back the long veil and displayed her face--the visitor was
Elizabeth Mellen.

"Pray be seated," he went on, placing a chair near the hearth; "this
room looks dreadful, but I was up late and overslept myself--had I
dreamed you would favor me with so early a visit, I should have been
prepared."

She glanced at the table, which bore evidence of the manner in which the
night had been passed, and said abruptly, pointing towards the cards
scattered on the carpet:

"Did those things keep you wakeful?"

He smiled complacently.

"Nothing ever escapes your eye, dear lady. Well, I won't deny the
fact--we were playing cards a little. I was not absolutely fortunate,"
he answered, with another disagreeable smile; "but you know the old
proverb--'Lucky in love, unlucky at cards,' so I never expect much from
the mischievous paste-boards."

Her face flushed painfully to the very waves of her hair, then grew
whiter than before; she sank to a seat from positive inability to stand.

"I have brought you no money," she said, abruptly, looking in his face
with sudden defiance.

His brows contracted in an ugly frown, though his lips still retained
its smile--he looked dangerous.

"That is bad, very," he said; "I wonder you should have come all the way
here to bring these unpleasant tidings!"

Elizabeth did not answer; she had drawn towards the hearth and was
pushing the ashes back with the point of her shoe, gazing drearily into
the dying embers.

"You received my letter?" he asked.

"Yes--don't send in that way again, or let yourself be seen. You
frightened me so that I fell from my horse."

"How sad! I should never have forgiven myself had any harm resulted from
it," he said, so gravely, that one could not tell whether he was in
earnest or mocking her. "You were not hurt--nothing unpleasant occurred!
I despaired of seeing you in the grounds after that, and so went away."

She started up in sudden passion, goaded by his attempt at sympathy
beyond the power of prudence or self-control.

"I wish I had been hurt," she exclaimed. "I could have borne being
maimed for life had I seen the brute's hoofs trampling you down as I
fell."

He seated himself opposite her and looked earnestly in her face. These
bitter words did not seem to excite his anger--he was smiling still, and
his face wore a look of admiration which appeared to excite her still
more desperately.

"You are so beautiful in one of these moods," he said; "don't rest