288

VII.--Col. Jocyln 298

VIII.--Lady Thetford's Ball 307

IX.--Guy Legard 317

X.--Asking in Marriage 325

XI.--On the Wedding eve 334

XII.--Mrs. Weymore's Story 346

XIII.--"There is many a slip" 354

XIV.--Parted 363

XV.--After Five Years 369

XVI.--At Sorrento 373

XVII.--At Home 376

A DARK CONSPIRACY 379

FOR BETTER FOR WORSE 393

NORINE'S REVENGE.

CHAPTER I.

TWO BLACK EYES AND THEIR WORK.

The early express train from Montreal to Portland, Maine, was crowded.

Mr. Richard Gilbert, lawyer, of New York, entering five minutes before
starting time, found just one seat unoccupied near the door. A crusty
old farmer held the upper half, and moved grumpily toward the window,
under protest, as Mr. Gilbert took the place.

The month was March, the morning snowy and blowy, slushy and sleety, as
it is in the nature of Canadian March mornings to be. The sharp sleet
lashed the glass, people shivered in multitudinous wraps, lifted purple
noses, over-twisted woolen clouds and looked forlorn and miserable. And
Mr. Gilbert, congratulating himself inwardly on having secured a seat by
the stove, opened the damp _Montreal True Witness_, and settled himself
comfortably to read. He turned to the leading article, read three lines,
and never finished it from that day to this. For the door opened, a howl
of March wind, a rush of March rain whirled in, and lifting his eyes,
Mr. Richard Gilbert saw in the doorway a new passenger.

The new passenger was a young lady, and the young lady was the prettiest
young lady, Mr. Gilbert thought, in that first moment, he had ever seen.

She was tall, she was slim, she was dark, she had long loose, curly
black hair, falling to her waist, and two big, bright, black, Canadian
eyes, as lovely eyes as the wide earth holds. She stood there in the
doorway, faltering, frightened, irresolute, a very picture--the color
coming and going in the youthful, sensitive face, the luminous brown
eyes glancing