evidently the work of a moment; and yet you were about to attribute a design-and a very mean one to the lad who, when you were schoolboys together, often stood between you and harm, and used his three years of seniority, and the superior strength that went with them, to your advantage and succour; to your old chum at college; to the man who went down into the Valley of Death among those heroic Six Hundred, and whose wounds should be mouths to speak for him to the heart of every fellow-countryman. For shame, Master Walter!"

Something like this did really pass through the young painter's mind, and covered him with selfreproach; and all this time the two objects of his thoughts were sitting hand in hand immediately opposite to him, billing and cooing, but unseen, and almost unheard. All that he knew, and could not help knowing, was, that Selwyn was pleading earnestly for something or other-advocating some injudicious and rash course of conduct, as was only too likely-and that Lotty was objecting to it, if those gentle tones of remonstrance could be called objecting.

At last, as the train shot through a station, with a whir like the rising of some enormous pheasant, the captain observed aloud: 'Why, that's Twyford, isn't it?'

Yes,' answered Litton: 'the next station, I believe, is Reading.'

He took up his Bradshaw to see whether this was the case; but hardly had he begun to peruse it before he uttered an exclamation of horror: 'Look here; Selwyn, you are quite wrong about the up-express: it does not start from Reading for the next two hours.'

'Are you sure, my dear fellow? Let's look. Well, that's exceedingly inconvenient. I can't imagine how I could have made such a mistake.'

"The only thing to be done,' said Walter, moved by Lotty's white and frightened face, 'is for us two to get out also, and keep this young lady company; our time is no object, or, at least, none in comparison with her staying at the station for so long alone'

'Oh, I don't mind that,' interrupted Lotty, in terrified tones; but what am I to do about papa ? I shall not be back in London till eight o'clock. He will be certain to find it all out-O dear, O dear!'

He will be quite certain, Lotty,' said Selwyn, with earnest gravity; and this necessitates the step to which I have been trying to persuade you all along. This mischance may be turned into the happiest stroke of fortune, if you will only take my advice; and such an opportunity will assuredly never happen again.'

'O Reggie, but I dare not. Dear papa would never forgive me.'

'He will not forgive you for coming down with me to Reading and going back again, and will keep a very tight hand on you in future, you may be sure, Lotty; but he will forgive you if you don't go back at all, when he finds there is no use in being in a passion, since the mischief is done, and you have become my wife.'

'Your wife!' exclaimed Litton. You must not do anything rash, Selwyn.'

'Rash! no, quite the reverse, my good fellow. This young lady has promised to marry me sooner or later; that has been settled long ago, but her

66

father will not consent to it. He says never;" so it is no more disobedient in her to marry me now than it would be ten years hence. By this lucky piece of imprudence, she will have already offended him beyond measure; her life will henceforth be made a burden to her under his roof. She can't possibly get back, you see, without the most tremendous row; and after that, there would be the other row, when we were married. Now, why shouldn't we have the two rows in one, and get it over for good and all! When the knot is once tied, the old gentleman, perceiving it is of no use to anathematise us, is all the more likely to listen to reason.'

'But really, Selwyn, this is a most serious step'

Of course it is, my dear Litton,' interrupted the captain; 'it's the most important step in the world just now, but only to two people in it-to her and to me. Lotty is of age, and can judge for herself.'

To this speech, so significant in its tone, Walter Litton did not know what to reply. The affair was certainly not his business, nor did any valid objections to Selwyn's arguments occur to him, save one-namely, that the young lady in her present position, separated from those who had the right to give her good advice, and urged by one whom she passionately adored, was not a free agent.

I don't know what to do for the best,' cried Lotty, wringing her hands. Oh, why was I so foolish as to get into the train !'

'Not foolish, darling, only so fond,' whispered the captain. You acted as your heart dictated, and that is a guide to which it is always safe to trust. So far from regretting your position, you should rejoice that it has placed the happiness within our grasp which sooner or later we had promised ourselves. Life is too short for such procrastination.'

