y, who was waiting in the runabout, her one desire for the moment being to escape.

ut, "I wanted to say a wo

, stopping and

fore speaking, as he

tle," he said; "a reaction always comes

eplied, unconsciously r

s Mr.

not listen to reason. I have told him plainly that if he does not drop all business at once, the chances are ten to one that he will forfeit his life very shortly. I understand that there is a-a convention to be held at the capital the day after to-morrow, and that it is Mr. Vane's firm int

inly. I was going to ask you-have you thought of M

open secret that Austen and his father have-have, in s

d Victoria, summoning h

ght to

the greatest admiration for him. You probably remember him in that Meader case,-he isn't a man one

be told-at once?

t to know-but the trouble is, he's at Jenney's farm. I met him on the way out there just before your friend t

rm is," said Victoria; "I

f you. Somebody who knows Hilary's situation ought to s

d her into t

ous occurrence, this was not the time to continue to give hints of his admiration. He had heard in England that many American women whom he would be likely to meet socially were superficial and pleasure-loving; and Arthur Rangely came of a family which had long been cited as a vindication

ver failed to move Victoria, and they were garnished this evening in no earthly colours, -rose-lighted on the billowy western pasture slopes and pearl in the deep clefts of the streams, and

d to ask for Austen Vane, and Austen himself answered the summons. He held a book in his hand, and as Rangely spoke she saw Austen's look turn quickly to her, and met it through the gathering gloom between th

came to lea

ouldered, well-groomed figure of Mr. Rangel

to be recovered now,-and I thought and Dr. Tredway thought you ought to know ab

ck?" he

her interference unwarranted, her coming an indelicate repetition of the other visit. As he stood there listening in the gathering dusk, she could not tell from his face what he thought. His expression, when ser

himself so. And to her? Her pride forbade her recalling at that moment the confidences which had passed between them and which now seemed to have been so impossible. He was serious because he was listening to serious news-she told herself. But it was more than this

forth sweet sounds in its perfection; the

seem, so unlike the man she had known; and her own protestations that she had done nothi

n good enough to com

Miss Flint," Rangely declared, as he shook Austen's hand. "Sh

r ear, other tones which she had heard at other times were lacking. Nor

es me as a remarkably sound chap, Miss Flint. There

The doctor had it, Mr. Redbrook, Jabe Jenney,-even Hamilton Tooting, she remembered. And he attracted women as well as men -it must be so. Certainly her own interest in him-a man beyond the radius of her sphere-and their encount

respect their curious and unaccountable moods by keeping out of the way. Such a husband was Arthur Rangely destined to make; a man who had seen any number of wome

to dinner, as he could not possibly get back to the Inn in time. Mr. Flint had gone to Sumner with the engineers, leaving orders to be met at the East Tunbridge station at ten; and Mrs. Flint, still convalescent, had dined in her sitti

which he had grown sufficiently confidential to relate. At times, lifting her eyes to him as he sat smoking after dinner on the other side of the library fire, she almost doubted his existence. He had come into her life at one o'clock that day-it seemed an eternity since. And a subconscious voice, heard

luctant to leave, propriety impelled him to ask for a trap at ten, and it was half past befo

to work. Hanover Street, Mr. Jenney's farm-house, were unrealities too. Ten minutes later-if she had marked the inte

, who w

drove home with Miss Victoria

Victoria

, sir. Here are some

e read them. She did not stir from her place before the fire. She saw him enter and, with a characteristi

ictoria?

, fat

at seemed to give him relief. He glanced at his daughter-she had not moved. Whatever Mr. Flint's original character may have been in his long-forgotten youth on

't come down to d

said V

and cut himself badly. He says it's the fa

n's fault-Simpson doesn't l

ells me Fi

ected necessity of defending one of her proteges aroused her. "I've made it a point to see Eben every day

the place. I can get capable men to tend cattle, at least. I have to put up with political rascals who rob and dec

ed to the gardener if yo

extended to her. And this discovery, she knew, ought to have some significance, but she felt unaccountably indifferent

