The House of Whispers

the matter, c

dad-really

ur pulse beats quickly. There's something amiss-I'm

with a forced laugh, "How absurd you really are, dea

her folk perhaps," replied the grey-bearded old gentleman, as he turned his sharp-cut, gr

n seated there in his fine library, with the summer sunset slant

ild of nine, nursing her dolly, he had never looked upon her

had sat in the House for one of the divisions of Hampshire, was a member of the Carlton, and one year he found his name among the Birthday Honours with a K.C.M.G. For him everybody predicted a brilliant future. The Press gave prominenc

h the Prime Minister was the principal speaker. His speech was a brilliant one, and the applause had been vociferous. Full of satisfaction, he drove home

the greatest consternation was cause

. In fact, it was a mystery, and one that had never been solved. The first oculists of Euro

rm of political life which he loved so well, Sir Henry Heyburn had gone into strict reti

ad been sadly impoverished by the depreciation of agricultural property in Lincolnshire, and had ended his days in the genteel quietude of the Albany. But Si

had done; but in a month the tragic affair and its attendant mysterious gossip had been forgotten, as in truth had the very name of Sir Henry Heyburn, whom the Prime Minis

hat was the use of the old ancestral manor near Caistor in Lincolnshire, or the town-house in Park Street, the snug hunting-box at Melton, or the beautiful palm-shaded, flower-embowered villa overlooking the blue southern sea at San Remo? He remembered them all. He had misty visions of their splendour and their luxury; but since his blindness

lm, kind voice, as he still held the girl's hand in his. The s

asking, "Stokes has just returned with the car from Pert

d master. "Has he brou

"I believe he is taking her to th

! I quite forgot," said the Baronet w

ns bearing the chevron gules betwixt three boars' hea

exclaimed her father, stretching out his thin white h

staying at h

're out, and missing the best ball in the county! Certainly not. I'm all right.

s,

to spend the evening

me what he promis

to go," was the

r will be very annoyed if

y, taking his hand in hers and bending till her red lips touched his white brow. "You have quite a lo

absence will be commented upon

I care for, dad-yourself,

pointed over a new fr

ay. Elise declares it suits me admirably, and she's very ha

ling. "I wish I could see you in it, dear. I often wonde

ys have been, dad, I

he faltered a moment later, "I often hear your dear dead mother's voice in yours."

sound broke the stillness of that quiet sunset hour save the solemn ticking of the long, old-fashioned clock at the farther end of the big, book-lined room, with its

ir Henry at length, "what wa

elt rather unwell when I went out for my ride this mo

Little, however, did he dream the cause. Little did he know that a

en't you open and frank with me as you once used to b

w with a large black bow, she presented the picture of happy, careless youth, her features soft and refined, her half-bare arms well moulded, and hands delicate and white. She w

arked more than once in London; but any admiration

the blind man. "Why don't you t

ue eyes was a look of abject fear. Her left hand was tightl

," she responded with a hollow laugh. "

s. "A blind man has always vague, suspicious, and black forebodings engendered by the darkness a

here, with me, quiet and healthful in this beautiful Perthshire, are better, better by far, than if you had been a politician up in

t is not that. I don't regret that I had to retire

y sake

iends predicted-you would have had the chance of a good marriage.

d," replied the girl.

ep lines which puckered there for a few brief moments. "Well," he exclaimed, smiling

she said decisively. "You know you have quite a lot to do, and wh

e again at Connachan. Hill told me

also," answe

the ball, Gabrielle, eh?" laug

g slightly, "you're really too bad! I thought

u are now your own mistress. If you prefer to stay away from Connachan, then do so by

d in a meaning tone. "If I remain at hom

red the old

ortunate one. "Well," she said rather lamely, "because my absenc

e was surely sufficiently hard to bear without the extra burden of suspicion, of enforced inactivity, of fierce hatred, and of bitter regret. So she

h sounded through the long, book-lin

s sightless eyes were filled with tears. "Is it the tr