III. THE EARL'S WIFE. NO. II.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 350, 13 March 1889, Page 6

111. THE EARL'S WIFE. NO. 11.

{Concluded). Lady Dasiiton drove straight to the Midland Hotel, and asked if Mr Vincent was staying i" the house. The hall porter looked at the visitors' list and said that a Mr John Vincent icas staying the at house, and that the number of his roam was 32. A page boy was despatched to see if 32 was in, and returned with the intelligence that No. 32 was in his sittingroom ; would the lady oblige with her name ? * Say a lady has called in answer to Mr Vincent's letter.' The message was taken, and the page returned. ' Would the lady kindly step up?' Louie's face was deadly white under her thick veil as she entered the luxurious sitting-room in which Mr Vincent was taking his ease. The gentleman, a tall, goodlooking, fair man of about five and thirty, rose to meet his visitor. ' Why, Loo, this is an unexpected pleasure,' he said, holding out his hand, 'you're the last person I expected to see.' ' Indeed ! Then why did you write to me V answered the girl, coldly. * Wei!, I thought you'd like to know • that I was alive, and I expected you'd send somebody to me, to arrange matters.' ' In what way V ' Well, you are a cool one, Loo, and no mistake. You don't seem a bit upset at finding that you've got two husbands.fl ' It can't matter to you whether I'm upset or not. I thought you were dead. I was told you were dead : that you bad died in the French prison.' •- Oh— who told you ?' c Will told me, and Kilby told me. When Will told me I sent him over to make sure, and he brought me back word that the rumour was quite correct. He even showed me a document in French, which was, he said, the certificate.' • Good old Will ! He must have got one made up specially for you, my dear, for you see here I am, alive and kicking and pretty well, thank you. The living in the prison agreed with me. It's done me good, and set me up, my dear. No late hour 3, no excitement, no brandy cocktails there ; just enough exercise to keep you in coudition, and plain regular living. ' Lady Dashton tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. ' I don't want a description of your prison life,' she said ; ' I want to know what you intend to do. For some reason or other I have been wilfully deceived. I was told that for what took place in France you had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, and that you had died.' ' I was senteuced to three years, my dear, for punishing a fool of a Frenchmen who said that I was playing with marked cards at his club. But it was beastly unfair ; he cut his head open by accident in falling down when I pushed him. Of course, the French judge made ifc warm for me because I was an Englishman, and the French police swore a lot of lies about my having been known as a swell swindler and cardsharper. Why your brother bold you I was dead is best known to himself. You'd better ask him when you see him.' • Haven't you seen him ?' 'No.' c I don't believe you. Will went over to France some time ago, and I believe it was to see you. You were free then !* 1 Oh, as you know all about it ' ' I don't know all about it, John Vincent, but I shall know all about it. I'm goiner to Paris to-night. I'm going to see Will and to get at the bottom of the whole businesf.' ' Now look here, Loo,' said Vincent, lighting a cigar, and settling himself in his armchair. * You are a very clever girl, but don't try to be too clever. I want to behave in this matter like a gentleman and see if we can'b come to an arrangement that will suit all parties.' Lady Dashton's face never relaxed for a moment from its look of quiet self-possession and calm disdain. ' What sort of an arrangement do you suppose would suit all parties ?' she said. ' Well ; I suppose you're pretty comfortable as a countess ; you and this rich young swell get along all light together, I'm told, and you've been taken to kindly by the other swells. That sort of thing suits you, and I don't suppose you want to chuck it up and come down again to be the wife of a 'A swindler — and an ex-convict.' The girl finished the sentence which the man hesitated to complete. ' Well, that isn't the way I should have put ifc, Loo, but you're not far out. I suppose I'm not the sort of husband a girl who's been a countess would care to take about and introduce. And, of course, the Earl wouldn't like the exposure ; and the female swells you've been among lately, I suppose they'd be rather wild to think they'd been hobnobbing with a young woman whose husband was in gaol. Lord, ■what a boom the newspapers would give the scandal if it ever came out. Fancy the three of us, Loo, in the ' Police News.' A big portrait of you in the middle, with me on one side of you, and the Earl on the other, wifch a full, true and particular account of my career, and your adventures given away as a supplement !' Lady Dashton bit her lip, and gave an involuntary shudder. The picture which the swindler, who was her husband, was painting in his coarse, vulgar way, came vividly before her eyes. With a supreme effort she kept down her indignation, and without a tremor in her voice put the next question. 