ward dread that the sight of him would arouse Frank's wrath and lead to mischief. However, they came. Barbara was very charmingly dressed, and if her face were a little pale and her expression a little worn, her eye was as bright and her bearing as proud as ever. Alice Schröder received her in the warmest manner, kissed her affectionately, and immediately afterwards without the slightest intention planted a dagger in her breast, by expressing delight at "seeing her among her old friends again." These "old friends"-i. e. persons whom she had been in the habit of constantly meeting in society, and who had envied and hated her-were gathered together in numbers at Uplands, and all said civil things to Barbara; indeed, the great Duchess of Merionethshire actually stepped forward a few paces-a condescension which she very rarely granted,—and after welcoming Barbara, begged that Mr. Churchill might be presented to her, "as a gentleman of whom she had heard so much." Barbara rather opened her eyes at this; but after the presentation it was explained by the duchess saying, "My son-in-law, Lord Hailey, has often expressed his recognition of the services rendered to him by your pen, Mr. Churchill." For Lord Hailey was Foreign Secretary at that time, and certainly gave Churchill plenty of opportunities of defending him. And as they moved away, Barbara heard the duchess say, "What a fine-looking man!" and Mr. Sergeant Shivers, who was thoroughly good-natured, began loudly blowing the trumpet of Frank's abilities. So that Barbara was happier than she had been for some time; and her happiness was certainly not decreased by seeing that the cloud had left Frank's brow, and that he looked thoroughly his former self.

"Now, Barbara," said Alice Schröder, approaching them, "we are getting up two new croquet sets, and want members for each. You'll play, of course? I recollect how you used to send me spinning at Bissett oh, by the way, have you heard? poor dear Sir Marmaduke, so ill at Pau, or somewhere-"

"Ill? Sir Marmaduke ill?”

"Yes, poor dear! isn't it sad? And Mr. Churchill will play too; but not on the same side. I can't have you on the same side; you're old married people now; and both such good players too! Let me see; Captain Lyster, will you take Mrs. Churchill on your side?"

Captain Lyster bowed, shook hands, and expressed his delight. Frank Churchill shook hands with Lyster; but as he did so, a flush passed over his face.

"Now, then, that set is full," said Mrs. Schröder; "who is the captain of the other set, playing at the other ground? oh, you, Mr. Pringle! Will you take Mr. Churchill away with you; you only want one, I think?"

"No, madam," said Pringle with a serio-comic sigh; "I only want one; but I shall want that one all my life. Come along, Mr. Churchill." And he and Frank started off to the lower lawn together.

Barbara had always been very fond of croquet. She played well; relying more upon the effectiveness of her aim than the result of her calculations. She had a perfect little foot; and she croqueted her adversaries far away with as much science as malice. She enjoyed the game thoroughly, as, not having played for months, she rejoiced at finding that she retained all her skill; but she could not help perceiving that Captain Lyster was dull and preoccupied, and that he attended so little to the game as to require perpetual reminding when it was his turn to play. Indeed, despite all Barbara's exertions, they might have lost the game-for their opponents were wary and persevering-had it not been for the steady play of their coadjutors, Mr. Prescott and Miss Murray, who evinced a really remarkable talent for keeping close together, and nursing each other through all the difficult hoops. At length they won with flying colours, and were going to begin a new game, when Captain Lyster said, "Mrs. Churchill, I should be so grateful for a few minutes' talk with you on a really important subject. Please, don't play again, but let us stroll." Barbara had all faith in Fred Lyster's truth and honour; she had known him for years, and more than half-suspected the secret of his early attachment to Alice; so that she had no hesitation in saying, "Certainly, Captain Lyster, if you wish it;" then adding with a smile, " You will not miss much, will you, Mr. Prescott?" she and the Captain strolled away.

