ords had survived. It had obviously been one of the old Scottish
strongholds, built in the lawless days when the country was plunged in
feuds and chieftains lived on plunder. A few traditions lingered about
it: among them that of a chief who had carried off, by force, the
daughter of his bitterest enemy, in revenge for some deed of treachery.
He had tortured her with insolent courtship, and then starved her to
death in a garret in the tower, while her father and his followers
assaulted its thick walls in vain.

"The tradition is, that on stormy nights one can still hear the sound of
the attack, the shouts of the men and the father's imprecations."

"A horrible story!"

"When people say the world has not progressed, I always think of that
story, and remember that such crimes were common in those days," Hadria
remarked.

"I doubt if we are really less ferocious to-day," the other said; "our
ferocity is directed against the weakest, now as then, but there are
happily not so many weak, so we get the credit of being juster, without
expense. As a matter of fact, our opportunities are less, and so we make
a virtue of necessity--with a vengeance!"

Hadria looked at her companion with startled interest. "Will you tell me
to whom I have the pleasure of speaking?" the lady asked.

"My name is Fullerton--Hadria Fullerton."

"Thank you. And here is my card, at least I think it is. Oh, no, that is
a friend's card! How very tiresome! I am reduced to pronouncing my own
name--Miss Du Prel, Valeria Du Prel; you may know it."

Hadria came to a sudden standstill. She might know it! she might indeed.
Valeria Du Prel had long been to her a name to swear by.

"Miss Du Prel! Is that--are you--may I ask, are you the writer of those
wonderful books?"

Miss Du Prel gave a gratified smile. "I am glad they please you."

"Ah! if you could guess how I have longed to know you. I simply can't
believe it."

"And so my work has really given you pleasure?"

"Pleasure! It has given me hope, it has given me courage, it has given
me faith in all that is worth living for. It was an epoch in my life
when I first read your _Parthenia_."

Miss Du Prel seemed so genuinely pleased by this enthusiasm that Hadria
was surprised.

"I have plenty of compliments, but very seldom a word that makes me
feel that I have spoken to the heart. I feel as if I had called in the
darkness and had no response, or like one who has cried from the
house-tops to a ci