^7^, 
 
 ^^■ 
 
 \J' 
 
 LI B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVLRSITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 8Z3 
 D73r 
 
 v.l

 
 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN
 
 A Romance of 
 LINCOLN'S Inn 
 
 Sarah Doudney 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THROUGH PAIN TO PEACE," "WHERE THE DEW FALLS IN LONDON," 
 
 "where TWO WAYS MEET," " GODIVA DURLEIGH, 
 "A CHILD OF THE PRECINCT," ETC. 
 
 ' And this is an old fairy tale of the heart. 
 It is told in all lands, in a different tongue; 
 Told with tears by the old, heard with smiles by the young. 
 And the tale to each heart unto which it is known 
 Has a different sense. It has puzzled my own." 
 
 •'LociLE," BY Owen Meredith. 
 
 ■Nay," said Sir Dinadan, "for the joy of love is too short, 
 and the sorrow thereof, and what cometh thereof, dureth 
 over long." Morte D'Arthur. 
 
 IN Tt^VO VOLUMES— vol.. I 
 
 Xon^on 1893 
 
 HUTCHINSON & CO. 
 
 34 PATERNOSTER ROW
 
 PRINTED AT NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND) 
 
 DY n. C. A. TIIIEME OF NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND) 
 
 AND 
 
 TALBOT HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET 
 
 LONDON, W.C.
 
 V. 1 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE FIRST MEETING I 
 
 II. MR. cottrell's secretary 1 6 
 
 III. THE SECOND MEETING 34 
 
 IV. LOVERS 47 
 
 V. INVITED TO HARTSIDE 6o 
 
 VI, INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY 74t 
 
 VII. TALKING IT OVER 89 
 
 VIII. A LOVE GIFT 98 
 
 IX. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ....... Ill 
 
 X. A TIFF 128 
 
 XI. DEADLY PERIL I4I 
 
 XII. ROSEDOWN 156 
 
 .. XIII. CHATTERING 168 
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN 1 79 
 
 "THE DARK LADYE " I93 
 
 IN PARK LANE 208 
 
 SHADOWS 220 
 
 XVIII. THE CRYSTAL 2^,2
 
 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PTRST MEETING. 
 
 " Behold her there, 
 As I beheld her ere she knew my heart, 
 My first last love; the idol of my youth." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 It was half past ten o'clock on a Sunday 
 morning in July — a smiling, old-fashioned July, 
 bringing the rustle of the good green-wood to 
 the feverish heart of London. There was such 
 a whispering of leaves, and quivering of shadows, 
 in the quiet precincts of Lincoln's Inn that 
 Mayne Comberford, stepping out of a house in 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 2 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 New Square, could hardly believe that his country 
 home was many a mile away. 
 
 "Here she comes," he said to himself. 
 
 The square was as still as if an eternal 
 Sabbath had reigned there for ages. Only three 
 persons were to be seen, a young lady and two 
 children, who had just entered the enclosure 
 from Lincoln's Inn Fields. They were walking 
 slowly; the girl, with a child on her right and 
 left, carried her sunshade with rather a languid 
 air, and glanced about her with the manner of 
 one who took but a faint interest in her sur- 
 roundings. The children, a boy and girl, seemed 
 to have been laid under a spell of quietness. 
 
 But there was, apparently, something in the 
 aspect of this indifferent young woman which 
 made Mayne Comberford quicken his steps. 
 As he drew nearer to her the little boy's tongue 
 was suddenly unloosed; he opened a pair of 
 blue eyes very widely, and began to speak with 
 a queer contortion of his rosy face.
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. , 
 
 "Loo-loo-loo-look " he stuttered, and 
 
 was immediately silenced by the girl's sweet voice. 
 
 "Be quiet, Robby. You must not speak at 
 
 all unless you speak slowly. Never bein ahurry. " 
 
 "B— b— b— but " 
 
 "Naughty boy," came from the smart little 
 miss on the other side of the governess. 
 
 "Hush, Louie, I won't allow you to scold 
 him," said that dignified young person with 
 great decision. "Ah,— Mr. Comberford .? " 
 
 He had lifted his hat, and was standing before 
 her with a deferential look. How wonderfully 
 pretty she was! Angela's description had not 
 prepared him for anything as lovely as this; 
 but then Angela, poor girl, had never possessed 
 the power of describing beauty. 
 
 And, indeed, how could mere words do 
 justice to this soft, brown-tinted face, or give 
 the faintest idea of the deep brown eyes, richly 
 fringed with black lashes? At nineteen Nelly 
 Stanley looked the girl that she was; her lithe
 
 4 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 figure showed to perfection in a plain suit of 
 pale grey; her dark hair curled rebelliously 
 under a tiny bonnet adorned with one scarlet 
 flower ; she had never been dressed more simply 
 even in her school-days. 
 
 " It is a great pleasure to meet you at last, 
 Miss Stanley," said the young man, with a certain 
 old-world courtesy which sat very well upon 
 him. She looked up into the honest blue eyes 
 which met hers frankly, yet gravely. 
 
 "Angela used to speak of you very often," 
 she said softly, her bright-red Hps trembling a 
 little. 
 
 "Yes," he answered, "she gave me more 
 love than I deserved. And I miss her more 
 than words can tell." 
 
 "I shall never cease to miss her," Nelly re- 
 marked, in a low voice. " People laugh at the 
 friendships of school-girls, but they don't realize 
 that such friendships may influence one's life-time. 
 Angela was so good — so unselfish."
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 5 
 
 "Too unselfish," he replied. "She was afraid 
 of giving pain to those around her, and would 
 not let us know how ill she was." 
 
 " It was just like her always : she never com- 
 plained. I want to hear all about those last days, 
 Mr. Comberford," said Nelly, in a soft, pleading 
 tone. " We will go into the gardens, and sit 
 down for a little while under the trees." 
 
 The children, who had been Hstening to the 
 conversation with all their might, now ran on 
 ahead, and turned in at the gate which opened 
 on the broad gravelled walk. Long afterwards, 
 amid other scenes and under other skies, Mayne 
 Comberford recalled the aspect of these gardens 
 on this quiet Sunday morning. The stillness 
 was intense; stately walls and towers were 
 wrapped in a sunshiny calm ; a flock of pigeons, 
 alighting on the gravel as softly as a fall of 
 snow flakes, scattered themselves over the granite 
 steps leading up to the Hall; spaces of green 
 sward were chequered delicately with shadow pat-
 
 6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 terns of the boughs overhead. It was a sweet 
 silent place, almost as peaceful now as in the 
 days when Ben Jonson sang its praises, and Isaac 
 Bickerstaff paced its walks in tranquil meditation. 
 
 They sat down on a bench under the shade 
 of the trees. The delicious murmur of the 
 summer foliage was over their heads, and the 
 quietness of the spot enfolded them in its cloister- 
 hke seclusion. Robby and his sister were watch- 
 ing the pigeons a little way off; and these two, 
 who had met to-day for the first time, were 
 left alone. 
 
 There was a moment of silence in which 
 Mayne Comberford looked earnestly at the face 
 by his side. He noted the " down falling eyelids, 
 full of dreams and slumber," and the brown 
 glow shining under "the shade perpetual" of 
 the jet-black lashes. Everything about this girl 
 was dainty and refined; every feature was 
 delicately moulded; the bloom on the smooth , 
 cheek was as rich and soft as the colouring
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 7 
 
 of a chestnut-blossom. What sweet possibilities, 
 half hidden, half revealed, one could find in 
 this rare face! In that brief, silent moment 
 Mayne felt the first heart-throb of the great 
 feeling which was to shape and dominate his 
 future life. 
 
 " I had a note from Angela, about a fortnight 
 before she died," said Nelly, in her sad, sweet 
 voice. "The handwriting was faint, and she 
 wrote in pencil. She was a little weak, — a 
 little tired, — she said; but her strength would 
 come back with the summer. I did not even 
 dream that the end was near ! " 
 
 "If I had known," Mayne spoke under his 
 breath, "I should never have left her for an 
 hour ! But I went out one morning, and came 
 back at night to find her dying." 
 
 "And she told you to write to me?" Nelly 
 half-whispered. 
 
 "Yes." He looked away across the sunlit 
 sward. "It was just at the very last. I saw
 
 8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 her lips moving, and bent over her to catch 
 the words, — 'write to Nelly, — my love.' I 
 promised, and then she smiled, and was still." 
 
 There was another pause. Mayne did not 
 glance at his companion, but he heard her 
 quick breathing. Just then Robby, bursting with 
 a grievance, came running up to the silent 
 couple on the bench. 
 
 "Lou — Lou — Lou — " he began, and then 
 stopped short with staring blue eyes, and rosy 
 mouth open. " Wh — wh — what have you 
 m — m — made her cry for.^" he demanded of 
 Mayne in a stuttering passion, shaking a stout 
 little fist in the young fellow's face. 
 
 " She — she — she cried of her own accord," said 
 Mayne, with great earnestness. " It's n — n — no 
 fault of mine." , 
 
 " Why — you — stutter — as — bad — as — me ! " 
 remarked Robby, bringing out his words with 
 unusual deliberation. " You should never speak 
 in a hurry, you know."
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 9 
 
 "I don't often," answered Mayne gravely. 
 " But I can't help it when I'm agitated. You see, 
 you upset me dreadfully." 
 
 Robby had gone close to Nelly, and was 
 resting one hand oh her shoulder. There was 
 something protecting in the attitude of this sturdy 
 little man in knickerbockers, something chivalrous 
 and true in the blue eyes, that went to Mayne's 
 heart. 
 
 The girl looked up at her small champion 
 with a smile, although the tears were trembling 
 on her long lashes. * 
 
 "Pm all right, Robby," she said. "Don't 
 be concerned ; Mr. Comberford has been telling 
 me about a dear friend of mine who is dead." 
 
 "About Miss Angela Comberford?" asked 
 Louie, with an inquisitive look. She had joined 
 the group under the trees. 
 
 "Yes; this is Mr. Comberford, her brother. 
 Louie, it must be nearly eleven o'clock; don't 
 get hot and flushed before you go into chapel."
 
 lO A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 "My cheeks feel quite cool," returned the 
 little girl, patting them with a self-satisfied air. 
 " Robby, the big pigeon's come back again ; I 
 got quite close to it a minute ago." 
 
 Having assured himself that no harm was 
 likely to befall his governess, Robby started off 
 to inspect the big pigeon; and Mayne and 
 Nelly were alone once more. 
 
 "Angela told me that you were happy with 
 the Camdens," he said. "And it is clear that 
 you have won the children's hearts; — well, 
 that bonny little fellow is worth winning." 
 
 " The world would feel very cold and empty 
 without Robby," admitted Nelly, with a sigh. 
 "A girl in my position cannot expect to make 
 many friends. I have not a single relation ; I 
 do not even know if my name is my own. 
 Did Angela tell you my story ? " 
 
 " She said that you were an adopted child, " 
 Mayne repHed. "But she did not enter into 
 details. Your history mattered very little to
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. I i 
 
 her; she loved you, simply and entirely, for 
 your own sake." 
 
 "And I loved her ; I can never, never say 
 how well I loved her ! " 
 
 Her beautiful face, uplifted to his, was 
 glorious with the light of an intense feeling. 
 For a second she was transfigured ; the girl had 
 suddenly become a noble woman, with truth 
 and devotion shining in her brown eyes. His 
 heart began to throb fast again ; he was not yet 
 in love, perhaps, but very near it, for he was 
 actually saying to himself that he had found hii? 
 Ideal. 
 
 The chapel bell sounded at that moment, 
 breaking upon the sweet calm of the morning, and 
 coming with a brazen clash on the brain. Nelly 
 rose at once; the half-hour under the trees was 
 at an end. 
 
 " What a brute of a bell ! " said Mayne, in a 
 tone of savage disgust. 
 
 " It was taken by the Earl of Essex at Cadiz,
 
 12 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 and I wish, with all my heart, that he had 
 left it there!" cried Nelly fervently. "Is there 
 anything more that you want to know about 
 Lincoln's Inn ? I am as good as a guide-book. 
 All the Camdens are of the law, legal; and I 
 have to instruct Louie and Robby in the history 
 of the place." 
 
 " My head won't stand any more at present, 
 thank you," confessed Mayne, as they passed 
 out of the gardens. " We part here ; but you 
 will tell me when I may call on you?" he 
 added, in a voice of entreaty. 
 
 " Yes, I will write, " she said, giving him her 
 hand. 
 
 He stood and watched her slender grey figure 
 until she had vanished into the chapel with her 
 two charges. Then he followed, and a dignified 
 verger was gracious enough to put him into 
 one of the carved oaken pews, not far from 
 Nelly. 
 
 Perhaps he was in an impressionable mood
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 1 3 
 
 that morning ; certain it is that he found himself 
 quieted and subdued by the spell that was cast 
 over him here. The colours of the rich stained 
 windows ("those harmless, goodly windows" 
 for which Archbishop Laud had trembled in 
 his day,) rested the eye, and filled the place 
 with a softened glow. And then came mellow 
 orean-notes and sweet choral voices which 
 seemed to answer Milton's prayer, and "keep 
 in tune with heaven." 
 
 Mayne could see Nelly, standing up in one 
 of the chancel pews set apart for the barristers; 
 with Robby's fair curly head at her elbow. He 
 was in a dream, and the light that surrounded 
 her face was like dream-light, soft and dim. 
 The voice of the preacher, reading the first lesson 
 for the day, arrested his wandering thoughts, 
 compelling him to listen; and that clear tone 
 drew his attention to the words that were 
 destined to echo in his heart through years to 
 come.
 
 14 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " I am distressed for thee, my brother Jona- 
 than ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me ; 
 thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love 
 of women. " 
 
 What should David, the passionate Eastern 
 king, Icnow of the love of women? Through 
 Mayne's fancy there trooped a shadowy proces- 
 sion ; Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, and that Bath- 
 sheba who was won by a grievous sin, — these 
 and others, a band of phantoms, toys of the 
 warrior monarch of Israel. And then he looked 
 again at the sweet face which he had seen 
 to-day for the first time. 
 
 Could anything pass the love of such a 
 woman as he believed her to be? He recalled 
 her voice and eyes when she had expressed 
 such pure devotion to the dead Angela, her 
 school-friend. If she had loved his sister so 
 well, how deep and strong would be another 
 kind of love when once awakened in her heart. 
 And if he were fated to win so rich a boon
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 1 5 
 
 how safely he might trust in her, knowing no 
 fear of change or falseness or decay ! 
 
 When the service was over he went out 
 of the dim chapel into the blazing sunshine, 
 returning to his silent room. From the window he 
 looked down upon the empty square, the sunlit 
 buildings with their varying lights and shades, 
 the pigeons with their soft grey plumage. Surely 
 there was romance in the very atmosphere of 
 this quaint old place, and he was thrilled with a 
 sense of coming delight. 
 
 Yet it was strange how those words haunted 
 him ; they rang in his ears with a mournful 
 cadence, borrowed from the preacher's tuneful 
 voice: — "passing the love of women."
 
 1 6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 MR. COTTRELL's secretary. 
 
 With thy hands go and do thy duty, 
 And thy work will clear thine eyes, 
 
 George Macdonald. 
 
 Seabert Laurice was a barrister who occupied 
 rooms in a corner house in New Square, — the 
 corner that is near the chapel. It was a house 
 that was sure to attract the notice of the few 
 sight-seers who ever strayed into these deep 
 solitudes. Scarlet geraniums brightened the 
 httle bit of ground in front ; and the branches 
 of a fig-tree clung to the old wall, and framed the 
 windows with broad green leaves. 
 
 Laurice had gone away on Saturday, and was 
 expected to return on Monday. Mayne Com- 
 berford was the barrister's guest; and as he sat 
 at breakfast in the empty room on Monday 
 morning, he missed his friend.
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S secretary. 17 
 
 Mayne was still a very young fellow, and 
 youth longs to pour out its experiences to 
 friendly ears. There were a hundred things 
 that he wanted to talk about. It was pleasant 
 to think that Laurice would come home in the 
 evening, and then all his affairs could be discussed 
 over a quiet pipe. 
 
 First of all he desired to make it plain that 
 old Cottrell was a trump, — a little mad, possibly, 
 but a trump for all that. 
 
 Old Cottrell was Mayne' s godfather, and 
 nothing generous had ever been expected of 
 him since Mayne's infancy. On the christening 
 day he had presented his godson with a highly 
 deceptive morocco case, which caused the heart 
 of the proud mother to beat with hope. When 
 the case was opened, its contents were surveyed 
 at first with eyes well-pleased ; but on a closer 
 inspection the fork and spoon, embedded so 
 regally in purple velvet, were found to be 
 plated. 
 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 1 8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Years passed away; the baby, who had been 
 SO blissfully unconscious of that early insult, 
 grew up to be a fine boy, and was even heard 
 to say that old Cottrell was not half a bad 
 fellow. But Mrs. Comberford could not forgive 
 the base deception which had been practised 
 upon her. Women never forget these things; 
 — especially good women of the motherly sort; 
 — and Mayne's mother preserved the morocco 
 case in a drawer, opening it three or four 
 times a year to keep her resentment warm. 
 
 Other years came and went, and sorrow 
 entered the pleasant old home among the Sussex 
 downs. 
 
 Mayne, the only son, and heir of the 
 Comberford estate, had been brought up with 
 the notion that he was to be a country squire, 
 and live as his father and grandfather had lived 
 before him. But the merry days of Sir Roger 
 de Coverley will never return to the sadder and 
 wiser children of this generation ; and Mayne's
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S SECRETARY. 19 
 
 hopes and dreams were shut up between the 
 brown covers of the old Spectator. Nowadays, 
 when he opens those musty volumes, he recalls 
 a vision of the enthusiastic boy who believed 
 himself destined to be a reviver of the past. 
 
 " ' T were long to tell, and vain to hear " how 
 Mr. Comberford's money had taken wings and 
 fled away. He had never been a rich man, to 
 begin with. Smarting under sundry agricultural 
 disappointments, he had begun to dabble in 
 stocks and shares ; and then, just after Angela's 
 death, there came the inevitable result of rash 
 investments. 
 
 The eldest daughter was gone; but there 
 were four little girls to be educated and provided 
 for; and the dear old house must be kept over 
 their heads. It was not a mansion, but simply 
 a country home, hallowed by sacred associations, 
 and built in the substantial fashion of bygone 
 days. If the Comberfords had left it, and gone 
 elsewhere, they could hardly have found a
 
 20 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 cheaper dwelling-place ; it was best to stay on 
 in the old spot, among the people who knew 
 and loved them, and the friends who would 
 not sneer at their economy. They had the 
 courage to say — " we are poorer than we were 
 once;" — and this is the kind of courage that 
 seldom fails to win respect, even in a cynical 
 world. 
 
 At two-and-twenty Mayne suddenly woke up 
 to the consciousness that he must earn some 
 money. But how? Wild thoughts of turning 
 into a sort of Buffalo Bill floated through his 
 brain ; he rode quite well enough to be a cow- 
 boy, he said to himself But this idea did not 
 find favour with his father and mother; and 
 it was a relief to every one in the house when 
 old Cottrell wrote to say that he was coming. 
 
 Old Cottrell was acquainted with the family 
 misfortunes, and they all felt sure that he had 
 a plan for his godson. 
 
 They were right. Mr. Cottrell had a plan.
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S secretary, 2 1 
 
 He was an extraordinar}^ old man ; but he really 
 had a liking for Mayne. 
 
 The guest-chamber in the old house was 
 prepared for his use, and even Mrs. Comberford 
 was ready with a warm welcome. He explained 
 the purpose of his visit on the very first evening 
 after his arrival, and strengthened the family 
 conviction that he was mad, — quite mad. But, 
 as his hostess remarked confidentially to her 
 husband, it was a providential madness so far 
 as Mayne was concerned. • 
 
 Mr. Cottrell was a barrister ; but he had 
 never held a brief, and had devoted himself, 
 all his life, to literary pursuits, — fruitless labours, 
 as his friends were accustomed to say. And 
 now that he was well stricken in years his 
 health was as sound as ever, but his sight was 
 beginning to fail. He wanted an intelligent 
 secretary to prepare his manuscripts for the 
 press ; write and answer letters, and bear him 
 company in his lonely hours. He was engaged
 
 22 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 in writing an exhaustive work on the occult 
 sciences. 
 
 "I have given up my house in Kensing- 
 ton," he said. "Now that my daughter has 
 married and gone to India, I have no need 
 of a house. So I shall go back to my old 
 chambers in Lincoln's Inn Fields which chance 
 to be vacant. You shall have two hundred a 
 year, Mayne, if you will come to live with me. " 
 
 The offer was readily accepted. As Mayne 
 said to his parents, it might prove to be a step- 
 ping-stone to something better. Mr. Cottrell had 
 arranged to spend August at the seaside ; but 
 he requested his godson to go up to town in 
 July, to inspect the chambers in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields, and see that all his instructions to the 
 workmen were duly carried out. The rooms 
 were out of repair; Mr. Cottrell was a fidgety 
 man, determined that his wishes should be 
 scrupulously regarded ; — and there was a good 
 deal to be done.
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S secretary. 23 
 
 Mayne at once decided to go to Seabert Lau- 
 rice for a day or two. He was not too much 
 occupied with his own affairs to remember the 
 last injunctions of his sister Angela concerning 
 her school-friend. It was in the early summer 
 that Angela had passed away, and every word 
 of hers was still fresh in the hearts of those 
 who had loved her. 
 
 "You know, mother, one doesn't expect 
 to meet any one but a very ordinary school-girl, " 
 he had said to Mrs. Comberford. " Our Angela, 
 in her goodness of heart, always turned her 
 geese into swans. But this poor little thing is 
 alone in the world, and I shouldn't feel comfort- 
 able if I didn't see her, and give her the books 
 and things that Angela wanted her to have." 
 
 "See her by all means," Mrs. Comberford 
 replied. "My dear girl was devoted to her. 
 The romantic attachment used to amuse me 
 sometimes," added the poor mother with tears 
 in her eyes. "But it seems sacred now."
 
 24 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 So Mayne wrote from Lincoln's Inn on 
 Friday, asking when he might have the pleas- 
 ure of calling on Miss Stanley ? And Miss 
 Stanley informed him, by return of post, that 
 she was coming to the chapel with her pupils 
 on Sunday morning. 
 
 She came, she was seen, and she conquered. 
 
 It had struck those friends, who knew him 
 best, as strange that Mayne's highly-imaginative 
 spirit had not hurried him into many love- 
 affairs. But he had evolved for himself an 
 ideal ; none of the pretty girls of his acquaint- 
 ance had ever lured him away from his shadow- 
 worship ; and he had scarcely even felt such 
 touches as "are but embassies of love." And 
 now, as he told himself a thousand times, she 
 had come ; the goddess, long dreamed of, and 
 waited for ; the world was a new place, and 
 life had only just begun. 
 
 Is it always thus that the belle passion begins ? 
 Not always ; but Mayne's heart was an empty
 
 MR. COTTRETXS SECRETARY. 25 
 
 shrine ; and Nelly was as much like a divinity 
 as it is possible for a mortal to be. She came 
 surrounded by a halo of romance and tenderness ; 
 and she was, moreover, a most glorious surprise. 
 Poor Angela, in her enthusiastic affection, had 
 made Nelly almost ridiculous in the eyes of the 
 Comberfords ; and had quite failed in convincing 
 them that the wonderful Miss Stanley was at 
 all a remarkable being. They had listened, with 
 quiet smiles of incredulity, to rapturous and 
 vague descriptions of this paragon, and had 
 glanced with good-natured contempt at a very 
 bad photograph of her much praised face. The 
 remembrance of that dreadful portrait had been 
 in Mayne's mind when he had written his first 
 note to his sister's friend. 
 
 But could any portrait, of any beauty of the 
 past or present, be more hideously unlike the 
 original? As Mayne sat at his solitary breakfast 
 he suddenly bethought him of the "carte" 
 which he had carelessly slipped into his pocket-
 
 2b A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 book. He took it out, gazed at it with 
 mutterings of irrepressible disgust, and then fell 
 to wondering if there lived an artist capable of 
 doing justice to Nelly's loveliness? 
 
 Angela had been right after all. The poor 
 dead girl, whose opinions had always been 
 lovingly slighted in her family circle, was not 
 the affectionate noodle that her friends beUeved 
 her to be. With keen self-reproach, Mayne 
 recalled the good-natured sarcasms which he 
 had levelled at his gentle, impressionable sister 
 in days gone by. He wished that she could 
 come back, if only for an hour, to hear his 
 praises of her idol. No hstener could be half 
 as patient and sympathetic as Angela; how 
 strangely he had undervalued her good qualities 
 when they had been always together! 
 
 Well, Seabert would be at home to-night; 
 and he could talk to Seabert, who was really 
 the best fellow he had ever known. Meantime 
 there was a good deal to be done; and if he
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S secretary. 27 
 
 was to do his godfather's bidding he must not 
 sit dawdling over cold coffee and bacon. 
 
 Two hundred a year ! It would be far too 
 small an income for a man to marry upon ; 
 although that idiotic little curate, in the Sussex 
 village, had married on a hundred and fifty. 
 The foolishness of curates was inconceivable; 
 but at this moment Mayne was distinctly conscious 
 that he viewed their reckless folly in a new and 
 kindly light. 
 
 Out of doors there was the broad sunshine gf 
 July, tempered by the softest of summer breezes. 
 The quiet square began to show faint signs of 
 life. Mayne went out through the stately gate- 
 way into Lincoln's Inn Fields, and heard the 
 music of many leaves as the light wind stirred 
 the old trees. Workmen were busy about the 
 large house which was to be old Cottrell's home ; 
 a ladder was planted against the wall ; paint- 
 pots stood upon the doorsteps. Mayne 
 entered at the open door, and ran lightly up
 
 28 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 a flight of stone stairs to inspect the chambers. 
 
 Mr. Cottrell had taken four rooms on the first 
 floor. The dining-room, spacious and lofty, 
 had a bay window overlooking Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields; the walls were covered with a sunny 
 paper. A door opened into the study, which 
 was nearly as large, but far less cheerful. Yet 
 it was in this sombre room that Mr. Cottrell 
 meant to spend the greater part of his time; 
 here he would sit with his books and manuscripts ; 
 and here Mayne was to work quietly with the 
 old man, hour after hour, while the great world 
 went its noisy way out of doors, and people 
 laughed and wept, quarrelled and loved. 
 
 At that moment the young fellow's heart 
 suddenly sank within him ; and he was more than 
 half inclined to call himself a fool. Had he 
 not taken up work for which he was not fit? 
 He began to fear that the hours spent in this 
 dim room would be almost intolerable. It seemed 
 to him that he could not grow accustomed to
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S secretary. 29 
 
 his drudgery; he could work conscientiously, 
 but never put his heart into it. He had been 
 born and bred in the country; like old Douglas 
 he " loved better to hear the lark sing, than the 
 mouse squeak " ; and yet he had voluntarily 
 accepted such a life as this. 
 
 But then came second thoughts. He recalled 
 his feeling of despair when the knowledge of 
 his altered fortunes had come to him first. 
 How grateful he had felt to old Cottrell for 
 opening a door into the realm of toil and 
 independence ! • 
 
 It was better to fag away at an uncongenial 
 task than to stay at home, eating the bread of 
 idleness, and using up the small portion set 
 aside for his mother and the girls. They w^ould 
 never have told him to go, — those good people 
 at the old house ; — they would never, by look 
 or by word have reproached him for staying. 
 But his own manly spirit had told him the right 
 thing to do; and he would do it at any cost.
 
 30 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Sometimes when people go forth into the 
 wilderness to seek their bread, they find honey 
 to make it sweet. Sometimes when the path 
 of duty leads across a waste, the strange land 
 blooms with unexpected flowers. Coming up 
 to town to do old Cottrell's bidding, Mayne 
 had found one blossom rich enough to brighten 
 a desert. Nelly was in London ; the very thought 
 of her was as a glimpse of paradise. 
 