'Oh, what will papa say?' sobbed Lotty, uncomforted by this philosophy, but at the same time obviously giving way to the Inevitable, which in her idea was Captain Reginald Selwyn.

I can very easily guess, my darling,' said he, smiling. "There will be an eruption of the volcano; burning lava-some very strong language indeed-will stream forth in every direction, and overwhelm the solid Duncombe and his myrmidons. Then after a while there will be silence and calm. The crater will cease to agitate itself; "What's done can't be undone," it will sigh, and nobody will be a penny the worse.'

'A penny the worse,' echoed Litton inwardly: is it possible he is calculating upon getting money with her?' All his uncharitable thoughts regarding his friend had gathered strength again; he could not forgive him for taking advantage of this girl's love and isolation.

'What will Lily say?' sobbed Lotty, after a long pause, during which the whistle sounded shrilly, to proclain their approach to the station.

"She will say, "How lucky dear Lotty is to have married the man of her choice. Shall I ever have the like good fortune?" And, in the meantime, being the kindest-hearted girl' (save one) in the whole world, she will employ herself in effecting a reconciliation between your father and ourselves. Come, darling, the time is come for your final decision; be firm, be courageous '

'Selwyn,' interrupted Litton abruptly, there is one thing that has been forgotten: with whom is this young lady to reside until you can procure a marriage-license? Have you any female relative in Cornwall who can receive her? Otherwise, the whole plan must needs fall to the ground; that is positively certain.'

'You are as right as the Bank,' said the captain admiringly. What a stickler you are for the proprieties; if it was not for your beard, you would make a most excellent chaperon! Why, of course, I have thought of a home for Lotty until she shall be mine. My aunt Sheldon lives at Penaddonthat is only a few miles from Falmouth, for which we are bound, and quite as pretty; you will fill your portfolio there just as well'

'Never mind me,' interrupted Litton impatiently. 'Good Heavens! as if anything signified except this. But are you sure of her getting a kind reception, a welcome?'

'Yes, quite sure,' answered the captain decisively. Mrs Sheldon will do anything for me. We shall be married from her house in the orthodox manner; it will be scarcely an elopement at all. See, here we are at Reading; and to think that my own darling, is not going to leave me,

neither now nor ever!'

?'

O dear! O dear! what will poor Lily say murmured Lotty, nestling, however, close to her Reginald, and evidently quite resolved to stay

there.

'Can we not telegraph to her ?' inquired Litton eagerly.

What! and tell her where we have gone?' cried the captain. That would be madness indeed.' 'No, no; I mean to relieve her mind; to let her

know that her sister is safe and well., Otherwise,

they will think she has come to harm.'

Oh, thanks, Mr Litton,' answered Lotty grate fully; I should never have thought of that." laughing; he ought to be a courier to a large 'Litton thinks of everything,' said the captain family travelling on the continent. But seriously, it is an excellent thought; and as I am a cripple, and I daresay Lotty would find her pretty hand shake a bit under existing circumstances, you shall telegraph for us.'

'Yes, but not home, Reginald. Lily will not be at home until five o'clock; and some one else might open it; and no one must tell poor papa, but Lily. She will be at the drawing-class in

George Street, you know.'

'Quite right. Then this is the telegram,' said the captain, dictating. From Lotty, Birmingham (that will put them far enough off the scent), to Miss Lilian Brown, Ladies' College, George Street. I have gone away with R. S. to his aunt's house. Your sister will be married to-morrow. That will prevent the telegraph clerk from taking particular notice, as he would do if he thought we were a runaway couple, and at the same time convince them that all interference will be too late. Say all you can for her to her father. Her dear love to both of you. That you will forgive and not forget her, is her prayer. Farewell. There is a deal more than the twenty words there, but sentiment is always expensive.

The message had been written while the train was slackening speed, and now they had reached the platform.

Litton sprang out at once upon his mission,

which he had but just time to accomplish, ere the engine began to snort again.

