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[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ABHAN'GEMENT.] I THE UNINVITED GUEST. BY FLORENCE TAGPOOLE. Author of 'The King's Diamond," "The Mystery of the Manor H()W;oO," &c., &c. [COPYRIGHT.] SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. CHAPIKH.S i. to ill.—1 at; story opens 111 a private hotel in Piccadilly. Tiie tiou. Herbert iiavilie receiver an ominous letter irom tile money- lender, Benjarnm Haru After breakiast tie intakes himself to Mr. Hart's offices. That worthy allows no quarter, as he had a suspicion mat- tiie biii is forged. Herbert SaviLe seeks tiie residence of one or nizi boon companions. ftir Urlurti Aiedn- cut. whom he disturbs m ms morning numbers witn a reouest for heio. Medlicot is inaijeif hard up, and refused assistance. He is nangiag his financial hopes oil a woman's will. A leieyram arrives stating that his grandmother is iii, and Medlicot hurries his departure, glad to escape from Herbert Savilie s importunities. &avU.e runs across hid cousm, Lucien Che&cer, who is the nepiiew and heir of the Earl of Pennaiaun. He inlorms Herbert tiiat he is going to some offices in Cockspur-street too pay zicariy i,4,0U) into the Silver Sheaf Mine Co. Herbert accordingly goes with him. Lucien speaks slightingly of Mcdncot, and Herbert twits him with havmg endeavoured to poioon Margaret s mind against Medhcot. Lucien forbias Herbert to associate tiie names of the two. The following morning Savihe again presents himself before Mr. Hart. He pays tiie money-lender £ 3,000 in Bank of England notes. Mr. Hart is thus balked in hid desire to run his -q uarry to CHAPTER IV. I Lore and prudenoe are inconsistent; propor- tionally as the former increases the latter decreases."—La Rochefoucauld. Doctors are very absurd pcopie, my dear," remarked Lord Pennaiaun to nis daughter with solemn petulenoe, "they don t discriminate as to their patient's social positions. W hy should 1 be dragged out of bed at thus unearthly hour as if I were a clerk or a shopkeeper. Why uoc begin this wretched marching up and down at, nine o'clock instead of seven But then breakfast would be much later, and luncheon, and we should have to dine at eight instead of -x, and go to bed at midnight as we do at home, instead of at ten o'c.ock, tui we must do here," answered his daughter, laughing; "it is all part of the 'cure, 1 suppose, but it won't last long." That is the only comfort," said the earl, plaintively, as they stopped at the Elizabeth- toruunen lor his third glass of tepid water. He was a tall elderly man, with a pale, peevish laoo, rather drawn and haggard in its lines, but unmistakably aristocratic in feature. On this hot morning at the beginning of Septem- ber, the Earl of Pennaiaun and h-i- daugnter, Lady Margaret Chester, wore walking up and down the shady alleys that border the Elizabeth spring in the Homburg Gardens. They were doing the round done every year by so many hundreds of Britisn aristocrats in the effort to keep the gout fiend at bay. They had b,x.¡¡ 001nci it now for three weeks, and poor Lady Margaret, though she did not complain as her father did, was suffering more from ennui than he was. for she had not even a valetudinarian's interest in the business of water drinking at unearthly hours, and of other interest the place was empty to her. The water sipped—for the Homburg water when taken for gout must be sipped, not gulped— Lord Pennalaun and his daughter ascended the steps leading from the basin in which the spring bubbles, and took their way down the broad -central avenue towards the entrance to the gardens. She was as weary of the gaieties of Homburg ad her father was of the medical discipline of its cure, and she was longing to move on, to get out of the reach of the chatter about fetes and tournaments with which her acquaint- ances assailed her; to get to the Engadine, or the Tyrol, where among tne mountains she could find the solitude for which she craved. But solitude is not to be found in Homburg in August, by the daughter of an English earl when she is just out of ner teens, and has as lovely a face as Margaret Chester' s. They had walked perhaps half the length of the avenue when Lady Margaret, who had been looking at the shadows of the great trees flicker- ing on the parchd ground at her feet, suddenly started and looked up as her father uttered an (exclamation, Medlicot! It is Sir Orford Medlicot, surely, is it not, Margaret?" A deep flush suffused Margaret's face. She was saved the necessity of replying, for Sir Orford- who. truth to tell had come to