 Not far away, that same morning, a conver- 
 sation was going on which would have interested 
 young Comberford. 
 
 The scene was a room upstairs in one of the 
 largest houses in Russell Square. Lady Florence 
 Camden, a woman of seven and forty, well 
 preserved, and of an aristocratic type, leant back 
 in an easy-chair, lazily looking over some letters. 
 Nelly Stanley, standing near the toilet-table, in 
 an unembarrassed attitude, had just answered 
 her question. 
 
 " If Louie had not spoken I should have told
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S SECRETARY. 3 1 
 
 you everything, as I always do, Lady Florence," 
 said the girl, in her musical voice. " When 
 Mr. Comberford wrote to say that he wanted 
 to see me, I let him know that I was going 
 to the chapel on Sunday morning." 
 
 " But why couldn't he have called here, 
 child?" her ladyship demanded. "What was 
 the good of a mysterious assignation with a 
 man you had never seen?" 
 
 " It was because I had never seen him that 
 I made the assignation." Nelly smiled, and 
 flushed slightly. " I did not know whether he 
 would be presentable. As he was poor dear 
 Angela's brother I rather expected him to be 
 of the bumpkin type.. And yet I wished to see 
 him for her sake." 
 
 " There is nothing of the bumpkin about him 
 if one can believe Louie's description. That 
 little monkey is getting too precocious," Lady 
 Florence remarked. 
 
 " A great deal too precocious, " Nelly assented.
 
 32 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " But she is right about Mr. Comberford. He 
 is a gentleman." 
 
 " Good-looking, I suppose ! " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And he is coming to live in London?" 
 
 " Yes. He will act as secretary to his god- 
 father, a Mr. Cottrell." 
 
 " Do you mean Sylvester Cottrell, the man who 
 writes books on magic?" 
 
 "Yes," answered Nelly again. 
 
 "Let me see," said Lady Florence, lifting her 
 blue eyes to the governess, and surveying her with 
 a thoughtful air. "There were some Comber- 
 fords at a place in Sussex. My brother Percy 
 used to go there for the shooting sometimes. 
 Are they your Comberfords, I wonder?" 
 
 " Perhaps they are. Angela's people have lived 
 at Hartside for generations." 
 
 " Hartside ; yes. Percy was quite enthusiastic 
 about the scenery, and he liked the old house. 
 Of course Mr. Comberford will want to see you
 
 MR. COTTRELL'S SECRETARY. 33 
 
 again for his sister's sake." Lady Florence smiled 
 demurely. " Let him come, and give him tea in 
 the orthodox way. And do look after Louie, and 
 snub her now and then. If you find her quite 
 irrepressible send her to me." 
 
 She returned to her letters; and Nelly, with 
 a slower step than usual, went down to the school- 
 room. The lecture from Lady Florence, which 
 she had expected and was prepared for, had 
 passed off pleasantly enough. Nothing had been 
 said to irritate the governess, who was well known 
 to be a favourite with the most important 
 member of the household. And yet any one 
 who had seen the soft glow which overspread 
 Nelly's face would have thought that she was 
 strangely agitated. 
 
 But it was not of Lady Florence that the 
 girl was thinking as she went down the wide 
 staircase. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 34 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 
 
 She walks in beauty, like the night 
 Of cloudless climes and starry skies. 
 
 Byron. 
 
 As Nelly had said, the Camdens were a legal 
 race; Lady Camden, the nominal mistress of 
 the house in Russell Square, was the widow 
 of a well-known judge. Giffard, her eldest son 
 and a successful barrister, had married Lady 
 Florence Layter, daughter of the Earl of Ether- 
 leigh. Percy, the second son, was a judge in 
 India; and, having lost his wife, had sent his 
 two children home to his mother. It was Lady 
 Florence who looked after the little ones and 
 engaged their governess; and in short every 
 one who knew the Camdens could see at a
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 35 
 
 glance that it was Lady Florence who governed 
 the whole family. 
 
 How did she do it? She had a quiet, 
 half-lazy manner which gave people the idea 
 that she was a woman of no resolution at all. 
 She did not look as if she could domineer over 
 anybody ; her tall, slender figure was as flexible 
 as ribbon-grass; her face was a long oval, 
 delicately-featured; her eyes were so long and 
 so narrow that you only saw a line of bright 
 blue when you met their gaze. Her dark- 
 brown hair was still plentiful, and but slightly 
 grey; she made no effort to appear younger 
 than she really was, but you felt instinctively 
 that she would grow old slowly, and with a 
 grace peculiar to herself 
 
 No one wondered that the handsome barrister 
 had married a woman who was seven years 
 older than himself Lady Florence had willed 
 that he should fall in love with her, and he did. 
 
 She had never been a beauty; but she had
 
 36 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 always possessed the indescribable power of 
 swaying the hearts and influencing the minds 
 around her. Giffard Camden never knew that 
 she had drawn him to her with invisible threads 
 that were stronger than steel; he firmly believed 
 that he had fallen in love with her of his own 
 accord. They had been married eight years, 
 and her influence still dominated his life; her 
 grace and refinement charmed him still. 
 
 When a new governess was wanted for 
 Percy's children, Lady Florence went to a 
 well-known ladies' college and consulted the 
 principal. Nelly Stanley was warmly recom- 
 mended ; and Lady Florence was glad to secure 
 a bright girl, fresh from the school-room. 
 Moreover Nelly's beauty pleased her, and Nelly's 
 friendlessness excited her compassion. 
 
 The children took kindly to Miss Stanley at 
 once. She was clever, and had a way of making 
 lessons agreeable. Giffard Camden congratulated 
 his wife on having selected such a pleasant and
 
 THE SECOND MEEriNG. 37 
 
 capable young person. But Miss Camden, the 
 maideA aunt who lived in Woburn Square, 
 suggested that it was dangerous to have such 
 a pretty girl in the house. 
 
 " What mischief will she do ? " inquired Lady 
 Florence languidly. 
 
 " Well, my dear, it is difficult to say ; " Miss 
 Camden replied. " But she is so very pretty, 
 you know. " 
 
 "I do know it, and I am glad of it, 
 Aunt Margery. If we want to keep young, 
 we must surround ourselves with youth and 
 beauty. Do you wish me to be like Rachel 
 Esmond? I have always thought her one of 
 the most detestable creatures in fiction. Don't 
 you remember the ugly set of servants at 
 Castlewood? The housekeeper was old; my 
 lady's own waiting-woman squinted, and was 
 marked with small-pox. It has sometimes seemed 
 to me that Rachel courted all her misfortunes." 
 
 Miss Camden shook her head and declared
 
 38 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 that it was quite impossible to argue with 
 Florence. But as time went on, and no harm 
 came of Nelly's presence in the house, the 
 anxious spinster became accustomed to her 
 beauty, and even vouchsafed her a smile now 
 and then. 
 
 A year had glided peacefully away in Russell 
 Square, and Miss Stanley had not troubled the 
 Camdens with any romantic adventures. Mrs. 
 Camden approved of her in a cold and stately 
 fashion ; Lady Florence treated her with frank 
 goodwill; Louie liked her, and Robby adored 
 her. No young governess ever had easier 
 duties or a happier home. Nelly was by no 
 means ungrateful for all the good things that 
 fell to her lot; she had a healthy appetite and 
 slept soundly at nights ; and yet she was distinctly 
 conscious that life must have something better 
 in store for her than this. She wanted something 
 to happen ; she was tired of unbroken peace ; 
 but she had never candidly confessed to herself
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 39 
 
 that she was expecting a lover. Still, she was 
 
 sure that he could not be very long in coming; 
 
 "Somewhere or other, may be far or near, 
 With just a wall, a hedge between," 
 
 he was waiting for the moment which should 
 
 bring him to the queen of his heart. 
 
 There were those who could have told her 
 that sometimes the wall never crumbles away, 
 and the hedge is never broken through. Two 
 hearts, who might have met and mingled, may 
 wait through a life-time with the barrier between 
 them ; and each is bitterly conscious of all that 
 might have been. 
 
 Lady Florence was the only person in the 
 household who suspected Nelly of mental rest- 
 lessness. She knew that the girl was waiting 
 for her "hereafter," and smiled to herself. 
 
 No one knew better than Lady Florence that 
 the "hereafter," when we come to it, bears 
 only a fleeting resemblance to the golden land 
 which we have seen in our dreams. She had
 
 40 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 trained herself through long years of self-study, 
 and could have told precisely the day and hour 
 at which she had won the victory over early 
 emotions. But she still felt a good-natured pity 
 for one whose feet were on the borders of the 
 Enchanted Ground. 
 
 She watched Nelly closely, and saw certain 
 signs that foretold the beginning of a romance. 
 The note to young Comberford was written 
 and despatched ; and on a Thursday afternoon he 
 presented himself in Russell Square. 
 
 He found Nelly in a pretty little apartment 
 known as the breakfast-room, although break- 
 fast was very seldom taken there. After he had 
 talked to her for ten minutes. Lady Florence 
 glided in, and soon discovered that he belonged 
 sufficiently to her world to make it pleasant to 
 chat with him. She liked the young man at 
 once. He was tall and well set up, and had 
 a clear-cut English face with deep blue eyes 
 that were beautiful. Of course she saw that he
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 4 1 
 
 had fallen under the spell of Nelly's beauty ; 
 and having made his acquaintance she glided 
 away, as softly as she had come; and he was 
 alone with his divinity. 
 
 Nelly was very bright and unaffected. There 
 were real tears in her eyes when he gave her a 
 little pearl locket which had belonged to Angela. 
 
 "She wished you to have it," he said. 
 
 " I have seen her wear it a hundred times. 
 It reminds me of the dear old days," she 
 answered. "If I had only known that I should 
 never meet her again, I should have asked her 
 many questions ! Our last hours were wasted 
 in school-girls' talk. I wish I could have them 
 over again." 
 
 "That's a very old wish, I fancy," Mayne 
 said thoughtfully. " But if you could have those 
 hours over again I don't think you would say 
 anything of great importance. You were both 
 so young, you know, and your lives had been 
 so uneventful. I can imagine that a chief.
 
 42 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 whose moments were numbered, would have 
 many things to say to his right-hand man. But 
 Angela, dear child, what could she have said?" 
 
 " She would have told me to make friends of 
 those vv^hom she had loved." 
 
 "And she told us to remember you." His 
 blue eyes were fixed on hers. " She knew that 
 we should keep our promise and find you out. 
 Now that we have found you, Miss Stanley, 
 we shall not lose you. You must come to 
 Hartside before this summer is over." 
 
 Nelly compressed her pretty lips with a 
 doubtful air. 
 
 "I should like to come," she said. "But I'm 
 afraid that I cannot be spared. Lady Florence 
 will want me to spend my holidays with the 
 children. " 
 
 " But you are always with the children ! They 
 must give you a little time to devote to your 
 friends," cried Mayne, with rising indignation. 
 
 "But I am supposed to have no friends,"
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 43 
 
 replied Nelly quietly. " When Lady Florence 
 engaged me she was told that I was quite 
 alone in the world. And so of course it was 
 arranged that I should stay with the Camdens 
 always. " 
 
 "There must be a change," Mayne said in 
 a decided tone. 
 
 "Must there? I had almost begun to think 
 that life had no changes in store for me, or 
 only the inevitable change from youth to age. 
 I dare say I shall see my hair getting grey, and 
 crows feet coming at the corners of my eyes,^ 
 added Nelly composedly, " but I don't expect 
 any other breaks in my monotonous career." 
 
 " It is very early to have done with 
 expectation," said the young fellow, smiling. 
 
 She gave him some tea, and looked at him 
 for a moment with inquiring eyes. The room 
 was quiet; there were roses on the table; she 
 had a scarlet geranium in her bodice; long 
 afterwards he could recall ever}^ trivial detail of
 
 44 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 that time. He could remember the soft fawn- 
 coloured dress that she wore, and even the 
 touches of gold in her deep-brown hair when 
 the light shone upon it. Out of doors there 
 was a glimpse of a London garden where flowers 
 were few and leaves many. A plaster nymph 
 in one corner of the ground was decorated with 
 an old straw hat of Robby's, and seemed to 
 be enjoying herself in a rakish fashion; and 
 Robby was digging vigorously in a little piece 
 of earth, under a plane-tree, while the nymph 
 watched him with her head on one side. Louie, 
 in a dainty frock and sun-bonnet, paced slowly 
 up and down a gravelled walk, giving a stealthy 
 glance now and then at the window of the 
 breakfast-room. 
 
 "All the best time of your life is to come," 
 said Mayne, answering the question in the 
 beautiful eyes. " You will attract happiness as 
 naturally as the flower attracts the bee. Every- 
 thing that is bright and loving will fly to your
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 45 
 
 sweetness. You are one of the favoured few 
 who are destined to enjoy Hfe." 
 
 " Are you a fortune-teller ? " demanded Nelly, 
 with a little smile of incredulity. 
 
 " Your fortune is written in your face, " he 
 responded gallantly. 
 
 " Hundreds of girls could tell you that pretty 
 faces don't make pretty fortunes, " she answered 
 with a sigh. " Perhaps my mother was beautiful. " 
 
 " Do you remember her?" he asked with 
 quick interest. 
 
 "No." Nelly's dark lashes veiled her brown 
 eyes for a moment. " I sometimes wonder 
 whether it would have been well or ill for me 
 to have known her? When the girls at school 
 talked about their mothers, I used to try to 
 fancy what my life would have been if I had 
 not lost mine ? " 
 
 There was something simple and tender in 
 her tone that went to Mayne's heart. His eyes 
 met hers, and she could read his thoughts in them.
 
 46 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Don't pity me, Mr. Comberford," she said 
 suddenly. "I always feel soft and silly when 
 any one is sorry for me. When people are cold 
 and matter-of-fact they make me quite brave. 
 I thrive best in a sharp, bracing atmosphere, 
 I suppose. I will not talk to you about myself 
 again. " 
 
 "Talk of nothing else!" he exclaimed, and the 
 words sprang to his lips before he could check 
 them. " I want to hear a great deal more, — I 
 am hungering for more." She looked at him 
 thoughtfully with a grave face. 
 
 "Ah, you are kind," she said after a 
 pause. " But I must not test your kindness 
 too severely."
 
 LOVERS. 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LOVERS. 
 
 "Now therefore I do rest 
 A prophet certain of my prophecy, 
 That never shadow of mistrust can cross 
 Between us." Tennyson. 
 
 Two young faces were to be seen under the 
 trees of Lincoln's Inn on a Sunday afternoon, 
 when the summer was three weeks older. Th^y 
 had met by appointment in the spot which they 
 had both learnt to regard as their natural 
 trysting-place. In past days Nelly had noted 
 all the charms of this sequestered nook, but 
 with a dispassionate admiration. Now the long, 
 shady walk was touched with the sunlight of 
 Paradise, and the lazy coo of the pigeons was 
 as sweet as an old love-song learnt in childhood 
 and recalled in womanhood. The prince, long
 
 48 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 waited for, had come to the princess, and the 
 everyday prose of life had changed into a fairy 
 tale. 
 
 Louie and Robby had been carried off, after 
 morning service, by Aunt Margery; and were 
 spending the day in Woburn Square. No one 
 had asked any questions when the governess 
 had put on her bonnet and gone out with a 
 large prayer-book in her hand. The prayer-book 
 had red-edged leaves and could be seen by any 
 one who happened to look out of the windows. 
 
 Nelly's face was composed and good, — so 
 composed and good that Lady Florence smiled 
 at the sight of her. 
 
 " She isn't going to church any more than I 
 am," thought her ladyship, sinking back on the 
 cushions of her luxurious chair. "I am not 
 deceived by the outward and visible signs of 
 piety. That was how I used to look when I 
 went out to meet Charlie Temple in the old 
 days. Dear me, what summers we had then ! "
 
 LOVERS. 49 
 
 She mused, with her head a little on one 
 side, and her long white fingers beating a 
 gentle tattoo upon the arm of the chair. 
 
 " I suppose those two young noodles will be 
 very happy together," she went on. "We may 
 laugh at our first love, but it is a delicious 
 thing, after all; — the choicest morsel in the 
 banquet of life. Good solid food may be spread 
 for us afterwards; but there is nothing like the 
 ambrosial sweetness of that first love feast. 
 These warm afternoons are making me senti- 
 mental; I had quite a clear vision of Charlie's 
 face just then. How curiously distinct a memory- 
 picture is! I saw him just as plainly as if he 
 were here beside my chair, instead of lying in 
 his lonely African grave. Well, well, supposing 
 we had had our dream out, and run away 
 together, shouldn't we have got fearfully tired 
 of each other long ago ? " 
 
 So Lady Florence drifted back to the days 
 of her youth ; and Mayne and Nelly passed 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 on side by side into the Eden which her lady- 
 ship had known and lost. 
 
 The pigeons cooed; the warm Hghts and 
 delicate shadows lay all around them on the walk ; 
 the sleepy quietness of the old Inn garden was 
 unbroken by any harsher sounds than bird or leaf 
 could make. Nelly sat silently in her corner of 
 the bench, trying to realize the bliss of this 
 sunshiny moment before it took wing ; and Mayne 
 watched her, feasting his eyes upon her face as 
 if he could never have enough of her beauty. 
 
 "Nelly," he said, in a hushed voice, "will 
 you not let me take care of you for the future ? 
 I want you, darling, for my very own. Will 
 you not promise yourself to me ? There may 
 be some time to wait, and then a quiet life and 
 a humble home ; but you will never know a 
 deeper love than mine. No work will seem 
 wearisome when I am working for you. A 
 man can do wonderful things, dear, for the sake 
 of the woman who is the queen of his heart.
 
 LOVERS. 51 
 
 You are my queen, Nelly; come and take your 
 throne." 
 
 He had moved a little closer to her as he 
 spoke, and his hand sought hers, and impri- 
 soned it in a firm clasp. 
 
 Nelly drew a long breath, and then turned 
 towards him with a swift movement, her beautiful 
 face alight with feeling. 
 
 " Are you sure that you know me well enough 
 to want me ? " she asked tremulously. " I am so 
 poor — so lonely — I cannot even be certain that I 
 have a right to my name. Let me tell all that I c'ti^i 
 tell about my poor little self before I answer you. " 
 
 " Answer me first, dear, and tell me your 
 story afterwards." 
 
 "But, Mr. Comberford, you must listen — " 
 
 " I can't listen to anything till you have told 
 me that you love me." 
 
 " Isn't it too soon to tell you ? We met 
 only three weeks ago for the first time. " 
 
 " My darling, love has nothing to do with 
 
 UNWtRS\rf Of
 
 52 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 time. We met three centuries ago at least, and 
 I have always adored you. No true love is 
 ever new; it is sweet, and familiar, and old as 
 the hills." 
 
 The custodians of Lincoln's Inn are sober 
 men, well stricken in years, and accustomed to 
 take their rightful share of repose on Sunday 
 afternoons. They have been young themselves, 
 and are far too well-bred to think of prowling 
 round a spot that lovers have made their own. 
 Not one of these respectable persons would 
 have forgotten himself so far as to walk in the 
 direction of that shady path where our couple 
 were sitting under the trees. 
 
 So there was no looker-on to see that Nelly 
 permitted herself to be drawn into Mayne's 
 arms. The pigeons droned on, cooing all her 
 scruples away, and lulling her heart to rest. 
 He kissed her; and the first touch of those 
 velvet lips was printed on his life. 
 
 "But now," she said, after a brief silence,
 
 LOVERS. 53 
 
 "you must hear this miserable little story of 
 mine. And if, after hearing it, you change 
 your mind, I will promise not to blame you." 
 
 He smiled with superb scorn. "Do you think 
 a man's mind changes so easily?" he asked. 
 
 " We will see, " she answered demurely. 
 "Are you going to hold my hand all the 
 while ? Hadn't we better sit farther apart ? " 
 
 " Nonsense," he rejoined promptly, coming 
 closer. " No one can see us excepting through 
 a strong glass. Besides, the whole place is 
 asleep on Sundays. You don't mind the pigeons, 
 do you ? Nelly, what a wonderful colour your 
 hair is, rich brown, with dashes of gold in it, 
 and it grows in little ripples and twists." 
 
 " I know all about it," said Nelly frankly, " and 
 I suspect it's very rough at this moment. Will 
 you be quiet, please, and let me tell my story?" 
 
 Mayne settled himself in a comfortable lis- 
 tening attitude, with her hand in his. 
 
 "The first place I can remember is an
 
 54 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 old-fashioned house at Hornsey," she began. 
 " It was a school for very Httle children ; but 
 none of the pupils were so small as I was 
 when they took me there. As I grew older I 
 began to look forward to the visits of a lady 
 who always brought me presents. She was not 
 my mother, they said; but Mrs. Merriwell, — 
 the best friend I had in the world." 
 
 " The lady who adopted you ? I have heard 
 Angela speak of her," interrupted Mayne, as 
 a flash of remembrance crossed his mind. 
 
 " Angela once spent a Sunday in Harley 
 Street with Mrs. Merriwell and me, " Nelly 
 replied. "I was allowed to invite my friend. 
 But of course that was a long time after I had 
 left Hornsey. I did not go to the college till 
 I was thirteen ; and I was quite a big girl when 
 Mrs. Merriwell first told me how she found me." 
 
 She paused, and a cloud passed over the 
 brightness of her face. The roses on her cheeks 
 paled a little ; the lips quivered.
 
 LOVERS. 55 
 
 "This is the part that I hate telling," she said, 
 with a sigh. " I'll get over it as quickly as 
 I can." 
 
 Mayne's fingers closed firmly on the little 
 hand he held. The warm clasp gave her courage 
 to go on. 
 
 "Mrs. Merriwell was left a widow when she 
 was very young," Nelly continued. " She was 
 rich, and had few relations to interfere with her, 
 so that she did exactly as she liked. She was 
 fond of the country, and always took a house 
 in some unfrequented spot when the summer 
 came. One summer she found a place in a 
 wild part of Hampshire where there are acres 
 of bracken and heather, and lovely woods of oak 
 and beech. It is called Heatherbeck. Do you 
 know it?" 
 
 "I went there when I was a boy," Mayne 
 answered. " It is a beautiful place. " 
 
 " She was driving one evening along a lonely 
 road when she caught sight of something by
 
 56 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 the wayside. It was a child, about two years 
 old, sitting on the ground, and pulling at the 
 grass and wild flowers. There it sat, babbling 
 and murmuring to itself, as happy as a princess. 
 It was a merry little thing, with a curly brown 
 head and brown eyes." 
 
 "Dear Nelly, that child was you!" 
 
 " Yes ; the carriage was moving slowly uphill, 
 and Mrs. Merriwell had time to notice me. It 
 seems that I was not a shy child. I laughed, 
 and pointed at the lady with my finger; and 
 she fell in love with me at once." 
 
 "Quite natural," said Mayne. 
 
 "That laugh of mine decided my fate. If I 
 had chanced to be shy I should have cried 
 and looked hideous, and then I suppose I should 
 have been left sitting on the grass. Mrs. Merri- 
 well was an impulsive woman; she stopped the 
 carriage, got out, and took me up in her 
 arms. " 
 
 The girl paused once more, and drew her
 
 LOVERS. 57 
 
 breath quickly. Her lover would have drawn 
 her towards him, but she held back. 
 
 "No, Mayne, don't be too tender," she 
 entreated. " Don't even let me think that you 
 are pitying me in your heart. It will take the 
 strength out of me, and I hate to show weakness. 
 Let me go on." 
 
 "Why not tell me the rest another time, 
 darling," he asked. 
 
 "I want to get it over," she repeated 
 impatiently. " Well, Mrs. Merriwell kissed and 
 fondled me until she wanted to have me for her 
 own. Her companion, a Miss Winter, suggested 
 that my people could not be far off, and that 
 it would be wise to put me back on the 
 grass. But Mrs. Merriwell would not listen to 
 wisdom. After looking round in search of my 
 relations, and finding no one, she resolved 
 to take me home with her. As I have said, 
 I was a brown baby, and close to the spot 
 where I was found there were traces of a gipsy
 
 58 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 encampment. So they decided that I must be 
 a gipsy." 
 
 "And then?" said Mayne. 
 
 "There is really nothing more to tell. I 
 was clean, and my clothing was neat, although 
 plain and poor. There was no clue to my 
 belongings; the spot was watched by a rural 
 policeman, but no one ever came there to look 
 for me. The gipsies who had camped there 
 were said to be Stanleys, and there is little 
 doubt that I belonged to them. Mrs. Merriwell 
 took entire possession of me from that hour. 
 She had me baptized, giving me the name of 
 Nelly, because it had been the name of a dead 
 sister of her own. And I have always been 
 known as Nelly Stanley." 
 
 " But it is by no means certain that you are 
 a Stanley," Mayne remarked. 
 
 " Mrs. Merriwell believed that I was. As a 
 baby I was much browner than I am now; and 
 I had a gay red-and-yellow handkerchief, such
 
 LOVERS. 59 
 
 as gipsies wear, tied over my shoulders. As I 
 grew older 1 betrayed a strong taste for bright 
 colours, and you see I love a bit of scarlet to 
 this day ! Yes ; I think you must make up your 
 mind to accept me as a gipsy." 
 
 There was a brief silence. Then she looked 
 up into her lover's face half wistfully, yet with 
 a gleam of mirth in her beautiful eyes. 
 
 "Mayne," she said, "are you quite sure that 
 you want me still ? " 
 
 " Surer than ever, my darling. And if any 
 one happens to have a strong glass he mciy 
 look through it to his heart's content; — I'm going 
 to kiss you again. Oh Nelly, what a sweet 
 thing you are ! Nothing on earth — no cloud, no 
 shadow — shall ever come between you and me! "
 
 6o A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 
 
 Thine eyes are stars of morning, 
 Thy Kps are crimson flowers. 
 
 Longfellow, 
 
 " So you want to go and stay with your new 
 friends at Hartside," said Lady Florence. 
 
 "Yes, please;" Nelly answered. "But they 
 don't feel like new friends." 
 
 "I suppose not," Lady Florence rejoined. 
 " There is a sweet sense of familiarity, and all 
 that sort of thing. Well, my dear, you have 
 been a good girl, and you deserve a holiday. 
 Only I don't know how we shall tell Robby 
 that he will not see you for a whole month. 
 That boy is the loudest roarer I have ever 
 known." 
 
 "He's a dear, good little man," said the
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 6 1 
 
 young governess with real feeling. " I wish I 
 could take him with me to Hartside! " 
 
 " Oh, you will find it quite possible to exist 
 without Robby ! I think I must send the children 
 to the seaside," added Lady Florence, after a 
 moment's reflection. " Aunt Margery will be glad 
 to have them with her at Eastbourne. Of course 
 they will wear her out and shatter her nerves, 
 but that can't be helped ; and she will feel that 
 1 am showing confidence in her by intrusting 
 them to her care. I am afraid I cannot give 
 you more than a month, Miss Stanley." 
 
 "Thank you," said Nelly gratefully. "A 
 month is quite as long a time as I can expect 
 to have." 
 
 "That's how you feel now, " remarked Lady 
 Florence, with a twinkle of fun in her eyes. 
 "Three weeks hence you will be complaining 
 piteously of my tyrannical conditions. As to 
 Mr. Comberford, I dare say he already thinks 
 of me as an ogress."
 
 62 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Indeed, Lady Florence, he thinks you have 
 been very gracious to him." Nelly's voice was 
 very sweet in its earnestness. " And he knows 
 how good you have been to me." 
 
 "So you have been talking to him about 
 yourself, child? How soon you two have got 
 upon confidential terms! Of course your school 
 friendship with the sister paved the way to 
 intimacy with the brother; it is all very pretty 
 and natural and romantic. Does he know the 
 very beginning of your little life-story, so far 
 as you know it yourself?" 
 
 " I have told him everything that Mrs. Merriwell 
 told me," answered Nelly frankly. 
 
 " Ah, yes. And he was interested, no doubt. 
 The Comberfords are an old family, I believe," 
 said Lady Florence in a musing tone. 
 