Some fellows wanted to get in here while you were away,' observed the captain, on his return to the carriage; 'so I have got the guard to stick an engaged board over the window. It combines utility and truth, you see, for it keeps us private, and exactly describes the mutual relation of Lotty and myself.-Don't it, Lotty?'

The captain had been mentioned in despatches for his coolness.

CHAPTER II.-THE DAUNTLESS THREE.

'Where is Penaddon?' asked Litton, when the train was once more on its way. I mean, how far is it from Falmouth?'

'Oh, well, a good step: when I said a few miles, I rather underrated the distance. I should think it was twenty miles. It is on the south coast of Cornwall, near the Lizard.'

'Then there is no railway,' observed the other curiously.

No; but it is a goodish road, though hilly; and with four horses, we shall spin along in a couple of hours.'

'Is it a telegraph station?'

that,' said the captain sharply. 'Yes, there's a telegraph; but we can't go by

'No; but you can send word to your aunt that you are coming. That you must certainly do, Selwyn, for, with an hour's stay at Plymouth for dinner, we shall not arrive at our journey's end till very late; and it will, of course, be necessary to make preparations for your reception.'

telegraph at Swindon,' said the captain comfort"Our chaperon is always right, Lotty; he shall their way seemed to have come on the poor girl ingly, for the news that they were to be so long on state of the case, Litton; ask her to take charge of quite unexpectedly, and once more she had dissolved in tears. You must tell my aunt the Lotty, and also to secure a couple of rooms for you and me at the little inn. It's just the place for a painter-covered all over with the blossoms of a great what-you-may-call-it-a westeria-the branches of which keep it from tumbling to pieces, and looking on to the old castle.'

'I hope there are not many people at Penaddon. It is not a gay place, is it, Reginald?' asked Lotty tearfully.

'Gay! No, my darling,' replied the captain laughing. 'My aunt Sheldon complains that she is buried alive there. There is not a soul to speak to within five miles.'

'I thought you said there was a castle.'

'Yes; but it has no roof to it. It is a Roman ruin. Even the church has fallen to pieces, and half of it into the sea. There is another church, however, built judiciously more inland, in which marriage services are no doubt performed upon occasion.'

'What will your aunt think of my coming down like this, Reggie?'

'What will papa think? What will Lily think? What will your aunt think?' mimicked the captain. Why, my dear Lotty, you seem bent on collecting the thoughts of all the family. As for Aunt Sheldon, I promise you she will think no worse of you for this little escapade, but rather the

better, for she made a runaway match of it herself --and not so very long ago neither.'

Here Litton looked up quickly; his friend's eyes were fixed on Lotty, but the captain's foot came in significant contact with his own, and gave it a warning pressure.

"There is something wrong about Selwyn's aunt,' thought Walter. Sheldon, Sheldon! surely I have heard that name before; and presently he remembered where he had heard it. Mrs Sheldon might have made a runaway match, but that was not the incident in her married life which occurred to his memory. He recollected her name in connection with some law-case in which there had been circumstances, he did not remember what, but which had made a vague impression on him, not to her advantage. It was too late, however, to make any objections now, even if one could ever have been made on such a ground. Sixty miles were already put between Lotty and her home; an hour and a half had elapsed which had placed her old life and her new irrevocably apart. A less time suffices to do as much for many of us. A word spoken in the heat of hate; a look given-nay, suffered to escape-in the ardour of love; is often a Good-bye to all our Past, and on its ruins Life begins once more.