Then, as they walked, Fred Lyster talked long and earnestly. He told Barbara that he addressed her as one who, he knew, took the deepest interest in Alice Schröder's welfare; indeed, as one who had been as her sister in times past. He touched lightly on the disparity in age between Alice and her husband, and upon the difference in all their habits, tastes, and opinions; he said that she was thus doubtless driven to her own resources for amusement, and that her utter simplicity and childishness made her the easy prey of designing people. Then, with the utmost delicacy, he went on to point out that for some time Beresford's attentions to Mrs. Schröder had been most marked; that his constant presence at their house, or in attendance on her when she went out, had attracted attention, and that at length it had become common club-gossip. Only on the previous night he had heard that it had been publicly discussed in the smoke-room of the Minerva; that an old gentleman, an old friend of the family, had announced his intention of speaking to Mr. Schröder about it. What was to be done? He (Lyster), deeply pained at it all, had no authority, no influence, no right, to mix himself with the matter. Would not Mrs. Churchill, in pity for her friend, talk seriously with Mrs. Schröder about it? She was all-potential. Mrs. Schröder believed implicitly in her, and would undoubtedly follow her advice. Would not Mrs. Churchill do this, for pity's sake?

Barbara was very much astonished and very much shocked. She had always known Alice to be weak and vain and silly; she knew that her marriage with Mr. Schröder had been made solely at her father's

instigation; but having lived entirely out of the set for the last few months, she had no idea of the intimacy with Mr. Beresford, whose acquaintance she considered was by no means desirable. She was entirely at a loss what to do, being of opinion that her influence over Alice had all died out. However, if Captain Lyster thought otherwise, and if he counselled and urged her taking such a step, she would not refuse; she would take an early opportunity of seeking an interview with Alice, and giving that silly girl-silly, and nothing more, she was certain-a very serious talking to; "and then, Captain Lyster, let us trust that this horrible gossip will be put a stop to." As Barbara said this, she smiled and put out her hand. Poor Fred bent over it, and when he raised his head to say, "Mrs. Churchill, you will have done an angel's work!" there were tears in his eyes.

Meantime Frank Churchill, with doubt and distrust at his heart, engendered by having to leave Barbara in company with Captain Lyster, went away with Pringle to the lower croquet-ground, where they and others played a succession of games with varying success, in all of which Frank distinguished himself by ferocious swiping, and Mr. Pringle came to grief in an untimely manner. At length, when they were tired, Frank and Pringle walked away together the former on the look-out for his wife, the latter listening with great deference to such scraps of his companion's conversation as he was treated with; for Mr. Pringle had a great reverence for "people who write books," and, in common with a great many, looked upon the production of a something printable as an occult art. "It always seems such a rum thing to me," said he ingeniously, "how you first think about it, and then how you put it down! You write leaders, Mr. Churchill, eh? Oh yes, we heard of you at our office, the Tin Tax, you know! That article in the Statesman about old Maddox and his K.C.B.'ship, they all declared it was you!"

As Churchill only said "Indeed!" in an absent manner, and was still looking about him, Pringle proceeded: "Oh, of course you won't let out it was your work—we understand that! but it must be jolly to be able to give a fellow one for himself sometimes! a regular bad one, enough to make him drink! I should think that was better fun than novel-writing; though novel-writing must be easier, as you've only got to describe what you see. I think I could do that-this afternoon, for instance, and all the swells and queer people about. The worst of it is, you must touch it up with a bit of love, and I'm not much of a hand at that; but I suppose one could easily see plenty of it to study from. For instance, do you see those two at the end of this walk, under the tree? I suppose that's a spooning match, isn't it? How he is laying down the law! and she gives him her hand, and he bends over it—” "Damnation !" exclaimed Churchill.

"Hollo!" said Pringle, "what's the matter?"

"Nothing!" said Churchill; "I twisted my foot, that was all."

Barbara tried several times that evening to meet Frank; but he avoided her; and it was not until they were in the fly, that she had an opportunity of speaking to him.

"Where on earth have you been, Frank, all day? I hunted and hunted for you, but never succeeded in finding you."

He looked up at her: her eyes were sparkling, her cheek flushed; she was thoroughly happy. The escape from Mesopotamia and its dreariness, the return to scenes similar to those which she had been accustomed to, had worked immediate change. She looked so radiantly beautiful that Frank was half-tempted to spare her; but, after a second's pause, he said,

"I walked all over the grounds. I was in the shrubbery close by you when Captain Lyster kissed your hand."

