tinct were stronger than the force of circumstances. But,"
starting again to his feet, "I must find her; I must follow her to the
ends of the earth, if need be, and when I do find her, as I surely
shall,"--with a stern glance at Mr. and Mrs. Mencke--"nothing save death
shall ever separate us again."

A chill ran over every listener at these confident words, and an ominous
silence fell over the shrinking group.

"Have you any idea whither she went? Has any one tried to follow her?"
Wallace asked, turning to Lord Cameron, and wondering why he should look
so ghastly; why Lady Cameron's sobs should have burst forth again with
renewed violence.

"Every possible effort was made to find her; day after day we have
searched for her," began his lordship, falteringly.

"And you have learned nothing--gained no clew?" impatiently demanded the
anxious young husband.

"Nothing--until the day before yesterday."

"Ah! then you have news at last!" cried Wallace, eagerly. "Tell
me!--tell me!--what have you learned?"

"Heaven help me! how can I tell you?" exclaimed Lord Cameron, in an
agonized tone. Then with a great effort for self-control, he solemnly
added: "Mr. Richardson, be brave--Violet is dead!--drowned! we found her
two days ago. She doubtless missed her footing during her flight in the
night, and fell into the sea."

But these last words fell upon unheeding ears, for when Lord Cameron
said that she was "dead"--"drowned"--Wallace had cast one horrified,
despairing look around upon those white, hopeless faces, and then,
without a word or cry, as if smitten by some mighty unseen power, he
fell forward on his face and lay like a log upon the floor, at Vane
Cameron's feet.

CHAPTER XVII.

LORD CAMERON AND WALLACE BECOME FIRM FRIENDS.

"Help me!" Vane Cameron commanded of Mr. Mencke, as he stooped to assist
the fallen man, his noble face full of pity and compassion for him.

They lifted Wallace and laid him upon a lounge, where Vane, after
loosening his necktie and collar, strove to revive him by sprinkling his
face plentifully with cold water and chafing his hands vigorously.

But Wallace showed no signs of recovering; he lay motionless,
breathless--like a man dead, and at last, becoming alarmed, Lord Cameron
sent a servant for the nearest physician.

Upon his arrival, and after an examination of Wallace's condition, he
pronounced it to be an attack of coma produced by hemorrhage in the
brain, caused by exces