"She was heartily glad to see the last of him, and so I suspect were some other people."

"What people?"

"Mrs. Costello for one. He was more at the Cottage than she seemed to like."

Maurice hesitated, but could not resist asking a question.

"Was he as much there afterwards as he was before the time I left?"

"More, I think. Look here, Maurice; Elise first put it into my head that he was running after Lucia, but I saw it plainly enough myself afterwards, and I know you saw it too. I think we are old enough friends for me to speak to you on such a subject. Well, my belief is, that before Percy went away, he proposed to Lucia."

"Proposed? Impossible!"

"I don't know about that. He was really in love with her in his fashion--which is not yours, or mine."

"And she?"

"Must have refused him, for he went away in a kind of amazed ruefulness, which even you would have pitied."

Maurice looked the reverse of pitiful for a moment.

"But that is all supposition," he said.

"Granted. But a supposition founded on pretty close observation. Only mind, I do not say Lucia might not be a little sorry herself. You were away, and a girl does not lose a handsome fellow like Percy, who has been following her about everywhere as if he were her pet dog, without feeling the loss more or less. At least that is my idea."

"He has soon consoled himself."

"My dear fellow, everybody can't step into possession of 10,000 a year all at once. Most people have to do something for a living, and the only thing Percy could do was to marry."

They said good-night soon after this, and went upstairs, Maurice blessing the Fates which seemed determined to give him all possible hope and encouragement. Only he could not quite understand this idea of Mr.

Bellairs'. He could imagine anybody, even Percy, being so far carried away by Lucia's beauty as to forget prudence for the moment; but he could not help but feel that it was improbable that Percy would have gone so far as to propose to Lucia unless he were sure she would say yes. Why, then, had she not said yes?

Next morning the last farewells had to be said--the last look taken at the old home. Night found father and son far on their way to New York, and Maurice's eagerness all renewed by this fresh start upon his quest.

There was little of novelty in the journey or the voyage. There were the usual incidents of winter travelling--the hot, stifling car--the snowy country stretching out mile after mile from morning till night--the hotels, which seemed strangely comfortless for an invalid--and then the great city with its noise and bustle, and the steamer where they had nothing to do but to wait.

And, at last, there was England. There was the Mersey and Liverpool, looking, as they came in, much as if the accumulated dirt of the three kingdoms had been bestowed there, but brightening up into a different aspect when they had fairly landed and left the docks behind them. For it was a lovely March day--only the second or third of the month it is true,--and winter, which they had left in full possession in Canada, seemed to be over here, and the warm sunny air so invigorated Mr. Leigh that he would not hear Maurice's proposal to rest until next day, but insisted on setting out at once for Norfolk.

As they drove to the railway they passed the jeweller's shop where Maurice had bought Lucia's ring. Alas! it still lay in his pocket, where he had carried it ever since that day--when would it find its destination? He was not going to be disheartened now, however. He was glad of the little disturbance to his thoughts of having to take tickets and see his father comfortably placed, and at the very last moment he was just able to seize upon a _Times_, and set himself to reading it as if he had never been out of England.

CHAPTER IX.

Maurice had telegraphed from Liverpool, and the old-fashioned carriage from Hunsdon met them at the last railway station. It was near sunset, and under a clear sky the soft rich green of the grass gleamed out with the brightness of spring. They soon turned into the park, and the house itself began to be visible through the budding, but still leafless, trees. Both father and son were silent. To the one, every foot of the road they traversed was haunted by the memories of thirty years ago; to the other, this coming home was a step towards the fulfilment of his hopes. They followed their own meditations, glad or sorrowful, until the last curve was turned, and they stopped before the great white pillars of the portico. Then Maurice remembered that this was his first coming home as master, and felt a momentary shyness take possession of him before his own new importance. He had been able during his absence to keep Hunsdon so much in the background, and to be so thoroughly the natural, portionless, Maurice Leigh. He jumped out of the carriage, however, and was too much occupied in helping his father, to think, for the next few minutes, of his own sensations at all. Then he discovered what he had not before thought about--that there were still two or three of the old servants who remembered his mother and her marriage, and who were eager to be recognised by "the Captain."

And so the coming home was got over, and Mr. Leigh was fairly settled in the house from which so long ago he had stolen away his wife. After he had once taken possession of his rooms--the very ones which had been hers,--he seemed to think no more about Canada, but to be quite content with the new link to the past which supplied the place of his accustomed associations. And, perhaps, he felt the change all the less because of that inclination to return to the recollections of youth rather than of middle age, which seems so universal with the old.

Maurice sent over a messenger to Dighton to announce their arrival, and to tell his cousin that he intended leaving home again after one day's interval. That one day was fully occupied, but, as he had half expected, in the afternoon Lady Dighton came over.

She knew already of his disappointment, and had sympathised with it. She came now with the kind intention of establishing such friendly relations with Mr. Leigh as would make Maurice more comfortable in leaving his father alone. She even proposed to carry the old man off to Dighton, but that was decided against.

"And you really start to-morrow?" she asked Maurice.

"Early to-morrow morning. I cannot imagine what the railway-makers have been thinking about; it will take me the whole day to get to Chester."

"How is that?"

"Oh! there are about a dozen changes of line, and, of course, an hour to wait each time."

"Cut off the exaggeration, and it is provoking enough. Is it in Chester this gentleman lives?"

"No, three or four miles away, I fancy. I shall have to inquire when I get there."

"And after you find him what will you do?"

"If I get their address, I shall go straight from Mr. Wynter to them, wherever they are."

"At St. Petersburg, perhaps, or Constantinople?"

"Don't, Louisa, please. I thought you had some pity for one's perplexities."

"So I have. And I believe, myself, that they are in Paris."

"I wish they may be--that is, if I get any satisfaction from my inquiries. Otherwise, Paris is not exactly a place where one would choose to set about seeking for a lost friend, especially with about half-a-dozen sentences of available French."

"Never fear. But if you should not find them, I would not mind going over for a week or two to help you; I should be of some use as an interpreter."

"Will you come? Not for that; but if I do find them, I should so like to introduce Lucia to you."

"To tell the truth, I am rather afraid of this paragon of yours; and you will be bringing her to see me."

"I am afraid I am making too sure of that without your telling me so.

After all, I may have my search for nothing. I do wish very much you would come over."

"Well, at Easter we will see. Perhaps I may coax Sir John over for a week or two."

"Thank you. I shall depend on that."

"But remember you must send me word how you fare."

"I will write the moment I have anything to tell."

"Impress upon your father, Maurice, that we wish to do all we can for his comfort. I wish he would have come to us."

"I think he is better here. Everything here reminds him of my mother, and he feels at home. But I shall feel that I leave him in your hands, my kind cousin."