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[Copyright in U.S. America. AU Rights 1 Reserved.J LADY MARGARET'S VOVL BY BLANCHE EARDLEY, Author of "A Bid for a Bride," Mrs. Maxwell's Silence," &a. CHAPTER XIII. TBI MISCHIEF XAKRR. The day after her interview with Luke Sladen, Olivia saw Virginia off to London., and as they stood chatting on the platform waiiing for the train to come in they saw Mrs. Dyson with her husband coming to. wards them. Olivia looked at her sister, and they both smiled involuntarily. "The dear old thing is going to London on her annual visit, I suppose," Olivia said. "Pll ask her to travel up with you, dear." She stepped forward and said brightly: "How do you do, Mrs. DysonT Are you going up to town? If so I wieh you would travel up with Virginia." o "Yes, my dear, I am going to my sister ir Onslow-street, Chelsea, Mrs. Dyson said, with a nervous little smile. "But I am not sure about being able to travel with Vir- ginia. I she paused and glanced at tht bookstall, where her husband was buying het a paper to read in the train. He came towards them slowly, and at the sight of Olivia standing beside his wife he frowned and bit his lip. Olivia greeted him smilingly. "I am just trying to persuade Mrs. Dyson to travel up with Virginia," she said; "they will be company for each other." To her surprise the little man drew his wife's hand under his arm and said with stilted courtesy: "Thank you, Miss Cassella, but I have made all arrangements for my wife's travel- ling accommodation," and with a little stifl bow he led Mrs. Dyson towards a third-class, compartment lower down on the train. It was such a cut direct, and so unexpected, that at first Olivia hardly realised what it meant, and then her face went deadly pale, and she returned slowly to the first-class com- partment where Virginia had been busy ar- ranging her rug and paper, and had not noticed ihe strange conduct of their Vicar. "Well," she said lightly, "iiS Mrs. Dyson coming in with met Olivia did not reply, and as she looked at her Virginia's face grew white and drawn. "He won't let her," she said in n lov* trembling voice. "Oh, Olivia, surely Mr. and Mrs. Dyson can't think evil of us aftei having known us all these years!" "I don't know about us," Olivia replied bitterly, "but Mr. Dyson certainly liae formed an unflattering opinion about me. I really don't think he is of much importance, though. I shall not put him to the incon- venience of cutting me again." Virginia's eyes filled with tears. "Shall I stay with you and help you?" she asked. "I hate your being here surrounded I by possible enemies while I am away. I can I easily put Miss Lyttlcton off." Olivia shook her head. "No, you must go. I shall perhaps pay a visit to London myself in a day or two, and stay at the town house in Dorchester-square. I will let you know when, and we can meet. ,r But when the train had borne Virginia off to London, Olivia felt a weight of depression descend on her usually well-balanced spirits. Her interview with Luke Sladen had been enough to try the nerves of a hardened criminal, and to be publicly snubbed by the Vicar of the place was an equally bitter expe- rience. She had thought that at length. with the cessation of gossip in the village, sho would not be annoyed with vague imper- tinences or innuendoes, but Mr. Dyson's de- cidedly hostile manner showed her that he had joined the enemy. She strolled home instead of driving, and was so intent on her recent experience that she started when a voice said behind her: "May I be allowed to share your thoughts? She turned sharply, and found Jim by her side, the inevitable Spy at his heels. "Oh, how you startled me!" she laughed, while her eyes welcomed him with a sly glance, and the pallor of her face gave way to a rich glow. "I did not know you would follow me here," she continued. "I chose to walk home from the station instead of driving." "I didn't follow you," Jim replied soberly. "I am glad that we have met, dear-I have been wanting to ask you something for a long time, and somehow I can never see you alone now, Lady Scott is always hanging round somewhere." Olivia smiled happily. At least she stil" had her lover, in spite of her vague misgiv- ings concerning his admiration for Lady Scott, and the letter she had seen that day. "I thought you liked her," she said. "She certainly admires you, Jim." "Oh, she's all right, I suppose," he an swcred carelessly, "but I can't see why she never leaves us alone for a second. I saw more of vou when we used to meet secretly is the woods before Lady Margaret was mur- dered." His eyes, which had never left her face, saw that