hat gives me a wild hope."

"I, too, lost my mother when young, and that circumstance enables me to
feel for you."

Her tender eyes thrill him as he never yet has been touched; the bond of
sympathy is akin to love; he has never had a confidant, and human nature
yearns to unbosom itself.

"I promised to tell you the story, Lady Ruth. If I were sure we would
not be interrupted, I would be inclined to speak now, for I am about
starting upon a mission, the result of which Heaven alone can foresee."

His earnestness impresses her ladyship; trust a bright girl for bridging
over a trifling difficulty such as this.

"There is a little private parlor attached and generally empty," she
suggests, artlessly.

"Just the ticket," he boldly exclaims.

In a few minutes they are seated alone in this bijou parlor; its
decorations are quaint, even barbaric in their splendor, and a lover
of the _bizarre_ would happen upon such a scene with the keenest of
pleasure.

"Here are some drawings we can be looking over," she suggests, and he
nods eagerly, inwardly blessing her ready sagacity.

Thus they look harmless enough.

"Now I will play the lady confessor. What is it all about? Have you
fallen into debt like a bad boy, and don't dare write the _pater_?"

He looks at her and laughs.

"You see the comical side of everything, Lady Ruth. This I fear bids
fair to be a tragedy."

"A tragedy! Dear me, didn't we have quite enough of that this afternoon?
What can it be? Surely, you and the colonel--" and she colors furiously
upon realizing how near she has come to betraying her thoughts.

"The colonel and I have had no words, as yet, Lady Ruth. This affair
is something that concerns my past. Let me briefly tell you a few facts
that are of especial interest to me, and may claim your attention.

"I told you I had not seen my mother since I was a child, yet she is not
dead. An unfortunate affair happened, and she was exiled from home.
Heaven knows I have ever believed her innocent.

"On several occasions, unbeknown to my stern father, I have received a
line without a signature, a line that called down Heaven's blessings on
my head, a line that caused me to cry like a baby.

"Thus year by year my resolve became stronger; I would find my mother,
I would seek the solution of the dreadful mystery that hangs over the
Craig home.

"My studies were done; I graduated at the head of the medical class and
spent a year under the most eminent