were laid
for three, there was no one present but herself.

She looked round the richly decorated and handsomely furnished room, and
felt rather lonely and helpless, but it occurred to her that either Lord
or Lady Wolfer might come in, and that it was her place to be there; so
she sat at the head of the table--where the butler had drawn back her
chair for her--and began her lunch.

By this time, she was feeling hungry--for she had eaten nothing since
her very early breakfast, excepting the biscuit in Lady Wolfer's room;
and she was in the middle of her soup when the footman went in a
leisurely manner to the door and opened it, and a gentleman entered.

Now, Nell, from Mrs. Lorton's talk of him, and his letter, had imagined
Lord Wolfer as, if not an old man, one well past middle age; she was,
therefore, rather startled when she saw that the gentleman who went
straight to the bottom of the table, thus proving himself to be Lord
Wolfer, was anything but old; indeed, still young, as age is reckoned
nowadays. He was tall and thin, and very grave in manner and expression;
and Nell, as with a blush she rose and eyed him, noticed, even in that
first moment, that--strangely enough--his rather handsome face wore the
half-sad, half-wistful expression which she had seen cross Lady Wolfer's
pretty countenance.

He had not noticed her until he had gained his chair, then he started
slightly, as if aroused from a reverie, and came toward her.

"You are--er--Miss Lorton?" he said, with an intense gravity in his
voice and eyes.

"Yes," said Nell. "And you are--Lord Wolfer?"

"Your cousin--I am afraid very much removed," he responded. "When did
you arrive? I hope you had a pleasant journey?" he replied and asked as
he sank into his seat.

Nell made a suitable response.

"You will take some soup? Oh, you have some. Yes; it was a long journey.
Have you seen my wife--Lady Wolfer? Yes? I'm glad she was in. She is
very seldom at home." He did not sigh, by any means; but his voice had a
chilled and melancholy note in it. "And Sophia--Mrs. Lorton--is, I hope,
well? It is very kind of you to put in an appearance so soon. I'm afraid
you ought to be in bed and resting."

Nell laughed softly, and he looked as if the laugh had startled him, and
surveyed her through his eyeglasses with a more lengthened and critical
scrutiny than he had hitherto ventured on. The fresh, young loveliness
of her face, the light that shone in her dark-gray eye