HIle winced suddenly, and that the colour left her face. "That is not my fault," she said, after a pause. Everything has changed so much since-aince then. Before I was nothing very important, no one noticed whether I was in the house or out of it, but now each move- ment is observed and each word remembered. Oh, so much has changed, Jim!" she went on, her voice revealing a passionate sadness that the latter was quick to note. "I used to think I was unhappy when Aunt Mar- garet bullied me and made me fly into such tempers, but I am ten thousand times more unhappy now. Everything and everyone has changed except you," and she swayed to- wards him with a little unconscious gesture that was infinitely sweet to her lover. W He put his arm round her and drew her to- wards him, but Olivia noticed that he did not kiss her with his usual passion, nor mur- mur any of the fond, foolish things he gene- rally murmured when she was in his arms. She withdrew herself after a pause, and looked at him quickly. Hit face was grave and had a worried expression on it, unlike its former frank gaiety that had won her love. "Jim, what is the matter?" she asked quietly, "why do you look so grave? Do tell me; I hate being kept out of your confi- dence." "Then you can sympathise with me," he answered, "for I hate being kept out of your confidence, dear, as I have been all this time." "What—what do you mean?" she stam- mered. You know only too well what I mean, darling," Jim replied; "you said just now that everything and everyone had changed, but nothing and no one has changed so much as you have." The colour swept Olivia's face in one wave of scarlet, and she raised her hand to her throat to still the wild fluttering of it. "I have changed!" she repeated. "Really, Jim, I don't understand you! I may be quieter and less inclined to high spirits than I was, but I can't have changed so greatly as you suggest, and certainly not to you, dear. He caught her hands in his and held them closely. "I know you are the same to me, darling, but I also know that you are changed iff your- self. You are keeping a secret which is slowly sapping away your spirit and making you lose your youth." "A secret!" Olivia repeated again. "You must be dreaming, Jim. How could I bttrg a sec ret so important that it could affect me a you suggest? What is there that I could luiv one about?" she added slowly. He dropped her hands. "Ever since this mystery about Lady Mal garet's death I have felt its presence. Th barrier of a secret between us, and it is mak ing me wretched. Won't you take me int your confidence, dear?" he pleaded. "Le me share it. I may at least be able to liel and advise you." For a moment Olivia hesitated, then sh. said lightly: "I am sorry to disappoint you, but there i no secret, Jim." "And I am sorry to seem discourteous," h< replied, "but you are not telling me th< truth. Oh, I know I am a brute to hurt you I but it is not only myself, but others who hav noticed the change in you, and also Virginia I The whole village is whispering about it, am throwing out horrible suggestions as to th< cause "The whole village has found a ready lis I tener in you, I see! Olivia retorted bitterly "Were a whole world to speak ill of you would not believe it! "Neither do I believe ill of you," Jim said "but I hate the idea that these narrow-mindel idiots should dare to breathe a word againa you. Why, they have even said in the villagi inn that Miss Cassella of The Mount had secret meeting in the woods yesterday will the secretary she dismissed some week ago "That is quite true," Olivia said quietly. "Then why did you tell me when I came t( see you later in the day that you had not beer out? he broke in jealously. "Why shoulc you keep your meeting with that hound of i secretary secret from everyone else, im-hi ding your future husband?"" Olivia drew herself up with the liauteui that belonged exclusively to the "lady of ibf Great House," a side of her character she hac never showed to her lover. "I don't see the necessity of taking every one into my confidence regarding my actions/ she said proudly. "The people who know nu must trust me, and those who don't know in, are of no importance whatever to me, eithei their praise or their censure." "But surely you admit that I have a right to know why you keep an appointment with s scoundrelly secretary whom your aunt wislicc you to marry!" Jim said doggedly. "What ever ho had to say could have been written or be could have called at the house. Whj should he force you to meet him secretly ii the woods—unless you share a secret vith him? Olivia drew a deep breath. Her face hati gone very white and her great