ge forests and unharbour'd heaths,
Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds,

before we see Chester--and Mrs. Leland."

With that the bubble was pricked, and staid Ludlow became a busy
market-town again, its streets blocked by the barrows of hucksters
and farmers' carts, its converging roads thronged with cattle. At
Shrewsbury Medenham was vouchsafed a gleam of frosty humor by
Mrs. Devar's anxiety lest her son might have obeyed her earlier
injunctions, and kept tryst at "The Raven" after all. That trivial
diversion soon passed. He hoped that Cynthia would share the front
seat with him in the final run to Chester; but she remained tucked up
in the tonneau, and the dread that kept her there was bitter-sweet to
him, since it betrayed her increasing lack of confidence in herself.

The rendezvous was at the Grosvenor Hotel, and Medenham had made up
his mind how to act long before the red towers of Chester Cathedral
glowed above the city's haze in the fire of a magnificent sunset. Dale
was waiting on the pavement when the Mercury drew up at the galleried
entrance to the hotel.

Medenham leaped down.

"Good-by, Miss Vanrenen," he said, holding out his hand. "I can catch
an early train to town by hurrying away at once. This is Dale, who
will take my place. He is thoroughly reliable, and an even more
careful driver than I am."

"Are you really going--like that?" faltered Cynthia, and her face
blanched at the suddenness of it.

"Yes. I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in London when you
return."

Their hands met in a firm clasp. Mrs. Devar, too flustered at first to
gasp more than an "Oh!" of astonishment, leaned forward and shook his
hand with marked cordiality.

"You must tell Dale to take great care of us," she said, knowingly.

"I think he realizes the exceeding trust I repose in him," he said,
but the accompanying smile was meant for Cynthia, and she read into it
a farewell that presaged many things.

He disappeared without another word. When a slim, elegantly-gowned
lady had hastened to the door from the drawing-room, whence she was
summoned by a page, she found two dust-covered figures in the act of
alighting from a well-appointed car. Her next glance was at the solemn
jowl of the chauffeur.

"Cynthia, my darling girl!" she cried, with arms thrown wide.

There could be no doubting the heartiness of the greeting, and in that
motherly embrace Cynthia felt a repose, a security, that she had been
wil