of explanation; but she was quite
indifferent about that. Her life, she said to herself, was ended.

When the duke did come home, after a few pleasant weeks on the sea, the
first thing he heard was the story about Lord Arleigh. It astounded him.
His friend Captain Austin related it to him as soon as he had landed.

"Whom did you say he married?" inquired the duke.

"Rumor said at first that it was a distant relative of yours," replied
the captain, "afterward it proved to be some young lady whom he had met
at a small watering-place."

"What was her name? Who was she? It was no relative of mine; I have very
few; I have no young female relative at all."

"No--that was all a mistake; I cannot tell you how it arose. He married
a lady of the name of Dornham."

"Dornham!" said the puzzled nobleman. "The name is not unfamiliar to
me--Dornham--ah, I remember!"

He said no more, but the captain saw a grave expression come over his
handsome face, and it occurred to him that some unpleasant thought
occurred to his companion's mind.

Chapter XXX.

One of the first questions, after his return, that the Duke of Hazlewood
put to his wife was about Lord Arleigh. She looked at him with an uneasy
smile.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" she asked.

"Certainly not, Philippa; but, considering that Arleigh has been as a
brother to you all these years, you must take some interest in him. Is
this story of his marriage true?"

"True?" she repeated. "Why, of course it is--perfectly true! Do you not
know whom he has married?"

"I am half afraid to ask--half afraid to find that my suspicions have
been realized."

"He has married my companion," said the duchess. "I have no wish to
blame him; I will say nothing."

"It is a great pity that he ever saw her," observed the duke, warmly.
"From all I hear, the man's life is wrecked."

"I warned him," said Philippa, eagerly. "I refused at first to introduce
her to him. I told him that prudence and caution were needful."

"How came it about then, Philippa?"

The duchess shrugged her shoulders.

"There is a fate, I suppose, in these things. He saw her one day when I
was out of the way, and, according to his own account, fell in love with
her on the spot. Be that as it may, he was determined to marry her."

"It seems very strange," said the Duke of Hazlewood, musingly. "I have
never known him to do anything 'queer' before."

"He can never say that I did not warn him," she rema