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And Macjoy wired' to his brother in Undone to request him to look after his patients during his absence, and enjoyed the quiet Trememdon retreat, a change being needed by the hardworked young doctor.

'I shall be ready for a chop in another hour,' said Ralph before he had swallowed the last mouthful.

Spoken like Ralph,' was Slasher's remark to the 'forlorn hope.' 'I'm not good in a sick-room; but Osborne, my boy,' said the young dragoon, pressing his friend's hand warmly, 'you are the finest fellow out! They call me game; but your quiet self-possession beats gameness to fits!'

Stuff and nonsense!' said Ralph gaily.

Whether it was the result of the chop and bitter, or whether it was merely a chance circumstance, Ralph now began to open his eyes and look about him, and discovered that he was in the Trememdon library-the room of pictures. He grew pale, and then again as quickly flushed. His bed had been extemporised in the library during the excitement and consternation of the night of the wreck. It was on a level with the great old hall, and was convenient and easy of access to the many willing, anxious hearts and hands who were constantly busied about his welfare. Ralph all at once looked so fatigued and jaded, that Freddy came up, and lisped in his ear,

'Can I be of any thervith, Ralpth?

Conscious that his couch was immediately beneath all that he had ever seen of her for he could not be sure about the girl he saw on horseback on the cliff-he replied languidly,

'Move my couch round, there's a good fellow. Yes, so,' said he; and they all helped.

'Ah, yeth. Now look at thothe pretty pictureth,' said the artless youth, pointing to the middle one.

Feeling the colour again mounting, he did not raise his eyes again till they had left, when he looked, and found his idol gone. A sense of emptiness stole around his soul. Is she anywhere?'

he asked himself.

The Spectre soliloquised, 'Ah, Marchioness, Marchioness! and yet you loved so when you were young!'

She was not there; and Ralph sighed for no more chops and bitter.

CHAPTER XX.

'No angel, but a dearer being, all dipt
In angel instincts, breathing Paradise;
Interpreter between the gods and men,
Who looked all native to her place, and yet
On tiptoe seemed to touch upon a sphere
Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce
Sway'd to her from their orbits as they moved,
And girdled her with music.'-TENNYSON.

HARRY SOMERS, the hero of two duels, was already dying with love for Ralph Osborne's imaginary idol. Slasher, whose heart had borne the shock of many a desperate onslaught, was bending at length, like the willow grafted on the oak, the humblest suppliant at her shrine; while Freddy had been lisping his sweetest little nothings into her tinieth of little earth, you know,' as he told Oswald in the strictest confidence.

And Ralph had not yet even seen her. And where, thought he, was Lord Alfred? where was Maxwell? where the Marquis? Soon again summer breezes circulated freely in that room which had so nearly proved a death-chamber to Ralph.

'Oh, Reginald!' exclaimed he one morning, 'the joy of being able to look once more, even with shaded eyes, upon the beauteous, summer-tinted landscape! Did ever trees stand out from hedgerows, or cattle browsing upon the sward beneath the dark elmtree, loom as do those yonder? The very clouds seem changed; and all for me! All Nature smiles afresh.'

'It is born again for Ralph, so near "the valley" has he been,' quietly replied his friend.

It was Saturday. Macjoy had ordered Ralph to walk, and Reginald accompanied him. A pony and groom attended them while they strolled in the fine old park.

Viscount Playfair was thoughtful and Ralph was pensive. Both being young, however, they commenced to talk upon the subjects nearest their hearts. The Viscount began to love Ralph Osborne with the manly warmth of an ardent temperament, for he admired his dauntless, devoted daring. They had reached a high headland, commanding an extensive view of sea and undulating cliffs, crowned with noble and picturesque plantations; here they sat down. Yielding to the impulse of the moment, the young Viscount exclaimed bitterly, Ah, Ralph, how I despise myself!'

Now Ralph's thoughts happened at that moment to be centred upon one problem, which he had no means of then solving. Was the girl whom he saw on the cliffs the sister of the man who now

sat beside him, because, if so, she must be at the Castle? As he thought this out, a thrill shot through his frame, but he showed no sign of emotion. True, it was within the bounds of possibility to ask that brother. But Ralph Osborne had a fashion, peculiar to men of his stamp, of thrusting himself outside the range of possibilities; he did not ask that brother, but, in a moment more, he felt a hand grasp his, while he heard a voice saying,

'And I, who by nature am so much better fitted to grapple with the waves than you, to have remained behind, irresolute ! Oh, what a lesson you have taught me !'

And Ralph trembled. The voice was not Alfred's, but it was Alfred's brother's! In another instant the two young men were warmly embracing each other, the Viscount exclaiming with a manly outburst of passionate feeling, 'God bless you, old fellow! You have taught me to be prompt!' while Ralph, blushing, insisted, "Twas nothing-indeed 'twas nothing at all!' And yet Ralph Osborne could not ask her brother the simple question which lay so near his heart!

'I am so glad our expedition to the Copper mine failed,' said the Viscount gaily.

'So am I, drawled Ralph; his thoughts being evidently remote from copper mines.