'You spoke of this scandal being avoided, just now,' she said. ' How do you propose that it shall be done ?' The man hesitated. He was not playing entirely on his own account, and he didn't want to make a false step. • That's a matter that can be decided on later, my dear, after we've had a little family council.' ' Oh ! then Will and Kilby and Major do know of your re-appearance?' 'I didn't say bo.'* ' I can draw my own conclusions. But as I can'fc see that they have anything to do with the matter, I want a proposition from you. Do you intend to claim me as your wife ?' * Certainly I do, unless ' 'Unless what?' * Unless you make it worth my while not to. If you do I'll go away, and you shall never hear of me again, I'll go to America, and aa long as you send me the allowance we shall fix upon I'll stop there.' • Give me figures, if you please.' 1 Well, your husband"— I beg your pardon, the Earl of Dashton — is a very wealthy young fellow, and I understood you can get anything you like out of him. You must

get r me £10,000 down and allow me £1,000 a year. Of course you can get the money without saying what it's for.' ' And the other men — who are in, your secret — who have concocted tho whole plot —who played their cards to bring about Daahton's m&vriage with me, knowing that you were alive, and intending to trade on their knowledge— what will they want ?' 1 Ah, now you are going into a question that I can't answer. They must do their own business, but I don't think you'll find them very hard.' ' You may as well tel cno. The whole of this odious comedy his bsen rehearsed, John VincenD, and you'v .„ id them repeat their parts.' 'Well, they'll want money, of course, but with mo out of the way you can easily find a means of squaring them.' Lady Dashton rose to go. • Very well,' she said. f I think I understand everything now. How long do you give me to comply with your demand ?' ' A week — afortnight.ifyoulike. There's no particular hurry.' ' And in the meantime you will take no further steps ? You will not communicato with the Earl ?' ' Certainly not, Loo ; as long as you act fair and square by me, I'll do the same by you,' ' Good morning.' 'Good morning. Won't you shake hands, Loo?' Lady Dashton turned and looked her husband straight in the face. ' No, John Vincent, at present 1 am the wife ot the Earl of Dashton, and T have no righb to shake hands with a felon fresh from gaol.' A taunt rose to the man's lips, but he checked it, and received the insulo with a laugh. ' All right, my lady,' he said, ' you always had a good seat on the high horse. It's an expensive animal to rido, but you'vo got a long purse to dip into, so you can afford the luxury. I shall expect your answer in a week.' He accompanied his wife to the door, opened it, and bowed her out with mock politeness. As soon as she had gone he went to the table, took a telegraph form fiom the blotting book, and tilled it up. "To Joyce, Grand Hotel, Paris. Have seen her. She asked terms. Letter follows. Vincent." He rang the bell for the waiter and gave him the telegram, saying it was to go at once. When Lady Dashton went downstairs she asked the hall porter which was the nearest telegraph station, and was directed to it. She went' there, and was writing out a telegram to her cousin, Kate Joyce, asking her to come at once to the Charing Cross Hotel, when the porter from the Midland entered with a telegram. He laid it down on the little desk, waiting for the clerk to take it, and Lady Dashton saw the address — Joyce, Grand Hotol, Paris. It was a lucky accident. Her brother had only given her the Poste Restante as his address. She knew where to go now directly she arrived in Paris. That evening, accompanied by her cousin, Lady Dashton left for the French capital. She was determined to have the whole situation within her grasp before she saw the Earl again. Will Joyce was very much astonished when his sister, on the following morning, walked into his room while he was taking hi 3 coffee. His face flushed crimson, and for a moment he was unable to speak. Louie was a very different person now to the calm self-possessed woman who had interviewed John Vincent. She upbraided her brother bitterly for his conduct, and gave vent to her pent-up feelings in a flood of tears. Joyce was utterly unmanned at the sight of his sister's grief and despair. He tried to persuade her that after all it wasn't a very dreadful affair, and that Vincent might easily be got rid of, and nobody be any the wiser. Then Louie's grief gave way to indignation. Her cheeks flushing, her eyes flashing, she declared that she would not lend herself to an infamous fraud upon the man they had tried to make their dupe. They had made a mistake in fancying that she would help them to rob