Homburg for the express purpose of meeting them—was now so noar. having hurried forward with so much eager- ness when he caught sight of them as to put it beyond doubt that he was he himself. Lord Pennaiaun I am in luck Lady Mar- garet. how are you? This is delightful, really! I am charmed to meet you out so early. What a revolution of all one's habits, isn't it, to meet at eight in the morning! It would be such an absurd hour to meet at home, wouldn't it?" He was looking at Margaret Chester as he spoke. and noting with aelf-gratuiation her heightened colour, which had not yet subsided. He was a short and rather stout young man. Margaret's tall, slight figure was in his eyes as mucn to be admired as her unusually beautiful face. That she should blush in this unmi.stake- ablo manner at his unlooked-for appearance was altogether Battering to his vanity. Have you been long in Homburg?" asked the earl. "Oh, dear, no! Only just arrived-that' to aay, last night, by the ten o'clock train from Frankfort." Oh, then you must not begin the waters th* morning-r-,ot until you've seen Dr. Deetz and got his advioe as to which spring you should taiie, the number of glasses* diet. and-" 01?, I'm not going in for the waters!" inter- Oli, Sir Orford, with a laugh. No kar! I've not come to Homburg to take-er-I mean to say I've not got to be cured of an ytliiii, -sound as a bell—-or the proverbial roach—except-er— that is—I ve nothing to be cured of that mineral waters would do any good to He glanced at Margaret again Her flush had quit-o faded away, even the natural soft bloom had vanished from her cheeks. They were pale, and she was looking before her up the avenue which was now at its gayest and filled with a moving throng chiefly oi Englishmen in light tweeds and women in muslins briiiiantiv-hued like spring flowers. There was something in the straightforward gaze of her large hazel eyes, and in the lines about her lips which made Sir Orford feel, as he would have expressed it, "taken down a peg." The solf-gratuiauon occasioned by her blush was departing with uncomfortabLe swiftness. I've nothing wrong with me. at all, I assure you," he said hastily. I'm not thinking cf taking the waters, I came—er he floundered for an excuse for his appearance, remembering just in time that Lord Pennalaun was a pro- nounced enemy to racing and gambling of every kind, and that it would be as impolitic to make the Cologne Steeplechases the motive for his --ses the motive for his journey to the Fatherland as to aver the mal anri I true reason for it. I came to have a run in the Black Forestr -and-I-heard from Herbert that you were in Homburg-so I thought I'd give you a look up," he said, tacking on the explanation rather patchiiy to the first part of the sentence. "Oh." e was cirl l _7 Lord Pcnna'aun'a monosyllable was drily uttered. His interest in meeting his compatriot sank quickly. We must keep moving, as I am taking a course of the waters, Sir Orford." he said. And .Oh—I'll turn with you," cried the baronet, suiting the action to the word and preventing himseif from being got rid of by the celerity of his move. To shake off a man who is quite determined not to be shaken off ia an all but impossible task, an d so agreeable did Sir Orford Medlicot make mmseu during trie remainder ot the promenading that is a necessary accompaniment of the water drinking that, by nine o'clock Lord Pennaiaun had not only unthawed his previously rather frozen manners, but had actually asked Sir Orford to breakfast. The earl did not patronise an hotel during his residence in Homburg. He was much too ex- clusive, and, in plain English, he was a great deal too fidgety to find the kind of accommodation he required in any German hotel. So he had hired a villa in a quiet. road not far from the Gardens, a villa big enough to have housed a numerous family, and here he and his daughter were residing in state. He had been a widower for several years, and Lady Marge a ret was his only child. He loved her well enough, but there was no doubt that he would have loved a son even more, and that some of the lines of peevish discontent in his face had been traced there by the disappointment of not having a direct heir to his title. It need hardly be said that Sir Orford accepted the invitation to breakfast with alacrity, and he accepted this initial success of his venture in coming to Homburg as a good omen for his final success in the prosecution of his design. His jubilation, however, was of but short duration. When they entered the house Margaret disappeared upstairs, and her maid presently came to