"Something strange and mysterious also," he said. "I went to Cheltenham Terrace an hour ago, just on the chance of getting a glimpse of--of----"
"And I met with a similar shock to yours in Warden Forest. I found the house shut up, and she--gone, vanished, disappeared!"
"I went to inquire next door, and I learned that old Mr. Treherne was dead--you remember my telling you that the blinds were down--that the funeral took place yesterday, and Miss Treherne had gone. They only lodged there, it seems, and of course she could go at any moment. Where she has gone no one seems to know. So there is an end to my little romance! But no! it shall not end there."
"No; take courage by my luck, old man," said Jack, laying his hand on his shoulder--"take courage by me! Let us talk about it."
"No, no!" said Leonard, shrinking; "I cannot--yet. You don't know how I feel. Tell me what happened today. Was she glad to see you? Did you let her see that you cared for her? Of course you did."
"Yes," said Jack, with a proud, happy smile. "Yes, I told her that I loved her, and--oh, Len! Len! I know that she cares for me!"
Leonard stared at him gravely, and put down a paper which he had taken up. But Jack saw it and took it off the table.
"My poor, light-hearted, unreasoning Jack," he said. "It's Levy Moss' reminder about that bill!"
Jack's face fell and he dropped into a chair.
"Quite right, Len," he said, hoarsely. "I am an unreasoning fool! What have I done? I've behaved like a blackguard! I've got this angel to admit that she loved me--me, a beggar--more than a beggar! But I swear I forgot--I forgot everything when I was near her. Oh, Heaven, Len, it's hard lines! What shall I do! If the poor old squire had but left me a few hundreds a year, how happy we could be!"
"But he hasn't," said Leonard, gravely and gently. "And what are you going to do? There's the money you lost last night----"
"What an idiot I was. Len, I swear to you that I was nearly driven out of my mind last night. First there was Lady Bell--she was more than civil, and bearing in mind all you said and wanted me to do, I made myself agreeable, and--and--she's very beautiful, Len, and when she looks right into your eyes and smiles, she seems to do what she likes with you. Len, I was nearly gone when that vision--as I thought it--came into the glass amongst the ferns. I thought it was a vision--I know now that she was there--and it drove me silly. I bolted out and made for the club, and played to forget it all."