"I can't compare myself to my excellent father," he said; "but I have
at least inherited his respect for the writers of books. My library is a
treasure which I hold in trust for the interests of literature. Pray say
so, from me, to your friend Mr. Romayne."

And what does this amount to?--you will ask. My reverend friend,
it offers me an opportunity, in the future, of bringing Romayne and
Winterfield together. Do you see the complications which may ensue? If
I can put no other difficulty in Miss Eyrecourt's way, I think there
is fruitful promise of a scandal of some kind arising out of the
introduction to each other of those two men. You will agree with me that
a scandal may prove a valuable obstacle in the way of a marriage.

Mr. Winterfield has kindly invited me to call on him when he is next in
London. I may then have opportunities of putting questions which I could
not venture to ask on a short acquaintance.

In the meantime, I have obtained another introduction since my return to
town. I have been presented to Miss Eyrecourt's mother, and I am invited
to drink tea with her on Wednesday. My next letter may tell you--what
Penrose ought to have discovered--whether Romayne has been already
entrapped into a marriage engagement or not.

Farewell for the present. Remind the Reverend Fathers, with my respects,
that I possess one of the valuable qualities of an Englishman--I never
know when I am beaten.

BOOK THE THIRD.

CHAPTER I.

THE HONEYMOON.

MORE than six weeks had passed. The wedded lovers were still enjoying
their honeymoon at Vange Abbey.

Some offense had been given, not only to Mrs. Eyrecourt, but to friends
of her way of thinking, by the strictly private manner in which the
marriage had been celebrated. The event took everybody by surprise when
the customary advertisement appeared in the newspapers. Foreseeing the
unfavorable impression that might be produced in some quarters, Stella
had pleaded for a timely retreat to the seclusion of Romayne's country
house. The will of the bride being, as usual, the bridegroom's law, to
Vange they retired accordingly.

On one lovely moonlight night, early in July, Mrs. Romayne left her
husband on the Belvidere, described in Major Hynd's narrative, to give
the housekeeper certain instructions relating to the affairs of the
household. Half an hour later, as she was about to ascend again to the
top of the house, one of the servants informed her that "the