'Indeed,' pursued the Viscount, my poor father has enough to think about without troubling himself with any new Speculation, to judge from the multitude of "Speculative accounts" and "contracts which by chance I saw in his study this morning; his table was literally covered with them! It was a horrible discovery, I assure you; they all relate to the Undone Vortex !'

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'I should think so,' said Ralph carelessly; he was still in the clouds; where is Alfred?' asked he.

'Climbing up Terribleazo, I believe; out for a couple of years at the least,' replied the Viscount.

Indeed!' said Ralph contemplatively.

A mania for Speculation has of late years seized upon my father-in fact, ever since Alfred introduced Maxwell to him; but,' added the young guardsman sadly, 'I did not think it was so bad as this-it's truly horrible! Do you ever speculate?' he asked of Ralph, regarding him with a look of earnest confidence.

Ralph shuddered. Must, thought he, the demon follow me everywhere? Is not Old Trememdon free from its blight? In a moment every word which had just been uttered recurred to his mind. Returning the gaze of his friend, he, with trembling voice and excited air, exclaimed,

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Speculate! oh, Reginald! I hear it whisper even here! a

something in the air! Cursed be it to thus pursue me with its venom! I thought I had left it for ever behind, never in thought even to be again led into the unequal contest, in which I was ever worsted! whose battle rages in the thickest darkness, with greeneyed Vampyres for your mortal foes, who, while you grope about in the unaccustomed blackness, bewilder your senses by lulling you to stupor, fasten and prey upon you, drawing your life-blood, sapping your energies, and overwhelming you at length in a wild catastrophe of ruin and grief!'

The Viscount was horrified-so utterly unprepared was he for this. A cold shudder ran through his frame as he listened to the passionate utterances of his friend, who wept and laughed by turns, and then relapsed into a fit of gloomy abstraction.

'With Parliament sitting,' continued the Viscount, after a while, my father ignores its existence, so engrossed has he become in this mania. His manner too, once so genial, is changing most painfully. I dread to think of the future !'

'Oh!' said Ralph convulsively, the perspiration standing in drops upon his forehead.

'Maxwell and my father are very much mixed up. I believe he intends purchasing, speculatively, a large number of shares in a silver mine called "The Beloved."'

Ralph started. The Viscount begged him to say at once if he found the conversation too fatiguing. Oh no, go on,' said Ralph. 'Maxwell and my father talk of nothing else, and he enters into it as he does everything else, with all his heart. Do you know anything about the mine?' asked he.

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'What all the world knows,' replied Ralph. The Minister from the Great Countree was a Director; his Government compelled him to retire; there is a hitch about the title too !'

'You don't say so! Maxwell declares the Minister has publicly given out that he still holds to all his shares as a proof of its bona fide, and of his faith in its future. What is your halfbrother?' asked the Viscount.

'I do not see very much of him,' replied Ralph; 'we were separated for many years; but I think he's very clever.'

'So do we all,' pursued the. Viscount with a sigh.

For some minutes they sat in silence, gazing upon the glorious prospect. At length Reginald said,

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My father and Maxwell leave for Undone in a few days' time.'

Ralph, feeling a sense of faintness overcoming him, was speechless; he now leant against the trunk of a tree until they rose to return home.

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CHAPTER XXI.

'You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound,'

SHAKESPEARE.

PUT your feet up,' ,' said the Viscount, as he led Ralph to the lower drawing-room at the Castle, and seated him gently upon the sofa. Macjoy was soon by his side, and none too soon-in another minute he had fainted.

'He has walked too far,' was Macjoy's remark, as he forced a little brandy down his throat and ordered him some substantial refreshment. In a short time he had come to, and was laughing at his weakness, but he looked pale and worn.

Why did you not take to the pony?' asked Macjoy.
'I never thought of it,' was Ralph's reply.

'Ah, just like you men !'

'It was all my fault,' said the Viscount at once. 'Ralph, old boy, peg into the grub. I'm really very sorry; the ladies are dressing for dinner; here, drink this-so! you stand excused, you know. How are you now, old man?'

'Sublime !' was his dreamy response, but he looked ridiculous. Ralph was soon sleeping the sleep of the tired-for it was a delicious sofa, made for weary limbs. Save the faint sighing of the summer evening breeze, and the ticking of a quiet, well-bred clock under a glass, which made the silence more perceptible, not a sound could now be heard. Ralph slept long past the dinner-hour. No barbarous gong gave tongue, even the great Castle-bell was hushed, for Macjoy had given strictest injunctions, Never wake him suddenly.'

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After a while he woke and moved. Some fair, gentle hand had covered him with shawls-soft and lady-like in texture, not like men's rough plaids. He felt a tassel on a tiny cloak-'twas blue, his favourite colour. A monogram of the letters B.V.P. was worked upon it.

He breathes, She is at home, then!'

Voices are talking low and earnestly. His frame begins to tremble, for he has heard that voice before-when-where?-he cannot call to mind. He presses the tassel fondly to his lips and listens. 'Be calm, my soul!' he breathes. 'Still, still, this beating heart! it is the same! What is there in a voice to make me tremble so? what mystery-' He hears a rustling close beside him, and then a small white hand is placed upon his brow.

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