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pone veces Dobe ps Sw
DORA THORNE. 65
and Hght, the eyes clear and glowing,
again, gentle as the face of a smiling
woman. Lord Earle looked at him at-
tentively;. there seemed to be something
familiar in the outline of the head and
face, the haughty yet graceful carriage.
“Who Is that?” he inquired of his
frend, Captain Langdon. “I have seen
that gentleman before, or have dreamed
of him.” : / :
“fg it possible that you do not know
tin?” eried the captain. ‘That is Lionel
fiaere, ‘your next of kin,’ if I am not
nustaken.”
Pleasure and pain struggled in Lord
Farle's heart. He remembered. Lionel
many years ago, long before he commit-
ted the foolish act that had cost him so
much, Lionel had spent some time with
him at Earlescourt. He remembered a
handsome and high-spirited boy, proud
and Impetuous, brave to rashness, gener-
ous to a fault; a fierce hater of every-
thing mean and underhand; truthful
and honorable—his greatest failing want
uf cool, calm thought.
Lionel Dacre was poor in those days.
Now he was heir to Earlescourt—heir
to the title that, with all his strange
political notions, Ronald Karle ever held
in high honor; heir to the grand old
mansion and fair domain his father had
prized so highly. Pleasure and pain
were strangely intermingled in his heart
when he remembered that no son of his
would ever succeed him, that he should
never train his successor, The hand-
some boy that had grown into so fine a
man must take his place one day.
_Lord Earle crossed the room, and going
up to the young man, laid one hand
gently upon his shoulder.
“Lionel,” he said, “it is many years
since We met. Have you no remem>~-
brance of me?”
The frank, clear eyes looked straight
into his. Jord Earle’s heart warmed as
he gazed at the honest, handsome .face.
“Not the least in. the world,” replied
Mr. Dacre, slowly. ‘‘I do not remember
ever to have seen you before.”
“Then I must have changed,” said Lord
Earle. “When I saw you last, Lionel,
you were not much more than twelve
years old, and I gave you a ‘tip’ the day
you went back to Eton, Charlie Villlers
Was with you.”
“Then you are Lord Farle,” returned
Lionel. “L came to London purposely to
see you,” and his frank face thushed, and
he held out his hand in greeting.
“E have been anxious to see you,” sald
Lord Farle: “but I have not been long:
in England. We must be better ace
quainted; you are my heir at law."
“Your what?” said Dacre, wonderingly.
“My heir,” replied Lord Earle. “Lf have
no son; my estates are entailed; you are
my heir at law.”
”
“T thought you had half a dozen helrs
and heiresses,” said Lionel. “Lf remem-
ber some story of a romantic marriage.
To-day I hear of nothing but the beauti-
ful Miss Iearle.”
“T have no son,” interrupted Lord
Earle, sadly. “I wrote to you last week,
asking you to visit me. Have you any
settled home?”
“No,” replied the young man, gayly.
“My mother is at Cowes, and I have been
staying with her.”
“Where are you now?” asked Lord
Earle.
“Tam with Captain Poyntz, at his
chambers. I promised to spend some
days with him,” replied Lionel, who be-
gan to look slightly bewildered,
““T must not ask you to break an en-
fagement,” said Lord Earle, “but will
you dine with us this evening, and when
you leave Captain Poyntz come to us’?
“Y ghall be very pleased,” sald Lionel,
and the two gentlemen left Brookes’s to-
gether.
“T must Introduce you to Lady Marcle
and my daughters,” said Ronald, as they
walked along. “I have been so long ab-
sent from home and friends that it scems
strange tu claim relationship with any
one.”
“Fr could never understand your fancy
for broiling in Africa when you mitt
have been happier at home,” said
Lionel.
“Did you*not know? Elave you hot
heard why I went abroad?” asked Lord
Farle, wravely.
“No,” replied Lionel. “Your father
never invited me to Farlescourt after you
left.”
In a few words Lord Earle told his heir
that he had married against hts father’s
wish, and In consequence hud never been
pardoned.
“And you gave up everythings) sald
Lionel Dacre—“home, friends and post-
tion, for the love of a woman, She must
have been well worth loving.” >
Lord Tarle grew pale, as With sudden
pain, Had Dora been so well worth loy-
ing? Had she been worth the heavy
price?
“you are my heir,’ he sald, gravely—
“one of my own race, Before you enter
our etrele, Ddonel, and take your place
there, I must tell you that my Wife ara
[I parted years “ge, never to meet again.
Do not mention her to me—it pains me.”
Lionel looked at the sad faces he could
understand the shadows there now,
“Pwill not,” he said. “She must have
been—"
“Not one word more,” tnterrupted Lord
Earle. ‘In your thoughts lay no unjust
blame on her, She left me of her own
free wil, My mother Ilves with me; she
will be pleased ta see you. Remember
j seven sharp.”