CHAPTER I.

A TERRIBLE PROPHECY.

"'The lef' han', dearie, an' gowld for th' charm. Aye! a bewtiful han' for a bewtiful maid. I 'udn't rade false for—eh, dear life, what is't? Th' lines goo criss an' crass. Duvel! I be mortal feared to tell 'ee. Take tha han'. Gran hes nought to spake for sich a mayden."

As she said the last word, a startled look came into the glazed eyes of the old gipsy; and with a quick gesture she flung back the hand she had been holding. The pretty, fair-haired girl who was having her fortune told laughed nervously, and shot an anxious glance at the young man who stood near her. He was tall and dark and masterful; also he was in love with the girl, as could be seen from the tenderness in his eyes and the smile on his lips. But as the sibyl spoke, as the girl started, he changed the smile to a frown, and caught the woman roughly by the arm. She was on the point of hobbling away; but, on feeling the man's grip, she turned doggedly to face him. With her rags and wrinkles, red cloak, and Oriental countenance, she looked like the Witch of Endor—at bay.

"Not so fast, gran!" said the young man, severely. "Miss Lester has given you a shilling, so you must earn it by telling her fortune—if you can," he added, in a scoffing tone, which savoured of scepticism.

"Ef I can!" repeated gran, looking contemptuously from under bushy gray eyebrows. "Eh, young gentl'man, that han' be asy raidin' tu I. But fur all this," she waved her stick round the gorse-besprinkled common upon which they were standing—"for all that"—she pointed towards the blue arch of the July sky—"I w'uldn't freeze th' blood o' this gude maid."

"How you do go on, Mother Jimboy!" giggled the girl, with an affectation of carelessness. "I don't believe a bit in hand-reading; I'm sure I don't, so there! I know my own fortune well. Don't I, Mr. Lovel?" and again she shot a glance at the young man—this time a coquettish one.

"Of course," he assented, with a smile; "and I know mine."

"An' I know both o' mum!" cried Mrs. Jimboy, striking her stick on the ground. "Hee! hee! 'tis gran as cud fright the smile from they pretty faces, I du say. Haw be young squire, Miss Milly?"

"Insolent!" muttered Lovel, wrathfully. "Hold your tongue, you old hag, and tell Miss Lester's fortune at once!"

"I's feared for sure, dearies both; I's mortal feared."

"You silly old witch!" said Milly, with scornful bravery. "I'm not. I shall know what is in my hand; though I shan't believe a single word you say."

"Tis as ye plase, miss; belave or not, 'tis all one. But the skein will run till 'tis clipped for all that!"

"What do you mean by this jargon?" cried Lovel, still furious at the late illusion to the squire. "Speak plainly, or I'll hand you over to the police as an impostor!"

The last word touched the old dame nearly, and she reared up her bent frame to point a crooked finger at Lovel; but she spoke generally to the one and the other.

"Imposter, am I? Hee! hee! An you don't belave, Miss Milly? Hee! hee! I'll spare ye no more! Gimme th' han', dear soul alive, give th' han'; and if ye weep blood fur the tellings o' mum—well, I warned ye, I warned ye!"

Milly stamped a dainty foot, and held out a dainty hand to be seized by gran's brown claws.

"Do your worst!" said she petulantly. "I'm sure I shan't believe a single nasty thing you tell me!"

"Aye! eh!" mumbled Mrs. Jimboy, tracing the pink palm lines with a dirty forefinger; "but Fate, you zee, be stronger nor young things, dearie; aw, yis, fur sure. Here mum be, ef ye mus' now"—man and girl bent their comely heads, while gran continued—"you'm bound to one; you'm loved by another; but none o' mum shall call ye wife."

"Why not?" demanded Lovel roughly, while Milly drew back her hand with an ejaculation of alarm.

"Why?" cried the gipsy fiercely—"'cause the grave 'ull be her bridal bed, for sure; an' worms 'ull feast on the beauty ye love. Death, dearie; death an' murder, I du tell 'ee; an' murder, dear souls, an' yis," she concluded, with a relish for her evil speaking.

Enraged by this speech, which made Milly cling to him in a tremor of nervous excitement, Lovel raised his cane threateningly. With an activity wonderful in one so old, gran shuffled nimbly back, spitting and snarling like a cat. Her eyes fairly sparkled with fury.

