"Certainly not. But my grandfather—it is some weeks since I heard of him."
"The earl is quite well, my lord. He was at the castle only last week, and spent a long morning with my lady."
"Indeed!" muttered the young man. "That probably accounts for my summons home."
"She had been uncommonly anxious for a long time, and at last sent for him to come and see her."
"Very natural. They are old friends."
"Then, my lord, she sent me on this journey—not that I came alone. The steward is on the train. My lady would not permit her grand-daughter to travel with but one attendant."
"I beg pardon, my lord, but this young lady is Lord Hope's daughter."
Hilton lifted his hat and met Lady Clara's look of smiling surprise with a courteous bend of the head, but her quick eye caught the sudden glow that swept his face, and wondered at it. She wondered still more when a grave expression followed the blush; and, instead of making himself agreeable, he opened the novel that lay on the seat, and seemed to be occupied by its pages, though she remarked, with an inward chuckle, that he never turned a page.
After a while the young man laid down his book, wearily, and Clara saw his chest heave slowly as he breathed a long, deep, but unconscious sigh.