 " I suppose so. I don't know much about 
 pedigrees, I'm afraid," Nelly repHed meekly. 
 "It would have been much nicer for me if 
 Mrs. Merriwell had found out a little more about
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 63 
 
 my poor mother," she added after a pause. 
 
 " It might not have been nicer for you, my 
 dear." Lady Florence looked at her kindly. 
 " Sometimes we may be thankful for the 
 mysteries that are never cleared up. It was 
 certainly a pity that Mrs. Merriwell didn't live 
 longer; you might have had a happy home 
 with her for years. To die before you left 
 school, and leave you only five hundred pounds! 
 It was really sad." 
 
 "Yes, it was sad," said Nelly. "And it would 
 have been sadder still if I had loved her better. '* 
 
 "You did not love her?" Lady Florence 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " Not as much as I ought. She only took 
 a fancy to me, you see; she didn't really love 
 me. And she never felt any interest in my 
 poor mother's histor}^ ; if she had cared for me 
 very much she would have found out how I 
 came to be sitting all alone by the roadside." 
 
 Nelly's voice was trembling; her dark eyes
 
 64 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 had a far-away look in them ; Lady Florence 
 had never seen her so much moved before. 
 
 " My dear child, " she said gently, " we 
 mustn't look too closely into the motives of 
 those who are kind to us. Take the kindness, 
 and be duly grateful for it; never inquire 
 whether it came from the depths of the heart or 
 only from the surface." 
 
 " Some hearts have no depths," murmured 
 Nelly. 
 
 "So much the better for them, perhaps," 
 said Lady Florence with a slight movement of 
 her graceful shoulders. " Don't go in for 
 philosophy and analysis and all those dangerous 
 things, child; they take the sweetness out of 
 life, and life is by no means over-filled with 
 sweetness. Enjoy yourself at Hartside; make 
 the most of your beauty and brightness ; freely 
 you have received, freely give. I dare say they 
 will all learn to love you so much that it will 
 be a hard matter to get you back. "
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 65 
 
 " Oh, they will understand that I am only lent 
 for a month," replied Nelly, brightening at the 
 thought of her holiday. She had been silent 
 about her engagement; partly because the joy 
 was so new that she wanted to keep it all to 
 herself for the present; and partly because she 
 had a natural subtlety in guarding a secret. Even 
 at school she had never cared to tell everything as 
 most of the girls did. Excepting Angela, not one 
 of her companions had ever known that she had 
 been picked up by the roadside. They had 
 been informed that she was Mrs. Merriwell's 
 adopted child, and that was all. 
 
 The day of her departure came soon. Robby's 
 roaring shook the house to its very foundations ; 
 and Lady Florence shut herself up in her bed- 
 room and stopped her ears. Even Louie wept 
 in a subdued fashion ; but Miss Camden, who 
 witnessed the leave-taking, was much displeased 
 by this display of regret. It was silly, she 
 
 remarked, for little girls and boys to make such 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 66 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 a fuss about saying good-bye to their governess 
 when they had a kind grand-aunt to take care 
 of them. Besides, Miss Stanley was only going 
 awav for four short weeks. 
 
 "B — ^b — but s'pose she should be st — st 
 —stole!" sobbed the agonized Robby. 
 
 " Nonsense, Robby, no one wants to steal 
 her, " said Aunt Margery severely. " You are 
 a naughty boy to stammer so dreadfully." 
 
 " I sh — sh — shall st — st — stammer till she 
 c — c — comes back," declared Robby, getting 
 crimson with temper. "J — ^j — just see if I 
 don't ! " 
 
 Miss Camden was exasperated to such a 
 degrete that she threatened to whip him; and 
 it was, perhaps, well for all parties that Lady 
 Florence, having heard Nelly's cab roll away, 
 came downstairs as^ain at that moment. 
 
 " I am sorry that you should be provoked, 
 dear aunt," she said, with her never-failing 
 courtesy. "But Robby will be good without
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 67 
 
 whipping. His uncle says he is to have a 
 splendid bucket and spade to take down to the 
 seaside, and nurse will go out with him to buy 
 them. Now, Robby, be a man, and don't go 
 out of doors with a baby's crying face." 
 
 This appeal to his manhood was not without 
 effect on the little lord of creation. He conquered 
 himself with an effort, and was led peacefally 
 away. 
 
 " I'm afraid it will be rather difficult to get 
 on without Miss Stanley," Lady Florence said 
 confidentially to her husband. "I foresee that 
 Aunt Margery and Robby the Roarer will come 
 to blows." 
 
 " Then I hope that Robby the Roarer will 
 get the best of it," replied Giffard Camden 
 heartily. " It's hard on the little man to have 
 Aunt Margery forced upon him instead of his 
 pretty Stanley girl. He adores his governess, 
 and he's very good when she's with him. Why do 
 those Comberford people want to take her away?"
 
 68 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " If s the Comberford young man who wants 
 to take her away. Robby suggests — 's'pose 
 she should be st — st — stole?' 1 am afraid that 
 his fears are not altogether groundless," said 
 Lady Florence. 
 
 " Oh, you think young Comberford is smitten ? 
 Well, it isn't surprising, and I think the girl 
 has behaved very well. She might have had 
 a train of danglers if she had wanted them. 
 But she has a good deal of common sense." 
 
 "Yes, she has common sense," assented Lady 
 Florence thoughtfully. " But that is a quality 
 which sometimes deserts a woman when she 
 needs it most." 
 
 The woody slopes all round the quiet station 
 were bathed in sunshine when Nelly arrived at 
 Hartside. It was about four o'clock in the after- 
 noon, and the warm golden light of early August 
 lay on road and hill; here and there a silver 
 ribbon of water gleamed out of the shadows; 
 the grey spire of a church tapered up into
 
 , INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 69 
 
 the clear air; the walls of the vicarage, close 
 by, were half hidden under a foam of clematis. 
 Mayne Comberford was standing on the platform, 
 watching the train with anxious eyes as it came 
 gliding into the station; and near him stood 
 the vicar with his eldest daughter. 
 
 It was hard on the young fellow that these 
 two excellent persons should chance to witness 
 his meeting with his betrothed. But who does 
 not know how inopportunely our friends often 
 cross our path? They bear down upon us, 
 smiling and self-important, when our sweetheart 
 waits only a little way off Or they meet us 
 with outstretched hands and beaming eyes in 
 some spot where we had fondly deemed our- 
 selves secure from observation. It is, on the 
 whole, a surprising thing that humanity endures 
 these continual exasperations with such admirable 
 self-control. 
 
 Mayne's patience very nearly broke down 
 under the strain put upon it that day. Mr.
 
 70 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Payton, a worthy man who had known Mayne 
 Comberford in knickerbockers, began to suspect 
 his young friend of a guilty conscience ; but 
 Miss Christina, with the keen insight of her 
 sex, attributed the poor fellow's reserve and 
 shyness to the true cause. She had not, how- 
 ever, the generosity to lead her father away. 
 If Mayne was expecting somebody to arrive by 
 the train, she was firmly resolved to see who 
 that somebody was. Of course it was a woman ; 
 but what sort of woman? The vicarage gene- 
 rally made itself acquainted with all that was 
 happening, or Hkely to happen, at the manor. 
 But the Comberford girls had been invisible for 
 a few days; and when Miss Payton had called, 
 Mrs. Comberford had not said one word about 
 an expected guest. 
 
 The train came slowly into the station; and 
 without even saying " excuse me " Mayne left 
 Christina in the middle of a sentence, and 
 rushed wildly to the door of a second-class
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 7 I 
 
 carriage. Another moment, and such a vision 
 of beauty descended on the platform that the 
 vicar and his daughter stared in dumb amazement. 
 
 Nelly, dressed as carefully and tastefully as 
 usual, was looking as fresh as if she had just 
 stepped from her own room, instead of out of 
 the dusty compartment. She wore a black lace 
 hat of singular gracefulness, laden with a bunch 
 of poppies, and a little handkerchief of scarlet 
 silk peeped out of the bodice of her grey gown. 
 Her face, with its brilliant depth of complexion, 
 was glowing under the shady hat with the rich- 
 ness of a tropical flower. There was the pi- 
 quancy of merry mischief in that exquisite face ; 
 it is quite possible that Nelly saw, as in a light- 
 ning flash, the effect she had produced on the 
 Paytons, and secretly enjoyed the sensation she 
 had made. "Darling," Mayne whispered, "I 
 hate to feel that those two wooden-headed 
 creatures are looking at you." 
 
 But Nelly did not hate the feeling at all;
 
 72 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 she had a nutural pleasure in being looked at. 
 
 "It doesn't hurt me," she said. 
 
 "There's a fly waiting outside," Mayne con- 
 tinued. " Is there only one box dear ? Hew 
 moderate you are ! That hat is the most perfect 
 thing I've seen for a long time; we shall have 
 all Hartside copying it." 
 
 " Give my love to the girls, and say that I 
 shall see them to-morrow, " cried Christina as the 
 pair swept past her. Mayne was visibly agitated ; 
 Nelly was as cool and stately as a young queen. 
 
 The musty old fly received the lovers on its 
 capacious seat ; the driver whipped up his 
 heavy horse; and the lumbering conveyance 
 rolled ponderously along a lovely road, tree- 
 shaded, and sweet with the rich breath of honey- 
 suckle. Nelly enjoyed the fragrance and fresh- 
 ness with a child's delight; it seemed to her, 
 just then, that she had been born to live in a 
 world of sunny lights and leafy glooms like 
 these around her.
 
 INVITED TO HARTSIDE. 73 
 
 "Look," she said suddenly, " there's a gipsy 
 encampment. See that brown baby rolling on 
 the grass. Mayne, I was like that once." 
 
 "Don't, dear," he answered, with a pained 
 look. " Forget all about that far-away past. 
 Let us banish it for ever."
 
 7.4 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 
 
 But Heaven in thy creation did decree 
 That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell; 
 Whate'er thy thoughts on thy heart's working be, 
 Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell. 
 How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow, 
 If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show. 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 Nelly gave her lover one of those swift glances 
 which seem to pierce a man through and through : 
 but he did not meet her eyes at that moment. 
 She had seen that he had winced at her chance 
 allusion to her gipsy babyhood, and her heart 
 darkened, but she made no sign. 
 
 He had listened to her story under the trees 
 of Lincoln's Inn, and had loved her the better 
 after she had told it. But here, among his own 
 woods and fields, he was another man, she said
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 75 
 
 to herself; the influences of family associations 
 and family pride were as strong, or stronger, 
 than her own. She held her head high, as this 
 thought came into her mind ; but she kept silence. 
 As a child it had been remarked of her that 
 she had a wonderful gift for holding her tongue ; 
 and Mayne did not even dream that she had 
 resented his words. 
 
 But she had resented them. They had hinted 
 that there was something about her that he was 
 ashamed of, and wanted to forget; and she had 
 believed that she had come to Hartside to be 
 worshipped as a queen. 
 
 The fly rumbled slowly up the slope of a 
 woody lane; and then the old manor house 
 came suddenly into view. It was a warm red 
 house, with many gables, set deep in rich foliage, 
 and wreathed with creepers and roses from gar- 
 ret to basement: — an English home, hallowed 
 by family love, and dignified by the upright 
 lives of the good old race of Comberfords. And
 
 76 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 as you passed between the stone gateposts, and 
 heard the cawing of the rooks from the pine 
 wood, you felt that you had left the feverish 
 world behind, and entered into an atmosphere 
 of peace and rest. 
 
 A well-kept lawn, darkened by the shadow of 
 a grand old cedar, lay in front of the house ; 
 scarlet and yellow flower-beds made brilliant 
 spots of colour on the green ; a couple of cane 
 chairs, and a little rustic table, laden with 
 books and a work-basket, told that the ladies 
 of the household had been spending the after- 
 noon out of doors. Nelly, sitting in stately 
 ease by her lover's side, was watching keenly 
 for the first flutter of summer dresses in the 
 porch. But not the vestige of a gown was to 
 be seen ; and she fought a quick, fierce little 
 battle with pride and dismay. 
 
 The arrival at Hartside was not in the least 
 Hke the scene she had pictured in her mind. 
 Nelly was a girl in her teens, conscious of her
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 77 
 
 own striking beauty, and exulting in her con 
 quest. It was not unnatural that she should 
 have expected to be welcomed with a flourish 
 of trumpets. Mayne was so very much in love, 
 and his people were so devoted to him, that 
 she had been quite prepared to be rapturously 
 received by the whole family. 
 
 Mayne himself was looking out anxiously for 
 some of the members of the household. He 
 had not thought that his mother would come 
 out to welcome his betrothed with effusion ; 
 but he had hoped that Susie or PhylHs would 
 have been standing in the porch ; or that little 
 Madge and Rosa would have run down the drive 
 to meet the carriage at the gate. A chill crept 
 over him as they drew near the house ; and 
 Nelly, with her keen instinct, felt that he was 
 ill at ease. 
 
 " I wonder where they all are !" he said, trying 
 to speak lightly. " Out in the garden, I sup- 
 pose. But they'll hear the wheels in a minute."
 
 78 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 The driver stopped before the great portico, 
 now covered with masses of climbing roses ; 
 and Nelly, looking through the open door, saw 
 a tall girlish figure in the hall. She stepped 
 gracefully out of the old fly, just touching her 
 lover's arm as she alighted, and he was positively 
 grateful to her for her perfect self-possession. 
 Of course he was feeling a little worried, he 
 said to himself; but Nelly, poor darling, die! 
 not know that the mother had been a trifle 
 upset by the news of the engagement, and she 
 was as unembarrassed as a child. 
 
 Little did he suspect that his lady-love had 
 divined everything, although she had been told 
 nothing ! It is seldom indeed that a young 
 man fully realizes the marvellous acuteness of 
 a young woman. 
 
 Susie Comberford came forward to greet the 
 new-comer with a heart full of good intentions. 
 She dearly loved her brother, and honestly wanted 
 him to be happy in his own way. But Nelly's grace
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 79 
 
 and beauty absolutely bewildered and dazzled her. 
 ' She had listened good-hum ouredly to Mayne's 
 account of the perfections of his betrothed, 
 and had said, half laughing and half sighing, 
 that he was following in Angela's footprints. And 
 she had been fully prepared to see a pretty 
 girl, just a year older than herself, fresh and 
 frank and simple, with the atmosphere of the 
 school-room around her still. But this lovely 
 belle, with her calm manner, and air of distinction, 
 was an overwhelming surprise. 
 
 "How do you do," she said, shaking hands; 
 and quite forgetting that she had meant to give 
 her future sister-in-law a kiss. " I hope you are 
 not very tired after your journey ? " 
 
 "Oh no," responded Nelly composedly. "I 
 am not easily tired." 
 
 Mayne thought that his sister was intentionally 
 cold and stiff, and glared at her with angry 
 disapproval. Susie, embarrassed by the glare, 
 became colder and stiffer.
 
 8o A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 "This is my sister Phyllis," she said, as 
 another tall girl appeared, and offered her hand. 
 " Will you come into the drawing-room and see 
 mother?" 
 
 Nelly, in her soft grey dress, glided easily 
 into the pleasant, oak-panelled room which 
 Angela and Mayne had already described to 
 her. It was warm with afternoon sunshine, and 
 sweet with the breath of many flowers; but 
 Nelly did not feel that she had come into a 
 genial atmosphere. Mrs. Comberford was kind; 
 she was more cordial than her daughters had 
 been, and did not forget to give the orthodox 
 kiss; yet the kindness and the kiss seemed flat 
 and tame to the girl who had expected so much. 
 
 She followed Susie to her room with a chilly 
 sense of disappointment which no one suspected. 
 The staircase was easy and broad; there was 
 an open gallery running round the hall; and 
 Susie unclosed one of the doors with an air 
 of quiet primness.
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 8 1 
 
 "You will easily find your way down to us," 
 she said. "I am sure you must want a cup 
 of tea." 
 
 They had given her a pretty room, Nelly 
 thought; everything was of an antique grace 
 which recalled the maidens of a past genera- 
 tion. Girls in short-waisted gowns had decked 
 themselves before the toilet-glass in the oval 
 frame, and made themselves beautiful in the 
 fashion of long ago. Out of doors there was 
 a world of woods and low hills, sweet and 
 silent and splendid in the sunshine. A scerU; 
 of jessamine was everywhere; thousands of white 
 flower-stars looked in at the opened windows. 
 Nelly took off the black lace hat, and pressed 
 the little curls of dark brown hair into order. 
 She bathed her face, and went dovvustairs fresh 
 and glowing as a rose. 
 
 Mr. Comberford had come indoors, and was 
 standing on the hearth-rug, with his back to 
 the empty grate, when Nelly returned to the 
 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 82 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 drawing-room. Mayne, who watched his father 
 closely, saw that he was struck, and almost 
 startled by her beauty. 
 
 "I am glad to welcome you to Hartside," 
 said Mr. Comberford, with an old-fashioned 
 stateliness which sat very well upon him. " You 
 come in the time of flowers and sunshine, — the 
 time that suits you best." Something in his 
 tone and manner revived Nelly's drooping spirits. 
 Here was the most important member of the 
 household showing that he, at any rate, was 
 not quite blind to her attractions. 
 
 " I love sunshine, " she said, looking up into 
 his face v\^ith her sweet sunny smile. 
 
 "You are made to bask in it," he answered, 
 retaining the little hand that he held, and leading 
 her to a seat near the open window. Then he 
 brought a little cane table to her side; Susie 
 supplied her with tea, and Mayne came up with 
 cake and bread-and-butter. All were kind; all 
 were courteous; but Nelly thought she could
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 83 
 
 detect a shade on Mrs. Comberford's brow. 
 
 " Mayne's mother has set herself against 
 me," she mused. "I think she means to 
 sit upon me. Well, let her try, that's all." 
 
 And Nelly's smile was at its sweetest when she 
 looked in the direction of the comely matron who 
 sat near the tea-tray. Recalling Lady Florence's 
 unfailing tact and graceful self-possession she 
 felt herself perfectly able to cope with these 
 good country people who had lived in such a 
 narrow world of their own. 
 
 But if their world was narrow it was lov*ely. 
 After tea, Mayne led his betrothed out of 
 doors, and showed her his favourite walk at 
 the back of the house. It was a path through 
 a wood rising gently up the side of one of those 
 low hills which encompassed the village. The 
 ascent was too gradual to tire the weariest feet, 
 and Nelly was not weary. She was glad to 
 be in the open air, alone with her lover once 
 more.
 
 84 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Oh, Mayne, how sweet it is here ! " she 
 cried, standing still and looking up at the blue 
 sky through a lattice of boughs and leaves. 
 
 "You would enjoy a country life, Nelly." His 
 face came between hers and the sky. " I wish I 
 had money enough to rent Rosedown, — a 
 charming place about three miles away, belonging 
 to Lord Rexbury. But I shall have to work hard 
 to make a home for you in London, dear; and 
 we will spend our summer holidays here always. 
 My mother and the girls will soon be devoted 
 to you." 
 
 "Will they?" Nelly asked a little doubt- 
 fully. 
 
 " Of course they will. Susie and Phyllis are 
 shy; they haven't poor Angela's easy manner. 
 And my mother seems grave until she is well 
 known ; but she is very nice, isn't she ? " 
 
 "Very nice," Nelly answered blandly. "And 
 your father is perfectly delightful." 
 
 "You made a conquest of him at once,"
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 85 
 
 Mayne said, with a satisfied smile. " Let me 
 see, this is Friday, isn't it?" 
 
 " Yes, it is Friday ; an unlucky day for my 
 first coming to the manor. " Nelly started as she 
 spoke. " Why are you thinking about the day, 
 Mayne? " 
 
 " My dearest child, is it possible that you are 
 superstitious? I am thinking that we are close 
 upon Sunday, that's all. On August Sundays 
 our little church is often patronized by a good 
 many smart people, and I was wondering bow 
 many heads you will turn." 
 
 " Who are the smart people, Mayne? " asked 
 Nelly, forgetting her momentary thrill of un- 
 easiness. 
 
 " Well, there's Lord Rexbury's household, to 
 begin with. His place lies over there." Mayne 
 pointed through an opening in the trees to the 
 wooded heights. "It's called Abbotside, you 
 know; the house was an abbey in old times, 
 and can boast of a ghost or two. It's always
 
 86 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 crammed with people as soon as the town 
 season is over ; Lady Rexbury is fond of society, 
 and mothers with marriageable daughters are all 
 struggling for Lord Wyburn." 
 
 "How vulgar of them to struggle," said 
 Nelly, with a very good imitation of Lady 
 Florence's manner. "And are any of these 
 desperate strugglers successful ! " 
 
 "Oh, Lord Wyburn won't marry yet," re- 
 plied Mayne, laughing. " He'll put off the evil 
 day as long as he can. He manages to amuse 
 himself pretty well." 
 
 "I have heard of him," Nelly said, after a 
 pause. " Very fast, isn't he ? " 
 
 " Rather beyond the average, I believe," 
 Mayne admitted. " He will have something to 
 look at next Sunday. His mother and her 
 guests will stare at you, my dear; and it will 
 rejoice their hearts to hear that you belong to me. " 
 
 "I don't want to belong to any one else," 
 said Nelly, nestling close to her lover.
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE FAMILY. 87 
 
 "Darling," he answered, "we shall spend a 
 life-time together." 
 
 " Only a life-time ; it's such a little while ! " the 
 girl murmured. " I wish we could live always. " 
 
 At that moment, when the sun shone on them 
 through the boughs, and his cheek was pressed 
 to hers, Mayne could readily have prayed for 
 an earthly immortality. When men and women 
 are young and beautiful and happy in a first 
 love, it is hard to believe that the soul can 
 ever long to escape from the tenement th^t 
 seems so fair. The bird sings ; the lips we love 
 give us kiss for kiss ; surely it is a sweet thing 
 to live " while the evil days come not, nor the 
 years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have 
 no pleasure in them." 
 
 For a little while they were silent. Mayne knew 
 that his people disapproved of his choice, and 
 Nelly suspected that she was not welcome at 
 the manor, but both had forgotten it in that 
 blissful hush. A bird rustled in the leaves
 
 88 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 overhead ; the girl released herself, and then 
 sighed. 
 
 They went slowly back to the house to dress 
 for dinner, and Nelly ran up at once to her 
 own room. Looking far away, across the hills 
 and woods, she caught sight of a church spire 
 rising above the trees. Farther off still there 
 was a glimpse of grey towers against a golden sky. 
 
 " That is Abbeyside, " she thought. " I wonder 
 if Lady Rexbury will ask us to dine? No, I 
 suppose not; I don't think Susie and Phyllis 
 would interest the 'smart people' very much," 
 she added, curving her rich red lips in a scornful 
 little smile. "They haven't a word to say for 
 themselves, and they are not pretty enough to 
 sit silent and be looked at." 
 
 And Nelly sighed again, but this was a 
 different kind of sigh. 
 
 They could find no fault with her when she 
 came down to dinner. Her dress was not too 
 fine for her position; she wore no jewels; a
 
 TALKING IT OVER. 89 
 
 bunch of her favourite scarlet flowers was her 
 sole adornment. And yet they were all saying 
 in their inmost hearts that this strange girl was 
 too beautiful, too fashionable, and far too self- 
 possessed to be a poor governess. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TALKING n OVER. 
 
 • 
 
 "The wild and wizard beauty of her race." 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The ladies of the manor were old-fashioned in 
 their ways and went early to rest. The father 
 and son had repaired to the library to smoke 
 a pipe together; and Mrs. Comberford, instead 
 of going straight to her own apartment, had 
 paused in Susie's room to talk over the events 
 of the day with her daughters. 
 
 The walls of the old house were thick; Nelly
 
 go A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 was sleeping on the other side of the gallery, 
 and yet they instinctively lowered their voices. 
 
 Susie was at the looking-glass, brushing her 
 hair, and half enveloped in its silky fairness. She 
 had a noble face, not beautiful, but trustworthy; 
 and there was a look of steadfast truth in her 
 deep-set blue eyes. On the side of the bed sat 
 Phyllis, two years younger, long-limbed and 
 slender; her features not so boldly chiselled as 
 her sister's, her face paler in its heavy folds of 
 fair hair. Leaning against the foot of the 
 bedstead she looked up at her mother with an 
 anxious gaze. 
 
 " But are you qztite sure that Nelly is a gipsy?" 
 she asked. 
 
 Susie paused, brush in hand, to speak a 
 word of caution. 
 
 " Hush, Phyllis, not so loud. Of course 
 mother can't be quite sure; so little is really 
 known." 
 
 " Not a syllable must be said before Madge and
 
 TALKING IT OVER. QI 
 
 Rosa," Mrs. Comberford answered warningly. 
 " Don't mention the word gipsy in their presence. 
 It's a dreadful word," she added, with a slight 
 shiver. 
 
 "But gipsies are to be found everywhere in 
 society, according to Mr. Leland," said Susie. 
 "They are to be met with in palaces as well 
 as in tents. Go where you will, though you 
 may not know it, you encounter them in one 
 form or the other at every step. If we had 
 not been told the story of Nelly's babyhood 
 we should not have suspected her origin." 
 
 "I think I should have suspected it," Mrs. 
 Comberford replied. "There is a curious witch- 
 ery about her ; a peculiar grace and suppleness 
 which mark her descent. She looks picturesque 
 in anything that she puts on." 
 
 "She isn't so very dark, you know; — quite 
 a light shade of brunette," said Phyllis consolingly. 
 
 "Oh, I don't care about her complexion," 
 sighed the poor mother. " It is the indescrib-
 
 92 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 able charm about her which tells what she is; 
 — a wicked charm I call it. I am sure she 
 has bewitched my poor boy ! " 
 
 Susie coiled up her fair hair with firm white 
 fingers, and the candle-light revealed a shadow 
 of trouble on her face. 
 
 " Dear mother," she said, " every young man 
 is bewitched — to a certain extent — when he is in 
 love." 
 
 " No, Susie, not when he falls in love in a 
 natural, wholesome way. I was a nice-looking 
 girl when your father courted me, and he was 
 very fond of me; but he wasn't bewitched." 
 
 Susie mentally acknowledged that there was 
 common-sense in this reply. She was young 
 and had not seen much of the world ; but being 
 a thoughtful girl she had studied those small 
 portions of it that came within her ken. 
 Observation and reflection had taught her that 
 there are two kinds of love, — the love that 
 supports, and the love that enslaves. Her father
 
 TALKING IT OVER. 93 
 
 had wooed a woman who was lady-love and 
 help-meet in one. But would Nelly — dazzling, 
 charming Nelly — ever help a man to tread 
 those rugged places which must come in the 
 course of every life-journey ? She was the kind 
 of girl whose youth is a triumphal march; — a 
 girl for whom many a lance would have been 
 broken in the old tournament times, and many 
 a bumper drained when toasting beauties was 
 the order of the day. But it required an effort 
 of the imagination to picture her as the wife 
 of a man with a limited income, busy with the^ 
 old prosaic struggle to make two ends meet. 
 
 "Father's love was the right love," she said, 
 after a moment's pause. And then she went 
 over to her mother and gave her a kiss. 
 
 " Yes, it was the right love, my dear, " Mrs. 
 Comberford answered tenderly, " He said 
 yesterday — 'I hope my son will be as happy 
 in his choice as I have been in mine'." 
 
 "John Bunyan was a gipsy; father says so,"
 
 94 A ROAIANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 remarked Phyllis in a meditative tone. "They 
 are not fools, are they? I daresay there's much 
 to be said in their favour, but I don't fancy 
 them, myself And I wish poor dear Angela 
 had never been at school with Nelly; — it was 
 Angela who began it all." 
 
 "Wishing won't alter the matter," Susie replied. 
 "We must make the best of it. And, after 
 all, we are not quite sure that Nelly has any 
 gipsy blood in her. Let us get all the comfort 
 out of the doubt that we can." 
 
 Mrs. Comberford sighed heavily. 
 
