IS 117770 GINT .

Guy, with his mother. Sir Arthur was Tad

up with the gout. "The visit was not alto- gether a success. Mr. Rawdon was at -home,

and there were no other visitors. He always struck strangers i the light of a surprise. He stood m front of ,(1(1) Pevton, clasping and unclasping his wrist, shuffling his feet, replying in short, jerky sentences to her cfforts at conversation, and calling her S Maam.” Guy, after the first shock, was con- strained and polite: a different man from the pleasant stranger Ellmor had chatted to the ficlds.

She wondered, did he repent having brought his mother to the house. She mmagimed bhitterly the enticisms that would occupy the drive home could she have been present e body, as she was momag- nation, she would scarcely have heen e assured. Guy was moody and silent, and his mother looked at him anxicusly. She had divined something beneath his anxiety

tl at she should call upon tln-s‘v new people. “You had tter go, my dear,” her husband had said : /;\Joo,ooo! and if he should

really take a fancy to the gl and she s presentable ! We want the money badly cnough, goodness knows. In fact, he vivst

marry moncy.” Lady Peyton had not thought it wise to

repeat this adviee to her son: now she was fecling very much put out. The gl was well (n(m“h more than presentable, and showed her g(md sense e her dress. but

the man! What a price to pay for the old

estate !

She turned suddenly to her son after thinking of these things in silence for g quarter of an hour.

“What a man ! 7 she saad, imitablv, Te

15 like some small City clerk on a hundred a

year —a badger !”

“Hce might be worse,” said Guy, ner- vously ““he might be obtrusive.”

“I don't know that 1t would he worse. You would expect a man with nearly hall” o milbon of moncy to be assertive but this creature —one asks, who can he be 2 How did he come by it? He hasn't the brain he

doesn’t Took one m the face - he 1s mean as well as Tow hred 17

It was scldom Lady Peyton spoke with so much vehemence oshe was terribly put out, and she overshot the mark. The following day Guy agan called at IFirholt: rode alone ; he remembered a sugeestion he wished to make to Mr. Rawdon Lll)uut the fishimne. He had thought over the situation @ had weighed and justly appreciated the change in

OV er

[

HONNIL) OU Y.

- -

ON,

the girl which had perplexed himve the day bhefore, and thrown him out. He saw her determimation not to be taken apart from her father, and it turned admiration into a scrious and tender respeet. He felt o chivalrous desire to atone to the givl who so bravely set hersell to cast aside her frivolities and Fieht- heartedness, and fight society with this terrible little man by her side.,

He found Bllinor sitting

under the brown

beeehes on the Tawn, M. Rawdon was not at home, whichy perhaps. was a0 rehiel to cveryone concerned. e was brought out under the trees, and Nrs. Montresor came with her work, Perhaps the threatened destruction of an mtercourse which had

promiscd so much made 1ts renewal sweeter. At any ratey from that afternoon the story of these two people ran with even facility to ats climax. Guy Peyton asked Ellimor to he his wife moaosimple, straaghtforward way about three months after themr first mecting. Tragedy and parting scemed so far removed from their fate, when once the difficulty of her parentage was faced and accepted, that there was no occaston for much protestation. The un- doubtimgness of their Tove made it simple in cxpression 5 they knew that 1t dated from the day they had met by the Tean, and Rollo had cffceted their introduction. bir(}u_\\' and Lady Pevton were forced mto cordiality, for the dower offered by Mr. Rawdon was simply magnificent. The /£ 300,000 proved no dream ;i was sohdly mvested, and he proposcd to scttle almost the entire sum

upon his daughter o her wedding-day, retaimimg only a sufheieney to supply the most simple needs. He also signified his

intention of vacating Firholt for her use. “Perhaps,” he said, gently, “he would visit her oceasionally-— for himscll rooms town would be more to his taste.” e ex- plamed this to Sie Arthur, who felt compelled

to remonstrate, although scerctly he thought the arrangement 1 every way admirable. Lady Pevton was exultant. With N,

Rawdon's withdrawal, the one fatal drawhack to the marrage was removed. But Matthew Rawdon said nothmg of his plans to his daughter.

[t was withim a fxed for the wedding wits oiven at Irholt a nete arrived from Lady Pevton: could [Lihmor find room at the table for a friend, an o American onoa visit to Furope, who had appeared suddenly at the Hall, bringing letters of introduction in’lp()tssil)lc to neglect ?

They were among the last to arrve.

few months of the date that w great dimner At the Iast moment

(..