The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-21
(Continued,l

AS he did not know anything abou me history of Colonel Ogilvie's family 1 ne went to the peerage books ana made lists of the bearers of that name Tn it's different spellings; and then a. he decided to go to many of the places
 named he made runs into Perthshirt ana torfar. He came to the conclu sion that he must have misunderstood Colonel Ogilvie in alluding to tht Border Counties He laid up. how.
 ever. good deal of local information which might be pleasing to his pros pective father-in-law.
 One morning he had a letter which quite f1uttered him. It was from Aunt Judy telling him that Colonel Ogilvie
 had announced his intention of start ing on the then coming Thursday for
 the north, and that he had given as
 the direction of his letters till further
 notice the Inn of Greeting Amble-
 side. The unqualified pleasure which
 he received from this news was i1eu-
 tra,ized by the postscript:
 By the way-this of course in your
 private ear, now and hereafter-Colonel
 Ogilvie is vastly disappointed that you
 have not been to see him in London.
 to his letter. Surely there must be
 some mistake about this. I sincerely
 hope 60. for he looks on any breach or courtesy. or any defect in it, as an
 unpardonable sin. I know from the fact of his mentioning it to his wom-
 enkind that he has taken it to heart. Do. do my dear friend. who have done so much for us and whose friendship
 we wish to hold, repair this without
 delay. He is an old man and may poS- s1bly expect more from a younger man than from one of his own standing. am sure that if there has been any omission there is on your part a good reason for it. But do not lose any time. If you wish to please us all and l am sure you do-you would do well to go up to Ambleside-if you have not seen him already-and call on him there. And do like a dear man drop me line at once to say you have received this and telling me what you intend to do.''
 He sat for a while quite still. putting his thoughts in order. It was now Monday so that Colonel Ogilvie would have been already some days at Ambe- side. He took it for granted that Joy was with him. but he could not help a qualm of doubt about even that Aunt Judy had not mentioned her in. the matter. The only possible alIusion was in the underlining of the wo>S
 'all.' Otherwise the letter was too direct and too serious for any cryptic meaning.
 He came to the conclusion that his best plan would be to go at once to some place on Windermere. and from there go quietly to Ambleside and find out for himself how things lay The best place for him to stay at would.
 
 he would leave his car with the chauf- feur and drive in a carriage. to Amble- side When there he would contrive to meet if possible Joy alone. He would surely be able to form from her a ttitude some opinion of her disposi- tion towards him. If he were satis- fled as to this he would at once go to sher father. tell him the whole story. and place himself in his hands.
 But then he thought that if he were so near his name might become known to Colonel Ogilvie: that internal alias seemed to be always standing in his wayi He was so obsesSed by the sub- ject that at times he quite overlooked the fact that neither the Colonel nor any of his family knew anything whatever of the matter. It took him an hours hard thought before this idea presented itself to him. It took a Colonel Ogiivie should hear that an individual called Lord Athlyne was in the neighborhood it would mean noth- ing to him. Nothing except the proXi- mity of one more of that 'bloated aristocracy." which one class of Amer jeans run down-and another run after.
 He was then up in Ross. As he did not wish to rush. matters he decided to start next day. When that time came he had fully made up his plan of action. As the Ogilvies were at Ambleside he would go to Browness. As there was a service of public coach eS he could go between the places mem even the isolation of the carriage for his sole use. He would go quietly to the Inn of Greeting and learn what he could about their move | nents. The rest must depend on cir But there must be no hurry. the matter was too serious now md the issue too important to take any risk. But when he should have | seen Joy and knew. or believed, or . Then he would lose l iy, fo4I But he might not get a chance of see ng him alone and under circumstances ! favourable to his purpose. He must | De ready. All at once an idea struck | lim
 All these weeks AthIyne had now md again had a vague feeling of un- ,asiness which he could not under ;tand: a sort of feeling that he would | lad been fretting and fuming about. | Why could he not have written to | Colonel Ogilvie at any time? Even be- ore he had left New York. or whilst le had been on board ship, or whilst he American family had been in Italy, | IT even when the Colonel had been in Why not now? After all. here was nothing in any way wrong; 1 lothing to be ashamed of. He was of ,ood social position: at least as good IS Joys father was. He was himself ich and wanted no fortune with his wife. He had won certain honours-a nan to whose name had been suffiXed v.C. and D.S.O. must be considered 'ersonally adequate for ordinary pur- 'oses. And so on. Vanity and self interest. in addition to the working of he higher qualities. supplied many ;ood reasons.
 And yeti He was always be- ng brought up against one of two hings: Colonel Ogilvie's peculiar views md character, or his own position to- wards him with regard to the alias. Ie could always find in either of these which might cause pain or rouble to Joy. Moreover there was an tner matter which was a powerful actor in his conclusions, although it vas one which he did not analyse or ven realise. It was one that worked "a disposition rather than
 thought. Lord Athlyne was Scotch nd Irish; Celt of CeltS on his moth r's side. He had all that underlying esire Of the unknown which creates and which is so pronounced
 part of the Celtic character. This it whence comes that clinging to the lace of birth which has made the