 "And even if it's as bad as our fears," 
 said Phyllis, " we can't be expected to know 
 all our connections by marriage. How funny 
 to have a sister-in-law related to the old fortune- 
 teller who stole those spoons last year! And 
 the man in the fur cap who made so free with 
 our hens! " 
 
 "Be quiet, Phyllis," whispered Susie. 
 
 " Nelly's relations may be almost as trou-
 
 TALKING IT OVER. 95 
 
 blesome as Undine's/' the girl went on. "Do 
 you remember the terrible uncle Klihleborn?" 
 
 Mrs. Comberford rose wearily to go to her 
 own room. She kissed her daughters, and 
 went away, shutting the door softly behind her. 
 "Phyllis," said Susie gravely, " you must not 
 joke about Nelly's origin. Don't you see that 
 the mother is deeply distressed ? She has taken 
 this matter to heart." 
 
 "Well, I'm sorry that Mayne is engaged. 
 We were much happier when he wasn't, " Phyllis 
 answered. " But nothing will ever make hiq;i 
 give her up. She is so wonderfully pretty, you 
 know. " 
 
 " We used to laugh when poor Angela went 
 into raptures over her friend," Susie said sadly. 
 " Who could foresee that we should all be 
 dazzled and bewildered by that very girl? I 
 want to love her for Mayne's sake, and yet I 
 can't help sympathizing with mother. She has 
 family pride; and father too "
 
 96 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Oh, father isn't well pleased, although he 
 doesn't say much," exclaimed Phyllis. "But, 
 after all, why do we make such a fuss? They 
 can't many for years, and there's many a slip 
 between the cup and the lip." 
 
 " I don't like that saying ; it's horrid, Phyllis. 
 I'd rather think that we shall all learn to love 
 Nelly, and overcome our prejudice. She cannot 
 help her birth, poor girl; and it was very right 
 of her to tell all that she knew of herself so 
 frankly. I mean to make her love me, if I can; 
 but I'm afraid I was stiff to-day. She was such 
 a surprise." 
 
 "Well, good night." Phyllis spoke in a softer 
 tone, as she rose from her seat on the bed. 
 " I'm quite willing to love her, Susie ; only it's 
 so disquieting to see mother fretting." 
 
 She passed through the door which led from 
 her sister's room into her own. This door 
 was never closed; it stood open all night. The 
 Comberford girls had always been united; and
 
 TALKING IT OVER. 97 
 
 since Angela's death Susie and Phyllis seemed 
 to have but one heart between them. 
 
 Left to herself, Susie sat down in a chair by 
 the toilet-table and opened a little red-edged 
 book of devotions. But she had not read more 
 than one sentence when Phyllis the irrepressible 
 put her head in at the door again. 
 
 "Oh Susie, how shall we parry all Christina 
 Payton's questions ? She will call to-morrow, — 
 see if she doesn't? — and she will ask who 
 Nelly's father is, and if she is like her mother, 
 and if one of her brothers isn't in the igotk 
 foot? Christina always introduces that regiment 
 into her conversation; she has a cousin in it, 
 you know, and he is the sole link that connects 
 her with militar}^ life. It's astonishing how great 
 a strain one tiny link will bear! It will be 
 splendid fun to hear Nelly's answers, and to 
 see Christina's little narrow eyes twinkling with 
 curiosity and rage. Yes, rage. Don't stop me, 
 Susie; you know quite well that Christina would 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 98 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 be willing to marry Mayne on sixpence a week. 
 And I'd rather have a sister-in-law straight* from 
 a gipsy's tent than Christina Payton." 
 
 " Do go to bed, PhylHs, " said Susie, with 
 tired patience in her voice. " Christina has 
 done nothing to make you dislike her so much. 
 It's very wrong of you to say such unkind things 
 of her. She has always been kind to us all, 
 and mother has a regard for her, I know. Now 
 do go to bed." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A LOVE GIFT. 
 
 " A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger, 
 And riveted so with faith unto your flesh. 
 The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 In the library the talk between Mayne and his 
 father had been pleasant enough. Mr. Comber- 
 ford had praised Nelly's beauty and grace, and
 
 A LOVE GIFT. 99 
 
 had carefully refrained from uttering a word 
 which might wound the feelings of his son. 
 
 The boy had been a good boy, he said to 
 himself; and it often goes ill with a young man 
 when his heart's first love is denied to him. 
 It is true that he, too, had a share of that 
 old-fashioned family pride which flourishes in 
 country solitudes, and decays in the atmosphere 
 of cities; but he had done his best to smooth 
 away his wife's irritation. " It is always the 
 mother who is hardest to please, " he had said 
 smilingly to Mayne. " And if you had brought 
 us a princess your mother would scarcely have 
 thought her good enough for her lad." 
 
 Mayne had laughed pleasantly, and had avowed 
 a decided disinclination for an august alliance. 
 
 " I'd rather my wife should look up to me 
 than down on me," he said. " Now that we 
 have touched on this subject, father, I want to 
 say that Nelly and I are quite prepared to wait. 
 She isn't at all anxious to marry on youth and
 
 lOO A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 good looks and vague expectations. Moreover, 
 the Camdens can't spare her yet. She has a 
 good home with them, you see ; and she can 
 stay there in comfort till she comes to me." 
 
 "I'm glad you are both so sensible." Mr. 
 Comberford spoke in a tone of relief. " Not 
 that I wish you to wait too long ; and if it 
 were in my power to shorten the waiting-time 
 I would gladly do it. But I have a good deal 
 of faith in old Cottrell, Mayne, in spite of all 
 the nonsense he writes about magic and moon- 
 shine. And I think he'll clear the way for you. " 
 
 " Magic and moonshine, " Mayne repeated, 
 laughing. " Do you know that wouldn't be a 
 bad title for a book ? " 
 
 " Then write the book, by all means, " said 
 his father. 
 
 "That's more easily said than done, sir, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " I don't know. I have sometimes had a 
 vague notion that you could write a book if you
 
 A LOVE GIFT. lOI 
 
 tried. You have plenty of imagination, Mayne, 
 and you're always reading. Wasn't it Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott who said he was a greedy reader? 
 I've seen you, when you were a very small 
 kid, devouring books that were never intended 
 for kids at all." 
 
 "Oh, I've had my dreams of authorship," 
 Mayne confessed gaily. " But they are over 
 now. When a man means to get married and 
 settled, and become a respectable member of 
 society, he must put away dreams. By the 
 way, I wish I knew exactly what I was g'oing 
 to do when old Cottrell has done with me." 
 
 " So do I, my boy," said Mr. Comberford, 
 with a sigh. " But I can only repeat that I've 
 faith in Cottrell. He knows scores of influential 
 people, and he'll get a berth for you one of 
 these days." 
 
 *' And for the present I'm provided for. Well, 
 sir, we won't look at the gloomy side of life 
 to-night."
 
 I02 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Mayne went up to his room — the room 
 which he had always occupied when a boy, 
 — and thought over the day from beginning to 
 end. He was a Httle angry with his mother 
 and the girls; were they going to spoil Nelly's 
 visit with their stiff ways? 
 
 But when he sought his pillow his anger 
 died away in a confusion of sweet images. 
 He loved, and she loved him, and their future 
 life was bathed in glorious light. Such a love 
 as his was immortal; he had no fear of disen- 
 chantment, no dread of satiety. 
 
 The short August night wore away. Then 
 there was the cool stir of the morning wind in 
 the tree-tops, and the early sunbeams crept in 
 through Nelly's window. She woke quietly, and 
 lay still in a dreamy mood, drinking in the 
 sweetness of the jessamine scent that filled the 
 room. The lattice had been left unfastened all 
 night long, and the dewy perfumes of the dawn 
 came in with the first light.
 
 A LOVE GIFT. 103 
 
 She was very happy, but Why is there 
 
 always a "but" when we think about our hap- 
 piness? Of course Mrs. Comberford would always 
 detest her, Nelly thought. The girls might be 
 won over to her side; the mother never. Nelly 
 believed that she could read the signs of uncon- 
 querable aversion in the matron's deep-blue eyes, 
 which scanned her with such a cold, steady gaze. 
 
 If she had made up some pretty little fiction 
 about her babyhood, and had left out the 
 gipsies altogether, she might have had a more 
 cordial reception. Nelly began to think that it 
 was a mistake to tell the unvarnished truth. 
 The truth, what was it? Something that was 
 only spoken by fools and children. 
 
 It must be early ; breakfast-time was still 
 far distant, she supposed; but oh, how hungry 
 she was ! This fresh morning air was a strong 
 tonic indeed. Just then, there was a knock; 
 the door opened gently, and Susie appeared, car- 
 rying a small tray. Nelly's eyes were gladdened
 
 I04 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 by the sight of a quaint little china tea-pot, a 
 cream-jug, and some slices of brown bread-and- 
 butter. 
 
 "How kind you are!" she said, rewarding 
 Mayne's sister with a bright smile. " But why 
 do you wait upon me?" 
 
 Susie smiled too, but her face clouded for 
 a moment. " We have had losses, " she answered, 
 "so PhyUis and I do all that we can in the 
 house. We always rise early; and I have taken 
 mother's tea into her room. Did you sleep 
 well?" 
 
 "Very well," said Nelly gratefully. 
 
 Susie looked admiringly at the richly-tinted 
 face, set in a crumpled mass of dark-brown 
 hair, and wondered at its flowery freshness. 
 Nelly did not look in the least like a jaded 
 Londoner. After all, it was easy to love any 
 one so beautiful and gracious as this poor 
 stranger was ; and Susie felt that her own prejudice 
 was melting like snow before the sun.
 
 A LOVE GIFT. 105 
 
 "Don't get up until you feel inclined to 
 move," she said. "I'm glad you have had a 
 good night, and I hope you will have a happy 
 day." 
 
 Something simple and sweet seemed to flow 
 into Nelly's heart and fill it to the brim that 
 morning. She felt, as she rose and dressed, 
 that she had come here to claim a half-forgotten 
 kinship with the flowers and the birds. Life 
 was full of blossom and song; in this country 
 paradise there were no discordant notes ; every 
 hour was filled with perfect melody ; every' g*ap 
 was overgrown with green. 
 
 All the doors of the old house were set wide 
 open to let the balmy air wander in. There 
 was the scent of the woods and pastures ever}^- 
 where, and sometimes a strong breath of pine 
 fragrance would come from a neighbouring 
 plantation. Mayne was standing at the foot of 
 the stairs, waiting for Nelly. 
 
 His handsome face had a summer glow upon
 
 Io6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 it, and his fair hair, close cropped, caught the 
 Hght on its crisp waves. He had been out early 
 into the fields, and had brought in a bunch of 
 splendid scarlet poppies. 
 
 " Sec what I have got for you ! " he said, as 
 she ran lightly down to him. " You are never 
 contented without a bit of red, you know." 
 
 She separated two or three flowers from the 
 bunch, and, stepping up to the glass above 
 the hat-stand, proceeded to arrange them in 
 her dress. It was a simple gown enough, made 
 of brown holland, and trimmed with lace of the 
 same hue ; but the poppies gave it a touch of 
 sumptuous colour. Just for a moment she stood 
 and surveyed herself with the satisfied air which 
 comes naturally to a pretty girl in front of a 
 mirror. Mayne stood behind her, looking over 
 her shoulder. 
 
 At that instant Mrs. Comberford came out of 
 the dining-room, and looked sharply at the 
 charming figure before the glass. Mayne saw
 
 A LOVE GIFT, 107 
 
 the look, and resented it as any lover would 
 have done. There was a cold, keen dislike in 
 his mother's blue eyes, an expression new and 
 strange, which seemed, somehow, to put a sense 
 of distance between her and himself. He hoped 
 that Nelly had not seen it. 
 
 But she had ; Nelly was a girl who saw 
 everything. 
 
 She *moved away from the glass, quickly, yet 
 gracefully, and turned to her hostess with a 
 sunny smile. Until then, Nelly had never known 
 what a difficult process smiling is under certain 
 circumstances. Nevertheless she accomplished 
 her smile creditably. 
 
 " I never saw such lovely poppies anywhere 
 else," she said. "One might fancy that they 
 grew in fairy-land." 
 
 Mrs. Comberford was not a good actress. 
 In all her simple matronly life there had been 
 little need of feigning anything. There was a 
 croak in her voice when she answered Nelly,
 
 Io8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 and it sounded harsh even in her own ears. 
 
 " We have beautiful wild flowers here," she 
 forced herself to say. 
 
 " Come to breakfast, " said Mayne, putting his 
 arm round Nelly's waist, and leading her into 
 the room. He avoided his mother's eyes; and 
 she knew that she had offended him. Instead 
 of taking any blame to herself she only thought 
 bitterly "that it was all that girl's fault. She 
 had come into the family to make mischief" 
 
 But Mayne and Nelly had almost forgotten 
 that unkindly glance when they rambled out 
 into the garden after breakfast. It was a very 
 old-fashioned garden with lily walks and hedges 
 of clipped yews; and a man who did his courting 
 there ought to have worn a prune-coloured 
 coat, knee-breeches, and a lace cravat. But 
 Mayne played his part well enough in a prosaic 
 suit of light tweed and a straw hat. 
 
 "Oh, Mayne, I have never had a ring before ! " 
 she said in a tone of delight. "And this is splendid,
 
 A LOVE GIFT. 109 
 
 — such a rich, deep red, — a ruby, isn't it?" 
 
 "Yes, a ruby, — 'a drop of my heart's blood', 
 you know. You are such a superstitious little 
 darling that I daresay you believe it will bring 
 you good fortune." 
 
 "Of course I believe that," Nelly answered. 
 "It will keep away ill dreams, and it's a charm 
 against the evil eye." 
 
 " You silliest of pets ; no one here has such 
 a thing as an evil eye." 
 
 " So much the better, " she said, suddenly 
 recalling his mother's glance. " Nevertheless, 
 I'm glad I have a safeguard. Only, dear Mayne, 
 I think this ring is far too costly for a poor 
 little governess." 
 
 " Nothing is too costly for you, my darling," 
 he answered fervently. 
 
 " Nothing, Mayne ? Not even ' a drop of 
 your heart's blood'?" 
 
 " Not even every drop of blood in my 
 body, Nelly."
 
 no A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 AVith the August sun shining over that old 
 garden, the warm air full of rich odours and 
 bird-voices, it was the very paradise for a pair 
 of ardent lovers. The man and the girl, stand- 
 ing together under the shade of an ancient 
 pear-tree, were looking their handsomest at this 
 moment; the light flickered down on Nelly's 
 pretty dress and mellow cheek as she lifted her 
 dark eyes to his with the perfect assurance of open 
 and requited love. 
 
 "What a sanguinary declaration," she said, 
 suddenly breaking into a musical little laugh. 
 "But I hope I shall never cost you anything 
 more, dear Mayne. No more presents, remem- 
 ber! We are a needy young couple, you 
 know; and one splendid gift is enough for a 
 life-time." 
 
 The words came back to him afterwards 
 with a meaning which she had not given them. 
 She did not realize how high a price he had 
 really paid for her ring, nor suspect the sacrifice
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. I I I 
 
 that he had made to obtain it. He had parted 
 with several cherished possessions to buy the 
 ruby which seemed the most fitting gift for the 
 girl he loved. And it was only a type of that 
 other gift — "the one splendid gift" which is 
 indeed enough for a life-time, — the first great 
 love of a man's heart. 
 
 They went off together into the cornfields, and 
 trod the narrow paths running through the russet 
 gold. And so the bright morning ghded away. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 Shall some one deck thee over and down, 
 Up and about with blossoms and leaves ? 
 Fix his heart's fruit for thy garland crown, 
 Cling with his soul as the gourd- vine cleaves ? 
 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 Sunday came ; and Nelly, as she prepared for 
 church, was not unmindful of all those "smart 
 people" who were expected to be there.
 
 112 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Mayne, when he looked at her, thought tenderly 
 of the bright Sunday morning when he had 
 seen her first in Lincoln^s Inn. The old chapel, 
 away in London, was hallowed by that first 
 vision of his love; and now that she was his 
 own, openly acknowledged as belonging to him, 
 he found a curious pleasure in recalling the day 
 when she had seemed more like a glorious 
 dream than a reality. Meanwhile Nelly, as she 
 walked by his side, was wondering whether any 
 one would find out that her soft grey gown 
 was a little faded here and there ? Her gloves 
 were quite perfect, she said to herself; and 
 nobody would peep between the folds of her 
 dress. Her bonnet, too, was irreproachable. 
 
 The church was small and dim; but there 
 was no lack of light in the chancel, where the 
 seats were appropriated by the leading members 
 of the congregation. The manor pew was 
 exactly opposite to that which was occupied by 
 Lord Rexbury and his family. The earl's pew
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. i i 3 
 
 was long, — very long — and filled with ladies, 
 who stared with languid curiosity at Nelly and 
 the Comberford girls. There were two vacant 
 places left at one end, and these were not taken 
 till the service had just begun. Then Lord 
 Rexbury and his son came in together. 
 
 The earl was a tall^ lean man, with round 
 shoulders, and a worried, fretfi.il look on his 
 face. Lord Wyburn, much shorter than his 
 father, had a sallow-fair complexion, and a 
 whitey-brown moustache. His eyes, small and 
 restless, were light grey ; his nose was small, 
 too; but the lips, half hidden under the mous- 
 tache, were full, and the jaw was heavy. He 
 was not a pleasant-looking young man ; he had 
 none of that knightliness which romantic people 
 associate with an ancient name. He did not 
 possess the kind of face that would have looked 
 well under a casque and nodding plume, nor 
 could you have imagined him in the long locks 
 and feathered hat of a cavalier. And yet, unat- 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 tractive as he was, Nelly's beautiful eyes regarded 
 him with a deeper interest than she chose to 
 show. 
 
 He was Lord Wyburn. For two seasons he 
 had been courted and flattered and run after 
 in vain. Lady Florence had laughed good- 
 humouredly at the ineffectual attempts to captivate 
 him which many of her young friends had 
 made. Nelly had read his name repeatedly in 
 the society journals which were scattered about 
 in the Camdens' house, and she was fully aware 
 of his importance in the fashionable world. 
 And so, although handsome Mayne, her plighted 
 lover, was standing by her side, she felt a thrill 
 of satisfaction when Lord Wyburn's glance 
 rested on her face. 
 
 If a man looked at Nelly once, he was sure 
 to look again. That exquisite face, with its 
 soft, mellow tints, could not fail to attract him 
 as ripe fruit attracts a child. 
 
 Lord Wyburn did look again, not once,
 
 THE G REEN-EYED MONSTER. I 1 5 
 
 but many times. So often did he look, in fact, 
 that Mayne began to grow hot and restless ; and 
 even Mr. Comberford glanced uneasily at his 
 future daughter-in-law. But Nelly seemed per- 
 fectly unconscious that she was attracting any 
 notice at all. 
 
 There she stood, the picture of innocent 
 loveliness, holding her prayer-book quietl}^ in 
 her delicately-gloved hands; there were no un- 
 graceful starts and fidgets, no signs of self-con- 
 sciousness. And yet there was not a single 
 member of the Comberford family who did 
 not. observe Lord Wyburn's admiration, which, 
 without being offensively displayed, was quite 
 evident. Mrs. Comberford resented it keenly. 
 
 "It must be her fault," she thought. "He 
 guesses that she likes to be admired." 
 
 But even her prejudiced eyes could detect 
 no flaw in the smooth perfection of Nelly's 
 demeanour. 
 
 Mayne, chafing and fuming in secret, was
 
 Il6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 longing for the service to come to an end. 
 He had not brought Nelly here that Lord 
 Wyburn might feast his ugly eyes upon her. 
 Old Payton was preaching one of his longest 
 sermons, too ; and preaching it in the droning 
 self-satisfied voice which was sure to rouse the 
 ire of an irritable hearer. Christina Payton was 
 staring, first at Lord Wyburn and then at 
 Nelly; — why was everybody behaving in this 
 maddening way? 
 
 Aiming an irrepressible kick at the hassock, 
 Mayne's foot came with a bang against the 
 panel of the pew. All the Comberfords started 
 visibly; and Phyllis, betraying an inclination to 
 giggle, received a smart tap of admonition 
 from her mother. The tap made matters worse, 
 and the giggle very nearly ended in an explosion 
 of laughter through the nose. Poor Susie, 
 growing crimson, gave her sister's gown a pull, 
 hardly knowing what the effect of this mute 
 remonstrance would be. And Nelly, her calm
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. I I 7 
 
 Still unruffled, sat peacefully, through all the 
 turmoil. 
 
 " And now, " said Mr. Payton coming to the 
 end of his last page. They all rose with alacrity, 
 Mayne registering a mental vow that he would 
 never bring Nelly here again while that beast 
 was at Abbeyside. Meanwhile the beast ma- 
 noeuvred, not unskilfully, to get close to the new 
 beauty as she came out of the pew. 
 
 He was successful; in spite of all Mayne's 
 vigilance he was successful; but it could not 
 be supposed for a moment that he was helped 
 in the slightest degree by Nelly herself When 
 they reached the church door a slight ^hower 
 was falling, and it is true that the dear girl 
 turned artlessly round to look for Mayne, who 
 chanced to be on the other side. This swift 
 movement brought her face to face with Lord 
 Wyburn, and very nearly precipitated her into 
 his arms. 
 
 Nobody could blame her of course. Mrs.
 
 Il8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S LNTN. 
 
 Comberford, who had been fortunately seized 
 upon by a neighbour, did not witness this trifling 
 incident; but Susie and Phyllis did. 
 
 "Come, Nelly, here's an umbrella," said 
 Mayne, taking possession of his betrothed with 
 great promptness. " The rain is nothing at all ; 
 it will be over in another minute." 
 
 He held the umbrella over her in a fashion 
 which completely shielded her from further 
 observation. Her hand was on his arm, and 
 she found herself half led, half carried along a 
 narrow gravelled path with green mounds on 
 the right and left. Almost breathless, she was 
 borne out of the churchyard into a shady lane, 
 and saw that most of the congregation were 
 left behind. 
 
 "Oh Mayne," she panted, "how you have 
 hurried me! We might have waited for the 
 others. " 
 
 " No," he said sternly. " I wouldn't leave you 
 near that hideous litde brute a second longer."
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. IIQ 
 
 She looked up at him with a swift, bright 
 look, meeting his gaze frankly enough. 
 
 "Where was the hideous little brute?" she 
 asked in h'er innocent voice. 
 
 " Where ? " His face was still hot with tamper. 
 " Facing you all through the service, and staring 
 in a way that made me long to kick him." 
 
 " I think you must have kicked him in 
 imagination, " she remarked quietly. " Did you 
 hear the noise you made in church^ Robby 
 behaves better than you do." 
 
 He looked subdued. 
 
 " I lost patience, " he confessed after a pause. 
 " And old Payton was no end of a bore. But 
 that fellow Wyburn, Nelly, — did you see how 
 he followed you?" 
 
 " You have got him on the brain, " she 
 answered in a pitying tone. " My dear Mayne, 
 he will forget my existence before he has had 
 his lunch. Why do you worry yourself about 
 trifles?"
 
 I20 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 "Was it a trifle?" he asked. 
 
 She felt rather than saw the deep-blue eyes 
 and mobile lips set in an expression of sternness. 
 And then he added in a softer ton'e, 
 
 " I don't think, dear, there are any trifles in 
 love." 
 
 " Oh yes, there are, " replied the girl brightly. 
 
 " ' Trifles, light as air, 
 
 Are to the jealous confirmations strong 
 As proofs of holy writ.' 
 
 " Come, Mayne, let us join the others. What 
 will your mother think of us when she finds 
 we have vanished? This is a sort of by-path 
 leading to nowhere, isn't it?" 
 
 " We must climb this stile, and take a short 
 cut across the downs," he answered. "We 
 shall get home as soon as they do. Nelly, I 
 was right in what I said just now. Love carries 
 a magnifying glass, so that there are no trifles 
 to him."
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 12 1 
 
 " Dear me, I didn't know he carried a 
 magnifying glass," said NeUy gaity. " He would 
 be much prettier without it. I've only seen him 
 with his bow and arrows. " 
 
 She climbed the stile lightly as she spoke ; but 
 he had vaulted over it first, and took her into 
 his arms. 
 
 "Now," he said, holding her fast as she 
 stood on the step above him. " Now you shall 
 quiet all my doubts and fears with a kiss." 
 
 "That would be encouraging you to doubt 
 again. You will always be doubting and getthig 
 quieted," she answered, bringing her radiant 
 face just a little nearer to his. 
 
 The light rain had left a few diamonds hanging 
 on the dwarf bushes; a sweet coolness sighed 
 through the sultry noontide, and soft cloud 
 shadows flitted over the sunny downs. The 
 young pair climbed the slopes with nimble feet, 
 laughing when the sheep sped away at their 
 approach, and hurried over the short grass with
 
 122 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 tiny tinklings of little bells. Mayne had quite 
 got over his annoyance when they reached 
 the manor; but his face clouded again at the 
 sight of an unexpected guest. 
 
 " Christina joined us after service, and mother 
 asked her to lunch," said Susie, meeting the 
 lovers at the gate. 
 
 "Why was she asked to lunch?" Mayne 
 demanded irritably. 
 
 " Hush, she may hear you. She has a plan 
 for a picnic, and she wants to discuss it with 
 us." 
 
 Miss Payton was a tall woman, taller even 
 than the Comberford girls, and decidedly thin. 
 There was some reason to find fault with her 
 eyes, which were, as PhylHs had said, small 
 and narrow, and had something furtive in their 
 glances. But, without being pretty, Christina 
 was rather nice-looking. She had contrived to 
 gain a certain amount of popularity among the 
 county people; and had a little money, a hundred
 
 THE GREExN-EYED MONSTER. 1 23 
 
 a year or more ; and if Mayne had hap- 
 pened to think of her, Mrs. Comberford would 
 not have quarrelled with his choice. 
 
 Mayne had neither liked nor disliked her; 
 he had simply accepted her as a part of his life 
 at Hartside. He had played with her when 
 he was a boy in knickerbockers and she a 
 girl in a long pinafore, one year older than 
 himself. But, after his engagement with Nelly 
 was announced at home, there was a change 
 in his feeling to Christina Payton. 
 
 Mrs. Comberford, exasperated by the idea'of 
 having Nelly for a daughter-in-law, had let slip 
 some foolish words which could not be recalled. 
 She had said with a burst of tears, 
 
 " I wish, with all my heart, that you had 
 chosen Christina. I should have known then 
 that you would have a wife who could be depended 
 upon. At any rate Christina is a lady, and she 
 was born in a decent house, and not under a 
 hedge."
 
 124 A. ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 A most unwise speech was this; Mrs. Com- 
 berford was heartily sorry that she had uttered 
 it, and had tried to atone for it with a motherly 
 kiss. But Mayne, although he had almost for- 
 given his mother for that unlucky outburst, 
 was unjust enough to lay the blame of it on 
 the shoulders of his old play-mate. 
 
 Christina, he said to himself, was a girl who 
 had nasty sly ways, and she had crept into his 
 mother's favour in a designing fashion. He did 
 not disclose these thoughts to his sisters; but 
 the Comberfords seemed to understand each 
 other without words. And Susie, when she 
 went to meet the young couple at the gate, 
 was quite sure that Mayne would resent Christina's 
 presence at lunch. 
 
 "Oh, we don't want a picnic," he muttered 
 with a frown. But Nelly looked up with sunny 
 eyes, and asked if it would not be very nice? 
 
 " I haven't been to a picnic since I was a 
 girl at school ; " she remarked.
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. I 25 
 
 " That's a very long time ago, — twenty years 
 at least, " said Mayne, won back to good humour. 
 " I think we must go, if only to remind you of 
 your vanished youth." 
 
 After having seen the meeting at the railway 
 station Christina had divined the truth. Mayne 
 was engaged ; even the vicar, who was not by 
 any means a man of quick perceptions, had 
 come to that conclusion. 
 
