o carry Elaine upstairs, but was forbidden by the
hampering conventionalities. So he lounged over to the melodeon, somewhat
surprised to find that "It" was still there.

"It" was a brown, wavy, false front of human hair, securely anchored to
the keys underneath by a complicated system of loops of linen thread.
Pinned to the top was a faded slip of paper on which Uncle Ebeneezer had
written, long ago: "Mrs. Judson always kept her best false front in the
melodeon. I do not desire to have it disturbed.--E. J."

"His Nibs never could bear music," thought Dick, as he closed the
instrument, little guessing that a vein of sentiment in Uncle Ebeneezer's
hard nature had impelled him to keep the prosaic melodeon forever sacred
to the slender, girlish fingers that had last brought music from its
yellowed keys.

From upstairs still came the sound of crying, which was not altogether to
be wondered at, considering Miss St. Clair's weak, nervous condition.
Harlan came down, scowling, and took back the brandy flask, moving none
too hastily.

"They don't like Elaine," murmured Dick to himself, vaguely troubled. "I
wonder why--oh, I wonder why!"

VIII

More

_Blue as sapphires were the eyes of Elaine, and her fair cheek was like
that of an apple blossom. Set like a rose upon pearl was the dewy,
fragrant sweetness of her mouth, and her breath was that of the rose
itself. Her hands--but how shall I write of the flower-like hands of
Elaine? They seemed all too frail to hold the reins of her palfrey, much
less to guide him along the rocky road that lay before her._

_Safely sheltered in a sunny valley was the Castle of Content, wherein
Elaine's father reigned as Lord. Upon the hills close at hand were the
orchards, which were now in bloom. A faint, unearthly sweetness came with
every passing breeze, and was wafted through the open windows of the
Castle, where, upon the upper floor, Elaine was wont to sit with her maids
at the tapestry frames._

_But, of late, a strange restlessness was upon her, and the wander-lust
surged through her veins._

_"My father," she said, "I am fain to leave the Castle of Content, and set
out upon the Heart's Quest. Among the gallant knights of thy retinue,
there is none whom I would wed, and it is seemly that I should set out to
find my lord and master, for behold, father, as thou knowest, twenty years
and more have passed over my head, and my beauty hath begun to fade."_

_The Lord of the C