"What!" exclaimed Barbara, with a start. "It is beneath me to repel such a calumny; but, to satisfy your absurd doubt, I tell you plainly you were wrong."

"Will you tell me," asked Frank, in walk with you and talk with you apart?

a sad voice, "that he did not Can you deny it?" "No!" returned Barbara. "He did both walk and talk with me; he had something very special to say to me, and he said it."

"And it was-?"

"I cannot tell you; it was told to me in confidence; it concerns the reputation of a third person, and I cannot mention it, even to you."

"Then, by the Lord, I'll have an end to this!" said Frank, in a sudden access of passion. "Listen here, Barbara; I'll have no captains, nor any one else, coming to repose confidences with which I'm not to be made acquainted, in my wife! I'll have no shrubbery-walks and whisperings with you! Such things may be the fashion in the circles in which you have lived; but I don't hold with them!"

He could have bitten his tongue out the next instant, when Barbara said, in an icy voice, "It may be the fashion in the circles in which you have lived to swear at one's wife, and shout at her so that the coachman hears you; but I don't hold with it, nor, what's more, will I permit it!"

She never spoke again until they reached home, when she stepped leisurely out of the carriage, ignoring Frank's proffered arm, and went silently to bed.

CHAPTER XXVI.

SHOWING WHO WERE "PIGGOTT AND WELLS."

MR. SIMNEL, the secretary, sat at his desk, hard at work as usual, but evidently tempering the dullness of the official minutes with some recollections of a lively nature, as now and then he would put down his pen, and smile pleasantly, nursing his knee the while. "Yes," he said softly to himself, "I think I'll do it to-day. I've waited long enough;

now I'll put Kitty on to the scent, and stand the racket. Ruat cœlum! I'll ride quietly up there this afternoon;" and he touched the small hand-bell, with which he summoned his private secretary. In response to this bell, not the private secretary, who was lunching with a couple of friends and discussing the latest fashionable gossip,-the door was opened by Mr. Pringle, who begged to know his chief's wishes.

"Eh?" said Simnel raising his head at the strange voice; "oh, Grammont at lunch, I suppose?-how do you do, Mr. Pringle? I want all the letters brought in at once, please; I'm going away early to-day."

"Certainly, sir,” said Mr. Pringle, who objected on principle to interviews with great official swells, such interviews being generally connected in his mind with rebukes known as "carpetings." "I'll see about it, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Pringle. How are all your people? how is Mrs. Schröder? who is your cousin, I think."

"Yes, my cousin. She's all right; but I'm sorry to say my uncle Mr. Townshend is very ill; so ill that he leaves town for the Continent to-night, and is likely to be away some time."

"Dear me! I'm very sorry to hear that."

"Fact, indeed, sir! I was thinking, sir," said Mr. Pringle, who never missed a chance, "that as Mrs. Schröder may perhaps be rather dull to-morrow after her father's gone, I might perhaps have a day's leave of absence to be with her?"

"Certainly; by all means, Mr. Pringle! Now send in the letters, please." And Mr. Pringle retired into the next room, where he indulged in the steps of a comic dance popular with burlesque-actors, and known as a "nigger break-down."

"Going out of town, eh? likely to be abroad some time! very unwell!" said Mr. Simnel, nursing his leg; "then I must alter my arrangements. I'll go and see him at once, and bring that matter to a head. I can deal with Kitty afterwards." And when Mr. Simnel had signed all the letters brought in to him, he unlocked his desk and took out a paper which he placed in his pocket-book; then carefully locking every thing after him, he departed.

In the Strand he called a cab, and was driven to Austin Friars, where he dismounted, and walked up the street until he came to a large door, on the posts of which were inscribed the words "Townshend and Co." There was no Co., there never had been; Mr. Townshend was the entire concern; he was the first of his name who had been known in the place, and no one knew his origin. He first made his mark in the City as a daring money-broker and speculator; two or three lucky hits established his fame, and he then became cautious, wary, well informed, and almost invariably successful. The name of Townshend was highly thought of on 'Change; its owner had been invited to a set in the Bank Direction, and had been consulted by more than one Chancellor of the