eyes had a hunted look in them, but her voice showed little signs of the torment within her when she spoke. "I must refuse to discuss the subject of my appointment with Mr. Sladen," she said 2oklly. "If you don't trust me, then we had better break off our engagement. I would never marry a man who listened to vilbgt scandal about me." Jim's face grew white. "You really wish to break off our engage- ment?" he said hoarsely. "Yea," she said dully. "You have shown we you don't trust me, and you suspect me of everything that is underhand and mean. How could we be happy with a want of confidence between us? Jim flung out hie hand and caught her wrist. "Darling, you can't mean it! You know how I love you, and you love me. Why should we let a paltry thing like this come between •iK ? Take me into your confidence—tell me your secret, and let me stand between you and your enemies, whoever they are "I cannot take you into my confidence." Olivia repeated steadily. "I see now that I i;iight to have broken off our engagement be- fore. In the face of all that has happened-- the mystery of--of Aunt Margaret's murder and everything else, there was always the fear that one day you, too, would go over to the enemy and think evil of me "Then you have a confidence you will not let me share? Jim said. She shrugged her shoulders. "If you think so, my denial Viill make no difference. And now, please leave me," she went on in a voice that trembled in spite of ner magnificent se lf-control. "Go back to the people who have poisoned your mind ftgainst me and made you suspect me of sharing a shameful secret with Luke Sladen! "Very well," said Jim quietly, "I will obfy you. But you can't stop me from loving you and wanting to nerve you with the last drop of blood in my body. No woman will ever take your place in my heart; and remember that there is no one who would have more loyally shared a secret than myself. As you tave broken off our engagement, I must obey, out I shall always be ready to help should you Iver recall me." Then, before Olivia realised that she had sent from her the one person who loved her best in the world, Jim had turned on his heel j ind left her- -left her in the desolate wood with a far greater desolation in her heart. When she reached home her white face and slightly reddened lids created a world of curiosit e(ideiied li(is create d a woi-](] of curiosIty in Lady Scott's scheming little brain, and as, later on, Olivia left her alone, she smiled to herself. "She has had a scene with someone—per- haps with Jim. I wonder what about Any- way, I can use it to my advantage." In the meantime Olivia was writing a pas- sionately apologetic letter to her lover. She poured out all the emotion her overwrought soul had in it, and begged him to write and say that he would forget what she had said in the woods, and, if he would trust her a little longer, she would tell him her secret, and he would find that it was not very dreadful after all. She added that she would expect a reply, aad that if he sent none she would under- hand that he preferred to stand by her first iecision and let their engagement be broken aff. Tlren she sealed and addressed the letter, tnd sent^t by a servant. "He will write," she murmured. "I love him so I can't lose him, not even if I have to tell the secret that Virginia and I share with Luke Sladen." Now the little god Chance who pays pitch and toss with our lives was at that moment in his most mischievous mood. He so arranged that the servant who had taken Olivia's letter to deliver into Jim Elliott's hands was met half-way by Lady Scott, taking her usual stroll. Her small, green eyes had lit up with malicious glee at the s:ght of the letter in the maid's hand. She nodded to her with a condescending smile. "Going for a walk. Steedmaiie No, your ladyship," the girl answered, "I'm taking a letter to tne Moat Farm for Miss Cassella "Oh, I am going to the Moat Farm to see Mr. Elliott's housekeeper about a recipe, Lady Scott went on graciously. "If you like, 1 will leave your letter. The servant hesitated, and then partly be- cause her ladyship was such a friend of Miss Cassella, and partly because she would have an opportunity of meeting a young man in whom she was interested, she handed her mistress's letter to Lady Scott, and with a respectful murmur disappeared back into the grounds. When she had gone some little distance, Lady Scott made sure that she was quite alone, and then inserting one of her delicate fingers beneath the flap of the envelope she opened it, and read with a cynical smile on her red moist lips the tender, passionate appeal that Olivia had written to her lover. "So," she murmured, "the haughty Olivia can stoop to conquer, can she? But this time I am afraid she will find she has stooped in vain." Then with a delicate flip of the white fingers she tore the letter mto a thousand pieces, ao amall as to look like snow flakes, and scattered them in all directions. 