The Saint Paul globe., 1899-02-19

ND FATE==
path through the shrubbery emerged on to
the lawn: Here they separated.
Lady Lillian moved towards the drawing
room window, which was open, and entered
the mouse that way, and Rene LaroQue went
stralght across the lawn to the front en-
trance. In the portico he came face to face
with the Earl, who said:
An! Laroque. You are the very person l.
wanted to see. 1 have been looking for YOU"
Indeed. Lord Roseraye!''
yes. want to have little conversation
Win you or rather confidential nature, II
you can spare me half hour
ana my time are entirely at your dis
posal, returned the Frenchman, courteously.
I'VE will go into the library then, I think.
We shall not be disturbed there
AS they passed through the hall together
Nine. Laroque came out of the drawing room,
followed by Odille.
Mother and son exchanged rapid glance.
She raised her darkened eyebrows in mute in
terrogation. In reply he bent his head
The look Of triumph that flashed across
Stephanie Laroque's handsome, clever face
was not lost upon Odille
She knew what it meant.
He has proposed and been accepted, she
said to herself. He is going to ask the Earrs
consent to the engagement-he only is capa-
bic of such unparalleled audacity and pre-
to the lips, she went slowly upstairs to her
own room.
CHAPTER VI.
In the library, meanwhile, the Earl and the
Frenchman stood face to face. Both were
very pale, very grave Each felt that the
coming interview was crisis in their lives.
After a silence that had lasted several min
utes, Lord Roseraye said:
You are comparative stranger to me,
Monsieur Laroque and yet I am going to
take you into my confidence and treat you
as a friend
The Frenchman bent his head, with a ges
ture that was meant to signify that he felt
grateful and honored; but he made no re-
mark, waiting for the Earl to continue, and
wondering greatly within himself what he
was about to hear.
''It may perhaps be no secret to you that
admire Miss Thorne. So much did 1 admire
and esteem her indeed that I had made up
my mind to ask her to be my wife on the very
day met you and your mother in the hunt
ing field.
'She is a gentlewoman by birth-her father
is an old friend of mine, and I have an un-
bounded respect for her mother. The fact
of her having no fortune is of little import
ance in England where man chooses for
his wife the woman who pleases him, and
thinks more of her person than her pocket.
AS said just now, 1 had decided to ask
Odille Thorne to become the partner of my
iiAC. Oil luS GeeulllS VI Tie Udy WIlGu L met
yourself and your mother at the meet had
meant to speak to her-and 1 should have
done so, for the words trembled on my lips
but something arose which caused me to hesi-
tate and keep silent. You will remember
that it was l who introduced you to Miss
Thorne. l happened to look at her as 1 did
SO, and it was impossible for me to be blind
to her very evident agitation That she had
met you before and was greatly startled at
meeting you again, was plain. I glanced at
you, but being a man of the world, your
face was a mask, and betrayed neither an
noyance satisfaction, nor surprise. There
was certainly nothing astonishing in the fact
that you two had met before elsewhere but it
seemed strange to me that you should make
a mystery Of it, instead of openly claiming
previous acquaintance. In England, at any
rate, we are accustomed to think that where
there is secret understanding between
man and a woman, there is room for suspi-
cion-I felt suspicious, confess.
'Irstead of asking her to be my wife I set
myself to watch, not you. but her. I could
discover nothing, in spite of my close sur
veillance, beyond the fact that she seemed
to avoid even looking at you, and appeared
oppressed with a weight of painful thought
she was unable to shake off or hide That
she shared some secret with you I felt con-
vi1.ced, but of what nature it could be could
only suspect; and as is usual in such cases,
my suspicious were highly unfavorable to her
Nearly six weeks have passed since the
first evening you spent in this house. and all
l can tell you is that l have no wish to live
those six weeks over again. One moment I
told myself that I was doing her a cruel
wrong in doubling her-that one had only to
look in her face to recognize the nobility and
purity of her nature. The next moment my
suspicious returned with still greater force
Why, if she had met you before, should she
make any mystery about it? Why should
the mere sight of you cause her to betray
such unmistakable agitation, unless it awoke
in her mind painful memories connected with
that time when you and she had met before?
H..