hands.

"I will submit," she said. "I will leave my fate to Providence."

When morning dawned she went to her room; she did not wish the household
to know that she had sat up and watched the night through.

Once out of the house, Lord Arleigh seemed to realize for the first time
what had happened; with a gesture of despair he threw himself back in
the carriage. The footman came to him.

"Where to, my lord--to Beechgrove?"

"No," replied Lord Arleigh--"to the railway station. I want to catch the
night-mail for London."

Lord Arleigh was just in time for the train. The footman caught a
glimpse of his master's face as the train went off--it was white and
rigid.

"Of all the weddings in this world, well, this is the queerest!" he
exclaimed to himself.

When he reached Beechgrove, he told his fellow-servants what had
happened, and many were the comments offered about the marriage that was
yet no marriage--the wedding that was no wedding--the husband and wife
who were so many miles apart. What could it mean?

Chapter XXIX.

Three days after Lord Arleigh's most inauspicious marriage. The Duchess
of Hazlewood sat in her drawing-room alone. Those three days had changed
her terribly; her face had lost its bloom, the light had died from her
dark eyes, there were great lines of pain round her lips. She sat with
her hands folded listlessly, her eyes, full of dreamy sorrow, fixed on
the moving foliage of the woods. Presently Lady Peters entered with an
open newspaper in her hand.

"Philippa, my dear," she said, "I am very uncomfortable. Should you
think this paragraph refers to Lord Arleigh? It seems to do so--yet I
cannot believe it."

The deadly pallor that was always the sign of great emotion with the
duchess spread now even to her lips.

"What does it say?" she asked.

Lady Peters held the paper out to her; but her hands trembled so that
she could not take it.

"I cannot read it," she said, wearily. "Read it to me."

And then Lady Peters read:

"Scandal in High Life.--Some strange revelations are shortly
expected in aristocratic circles. A few days since a noble lord,
bearing one of the most ancient titles in England, was married. The
marriage took place under circumstances of great mystery; and the
mystery has been increased by the separation of bride and
bridegroom on their wedding-day. What has led to a separation is at
present a secret, but it is expected th