Blind Love

This course of proceeding at once informed him that the first steamer,

bound for that destination, would sail from London in two days' time.

The obvious precaution to take was to have the Dock watched; and

Mountjoy's steady old servant, who knew Lord Harry by sight, was the

man to employ.

Iris naturally inquired what good end could be attained, if the

anticipated discovery actually took place.

To this Mountjoy answered, that the one hope--a faint hope, he must

needs confess--of inducing Lord Harry to reconsider his desperate

purpose, lay in the influence of Iris herself. She must address a

letter to him, announcing that his secret had been betrayed by his own

language and conduct, and declaring that she would never again see him,

or hold any communication with him, if he persisted in his savage

resolution of revenge. Such was the desperate experiment which

Mountjoy's generous and unselfish devotion to Iris now proposed to try.

The servant (duly entrusted with Miss Henley's letter) was placed on

the watch--and the event which had been regarded as little better than

a forlorn hope, proved to be the event that really took place. Lord

Harry was a passenger by the steamship.

Mountjoy's man presented the letter entrusted to him, and asked

respectfully if there was any answer. The wild lord read it--looked (to

use the messenger's own words) like a man cut to the heart--seemed at a

loss what to say or do--and only gave a verbal answer: "I sincerely

thank Miss Henley, and I promise to write when the ship touches at

Madeira." The servant continued to watch him when he went on board the

steamer; saw him cast a look backwards, as if suspecting that he might

have been followed; and then lost sight of him in the cabin. The vessel

sailed after a long interval of delay, but he never reappeared on the

deck.

The ambiguous message sent to her aroused the resentment of Iris; she

thought it cruel. For some weeks perhaps to come, she was condemned to

remain in doubt, and was left to endure the trial of her patience,

without having Mountjoy at hand to encourage and console her. He had

been called away to the south of France by the illness of his father.

But the fortunes of Miss Henley, at this period of her life, had their

brighter side. She found reason to congratulate herself on the

reconciliation which had brought her back to her father. Mr. Henley had

received her, not perhaps with affection, but certainly with kindness.

"If we don't get in each other's way, we shall do very well; I am glad

to see you again." That was all he had said to her, but it meant much

from a soured and selfish man.