moment about Mrs. Dale. He had never
seen Mrs. Dale in his life, and was now going to her house, not to
see her, but a friend of hers. He found that he could not very well
explain this to a stranger, and therefore at the moment he said
nothing further. But Johnny would not allow the subject to be
dropped. "Have you known Mrs. Dale long?" he asked.

"I have not the pleasure of knowing her at all," said the major.

"I thought, perhaps, by your asking after her--"

"I intend to call upon her, that is all. I suppose they will have
an omnibus here from 'The Magpie'?" Eames said that there no doubt
would be an omnibus from "The Magpie," and then they were at their
journey's end.

For the present we will follow John Eames, who went at once to his
mother's house. It was his intention to remain there for two or three
days, and then go over to the house, or rather to the cottage, of his
great ally Lady Julia, which lay just beyond Guestwick Manor, and
somewhat nearer to Allington than to the town of Guestwick. He had
made up his mind that he would not himself go over to Allington till
he could do so from Guestwick Cottage, as it was called, feeling
that, under certain untoward circumstances,--should untoward
circumstances arise,--Lady Julia's sympathy might be more endurable
than that of his mother. But he would take care that it should be
known at Allington that he was in the neighbourhood. He understood
the necessary strategy of his campaign too well to suppose that he
could startle Lily into acquiescence.

With his own mother and sister, John Eames was in these days quite a
hero. He was a hero with them now, because in his early boyish days
there had been so little about him that was heroic. Then there had
been a doubt whether he would ever earn his daily bread, and he had
been a very heavy burden on the slight family resources in the matter
of jackets and trousers. The pride taken in our Johnny had not been
great, though the love felt for him had been warm. But gradually
things had changed, and John Eames had become heroic in his mother's
eyes. A chance circumstance had endeared him to Earl De Guest, and
from that moment things had gone well with him. The earl had given
him a watch and had left him a fortune, and Sir Raffle Buffle had
made him a private secretary. In the old days, when Johnny's love
for Lily Dale was first discussed by his mother and sister, they had
thought it impossible that Lily should ever bring he