 On the Saturday following Nelly's arrival 
 Miss Payton had shut herself up with a headache. 
 It was a headache that made her eyes red 
 and her cheeks pale ; and her father and mother 
 had tact enough to take very little notice of her 
 indisposition. When Sunday came she was well 
 again, active and alert ; and had attached herself 
 to Mrs. Comberford as they came out of church. 
 
 " I know what has happened, " she said cheer- 
 fully to her old friend. " Mayne has got engaged 
 to some one he has met in London. Dear 
 Mrs. Comberford, how lovely she is ! Are you
 
 126 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 very much delighted? Do tell me all about her." 
 
 If Mayne's mother had taken lessons of my 
 Lady Feigning, it would have been better for 
 her at this trying moment. But to dissemble 
 was, as we know, beyond her skill. 
 
 "There is little to tell," she answered in a 
 constrained voice. " She is a Miss Stanley, our 
 dear Angela's school-friend." 
 
 "AVhat, the Nelly Stanley who was such a 
 paragon ? " cried Christina, with animation. 
 " How very interesting ! He has not known 
 her long, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Not long," Mrs. Comberford replied. "The 
 affair took us all by surprise. He is very 
 happy, and very much in love ; and he has 
 brought her here to spend her holidays." 
 
 " Her holidays ? Then she is a teacher at 
 Angela's old college?" 
 
 " No," Mrs. Comberford strove to hide her 
 mortification. " She is a governess in a family 
 in Russell Square."
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 1 27 
 
 " Oh, " said Christina, in a gentle tone. She 
 put no more questions, but began to speak 
 about the picnic. And Mrs. Comberford asked 
 her to lunch. 
 
 In spite of Mayne's ill-will towards the vicar's 
 daughter, he could find no fault with her manner 
 that day. She met Nelly with frank kindness, 
 and spoke with feeling about Angela, and the 
 school friendship. All was going smoothly; 
 there were no impertinent inquiries ; no sarcastic 
 remarks; and the afternoon had nearly glided 
 away when Miss Payton ruffled somebod)^s 
 plumes at last. 
 
 " What did you think of Lord Wyburn, Miss 
 Stanley?" she suddenly asked. 
 
 Nelly could feel that Mayne started. 
 
 "He did not interest me in the least," she 
 answered. 
 
 " Didn't he? I thought perhaps you had met 
 him somewhere. He was looking at you all 
 through the service."
 
 128 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Was he ? I suppose I am like some one 
 he knows;" said Nelly, with perfect com- 
 posure. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A TIFF. 
 
 So true a fool is love, that in your will 
 (Though you do anything) he thinks no ill. 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 " I WONDER if Christina really wanted to annoy 
 Mayne?" said Phyllis to her sister that night. 
 
 As usual, the two girls were talking confiden- 
 tially before they went to rest. Until Nelly came 
 they had had nothing to talk about beyond the 
 ordinary routine of their duties, and the new books 
 which they were reading. But Nelly had flashed 
 into this sober household like some bright visitant 
 from another sphere; and the quiet inmates of 
 the manor were living in a state of excitement. 
 
 "I hope not," Susie answered. "It was
 
 A TIFF. 129 
 
 inconsiderate of her to say anything about Lord 
 Wyburn's glances. But perhaps she doesn't 
 realize that Mayne is very easily upset just now. " 
 
 They were both silent for a moment. Then 
 Phyllis shook back her long hair with an impatient 
 gesture and spoke almost pettishly. 
 
 " It seems to me that his love-affair does him 
 more harm than good. He gets only a fitful 
 kind of happiness out of it," she said. "He 
 used to be the best-tempered fellow in the 
 world, but to-day he looked quite savage. Will 
 it always be like this?" « 
 
 " Oh no ; it won't always be like this. Such a 
 state of mind cannot last," Susie replied. 
 
 " But it will do a great deal of mischief 
 
 while it does last," Phyllis said. "I'm afraid that 
 
 his is not the right kind of love, or that Nelly 
 
 isn't the right kind of girl to be loved. It must 
 
 be very uncomfortable to be in love with a 
 
 girl who attracts so much attention." 
 
 "It's a pity that he is so over-sensitive about 
 VOL. T. 9
 
 I30 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 her," Susie admitted sadly. "But I think the 
 over-sensitiveness will wear off. This is the 
 first love-affair in our family, you know; and it 
 disturbs our peace." 
 
 " I hope I shan't be a nuisance when my turn 
 comes. However, nobody will ever be as dis- 
 tracted about me as Mayne is about Nelly," 
 remarked Phyllis in a tone of conviction. " Did 
 you notice the splendid ruby ring that she is 
 wearing? He must have spent all that he had 
 upon it." 
 
 " I wish he had given her something less 
 costly," said Susie, with a sigh. "There is an 
 extravagance about this love of his. Poor dear 
 boy, he reminds me of Romeo. 
 
 "'These violent delights have violent ends, 
 And in their triumph die.' " 
 
 " But there was no Rosaline before he wooed 
 this JuUet," cried Phyllis. "Nelly is his first 
 love; he never cared a sou for any other girl.
 
 A TIFF. 131 
 
 and so he pours out all the accumulated devo- 
 tion of his youth at her feet. How admirably 
 I express myself, Susie! It's too bad that such 
 eloquence should be wasted on the desert air 
 of this bed-room. Good night." 
 
 And with a dramatic wave of the hand, Phyl- 
 lis went off into her own apartment, leaving her 
 sister still sitting thoughtfully at the toilet-table. 
 
 On Monday morning the girls decided that it 
 was time to gather the plums, — those large golden 
 plums for which the manor orchard was famed. 
 Nelly, who was in high spirits, begged for' a 
 basket that she might help in picking up the fruit 
 that fell. And Mayne volunteered to climb the 
 trees. 
 
 Nelly's gaiety was infectious. Susie, who had 
 come down to breakfast in a sober mood, was 
 beguiled into mirth; and Phyllis, who loved fun, 
 chattered and laughed as if her home life had 
 never known a cloud. 
 
 The orchard was only divided from the road
 
 132 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 by a low hedge ; and a horseman, riding along 
 at a leisurely pace, could get a distinct view 
 of the three girlish figures under the trees. As 
 the sound of hoofs drew nearer, Nelly sprang 
 laughingly away from her companions to pursue 
 a black kitten which bounded off in the direction 
 of the hedge. Lord Wyburn, mounted on his 
 favourite chestnut, saw the very face which had 
 haunted his dreams confronting him in the 
 sunny morning light. Her brown eyes shone 
 upon him for a moment ; he caught a glimpse 
 of richly-glowing cheeks, and crimson lips parted 
 in a smile; and then she turned and went 
 springing back to the others. 
 
 They received her in silence. From the tree 
 in which Mayne was standing, embowered in 
 leaves, they had heard a muttered curse ; and 
 their spirits sank within them. 
 
 A shadow seemed to have fallen over the 
 brightness of the morning. The sisters tried to 
 laugh at Nelly's gay speeches ; but all the
 
 A TIFF. 133 
 
 merriment had died out of their hearts. They 
 piled up plums in the baskets with Hstless 
 hands, and presently Susie carried her basketful 
 into the house. Phyllis followed ; and Mayne 
 swung himself down from the tree. 
 
 "Upon my word, Nelly," he began, "this 
 is a great deal too bad! I make every allowance 
 for a man who has got into the habit of 
 running after pretty faces, but when all is said 
 and done, one does expect decent behaviour 
 from a gentleman." 
 
 " Oh, you are beginning about Lord Wy- 
 burn again." She was far too wise to pretend 
 that she did not understand him. " Hasn't he 
 a right to ride on the queen's highway ? " 
 
 There was something mutinous in her soft 
 voice, and her rich bloom had deepened. 
 
 " But he has no right to stare into another 
 man's orchard," cried Mayne. "He rode here 
 to get another glimpse of you, and you must 
 needs reward him for his pains!"
 
 134 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 He thrust his hands into his pockets, and took 
 short marches under the plum-tree. His hand- 
 some face was darkened with anger and distress, 
 — very real anger and distress as Nelly could 
 see at a glance. 
 
 His hat had fallen off, and was lying on the 
 grass at her feet. She picked it up and went 
 quietly to his side. 
 
 "Don't rampage, Mayne ;" she said, laying 
 her hand gently on his arm. " I think I ought 
 to be angry with you, but I'm not; — not very. 
 I won't believe that you really accuse me of 
 running to the hedge to let Lord Wyburn look 
 at me. If you did " 
 
 She paused suddenly. Her lips were com- 
 pressed, and she seemed to be struggling with 
 some strong feeling not easy to overcome. He 
 looked at her and found himself subdued. 
 
 "What a brute I am," he burst out. "How 
 absurd all this is ! There I was, cursing up 
 in the tree, and spoiling the pleasure of those
 
 A TIFF. 135 
 
 two poor girls, all because that ugly little satyr 
 came prowling near our grounds." 
 
 "Exactly," assented Nelly promptly. "You 
 can't prevent his prowling, you see. It's a 
 way that satyrs have, I suppose. Nobody wants 
 to see them ; they're not pretty to look at, 
 but somehow they intrude themselves upon 
 you at every turn. For my own part, I wish 
 the race was extinct ; but what can one do ? " 
 
 And thus the little scene ended. The pair 
 returned to the house with cloudless faces, and 
 Nelly gaily claimed her share of the plums. 
 But she could not quite succeed in winning 
 Susie back to her side that day. 
 
 Susie Comberford was a girl who had strange 
 premonitions; flashes of insight; swift revelations 
 of other people's inmost selves; and so it came 
 to pass that she saw more than she wanted to 
 see. She liked Nelly already, and was beginning 
 to feel that she should learn, in time, to love 
 her. And yet she did not quite believe in her.
 
 136 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 The artlessness and utter indifference to ad- 
 miration were unreal; the affection for Mayne, 
 although real, was not an adequate return for 
 the devotion which, as Phyllis had lackadaisically 
 said, he poured at her feet. 
 
 Susie understood her brother, and knew that 
 there were depths in his- nature which he had 
 never sounded yet. She was a young girl; but 
 she had read and thought more deeply than 
 girls generally do. She took life seriously — too 
 seriously, some said ; and there was always about 
 her something of the 
 
 "pensive nun, devout and pure, 
 
 Sober, steadfast, and demure." 
 
 Without being steeped in self-consciousness, 
 and given up to self- analysis like poor Mane 
 Bashkirtseff, Susie studied her inner life, and 
 often judged herself as an accusing angel might 
 have done. For other people, however, she 
 was always ready to find excuses ; and if no
 
 A TIFF. 137 
 
 excuse could possibly be found, she covered 
 their sins with silence. 
 
 She did not want to judge Nelly. But she 
 knew the sudden pursuit of the black kitten 
 had been cleverly timed. Nelly's bright eyes 
 had caught a glimpse of the approaching rider, 
 and she had yielded at once to the impulse 
 to see and be seen. If Lord Wyburn had 
 admired her in the dim church, he should know 
 that her beauty could stand the test of blazing- 
 sunshine. It was a natural impulse, perhaps, 
 and not altogether blameworthy; but a true teve 
 would have conquered it, just for true love's sake. 
 
 "The picnic is to come off on Friday," said 
 Mrs. Comberford as they sat at luncheon. 
 " Christina's invitations have all been accepted. 
 I am not going; you young people can be 
 trusted to take care of yourselves, and there 
 is Mrs. Payton to look after you." 
 
 " Are we to go ? " asked little Madge eagerly. 
 
 " No, dear; the grown-up people won't want
 
 you," the mother answered. "But you shall 
 have a picnic made up of little ones before 
 Nelly leaves us. We will have a grand feast 
 in the pine wood, and plenty of fun." 
 
 "And hear fairy stories afterwards," cried 
 Madge in delight. " Do you know any good 
 fairy stories, Nelly? Mayne's tales are lovely, 
 but he isn't always in the mood to tell them." 
 
 " They don't come to me unless I am in the 
 mood," Mayne said, laughing. 
 
 " I hope the mood will come while I'm 
 here," remarked Nelly. "Robby makes great 
 demands upon my imagination. I should like 
 to store up some of your stories for his benefit. " 
 
 " Tell us more about Louie and Robby, " 
 pleaded little Rose, when they were leaving the 
 table. And Nelly went out with the children 
 willingly enough, and sat under the shade of 
 the great cedar to amuse them for half an 
 hour. 
 
 " What a good-natured girl she is," said
 
 A TIFF. 139 
 
 Mr. Comberford to his wife. " It's a good 
 sign when children take kindly to a woman. 
 How the little ones used to flock round you, 
 Kate, in the old days ! " 
 
 " I never had Nelly's witchery," Mrs. Com- 
 berford replied, half sadly. " Mine were simple, 
 motherly ways which came to me by nature. 
 Our children look upon Nelly as some one out 
 of the fairy tales they are so fond of. She is 
 like an enchantress." 
 
 "She's a sweet creature," said Mr. Comber- 
 ford, watching the pretty group under the c^dar. 
 " Our Mayne might have made a worse choice. " 
 
 " Sometimes, Henry, I am sorry that he 
 didn't choose poor Christina/' said the wife 
 with a swift glance at her husband's face. " She 
 has always been a favourite of mine; and we 
 know her so well, you see, that Mayne's 
 engagement with her would have seemed the most 
 natural thing in the world." 
 
 " There has never been the least chance
 
 I40 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 of such a thing, Kate. Mayne is a romantic 
 fellow; — just the kind of fellow to roam far 
 afield in search of a rare flower. And he has 
 found it." 
 
 " Yes, he has found it. But rare flowers 
 don't always thrive when they are planted in 
 home gardens. It is best to choose a plant 
 that will take naturally to the soil in which it 
 has to grow." 
 
 Mr. Comberford did not' care to pursue the 
 subject. His face wore a look which his wife 
 understood well enough. It was a look that 
 expressed his dislike to hear disparaging 
 remarks about Nelly. 
 
 The good woman sighed as she saw him 
 stride away to his fields. She would have liked 
 her husband to agree with her on all points ; 
 but that is a bHss which is never granted to 
 wives in this unsatisfactory world. So she 
 prudently resolved that she would avoid dis- 
 cussing Nelly for the future; and we may be
 
 DEADLY PERIL. I41 
 
 sure that she broke her resolution before it 
 was many hours old. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 
 
 "And hark, and hark! The deep-mouth'd bark 
 Comes nigher still, and nigher." 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
 
 The picnic was like any other picnic ; the party 
 strolled through the woods; they ascended' the 
 downs ; they gathered prodigious handfuls of wild 
 flowers and grasses. Some of the younger girls 
 really enjoyed themselves, being at that happy 
 age when cloudless skies, golden sunshine, and 
 an excellent lunch on the grass, are all that is 
 necessary for supreme happiness. But Nelly 
 was distinctly bored. 
 
 Christina's guests were not many, and the men 
 were uninteresting. Nelly did not care about the
 
 142 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 admiration of the curate and the village doctor; 
 and it was impossible not to feel that Christina 
 detested her. Phyllis was merry ; but Mayne 
 and Susie would rather have been at home. 
 
 It was Christina who decreed that the men 
 should have a quiet half hour after lunch, 
 and be left to smoke in peace. Amongst 
 them was a rich bachelor cousin of hers, a 
 man past fifty, whose favour she was anxious 
 to win. Detecting the signs of incipient 
 fatigue in his face, she announced that she was 
 going to lead off a band of the younger ladies 
 as an exploring party. The matrons were to 
 remain behind, and the gentlemen were expressly 
 forbidden to follow. The girls were to roam 
 about until they had found a suitable spot for 
 a gipsy tea. Then they were to return to the 
 luncheon-ground, and invite their lovers, brothers, 
 and admirers to join them again. 
 
 As to the men, they made but a very faint 
 protest against this arrangement. The bachelor
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 43 
 
 cousin was delighted ; he had got into a cosy 
 nook under a tree, and after a hearty yawn 
 he stretched himself out on the grass and fell 
 asleep. The curate, propping his back against 
 the trunk of an oak, indulged in a dreamy 
 doze; and Mayne, feeling curiously tired and 
 depressed, turned his back on his companions 
 and wondered why he wasn't enjoying himself. 
 
 Nelly had been behaving beautifully all the 
 morning. Her meek devotion to her betrothed 
 had exasperated Christina, and stirred up a mild 
 envy in the curate's placid breast. She Had 
 been so lovely and gentle and dutiful that 
 Mayne could find no fault in her at all. And 
 yet here he was, supporting himself on his 
 elbow and plucking up little tufts of grass, with 
 a miserable consciousness that he was not a 
 perfectly happy man. 
 
 He had had a bad night, to begin with. 
 After lying awake for hours, listening to the 
 familiar creaking of the old furniture, and the
 
 144 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 nibbling of mice behind the wainscot, he had 
 dropped asleep to dream hideously. 
 
 It was as evil a vision as that which came 
 to Sir Tristram in 
 
 " The lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs 
 Furze-crammed, and bracken-roof'd; " 
 
 and like his, it was a vision of rubies. 
 
 Mayne had dreamed that he saw Nelly, gay 
 and radiant, with a necklace of large red gems 
 clasping her white throat; and he was angry 
 because these rubies were no gift of his. In 
 his fury he tried to snatch them from her neck ; 
 but they would not come away, and then he 
 saw that his hand was red. 
 
 And in a moment there had flashed into his 
 mind the sickening words — 
 
 "These be no rubies, this is frozen blood." 
 
 He had started up in bed with those words 
 ringing in his ears, and found the broadening
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 45 
 
 day sending rays of light across the room. Here, 
 lying on the warm grass in the afternoon 
 sunshine, the dream came back with terrible 
 distinctness. He might rail at himself for being 
 a superstitious fool; but who does not know 
 what it is to have the spirit darkened by the 
 memory of an evil dream ? 
 
 All around him the summer world was 
 steeped in rich repose. A humble-bee droned 
 close to his face, and then alighted near 
 enough for him to inspect its black velvet 
 coat belted with yellow. While he lay and 
 watched its movements, a drowsiness began to 
 steal over him; the bachelor cousin snored 
 under a neighbouring tree; but there was no 
 other sound to break the stillness of the place. 
 He slept ; and this time his slumber was dream- 
 less and deep. 
 
 Christina's party gradually broke up into 
 twos and threes. A girl of seventeen attached 
 herself to Nelly, who did not want her in 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 the least, but was civil and sweet as usual. 
 Molly Dale, however, was not an exacting com- 
 panion; she asked nothing more than to walk 
 by the side of this new beauty from London, 
 and be favoured with a commonplace remark 
 now and then. People and things were apt 
 to grow monotonous in Molly's everyday life; 
 but here was a bright creature from another 
 kind of world, arrived as unexpectedly as if 
 she were created to make a fresh delight in a 
 country holiday. 
 
 Nelly was in no mood to climb the downs 
 again. She showed a preference for quiet green 
 lanes, dark with the shadows of trees, where 
 the bindweed netted up the hedges, and black- 
 berries were ripening unseen. It was a sultry 
 afternoon; not a breath of wind stirred the 
 thick gold of the cornfields; scarcely a leaf 
 rustled overhead. 
 
 They had turned into a shady way which 
 appeared to lead to nowhere ; weeds were
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 47 
 
 growing in old wheel tracks; the white flints 
 stood out in sharp relief against the grassy 
 ruts ; no sound broke the silence that seemed 
 to reign here perpetually. It was a forsaken 
 way leading to a forgotten goal; a path that 
 might have depressed some travellers even in 
 broad sunshine. 
 
 "Don't you think we are rambling too far?" 
 asked Molly at last. "The others will be turn- 
 ing back to the luncheon-ground. And we 
 promised that we wouldn't go far, you know?" 
 
 " I didn't promise anything," Nelly answered. 
 " I want to see if this lane has an end. " 
 
 Molly was too meek to offer a remonstrance. 
 She gave a thought to the handsome lover 
 who was awaiting Miss Stanley's return with 
 impatience, of course; but she did not venture 
 to remind her new acquaintance of his prob- 
 able anxiety. Nelly had not forgotten him; 
 to do her justice he was very seldom out of 
 her mind; but his depression had not escaped
 
 148 A ROMANCE OF LINCOT.N'S INN. . 
 
 her notice, and she had resented it a little. 
 She had behaved well, — exceedingly well — all 
 the day, and had made herself as unattractive 
 as possible to the other men. Yet Mayne had 
 not appeared to appreciate her goodness; it 
 was all lost upon him, she thought. 
 
 Well, he might pay attention to Christina 
 if he chose. She would give him an oppor- 
 tunity to be agreeable in that quarter. Mayne 
 would miss her when they all reassembled ; but 
 every one knew that Molly Dale was her sole 
 companion. They could not suspect her of 
 stealing off with the curate, reflected Nelly with 
 a smile. 
 
 "Here's the end at last," said Molly, in a 
 tone of relief She was getting tired of this silent 
 walk, and half regretted forsaking Christina's party. 
 
 She was right. The lane terminated in a 
 triangle from which the high hedges afforded 
 only one outlet. A stile of the roughest de- 
 scription led into a beautiful field.
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 49 
 
 "How pretty!" Molly exclaimed. "That's 
 Rosedown. " 
 
 Beyond the field there was a long, low house, 
 built on rising ground, a house with white walls 
 and many windows. The girls could catch 
 glimpses of terraces and gardens, just visible 
 through breaks in the belt of woodland which 
 divided Rosedown from the field. 
 
 "It belongs to Lord Rexbury," Molly went 
 on ; but Nelly was mounting the stile, and did 
 not heed her. 
 
 " I am going to get a nearer view of the 
 place," Miss Stanley said quietly. "Don't 
 come; I'm sure you are tired, and I shall return 
 in a few minutes." 
 
 Molly seated herself on the top rail, and 
 watched the graceful figure moving away. 
 Nelly was wearing her black lace hat laden 
 with poppies, and had brightened a fawn-co- 
 loured gown with a full vest of soft scarlet silk. 
 The rich colour showed out bravely against
 
 150 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 the background of green ; the sun shone on 
 the solitary form in its tasteful dress, and good- 
 natured little Molly followed it with admiring 
 eyes. 
 
 On one side of the field, not many yards 
 from the spot where Molly sat waiting for her 
 companion, there was a thicket, and a group 
 of small oaks. The girl, absorbed in looking 
 after Miss Stanley, enjoyed the quietness of her 
 shady seat, and vaguely realized that she was 
 just fatigued enough to feel the pleasantness 
 of rest. Suddenly a deep bellow, fierce and 
 thunderous, startled her out of her musings, 
 and drew from her an involuntary scream of 
 terror. A bull, which had been screened by 
 the thicket, was advancing slowly out into the 
 open ground. 
 
 Molly, in the suddenness of her fright, fell 
 backwards from her seat on the rail, and for- 
 tunately slipped into a dry ditch under the 
 hedge, doing herself little harm. She was safe.
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 151 
 
 at any rate; the high stile and higher hedge 
 were between her and the bull; and for a few 
 moments she crouched trembling in the mossy 
 trench into which she had fallen. Then she 
 rose, still quaking in every limb, and looked 
 through the bars into the field. 
 
 Alas for Nelly, and the bravery of her scarlet 
 adorning ! The bull was following her with venge- 
 ful purpose, still moving deliberately, and 
 pawing the sod now and then. She had looked 
 back and seen her pursuer; but her presence 
 of mind had not deserted her yet, and she was 
 walking swiftly, but without any appearance of 
 undue haste. 
 
 " Don't run ! " shrieked Molly at the top of 
 her voice. 
 
 Another bellow, louder and more threaten- 
 ing, came from the angry brute, who was 
 evidently quickening his pace. He was a fine 
 fellow, with a pale tawny hide, and horns as 
 black as jet, descended from an ancient race
 
 152 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 which had once roamed in the forests of the 
 north in all the pride of strength and freedom. 
 That last roar of his was too much for Nelly. 
 Her self-possession broke down all at once, 
 and she set off running as fast as her light feet 
 would go. 
 
 The bull pursued her at the top of his speed. 
 Molly, half mad with horror and agony, climbed 
 the stile again, and filled the air with screams 
 for aid. The frantic chase went on as if it 
 would never end. Nelly was a fleet runner; 
 but the day was warm, she had already done 
 a great deal of walking, and was tired. At 
 first, fear had lent her speed ; but the pace was 
 too good to last ; once or twice she stumbled ; 
 there was a singing in her ears ; a mist before 
 her eyes. 
 
 Even to the wildly-excited Molly it was 
 clear that the bull was gaining on his victim. 
 Poor Nelly's strength was fast ebbing away ; 
 field and trees and sky seemed to be whirling
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 53 
 
 round and round her as she ran. In a vague 
 way she was making for the thick belt of 
 woodland which lay between the field and the 
 grounds of Rosedown ; a small white gate 
 gleamed before her dim eyes, — if it could be 
 reached she might make a desperate effort to 
 climb it and be safe. But could she reach 
 it ? O for one moment of rest ! 
 
 On, on, although her senses seemed to be 
 forsaking her, and the whole thing began to 
 grow like a hideous nightmare. Her foot struck 
 against a mole-hill ; she half fell, recovered 
 herself, and staggered along, more slowly now. In 
 a second or two she felt that she should fall again. 
 
 There was another bellow behind her, terribly 
 close this time. And then came the deep, 
 strong bark ol a dog ; then more bellowing, 
 and a great uproar of barking and roaring. 
 The white gate was near — nearer than she had 
 thought. If she could but gain a little breath- 
 ing-time she might be saved yet.
 
 154 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 The uproar in the rear continued ; but it 
 sounded farther off. In sheer desperation Nelly 
 paused and looked behind. 
 
 What she saw was a fierce conflict going 
 on between the bull and two huge mastiffs. 
 The dogs harassed him on the right and left, 
 turning him now this way, and now that. 
 Panting fearfully, still half despairing of escape, 
 the girl tried to run on again, and dragged 
 herself along a little way. She was close to 
 the gate now, so close that in another moment 
 she might have touched it. But sight and 
 sense failed; she stumbled once more, and then 
 seemed to plunge downward into a world of 
 darkness. 
 
 Molly, on the top of the stile, had screamed 
 until her voice was gone, and now stood bab- 
 bling incoherent words of trouble. She could 
 see it all from her standpoint ; the attack of 
 the dogs ; the fury of the thwarted bull ; poor 
 Nelly's headlong fall.
 
 DEADLY PERIL. 1 55 
 
 Would the mastiffs succeed in keeping the 
 bull away from the helpless heap, lying close 
 to the little white gate ? That perfect form, 
 those peach-tinted cheeks, set in masses of 
 warm brown hair, all the charms which men's 
 eyes had loved to dwell upon ! What would 
 they be presently? O brave dogs, keep the 
 cruel brute at bay! Give him not a moment's 
 peace, good dogs, harry him, vex him, tire 
 him out! 
 
 A flash ; a sharp report from the wood ; and 
 the furious animal tumbled forward on his knees. 
 In the next instant he was rolling on the ground 
 in the last convulsions of the death struggle; 
 and Molly saw a couple of men emerging from 
 the shade of the trees with guns in their hands. 
 
 Terrified as she still was, Molly Dale sum- 
 moned strength enough to get over the stile, 
 and run across the field to the place where 
 Nelly lay. But long before she reached the 
 spot, one of the men had lifted the girl gently
 
 156 A ROMANCE OF LIAXOLN'S INN. 
 
 from the ground, and was doing his best to 
 bring her back to consciousness when her com- 
 panion came up. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ROSEDOWN. 
 
 " What sort of a world will the world be now ? 
 Oh, never again what the world hath been! 
 And how happened the marvellous change ? " 
 
 Owen Meredith. 
 
 " I WILL carr\^ her into the house/' said Lord 
 Wyburn. These were the first words that 
 Nelly heard when her senses were coming 
 slowly back. She did not know the voice, 
 nor could she tell in whose arms she lay. But 
 a look of rehef came into her languid eyes when 
 she recognized Molly Dale's face bending over 
 her. 
 
