"My darling, how glad I am to see you again," she said, looking tenderly into his dark face. "Oh, why did you leave me so cruelly--so suddenly, at Chippingholt?"
"I thought you'd ask that," replied he, with an effort to appear gay. "Well, dear, it was for two reasons; in the first place, I was recalled suddenly by my colonel, and besides that I had bad news and did not dare to tell you."
"Oh, Harold, as though I could not bear anything for your sake. From whom did you have bad news?"
"Fran Van Zwieten, strange to say."
She withdrew herself suddenly from her lover's arms, and a feeling of terror came over her. Van Zwieten again--the man seemed to be her evil genius.
"What is the bad news?" she asked faintly.
"Malet gambled away my twenty thousand pounds. I have nothing but my small income!"
[CHAPTER IX.]
MRS. ST. LEGER IS DISCREET.
"Is that all?" asked Brenda, drawing a breath of relief. "Oh, you stupid boy, did you run away because you were afraid to tell me that?"