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16 OO WILD MARGARET,
bosom, the same guilty feeling assailed her as that which » a
' had come upon her under the earl’s generosity.
On the morrow she returned to London, but she had not
to walk as she had done in coming. ‘The earl had given . .
orders that a brougham should be in attendance, and she
started with a footman to open the door, and another to
place her modest portmanteau on the roof, while the:
-coachman touched his hat. oe |
‘‘Good-bye, graridma!” she said brokenly, as she clung”
to the old lady.
_ “Good-bye, Margaret, my dear! You will come again, ~
and as soon as you can?” oO {
‘Yes,’ said Margaret, a lump rising in her throat.
‘Yes, I will come again—and soon.”’ _
_ But man proposes, and Providence disposes!
-It was hot in London, and Margaret found her fellow-
lodgers were away in the country, so that she had the, :
rooms to herself,
She was thankful for their absence, for she would have —
shrunk from their .affectionately close questioning, an
they might have worried some hint of her secret from
_ her.
An hour after her return a telegram arrived. —
“Will you meet me at Waterloo at two o’clock? \We
will goup the river.” oe, |
It was not signed, but Margaret knew that it was from
Blair. Should she go? ~
She lay awake a Jong time that night asking herself the
question, but at two o’clock the next day she found her-.’
self at Waterloo, and Austin Ambrose came up and raised
_ his hat. -
‘‘ You did not expect me?” he said with a smile, as her
color rose. |
‘* T—I thought——”?_- :
‘Tt would be Blair,’ he finished smoothly. ‘‘ He is not
far off. He will join usat Clapham Junction. He wanted
to.come and mect you here, but I persuaded him to let
me come instead. You know how prudent I am. |
dozen people on the platform might chance to see him
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and recognize him and talk, while I—well nobody feels
enough interest in me to care where I -went,’’ and he.
laughed. ;
“Tt is better so, and it is very kind of you,” said Mar-
garet. a Z =
“Tam all kindness,” he said; smiling. He put her into
‘a first-class carriage, and Margaret saw his hand in close
~ contact with the guard’s, and heard the lock turned. |
‘* May Isay that you are looking very well, Miss Mar-
“%