Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-15
BOOK II.
THE ENGLISHMAN.
CHAPTER XVII.
Gavin Ord Begins His Work.

T5aN what manner Gavin Ord arrived at
Melbourne Hall and took up his resi-
dence there has already been recorded
L in the early pages of this narrative.
He came upon a night in August, three
weeks precisely after the departure Of
Count Odin for Bucharest. OF the people
Of the Hall he knew little save that which
common gossip and the title tattIe of the
newspapers had taught him; nor was his
the temperament to be troubled over
mitch by the strange hallucination which
had attended his journey from Moretown
to the Manor. That which some people
would have called apparition he at
tributed to fatigue and the hour of the
night and while an uneasy feeling that
this simple account of II might not uiti-
mately satisfy him was not to be lightly
dismissed. the Inequalities of the great
house and the work to which he had been
called there quickly dispelled the impress
sion of IL and left him with some shame
that he had been such an easy victim to
vulgar delusion. For the rest, curiosity
remained the only intruder between him
and the work he had been summoned to
do.
The Lady Evelyn! Where had he seen
her before? How came 1t that her face
was so familiar to him?
Every hour that ne lived at the Hall
quickened this impression of familiarity.
Her very voice could make him start, as
though one whom he knew well We're
speaking to him Her stately movements.
her gestures tormented his memory as
though melting it to recall forgotten
scenes for him. A the luncheon table,
upon the second day he made bold to tell
her of his immovable idea.
I'VE have met somewhere, Lady Eve
lyn," he said. / cannot tell where, but ii
was in some such house as this-in the
gardens of such house. And that Is odd,
for to my knowledge / was never in 4
Tudor hbF1Sp before Now that /
dreaming Il; that Ii is just one of those
foolish ideas which come to one in sleep
and are remembered when waking II
could hardly be anything else, OF course.
EVELYN flushed crimson while he was
speaking; but she retained her comPosure
sufficiently to declare that she had no
recollection of such an occasion.
We rarely 70 from here she said
cvaslvcly. Il cannot reCollect visiting
any Tudor house In England-you see so
many Mr. Ord IT would be natural to
have such an idea. ! think
"Oh. perfectly. and perhaps foolish Our
brains play us strange tricks. and, often
enough, the widest of them have the
least meaning. l know a man in Paris
who dreamed three nights running that
he would be thrown out OF a motor car on
his way to Monte Carlo. He put on the
visit IN consequence and was knocked DOWN
next day by Il cab in the Rue Quatre sep
tembre I don't mean to say that he was
killed but he had q nasty fail, ana that
was the price he paid for dreaming. /
Al dismiss these things as soon as
they come to me. Here's case IN point
You and / clearly have never met-unless
it were in London" he added, with an
other keen glance at her.
Evelyn could not suppress the high color
in her cheeks and they were crimson when
she found her fathers eyes watching her
curiously though some train OF thought
had been set in motion by the argument.
Perfectly well did she know that Gavin
Ord had seen her in London, on the stage
of the Carlton Theater; and that discovery
had looked her IN the face twice IN as many
months. This time however, she feared 1t
less: for she had come to believe by this
time that she would presently be compelled
10 tell her story TO all the world before
many weeks had passed
1--WE are not often In London, the earl
said dryly: with such a house as this why
should we be? Lady Evelyn cares nothing
for society. l regard II as the refuge OF
the mentally destitute II travel. 1t is
from one solitude TO another. A man is
never so much master OF himself and of
the world when he Is alone. Can we
consider the modern life as anything but
a slorihCation OF the aggregate and not OF
the individual? Your profession is the best
friend you have Mr.. Ord Those who fol-
low noble ends establish nobility In their
own characters. That's creed / wish !
had known twenty years ago. You are q
young man and should recite II every day
while your youth remains to you
Gavin replied that 81 man was neither old
er nor younger than his ideas; and the
drift OF the conversation being changed, 10
Eyeiyns evident relief, they fell again TO
their plans for the restoration of the hall
and that which must be done before the
wet weather set In. Until this time Evelyn
had scarcely noticed Gavin or taken any
interest In his coming TO the manor. The
truce between her father and herself left
her I'm dream world from which there APP
peared to be no gate of escape whatever.
She had neither counsellor nor friend. To
Count Odin she had said. You shall have
my answer In three months time" Her
fathers almost passionate desire for this
marriage. which his own youth had con-
tsiYsd won from her no promise more
definite than that which she had given TO
the count The time had passed for any
bat the frankest expressions upon either
side La the plainest words. the earl told
Der that this Roumanian had crossed Eu-
rope 10 demand the liberty of man who
had long been but a number in a prison
eIon the shores OF the Black
LET Georges Odin be released" ne had