and swindle him. She declared that she would go back to England and reveal the whole plot, and that they should all be made to answer for their share in it. Then she changed her tone and flung herself upon her knees and implored her brother, by the memory of the old days when they had been all in all to each other, and endured trouble and poverty and misery together, not to side with her enemies against her, but to help her to defeat them. She was sure that there was some way out of the terrible dilemma in which their own wickedness had involved her. Wouldn't Will be her friend now, and save her from shame and humiliation ? She went over the whole circumstances of her marriage with Vincent. She recalled everything to her brother's memory : how she had met this man, who was one of the associates of Kilby and Major, and now ho had passed for a rich diamond merchant, and had made love to her, and how she, being poor and without frieDds, had thought it would be a good thing for Will and herself if she made a rich marriage, and had at last consented, and how on the very day of the wedding her husband had had to leave London suddenly, he said because his father was dying, but as they afterwards knew, because a young fellow whom he had swindled at cards had gone to the police about the matter, and Vincent was afraid that he would be arrested. And then the girl reminded her brother of how the next they heard of her husband »vas that he had been arrested in France for half- murdering a Frenchman who had accused him of cheating at one of the small Paris ' hells.' 'And then,' sobbed the distracted woman, 'you told me he had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, and had been taken ill and died, and I was free of him for ever, and need never think of that dreadful wedding-day again, except as one thinks cf a horrible nightmare that has vanished when one opens one's eyes in tho daylight. And you know, Will, when I married Dashton it was by your wish that I kept this part of my life a secret from him. You told me that it would hurt and pain him, and I believed that in the eyes of God and man I was going to be his lawful wife —and now Oh, Will, my brother, it is too cruel, too awful ! Help me, Will, or I shall go mad.' Will Joyce tried to stem the torrent of the poor girl's despair, but he failed utterly, and at last his better nature triumphed, and, taking his sister in hia arms he exclaimed, 'You're right, Loo, I've been a scoundrel. God help me, I see it all now. There, there, dear, don't give way any more. I'll be square for your sake from to-day. You shan't fight the gang alone, for I'll fight with you instead of aerainst you, and if there is a way out of this infernal mess, by Heaven I'll find it.' The brother and sister remained in earnest conversation for an hour, then Lady i Dashton went to Kate Joyce's room and had a good cry, and later in the day they all three went out together to luncheon, and afterwards drove to the office of the Chief of Police in Paris, where Will was anxious to make certain inquiries with red to the trial, sentence, and eventual

liberation of Mr John Vincent, tho English card- sharper, and the next day Will Joyce accompanied his sister and Kato Joyce loto t London. The Earl of Dash ton received his wife's explanation frankly. Louie told him that she had been compelled to go hurriedly to Paris to see her brother, that she had been accompanied by her cousin, Kate Joyce, and that Will had returned with them, and that it was an alfair in which "Will was mixed up, and which she wished settled honourably, that had compelled t her to start in such an unceremonious fashion. ' Some mess he's been getting in again, eh, Loo? Well, he ought to have been able to go square with the monoy he had of mo. You're a deuced good little woman to take so much trouble over him. 1 wish 1 had a sister Jike yon.' 'It isn't only that I'm Will's sister, dear,' replied Louie, 'I am your wife, and any scandal in which Will was mixed up would reflect on me.' ' Quite right. Monoy matters, I suppose '/' ' It was a question of monoy, certainly.' His lordship threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, and took his wife's hand. 4 Loo, old girl, 5 he said, •if moneys wanted don't you go doing anything foolish with your jewels or anything of that soit. Come straight to me and you shall have il. You've been a little brick in money matters. When I married you I expected that Will and Kilby and their mob «oa'd try to work me for a bit through you, and I daresay they have, but you've never ghen me away or played their game for them.' ' Hugh, you don't think ' ' All right, Loo, I'm not saying you wouhl have clone it, but I know what a warm lot they are, and I'll bet long odds thoy'vo tried it on. I didn't go about with thorn for a couple of years for nothing.' ' Hugh, dear, you've always trusted mo and believed me. Would you trust me still if I told you that when I manied you I kept from you something you ought to have known ?' The earnestness of his wife's manner, tho strange look in her faoe as she spoke these words, quite startled her husband, • What do you mean, Loo ?' he said, anxiously, ' what could there have been that I ought to have known ?' ' You've trusted me, Hugh, and 111 trust you. I'll trust you with a secret that may make you drivo me from you — that may make you hate me j but you must know it i some day, and I would sooner that you heard it from my own lips. Hugh, dear, when I became your wife I was a married woman.' 