"Duvel!" she flashed out, using the Romany oath with a shaking of her stick; "the black curse on the pair o' ye! Death to her, an' sorrow to ye. One shall be taken, the other left. Ho, ho! how will ye look then, my delicate rye? you an' the squire, wi' death houlding your gude maid in his maw. I overlook mum, I du; an' so ye've the worth of your gowld from the impostor!"

After which fiery speech Mrs. Jimboy crawled away without as much as a glance behind her. Soon she dwindled to a scarlet spot on the distant greenness; and Milly, hitherto motionless, began to recover from her fears. Some red-tiled houses were visible on the edge of the common; through the golden glories of gorse blossom wound the high-road, broad and dusty; and over all arched the cloudless azure of the sky. Save the two young people, no human being was in sight; and they looked silently at one another, weighing and considering the ominous words of the gipsy—her early refusal to speak; her pointed use of the sinister word "murder;" and her fierce casting of words and money. These were the things which took the colour from the cheeks of the couple, and made them eye each other with secret apprehensions.

"I'll go home now," said Milly abruptly, and she turned her face towards the square tower of a distant church.

Lovel walked quickly after her and laid a detaining hand on her arm. "Don't go yet," he entreated. "My dear Milly—"

"You have no right to call me so!" she interrupted sharply.

"Then give me the right."

"I can't; you know I can't. Why do you say such silly things?"

"Why?" burst out Lovel—"because I love you. Listen to me, Milly—now, it is no use your frowning—I shall call you by that name: I love you—I love you!"

"Oh!" said Miss Lester with great coolness, "then Miss Clyde—"

"I know what you are about to say," he said quickly—"that I love Miss Clyde. But you are wrong. It is true that I admired her, but when you came—" He flung out his hands and caught those of the girl's. "Milly," said he earnestly, "you have brought me to your feet for a jest; that jest must become—earnest. You must marry me."

"How you talk!" said Milly fretfully. "You know I can't marry you."

"Because of Mr. Herne—a man you don't care for?"

"Because of Mr. Herne—to whom I have been engaged for six months."

"But you don't care for him!" persisted Lovel.

"I care for him sufficiently to marry him," answered the girl evasively.

"What is the use of trying to deceive me, Milly? You marry Herne for his money and position."

"Well, and what if I do!" cried Miss Lester, flushing; "is it not my duty to do the best I can for myself and my people? What is father?—a poor country doctor with a miserable income. Our house should be called Poverty Villa, it is so wretched; and Iris worries me morn, noon, and night."

"But if your sister—"

"She is not my sister!" interrupted Milly wrathfully. "Iris Link is the daughter of my father's second wife; she is no kin of mine, and has no right to domineer over me like she does. I tell you I am thoroughly miserable at home!" cried Miss Lester with a stamp of her foot; "and I marry Darcy Herne to get away from Poverty Villa."

"Will you be any happier with Herne?"

"Why not? I shall have position and money and society."

"Pardon me," contradicted Lovel, "but you will have none of the three. Herne is as mad as a March hare, with his aspirations for a higher life, and his socialistic ideas that all are equal? Position! He gave that up long ago. Money! Well, he has money, but it will be spent in charity—not in pandering to your vanity. Society! Oh, yes! the society of the halt, the lame, the blind, and the religious! That's the set you'll move in. I tell you, Milly," cried Lovel vehemently, "that Herne does not love you; he loves no one and nothing but his mission, as he calls it. He marries you simply to experiment on you—to lead you into the narrow path, no doubt."

"I know all you tell me," rejoined Milly, coolly, "but I'll alter Darcy's conduct when I am Mrs. Herne!"

"I rather think he'll alter yours, my dear. Now, if you marry me—"

"Yes!" interrupted Milly, disdainfully; "if I marry you, what then?"

"You would be happy," finished Lovel, turning red.

Milly laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Really, Mr. Lovel, you have a good opinion of yourself! I have known you eight months as a painter, but beyond that I am ignorant. Who are you?"

"A painter—an artist, as you say," said the young man, sulkily.

"Are you rich?"

"No; I have two hundred a year."

"As if we could marry on that!" scoffed Milly. "Are your parents alive?"

"No. I don't know anything about my parents. I have been an orphan ever since I can remember."

"Oh! So you have no money, no position, and—so far as I can see—no name; only your good looks, Mr. Lovel; and on these you wish to marry me. No, thank you, Mr. Egotist," sneered Miss Lester, with a curtsey. "I prefer to marry the squire of Barnstead."