 "Don't be frightened, dear," entreated Molly,
 
 ROSEDOWN. 157 
 
 whose country cheeks were as white as ashes. 
 " It's all over now, you know ; you are quite 
 safe." 
 
 " The bull ? " gasped poor Nelly faintly. 
 
 " He'll never trouble anybody again, " said 
 the voice which had first spoken. " I've put 
 a bullet into him, and he's quiet enough now." 
 
 Molly remembered afterwards that Lord Wy- 
 burn had been in no haste to relinquish his 
 burden. He was looking down into the lovely 
 face, and watching the life-tints steaHng back 
 into lips and cheeks, with an intense, passionate 
 gaze which startled even the simple Molly. 
 
 " Can you walk, Nelly ? " she faltered out 
 timidly. 
 
 " Of course she cannot. " Lord Wyburn 
 answered for her. " It would be dangerous to 
 try her strength yet. I shall carry her into the 
 house, and send a servant to her people." 
 
 "But — I can walk," Nelly feebly protested. 
 
 " Not to be thought of. Your friend will
 
 158 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 come with you, and you'll be quite well pre- 
 sently. If you fight against your weakness 
 you'll make yourself awfully ill," said the young 
 man, in a stern tone of warning. 
 
 Nelly was far too much exhausted to protest 
 any more. The keeper, who stood by, opened 
 the gate which led into the wood; and Lord 
 Wyburn lifted her up as lightly as if she had 
 been a child. He was rather below middle 
 height, but his broad shoulders and strong arms 
 could have sustained a heavier weight with 
 ease. 
 
 The girl, with eyes closed, and long black 
 lashes lying on her pale cheeks, felt that she 
 was being carried with infinite tenderness. Very 
 slowly he moved along the path which cut 
 right through the little wood ; and presently 
 a wave of rich perfume from the flower-gardens 
 swept over her. They were entering the shrub- 
 beries of Rosedown. 
 
 She opened her eyes upon a paradise ot
 
 ROSEDOWN. 159 
 
 flowers. There were old fish-ponds with swans, 
 and tall reeds, and floating water-plants ; a 
 fountain, its basin garlanded with the luxuriant 
 leaves and blossoms of a purple creeper, flashed 
 and tinkled in the sunshine. Close by, a Psyche 
 lifted her pure face heavenward, her marble 
 limbs gleaming out of a drapery of pendant 
 foliage. About the whole place there lingered 
 an antique charm; it was a bit of dreamland, 
 sheltered from the innovating hands of the age, 
 and wrapped in drowsy peace. 
 
 Lord Wyburn walked on in silence with his 
 burden. Molly, still in a dazed condition, 
 followed meekly, carrying the black lace hat 
 trimmed with poppies. Nelly's soft hair had 
 come unbound, and hung in a mass of ripples 
 over Lord Wyburn's arm. She drew a long 
 breath now and then, but neither spoke nor 
 moved. 
 
 He carried her gently up the broad stone 
 steps of the terrace, through a portico, into a
 
 l6o A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 dim hall, and on into a long, low room. Still 
 with the same care and tenderness he placed 
 her on a large, easy couch which stood near 
 one of the windows, and then withdrew, leaving 
 her with Molly alone. 
 
 Lying there, in the quietness of utter pros- 
 tration, Nelly gazed around her with dreamy 
 eyes, and saw pictures, and statuettes, and a 
 great quantity of old china. There were four 
 windows, looking out upon the terrace, and 
 myrtle and roses clustered round them in rich 
 profusion. Beyond the silent gardens, the mar- 
 ble figures, the fountains, and fish-ponds, 
 stretched the billowy country with its cornfields 
 and pasture-lands all steeped in golden sunshine. 
 Farther away against the horizon rose the grey 
 towers of Abbeyside, crowning a low hill, and 
 looking down upon the dark woods that came 
 half way up the height. 
 
 " Nelly — Miss Stanley — " said Molly, coming 
 up to the couch, and speaking in a frightened
 
 ROSEDOWN. I 6 I 
 
 whisper, " do you think you are going to be 
 very ill?" 
 
 Nelly roused herself, and smiled for the first 
 time since her terrible adventure. 
 
 " No, " she answered. " I think you are 
 more likely to be ill than I am, you poor 
 child! I couldn't have beHeved that your rosy 
 cheeks could, get so pale. I brought all this 
 trouble on myself, you know," she added in a 
 penitent tone. 
 
 "No, you didn't," Molly declared. "That 
 beasdy bull ought to have been shot long ago. 
 But oh, what will Mayne Comberford say 'to 
 this business?" 
 
 What would he say? Nelly's heart began 
 to throb very fast at the mention of his name. 
 She sank back on the cushions with a heavy 
 sigh, feeling that she would have given anything 
 she possessed if his arms could have carried 
 her out of danger. That Lord Wyburn, of all 
 men, should have been singled out by fate to 
 
 VOL. I. I I
 
 1 62 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 be her preserver, was a disastrous thing indeed ! 
 
 " Mayne will never forgive him," she thought. 
 " And I shall never make him understand that 
 I hated the man's touch, and wanted my own 
 lover all the while. Mayne will look at me 
 with his beautiful, reproachful blue eyes, and 
 I shall feel as if I had enticed the bull to run 
 after me on purpose to get rescued by Lord 
 Wyburn. Dear Mayne, he has such a talent 
 for putting one in the wrong ! But I wish — oh, 
 how I wish that I could see him at this moment! 
 Molly!" 
 
 "Yes, dear; I am here." 
 
 " Yes, you are there, but you are not of 
 much use. Oh, poor child, I don't mean to 
 be cross, but I am feeling intensely miserable. 
 This is such a silent, mysterious place that it 
 frightens me ! Are they never coming ? Look 
 out of the window, Molly, and tell me if you 
 can see anything of Mayne." 
 
 Nelly was beginning to cry. She lay on
 
 ROSEDOWN. 163 
 
 the sofa with a lovely, distressed face that 
 looked like a child's. Two ladies, who entered 
 the room together, were struck by this half- 
 babyish expression of woe; and one of them 
 was conscious of a sharp thrill of sad remem- 
 brance. In the years gone by (more years 
 than she cared to count), she had seen a 
 child's face wear that selfsame look. 
 
 The elder lady, who was tall, strong, and 
 handsome in a hard, patrician style, came over 
 to the sofa. She began to speak to the girl in 
 a kindly, business-like fashion. 
 
 "Don't cry, my dear; you must drink this 
 at once," she said, taking some wine from a 
 servant, and administering it to Nelly with her 
 own hands. 
 
 The other lady, who was much younger, 
 advanced with a graceful step, and stood look- 
 ing down at the unexpected guest with eyes 
 that were darker and deeper than her own. 
 
 Nelly, who had been on the verge of a fit
 
 164 A ROxMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 of hysterical weeping, made a desperate struggle 
 to regain her self-control. She drank the wine, 
 murmured a grateful word or two to Lady 
 Rexbury (who shook up the sofa-pillows and 
 told her to He still); and sank back obediently 
 into the satiny nest. 
 
 " Let me sit with her, " said a voice, low 
 and harmonious by nature. " You are wanted 
 elsewhere, and she is getting better already. " 
 
 It was the dark-eyed lady who spoke ; and 
 Nelly looked at her face with a vague remem- 
 brance of having seen it before. 
 
 " Her portrait must have been in the Royal 
 Academy," she thought. "It is just the kind 
 of face to delight a painter." 
 
 It was, indeed, the kind of face which smiles 
 down upon you from the walls of picture- 
 galleries ; dark, richly beautiful, possessing a 
 strange witchery of expression which arrests 
 the gaze at once. Something picturesque and 
 foreign lingered about this woman, and dis-
 
 ROSEDOWN. 165 
 
 tinguished her from others, although her dress 
 was as perfectly correct as it is possible for a 
 faultlessly-made costume to be. Her features, 
 small and regular, were of the Greek type ; bu t 
 the eyes had a latent fire in their darkness; 
 they were eyes that seemed to speak of pas- 
 sion and remembrance. 
 
 Lady Brookstone was past thirty, but her 
 lustrous black hair showed no thread of silver. 
 It was coiled about her small head in massive 
 braids in a fashion which is never out of date, 
 and drawn back simply from her low, broad 
 forehead. Her skin was of a dark clear bru- 
 nette hue, with a rich red in the cheeks and 
 Hps. She had the art of choosing the colours 
 which suited her best, and was wearing a soft 
 gown of some deep cream-coloured stuff, trimmed 
 sparingly with amber silk and black lace. 
 
 She sat down in a chair by the couch, and 
 presently her small fingers wandered over Nelly's 
 brow, among the little curls and rings of brown hair.
 
 1 66 A ROMANCE OF LTNTCOLN'S INN. 
 
 Molly Dale, whose presence had been smil- 
 ingly acknowledged by Lady Rexbury, sat in 
 silence on a lounge near the window, and watched 
 "the dark ladye " with a fascinated gaze. 
 
 The gentle movements went on without 
 ceasing ; the lady's intense dark eyes were bent 
 unwaveringly upon the lovely face on the sofa 
 pillows. There was a golden stillness in the 
 gardens ; rich odours floated into the room ; 
 not a sound was to be heard in the house ; and 
 Molly found a pleasant drowsiness stealing over 
 her as she sat in her cushioned seat. Just as 
 she was sinking into a tranquil doze her glance 
 was attracted towards something that moved 
 in the doorway; and she saw Lord Wyburn 
 standing there. 
 
 Without noticing her in the least, he walked 
 noiselessly into the room, and stood by Lady 
 Brookstone's side, looking down intently on the 
 sleeping girl. Molly, now thoroughly aroused saw 
 a sort of white light pass across his face. His
 
 ROSEDOWN. 167 
 
 eyes shone ; he drew a step nearer to the 
 sleeper; and Lady Brookstone laid her hand 
 gently on his arm. 
 
 "Hush," she whispered. 
 
 The touch seemed to recall him to himself. 
 After standing there perfectly motionless for 
 a moment or two, he allowed the lady to push 
 him quietly away. He even smiled at her for 
 doing so ; and the smile improved his face. 
 
 His retreating footsteps made no sound upon 
 the soft carpet. He departed as silently as he 
 had come.
 
 1 68 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CHATTERING. 
 
 The small, small imperceptible 
 
 Small talk, that cuts like powdered glass 
 
 Ground in Tophana, — who can tell 
 
 Where lurks the power the poison has ? 
 
 Owen Meredith. 
 
 "Wasn't it strange," said Phyllis, "that such 
 a dull picnic should have had such a romantic 
 ending?" 
 
 A family group had assembled under the 
 great cedar on the lawn. It was Saturday 
 afternoon ; Nelly, still weak and languid after 
 yesterday's adventure, was lying down in her 
 own room upstairs. Mayne, his face unusually 
 pale and worn, sat on the grass by his mother's 
 side. His sisters were talking over the event- 
 ful day with Molly Dale.
 
 CHATTERING. 1 69 
 
 "It was a dull picnic," Susie admitted. 
 "We all felt so stupid that no ordinary occur- 
 rence could have roused us. Even when we 
 had gone back to the luncheon-ground, and 
 Nelly and Molly were missing, we " 
 
 " Oh, but we were not kept long in suspense," 
 Phyllis broke in. " The man-servant from 
 Rosedown appeared, and told his little story 
 beautifully. It was rather mean of you and 
 Mayne to start off to Nelly without me. I 
 wanted to see the house." 
 
 "It is not so old as ours," said Mrs. Com- 
 berford. " There is nothing remarkable about it. " 
 
 " The grounds are charming," Molly remarked. 
 "Perhaps I was fanciful, but it seemed to 
 me that I must have read about Rosedown in 
 some old romance. And that dark lady who sent 
 Nelly to sleep; — she was a kind of enchantress." 
 
 " My dear Molly, I think you were over- 
 excited," Mrs. Comberford said, glancing up 
 from her work.
 
 170 
 
 "I dare say I was." Molly seldom contra- 
 dicted anybody. "But she did put Nelly to 
 sleep, you know, and it was the best thing 
 that could have been done; Nelly woke refreshed 
 and rested. There's something very uncommon 
 in Lady Brookstone." 
 
 " Your fancy must have coloured everything 
 and every one, Molly," Mrs. Comberford an- 
 swered. 
 
 "I don't think Molly has coloured things as 
 much as you suppose, mother," said Susie 
 quietly. " Lady Brookstone is exactly like some 
 one in a poem or a play. Yes," added the 
 girl, looking away across the lawn with dreamy 
 eyes, "she is like the gipsy mother in II Tro- 
 vatore. I can imagine her in a gay costume, 
 glittering with golden coins, singing those won- 
 derful, passionate songs." 
 
 "I believe you are all a little mad to-day," 
 observed Mrs. Comberford, in a grant-me- 
 patience tone. " I shall be glad when you
 
 CHATTERING. 171 
 
 have forgotten this interesting affair altogether. 
 It was ver}^ wicked of Lord Rexbury to keep 
 such a horrible bull in his field." 
 
 " But Lord Wyburn behaved well, didn't 
 he ? " Molly said timidly. " And he was anxious — 
 oh, very anxious about poor Nelly. He picked 
 her up from the ground, and carried her into 
 the house — carried her in his arms as tenderly 
 as you would hold a baby ! And when she was 
 asleep on the couch, he came and looked at 
 her so earnestly that Lady Brookstone had to 
 send him away." 
 
 Mrs. Comberford felt rather than saw Mayrfe's 
 start. At that moment this good matron was 
 unreasonably angry with two or three people 
 at once. She longed to box the ears of the 
 innocent narrator of the story; she would have 
 liked to rate Nelly soundly for letting herself 
 be carried by that titled roue, whose admiration, 
 she thought, was an insult ; and she was vexed with 
 her own dear boy for his unfortunate infatuation.
 
 172 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 There are times in every mother's life when 
 she longs to play the part of providence, and 
 "change this sorry scheme of things entire." 
 In fact, if she spoke out of the depths of her 
 heart she would say that she ought to be 
 providence to her children. How wisely she 
 would direct their affections if they would but 
 consent to be guided! What troubles and mis- 
 takes they might be spared if they would but 
 submit to her rule ! 
 
 Poor Molly's last words were succeeded by 
 a profound silence. The amiable blunderer 
 opened her round grey eyes, and looked at them 
 all with an inquiring gaze. 
 
 " Here is Christina," exclaimed Phyllis, get- 
 ting up from her seat on the grass, and going 
 to meet Miss Payton. 
 
 Christina came in among them all with sym- 
 pathetic smiles, and kind inquiries. They gave 
 her a cane chair under the cedar; and then 
 the event of yesterday had to be discussed again.
 
 CHATTERING. 1 73 
 
 " It's like the beginning of a novel, isn't it ! " 
 said Phyllis. "That's how Ravenswood and 
 Lucy Ash ton fell in love, you remember? He 
 shot the bull just as she sank exhausted to 
 the ground." 
 
 " Oh, we must hope that it's not the 
 beginning of such a tragedy as the Bride of 
 Lammermoor," cried Christina, in a shocked 
 tone. " I am sure poor Miss Stanley must 
 have suffered very much," she added smoothly. 
 " Lord Wyburn had to carry her to the house, 
 I am told. So unpleasant for her, was it not? 
 I really don't think I could have borne it." 
 
 "I could," said Phyllis. "I can't think why 
 things always happen to other girls and never 
 to me. I should like immensely to faint, and 
 be carried out of danger in the arms of a 
 nobleman. " 
 
 "Phyllis, if you talk such nonsense I shall 
 send you to your room," said Mrs. Comberford 
 severely.
 
 174 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 "It was unpleasant; very unpleasant," Chris- 
 tina repeated. "We will trust that the whole 
 thing will soon be done with, and forgotten. 
 But such sensational adventures are remembered 
 for a long time, especially in the country. I 
 don't believe in a nine days' wonder. All the 
 wonders I have ever known have lasted much 
 longer than nine days." 
 
 Just then Nelly herself came slowly out of 
 the shade of the porch, and moved towards 
 the group with the languid step of weakness. 
 Her cheeks wore a clear pallor which gave 
 her a new aspect, and made her eyebrows 
 and lashes look blacker than ever. Mayne 
 sprang up, and hastened to her side ; but she 
 saw the shadow on his face. 
 
 He waited upon her with loving care, bring- 
 ing her tea and cake. Susie hovered round 
 her with gentle little attentions; Phyllis was 
 frankly affectionate, and Mrs. Comberford kind. 
 Yet Nelly's heart was ill at ease; she knew
 
 CHATTERING. 1 75 
 
 that her lover suffered ; she felt that there were 
 thorns already among love's roses. Alas! it 
 was so early to find the thorns. 
 
 Christina took her leave, and Mrs. Comber- 
 ford accompanied her down the carriage-drive. 
 The poor mother was longing for sympathy; 
 it was a relief to speak her thoughts to a 
 friend. 
 
 " My children are all absurdly romantic, " 
 she said. " They don't take it from their 
 father or me. It must have come from their 
 Aunt Adeliza, who played the guitar, and tried 
 to live in accordance with her ridiculous name. 
 If it hadn't been for poor Angela's romantic 
 school-friendship we should never have known 
 Nelly." 
 
 "I hope you are not disappointed in Miss 
 Stanley," said Christina, in a tone of concern. 
 
 "Not exactly disappointed. She is very 
 charming, of course. But it grieves me to see 
 my boy so completely enthralled. It is not a
 
 176 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 restful, satisfying love ; it makes him jealous 
 and unhappy." 
 
 "She may, perhaps, be a little too fond of 
 admiration," murmured Christina softly. "The 
 idea occurred to me when I saw her first." 
 
 " I am afraid you are right, " Mrs. Comber- 
 ford replied. They were standing at the gate, 
 and both looked up at the sound of approaching 
 wheels. 
 
 " Here is a carriage from Abbeyside," Christina 
 exclaimed. " Some of the family are coming to 
 make inquiries." 
 
 Mrs. Comberford's face flushed with annoy- 
 ance. "I hope Lord Wyburn hasn't come," 
 she said; and then turned back to the house. 
 
 Lord Wyburn had come, and Lady Brook- 
 stone had accompanied him. They joined the 
 group under the cedar; and there were pleas- 
 ant words, soft laughter, and inward heart- 
 burnings. 
 
 Wyburn made several attempts to begin a
 
 CHATTERING. 1 77 
 
 quiet conversation with Nelly, but was foiled 
 by Mayne with courtesy and skill. The two 
 young men were but slightly acquainted; there 
 had never been any intimacy between Abbeyside 
 and the manor. The earl and countess seldom 
 entertained their neighbours ; they had people 
 down from London after the season, and kept 
 their house full till the shooting was over. The 
 countess did not like Abbeyside well enough 
 to stay there very long; she always said it was 
 necessary for the earl to go abroad a good 
 deal; so abroad they went. The old place on 
 the hill was shut up during the greater part 
 of the year. 
 
 Lady Brookstone sat down by Nelly's side, 
 and looked earnestly into the girl's face, pale 
 and weary, but beautiful beyond compare. 
 
 " I am glad I chanced to be at Rosedown 
 yesterday," she said. "The house is to be 
 refurnished, and Lady Rexbury had asked me 
 to go there with her. We were looking over 
 
 VOL. I. I 2
 
 1 78 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 things when Lord Wyburn brought you in. 
 What a dreadful affair it was, poor child ! " 
 
 "I have quite got over it," said Nelly. 
 
 " I don't think you have. " Lady Brookstone 
 regarded her with a doubtful glance. 
 
 " But I have, indeed. I am very strong. I 
 mustn't forget to thank you for soothing me to 
 sleep ; it was a dehcious rest. " 
 
 " Did you know that I soothed you to sleep ? 
 The process was very simple," said Lady 
 Brookstone smiHng. "Some can do it, and 
 some cannot. I have often lulled my children 
 in the same way." 
 
 " You have children ? " Nelly looked up with 
 bright interest at "the dark ladye." 
 
 " Yes, I have two boys. But no girl; and 
 I have always wanted a daughter." 
 
 The visitors departed. Mayne led Nelly 
 away, later on, to see the sunset from the 
 rising ground behind the house. She was still 
 weary, and leaned on his arm for support.
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 1 79 
 
 "Dear," he said, "I have been trying to 
 keep my temper; but you know I hate the 
 sight of that fellow. It's too bad that he should 
 have saved your life?" 
 
 " It was a great deal too bad, " she an- 
 swered. " I wish it had been any one else. 
 Let us forget all about it, Mayne. If you like, 
 I will promise never to go to another picnic 
 as long as I live. I won't go to any more 
 parties given by Miss Payton, I assure you. 
 She is my pet aversion." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 
 
 The little rift within the lover's lute, 
 
 That by and by will make the music mute, 
 
 And ever widening slowly silence all. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 In the country, as Christina had said, a won- 
 der lasts longer than nine days. The country
 
 l8o A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 people enjoyed Nelly's adventure so much that 
 they could not have enough of it. It was dis- 
 cussed 
 
 " At kirk and at market; " 
 in the village street ; in every lane and corner 
 of Hartside. That the vicar's daughter did 
 her best to keep the matter before the pubhc, 
 goes without saying. Any one who desired to 
 obtain full particulars was sure of getting ample 
 information at the vicarage. 
 
 The farmers' wives were sorry for poor Mr. 
 Mayne, who had gone up to London, and got 
 bewitched by a flirting young woman. The 
 Comberfords, it was remarked, had trouble 
 enough already; why did Mr. Mayne bring 
 home a stranger to disturb the peace of the 
 family? Why not have set his heart on some 
 good girl well known in the neighbourhood, 
 — somebody like Miss Payton, for instance? 
 As to beauty, — well, in a year or two one 
 woman would be as good-looking as another.
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. i8l 
 
 Susie was a wise girl; but with all her wis- 
 dom she could not succeed in controlling 
 the active tongue of Phyllis. Both the sisters 
 were deeply interested in her whom they called 
 "the dark ladye," and they had discovered a 
 resemblance between her and Nelly. When 
 told of this discovery Nelly had admitted that 
 Lady Brookstone had reminded her of some 
 one; but it had not occurred to her that the 
 "some one" was herself PhylHs, delighted 
 with the likeness, chattered about it continually. 
 Mayne obstinately denied that it existed at all. 
 
 Yet it did exist, although Lady Brookstone 
 was two or three shades darker than Nelly. 
 The features of the two were dissimilar; but 
 there were looks, smiles, a quick lighting-up of 
 the two faces which made them alike. 
 
 " I don't want Lady Brookstone to come here 
 again," said Mayne impatiently. "She is too 
 soft and cooing for my taste; I distrust women of 
 that type. And she belongs to the Rexbury^ set. "
 
 1 82 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 To belong to the Rexbury set was to lose 
 all chance of finding favour in Mayne's sight. 
 
 Nelly's holiday was slipping fast away ; and 
 as it drew near its close she confessed to her- 
 self that it had not been a time of unalloyed 
 pleasure. It had begun with disappointment; 
 it ended with a cloud of doubt and depression. 
 
 It was good to be going back to the life 
 that she had lived in Russell Square — good 
 to think of Robby's welcoming eyes, and 
 Louie's smile, and Lady Florence's cordial 
 greeting. Her mind went back to her first 
 meeting with Mayne on the quiet Sunday 
 morning in Lincoln's Inn. It was only a girl- 
 ish fancy, but it seemed as if there was a 
 sweet spell in that old place. Memories of 
 ancient loves lingered about it like the scent of 
 dried roses. The musty atmosphere of the law 
 was sweetened by that delicate, yet unconquer- 
 able fragrance of the past. 
 
 " When I go back again I shall get on better
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 183 
 
 with Mayne," she thought. "He will forget 
 his jealousy, and his mother and Christina will 
 not be at hand with their irritating speeches. 
 A pair of lovers ought to have a little world 
 all to themselves. We shall find our Httle 
 world in Lincoln's Inn, and the stranger shall 
 not intermeddle with our joy." 
 
 Lady Florence wrote to tell Nelly to join 
 her pupils at Sandown. After a month with 
 them at Eastbourne Aunt Margery had had 
 quite enough of their society. All Lady Flo- 
 rence's predictions had been fulfilled; Miss 
 Camden had boxed the ears of Robby " the 
 Roarer, and Robby had soundly belaboured 
 her in return. 
 
 "It served her right," Nelly murmured. 
 " Dear little man — how glad I shall be to 
 hear him stutter again ! " 
 
 She said good-bye to the manor on the first 
 of September. It was a soft, rain-scented morn- 
 ing; the first breath of autumn came sighing
 
 184 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 over the hills ; a few russet leaves had drifted 
 across the lawn. Mayne had arranged to travel 
 with his betrothed as far as Portsmouth, and 
 then to go on to London. 
 
 They had taken an early breakfast, and the 
 old fly waited at the door. The father and 
 mother and the two girls came out with them 
 to the porch with kisses and farewells. At 
 this last moment all were a little sad. Nelly 
 was grave and sweet; something in her face 
 touched Mrs. Comberford, bringing unexpected 
 tears into her eyes. 
 
 "Good-bye, my dear," she said, with more 
 warmth than she had ever shown before. " You 
 must come to us again very soon." 
 
 The fly rolled away, down the carriage-drive 
 and through the gates; but Nelly only looked 
 back once to the group standing in the porch. 
 The fragrance of showers, and the odour of 
 the pines came to her, blending with the strange 
 sadness of that leave-taking. Far off, the
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 1 85 
 
 pale blue of the horizon was dim with thin 
 veils of rain. 
 
 "You are very quiet, Nelly," said Mayne, 
 taking her hand. "Are you sorry that your 
 holiday is over?" 
 
 "It is not over yet," she answered. "The 
 children will have no lessons to learn at San- 
 down. " 
 
 "I shall not be with you at Sandown," he 
 said, looking deep into her brown eyes. ' 
 
 " But you will meet me in London. Oh, 
 Mayne, it will be good to see old Lincoln's Inn 
 again ! Somehow the place seems to belong 
 to us; it has been our meeting-place, and we 
 have made it our own." 
 
 He bent over her tenderly. 
 
 " You are right, " he said. " We have made 
 it our own." 
 
 A few hours later Nelly and her luggage 
 arrived at the seaside villa, where the Camdens 
 were finishing their summer holiday. Robby,
 
 1 86 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 radiant and rosy, was the first to give her a 
 hug and a greeting. 
 
 " Oh, what a long time, what a long time ! " 
 began the boy. " I — I — I — s — said I wouldn't 
 st — St — stutter when I saw you." 
 
 " He is not to be allowed to kiss you till 
 to-morrow morning if he stutters," said Lady 
 Florence. " But, Nelly, you are looking rather 
 pale. What has taken your roses away ? " 
 
 " Aunt Margery g — g — gave it to me," shouted 
 Robby, following his governess upstairs. " And 
 I g — g — gave it to her back again ! " 
 
 Alone in a pretty bed-room overlooking the 
 sea, Nelly shed a few tears that night. She 
 missed Mayne; but there was a sense of relief 
 in getting back to Robby and Louie ; and she 
 cried, in true girlish fashion, because she was 
 glad to find herself with the children again. 
 
 It was so easy to please the Camdens, she 
 thought. The barrister and Lady Florence 
 approved of all that she did ; her pupils wel-
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 1 87 
 
 corned her with unfeigned dehght. She re- 
 called Mrs. Comberford's look of cold doubt, 
 and felt that it was pleasant to escape from 
 those unloving eyes. Mayne — dear Mayne — 
 was her true love; but she loved him better 
 under the historic trees of Lincoln's Inn than 
 in the beautiful old home of his boyhood. 
 People in love may well be forgiven for regret- 
 ting, like the little American girl, that "the 
 world is so full of other people." It is seldom, 
 indeed, that " other people " do anything to 
 help the course of that sweet passion which 
 "never did run smooth." • 
 
 Next day Lady Florence conducted the 
 governess to a nook on the sands, and sent 
 the children away to collect shells and sea- 
 weed. Louie, who showed an inclination to 
 linger within earshot, was promptly provided 
 with a basket, and reminded of the marine 
 album which would be the reward of her 
 industry. The album was to have scarlet
 
 1 88 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 covers lettered with the initials L. C. Uncle 
 Giffard had promised a sea-sketch for the first 
 page. 
 
