might, perhaps. She was only there to show visitors the house."

Harry turned away in listless perplexity; it was quite evident this
person could tell him nothing. Doubtless their change of plans had been
communicated to him by post, but he had not waited to send for letters.
There was nothing for it but to obtain from the woman the address of the
house-agent, get Mr. Markham's from him, and send another letter to
Bluebell.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

OLD HEAD ON YOUNG SHOULDERS.

How could I tell I should love thee to-day,
Whom that day I held not dear?
How could I know I should love thee away,
When I did not love thee a near?
--Jean Ingelow.

We must now see whither the vicissitudes of fortune have conducted Mrs.
Dutton. Her pleasant home at the Markhams' was gone. They had lost
heavily in the failure of a bank, and were living abroad to retrench,
while Mr. Markham pursued his profession in London.

Bluebell was the first luxury to be cut off, though, as a home during
Harry's absence was what she chiefly required, she would willingly have
remained for nothing. It was unspeakable grief to part with Mrs. Markham,
who alone understood how oppressively her secret weighed on her, and her
incessant anxiety for news from the seat of war.

One day,--it was after the battle of Balaklava,--when shuddering over, in
the _Times_, the ghastly "butcher's bill," Bluebell came upon Du Meresq's
name among the killed, and the shock to nerves that had scarcely yet
recovered their equilibrium nearly brought on a relapse of her former
illness.

Yet, as her mind cleared from its first horror, she was amazed to find it
was not Cecil she was most feeling for, and that the cry, "Thank Heaven,
it is not Harry!" had arisen spontaneously to her heart. I suppose
Bertie's neglect had effected its own cure; but certainly some secret
influence was turning the tide of her affections into its legitimate
channel.

Yet their correspondence was not only desultory, but constrained. Dutton,
never convinced of possessing her heart, and angry with himself at the
part he had acted, had no pleasure in writing; and Bluebell was as shy of
her new-found feelings as though he were still an unacknowledged lover.

But whenever a ship came in without bringing a letter, she was filled
with foreboding and dread. Still, there was always the consolation that
he was public property, and as long as she did not see his de