Lovel was goaded into a retort. "You'll never marry him," he said, sharply, "if Gran Jimboy is to be believed."

"How horrid of you to talk like that, just when I was trying to forget what that old wretch said! Lucas"—she said the name with a glint of terror in her blue eyes—"do you believe in palmistry?"

"No," he responded, indifferently—"no more than I believe in Fate."

"But Gran Jimboy said that I should be killed—murdered!"

Lovel looked at her, and laughed in an ugly manner. "As to that, my dear girl," he said with a sneer, "I hope it may be true. I would rather see you dead than the wife of Squire Herne!"

"You cruel wretch!" cried Milly, vehemently. "Why—why?"

"In the first place, because I love you; in the second, because Herne, the Apostle of the Higher Culture, is an unprincipled blackguard!"

"Darcy! Mr. Herne!"

"Yes. Oh, I have heard tales about him in London!"

"What kind of tales?

"Tales of profligacy. He uses his name here to cloak his London wickednesses."

"I don't believe it," cried Miss Lester after a pause. "He is too good a man to be wicked. I don't love him, but I respect him. And if he is as wicked as you say," added Milly, with an afterthought, "he wouldn't be the friend of Mr. Chaskin."

"The Rev. Francis Chaskin," sneered Lovel, "who was an officer of the army before he became a vicar in the Church. Oh, I know all about him!"

"Is he bad also?"

"Herne and he are a pair of—mysteries."

"I think you are a third one," said Milly, in a puzzled tone. "Explain!"

"No—not here; there is no time, and I have no proofs. Meet me to-morrow night in the Winding Lane at half-past eight, and I'll give you the prenuptial character of your future husband."

"To-morrow will be Sunday."

"What of that? You can meet me after evening service."

"Oh!" Milly looked terrified. "What would Darcy say if he knew that I met you at so late an hour?"

"H'm! What would Darcy say if he knew that all his iniquities were about to be laid bare? Come or not, as you like."

Miss Lester considered. "Darcy is in London, and won't be back for four days," she said at length. "I'll come—if you promise to tell no one."

"I promise. At half-past eight, in the Winding Lane."

"Yes; but I won't believe what you tell me."

"You said the same thing about Gran Jimboy's prophecy!" said Lovel, drily; "but you believe it for all that."

"I don't—I don't! Do you?"

When Milly put this question, Lovel looked at her gravely.

"I'll answer that question to-morrow night," said he; and then they parted.

CHAPTER II.

POVERTY VILLA.

Barnstead was a moderately large village, which had not increased in population or size since the Middle Ages. In fact, it was less important now than it had been in medieval times, for then several battles, detrimental to a kingly dynasty, had been fought in its vicinity. Now it was a quiet, somnolent spot, which had nothing to do with the affairs of the nation; at all events, these were not transacted within its neighbourhood. Ten miles distant, the roaring manufacturing town of Marborough responded to the business spirit of the century, and was connected by rail with the metropolis, but the iron way came no further; and to reach Barnstead it was necessary to drive or ride. For the convenience of chance visitors a coach ran daily between the Herne Arms in Barnstead and the William Pitt Hotel in Marborough. This was the sole link which connected the village with the outside world.

The surrounding country was flat and alluvial and agricultural, with prosperous farms set here and there in the extent of its plain. In the centre of these rich cornlands, which formed the wealth of the region, Barnstead was placed beside a sluggish little stream, too small to be called a river. The quaint houses of the village clustered round a beautiful minster of ornate architecture. This was St. Dunstan's Church, and dated from Saxon times, although its design was Norman, and the greater part of it had been built in the thirteenth century. The Rev. Francis Chaskin, ex-cavalry officer, was its vicar, and the living had been presented to him by Darcy Herne, squire and lord of Barnstead Manor, and the firm friend of this soldier turned priest.

Herne Grange, the great house of the district, was situated a quarter of a mile from Barnstead, and nestled amid the trees of its park, some little way back from the high road leading to Marborough. Its present owner, a man of thirty, was devoured by religious fanaticism, and was subject to trances like those recorded of the Catholic saints. He was tall, meagre, pale, and—so far as could be seen—quite detached from worldly pleasures; so why such a saint should have engaged himself to frivolous Millicent Lester was a problem which no one could solve. Yet eight months before the beginning of this tale the ascetic and the coquette—to describe them by their most pronounced characteristics—became engaged, and the wedding was to take place shortly.

