ails of the worthy
nobleman's little plot, I looked at his carriage, and privately admired
the two splendid horses that drew it. The footman opened the door for
his master, and I became aware, for the first time, that a gentleman
had accompanied Lord Loring to the hotel, and had waited for him in the
carriage. The gentleman bent forward, and looked up from a book that
he was reading. To my astonishment, I recognized the elderly, fat and
cheerful priest who had shown such a knowledge of localities, and such
an extraordinary interest in Vange Abbey!

It struck me as an odd coincidence that I should see the man again in
London, so soon after I had met with him in Yorkshire. This was all I
thought about it, at the time. If I had known then, what I know now, I
might have dreamed, let us say, of throwing that priest into the lake
at Vange, and might have reckoned the circumstance among the
wisely-improved opportunities of my life.

To return to the serious interests of the present narrative, I may now
announce that my evidence as an eye-witness of events has come to an
end. The day after Lord Loring's visit, domestic troubles separated me,
to my most sincere regret, from Romayne. I have only to add, that the
foregoing narrative of personal experience has been written with a due
sense of responsibility, and that it may be depended on throughout as an
exact statement of the truth.

JOHN PHILIP HYND, (late Major, 110th Regiment).

THE STORY.

BOOK THE FIRST.

CHAPTER I.

THE CONFIDENCES.

IN an upper room of one of the palatial houses which are situated on the
north side of Hyde Park, two ladies sat at breakfast, and gossiped over
their tea.

The elder of the two was Lady Loring--still in the prime of
life; possessed of the golden hair and the clear blue eyes, the
delicately-florid complexion, and the freely developed figure, which are
among the favorite attractions popularly associated with the beauty
of Englishwomen. Her younger companion was the unknown lady admired by
Major Hynd on the sea passage from France to England. With hair and eyes
of the darkest brown; with a pure pallor of complexion, only changing to
a faint rose tint in moments of agitation; with a tall graceful figure,
incompletely developed in substance and strength--she presented an
almost complete contrast to Lady Loring. Two more opposite types of
beauty it would have been hardly possible to place at the same table.

The servant