daughter's child so
honourable a name and so tender a protector. And as for inheritance,
you have not been reared to expect it; you have never counted on it.
You would receive a fortune sufficiently ample to restore your ancestral
station; your career will add honours to fortune. Yes, yes; that is the
sole way out of all these difficulties. Darrell must marry again; Lady
Montfort must be his wife. Lionel shall be free to choose her whom Lady
Montfort approves--be friends--no matter what her birth; and I--I--Alban
Morley-shall have an arm-chair by two smiling hearths."

At this moment there was heard a violent ring at the bell, a loud knock
at the street door; and presently, following close on the servant, and
pushing him aside as he asked what name to announce, a woman, severely
dressed in irongrey, with a strongly-marked and haggard countenance,
hurried into the room, and, striding right up to Alban Morley, as he
rose from his seat, grasped his arm, and whispered into his ear, "Lose
not a minute--come with me instantly--as you value the safety, perhaps
the life of Guy Darrell!"

"Guy Darrell!" exclaimed Lionel, overhearing her, despite the undertones
of her voice.

"Who are you?" she said, turning fiercely; "are you one of his family?"

"His kinsman--almost his adopted son--Mr. Lionel Haughton," said the
Colonel. "But pardon me, madam--who are you?"

"Do you not remember me? Yet you were so often in Darrell's house that
you must have seen my face, as you have learned from your friend how
little cause I have to care for him or his. Look again; I am that
Arabella Fossett who--"

"Ah, I remember now; but--"

"But I tell you that Darrell is in danger, and this night. Take money;
to be in time you must hire a special train. Take arms, though to be
used only in self-defence. Take your servant if he is brave. This young
kinsman--let him come too. There is only one man to resist; but that
man," she said, with a wild kind of pride, "would have the strength and
courage of ten were his cause not that which may make the strong man
weak, and the bold man craven. It is not a matter for the officers of
justice, for law, for scandal; the service is to be done in
secret, by friends, by kinsmen; for the danger that threatens
Darrell--stoop--stoop, Colonel Morley--close in your ear"; and into his
ear she hissed, "for the danger that threatens Darrell in his house this
night is from the man whose name his daughter bore. That is w