Beaumerville in town, Helen?" he
asked.

"Yes, a great deal. Why?" she asked.

"He's coming down here," Mr. Thurwell said. "He asks whether we can put
him up for a night or two, as he wants to do some botanizing. Of course
we shall be very pleased. I did give him a general invitation, I
remember, but I never thought he'd come. You'll see about having some
rooms got ready, Helen!"

"Yes, papa, I'll see to it," she answered, moving slowly away.

What could this visit in the middle of the season mean? she wondered
uneasily. It was so unlike Sir Allan to leave town in May. Could it be
that what her aunt had once laughingly hinted at was really going to
happen? Her cheeks burned at the very thought. She liked Sir Allan, and
she had found him a delightful companion, but even to think of any other
man now in such a connection seemed unreal and grotesque. After all, it
was most improbable. Sir Allan had only shown her the attention he
showed every woman who pleased his fastidious taste.

CHAPTER XXVIII

SIR ALLAN BEAUMERVILLE VISITS THE COURT

On the following day Sir Allan duly arrived, and in a very short space
of time Helen's fears had altogether vanished. His appearance was
certainly not that of an anxious wooer. He was pale and haggard and
thin, altogether a different person to the brilliant man about town who
was such a popular figure in society. Something seemed to have aged him.
There were lines and wrinkles in his face which had never appeared there
before, and an air of restless depression in his manner and bearing
quite foreign to his former self.

On the first evening Mr. Thurwell broached some plans for his
entertainment, but Sir Allan stopped him at once.

"If I may be allowed to choose," he said, "I should like to be
absolutely quiet for a few days. London life is not the easiest in the
world, and I'm afraid I must be getting an old man. At any rate I am
knocked up, and I want a rest."

"You have come to the right place for that," Mr. Thurwell laughed. "You
could live here for months and never see a soul if you chose. But I'm
afraid you'll soon be bored."

"I'm not afraid of that," Sir Allan answered quietly. "Besides, my
excuse was not altogether a fiction. I really am an enthusiastic
botanist, and I want to take up my researches here just where I was
obliged to leave them off so suddenly last year."

Mr. Thurwell nodded.

"I remember," he said; "you were staying at Mallory, weren't you,