'Did you lose your way?' asked Mary.
'No, Miss Montgomerie; but I lost a locket from my chain—a locket that I would not lose for any sum of money.'
'And you found it, I hope?'
'Yes—here it is—but after a long hunt among the gorse and brake.'
'Is it so valuable, then?'
'To me it is.'
'May I ask what it contains?' asked Mary, laughingly, as she saw it dangling from his watch-chain.
'Well—a lock of hair—and——'
'What more?' she continued, archly.
'If you insist on knowing, the likeness of my—future wife,' said he in a whisper, yet not so low but that it reached the ears of the startled Annabelle; and Mary was so shocked, so pained and full of pity for her, that she grew very pale indeed, and questioned him no more, and he laughingly retired to dress for dinner.