Tramp! tramp!—the sound of footsteps coming down the hall to the drawing-room door.
Beatrix makes a hasty exit from the room by means of another door just as the voice of Simons, loud and pompous, announces:
"A lady to see Mr. Keith. She would come in here, Mr. Keith." The last in a low tone.
And before the astonished Keith can collect his scattered senses—before he has time to recover from the effects of this crushing blow—there is the rustle of a black silk skirt, and a tall, angular, ungraceful figure bounds over the threshold and flings herself into his arms. He catches his breath with a cry of astonishment not unmingled with horror.
It is Serena Lynne!
[CHAPTER XIII.]
SERENA'S GAME.
For a moment Keith Kenyon was so astonished, so utterly overwhelmed with amazement, that he could not find words to utter. Could it be true? Was it not an optical delusion? Surely it was a hideous nightmare—an ugly dream—it could not be real. Yet the tall, angular figure clad in stiff black silk was only too painfully real to his unwilling eyes; and the voice which called his name in gushing tones was really and truly the voice of Serena Lynne, his betrothed wife. A shiver crept over him; he half rose, then sank back into the easy-chair, and then at last he found voice.