 Lady Florence was one of the many child- 
 less women who can manage children beauti- 
 fully. Tactless mothers envied her skill ; 
 aggrieved little ones turned instinctively to her 
 for sympathy. When persuasion could prevail 
 she never commanded ; Nelly smiled as she 
 saw Louie take herself off with a well-pleased 
 face. 
 
 " And now, " began Lady Florence, turning 
 to her young companion, " I want to hear the 
 history of your hohday from beginning to end." 
 
 " But I'm afraid it won't be interesting," 
 said Nelly, with a blush. 
 
 " The holiday of a pretty girl is never devoid 
 of interest. Understand that I will not let you 
 leave out all the thrilling parts. Tell me every- 
 thing. " 
 
 Nelly's blush deepened.
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. 1 89 
 
 " Shall I begin your story for you ? " Lady 
 Rorence asked mischievously. "You are en- 
 gaged to Mr. Mayne Comberford. " . 
 
 "How did you know?" said Nelly, opening 
 her brown eyes, 
 
 "By this." Lady Florence lightly touched 
 the ruby ring on the girl's hand. 
 
 Nelly had grown accustomed to the ring, 
 and had quite forgotten that it was likely to 
 attract notice. 
 
 "It is true," she admitted after a pause. 
 " But, Lady Florence, it will be such a long 
 engagement that I see no good in proclainwng 
 it to the world." 
 
 " I do not like long engagements as a rule. 
 However, you are young enough to wait a year 
 or two. Now, Nelly, I have made the begin- 
 ning ; you must go on with the story. " 
 
 And Nelly obeyed. As she went on she 
 began to enjoy the interest she excited; Lady 
 Florence listened with unusual animation.
 
 I go A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 "You must tell it all over again to my 
 husband, Nelly," she exclaimed. " He will 
 thoroughly enjoy the bull-fight ! You want to 
 know if I have ever met Lady Brookstone? 
 Yes ; she is one of those women who might 
 be a professional beauty if she cared for that 
 kind of celebrity." 
 
 " Then she doesn't care ? " said Nelly. 
 
 " Not in the least. She was married to her 
 husband in his old Bohemian days. Lord 
 Brookstone used to be plain Leonard Hilton, 
 a poor artist, earning his bread from the 
 illustrated papers. One or two unexpected 
 deaths gave him the barony; but some say 
 that he looks back with regret to the old 
 roving life. I don't know who his wife was. 
 Nobody makes any inquiries about her antece- 
 dents; she is beautiful and refined, and a 
 general favourite. But she does not care to 
 attract much notice, and is quite devoted to 
 her husband."
 
 WITH THE CAMDENS AGAIN. IQI 
 
 "And is he devoted to her?" Nelly asked. 
 
 " Entirely. In short, they are a model couple. 
 You admired her, of course ; she is as good 
 to look at as a picture. She makes one think 
 of lotus flowers and the Nile." 
 
 "I should Hke to meet her again," said Nelly, 
 in a thoughtful tone. " She asked where my 
 home was, and I said that I lived with you." 
 
 " Then it is possible thM she will come to 
 see you, child. After your adventure, it is 
 natural that she should wish to know how you 
 get on." 
 
 There was a look of hesitation and doubt on 
 the girl's face, and Lady Florence perceived it. 
 
 " Don't you really want her to come, Nelly ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " I should Hke to see her again. But — Mayne 
 does not want me to get better acquainted 
 with her." 
 
 " Why not ? There is nothing that can be 
 said against the Brookstones. "
 
 192 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " He has taken a dislike to her, I am afraid. " 
 
 " I hope he is not a man who takes dislikes, " 
 Lady Florence remarked. " If he is, he'll be 
 difficult to live with. What has Lady Brook- 
 stone done to offend him?" 
 
 " Nothing. He dislikes her because she is 
 in the Rexbury set; that is all." 
 
 Lady Florence sat still and mused, looking 
 out across the blue water in silence. 
 
 •'I see," she said at last. "He is furiously 
 jealous of Lord Wyburn." 
 
 " It is so, " Nelly answered in a resigned 
 voice. 
 
 " 'The little rift within the lover's lute','' 
 Lady Florence murmured. " Don't let him 
 become a tyrant, Nelly. If you do not stand 
 up for yourself now, it will be too late by- 
 and-by."
 
 "THE DARK LADYE." 193 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "the dark LADYE." 
 
 Rose-bloom fell on her hands together prest, 
 And on her silver cross soft amethyst, 
 
 And on her hair a glory like a saint: 
 
 She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest 
 
 Save wings, for heaven. 
 
 Keats. 
 
 October had come ; there were golden sunsets 
 veiled in the mists of London; russet leaVes 
 drifted about the quiet precincts of Lincoln's 
 Inn ; the last flowers of summer withered slowly 
 in the barristers' quaint little gardens. On 
 Sundays the chapel was open again; Nelly and 
 the children went back to their old pew in the 
 chancel, and Mayne became a regular worship- 
 per there. 
 
 It is not for us to seek to analyse that wor- 
 voL. I. 13
 
 194 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 ship. There is something divine in the first 
 true love of a young man for a young woman ; 
 and it has been finely said that " the power of 
 love in all ages creates angels." Nelly, stand- 
 ing quietly in her place in the old chapel, 
 never knew how deep a reverence blended 
 with her lover's devotion. 
 
 He had grown intimately acquainted with 
 all the saints in the gorgeous old windows, and 
 knew what rich depths of colour lurked in 
 those ample folds of purple and crimson and 
 violet which draped them with such regal 
 splendour. The preacher, with his tall, slight 
 figure, and clean-cut scholarly face, had the 
 look of an abbot of the Middle Ages ; and 
 Mayne liked him. He even liked the imperious 
 old bidding prayer which commanded him to 
 pray "especially for this learned and honourable 
 Society." In those days, when he had come 
 out of a noisy world into the shade and quiet- 
 ness of this sanctuary, it seemed an easy thing
 
 "THE DARK LAD YE." I 95 
 
 to be in charity with all men. The mysterious 
 light streamed through the painted glass on 
 Nelly's face, and his soul was at peace. Every- 
 one, who is worth anything, has a romance in 
 his own heart; and Mayne's was the Romance 
 of Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 That longing for steadfast tranquillity, which 
 Wordsworth believed to be one of the deepest 
 instincts of our nature, was almost satisfied in 
 Mayne's life just then. He saw Nelly often 
 on week-days, and met her always on Sundays. 
 Nothing was said or done that could disturb 
 his trust in her. Together they discussed their 
 plans for the future, and pictured that quiet 
 little home which was to be theirs one day. 
 
 In their Sunday walks they found out a 
 great many modest residences which would suit 
 them exactly, and even went so far as to fur- 
 nish them in imagination. We all know such 
 houses ; they stand here and there in odd nooks 
 and corners of the great West-central district,
 
 196 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 and are generally to be seen where there are 
 a few trees, and a fragment of garden. They 
 are the very dwellings for young couples of 
 moderate means and simple tastes to settle in. 
 And sometimes, a few of us who are dreamers 
 can forget this weary world and all its dull 
 necessities, in picturing simple lives of wedded 
 love that might be lived within those walls. 
 
 "If we could only make a nest, as the birds 
 do," said Nelly, one day, "how simple life 
 would be! You would come with sticks and 
 straws, and I should contribute bits of moss, 
 and little morsels of down and wool. I know 
 I should love to live in it after it was finished. 
 Shouldn't you?" 
 
 "Very much," answered Mayne. "And I 
 should like to perch it up on one of the topmost 
 boughs in Lincoln's Inn, and get a bird's view 
 of London. When I flew down to my daily 
 work (I should want a pair of wings, you 
 know), you might be busy with repairs. Every
 
 "THE DARK LADYE. " 
 
 197 
 
 windy night would blow away little pieces of 
 our home, so that there would be enough to do. " 
 
 " I would execute all repairs myself," Nelly 
 cried. " I shouldn't need any plumbers and 
 glaziers, and drain-men, and gas-men, and all 
 the horrid crew that come to a house, and 
 make one's life a burden. The only difficulty 
 would be the trifling one of food." 
 
 He looked smilingly into her eyes, and won- 
 dered what better thing could happen to a 
 young man than that he should fall in love ? 
 The October afternoon was warm with mellow 
 sunshine as they turned into Russell Sc^uare, 
 and the light fell on the two bright young 
 faces. 
 
 An old doctor, fat, but romantic, glanced 
 kindly at them as he stepped out of his carriage, 
 and recalled the experiences of his own youth 
 with a sigh. 
 
 Afterwards, Mayne used to look back to that 
 Sunday as the last day of rest. In most lives
 
 1 98 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 there is a time of restfulness which precedes 
 the time of strife. There is the golden dream 
 before the rude awaking ; the sweet communion 
 before the anguish of parting • the quiet sojourn 
 in that Land of Beulah which lies so close to 
 the brink of the mysterious River. Who does 
 not remember the charm of those last hours? 
 Who does not know the mystic beauty of that 
 border country which comes between us and 
 the Unseen? 
 
 Lady Florence was kind to the lovers, and 
 Mayne sat down to the home-like tea-table in 
 the breakfast-room with Nelly and the children. 
 
 Robby, having been assured that he was 
 not to be parted from his governess until at 
 least half a century had expired, had struck up 
 a warm friendship with Mr. Comberford. Louie 
 thought Miss Stanley's friend was a decided 
 acquisition, and put on all sorts of little airs 
 and graces for his benefit. Nelly, pouring out 
 tea, and smiUng at the children's talk, had a
 
 199 
 
 bewitching, matronly look which filled Mayne*s 
 cup of happiness to the brim. 
 
 Monday came, bringing the usual tasks to 
 be gone through ; but it brought something 
 more than work. Returning from her afternoon 
 walk with her pupils, Nelly was sent for by 
 Lady Florence, and found Lady Brookstone 
 in the drawing-room. 
 
 "You have quite recovered? Yes; I am 
 sure of it, " said " the dark ladye, " taking the 
 girl's hand affectionately. 
 
 In Nelly's sight she seemed handsomer* than 
 ever, that day. Her eyes were shining; her 
 brown cheeks were touched with a deeper 
 flush; there was a suppressed emotion in her 
 manner. She held the little hand in a linger- 
 ing clasp. 
 
 " I am perfectly well," Nelly answered. "And 
 I am glad to come back to Russell Square. 
 My adventure almost spoiled the visit to 
 Hartside."
 
 200 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " I cannot think of it without a shudder, " 
 Lady Brookstone declared. " You were looking 
 very pale when I saw you at the manor. Lord 
 Wyburn has never ceased to talk about you ; 
 he showed a great deal of real feeling and 
 anxiety. " 
 
 "You were all most kind," murmured Nelly, 
 conscious that she was blushing, and that Lady 
 Florence was observing her narrowly. 
 
 " You must come and see us. We have 
 come up to town for a fortnight, and then we 
 go to Rome for the winter. Ah, how I wish 
 I could take you with me ! " said " the dark 
 ladye" with the shining eyes. 
 
 Nelly was surprised, and a little embarrassed. 
 Lady Brookstone departed after receiving a 
 promise that Miss Stanley should go to her 
 on Wednesday afternoon ; and Lady Florence 
 and the governess were left alone. 
 
 " Why does she want me ? " asked the girl, 
 with a puzzled look.
 
 "THE DARK LAD YE. 20I 
 
 " Well, partly for the sake of your face, 
 child, " Lady Florence replied. " And there is 
 another reason. She has heard the story of 
 the little child who was found sitting by the 
 roadside." 
 
 Nelly coloured with annoyance. 
 
 " I think Mrs. Comberford might have 
 refrained from telling my story to all her 
 neighbours ! " she exclaimed. " I know she 
 disapproves of her son's engagement; I know 
 she will never Hke me; but " 
 
 "You are not certain that she has talked 
 about you, my dear. No one ever knows how 
 news is circulated in the country. But Lady 
 Brookstone, poor woman, has a sorrow of her 
 own; and that is why she is so much inter- 
 ested in you. As I have told you, the early 
 days of her married life were roving days ; 
 and it seems that she lost her first child — a 
 little daughter. Her husband's wealth and title 
 have never consoled her for that loss. Even
 
 202 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 her two boys cannot make her forget the sister 
 they never knew. And she has taken it into 
 her poor head that if her Httle girl had Uved 
 she would have grown up exactly like you." 
 
 "The Comberford girls thought I was like 
 Lady Brookstone, " said Nelly musingly. " Mayne 
 was vexed with them for saying so." 
 
 " I am afraid Mayne is very easily vexed. 
 The resemblance really does exist; but it is 
 slight. If it comforts that poor mother to 
 fancy that you are like her lost child, why 
 should we not humour her ? " 
 
 " Why not, indeed ? " said Nelly indignantly. 
 " I liked her from the first ; she was so soft 
 and sweet and kind. Of course I would not 
 grieve Mayne for all the world; but I think he 
 is unreasonable about Lady Brookstone." 
 
 " Extremely unreasonable. And if you yield 
 to him he will grow worse and worse." 
 
 Punctually at four o'clock on Wednesday 
 afternoon Nelly presented herself at Lord
 
 "THE DARK LAD YE." 203 
 
 Brookstone's bright little house in Park Lane. 
 It was not, of course, in apple-pie order; there 
 were trunks and packing-cases in the hall; the 
 drawing-room furniture had gone into brown 
 holland for the winter ; but in Lady Brookstone's 
 boudoir there was warmth and beauty and 
 light. 
 
 The room was one harmonious glow of rich 
 red, for the mistress of the house loved sump- 
 tuous colours at all times. To-day when chilly 
 mists were gathering in the park, and the 
 trees were fast losing their last sere leaves, the 
 warm tints here were welcome to Nelly's eyes. 
 She, too, revelled in this ruby light and shade. 
 The roselights in the middle of the room 
 deepened into a ruddy darkness in the nooks 
 and corners. Lady Brookstone, rising out of 
 her velvet chair by the fire, came forward to 
 meet her visitor. 
 
 "You must sit here, where I can look at 
 you," she said half playfully, but there was an
 
 204 A ROMA^XE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 expression of intense tenderness in her eyes. 
 " Does it not seem a Ions: time asro since I 
 first saw you, lying on the couch at Rosedown? 
 I have been thinking of you ever since that 
 day." 
 
 "And I," answered Nelly softly, "have 
 thought a great deal of you." 
 
 The elder woman bent towards her eagerly. 
 
 "Ah," she said, "if only we could spend a 
 longer time together! I want you to tell me 
 all about yourself, and the first things that you 
 can remember. Do you think it strange that 
 I should take so much interest in you ? " 
 
 " It surprised me a little," Nelly begun; and 
 then hesitated and paused. 
 
 " Lady Florence has told you something, 
 has she not ? " Lady Brookstone asked quickly. 
 "You are like my lost child; you have looks 
 that she had ; her eyes are yours. And there 
 is a resemblance to me in your face. We are 
 alike in expression; our voices have the same
 
 "THE DARK LAD YE. 205 
 
 tone. Lord Wyburn noticed this, and spoke 
 of it to my husband." 
 
 Again the guilty blush dyed Nelly's cheek. 
 "The dark ladye" smiled, and lightly touched 
 that smooth cheek with the tip of her finger. 
 
 "You have made a conquest, little one; but 
 I must not talk about it, must I ? That tall 
 lover of yours with the blue eyes already scents 
 danger when I approach you. Are you very 
 much in love with him? It is an impertinent 
 question, I know." 
 
 It would have been impertinent from any 
 other lips; but Lady Brookstone asked it with 
 that sweet subtle smile of hers, and Nelly could 
 not take offence. 
 
 "Yes; I am very much in love with him," 
 the girl replied frankly. "And it is good of 
 him to love me, a poor little nobody, quite 
 alone in the world." 
 
 Just one gleam of fire shot from beneath "the 
 dark ladye' s" jetty lashes.
 
 2o6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " You do not know that you are a nobody," 
 she said, in a voice that she forced to be calm. 
 "He has lighted on a gem that a prince might 
 be proud to wear. Don't let those people at 
 Hartside undervalue you ! " 
 
 " I could hardly expect them to be pleased 
 with me," Nelly answered sadly. "He comes 
 of a good old family, while I — well, I am a 
 gipsy, I suppose." 
 
 " What if you are a gipsy ? " Lady Brook- 
 stone asked. " Does not the blood of the Romany 
 mingle with families to whom the Comberfords 
 are nobodies? I should like to teach those 
 Hartside people a lesson." 
 
 "Oh, they are kind," Nelly said quickly. 
 " And Susie and Phyllis Comberford are really 
 fond of me. They have had troubles and lost 
 money. It is not surprising that they should 
 have wished Mayne to marry well." 
 
 "Ah, I heard that they were poor. And 
 the engagement is likely to be a long one.
 
 "THE DARK LAD YE." 
 
 207 
 
 There will be time for them to find out your 
 true value," Lady Brookstone remarked, with 
 the sweet subtle smile coming back. " Here 
 is my husband. He is most anxious to be 
 introduced to you." 
 
 Lord Brookstone was a delicate-featured man, 
 below middle height, with a look of enthusiasm 
 about his beautifully-chiselled face. His eyes 
 were light hazel ; full, speaking eyes that changed 
 and softened in a moment; and his hair and 
 silky beard were of that bright red-brown 
 which Raphael loved to paint. At the iirst 
 glance you would have set him down for what 
 he was, an artist; but you would scarcely have 
 remembered the fact that he was a peer. 
 Sweet-natured, open to all good influences, 
 full of poetry and tenderness, Leonard, Lord 
 Brookstone had escaped many of the snares 
 of a roving life; but at heart he was a Bohe- 
 mian still. 
 
 Asked what would content him he would
 
 2o8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 answer now as in the old days, to wander on 
 the Continent, to see old towns, and discover 
 rare works of art in odd nooks and corners, 
 to remain a traveller all his life, and be free 
 from those duties and responsibilities of rank 
 which are apt to grow hideously commonplace. 
 Yes ; Lord Brookstone was unquestionably 
 a Bohemian. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IN PARK LANE. 
 
 A woman perfect as a young man's dream, 
 And breathing as it seemed the nimble air 
 
 Of the fair days of old, when man was young 
 And life an Epic. 
 
 Lewis Morris. 
 
 Nelly went back to Russell Square in a state of 
 pleasant excitement. Lady Brookstone's delight 
 in her had been so plainly shown that the girl's
 
 IN PARK LANE. 20g 
 
 heart was moved. They had made her pro- 
 mise to come again on Saturday morning, as 
 Lord Brookstone wanted to make a sketch of 
 her. Could she be spared? 
 
 Yes ; the children might have a whole holiday, 
 Lady Florence replied. They had been so good 
 and industrious that they deserved a little re- 
 laxation. Any one who had been closely ob- 
 serving Lady Florence just then, would have 
 seen a mischievous twinkle in her eyes ; but 
 this was lost upon Nelly. 
 
 The light of that autumn morning stole 
 softly into the studio in Park Lane. Nelly sat 
 close to an old china bowl full of large violets, 
 her hands folded loosely in her lap, her eyes 
 resting dreamily upon a landscape on the 
 opposite wall. The soft light and sweet per- 
 fume had lulled her into a mood of lazy 
 content. 
 
 She made a lovely picture as she sat there. 
 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 2IO A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 " Round the lips a smile 
 Subtle and sweet and deep as hers who 
 
 looks 
 From the old painter's canvas, and 
 
 derides 
 Life and the riddle of things." 
 
 Lord Brookstone, happy in his work, sketched 
 rapidly, finding his task an easy one. His 
 wife, standing by his side, watched his progress 
 with an interest so intense that it deepened 
 the colour in her cheeks. 
 
 So the morning slipped away till it was past 
 twelve o'clock. Nelly had talked and laughed, 
 but she was so comfortable that she still retained 
 her pretty pose. Some one who opened the 
 door saw her sitting in a high-backed oak 
 chair, with the violets by her side. 
 
 It was Lord Wyburn, who had come on 
 purpose to feast his hungry eyes upon this girl. 
 Brookstone had run up against him in Bond 
 Street, and had said that Miss Stanley was
 
 IN PARK LANE. 2 I I 
 
 coming to the studio. Lady Brookstone smiled 
 upon him graciously ; Nelly met him with 
 tolerable composure, although her heart throbbed 
 with something like fright. What would Mayne 
 say? And yet there was a delicious thrill of 
 gratified vanity. 
 
 Wyburn remained to luncheon of course, thus 
 adding fuel to the flame which already con- 
 sumed him. He had been getting terribly 
 bored with his life of late. It might be pos- 
 sible to live more pleasantly if he were to settle 
 down with this bright face by his side. Nelly 
 was never bored ; she enjoyed everything in a 
 fresh girlish way. Surely the worn-out, used- 
 up old world might grow new and rosy were 
 this sweet contagion of enjoyment always present ! 
 She was engaged; but somehow he never per- 
 mitted the thought of her engagement to check 
 his fancy. 
 
 On the evening of the same day, Lord 
 Brookstone sauntered into his wife's boudoir after
 
 2 12 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 dinner, and found her sitting on a footstool 
 before the fire. She often sat thus, with her 
 hands clasped about her knees, gazing deep 
 into the red glow of the embers. 
 
 Something in her face and attitude recalled 
 a time long gone by, and he stood looking 
 down at her in silence for a few moments. 
 Out of the past there arose a vision of a slight, 
 black-haired girl, sitting alone by a fire made 
 of sticks, on the edge of a woody hollow. In 
 the background a red sunset was burning 
 behind a fir plantation ; the evening air was 
 sweet with the scent of the woodlands; the 
 tinkle of sheep bells sounded far away. As 
 he drew near, the girl lifted her face; he 
 looked upon its magnetic beauty for the first 
 time ; and 
 
 " Felt that light of her eyes into his Hfe 
 Smite on the sudden. " 
 
 And for him those eyes still kept their light,
 
 IN PARK LANE. 213 
 
 and the dark, rich face had not lost a single 
 charm. 
 
 He sat down in his wife's low chair, put his 
 arm round her, and drew her close to his 
 heart. 
 
 "Lost in a reverie, Ursula?" he said. 
 
 She nestled close to him, and raised her 
 lips to meet his kiss. 
 
 "Leonard, she must be our child." Her 
 sweet voice shook with earnestness. " Let me 
 go over the old story again. It comforts me, 
 and it won't bore you, will it?" 
 
 " No, dear, it won't bore me," he answered 
 kindly. " But it saddens me to feel that you 
 are always grieving. And you know that we 
 have no means of finding out the truth, since 
 Abigail is dead." 
 
 " It all came to pass because I was fond of 
 Abigail," Lady Brookstone continued mourn- 
 fully. "When we are true Romany we are 
 faithful ; and Abigail and I were more like
 
 2 14 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 sisters than cousins. I was an orphan, you 
 know; and my father's sister and her husband 
 were kind to me, as you have heard me say 
 a thousand times. Until you came among us, 
 Leonard, there was never a bitter word between 
 Abigail and me." 
 
 " Love's sweetness seldom comes without 
 sowing the seeds of bitterness, Ursula. Abigail 
 was jealous ; there are jealous women every- 
 where ; in palaces as well as in gipsy- tents. " 
 
 " She was a Strang e girl always ; silent and 
 secret as the grave," Lady Brookstone went 
 on. "It all comes back to me as if it had 
 happened only yesterday, — our marriage, and 
 our wanderings, and our settling down for a 
 time in the cottage in Kent. It was there that 
 Abigail and I met again, and she overwhelmed 
 me with her caresses, and her words of false 
 love." 
 
 She paused, and he felt her trembling in his 
 arms.
 
 IN PARK LANE. 215 
 
 "I know, now, that she must have been 
 false through it all. Our good landlady at the 
 cottage did not like her visits; but you were 
 away abroad, and I was at home with baby 
 alone. It was pleasant to talk with Abigail 
 about old days, and she cheered me in my 
 solitude. " 
 
 Lord Brookstone touched his wife's forehead 
 with his lips, and stroked her hair tenderly. 
 
 " Must you go on, dear ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh, Leonard, I cannot help going on ! 
 You remember that you had been sent oiit to 
 the Cape to make sketches for the Ilhistrated 
 Argus; and I was expecting your return when 
 I saw that awful paragraph in the paper. It 
 was rumoured, you know, that some of the 
 men of the Expedition had been killed, and 
 your name was in the list. Can you wonder 
 that I did not stop to reflect? I left baby in 
 the care of Mrs. Fryer, and went up to Lon- 
 don to see your old friend Hartland. If any
 
 2l6 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 one could help me, Hartland could. He did 
 help me ; he found out that the rumour was 
 false, and set my heart at rest." 
 
 " Dear Ursula, I wish you would spare 
 yourself! " 
 
 " When I came back to the cottage I found 
 Mrs. Fryer awaiting me with a troubled face. 
 Abigail had come in my absence, and had 
 coaxed baby, until the child clung to her neck, 
 and would not leave her. She had always a 
 power of winning children. And baby liked 
 her dark face because it was like mine." 
 
 " Not as beautiful as yours, Ursula ; not 
 half as beautiful as yours." 
 
 " Abigail went away with the child, saying 
 that she would return in an hour. But she 
 had not returned ; and I, half crazed with a 
 sudden fear, went in search of her. I found 
 the pateran. I walked and walked until I came 
 to the tents ; my people were kind to me in 
 their fashion ; but Abigail was not there. That
 
 IN PARK LANE. 217 
 
 night I Stayed with them ; but Abigail never 
 came. " 
 
 She sighed wearily. 
 
 " Oh, Leonard, you will never know what I 
 suffered in the days that followed. News came 
 at last that Abigail had joined some of our tribe 
 in Oxfordshire. She went to them quite alone 
 and seemed so ill that a doctor was sent for. 
 But her heart was diseased, they said ; and 
 she died in a few hours. That was how it 
 all ended. There was no trace left of my 
 child." 
 
 " My poor darling," said Lord Brookstone 
 softly, " it all happened years ago, and heaven 
 only knows what became of the little one. 
 My heart will never cease aching for her, 
 Ursula; but there are some good things in 
 our life that are not taken away. We have 
 each other and our boys." 
 
 "Yes," she answered, clinging to him, "yes, 
 I know that I ought to be grateful and glad.
 
 2l8 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 But, Leonard, this girl, — how lovely she is ! 
 And they have called her Stanley ! " 
 
 " That is only because they supposed that 
 she was a gipsy. It does not prove anything, 
 Ursula; as a matter of fact nothing can be 
 proved at all. She may be anybody's child; 
 but it seems to me that they ought to have 
 kept the clothes she wore when she was found. 
 If they had done this there might have been 
 a clue to her parentage. But they did not 
 preserve any relic of her babyhood, and it 
 appears that the woman who adopted her was 
 so well pleased with her toy that she did not 
 want to part with it." 
 
 "We were very poor in those days. I could 
 not afford to buy fine clothes for baby ; and she 
 grew so fast ; " Lady Brookstone murmured. 
 " Leonard, don't you see Nelly Stanley's re- 
 semblance to me?" 
 
 "She has a look of you, Ursula; there's the 
 same sweet, slow smile. In fact she is the
 
 IN PARK LANE. 2ig 
 
 only woman who has ever smiled as you do, 
 I think." 
 
 " She is our child ; I am certain of it. If 
 we asked her, would she not come to us ? " 
 
 "I don't know that she would come," Brook- 
 stone answered thoughtfully. " She's engaged, 
 you see. Her future life is pretty well mapped 
 out." 
 
 " But if she is our own — " Lady Brookstone 
 began excitedly. Her husband stopped her in 
 his gentle fashion. 
 
 " We have not the slightest proof that* she 
 is. Indeed, I don't know why we should cherish 
 such a notion. If we ask her to live with us, 
 Ursula, we must accept young Comberford. 
 He's a decent fellow enough, but you didn't 
 take a fancy to him." 
 
 " No ; he didn't like me, Leonard. And he 
 seemed hard and cold." 
 
