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Seldom had he felt such a supreme happiness as when he stepped out at Fernhurst station, and between his father and mother walked up the broad, white road that led past the Eversham Hotel to the great grey Abbey, that watches as a sentinel over the dreamy Wessex town. There are few schools in England more surrounded with the glamour of mediæval days than Fernhurst.
"That's Clara Eversham," said Arlee under her breath. "They came over early with some people from the boat." "She must be frightfully up on the guide books," muttered Falconer. "She's a miner in them," Arlee laughed, as they made their way over the rubbishy ground where great beams of stone and fallen statues lay half-buried in the sands.
"As to Miss Eversham, the following short note from the dean concluded my hopes in that quarter. "'Deanery, Wednesday morning. "'The presents you made my daughter, when under our unfortunate ignorance of your real character, have been addressed to your hotel, and I am your most obedient, humble servant, "'Oliver Eversham.
He had no earthly belief in that answer, and great, therefore, was his astonishment when, as he was walking the floor with his tingling arm in the early morning hours, a telegram was sent to him which Falconer had just received. His wire had caught the boat at Rhoda where it tied up for the night and Mrs. Eversham had promptly answered.
Eversham again, and this time there was a hint of malicious satisfaction in her voice. "Alexandria?" Billy was incredulous. "Why I I understood she was to go up the Nile to-morrow morning." "She was, but she has changed her mind. She had word from some friends of hers while we were out this afternoon and she flew right off to join them." "You mean she isn't going up the Nile at all now?"
He went out to the lounge and smoked with violence. Presently he saw the Evershams in the doorway talking to Robert Falconer, and he jumped up and hurried to join them. As he approached he heard the word Alexandria spoken fretfully by Mrs. Eversham.
Absently she sighed. Her eyes fell away from the peach-blossom prettiness of Arlee's lovely face to the subtle simplicity of her white frock of loosely woven silk, and she wondered if that heavy embroidery meant money or merely spending money. And then she looked across at Lady Claire, and sighed again for her dream of an aristocratic alliance. "Mrs. Eversham ?" she thought to inquire.
"The Evershams had been very old friends of a rich aunt of mine, who never, by the by, had condescended to notice me till I made their acquaintance; but no sooner had I done so, than she sent for me, and gave me to understand that in the event of my succeeding to the hand of Fanny Eversham, I should be her heir, and the possessor of about sixty thousand pounds.
Eversham made no objection to the circle of chairs he hastily collected about a taborette, and let him hand them their coffee and send Mohammed for the cream which Miss Eversham declared was indispensable for her health. "If I take it clear I find it keeps me awake," she confided, and Billy deplored that startling and lamentable circumstance, and passed Mrs.
"I don't suppose he brought it all," Mrs. Eversham declared. "You see, she didn't say how much she was sending just said it was enough for her bill." Billy looked at Falconer. He admired the stolidity of that sandy-haired young man's countenance. He envied the unrevealing blankness of his eyes. "May I ask where she is stopping in Alexandria?" he persisted. Mrs. Eversham shook her head.
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