"When I lived in Centre Street, I used to read with the curtains up every night, and nobody e

of you this summer, V

sufficiently to have a distinct sense that this was not the time to refer to the warning she had given

sked for you, and you h

now, I should have made i

e telegrams again, and came down the room and stopped in front of her. "Perhaps t

n?" she repeated, i

hearing things which, to put

ing t

not too busy not to care something about my daughter's doings. I expect them to deceive me

ime and looked at him, with her lip

to fly to. I was always sure of one genuine, disinterested love-and t

r!" sh

er voice. Although he spoke in his usual tones

who has done me more harm than any other single individual, with a man whom I will not have in my house-do you understand?

sobbing as she turned again and looked into his face. Fear was in her eye, and the high courage to look: fear and courage. She seemed to be looking at another man, at a man who was not her father. And Mr

ying at the Leith Inn, was here to dinner

e wasn't he

e to my knowledge but once, and you k

she alone felt. It was all a part of the nightmare, all unreal, and this was not her father; nevertheless, she suffered now, not from anger alone, nor sorrow, no

y a fiend of provocation which had for months been gathering strength, and w

een him to-day, I

ve seen hi

ght as much. Where di

art of a desire to evade him, as he fancied in his anger, but rather one of profound indifference, of profound weariness-the sunless deeps of sorrow. And he thought her capabl

ving, and asked for him," she said,

rfuge in her tone, but an unreal, unbelievable note which h

aughter. I suppose you think I

erience; defence, denial, tears, he could have understood and coped with. He crushed

ithout my knowledge, when you kne

in that remark, but I have seen him many times

re glimmering of the truth came to him that instead of administering a severe rebuke to the daughter he believed he had known all his life, he was engaged in a contest with the soul of a woman he had never known. And the more she confessed, the more she apparently yielded, the more impotent he seemed, the tighter the demon gripped him. Obstacles, embarrassments, disappointments, he had met early in his life, and he had taken them as they came. There had follow

t abruptly and cam

ding in the

with my own daughter. He has evidently given you an opinion of me which is

a light burned in her eyes that made them impenetrable to him,-a light that seemed pitilessly to search out and reveal the dark places and the

ingers, and turned and

I'm a criminal and deserve the penitentiary. I don't care a straw about the others," he cried, snapping his fingers ag

that her eyes

you spoken with Aus

aimed; "that wa

n who would say things behind your back that he dared not say to your face? who desired reward for himself at any pri

ed in the middl

e he has not do

oided me, that he would not utter a word against you or in favour of himself? Suppose I told you that I, your daughter, thought there might be two sides to the political question that is agitating you, and wished in fairness to hear the other side, as I intended to tell you when you were less busy? S

I told you that this was the most astute and the craftiest course he could take? I've always credited him with brains. Suppose I t

red Victori

telegrams, seized one and crossed the room quickl

hat!" h

Vane when signal is given in convention. Am told on credible authority same is true of other sections, including

r father in silence. "Do you belie

name is signed to th

eyed her

e does that mak

out to her as the man who had opposed Austen in the Meader suit. "If the bishop of the di

o. I take off my hat to him, he is a cleverer man even than I. H

defend him?" Victo

ur-he is responsible for Hilary's condition to-day. He has broken him down-he has made him an imbecile. The convention is scar

am. A lounge stood on one side of the fireplace, and she drew him gently to it, and he sat down at her side. His acquiescenc

ne, father," she said gently. "He has ha

lint, "Why didn't you t

coming away from Fairview, and what she ha

reeman still in my room? Tell him to telephone to Ripton at once and find out how Mr. Hilary Vane is. They'll have to send a messenger. That accounts for it," he went on, r

ence. He appeared to h

poor Hilary! I'll go down there

then Mr. Freeman, t

thought that would be quickest. Mr. Vane ha

lanced at Victoria, who had risen to h

And then I talked to Mr. Austen Vane himself, who was there consulting with the doctor. It

unhinged him. Here, take these telegrams. No, wait a minute, I'll go o

oom, halted, and turned

"I don't think Hilary V

he said qui

was unconscious, his normal relation to his daughter had been sud

you he would go to the

f, he had given the word

will telephone a little later to the State capital, you

ejaculated, "you may be r