6

From Swindon, 'the chaperon,' as the captain had christened Walter, and as Lotty herself now also termed him (for she was fast recovering from her apprehensions and anxieties), Litton telegraphed to Penaddon, and, when they reached Exeter, to Falmouth also, to order the carriage and posters to meet them at the station, that not a moment should be lost. He did not tell his companions of his having taken this latter precaution, since it would only have aroused the captain's mirth; but, to Walter, everything that seemed likely to conduce to Lotty's comfort was of importance, and he was quite content to do her service without acknowledgment. It was he, of course, since his friend was incapacitated by reason of his honourable wounds, who procured Lotty her railway ticket, provided them with refreshments, and ordered their dinner at the inn at Plymouth. In fact, as Reginald subsequently observed, it was Walter who did the 'billing,' and he the cooing' throughout that journey. The former duty required no little adroitness to avert public attention from Lotty, for, despite all that has been done for the independence of the sex, it is still unusual for a young lady to travel with two young gentlemen, neither of whom are related to her, in an engaged' smoking-carriage. The interest of the passengers, who had somehow or other become cognisant of this social anomaly in their midst, was greatly excited by it, and most of them, as they got out at their various destinations, would stroll up the platform to steal a look at 'the dauntless three,' as the captain himself styled themselves. On these occasions, not only did Walter confront the intruders with indignant countenance, and every hair in his beard bristling defiance at one side-window, but he built up on the other an eidolon, made of his own and the captain's surplus travelling gear, to obscure the view. At Plymouth, too, he preceded them to the inn, and bespoke a private room for the little party, whereby he obtained a fleeting reputation of being Lotty's husband. The waiter's powers of observation were not so keen as those of the

chambermaid, who remarked at once that Lotty wore no wedding-ring, and built up a little romance upon the circumstance.

Whether anything of this was guessed by Lotty, or that she had been made to feel in any other way the embarrassment of her position, it is certain, that so far from being invigorated by her meal, her spirits had deserted her when she entered the train again; and as dusk came on, the doubt of a welcome from Mrs Sheldon, and the certainty of the unhappiness that she had by this time inflicted on those at home, oppressed her mind in spite of her Reginald's efforts to enliven the way. 'Stare, my darling, of course the people stare,' he would explain in mitigation of her discomfort; but it is only with admiration. They see a Crimean hero and his sister-that is, a Sister of Mercy in attendance upon him-also a young surgeon rising fast in reputation, but who has sacrificed his professional prospects for the time, in order to accompany his friend to a warmer climate. It is quite an idyll of Hospital life.' As for the perturbation produced in the Brown family, the gallant captain was sublimely indifferent to it; and with respect to the reception they were likely to get at Penaddon, his knowledge of his aunt's character, and of her liking for himself, perhaps made him confident of a welcome. At all events, his stoicism only once broke down, which happened on their arrival at Falmouth, where, in addition to the carriage-and-four bespoken by Litton, they found a considerable crowd attracted by that phenomenon.

'Well, I must say you have advertised us pretty completely,' was Reginald's only acknowledgment of his friend's forethought. And certainly the remarks of the bystanders were of a nature calculated to irritate an invalid. That the four horses were ordered for an elopement, the natives, it seemed, had made up their minds, and from that stand-point not even the presence of a third person could move them They only adapted their old theory (as men will) to suit the unexpected fact, and exclaimed admiringly: Why, if she ain't a running with two of 'em!'

The rest of the journey was melancholy indeed; for, however pleasant Dr Johnson may have found it in his time to travel by post, he had no experience of what it is after one has already come some three hundred miles by railway; it rained unceasingly too, for the first hour, so that, though the moon was at her full, there was little to be seen from the windows of the carriage, and when it grew clear, the country was no longer picturesque. They had no more, it is true, to toil up one hill-side only to descend another, but their way lay over bleak and barren moors, swept by a wind that seemed resolute to oppose their passage, and in whose hiss and moan poor Lotty, though her hand was clasped in Reginald's, heard many a warning and remonstrant voice. At last there fell upon their ears that sound, which has no other like to it in nature, the roaring of an angry sea; and the captain let down the window, and bade Lotty look out. Around them and before them, for they were on a high-set promontory, spread the moonlit sea, wild and white with wrath as far as eye could reach, and beneath them a spectral ruin.

'That is Penaddon Castle, Lotty, in which, as you may observe for yourself, no county family