the house that he avoided the
picture-gallery--nothing ever induced him to enter it. More than once,
as he was walking through the woods, his heartbeat and his face flushed;
there, beyond the trees lived his wife, his darling, from whom a fate
more cruel than death had parted him. His wife! The longing to see her
grew on him from day to day. She was so near him, yet so far away--she
was so fair, yet her beauty must all fade and die; it was not for him.

In time he began to think it strange that he had never heard anything of
her. He went about in the neighborhood, yet no one spoke of having seen
her. He never heard of her being at church, nor did he ever meet her on
the high-road. It was strange how completely a vail of silence and
mystery had fallen over her.

When he had been some time at Beechgrove he received one morning a
letter from the Earl of Mountdean, saying that he was in the
neighborhood, and would like to call. Lord Arleigh was pleased at the
prospect. There was deep and real cordiality between the two men--they
thoroughly understood and liked each other; it was true that the earl
was older by many years than Lord Arleigh, but that did not affect their
friendship.

They enjoyed a few days together very much. One morning they rode
through the woods--the sweet, fragrant, June woods--when, from between
the trees, they saw the square turrets of the Dower House. Lord
Mountdean stopped to admire the view.

"We are a long distance from Beechgrove," he said; "what is that pretty
place?"

Lord Arleigh's face flushed hotly.

"That," he replied, "is the Dower House, where my wife lives."

The earl looked with great interest at Lady Arleigh's dwelling-place.

"It is very pretty," he said--"pretty and quiet; but it must be dull for
a young girl. You said she was young, did you not?"

"Yes, she is years younger than I am," replied Lord Arleigh.

"Poor girl!" said the earl, pityingly; "it must be rather a sad fate--so
young and beautiful, yet condemned all her life to live alone. Tell me,
Arleigh, did you take advice before you separated yourself so abruptly
from her?"

"No," replied Lord Arleigh, "I did not ever seek it; the matter
appeared plain enough to me."

"I should not like you to think me curious," pursued the earl. "We are
true friends now, and we can trust each other. You have every confidence
in me, and I have complete faith in you. I would intrust to you the
dearest secret of my heart. Arleigh