caught sight of the young face that had
haunted him ever since.

"Ah!" he said abruptly; "I cannot stay longer here, dreaming away the
work-day hours in a fairy ring. I am going to town to-day by the next
train."

"Yoa are coming back?"

"Of course,--this evening. I left no address at my lodgings in London.
There must be a large accumulation of letters; some, no doubt, from my
father and mother. I am only going for them. Good-by. How kindly you
have listened to me!"

"Shall we fix a day next week for seeing the remains of the old Roman
villa? I will ask Mrs. Cameron and her niece to be of the party."

"Any day you please," said Kenelm joyfully.

CHAPTER XV.

KENELM did indeed find a huge pile of letters and notes on reaching his
forsaken apartment in Mayfair; many of them merely invitations for days
long past, none of them of interest except two from Sir Peter, three
from his mother, and one from Tom Bowles.

Sir Peter's were short. In the first he gently scolded Kenelm for going
away without communicating any address; and stated the acquaintance he
had formed with Gordon, the favourable impression that young gentleman
had made on him, the transfer of the L20,000 and the invitation given to
Gordon, the Traverses, and Lady Glenalvon. The second, dated much later,
noted the arrival of his invited guests, dwelt with warmth unusual to
Sir Peter on the attractions of Cecilia, and took occasion to refer,
not the less emphatically because as it were incidentally, to the sacred
promise which Kenelm had given him never to propose to a young lady
until the case had been submitted to the examination and received
the consent of Sir Peter. "Come to Exmundham, and if I do not give my
consent to propose to Cecilia Travers hold me a tyrant and rebel."

Lady Chillingly's letters were much longer. They dwelt more
complainingly on his persistence in eccentric habits; so exceedingly
unlike other people, quitting London at the very height of the season,
going without even a servant nobody knew where: she did not wish to
wound his feelings; but still those were not the ways natural to a young
gentleman of station. If he had no respect for himself, he ought to have
some consideration for his parents, especially his poor mother. She then
proceeded to comment on the elegant manners of Leopold Travers, and the
good sense and pleasant conversation of Chillingly Gordon, a young man
of whom any mother might be proud. From that subjec