"In your two last letters, you hinted something of losses in London speculations."
"Yes; and consequently, he has come to the resolution of leaving Acton-Rennel—leaving dear Laurel Lodge, where since childhood we have been so happy."
"Leaving Laurel Lodge!" exclaimed Ashton.
"Leaving England itself, Morley," said Ethel, as her fine eyes became suffused with tears again.
"England!" repeated Morley Ashton, breathlessly, and growing very pale indeed.
"Yes; did you not get my letter, in which I told you that papa had been appointed to a vacant judgeship in the Isle of France, and that in two months or less from this time we shall sail for that distant colony?"
"No—no! I hear all this now for the first time."
"Papa will tell you all about it," continued Ethel, weeping on her lover's shoulder. "He has been appointed one of the three judges in the supreme civil and criminal court of the island."
"Oh, what fatality is this!" exclaimed Morley Ashton, mournfully, as he struck his hands together; "have I returned to England, but to be more than ever an exile, and to learn that you are going where you must school yourself to forget me?"
"Oh, do not say so, Morley!" implored Miss Basset.