The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

R VIL-{Cont'd) 1 muttered: something not tary to the newcomer, Le was ex- 'Humphrey ; whi Joaroely knowing whi away to-coax some red ros from Mr. Murdock, the autoc s- head gardener of Ripstene Hall. i "Well, Derry, my boy, and so your mother is coming down to- 'day?! God bless me, what years . inde I have seen Anne! 'We must + make her as comfortable as we can, yon know, but T am afraid she will find it 'very quiet." "Don't you worry about her; Uncle Humphrey ; rest assured my mother will have the best of every: thing, wherever she may be." 'Darnley spoke dryly, though not unaffectionately ; but Sir Hum: phrey been more observant, 'he must have noticed that there was an air of suppressed excitemsnt about his nephew, and that Mr. Darnley's gray eyes were fixed per- sistently in ope direction. "What are you going to do----meet your mother! Oh! well, I supposs ought to go too. Yes--yes, my boy, I must treat Anne with all due respect, so we had better be off at once; net that way, this is the nearest to the stables." But Derrick Darnley, mutter- ing something about returning: is a moment, rushed dvwn a side path after that slender, blue-robed fig: ure, leaving Bir Humphrey a little amazed, but not wv all enlighten- A few strides brought the: young man up to Nancy's side; he had no chance of speaking to her privates xr for just in front of them stood 'the mighty Mr. Murdock himself. His back was, fortunately, turned to. them, however, and, by a clever movement, Darnley got that red umbrella at a convenient angle. 'Nancy,' he said, in eager haste, "1 mist speak to you when I come back--1 must, my darling! ~I-I cannot wait any longer! Oh! you understand me, my dearest, do you not? Yes, I read it in your eyes-- those exquisite, maddening eyes! I love you--I love you, Nancy, my own, my darling one {'~<and, as the soft, eager wonds died away; he stooped and touched her half-part od lips. "'Meet me by the lower lake this afternoon about seven. "You can slip away from the crowd easily,"' he murmured, in low, ten- 'der tones. 'My love--my darling you 'will not fail me!" Once again his lips pressed hers, and then, before she realized that it was no heavenly dream, he had disappeared, and Mr. Murdock was at her elbow with the roses she re- quired. * * * * % It had been a freak of Dorothy's that she and Nancy should be dressed exactly alike at the tennis . tournament ; and, despite out hero- ine's expostulations and gentle re- sistance, this desire was carried out. The dresses chosen were both of _ Parisian make, being a delicate - shade of pink silk, draped with the finest lawn, and trimmed with Va- lenciennes lace; a large shady hat, with a bunch of the most natural- looking pink roses, was sent to bé worn with each of these dresses, and the two girls also carried the most exquisite 'pink sunshades, 'The 'effect 'was indescribably charming, both to' Dorothy's golden hair and fair loveliness, and Nan: | rick, what a lamentable iquite agree with Lady Humphrey should great thority 'on dress, you kmew.! There was a pretty tinge of pink on Dorothy's ~ cheeks, but Nancy had grown rosy red. Ear She only dimly heard Dorothy, 'talking; her mind was back in the rose garden. dark-gray = eyes, . g, it were, her very soul through her own blue ones. ~ She felt only. the indescribable enthralment . of his presence, his touch on her lips. All else was forgotten--buried in this blissful ectasy. Dorothy's pathetic eagerness to lease her cousin was completely oat. She knew nothing, saw no- thing, heard nothing, but Derry-- Derry's love, his passionate, tender voice, murmuring his words of love in her ear. 'There, noy We are ready. Come along, Nancy; we must go down. 1 have to introduce to! Aunt Anne and everybody. wanted yon to meet her this morning, but I could not find you. What 'did you .do with yourself, pray, mademoiselle 1' 1 'went into the village. I want- éd to see Mrs. Wortley." Nancy's voice was low and hur- ried: it sounded strange in -her-own Sars. "Naughty girl] <I 1 had only known it, what ' 4 scolding you would have had! = No wonder | I thought you leoking pale just 3 And Nancy belied that accusa: tion by blushing deeply. again. And then she followed Dorothy downstairs, and out on the lawn, "And who are these, pray' in: quired Mrs. Darnley of her son, a3 she beheld the two dainty forms ap: proaching. "Don't you recognize Dorothy?" "Ahi 80 it is; but the other?' Mrs. Darnley put up her gold eye- glasses and surveyed Nancy through them carefully. 'Surely, that is not Gladys Leicéster's girl, Derrick EN "That is Miss Hamilton." - 2 Derry said it very hurriedly, but his voice would thrill "Miss Hamilton!" Mrs. Darnley dropped her glass. "My dear. Der- thing! I Merefiold, be confined in a lunatic asylum. Did any one ever heat' of such utter madness? And $0. carry it to this pitchl An un- known girl, coming' from the gut- ter, to be decked out identically with Dorothy, as if she were, in yery truth, her sister! Oh, I must speak to Humphrey without delay 1!" "Do you think it womanly, of just, mother, to condemn an inno- cent girl in this-harsh and unmerci- ful way?! 4 % Mrs. Darnley looked at her son's face with its drawn brows and hot flush of anger. "Humphrey is not: the only mad- man, apparently,' she observed, boldly, and with that she sailed ma jestically away, just as Dorothy and Nancy were apgroaching her. | "Where is Aunt Anne going? 1 want to introduce Nancy to:her," 'reached Mr. She say those two her ; 3 ; well as her lover. If any pre. to insult her, they must a ; meé---even if it be wy own I His eyes went to that, form a8 she stood haughty, 'regal- ly tall and handsome ; he knew that if Anne Darnley leved any ome on earth she loved him; that any. worldly heart, he alone rson; yet. his own Heart m., He thought «1 Nancy, s called his mother's lard, angry face as she discussed what she's pleased to term Bir Humphrey's madness about ths girl.® "There will be a fight, to himself, with half a sigh: must be a fight ; but 1 hall And what if 1 do not? W care! I have my -darling--h is, all I ask; for with her side I can face the world, poverty, hard work; I care nob what 1 And then he roused himself mong: 'the chattering, | girls, all eager. for the ten fray, and paid his court to agers with all his usudl g manner. i The Misses Chester were in ex- uberant spirits, rushing about; clad in scanty. white flannel garments, with extraordinary caps on their heads, and useful, though by no means ornamental, shoes on their! large feet, : : Lady Burton surveyed her pi geny with much maternal pride. "How devoted Losd Merefield to my dear Ella! Do yon observe them?' ' she remarked to M Darnley; totally blind to the f that poor Lord Merefigld 'was bei towed about---there is no other wo tor it--by the energetic (Ella, his face looking as sullen and cloudy as the proverbial thunderstorm, Mrs. © Darnley smiled scarcely concealed sneer: ela "¥t is a pity;'" she said, laconi: cally, "that Merefield has nothin with which 6 support his prous His, father might haye left him at least a pretence of ai income; as it is, he must marry money 1*! ie But Lady Burton wad imperviou! to the broad hint--money or no, a possessed a coronet, and that was everything to her. a "1 suppose we shall see dear 'Crawshaw hore, the rema next; sweeping © the fast-swelli throm, with her eyeglasses in sea of the millionaire, = "© Mra. Darnley 2 | fully. aia san Mamie nee them, {sike ed Ted, a 5 |the road. - HN ¢ ns one, buts ' Tt Is y 3 with a] «8