mething in his tone made the watchful
Neil suspect that it was not altogether a pleasant surprise.

Nor was it. Jack Trevellian had never been able to forget the soft blue
eyes which had shone upon him in London, or the sweet month, with its
sorry expression, which asked him not to play with the mother when he
met her. No matter where he was, those eyes had haunted him, and the low
earnest voice had rung in his ears until at last he had made up his mind
that he would see her once more, and then he would go from her forever,
for it would be madness to ask her to share his small income.

The puny Dick of Trevellian Castle was dead, and Hal was master there.
Only one life now between Jack and wealth and Bessie; but as once before
he called himself a murderer, so he had done again when he heard of
Dick's death, and pulling the wild thought from him he wrote to Hal just
as he had written to Dick, and told him he supposed he would be marrying
now and settling down in the old home, and then there came over him so
intense a longing for Bessie that he resolved upon the visit, feeling
glad for the storm and the cold which would keep him in the house where
he could have her all to himself. How then was he surprised to find
both Neil and Grey Jerrold, the latter of whom he had met many times and
between whom and himself there was a strong liking. But Jack was one who
could easily cover up his feelings, and he greeted the young men warmly,
and held Bessie's hand in his while he explained rapidly, as if anxious
to get it off his mind, that he had gone to the "George" intending to
take a room there as he had done before, but had found it quite shut up,
and so he added, laughingly:

"I have come here bag and baggage, and if I spend the night, as I should
like to, I shall have to ask for a bed, or cot, or crib, or cradle;
anything will do."

Bessie could not help glancing at Grey, who detected the troubled look
in her eyes as she assured the new arrival of her readiness to grant the
hospitality he craved. In Grey's mind there could be no doubt now as to
what Neil would do. "He will offer to share his room with Jack, of
course," he thought, and so, perhaps, thought Bessie; but into Neil's
mind no such alternative entered; first come first served was his motto,
and besides, what business had Jack to come there anyway, uninvited and
unannounced? For his part, he thought it rather cheeky, and there was a
cloud on his face all through the