he had left him for Frederick
Massingbird, had she formed the prominent subject of his dreams. It is
the strict truth; and it will prove to you how powerful a hold she must
have possessed over his imagination. This he had not failed to make an
item in his revelations to Lucy.

"What was your dream last night, Lionel?"

"It was only a confused one; or seemed to be when I awoke. It was full
of trouble. Sibylla appeared to have done something wrong, and I was
defending her, and she was angry with me for it. Unusually confused it
was. Generally my dreams are too clear and vivid."

"I wonder how long you will dream of her, Lionel? For a year, do you
think?"

"I hope not," heartily responded Lionel. "Lucy, I wish I could forget
her?"

"I wish you could--if you do wish to do it," simply replied Lucy.

"Wish! I wish I could have swallowed a draught of old Lethe's stream
last February, and never recalled her again!"

He spoke vehemently, and yet there was a little undercurrent of
suppressed consciousness deep down in his heart, whispering that his
greatest solace was to remember her, and to talk of her as he was doing
now. To talk of her as he would to his own soul: and that he had now
learned to do with Lucy Tempest. Not to any one else in the whole world
could Lionel have breathed the name of Sibylla.

"Do you suppose she will soon be coming home?" asked Lucy, after a
silence.

"Of course she will. The news of his inheritance went out shortly after
they started, and must have got to Melbourne nearly as soon as they did.
There's little doubt they are on their road home now. Massingbird would
not care to stop to look after what was left by John, when he knows
himself to be the owner of Verner's Pride."

"I wish Verner's Pride had not been left to Frederick Massingbird!"
exclaimed Lucy.

"Frankly speaking, so do I," confessed Lionel. "It ought to be mine by
all good right. And, putting myself entirely out of consideration, I
judge Frederick Massingbird unworthy to be its master. That's between
ourselves, mind, Lucy."

"It is all between ourselves," returned Lucy.

"Ay. What should I have done without you, my dear little friend?"

"I am glad you have not had to do without me," simply answered Lucy. "I
hope you will let me be your friend always!"

"That I will. Now Sibylla's gone, there's nobody in the whole world I
care for, but you."

He spoke it without any double meaning: he might have used the same
words,