go on a journey."

"Anything that will break the monotony," said Cora, while the fair
spinster giggled and put her hands before her face.

At that moment the monotony _was_ broken.

While the words were still lingering on the lips of the fair
convalescent, the door was opened wide by old Hagar, who said, as if
she had been all her life announcing the arrival of great ones at the
court of St. James:

"_Miss Madeline Payne!_"

Then she stepped back, and a vision appeared before them which struck
them dumb and motionless with surprise.

Across the threshold swept a young lady, richly robed in trailing silk
and velvet and fur; with a face fair as a star-flower, haughty as the
face of any duchess; with amber eyes that gazed upon them
contemptuously, masterfully, fearlessly; with wave upon wave of golden
brown hair, clustering about the temples and snowy neck; and with
scarlet lips half parted in a scornful smile.

She swept the length of the room with matchless grace and
self-possession, and pausing before the astonished group, said, in a
voice clear as the chime of silver bells:

"Good-evening, ladies and gentlemen! I believe I have not the honor of
knowing--ah, yes, this is Miss Arthur; _Aunt Ellen_, how do you do?"

There are some scenes that beggar description, and this was such an
one.

[Illustration: "_Miss Madeline Payne!_"--page 346.]

Miss Arthur, who clearly recognized in this lovely young lady the
little Madeline of years ago, was so stricken with astonishment that
she utterly forgot how appropriate it would be to faint.

Cora sat like one in a nightmare.

Percy was conscious of but one feeling. True to his nature even here,
he was staring at this vision of beauty, thinking only, "how lovely!
how lovely!"

And Lucian Davlin? At the first sight of that face, the first sound of
that voice, he had felt as if turning to stone, incapable of movement
or speech. At that moment, had Cora once glanced toward him, his face
must have betrayed his secret. But her eyes were fixed on Madeline.

Davlin felt a tempest raging within his bosom. Madeline alive! This
glowing, brilliant, richly robed, queenly creature--Madeline! Again in
his ears rang her farewell words. Quick as lightning came the thought:
she was his enemy, she would denounce him! And yet, throughout every
fiber of his being, he felt a thrill of gladness. Again there surged
in his heart the mad love that had sprung into being when she had so
glo