Nell of Shorne Mills

"Well, he said: 'Tell her that it's quite true.' Dashed if I know what

he meant! And that he wouldn't worry you, but would obey you and not

write or see you. I think that was all."

It was enough. If the faintest spark of hope had been left to glow in

Nell's bosom, Drake's message extinguished it.

Her head dropped for a moment, then she looked up bravely.

"It was what I expected, Dick. It--was like him. No, no; don't speak;

don't say any more about it. And you'll stay, Dick? Lady Wolfer will be

glad to see you. They are all so kind to me, and----"

"I'm so glad to hear that," said Dick; "because if they hadn't been I

should have insisted upon your going home. But I suppose they really are

kind, and don't starve you, though you are so thin."

"It's the London air, or want of air," said Nell. "And mamma, does

she"--she faltered wistfully--"miss me?"

"We all miss you--especially the butcher and the baker," replied Dick

diplomatically. "And now I'm off. And, Nell--oh, do mind my hat!--if you

know Drake's address, I should like to write to him."

She shook her head.

"Strange," said Dick. "I wrote to the address in London to which I

posted the letters when he was ill, and it came back 'Not known.' I--I

think he must have gone abroad. Well, there, I won't say any more;

but--'he was werry good to me,' as poor Joe says in the novel, you know,

Nell."

Yes, it was well for Nell that she had no time to dwell upon her heart's

loss; and yet she found some minutes for that "Sorrow's crown of

sorrow," the remembrance of happier days, as she leaned over her black

lace bodice that night when the great house was silent, and the quiet

room was filled with visions of Shorne Mills--visions in which Drake,

the lover who had left her for Lady Luce, was the principal figure.

On the night of the big dinner party, she, having had the last

consultation with Mrs. Hubbard and the butler, went downstairs. The vast

drawing-room was empty, and she was standing by the fire and looking at

the clock rather anxiously--for it was quite on the cards that Lady

Wolfer would be late, and that some of the guests would arrive before

the hostess was ready to receive them--when the door opened and her

ladyship entered. She was handsomely dressed, and wore the family

diamonds, and Nell, who had not before seen her so richly attired and

bejeweled, was about to express her admiration, when Lady Wolfer stopped

short and surveyed the slim figure of her "housekeeper companion" with

widely opened eyes and a smile of surprise and friendly approval.