'j When an hour later she returned to the house she met Olivia in the hall. The girl's face was white and disdainful, and the elder woman guessed that she had expected an irA- fMgdiftte reply to her letter. I "I've had a delightful walk," she said brightly. Guess whom I met half-way." "I'd net good at guessing," Olivia said coldly. "Mr. Elliott," Lady Scott went on. "He had just finished reading a note as I reached him, but he was most polite, and actually tore it up at once, then took me for a walk, so I don t suppose it could have been impor- tant, as he said it did not need an answer." Olivia turned her back and walked into the drawing-room, but not before Lady Scott had the satisfaction of seeing the expression of wounded pride in her white face. CHAPTER XIV. I XIt-. THAW 18 SURPRISED. Mr. Thaw sat in his private office frowning 'I thoughtfully at a page of notes before him, and jabbing at the pink blotting paper with the end of an ivory paper cutter. "I don't know what to think," he mut- tered. "It's the most puzzling affair I've ever been on, and so far it seems that it will never straighten out." "Then why go on with it?" Wilfrid Lyttle- toh said slowly. "The officials at the Yard have relegated it to the limbo of undis- covered crimes; why don't you, you restless creature? The detective looked at the journalist with thoughtful eyes. "I don't understand you, Lyttleton," he said bluntly; "at first you I were as keen as I am on discovering Lady Margaret's murderer, and even brought your bloodhounds down, but now you suddenly j ]o? ?11 interest in the affair." Wilfrid Lyttleton did not reply. He had not been down to the detective's office in the Mrand for some time now, and the eyes of the experienced sleuth hound saw that his friend looked haggard and worried. "It's no earthly use looking for a needle in a bundle of hay," Wilfrid said quickly. "I failed with the hounds and I expect you will, too. Thaw raised his hand and scratched his he?d. "I never talk of failure in my work until common-sense tells me I am wasting time," he replied. "Dark as this case may seem, I think I may say that I can see a glimmer of light far ahead." I Wilfrid looked at him sharply, and once more the eyes of the law spotted his sudden pallor, and the tightening of the muscles round his mouth. What Do you really mean that you know who the murderer is?" he asked. "Have you traced anything?" A shake of the head and a smile answered him. "No, I can't say I have; but all the same I've got the glimmer of light." "A suspect)" Wilfrid exclaimed sharply. The detective laughed. "Not exactly, but I am following one or two tracks that promise to be interesting—if nothing more." Then he added abruptly, Do you happen to know much about that secretary chap, Sladen?" "Not much, except that he was not popular wilh anyone, especially with Lady Margaret's nieces," Wilfrid replied. "Wliv?" "Oli, nothing, but I find him interesting to study," was the reply. "He has a strange enmity towards Miss Cassella. He as good 118 suggested to me that she knew more than she said at the inquest." Wilfrid's face had changed colour again. "Miss Cassella! he repeated. Yes," was the drawling reflective reply. The man was oddly vindictive in what lie implied, only of course I have my own opinion about him. At the same time, Miss Cassella is a!so one of my studies, and a very charm- ing one I find her, too. I am thinking of having an appointment with her soon." "What can she know?" Wilfrid said sharply. "Surely you don't think she is a criminal." Mr. Thaw shrugged his shoulders. "It is not our business to think," he said dryly, "but to prove. I certainly consider that whenever the murderer of Lady Mar- garet is found out it will create as big a sen- sa tion as the murder itself." Wilfrid was ,silent. To him there was only one Miss Cassella in the world—Virginia— and for the first time since he had known her he forgot that she had a sister who was "Miss Cassella," while she was only "Miss Vir- ginia." The fact that the detective was weaving his web of inquiry round her-per- haps had even discovered something, as he had when he had drawn that handkerchief with the monogram "V. C." out of the hollow trunk in The Wilderness, made him tremble for the safety of the girl he loved. "Personally," he said after a pause, "1 think the affair will always remain