'What?' Lord Dashton's face turned deadly white, and he reeled back as if he had been struck a violent blow. ' Say that again,' he cried. ' I don't understand you. You are joking ; but it's a nasty kind of joke, Loo.' 'Hugh, dear Hugh, listen to me,' pleaded the girl, 'it is true ; but as there's a God above us, I was innocent of any wickedness in the matter.' Then, the tears streaming down her face, she gasped out the whole wretched story, | and falling on her knees beside her husband, begged and implored him not to think badly of her, but to stand by her in the hour of trial and be her champion, her protector. Hugh's first impulse when he grasped the truth was to fly into a furious rage. It maddened him to think that he had been ' had,' for directly the whole import of Louie's confession dawned upon him, ho knew that Joyce and Kilby and Major had, in the language of the fraternity, ' got it up for him,' But when he looked down at tho pale, agonised, tearful face of the woman who knelt beside him. all the love he felt for the girl who had been so good and true a wife to him welled up in his heait. 'It's an awful thing. Loo,' he said in a hoarse, trembling voice, 'an awf nl thing ! And I don't see yet where it's going to end; but I'm not going to round on you over it. You didn't mean any harm, but, by , I'll make those fellows smart for their share in it !' The young Earl rose and paced the room. Presently calming himself with an effort, he came up to Louie and took her hands in his again. ' I'm awfully sorry for you dear,' he said. ' I'm trying to think what's best to be done. I don't know much about the law, but I have an idea that your marriage with this fellow might be got over — what do you call it, annulled — but of course that wouldn't makeyoumy wife, because it wasn'tannulled when you married me, and I believe a marriage is a marriage till it's set aside I'm not up in the law, but I think I've read cases of the sort. I'll go and see a lawyer. You'd better leave it all to me, I think.' ' Yes, dear, now I've told you everything I can ; but — but, I'd better go away from you, hadn't I ?' ' Well, it would be as well perhaps. It's deuced hard, and it makes me feel infernally miserable, but I suppose for both our sakes it's the best thing to be done. But don't go and make yourself too miserable. I've an idea that somehow or other thingsli come all right again.' ' Oh, I hope so, Hugh ; it will kill me if we have to part for ever.' 'God bless you, my darling,' cried tho young fellow passionately, ' you've been the good angel of my life, the best woman I ever knew, but that only makes this wretched business all the more cruel.' ' Where shall I go ?' 4 Wait a minute, let mo think. You'd better take your cousin Kate with you, and Partridge, your maid, andgo to some quiot seaside place for a bit. I'll write to you every day and let you know how things are going on and what I've decided to do.' Louie agreed to her husband's proposition. She felt that it was the best thing to do under the circumstances. Before she left she placed him in possession of all the facts concerning her first marriage, and gave him full particulars of the way in which her brother and his friends had made her believe that John Vincent was dead. And late in the afternoon she bade her husband a tearful adieu, and started with Kate and her maid for Seaford, a quiet little place on the Sussex coast between Brighton and Eastbourne. Lord Dashton, as soon as he had seen his wife off', had a long interview with the family solicitor, who had arrived in hot haste in obedience to a summons from his lordship. The lawyer mastered the facts of the case, and explained that it would probably have to be made public beforo anything could be done. Of coitrso it would be a oase that would attract considerable attention^ but under any circumstances — that was to say under any honourable circumstances—ib was one -which it would be impossible to hush up. If Vincent didn't take proceedings, the Earl would have to, as it would never do for him to continue to acknowledge as his Countess a lady who was'the wife of another man. Poor Dashton, looking the picture of despair, sat and listened to the lawyer. Whichever way he looked at the situation it was bad for Louie. As soon as ho had got a rough idea of how the law stood in the matter, he brought the interview to a close, promising to see the lawyer again the next day and give him his decision in the matter.

