t ought to have haunted its
author like a crime; but he was spared, and the punishment fell upon
the innocent who dwelt around. There was no escape from Purlington, so
long as you were within a dozen miles of it. Wherever you went and
wherever you looked, down from points of vantage or up from quiet
dells, this great white caravanserai, with its glittering plate-glass
panes and staring stucco, forced itself upon you with the unblushing
effrontery of a brazen beauty, with painted face and bedizened in
flaunting attire. But the heiress thought it was a very splendid
place, with its pineries, conservatories, its acres of glass, and its
army of retainers in liveries of rainbow hues. Mrs. Purling was a
little afraid of her servants, albeit strong-minded in other respects;
but it was natural she should submit to a coachman who had once worn
the royal livery, or quail before a butler who had lived with a duke.

The butler met Harold on his return, extending to him a gracious
patronising welcome, as if he were doing the honours of his own house.

"Misterarold," he cried, making one word of the name and title, "this
is a pleasant surprise. You wus not expected, sir; not in the least."

"My mother is at home?"

"No, sir; out. In the kerridge. She drove Homersham way."

"See after my things. Here are my keys." And Harold passed on to the
little morning-room which Mrs. Purling called her own. Having the
choice of half-a-dozen chambers, each as big as Exeter Hall, she
preferred to occupy habitually the smallest den in the house. To his
surprise he found the room not untenanted. A young lady was at the
book-case, and she turned seemingly in trepidation on hearing the door
open.

"Miss Fanshawe," thought Harold, as he advanced with eyes that were
unmistakably critical.

"I must introduce myself," he said. "I am Harold."

"The last of the Saxon kings?"

"No; the first of the Purling princes. I know you quite well. Has my
mother never mentioned me?"

"I only arrived yesterday," the young lady replied, rather evading the
question.

"My mother must be delighted. She told me she was looking forward
eagerly to your promised visit."

"She really spoke of me?"

"In her letters; again and again."

"I hardly thought--"

"That you had taken her by storm? You have; and I was surprised, for
she is not easily won."

Not a civil speech, which this girl only resented by placing a pair of
old-fashioned double glasses across her s