The dinghy took him ashore, and he put up at the large and crowded

hotel, and spent the evening wishing that he was on the _Seagull_. The

next day it occurred to him that he was within a ride of Anglemere, and

he procured a horse and rode out to it. He had very little desire to see

the chief of his "places," and when he had ridden up to the terrace he

turned his horse down a side road and regained his hotel, little

thinking that he had passed the window of Nell's room, that her eyes had

rested upon him.

The sight of the old place had awakened memories which saddened him. He

had played on that terrace, on the lawn beneath, when a boy. Even as a

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boy he had learned to regard Anglemere as his future home; and he had

been, in a childish way, proud of the fact. It was his now--and what

little pride and pleasure could be found in its possession! If

Nell----With something like an oath he dragged himself up the grandiose

stairs of the hotel, and went to bed.

In the morning the mate of the yacht brought him a letter from Lady

Angleford. It said that she had heard that he had arrived at

Southampton, and that she hoped he would go on to Anglemere and see and

approve of the alterations and improvements she was attempting, and that

he would "go into residence" in three weeks' time, as she had asked a

housewarming party to welcome him.

Drake stared at the letter moodily, and wished himself among the big

game in Africa, or salmon fishing in Norway; but he felt that Lady

Angleford was trying to do her duty by him, and knew that he ought to

follow suit.

He gravitated between the hotel and his yacht for a few days, his face

growing sterner and more moody each day, then he rode out to Anglemere

again.

It was a lovely afternoon, and, if he had not been haunted by the vision

of Nell, Drake would have reveled in the blue sky, the soft breeze, the

singing of the birds, and the scent of the flowers; but all these

recalled Nell and Shorne Mills, and only made the aching of his heart

more acute.

He wondered, as he rode along the well-kept roads, whether she was still

at Shorne Mills; whether she had forgotten him, whether she was married.

At the last thought, the blood rushed to his head, and he jerked the

reins so that the good horse broke into a gallop which carried Drake to

the southern lodge, where--if he could but have known it!--dwelt Nell

herself!




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