As soon as tho solicitor had gone, Lord Dashton went out with the intention of paying a visit to Mr John Vincent, whose addre&s he had ascertained from Louio. At tho hotel he found that Mr Vincent had been out all day. Ho had left a message to the effect that if a Mr Joyce called he was to ' bo told that he (Mr Vincent) would be back about seven. ' Had Mr Joyce been ?' • Yos, and on receipt of the message ho had said that ho would return at that hour.' ' Good,' sail the Earl to himself. ' Then if I come at a quarter past I shall probably catch them together, and kill two birds with one stone ' His lordship drove to one of his clubs, wrote a letter to his wife, and returned to the hotel by seven. Lighting a cigarette, he stood on the opposite sido of the road waiting to sec his • frionds ' arrive. He didn't know Vincent from Adam, so he had to wait for Joyce. Mr Joyce drove up in a hansom, and immediately the Earl crossed the road and accosted him. ' Hallo, Dashton,' exclaimed Will, turning a little palo, ' who the dickens would have expected to see you here ?' 'Joyce,' replied the Earl, sternly, 'your bister has told mo o/ery thing.' •Dashton,' stammered the young man, ' I hope you'll believe me when I cay that 1 m heartily ashamed of myself for tho share I had in this unhapjw business.' 'You ought to bP, Joyce I never did you any harm. It you hadn't any regard for my happiness you might have had for yonr sister's. The wrong you have done her you can never atone for.' ' I can alono for it, Dashton/ exclaimed Joyce, oageily, 'and God helping me, I will. I'm going to see Vincent now. Gome with me ami you shall judge ior yourself if I am working against you.' 'Very oil.' replied the "Karl. 'Let us go to i im at once.' Inside tho hotel the gentlemen wore infoimed that Mi- Vincent had returned, and they wero conducted to his room. •Hullo, Will,' said Mr Vincent. ' I expected ' Ho stopped short as Lord Dashton, who had remained behind for a moment, followed Joyce into the room. ' Is this a f nencl of your.s V he said, staring at Dash ton, and wondering why Joyce had brought a stranger to such an important interview as theirs was to be. • I was a friend of Mr Joyce's,' said the Earl, without giving Will time to reply. ' Whether I am a friend of his now you will be better able to judge when I introduce myself. I presume you are Mr John Vincent. lam the Earl of Dash ton.' Mr John Vincent started at the name, and looked at Will. What was the meaning of these two men being together ? Had Will told him, or had he brought the Earl with him in pursuance of some well-thought-out plan ? He wasn't allowed much time to hesitate between the two theories, for Joyce at once decided the matter for him. 'Vincent,' he said, 'Lord Dashton is my sister's husband. He married her in com plcte ignorance of her first mau-iage to you. She married him under the firm conviction that you were dearl. I am here as Lord ! Da&hton's friend, and I intend no longer to be a party to the scheme for blackmailing him w hich was concocted some time ago by Kilby, Major, you and myself. 'Blackmail be ,' exclaimed Vincent, going crimson with rage. ' Look here, Mr Joyce, if that's your game, you can take yourself off. My business is with Lord Dashton, and we can transact it without your assistance,' ' You can/ replied Joyce, coolly, 'bub his lordship will be glad of my help. So I shall stay.' • Very good ; then we'll begin at once. I'm sorry, my lord, that I am placed in the unfortunate position of being the lawful husband of the lady you have made your eounte&s ; but as 1 am in that position, I should like to know what course your loiclship proposes to take.' ' J propose,' replied the Earl, • to get you oub of that position as soon as pof-sible.' 'By all means. 1 shall be happy to hear how you would like to do it. You'll find me reasonable.' ' I'm glad of that. I expected that you would havo asked me fcr a large sum of money to hush the aflair up. Lady Dashton told me that you wanted £10,000 down and £1,000 a year.' ' Oh ! She told you that, did she ?' 