that it would be a good investment; but if you've a fancy for it, I
will enquire into the matter. Yes; certainly you can buy if you want to
do so."

Long after he had gone Ida sat, leaning forward in her chair and gazing
at the fire. Stafford was now Lord Highcliffe, a peer, but poor and a
wanderer. She started: was it really he whom she had seen on the cattle
steamer? Then they had been near each other, had looked into each
other's eyes! Perhaps she would never seem him again--but, ah, yes! it
was quite probable she would, for was he not engaged to the wealthy
Miss Falconer, and would he not come back to marry her? The following
evening she received a short note from Mr. Wordley: it informed her
that the Villa was not for sale. It had been purchased by Mr. Falconer
for his daughter.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Within a few days she received invitations from the Bannerdales and
Vaynes and the other county families, who were evidently possessed by
the kind determination that she should become one of them. The dinner
at Bannerdale Grange was quite _en famille_; she was made a great deal
of; and if she had given them the least encouragement they would
actually have petted her; but though Ida had lost something of her old
pride and _hauteur_, caused by her isolation, she was still somewhat
reserved, and, grateful as she was for their overtures of affection,
she could not respond as fully as she would have liked. It was the same
with the Vaynes and Avorys; they were all more than kind to her, and
she longed to receive their attention with open arms; but she could
not: the fact was, her wounded heart was so tender that it shrank even
from the gentlest touch.

"The girl is all right," remarked Lord Bannerdale. "She has been in
great trouble and it has hurt her very badly; and though she seems
rather cold and reserved, she is more sensitive than most women: you
must give her time."

Ida had resolved that though she could not altogether forget the great
sorrow of her life, she would not brood over it. She knew that for her
complaint there was nothing worse than idleness; and she sought
employment for her mind and body with an eagerness that sometimes
became almost feverish. When she was not visiting or receiving visits
from, what might be called her new, friends, she was busy about the
farm and the estate, and took long rides on Rupert accompanied as of
old by the dogs. Very soon, too, Mr. Hartley began at the restoration;