ve through another twelve hours like the
past, and she believed if she could but once get away from the place
where she had suffered so much of disappointment and wretchedness, this
terrible oppression and weight would in a measure disappear.

Tomorrow they would go, and she longed for tomorrow to come. During the
latter part of the afternoon she had simply lain still and watched the
lengthening shadows, which told that the sun was declining and evening
drawing on apace, and longed for night and slumber to lock her senses in
oblivion.

"I believe the name of Mentone will always give me a chill after this,"
she said, in a husky tone.

"Hark! is not that the sound of a horse's hoofs?" cried Lady Cameron,
starting up to look down the road. "Yes, there comes Vane and--Mrs.
Mencke, he is riding at a break-neck pace! Can he--do you believe he has
any--news?"

The woman was so overcome by the thought that the last word was uttered
in a whisper, while her eager eyes were intently fastened upon the
approaching horseman.

Mrs. Mencke started to a sitting posture, and waited with breathless
interest for Lord Cameron to arrive.

Nearer and nearer he came, and now they could see that his noble steed
was flecked with foam.

Vane checked his headlong speed as he caught sight of the two figures
upon the piazza; but, as he entered the grounds of the hotel, both
ladies could see that his face was frightful in its ghastliness.
Instinctively they knew that he was the bearer of evil tidings.

Arriving at the steps, he threw his bridle to a man who approached to
take his horse, then turned to enter the hotel.

"Vane--you have--news!" his mother said, in an awe-stricken voice, as
she went forward to meet him.

He glanced up at her, and the sympathy and love written on her gentle
face seemed to unman him for a moment.

He staggered, reeled, and then caught at a post, while he put his hand
to his head and groaned aloud with anguish.

"Tell me," gasped Mrs. Mencke, coming toward him, her own face now as
white as his, "have you heard anything of--Violet?"

He nodded, but hid his face from the gaze of the two women, while a
shudder shook him from head to foot; then he said, in a hollow tone:

"Yes--she is found."

"Found!" repeated his startled hearers, in shrill, tense voices. "Where?
Alive?"

He shook his head at that last word.

"Dead!" whispered Mrs. Mencke, hoarsely.

"Dead," said Lord Cameron, in an awful tone and wit