The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-25
CHAPTER vII.-UNRAvELLINGs.

My lnteriocutor looked more than pug zled, and was at the same time conscious ot thrill of shocked surprise electrifying the little group. The first solution of the mystery occurring 10 all was evidently that n:anlac had effected his entrance into the house surreptitiously. Did in- deed transient hallucinatlon take pos session of me? Had some collyrlum temporarily blinded my vision to the solid realities of things2 Certain it is that as glanced from one to the other 1 believed myself among immortals in a new sense, creatures of flesh and blood like myself, but untouched by the hand of Time.
 iwent straight up to Lionelle. The sun shone in my eyes; could not see her face clearly, bat the slender tom, the fair hair beautifully ananged in a coro- net, the pale, finely cut features, the ex- qnisite tnsh of dress, the sprightly grace all these were hers, aud hers uu- changed.
 She had, the=, been true to her word she had not grown old
 Lionellep' cried, taking her hand and drawing her little apart, "you at least cannot have forgotten me. Not mine, like yours, the privilege of perpet. ual youth but in one respect am un- chang ed-l, your old lover, Gerald Arch CT, love you still ]"
 She drew back with a startled look the beautiful head was averted Tn dismay
 MT. Bolingbroke, however, had either caught the sound of my name, or had been unexpectedly reminded of my for mer self by something in my voice, look or manner, for he approached me quite cordially.
 "Mr. Gerald Archer!' he said, smiling his old bland smile. "The feilow-guest we were bidden to expect, and --I cannot be mistaken Ia fello ~-guest of my own in this very house years and years ago,
 He nodded to the little group of im- mortals on the terrace.
 Go on with your game, my dears," he said to the players of battledore and shuulecock. Resume your em bro,dery, my love-" he added to the smiling, ele- gantly dressed matron beside him " Meanwhile, my old friend will take a turn with me in the shrubberies.''
 He put his arm within my own, and led me toward the outer garden. assen,ed without so much as looking back. real ized already that whatever revelations were in store for me, tn at had not found Llonelle.
 now recall every circumstance con- nected with our former acquaintance" he began "your kind interest in the hy dro- pathic establishment, your unconcealed admiration of the young lady accompany ing me-my pseudo-dAughser. It IS not astonishing that you should express some surprise at finding us all here again-to use your own words-a verttable group of immoTtiis."
 He laughed, not without irony. Then he grew friendly, even confidential
 "Vsry likely look wonderfully young for septuagenarian, but age and mfr mites tell upon maa, in spite of tue perruqu,er skill and the sraymaker's cunning never a greater fallacy than to fancy women the sote patrons of corsets and whaleoonel Could you see me of duty, in undress, so to speak, you would ind wrlnkied, decrepit, hagg ard, aged man."
 We had now reached the extreme lim- its ot the upper garden. and he turned into the little sumner-houie in which I 1 had taken such passionate leave of Lio- nelie. Bringing out a couple of cig lrettes, he handed me one, mouoning me to be seated.
 True, the youthfulness of my com panions is net simulated. But, you see, they are mere duplicates-repiicas of the associates of your youth. Since 1 we lost sight of each other, indeed, nov many blooming daughters and accom- plished sons have not hadl My pro- fession, you see, necessitates it."
 You are here professionally? Il asked, beginning to see my through the maze
 Precisely that pretty domestic tab leau, for instance, you came upon just | nov has been arranged and rearran ,ed, {! dare =ase-. five hundred times. It is ny trump-card, and has made the for 1 tune of scores of boarding-houses, set