say that her ladyship was fatigued, was breakfasting in her own room, and begged to be excused from joining the gentlemen. "No wonder, no wonder!" said the earl with fussy fretfulness, "thee early hours for walking are perfectly monstrous; I am not surprised that she is fatigued, but she has borne up very well hitherto—she has accompanied me every morn- ing, and has not been obliged to rest when we returned; but I fear it is beginning to tell on her ;14- last, I fear it i. Will you take tea or coffee, Sir Orford?" Truth to say, Sir Orford seldom indulged in either beverage. But at all costs Lord Pennaiaun must be propitiated, and the young baronet was astute enough to guees that the drinking of alcohol in any form, at nine in the morning, would not commend him to his ascetic-looking host. Puritanical old prig!" he thought as he drank 'his coffee with extreme disrelish. "Why on earth are the biggest cash-bags nearly always in tho fists of parties like you. I wonder?" Outwardly he preserved the air of cheerful decorum which he knew to be required of him. Inwardly, however, he was asking himself un. easily, Is she really too tired to come to break- fast? Is she doing it to keep out of my way?" Ho was certainly to be pitied. He was heavily in debt. Margaret Chester's two hundred thousand pounds had been dangled before him for months as a pleasing means of rescue from his difficulties. It was her own absolutely, inherited troui her mother. If he could but make her fall m love with lam it might be his, too. And now —now his heart began to misgivo him, and the fear assumed tangible shape that the dragging tne bit irom beneath her teeth," as her cousin Herbert had tersely called the task of inducing her to marry him, might after all prove to bo quite niipossiole of aooompiiahment. iiie earl, slow and stately in his manner of eating as in everything else, was an irritating table companion tor a man impatient to e-seape to the freedom of his own hotei and the consola- tions of tobacco aud spirits, but the breakfast came to an end at last, and Sir Orford was spared tho trouble of makmg an excuse to accelerate his departure by me arrival of the post, bringing letters from England, which his ?ord?hip eVldeny was anxious M? open without ?avici(,,nt?iy was alixious w open without CHAPTER V. "Absence destroys the small passions, and! in- creases great ones: The wind extinguishes tapers, but kindles fires.La Rochefoucauld. "*li you plsase, my lady, his lordship wishes to I 1, 1 I Know II it would T, re your lauysmp to come down and speak to his lordship, or shall he come up to your ladyship's room "to, Margaret was sitting at of the windows of an upstairs room which had been converted into a pretty little boudoir for her espec.al usa. The windows locked upon the avenue, and a few minutes before she had seen Sir Orford Med- licot making his way down it at a quick pace and passing through the entrance gate. Her eyes were still fixed upon the gate which had closed upon him. She started at the voioe of her maid and looked round. "Tire me to come down!" she repeated with suiprise; "of oourue not!" and si.e rose. "His lordship thought, my lady, that as you were too fatigued to come to breakfast your ladyship might still prefer to remain upstairs," said the abigail demurely. She had probably gauged correctly the true cause cf her mistress's fatigue. Margaret had for the moment forgotten the excuse sh-e hrat made for avoiding Sir Orford's company. A little conucioud colour came into her face, and she felt. rather uneasy lest her father had guessed that she purposely absented herself, and she was now going to receive a lec- ture cf reproof. Th, earl was punctilious about small matters. She at once perceived, however, that she was not in for a rebuke. Lord Pennalaun was sitting at a writing-table, an open letter in his hand, a worried look on his face. "I hope you are quite rested, my dear," he said; "I would have gone up if you had expressed a w-sh to remain on y, ur sofa, but I am glad you fesl well enouarh come down." "Oh! I am qu.te well, papa.; I was only a little tired," she answered rather shamefacedly, but thankful she was getting off so easily. "I don't wonder you were dona up. Well, my dear, I wanted to consult you, as Lucien id in Norway and Mrs. Geeth in Scctland-as to whether I had better wire for Henderson to come out." "Wire for Henderson! Oh, papa—why? I am sure Dr. Wellby and Sir Julius Clutterbuck would be very angry if they thought you were dexng any sort of business or letter-writing. Dr. Wollby said that, while you were away, you were not to