Part 25 (1/2)

”It is not true,” she answered in a low firm tone. ”I know that it is not true.”

Mr. Thurwell shrugged his shoulders.

”I hope not, I'm sure. Still, I'd rather he did not come back here again. Some one must have done it, you see, and if it was a stranger, he must have been a marvelous sort of fellow to come into this lonely part of the country, and go away again without leaving a single trace.”

”Criminals are all clever at disguises,” she interposed.

”Doubtless; but they have yet to learn the art of becoming invisible,”

he went on drily. ”I'm afraid it's no use concealing the fact that things look black against Maddison, and there is more than a whisper in the county about it. If he's a wise fellow, he'll keep away from here.”

”He will not,” she answered. ”He will come back. He is innocent!”

Mr. Thurwell saw the rising flush in his daughter's face, but he had no suspicion as to its real cause. He knew that Bernard Maddison was one of her favorite authors, and he put her defence of him down to that fact.

He was not a particularly warm advocate on either side, and suddenly remembering his unopened letters, he abandoned the discussion.

Helen, whose calm happiness had been altogether disturbed, rose in a few minutes with the intention of making her escape. But her father, with an open letter in his hand, checked her.

”Have you been seeing much of Sir Allen Beaumerville in town, Helen?” he asked.

”Yes, a great deal. Why?” she asked.

”He's coming down here,” Mr. Thurwell said. ”He asks whether we can put him up for a night or two, as he wants to do some botanizing. Of course we shall be very pleased. I did give him a general invitation, I remember, but I never thought he'd come. You'll see about having some rooms got ready, Helen!”

”Yes, papa, I'll see to it,” she answered, moving slowly away.

What could this visit in the middle of the season mean? she wondered uneasily. It was so unlike Sir Allan to leave town in May. Could it be that what her aunt had once laughingly hinted at was really going to happen? Her cheeks burned at the very thought. She liked Sir Allan, and she had found him a delightful companion, but even to think of any other man now in such a connection seemed unreal and grotesque. After all, it was most improbable. Sir Allan had only shown her the attention he showed every woman who pleased his fastidious taste.

CHAPTER XXVIII

SIR ALLAN BEAUMERVILLE VISITS THE COURT

On the following day Sir Allan duly arrived, and in a very short s.p.a.ce of time Helen's fears had altogether vanished. His appearance was certainly not that of an anxious wooer. He was pale and haggard and thin, altogether a different person to the brilliant man about town who was such a popular figure in society. Something seemed to have aged him.

There were lines and wrinkles in his face which had never appeared there before, and an air of restless depression in his manner and bearing quite foreign to his former self.

On the first evening Mr. Thurwell broached some plans for his entertainment, but Sir Allan stopped him at once.

”If I may be allowed to choose,” he said, ”I should like to be absolutely quiet for a few days. London life is not the easiest in the world, and I'm afraid I must be getting an old man. At any rate I am knocked up, and I want a rest.”

”You have come to the right place for that,” Mr. Thurwell laughed. ”You could live here for months and never see a soul if you chose. But I'm afraid you'll soon be bored.”

”I'm not afraid of that,” Sir Allan answered quietly. ”Besides, my excuse was not altogether a fiction. I really am an enthusiastic botanist, and I want to take up my researches here just where I was obliged to leave them off so suddenly last year.”

Mr. Thurwell nodded.

”I remember,” he said; ”you were staying at Mallory, weren't you, when that sad affair to poor Kynaston happened?”

”Yes.”