 " Probably it was Wyburn who hardened 
 and chilled him." Lord Brookstone laughed
 
 2 20 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 to himself. "After all, Ursula, this Comber- 
 ford has fairly wooed and won her, you know. 
 We mustn't interfere. It's unlucky to meddle 
 in love-affairs, my dear." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SHADOWS. 
 
 Oh, the Httle more, and how much it is ! 
 
 And the Httle less, and what worlds away! 
 How a sound shall quicken content to bliss, 
 
 Or a breath suspend the blood's best play, 
 And Hfe be a proof of this! 
 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 October was keeping all its mellow beauty 
 unimpaired to the last. Sunday came again, 
 calm and still; but Mayne woke up that morn- 
 ing with a strange unrest within him which 
 was not to be soothed by the sunshine. 
 
 He sat down to breakfast with Mr. Cottrell
 
 SHADOWS. 22 1 
 
 as usual, in the pleasant room overlooking Lin- 
 coln's Inn Fields. The old man gave him a 
 penetrating glance now and then, and broke a 
 long pause with an abrupt question. 
 
 "When will you bring Miss Stanley to see 
 my curiosities, Mayne? Will to-morrow after- 
 noon suit her? " 
 
 " I dare say it will, " young Comberford an- 
 swered. " Lady Florence Camden is a good- 
 natured woman ; she lets Nelly have plenty of 
 liberty." 
 
 " Then bring her here to-morrow at 'half 
 past three. What's the matter with you, Mayne? 
 You look gloomy this morning." 
 
 " Do I ? " The young fellow passed his 
 hand across his brow as if he tried to brush 
 a cloud away. " Well, I'll be candid and admit 
 that I am gloomy. I feel as if something were 
 going to happen; and, like Desdemona, I'm 
 haunted by an old song. It was a song that 
 poor Angela used to sing
 
 222 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN S INN. 
 
 "'For violets pluck'd the sweetest showers 
 Will ne'er make grow again.' " 
 
 "A doleful ditty," said Mr. Cottrell, "yet 
 true enough, Mayne, true enough. As you 
 get older, my boy, you'll find that life's path is 
 strewn with plucked violets. But keep up your 
 heart; you are young, and flowers are plentiful." 
 
 " Do you believe in presentiments ? " Mayne 
 suddenly asked. 
 
 " I've known them to come to nothing, " the 
 old man replied evasively. "You are out of 
 sorts this morning; the fall of the leaf has 
 touched you, that's all." 
 
 As Mayne came out into Lincoln's Inn Fields 
 he caught sight of Nelly and the children, and 
 overtook them with a few rapid strides. They 
 all passed through the gate together, and heard 
 the cooing of the pigeons as they walked 
 towards the chapel. It struck Mayne that his 
 lady-love was a little quieter than usual; but 
 Louie was loquacious.
 
 SHADOWS. 223 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Comberford, do you know that 
 Miss Stanley sat for her portrait yesterday?" 
 cried the forward little girl. " She went to 
 Lord Brookstone's studio in Park Lane. Aunt 
 Flo says the picture will be exhibited next year. " 
 
 "I did not hear of that arrangement," said 
 Mayne, looking steadfastly at his betrothed. 
 
 Nelly did not like that look. His eyes were 
 cold and reproachful, she thought, and reminded 
 her of his mother's. What harm had she done 
 that he should regard her with a disapproving 
 gaze ? 
 
 "There was no arrangement," she rejoined 
 quietly. "It was a sudden idea of Lady 
 Brookstone's. Her husband wanted to please 
 her, I suppose, and asked me to give him a 
 sitting. " 
 
 "I thought I had mentioned my dislike to 
 
 your acquaintance with " he began. Then, 
 
 observing that Louie was looking profoundly 
 interested he stopped abruptly.
 
 2 24 ^ ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 "C — c — coming to tea with us this after- 
 noon?" inquired Robby, pkicking at his coat 
 sleeve. 
 
 "Yes, of course he is coming." Nelly lifted 
 her eyes to her lover's gloomy face, and gave 
 him one of those wooing smiles which the heart 
 of man can seldom resist. Softened, yet still 
 perturbed in spirit, Mayne followed her into the 
 chapel. 
 
 For a little while he had her all to himself 
 in the afternoon. They sat together by the 
 fire in the cosy breakfast-room, and he listened 
 to her soft explanation of yesterday's doings. 
 
 Was it her fault, she asked, if Lady Brook- 
 stone would call on Lady Florence? Could she 
 help it if they sent for her to come into the 
 drawing-room? 
 
 " I'm only a poor little governess, Mayne," 
 she pleaded in a dulcet murmur. "I have to 
 do as I am told, you see. Other girls can do 
 as they please; — Miss Payton, for example, is
 
 SHADOWS. 225 
 
 her own mistress. If you had got engaged to 
 her she would not have displeased you as I do. " 
 
 " I never thought of getting engaged to her, " 
 he answered. 
 
 " But your mother thought of her for you. 
 Oh, Mayne, I sometimes feel that I am a 
 wretched little creature ! Have I not spoiled the 
 plans of your family, and made you disappoint 
 everybody ? " 
 
 He drew her into his arms, and murmured 
 words of comfort after the time-honoured fashion 
 of lovers. She was so tender and sweet, 'and 
 withal so humble, that he did not care to ask any 
 more questions about the Brookstones just then. 
 
 A little later she mentioned carelessly that 
 they were going away to Rome, and would 
 have forgotten her long before they came back. 
 
 Not until he was alone again, and she was 
 no longer near to enchant him with her 
 witcheries, did his vague doubts and fears return. 
 They came flocking back to his mind like 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 2 26 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 birds of ill omen, scared away for a time from 
 some favourite haunt; and his whole life was 
 darkened by their presence. 
 
 Mr. Cottrell received Nelly, on Monday 
 afternoon, with an old-fashioned courtesy which 
 won her goodwill at once. He was growing 
 old ; but when his gaze rested on her beauti- 
 ful face, his mind skipped nimbly back to the 
 days when he was a young lover, like Mayne, 
 and forgot the working-day world in looking 
 into a pair of brown eyes. He knew that the 
 Comberfords were not overjoyed at the engage- 
 ment; but this face, he thought, was sufficient 
 excuse for any man's folly. 
 
 But was there any folly in the matter? What 
 was more certain to bring out the good in a 
 young man's nature, and subdue the sensual, 
 than 
 
 " The maiden passion for a maid" ? 
 
 Old Cottrell had watched the progress of
 
 SHADOWS. 22.7 
 
 many a love-affair, and it was his deliberate 
 opinion that every mortal who has truly loved 
 another has always been benefited thereby. 
 Whether love ends in a marriage-chime or a 
 dirge, it is still the noblest and purest thing in 
 life. Whether it be crowned with myrtle or 
 cypress it is still the angel that blesses us, and 
 leads us upward into purer air and clearer 
 light. 
 
 " You must come into my study to see my 
 curiosities," said Mr. Cottrell, sweeping back the 
 heavy curtain which masked the doorway 
 between the two rooms. " It is not often that 
 my dull sanctum is visited by so bright a 
 guest. " 
 
 The study presented, in truth, a gloomy 
 aspect. The oaken book-cases had their lower 
 shelves filled with rows of gigantic folios and 
 quartos; and between two of them hung a tall, 
 narrow looking-glass in an antique frame. Con- 
 fronting the glass was the half-length portrait
 
 228 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 of a man attired in the sumptuous costume of 
 James the First's time. The face, melancholy 
 and proud, seemed familiar to Nelly, as the 
 light of the autumn day fell softly on the picture. 
 
 "It is the Duke of Buckingham," said Mr. 
 Cottrell, following her glance. "The portrait 
 hangs opposite to this glass, in which (if tradi- 
 tion speaks truth) he once strove to read his 
 future fate. The glass — you see it has an ancient 
 frame — is believed to have belonged to Lilly 
 the astrologer ; and its dim surface once reflected 
 the phantoms which he summoned from the 
 world of shadows." 
 
 Nelly turned to look at the "magic mirror," 
 and saw in it only the reflection of her own 
 lovely face, with cheeks richly glowing, and 
 brown eyes shining. She shook her head at 
 the bright image with a smile. 
 
 "It shows me nothing worse than myself," 
 she said gaily. " I wonder if Buckingham 
 caught a vision of Felton's knife ? "
 
 SHADOWS. 229 
 
 " If he had seen it he might have escaped 
 it," Mayne remarked. 
 
 "I think not," Mr. Cottrell replied. "It is 
 seldom that a man accepts a warning. But 
 here is something prettier for Miss Stanley to 
 see. " 
 
 He unlocked the door of an ebony cabinet, 
 and took out a round, flat case. Opening this, 
 he displayed a delicately-painted miniature of a 
 fair woman, with little rings of light hair curl- 
 ing on her forehead, and a string of pearls 
 round her slender throat. The mild blue eyes 
 looked meekly into Nelly's brown orbs ; the 
 dainty lips wore a faint smile. 
 
 " Do you recognize her ? " the old man asked. 
 " Poor Louise — best, and unhappiest, of all the 
 favourites of Louis the Fourteenth's court ! 
 See this curl of light hair, fair and soft as a 
 child's; it was shorn from her head when she 
 assumed the habit of a Carmelite." 
 
 He showed the curl, encased in glass at the back
 
 230 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 of the miniature ; and Nelly looked at it intently. 
 Then she turned to the fair face again, study- 
 ing it long with an earnest gaze, as if it fas- 
 cinated her. 
 
 " Does it speak to you ? " said Mr. Cottrell 
 after a pause. " It has often spoken to me. 
 It seems to say — ' I am a woman with a vast 
 capacity for loving. I love unlawfully, with a 
 deep voice within my soul condemning this 
 wild devotion. I know that the time will come 
 when my king will grow weary of my love; 
 and even now — 
 
 'The shadow darkens round me of my fate; 
 
 I hear the choir upon the midnight sweUing, 
 There closes on me the eternal grate 
 
 Where banished and forsaken hearts are dwelling.' 
 
 " This is the kind of love that ends in the 
 convent, Miss Stanley. La Valliere was a fool, 
 was she not?" 
 
 "A fool of whom one thinks tenderly," 
 Nelly answered with a little sigh.
 
 SHADOWS. 231 
 
 "Now look at this," — Mr. Cottrell took out 
 a fan, exquisitely painted — "see these smiling 
 cupids hovering over a rose-crowned goddess ! 
 The fan belonged to poor Louise's rival, Ma- 
 dame de Montespan. And here is a little bon- 
 bon box which the Grand Monarque used to 
 carry in his august pocket. These turquoises 
 are very fine." 
 
 Nelly took the little box in her hand, and 
 examined it with all a woman's delight in pretty 
 trifles. But Mayne was growing impatient for 
 something more interesting to be exhibited. 
 
 " These things are all very well, Mr. Cottrell, " 
 he said. " But your crystal — ah, that's the best 
 of all!"
 
 232 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 
 
 Look, look again ere the moment pass ! 
 One shadow comes but once to the glass. 
 
 Dante G. Rossetti. 
 
 " The crystal ? Will nothing else content you, 
 Mayne ? " the old man asked. " I have trinkets 
 and baubles enough here to amuse Miss Stanley 
 the whole afternoon." 
 
 "But I have told her about the crystal," 
 Mayne answered. " How you brought it from 
 India, and how it was said to have been used 
 in divination. Nelly is longing to look into it." 
 
 "Are you willing that she should look into 
 it?" Mr. Cottrell demanded. 
 
 ''Willing? Of course I am." The young 
 fellow laughed outright. " I've looked, myself, 
 a dozen times at least without seeing anything.
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 233 
 
 If she has no better luck than I have had, she 
 will be disappointed." 
 
 "Let me look," pleaded Nelly, in her sweet 
 voice. " Perhaps I shall see more than he 
 did ; who knows ? " 
 
 " Ay, who knows ? " echoed Mr. Cottrell, turn- 
 ing to the ebony cabinet once more. 
 
 Carefully selecting one small key from his 
 bunch, he unlocked a drawer, and took out a 
 bag of wash-leather. Then, with a cautious 
 hand, he drew forth a ball about the size of 
 a Mandarin orange ; a thing so transparent and 
 purely bright that it looked Hke a huge dewdrop. 
 
 Nelly received the ball eagerly in her pretty 
 little fingers. She turned it over and over, looking 
 as pleased as a child with a new toy. 
 
 " Let the light fall upon it," said Mayne. 
 "Sit here, in this easy-chair, with your back 
 to the window. That's right. Now gaze 
 steadily into the crystal for ten minutes." 
 
 " Ten minutes ? Thaf s rather a long time, " 
 
 VOL. I. *
 
 234 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " It will be good discipline for you, " Mayne 
 declared. " There's too much quicksilver in you, 
 Nelly. We must all be perfectly silent." 
 
 "And you must be very much in earnest," 
 said Mr. Cottrell. " Desire to see with all your 
 might." 
 
 The beautiful face grew suddenly grave and 
 intense ; the smile died away from the soft lips. 
 
 There was no sound to break the stillness 
 which reigned in the room; the noises in Lin- 
 coln's Inn Fields were heard but faintly here; 
 and Mayne, who had flung himself into a chair, 
 remained quite motionless, watching his betrothed 
 so fixedly that he did not bestow a single 
 glance upon his godfather. The old man stood 
 resting one arm on the mantelpiece, and look- 
 ing intently at the girl. His eyes, usually 
 placid and dull, were now bright with a fiery 
 light. A clock, on its bracket in a corner, 
 ticked the time away ; but only seven minutes had 
 passed when Nelly suddenly uttered a little cry.
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 235 
 
 "What is it? Did you see anything?" 
 Mayne asked springing up from his seat. 
 
 She let the crystal drop into her lap, and 
 looked up at him with a bewildered air. The 
 colour was gone from her cheeks, and her 
 brown eyes, heavily fringed by the black lashes, 
 shone out strangely. Old Cottrell passed his 
 hand across his face, and moved quietly away 
 from the fire-place. 
 
 "Have you had enough of this thing. Miss 
 Stanley?" he asked, taking the transparent ball 
 out of her lap. " The vision only comes once, 
 you know, and then but for a moment." 
 
 He spoke in a half-playful tone, and held the 
 crystal carelessly in his hand. No one would 
 have supposed from his manner that he thought 
 seriously of the matter; but Nelly shivered 
 slightly when he spoke. 
 
 "I don't want to look into it any more," 
 she answered in a subdued tone. 
 
 " Did you see anything ? " Mayne repeated.
 
 236 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " You foolish child, I believe you are scared ! 
 What was it that you fancied you saw ? " 
 
 "It was mere fancy." She sat upright, 
 giving a light touch to the folds of her pretty dress. 
 
 " But tell us what the fancy was, " he insisted. 
 
 " Why ? " she demanded, with a little laugh. 
 
 Already she had regained her self-control, 
 although the rich rose-flush had not come back 
 to her cheeks. She picked up the grey gloves 
 she had been carrying, and had laid down on 
 a table near her. And in picking up those 
 Httle kid gloves she seemed to have taken up 
 again the manner she usually wore, bright, yet 
 gentle, and entirely self-possessed. 
 
 "You want to laugh at me," she went on, 
 straightening the fingers of the little gloves with 
 dainty touches. " You want to taunt me with my 
 imaginative temperament. For the rest of my life 
 I am to be derided as a silly, nervous creature, 
 given to seeing visions, and dreaming day-dreams! " 
 
 She drew her breath quickly, but her face
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 237 
 
 had lost the blanched look, and the usual soft 
 languor had come back to her eyes. Old 
 Cottrell regarded her quietly, and secretly ad- 
 mired her courage. 
 
 "You gave a little scream, you know," said 
 Mayne. 
 
 " Did I ? That Avas just one of my pretences. 
 I like to make a sensation now and then." 
 
 "I think you are pretending now," Mayne 
 said, almost angrily, " that you were not frightened, 
 — why, Nelly, I saw terror in your face!" 
 
 " Do you really suppose that I saw a* scaf- 
 fold, or a skeleton ? " she inquired coolly. 
 
 "I don't know what you saw; but I know 
 you were frightened," he answered stubbornly. 
 
 Mr. Cottrell opened the drawer in the ebony 
 cabinet again. 
 
 "The crystal shall go back to its hiding- 
 place," he said in his quiet voice. "It has 
 done mischief enough for one day; — it has 
 made something like a quarrel between a pair
 
 238 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 of true lovers. Ill-omened thing, thou shalt 
 see the light no more ! " 
 
 " But it takes two to make a quarrel," cried 
 Nelly softly. " And I have no mind for strife. 
 Isn't it a pity to waste any more of this pleas- 
 ant afternoon in an idle dispute?" 
 
 She glanced at Mayne with all the old 
 witchery in her smile. 
 
 "The tea-pot is cooling in the next room," 
 said Mr. Cottrell, turning the key in the drawer, 
 shutting up the cabinet, and then putting his 
 hand on his godson's shoulder. " I am a 
 stupid old fellow for keeping a witch's tool in 
 my possession, and letting young people handle it. 
 No good ever comes of nonsense of this kind. " 
 
 " Of course it is nonsense, " Mayne replied 
 irritably. "And if Nelly would only tell what 
 she thought she saw, we might " 
 
 " But I was dazed with staring hard at the 
 thing ! " the girl explained. " Oh, Mayne, do 
 forget all about it, and let me have some tea."
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 239 
 
 There was no resisting such an appeal as 
 this. Mr. Cottrell laughed good-humouredly, 
 and the three went into the adjoining room, 
 where an antique silver urn was steaming on 
 the table. Nelly's eyes were gladdened by the 
 sight of beautiful old china cups, and a bunch 
 of chrysanthemums in a delicate Venetian vase. 
 All the furniture in this room was pretty and 
 bright; they seemed to have left shadows and 
 gloomy thoughts behind the door of the study. 
 
 Yet, although the young people appeared 
 to have regained their cheerfulness, the crystal 
 was not quite forgotten. When Nelly had 
 finished her first cup of tea she admitted that 
 she had felt exhausted. 
 
 "The tea did me good," she said, as she handed 
 her cup to Mr. Cottrell. This time she looked 
 frankly up at him, and there was something in 
 those uplifted eyes that touched him. 
 
 "I knew it would," he answered. 
 
 She smiled, and glanced at Mayne, who was
 
 2 40 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 watching her every movement and change of 
 expression. 
 
 "The first chill of autumn has been creeping 
 over me, " she said. " What a long time it 
 will be before we see another summer!" 
 
 She moved a little nearer to the fire, putting one 
 small foot on the fender, and shivering again. 
 
 "Are you cold?" Mayne asked anxiously. 
 
 "Yes; — no, — not exactly." 
 
 Mr. Cottrell came to her side with another 
 cup of tea, and she took it gratefully. Then 
 there was a brief silence, and both the men 
 saw that she had grown pale again. 
 
 " Supposing, " she said suddenly, turning to 
 the old man. "Supposing that one really did 
 see something unexpected when one looked 
 into a crystal " She paused. 
 
 "I know what you wish to ask," rejoined 
 Mr. Cottrell, with a glance at Mayne which 
 silenced him. " Let me explain to you a simple 
 theory of mine. Is it not possible that, under
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 24 1 
 
 certain conditions, the thoughts of our hearts 
 may take visible shape? The thing that we 
 have sometimes dreamed of in secret may 
 haply be presented for a moment to our bodily 
 eyes. And we, startled and confused by 
 this unexpected sight, may be weak enough 
 to believe that it is the picture of a future 
 which can neither be altered nor controlled." 
 
 " You hold, then, that a man's future is in 
 his own hands. You despise the word kismet?" 
 said Mayne, 
 
 " Kismet ! " repeated Mr. Cottrell with * quiet 
 scorn. "It is the poorest excuse that a fool 
 ever made for his folly. Has it not been 
 well said that the future is Now? Are we 
 not engaged in daily weaving for ourselves a 
 pattern which shall surprise us one day?" 
 
 Nelly had listened to him with earnest 
 attention. Her rich colour came and went 
 softly, and the warm brown light of her eyes 
 was beautiful to see.
 
 2 42 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 "I believe you are right," she said, as she 
 rose from her chair. "Mr. Cottrell, I have 
 had a delightful afternoon, and I shall remember 
 your v^ords." 
 
 She held out her hand to him, giving him 
 a clear, candid look and smile. Presently the 
 door had closed upon herself and her lover, 
 and their host was left alone with the empty 
 tea-cups and the fire. 
 
 He sat down in the low easy-chair which 
 she had occupied, and looked out, with dreamy 
 eyes, into the gathering twilight. From his 
 seat he could just see the tops of the tall 
 trees in Lincoln's Inn Fields, swaying now in 
 that soft chilly wind which comes sometimes 
 with an autumn gloaming. 
 
 Mr. Cottrell was a man who had preserved, 
 through a retired and studious life, a heart 
 still easily touched by any episode of a senti- 
 mental kind. He saw, or thought he could 
 see, that the girl was incapable of making an
 
 THE CRYSTAL. 243 
 
 adequate return for her lover's love. Was 
 it her fault if she gave him mock pearls for 
 his pearl of great price? 
 
 After all, was not Mayne Comberford a 
 lucky fellow to have won this bright creature, 
 with her witcheries and her surpassing beauty ? 
 Would there ever come a time when he would 
 turn to her for something more than it was in 
 her power to bestow? Old Cottrell knew 
 some of the secrets of married lives. He knew, 
 only too well, the anguish of that supreme 
 moment when one makes the first discevery 
 of inequality. It is a discovery that many 
 women have made, and have lived on as good 
 wives and mothers till the close of their days. 
 It is a discovery that many men have made, 
 and have resolutely set themselves to the task 
 of being good husbands and fathers till their 
 journey's end. 
 
 But what if there should be no marriage at 
 all between these two?
 
 2 44 A ROMANCE OF LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 " Then he would suffer, " mused the old man 
 by the fire. "And he would find out that 
 suffering can produce strange changes in the 
 inner life. He is a man who will never know 
 what lies within him until he has lived through 
 a heart-sorrow. It is to him who eats the 
 bitter herb that strength is given; — strength 
 which can be drawn out of the bitter, but 
 never out of the sweet." 
 
 The grey shadows darkened, and filled the 
 room in which old Cottrell sat alone. He sank 
 back in the arm-chair, and closed his eyes, passing 
 tranquilly from his reverie into a quiet sleep. 
 
 The housekeeper, coming in to light the 
 lamps, gently roused him from his slumber. 
 A few minutes later Mayne came bounding 
 upstairs, happy and vigorous. Nelly had found 
 a means of charming his dark mood away. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 SELECTIONS FROM 
 
 IWESSRS. HUTGHlNSOfl'S LIST. 
 
 BY TV. L. REES. 
 
 The Life and Times of Sir George Grey. 
 
 K.C.B. By W. L. Rees. With Photogravure Portraits. In 
 demy 8vo. buckram gilt, 2 vols. 32/-. and in one vol. 12/-. 
 The Daily Telrgraph (Leader) says: — "A work of extraordiiiarj- interest." 
 
 BY DO UGLA S S LADEN. 
 
 The Japs at Home. With over 50 Full-Page 
 
 and other Illustrations. Third edition. In demy 8vo. cloth, 6/-. 
 
 The Times says : — " His notes and impressions make capital reading, and we 
 feel on closing the volume that it is not a bad substitute for a visit to Japan." 
 
 BY GILBERT PARI^ER. 
 
 Round the Compass in Australia. Demy 
 
 8vp. cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 3/6. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette says: — "Mr. Parker may fairly claim to have pro- 
 duced one of the most readable of recent works on Australia. " 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 The Cuckoo in the Nest. A Fifth Edition. 
 
 With Illustrations by G. H. Edwards. In crown 8vo. cloth gilt, 6^-. 
 The Athenceiim says: — "Mrs. Oliphant's most successful novel." 
 
 BY E. ERANICEORT MOORE. 
 
 "I Forbid the Banns." The Story of a Comedy 
 
 which was played seriously. Sixth Edition. Cr. 8vo. cloth gilt, 6/-. 
 The Atheticeum says : — " So racy and brilliant a novel. " 
 
 By the author of " / FORBID THE BANNS. " 
 
 Daireen. A Novel. Second Edition. In 
 
 crown 8vo. cloth gilt, 6/-. 
 
 BY CLARK RUSSELL. 
 
 The Tragedy of Ida Noble. With over 
 
 Forty full-page and smaller Illustrations by Everard Hopkins. 
 In crown 8vo. buckram gilt, gilt top, 6/-. 
 
 The Times says: — "Mr. Clark Russell has never written a better story than 
 ' The Tragedy of Ida Noble. ' " 
 
 BY AMELIA E. BARR. 
 
 A Singer from the Sea. In crov^n 8vo. 
 
 cloth gilt, 5/-. 
 
 BY ANNIE S. SWAN. 
 
 A Bitter Debt. A Tale of the Black Country. 
 
 With Illustrations by D. Murray Smith. In cr. 8vo., cloth gilt, 5/-, 
 LONDON : HUTCHINSON & CO., 34 Paternoster Row.
 
 BY B. L. FAR/EON. 
 
 The Last Tenant. A Novel. In crown 
 
 8vo, cloth gilt, 5/-. 
 
 The Globe sa3's:— "In 'The Last Tenant' Mr. B. L. Farjeon shows all his 
 old skill as a plot-weaver, and all his usual ingenuity in the choice and arrange- 
 ment of incidents. . . . 'The Last Tenant' is a capital tale." 
 
 BY MRS. IV. K. CLIFFORD. 
 
 A Wild Proxy. By the Author of "Aunt 
 
 Anne. " In crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 3^. dd. 
 
 The Athencp.u7n says: — "Strikingly original, clever, fresh, cynical, epigram- 
 matic, stimulating, picturesque." 
 
 BY DICK DONOVAN. 
 
 From Clue to Capture. A Series of Thrill- 
 ing Detective Stories. With numerous Illustrations by Paul 
 Hardy. In crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 3^. hd. 
 
 BY TWENTY-FOUR DISTINGUISHED NOVELISTS. 
 
 The Fate of Fenella. Fourth Edition. In 
 
 crown 8vo., cloth gilt, with over 70 Original Illustrations, 3^-. dd. 
 The Authors are : — Helen Mathers, Justin H. M'Carthy, 
 Mrs. Trollope, A. Conan Doyle, May Crommelin, F. C. Phil- 
 lips, "Rita," Joseph Hatton, Mrs. Lovett Cameron, 
 Bram Stoker, P^lorence Marry at, Frank Danby, Mrs. 
 Edward Kennard, Richard Dowling, Mrs. Hungerford, 
 Arthur A'Beckett, G. Manville Fenn, Jean Middlemass, 
 H. W, Lucy, Clo. Graves, F. Anstey, " Tasma, " Clement 
 Scott, and Adeline Sergeant. 
 
 The Academy says ; — " An ingeriious success. " 
 
 By the author of ''BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.'' 
 
 Under the Great Seal. By Joseph Hatton, 
 
 Third Edition. In crown 8vo. cloth, 3/6. 
 
 The Daily Telegraph says : — " This thrilling story, every salient incident is 
 more or less tragical." 
 
 BY SEVEN POPULAR AUTHORS. 
 
 Seven Christmas Eves. Being the Romance 
 
 of a Social Evolution. By Clo, Graves, B, L. Farjeon, 
 Florence Marryat, G. Manville Fenn, ]\Irs. Campbell 
 Praed, Justin Huntly McCarthy, and Clement Scott. 
 With 28 Original Illustrations by Dudley Hardy. In cr. 8vo, 
 cloth gilt, IS. 6d. 
 
 BY H. B. MARRIOTWATSON 
 
 The Web of the Spider. A Story of New 
 
 Zealand Adventure. With Frontispiece by Stanley S. Wood. 
 Cr. 8vo. cloth gilt, 3^. 6J. 
 
 The Times says: — "We are quite unable to give any idea of the thrilling 
 events. ... It is magnificent. " 
 
 LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO., 34 Paternoster Row.