have any letters sent after you." "I know, I know, but this one has not been sent on. I mean it has not gone to Pennalaun first; it has coma to me direct from the office, from the Silver Sheaf Mine, you know, my dear. You have heard us talk of it. Lucien and I, and yvung Glazebrook. Well, just see what the people in the offica say; it has given me quite a shock to get such news." What is it, papa? What is the matter?" "Read it, my dear." He held out the letter. For a moment her agitation mad e the words sc-em indistinct. She could hardly see them, but when she mastered their meaning her colour, which had faded suddienly, and she breathed fi(;e:y again. "I don't understand it." she said, looking in- quiringly at her father. "Ah. I forgot. Of course, ycu don't under- stand business, Margaret. Yott are not like Mrs. Goeti), my dear. She understands these thmga so clearly. Well, the meaning of the letter is this, Margaret, that at the end of July I gave Lucien a cheque for three thousand s'-ven hundred pounds to take to the office of the, Silver Sheaf Mining Company to pay what is termed a call. you den t know what that is?" She shook her head. "It is money that has to be paid to make up the price of certain shares which I own in th-e m-ne. Weil, this letter toils me that money has mever been paid' "WLy not?" "That is what I don't know. The cheque was cashed. I know that, for it is entered in my bank pass-book, but tho company has never re- ceived the money." "Oh, papa!" Margaret had drcppcd into a low chair that stood with its back to the window. Her face had again paled, and she was cia-ininn- her h.mi-t,- nervously. 11 Oh, papa!" It was all she could say. From a business point of view t he ejaculation was certainly not helpfyl and as her father looked at her he wished that she was Mrs. Geeth, and understood business matters and could do somie- thing more practical than sit looking at her fingers. He ruminated for a while, then, as irresolute people often do when thrown entirely on their own resources, he came to a quick deoision. "I shall wire to Henderson to go to the office, inquire into this m-cst extraordinary matter, and acme out to me at once. Yes, yes, my dear," as Lady Margaret murmured something about Dr. Weilby, "it is all very well for Dr. WeUby to talk in that way. but Lucien and Mre. Geeth are out of the way, and I must have someone to see after things for me. I ought to have brought Henderson with me, but, after all, perhaps it's as well he is on the spot to make inquiries." CHAPTER VI. I On a lowly seat-the mossy stump of a fallen pl1e tree-in the silent and gloomy forest that lies within a short drive of Homburg, Mar- garet Cnester was sitting. The day promised to bacome overpowermgiy hot by and by, but here ill the forest it was cool and' dark, the Married ranks of the tall old pines effactually keeping out the already burn.ng rays of the sun. It was as silent in the forest as if it had bean one of tho primeval backwoods of Canada. It seemed hard to believe that but a very few miles off, a huge cosmopolitan throng cf smartly-d rested people were surging up and down the alleys of a fashionable watering-place pleasure garden to the strains of a modern band. Out upon the high road whioh ran alongside the edge of the forest a servant was waikiii. a pony puaeton slGwly up and down. He stopped short when he saw approaching a gentleman on horseback, followed by a groom. Tho gentleman, who was short, stout arid, sandy haired, sprang off his home, threw the bridle to his attendant, and exchanged a knowing Lok and a few words with the man in chargp of the pan| aeton, who, pointing to a certain spot, which he had been keeping in sight, said :n a whisper, iwa?tbere she went in, sir, but," he. added, Wa 1i,twas half an hour ago; you'll rather la e. sir! it was Sir Orford Medlicot. His face was flushed; he was evidently in a. jubilant humour. The fact was that to brace himself up under the strain of unaccustomed .early rising, and, to forUly his oourage for tho undertaking into wlich lie was about to plunge, he had broak- fasted before st-ar-cin,ch-efly upon champagne. All right, old man," he answered. "I'll find her, never fear. Trust to luck-always my motto!" The next minute ho had vanished among the sombre trees, ancil the two servants were grinning in unison as they locked after him. Sir Orford had tramped through the forest for quite ten minutes, and his patience was getting used up. Then. through an opening made by the felling of some of the trees, he had suddenly caught sight of a pale blue linen gown. He knew the dress. It was