Whatever Herne's reason might have been for the match, his bride-elect made no secret that her consent was based on solely monetary grounds. Her father was poor, her home—owing to the domineering of the inconvenient Iris Link—was disagreeable; and to escape from these ills she was content to become Mrs. Herne, of the Grange. Secretly she would have preferred Lucas Lovel as a husband, as he was good-looking and pleasant, but in the face of his avowed poverty she chose to marry Darcy Herne. Nevertheless, she recompensed herself for this dutiful compliance with necessity by flirting with Lovel whenever she could do so without such behavior coming to the ears of her future husband. With Darcy's strict views, he was quite capable of breaking off the match did he learn of her conduct; and Milly was too anxious to complete this rich marriage to run such a risk. So she coquetted discreetly with Lovel, and assumed a demure demeanor when in the saintly presence of Herne.

Who Lovel was no one knew. He had come from London with an introduction to Herne some eight months previously; and since that time he had remained in the village sketching and fishing, and amusing himself at Barnstead tea-tables. After remaining a month at the Grange he had taken rooms at the Herne Arms, and was quite accepted as a friend and equal by the gentry in and about the village. He was dark, and, as has before been stated, very handsome; also, he had apparently travelled a good deal, and spoke several foreign languages excellently well. His dress and manner were both irreproachable; and he was voted quite an acquisition to Barnstead society. Nevertheless, he had his detractors, and it was hinted by these that the man was an adventurer, in search of a rich wife. But Lovel's friends always pointed out that this could not be so, else he would have married Miss Clyde.

Selina Clyde was a masculine young woman who farmed her own lands and looked after her own monetary affairs. She was tall, raw-boned, and fair, with a contempt for feminine fripperies, which led her to dress in a somewhat mannish way. Wet or dry, she was out riding or walking over her lands, and knew all about draining, top-dressing, manuring, and such like agricultural matters; also, she was a shrewd business woman, and boasted with good reason that no one had ever got the better of her in a bargain. In her farmhouse, a comfortable old homestead some two miles on the other side of Barnstead, she dwelt with Mrs. Drass, her former governess, who was said to be the greatest gossip in the neighborhood. Until the appearance of handsome Lucas Lovel, Miss Clyde had made up her mind to live and die a spinster; but, with his advent, she had yielded to the influence and charm of his manner to such a degree that without inquiring into his antecedents she was quite prepared to marry him. Lovel saw this, and in other circumstances might have seized the chance of a comfortable

future; but being in love with Milly, he wanted to make her Mrs. Lovel, and endow her with his poverty. Miss Clyde saw this, felt herself scorned for the frivolous beauty of the doctor's daughter, and soon came to hate Milly with all her heart. And Miss Clyde, as everyone knew, was an admirable hater.

For the last few days Herne had been in London on some business connected with religious missions; and during his absence Milly had contrived to meet Lovel once or twice in what was presumably a casual manner. She was now coming home from the meeting at which Gran Jimboy had prophesied misfortune; and was rather alarmed when she recalled her promise to meet Lucas the next evening at half-past eight. She felt that to keep such an appointment would be indiscreet.

"But I shan't go! I shan't go!" she kept saying to herself on the way home to Poverty Villa. All the same, such was her curiosity to know if there was any truth in Lovel's statements regarding the profligacy of her future husband, she knew very well she would keep the appointment. "I owe it to myself to learn the truth about Darcy before it is too late," she said several times in order to quiet her conscience; and in this frame of mind she arrived at the house of her father.

Poverty Villa, as Milly nicknamed the place, was a scrubby little house with two acres of neglected ground, and was located in the poorest part of the village. Dr. Lester should have had a flourishing practice, but had not, for two causes; the first being that the other medical man had been established for a longer time in Barnstead; the second and more serious reason being that he was an habitual drunkard. All day long he was sip, sip, sipping at brandy; and although never aggressively intoxicated, his brain was always in a confused state, which rendered people distrustful of his judgment in diagnosing cases and prescribing drugs.

"It's a wonder he hasn't killed the few patients he has long ago," said Mrs. Drass, who made no secret of her dislike for the doctor; "but some day he'll give someone the wrong medicine and poison him; then he'll be hanged, and that will be a judgment on him for letting his minx of a daughter flirt with young Lovel," the truth of which speech being that Mrs. Drass, who was something of a toady, wanted Milly to release Lovel from her fascinations, that he might marry Selina Clyde.