a mystery. Even if the hounds had been oil the scene first, I doubt whether they would have found anything of much value." Ah Thaw murmured; you may be right, of course, Lyttleton, but to my mind the hounds, either accidentally or otherwise, did us a very considerable service that day. They gave my thoughts an impetus." Wilfrid rose and looked at his watch. "Well, I must be off. I have an appoint- ment," he said quickly. "I may be out of town some weeks, but the Hotel Royal, Monte Carlo, will find me if you have any news." Mr. Thaw's narrow but remarkably keen eyes smiled. Right. Of course, being engaged to one of the Miss Cassellas makes you one of the family in a sense, doesn't it? By the way, I hope if anything comes of this particular trail I am on that you will be willing to give any slight evidence you can?" Wilfrid nodded, but when he finally escaped from the office and reached comparative pri- vacy in a closed taxi-cab he wiped his brow. "Thank heaven I am doing what I am," he muttered. "My poor girl! I at least shall stand by you to the bitter end." His feelings would have been considerably ruffled had he known that a clerk, obeying a mute sign from Mr. Thaw, was following the taxi in another, and that his movements were being closely watched for the next two hours. When the clerk returned to his master Mr. Thaw was reading a paper, which he laid aside. > "Well, Perkins, you've been a long time. Anything interesting?" "Yes, sir. Mr. Lyttleton was married at two to Miss Virginia Cassella," the clerk re- plied. "Married!" Mr. Thaw exclaimed. "Yes, sir. It was a quiet wedding at a little out-of-the-way church in Chelsea. Only Mr. Lyttleton, Miss Cassella, and an elderly lady, M*. Lyttleton's sister, I found out. They drove straight to Charing-crpss station and* left by the Continental train." When he was alone again Mr. Thaw bit his lip. "What made him make a secret of it? He is an old friend of mine, yet he never men- tioned it, and his manner was certainly not that of a happy bridegroom elect. There is a mystery in it—another of those tangled side issues that the case is full of. It seems to me that I shall have my work cut out tying the threads together. In the meantime, I must add Miss Virginia, or rather Mrs. Lyttleton, to my list of studies. She may be more inte- resting than her sister, after all." CHAPTER XV. WEDDID. Before Mr. Thaw had recovered from his astonishment at the secret marria e of the man who was his friend, Wilfri il Lyttleton and his bride had arrived at the first stop on their honeymoon. Owing to the rough weather, he decided to postpone crossing the Channel till the next day, and to stay in the meantime at the Lord Warden Hotel,,Dover. Wilfrid had telegraphed for a suite of rooms, and when they arrived they found two tele- grams waiting for them. Wilfrid Jianded one to Virginia. "For you, dear!" he said. The girl-bride took it and blushed at her new name on the envelope. This marriage to Wilfrid had all happened so strangely and suddenly that ghe felt she wfa the central figure in a dream. When she arrived as the. guest of his t3ister she had found a kindly elderly woman who welcomed her as a friend. and who immediately made her feel that she was at home. And then from Wilfrid had come the amazing suggestion that they should be married privately, as a public wedding so soon after Lady Margaret's death would be 'impossible. The girl had hesi- tated at first, but urged by her lover's per- suasion, and the fact that she hated the Idea. of returning to The Mount, she had listened and consented. Miss Lyttleton had agreed to her brother's suggestion that she should give Virginia away, and only after the wed- ding had a telegram been sent to Olivia, tell- ing her of the secret marriage. Virginia now held Olivia's answer out for her bridegroom's inspection. "See! Olivia is glad; she wishes us both every happiness, and admires our courage;" she said gaily. "A present will be waiting on our return." "I only hope Miss Cassella doesn't think I am a fortune-hunter," Wilfrid said gravely. "I would not have pressed you to a secret marriage had I not inherited a decent legacy that will remove the stigma of heiress-hunter from me." Virginia clasped her hands round his arm and gazed up into his face with shy, happy eyes, I am glad you did ask me to marry you in a hurry like this," she said slowly. "It makes me feel that you wanted me so deeply that you did not want to wait a second longer than you need. Do you know, Wil- frid that when you came down to Epps,tone that time I had a horrible feeling that you did uot care so much about me. There seemed to be eucli a constraint