Blind Love

Iris descended the stairs, and joined Mrs. Lewson in the hall before

she had closed the door. The housekeeper at once produced Arthur's

letter.

"It's on my mind, Miss," she said, "to write an answer, and say

something to Mr. Arthur which will persuade him to take care of

himself, on his way back to the farm. The difficulty is, how am I to

express it? You would be doing a kind thing if you would give me a word

of advice."

Iris willingly complied. A second note, from the anxious housekeeper,

might help the effect of the few lines which Lord Harry had written.

Arthur's letter informed Iris that he had arranged to return at three

o'clock. Lord Harry's question to the groom, and the man's reply,

instantly recurred to her memory: "Are there any strangers at

Rathco?"--"Two new men at work in the grounds." Arriving at the same

conclusion which had already occurred to Lord Harry, Iris advised the

housekeeper, in writing to Arthur, to entreat him to change the hour,

secretly, at which he left his friend's house on the next day. Warmly

approving of this idea, Mrs. Lewson hurried into the parlour to write

her letter. "Don't go to bed yet, Miss," she said; "I want you to read

it before I send it away the first thing to-morrow morning."

Left alone in the hall, with the door open before her, Iris looked out

on the night, thinking.

The lives of the two men in whom she was interested--in widely

different ways--were now both threatened; and the imminent danger, at

that moment, was the danger of Lord Harry. He was an outlaw whose

character would not bear investigation; but, to give him his due, there

was no risk which he was not ready to confront for Arthur's sake. If he

was still recklessly lingering, on the watch for assassins in the

dangerous neighbourhood of the farm, who but herself possessed the

influence which would prevail on him to leave the place? She had joined

Mrs. Lewson at the door with that conviction in her mind. In another

instant, she was out of the house, and beginning her search in the

dark.

Iris made the round of the building; sometimes feeling her way in

obscure places; sometimes calling to Lord Harry cautiously by his name.

No living creature appeared; no sound of a movement disturbed the

stillness of the night. The discovery of his absence, which she had not

dared to hope for, was the cheering discovery which she had now made.