Margaret's. She was still s.ttinz on the falln trpp (of or* +,J I i.t»^ Has LULiitru from him, and she was bending over something at which she was gazing intently. Then 1."3! saw I that it was a photograph. "By jingo he muttered between his set "so this is what she comes out alone at cock-crow for I" At the same moment, one of his spurs caught in a tuft of grass, and a slight stumble was the result. In an instant Margaret started up, her cheeks crimson, her eyes glowing. She was hurriedly trying to thrust the photograph into a little bag of the same material as her dress, which hung from her waist. Before she could succeed in doing so, Sir Orford was at her side. He did not ait for her to offer h9r hand; he caught it eagerly and tried to held it, but Margaret who. had swiftly regained her self-possession, withdrew it forcibly with an air of determined hauteur, saying in a tone of cold .1:1 "Y I. uispieasure, i am very muon surprised to see d you here, Sir Orford." "Yes. I suppose you didn't expect to see me, Lady Margaret, but where there's a will, you know—I wanted to most you, so I found out the way, you see!" "How did you know I was here?" she de- manded, looking at him with an expression that made him wince a little, though he was not easy I to abash. Oh—one can get to know anything if one goes the right way to work," he said. with a laugh. "You have been keQ "You have been keeping out of my way. Come now, confess that you have, Lady Margaret. It was very unkind cf you, I think, considering that I came a long journey for no earthly reason but to look at your beautiful face." Astonished indignat'on was so plainly written on the "beautiful faco" that the baronet, in spite of the exaltation of his spirits, could net but perceive that he had spoken indiscreetly. He began to stammer out an apology which Lady Margaret cut short by saying: "I wish you good morning, Sir Orford." and turning from him, she began quickly retracing her steps towards the entrance to the forest. He was not to be got rid of so easily, however. "TJ.J. Ax. -j. AUO.KAJ *uai gaiui, nv aaiu, puue WITH her. and even trying to lay a d-etaining hand upon her arm, "I have come all this way to ask you something. Of course, the Black Forest was all rot. I mean—I'm not going there; I only said so as an excuse for coming here. I canve whclly and solely to see you-to ask you to-to ask if you would-I mean, I came on purpose to —er—to propose-to ask you, in fact-tc--to marry me!" For all his hardihood, his proposition was uttered jerkily; the champagne had net quite dispelled the nervousness it had been destined to prevent. "iSir Orford Medhcot," said Margaret, stop- ping and lacing him. "you say you know I been keeping out ot your way. I snould have thought it wouid have been in better taste if you uad aooepied the hint, and avoided giving me thijj annoyance." "Then you acknowledge that you have been keeping out of my way?" he sa' d. Yes, I do, sile answered, resolved that now the matter was begun, there was nothing for it but to end it dec deniy and at once. "For fear I should propose to you?" "To allow you to perce.ve ti.at it would be a useless tiling to do," she answered, with chill hauteur. "Then you mean to refuse me?" "I do, certainly." ine most obtuse suitor couia not tan to per- ceive that thB1r was finality in her ton, that he wa3 rejected hopeiessiy. Sir Orford, like Mr. Guppy's mother, took rejection baJiy. It made Guppy's nl<)t??er, t?(j k re? "ii an ip?tan?L him vicious and revengeful in an instant. "Oh, very w.ell," he said, "I suppose it's on account of that fellow whosa picture you were kissing when I came up." She turned from him in contemptuous indigna- tion, a vivid glow t-sing in her faoe. "Yeu will regret the way you have treated rre, Margaret Chester," he continued, following her pertinaciously, "and I can tell ycu this: your pride is going to get a fall into the dust. my young lady, and shortly too." His tone had become both significant and menacing. She turned and looked at him. "What do you mean," she said. "Ask your father's secretary what e dis- covered at the office of the Silver Sheaf Mining Company the other day," he answered mali- ciously, "and when you hear remember this: There is disgrace coming to the Chcsters—swift and sure." Then he strode off, but after he had gone a few I i i' lea-.v paces he paused and said vindictively, "I'll lea-vie ;;ou one piece of adv:ce, Lady Margaret. Tear up that photo, don't keep on carrying it about with you, or you'll get into trouble." (To be continued.)

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