between us that once I nearly refused to accept your sister's invitation. But you did care, after all. didn't you? I told Olivia what I felt, and she said it was all nerves and hysterical nonsense. Wilfrid Lyttleton took his girl-bride in his arms, and looked earnestly into her up- turned face. It was so pure and radiantly happy that it seemed impossible that she could be keeping such an awful secret as the one lie had discovered in the ivy- covered stump. Had he not known of it and locked the damning evidence in a safe place he would have doubted the truth of the assertion from anyone else. And yet it seemed difficult to gaze into those big, inno- cent eyes and suspect the owner of them of evil knowledge. "I have never ceased to love you, dar- ling," he said; "and now that we are really I married I want you to trust me and let me protect you from any danger that may threaten your safety." Virginia looked at him blankly. "Of course I trust you," she said, "but what danger can threaten me, you silly boy P" Their eyes met, and a slow wave of colour stained her face in sudden confusion. "Do you know of no danger?" Wilfrid said gravely. "Nothing that might place you in a very awkward position if it were known to—say, the police?" Th-o girl-wife's face grew suddenly white, and the man's heart sank. Only a guilty person looked like that. "Virginia!" he said earnestly. "Con- fide in me, darling. Have I not proved the strength of my love in asking you to be my wife, although I had damning proofs of your secret in my possession? "Let me understand you first," Virginia replied in a low, trembling voice. "I want you to tell the absolute truth. Do you be- lieve me guilty of a—crime?" Wilfrid bowed his head gravely. Yes." She looked at him with wide, puzzled eyes. "Then why did you ask me to marry your' she asked, with cold white lips. "Because," he answered, a husband can- not give evidence against his wife!" The next moment he had sprung forward ill time to catch her in his arma. His girl-wife had fainted! (To be Continued.) I

I SIONBD, SEALED, KTO. "Did you give your wife instructions asked a Neath solicitor cf a defendant charged under the Child Messenger Act. "Yes," came the reply, "to seal everj bottle under fourteen." "Not every bottle under fourteen?" said the chairman. I "No; every child," answered the defendant. I INSTRUCTED THE CONSTABLE. When a tinsmith, of no fixed abode, was charged before Mr. Hedderwick with steal- ing a spare motor tyre cover, a youth who spoke of seeing the prisoner creep up to the car and take the tyre, was responsible for considerable amusement in court. "Me and the constable," he said, "gave chase after the prisoner, who threw the tyre at me. It didn't hit me. I told the police- man to blow his whistle." Mr. Hedderwick: Did he obey your com- mand? Witness Oh, yes. I followed the prisoner and tripped him up. He tried to strike me, I pointed him out to another constable. I A SAX'S 8PORT. J In a case under the Compensation Act, heard at Clerkenwell County-court, which raised the question of the continuing effect of injuries, counsel asked the workman to mention anything he would like to do. The Workman (promptly): "I should like to go into the country shooting." I WilY Kl WORKJD. Mr. Symmons at Greenwich told a defen- dant that he was a lazy man and would not work for his wife and children. His Wor- ship recalled the man, who, meeting* another, said "What! are you at W.,( iD, Bill?" "Yes," waa the rqoy, "my I :rfai's dead."

I PICKINGS FROM "PUNCH." A. diphtheria outbreak at one of the schools at Whitley Bay is declared to hare been caused by the children placing pens and pencils in their mouths. The Little Ones' Own Mutual Protection Society now proposes that all holders should be made nigh-class sugar-stick. Taking up .her berth at the King's Arms Quay at Salcombe, Devon, the Hull schooner Mary forced her bowsprit through the win- dow of a room in Prospect House where Mr. G. H. Jones was asleep. We are ashamed of you, Mary. "The bride going away in a coat and skirt of Wedgwood blue ratine, with chiffon bodice to match, and a black velvet hat trimmed with mole feathers."—"The Lady. The mole in question was one of a covey which had been shot by the bride's father. "I left Whitehaven by the 8.30 rain im the morning, intending to go to Barrow. After leaving Ravenglass the train ran into a heavy snow-drift. The driver, the eoker, and the guards tried their utmost to proceed, but so deep was the snow that the task proved an impossible one. Interview in "Daily News and Leader." And the stoker had to go without his T.

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