people were quick to invent, and their fertile brains led them to indulge in all kinds of speculations, until it began to be questioned whether it was not necessary to look into the dim past for a solution of the inscrutable mystery of the present.

While the excitement was thus growing, the theory which favoured some kind of violence received a strong reinforcement. A portion of a gold chain was found lying in the park. Some of the links in it were strained, and its general appearance suggested that force had been used in snapping it asunder. This fragment of chain was identified by Doretta's maid as having belonged to her mistress.

Great was the effect of this discovery. Small as it was it seemed to let in a new light on the whole question. People became alarmed.

In the midst of it all Colonel Horlock made an announcement to his elder daughter which served for the instant to distract her thoughts and those of the little household.

"The friend I spoke to you of, Isa," he said one morning at breakfast, "will be here to-night. He comes on business of the utmost moment to me. Untoward as the time is, he must be received with the best the Grange can afford."

"But what a time for visitors!" she remonstrated.

"True."

He said no more, but passed out into the garden, and she did not follow to ask the name or business of the stranger. It mattered little who came or who went at a time when all thoughts were concentrated on one subject, and she found herself sharing the contagion of the general alarm of uneasiness.

That evening, as Isabel sat brooding alone in the gloom of the great parlour, the window from which she gained a view of the long bars of ashen cloud in the dying west was suddenly darkened by two forms. The colonel was conversing with a stranger. He had been explaining to him the mystery of the past few weeks, and as he ceased he stepped in at the low window and invited his companion to follow.

"My daughter," he said; "though I fear there is not light enough for you to see one another. A moment and I will put a match to the lamp."

holding out her hand with mechanical courtesy, He saw it by the first gleam of the match and grasped it, while he expressed a cordial pleasure in the meeting. At the same moment the wick of the lamp ignited and illumined the room. A mingled exclamation of surpris burst from the lips of both.

It was Darton Rivers.

The colonel turned sharply, and by a ques tion relieved them of embarrassment. ** You have met before?" he asked.

"Yes, we have had the pleasure," said Darton; "but I was not aware that my charming companion of Luttrel Castle was your daughter. We share, I hope, most pleasurable recollections of a few delightful days."

Most pleasurable," returned Isabel; but she spoke coldly, in a tone fitly matching the mere society tone in which the handsome artist had rattled off his frank compliment. in stinctively she felt that there was no heart in his words, while there could scarcely be cord ality in hers after the discovery she had made a discovery of all others injurious to a woman's self-love-that of his preference for another. It was a painful meeting, how painful Darton Rivers hardly knew, since he did not guess at the depth of the impression he had made the heart of the woman before him, with who he had exchanged the civilities of an idle hour with little thought of the effect they might produce on one unaccustomed to society and its insincerities, and therefore prone to take mere tinsel compliments for sterling expresions of regard.

The source of the artist's embarrassment wa his knowledge of what had happened between himself and the lost Doretta of what had thus far been, as he supposed, kept secret from all but themselves, yet which he now instinetively divined was known to another. To a close observer and a man of the world it was not difficult to read the face before him even in a momentary flash. Mingled feelings might have been expressed in it, but one thing wa not hard to discern. "Jealous eyes have read our secret," he said to himself; and following quick upon the one thought came another. "Have jealous hands wrecked our happiness!" The suggestion was rejected as soon as it presented itself: but it returned, and in time be came a germ of action.

It was inevitable that the story of Doretta's loss should form the staple of conversation at the Grange, and Darton Rivers did not tire of the recital; but, on the contrary, probed to the utmost, and with a rare sagacity, every minute Did he know that every question,

every fresh expression of deep interest, sent a thrill of pain through the heart of the listening woman whose love for him was rapidly taking the form of hate? If he did he was careless alike of her feelings and of the consequences which might result from wounding them. But in truth he had his own self-absorbing feelings and difficulties, and found it sufficiently hard to struggle against an everincreasing suspicion which filled his breast with the intensest agony. The more he heard the more strongly did he incline to a belief in foul play as the cause of Doretta's protracted absence. The colonel met every suggestion of the kind with the argument of the absence of motive. This the artist admitted was a point for consideration; but it did not appear to present to him the difficulty his host experienced.

It was not until the second day that Isabel found herself alone with the object of her passionate admiration and ever-increasing dislike. She was listlessly tending her flowers in what was known as Isabel's garden-her own little patch of ground which she had looked after even when a child. While she plucked the faded leaves from a standard-rose Darton Rivers strolled towards her.

"Still no news!" he remarked abruptly, afterlifting his hat by way of morning greeting. She shook her head mournfully.

"Every day increases the mystery," he said, "and every day"-he paused-increases also the certainty of its discovery."

"What do you mean?" she asked, startled as much by the tone as by the words, so significantly were they uttered.'

"Simply that time means accumulation of evidence, that means intelligent action, and action must have its results."

Listen to me then." He sunk his voice to a whisper as he spoke. "Two persons know more of this matter than any others in the world. Those persons are-you and I.” She started and grew serious.

