CHAPTER XII.—A FAMILIAR FACE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2471, 24 July 1901, Page 66

CHAPTER XII.— A FAMILIAR FACE.

Mts Biooke"^ anvngemenl". foi- lea-\ \ng \aibrough were soon made sitter JSirs Cuban's letter had been received thce. t-he had a lon^ interview with Jack, and they settled everything. Isabel Biooke was t ) "disappear fiom the woild, and Isabel Keith to live m hei --tead. Isabel Keith was the -widow of a friend of Jack's, v hose eaily death h«d kft hei unprovided for, and* tl»us Jack lu'd recommended her as a companion to his fuend, Mrs, Curzan. Jack did not like deceiving his fiiend, but the pressing needs of Isabel Brooke were so gieat t litre seemed no help for it. They ai ranged it thu.s : I>abel was to leave Yarbiough one day. and stay at Oldcastle. v here she was to purchase garments suitable for a widow ; and on the following day Jack would meet her in Oldcastle, and see her safely off by the train for London.

And they carried out these arrangements. I^'ibel parted A\ith the squire on very friendly terms ; who, indeed, was so delighted" to be rid of her that he could not but be a.greeable at the prospect. He shook her hand, he paid her compliments, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the ca!j which carried her away disappeared in the distance ; paitieuUily as Jade remained dt Lome.

She was going to London, she told the squire, but? she did not tel 1 lam anything cW ; and I fear the squhe's complacency would have been sadly ruffled if he had seen a putting mliicli took place in the ('j.ntidl Station at Oldcastle on the iollowing day. This was between a young uidow dressed in the deepest of weeds, and a certain Major Jack Selby, whose good-looking face was very pale as he stood leaning into the doorway of a firstclass carriage, in which was seated the Uirly whom the -quhe had knoAvn as Isabel Biooke.

"You will write lo me?" Jack said, in an agitated tone, for the guard was just beginning to take his place and the porleis were 'hutting the carriage cloor«. "Ye* ; I shall let you know it I arrive sofely, and about Mrs Cm/an." "(iood-bye, then" ; ai.d Jack put his hand into the open coma are window, and looked very earnestly at the beautnul free inside.

"Good -bye." Only that one brief word, and she was gone. Jack stood gazing after the train, and then, on reflection, rcmc-mbeied that this would do no good, and so went to the ltfres-hment rooms and consoled himself with a glass of sherry. But he felt very dull. He knew that in all human probability he would soon see I^'bel again, as he was shortly going up to London, and would naturally dill on his friend, Mrs Curzin. "But what good would it do?" thought Jack, mournfully. Though she might seem n widow to everyone else, he knew she was not one, and thin idea made poor Jack very sad. In the meanwhile, with a new sense of relicf — of escape almost — from the former intolerable burden of her wedded life, Tsabel ' was speeding on. hoping to leave the past buned for ever behind her. She tiusted Jack, she believed he never would betray her story ; so now she felt free to begin a new existence ; to forget, if she could, the dark and terrible scenes through which she had passed. She reached the terminus at King's Cross about half-past 7 o'clock on a chill winter's t\ Piling, and as the train stopped at the platform, the usual struggle and crowding about the baggage and the luggage vans took place. Isabel stood a little aside, after engaging a porter to find her tiunks and secure her a cab. She wore hei deep crape widow's veil down, and suddenly, while she was watching her porter searching among the luggage, her startled eyes recognised afamiliar face. It was that of the Frenchman. Pierre! Isabsl started, stared dt the man through her thick veil, and was sure she was not mistaken. The same eyes, the same ncse, the same dark, peculiar-tinted hair ; but the dress was different. Pierre was now fashionably attired as an Kuglish gentleman's groom ! (To be continued.)