A stifled shriek broke from the lips of Gipsy, at the name. Yes, it was indeed our old friend Archie—no longer the laughing, fun-loving Archie of other days, but looking pale, and thin, and almost stern.
"O, dear Archie! how glad I am to see you again!" exclaimed Celeste, seizing one of his hands, while Louis wrung the other; and Gipsy drew back, turning first red, and then pale, and then red again. Madame Evelini, alone, looked very much puzzled what to make of the whole affair.
"Surely, you have not forgotten your old friend, Gipsy?" said Louis, at last, stepping aside and placing them face to face.
"I am happy to meet you again, Mrs. Wiseman," said Archie, bowing coldly.
"Well, if you are," said Louis, looking at him with a doubtful expression, "your looks most confoundedly belie your words. Let me present you to Madame Evelini, Mrs. Wiseman's mother."
"Her mother!" cried the astonished Archie.
"Why, yes. Surely, you don't mean to say you have not heard of the strange events that have lately taken place at St. Mark's?"
"Even so; I am in a state of most lamentable ignorance. I pray you, enlighten me."
"What! have you not even heard that your uncle—Dr. Wiseman—and Miss Hagar were dead?"
"Dead!" said Archie, starting, and looking at Gipsy, whose face was now hidden by her vail.