n to England, to take up the purple and ermine
which had fallen from her husband's shoulders, he wrote a short note
saying that he would "come back." In a second letter he asked her to get
Angleford ready for him, not dreaming that she would take his request as
a carte blanche, and turn the old place inside out and make it fit, as
she considered fitness, for its new lord and master.

As the _Seagull_ glided to her moorings, his expression grew harder and
sterner. He was a man of the world, and he knew what would be expected
of him. An earl, the owner of an historic title and vast estates, has a
paramount duty--that of providing an heir to his title and lands.

Now that he had come back, he would be expected, would be hustled and
goaded into marrying. Marrying! He swore under his breath, and began to
pace up and down restlessly, so that Mr. Murphy, the yacht's master,
thinking that his lordship was in a hurry to land, bustled the crew a
bit. But when the dingy was lowered and the man-o'-warlike sailors were
in their places, their lord and master lingered, for he was loath to
leave the _Seagull_. How many nights had he paced her deck, thinking of
Nell, calling up the vision of the clear, oval face, the soft, dark
hair, the eyes that had grown violet-hued as they turned lovingly to
him. That vision had sailed with him through many a stormy and sunlit
sea, and he was loath to part with it. On shore, there he would have to
plunge into his "duties," would have to sign leases, and read deeds, and
listen to stewards and agents. There would be little time to think, to
dream of Nell.

The dinghy took him ashore, and he put up at the large and crowded
hotel, and spent the evening wishing that he was on the _Seagull_. The
next day it occurred to him that he was within a ride of Anglemere, and
he procured a horse and rode out to it. He had very little desire to see
the chief of his "places," and when he had ridden up to the terrace he
turned his horse down a side road and regained his hotel, little
thinking that he had passed the window of Nell's room, that her eyes had
rested upon him.

The sight of the old place had awakened memories which saddened him. He
had played on that terrace, on the lawn beneath, when a boy. Even as a
boy he had learned to regard Anglemere as his future home; and he had
been, in a childish way, proud of the fact. It was his now--and what
little pride and pleasure could be found in its possession! If
Ne