"You and I," he repeated; "therefore it is well that there should be no mistake between us on so vital a matter. Let us see then what it is we jointly know. The theory of violence has been met with an alleged absence of motive. Could not you and I suggest a motive strong enough to satisfy most minds? No! Let us

try. You and I have met before, and under circumstances which, it has occurred to me only since I have been here, thinking intently and watching intently, might have led to false impressions. You would set it down to the score of my vanity were I to suggest a suspicion that I had ever been more to you than the merest acquaintance, the veriest agreeable rattle of dinner-table."

She bent her head: but the tears trickled from her long lashes on to the white hands crossed before her. "and

I will risk your scorn," he went on, say confidently that I was not indifferent to you in the moment when you made the discovery that I was your sister's accepted lover. You will deny that you made any such discovery."

"And if I do?" she interposed.

"It does not matter," he replied with assumed indifference; "it will avail you as little as will your denial that your hand tore from your sister's neck this fragment of the broken chain."

He held forth as he spoke a few links of a chain identical in pattern with that found in the park and which had given rise to such grave suspicions. Isabel looked on, dumb with consternation.

What!" cried the young artist bitterly, "you do not deny this?"

'No, no!" she cried, suddenly cowering to his feet, "I cannot deny it, since you have found it hidden in my garden; but do not misconstrue the motives which drove me to conceal it there. I was afraid. Heaven knows I have done Doretta no wrong; but I did snatch the chain from her neck. It broke in my hands. And when the rest was found I trembled to think what construction they might put on it should this portion be found also. Why, they might-they might even say that I had killed her!"

"I dare not interpret the thoughts of other men," he answered solemnly; "but be warned. I have devoted my life to the solution of this mystery."

"O Darton Rivers, I am innocent," was her only reply; "indeed, indeed I am innocent." The artist did not answer, but turning from her quitted the garden.

Was he satisfied with the assurance of innocence he had received? Hardly, yet its apparent sincerity puzzled him, more especially as much that he had assumed as fact in this painful interview was mere surmise. At all events he relied greatly on the terror which a fear of detection might inspire in the event of guilt, and as his stay at the Grange could

to the world. After much difficulty, however, I obtained a clue, and found myself in this village. It was there my good fortune to encounter your child Doretta, from whose lips I received such information as has enabled me to fulfil my mission. Can you not guess what I would add? Simply that the impression produced on me by her beauty and accomplishments was such that I begged of her to permit me to ask her hand of you."

"And her reply?" asked the colonel in astonishment.

"She agreed; but on one condition. 'Free him from the stain, whatever it is, which rests on his name, and you can then ask me of an

part is done, but instead of appealing to you for my reward, I can only ask you to forgive me for having even approached your daughter with overtures of affection without your con It was a fault, and Heaven only knows what evils it may entail."

sent.

Overwhelmed with gratitude for the signal service rendered him, the colonel expressed his

"I now do; I have satisfied myself on that point; but the world did not know it. The world thought, prompted in the idea by the vindictive old lord, that, as your rival in the affections of the lady who afterwards became your wife, you beguiled him to a secret spot and there slew him. It was in fact he who was guilty of the treachery, as is established beyond all doubt by the very letter written to you-preserved by the count among his correspondence-which letter I now place in your hand. It is the vindication of fair fame, and if more were needed here are the very names of the brigands engaged to set upon you should the youth's dagger fail him, which brigands you put to flight."

As he spoke he handed a sealed envelope across the table, amused at the alacrity with which the other seized it and examined its contents.

"But-but how is it that I receive this from your hands?" the colonel asked. "The object of your visit, as I understood, was that you might unfold to me

"Pardon me," the artist interrupted. "I have not yet concluded. In giving you this, I fulfil the dying wishes of the Count Amyott. Now comes my confession, and the reasons of it. The task I undertook in satisfaction of the count's scruples was not an easy one, for the reason that you had so completely buried

cumstances, was a venial fault. This done he pressed the artist to remain his guest a few more days, since, melancholy as was the situa tion of affairs, his avowed affection for his lost child would induce him to take a deep interest in every step taken with a view to her recovery. Darton Rivers declined, but without stating the terrible suspicion which rendered the idea of any further stay under that roof intolerable to him.

To the latest day of his life he was grateful to Heaven that no word of any such suspicion had escaped his lips.

To his inexpressible joy and delight, at the very moment in which the suspicion might have found utterance it was triumphantly and instantaneously dissipated. While they yet clasped hands the sound of voices rose on the air, followed by the trampling of feet. There were cries, followed by the noise of an approaching crowd. There was a shout of triumph and joy: then the gates of the Grange garden thundered open, and as the colonel went forth to seek the cause of all this, a solitary figure burst from the crowd and threw itself upon his breast.

66

Forgive me, O my father, forgive me!" cried a tearful voice, and in the utterance Doretta―agitated and exhausted— Doretta sprang forward and clasped her arms about her father's neck.

A hasty kiss upon her brow, a hot tear upon