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OR, THE GIRL IN BLUE OHAPTER XXIII. Reader, 1 must take you still fur-} 'ther into my confidence. What wou have already read is strange, but certain things which subse- quently happened to me were even still stranger. I held that astounding letter ia my hand. My eyes were riveted up- on 1t, The words written there were puzzling indeed. A dozen times I read them through, agape with wonder, - The communication, upon the notepaper of ithe Bath Hotel at Bournemouth, was dated June 4th, 891--five years before--and ran as ollows :-- "Dear Mr. Heaton, I very much regret that you should have thus misunderstood me. I thought when we met at Windermere you were quite of my pinion. You, however, appear to ave grown tired after the five xmonths of our engagement, and ur love for me has suddenly oled; therefore our paths in life must in future lie far apart, You have at 16ast told me the truth hon- estly and straightforwardly. I, of course; believed that = your de- olarations were true, and that you really loved me truly, but alas! it is evidently mot so. I can only suf- fer in silence. (Good-bye for ever. We shall never, never meet again. But I tell you, Wilford, that I bear you no malice, and that my pray- ers will ever be for your welfare snd - your - happiness. ¢ Perhaps, sometimes you will give a passing thought to the sorrowful, heart- broken woman who still loves you. "MABEL ANSON." What could this mean? It spoke of our engagement for five months! I had no knowledge = whatever of ever having declared the secret of seen 'aroused within me a lively .. How incredible 44 1 seemed as in that dimly lib railway- carriage 1 sat gathering from . printed pagés the history of the lost six years of my life! 3 ; The only other occupant. of the compartment besides' myself was a woman. I had sought an empty carriage, but failing to find one, was. :compelled to accept Ler as travelling companion, She: was youngish, perhaps thirty-five, and neatly dressed; but her face, as far as I could distinguish it through her-gpotted veil, was that'of a wo~ man melancholy and howed down by trouble. In her dark hair were premature threads of silver, pnd her déep-sunken eyes; peering forth strangely at me, were the eyes of a woman rendered desperate. I did not like the look of her. In travelling one is quick to entertain an instinctive dislike to one's com- panion, and it was go in my case. I found myself regretting that I bad not entered a smoking-carri- age. But I soon became absorbed iu my papers and forgot her pre- sence. It. was only her voice, a curious" ly high-pitched one, that made me start. She inquired if I minded her closing the window because of the draught, and I at once closed it, responding rather frigidly, I-Be- lieve. But she was in no humor: to allow the conversation to drop, and com- menced to chat with a familiarity that surprised. me. : She noticed how puzzled I be- came, and at length remarked with a laugh-- "You apparently don't recognize me, Mr. Heaton." "No, madam," I answered, taken aback. 'You have certainly the advantage of me." This recognition was startling, for 'my love, much less becoming her |was I not flying to London to es- affianved husband. Was it possible | cape my friends? This woman, Who- that Jn the first few months of my | ever she was, would without doubt uncoascious life I had met hér and | recount her meeting with me. told her of my affection, of how| "It is really very droll," she 1 worshipped her with all the laughed. "I felt sure from the first, strength of my being? when you entered the compartment, As I sat there with the carefully|that you didn't know me," preserved letter in my hand there| «J 'certainly don't know you," I arose before me a vision of her | responded coldly. calm fair face, bending over the| She smiled: "Ahl I expect it's iano, her handsome profile il-imy veil," she said." "But it's real- umined by the candles on either |]y remarkable that you should not side, the single diamond suspended | recognize Joliot, your wife's maid."' by its invisible chain, gleaming atl "You! My wife's maid!' I gasp: her throat like a giant's eye. The led. recognizing in an instant how n impression 1 had obtained, of her| cleverly I had been run to earth. on that night at The Boltons still| ('Yes !" she replied. * urely you remained indelibly with me. ¥es,| recognize me?" and she raised her her heauty was superb, her sweet-| veil "displaying a rather unprepos- fess unsurpassed by that of any| sessing face, dark and tragic, 'as # her woman I had ever met. though full of some hidden sorrow. Among the other private papers! 'y had never seen the woman be- preserved within the wallet were|gore in my life, but instantly T re- "four scraps of notepaper with type-1solved to display nd surprise aad writis.g upon them. ~All bore the|ast with caution. : "game signature--that of the stranger «Ah "of course!' I said lamely. name "Avel."" All of them made}ciThe light here is so bad, you ppointments. One asked me 0 lknow, that I didn't recognize you. meet the writer in the writing-room | And where are you goi 3 Ne ng?' {a of the Hotel Victoria in London; tq, Tondon--to the fsmak nother made an = appointment t0 {gpg 2 © 4 4 . fi 'meet me "on 'the menade at| «Mrs Heaton has sent yon on Eastbourne opposite the Wish Tow-1..a commission, 1 suppose I" 'er;'! a third suggested my office ab] «yag gir? CRE inchester House as a meeting-1 «Vou joined this train gt Exeter, "place, and the fourth gave a ren-isnan PAR ezvous on the departure platform | "#1 Game from Exmouth to Exe. #t, King's Oross Station. ~~ ter, and changed," she explained - sell to Foudering whether | 1 had, "1 'saw you get in at Lympston."' ; 'any of these engage . ot within the. >" Tb ot ro Bors wa dai ag" evident. hak this woman wearing | and venty therefore mo pnomenon th lating Sy