your cousin. Jack,
do you know that that young man is a regular bully, even if he is a
dandy?"

"Yes, I know it, Darcy."

"And he is down on you."

"I know that too. But why he dislikes me I don't know, excepting that I
don't like to see him paying his addresses to my sister Marion. Marion
is too good for such a man."

"Is he paying his addresses to her?"

"Well, he is with her every chance he can get."

"Does Marion like him?"

"Oh! I reckon she does in a way. He is always so nice to her--much nicer
than he has ever been to me."

"Has he ever spoken to you about yourself?" went on Darcy Gilbert, with
a peculiar look at Jack.

"Oh, yes! often."

"I mean about--well, about your past?" went on Darcy, with some
confusion.

"My past, Darcy? What is wrong about my past?"

"Nothing, I hope. But I didn't like what St. John Ruthven said about
you."

"But what did he say?"

"I don't know as I ought to tell you. I didn't believe him."

"But I want to know what he did say?" demanded Jack, throwing down his
fishing pole and coming up close to his friend.

"Well, if you must know, Jack, he said you were a nobody, that you
didn't belong to the Ruthven family at all, and that you would have to
go away some day," was the answer, which filled Jack with consternation.

CHAPTER II.

DARCY GILBERT'S STORY.

"He said I didn't belong to the Ruthven family?" said Jack slowly, when
he felt able to speak.

"He did, and I told him I didn't believe him."

"But--but--I don't understand you, Darcy. Am I not Jack Ruthven, the son
of the late Colonel Martin Ruthven?"

"He says not."

"What! Does he mean to say that my mother isn't my mother at all?"
ejaculated Jack, with wide-open eyes.

"That's it exactly, and he added that Marion wasn't your sister."

"I'll--I'll punch his head for that!" was the quick return.

"I felt like doing that, too, Jack, even though he is so much older than
either of us. I told him he was a mean fellow and that I wouldn't
believe him under oath."

"But how did it all come about?"

"Oh, it started at the boathouse back of Old Ben's place. He wanted to
bully me, and I told him I wouldn't let him lord it over me any more
than you let him bully you. That got him started, for it seems he was
sore over the fact that you took Marion out for a boatride one afternoon
when he wanted her to go along with him on horseback. One word brought
on another, and at last he said he reckoned you