'She did. Now, Mr Vincent, you see there i& perfect confidence between the lady and myself, so you can play cards on the table.' ' Certainly ; and so can you. The proposition is a very moderate one under the circumstances. Does ib suib you ?' ' Net at all. I intend to pay you nothing ' ' Oh. Then you are willing to let mo prove my claim to the lady in a coiut ot law ?' ' That is exactly what I expect you to do.' ' It'll bo a nice scandal tor her and for you.' ' Ifa must be under any circumstances, bub I think we shall come out of it better than you will ; and before that can come on, you will have another little unpleasantness to go through. It is my intention to charge you and your accomplices with an offence bhab is commonly called blackmailing. I shall bring your previous career out at the trial, and I fancy your wife will be deprived of your charming society for some considerable period, even if you should bo 80 fortunate as to prove your claim to her.' Mr Vincent turned on Joyce with a savage scowl. ' This is your doing, you sweep,' he exclaimed ; ' but if I stand in the clock you'll stand beside me.' ' There you aro wrong, Mr Vincent,' replied the Earl ; '1 am indebted to Mr Joyce for the information. He will be what) I believe is called Queen's Evidence.' ' A nice thing for his sister that'll bePeople will say you married into a nice family, my lord.' ' People will only see how I have been duped, and pity mo, and if you prove your case you know, Mr Vincent, I shall be free of the family. Mr Joyce's sister won't be my wife, but yours.' Mr Vincent said nothing, but ho looked unutterable things. Presently he altered his expression and tried to appear amiable. ' You're a cleverer chap than I took you for, my lord,' he paid, with a gla&tly attempt at a grin ; • I see its no good trying to get tho best of you. But the matter'll have to be settled somehow, and we may as well como to a friendly arrangement. Have you got anything to propose ?' ' Yes. This — I propose- that you shall commence proceedings against your wife for divorce and make me tho co-respon-dent.' ' And it I do that you will give me ?' ' Nothing— it would bo illegal. It would bo connivance. I insist on you bringing this action. If you don't, I'll keep my throat. ' • That's your decision 1' t ' Yes. I'vo nothing moro to say except good evening. Joyce see, me to the door. You can return and see your friend again when I'm gone.' Once outside, tho Earl explained his plan to Joyce. It wouldn't do for the Earl himself to find money for the suit, or to promise Vincent any money, as if it came to the

knowledge of the couvb ib would affect the case. But Joyce could do ifc carefully, and in such a way thab nobody would know excepb Vincent. Will Joyce understood the situabion at once and promised to see that every danger was guarded against. Some time later the announcement that a petition had beon filed by one John Vincent against his wife, Louisa Vincent, falsely called the Countess of Dasbton, created an immense sensation, and when the case came on the excitement had reached fever heat. The first marriage was proved beyond a doubt, -and then evidence as to the second marriage was taken, and John Vincent appeared in person to provo that he was alive at the time. In cross-examination he admitted thab he Jefl the lady an hour after marriago and ran away to avoid a little difficulty with the law ; ho also admitted his conviction in France and explained how he obtained his liberty. Nothing 1 was asked about the ' blackmail ' plot. The defendants didn't desire to go into that for tho sake of Louie's brother. When Mr Vincent left the box, other witnesses followed, all of whom i proved the marriage, and bhen the ease for tho defence commenced. The defence was a strange one. It was that at the time John Vincent married Louisa Joyce it was nob a legal marriage. Nothing was said to its being a marriage which was one in name only — it waa contended clearly and concisely that the ceremony itself never was a legal one, and in proof of the contention a showily dressed young woman was placed in the box. The woman wa3 asked what she was, and her answer was not to her credit, but the name she gave was that of Ellen Vincent, and the story she told was that sho had married John Vincent, the man sho recognised in Court, five years previous to the date of his marriage with Miss Joyce, of which she knew nothing until lately : that after a year of unhappy married life she had left her husband, as he gave her nothing bub abuse and ill treatment ; and that since then she had lived the life she was at present leading. She had never taken any trouble to communicate with her husband, or he with her ; and she never expected to see him again. She had read of bhe case, as coming on, in the papers ; and the name had struck her, and she had communicated with tho Earl of Dashton. She didn't see that a man who treated her so badly should be allowed to get the best of a gentleman like the Earl. The case was not long in coming to a conclusion after that. Mr John Vincent had neglected to obtain a divorce when he had the opportunity. When he did enter the Divorce Court, bhab fact upset his case. The decision of the court was that there had been no legal marriage between John Vincent and Louisa Joyce, and therefore he had no case ; at id. the resulb of the trial was only to establish the fact that, Loui&a Joyce, having been nobody's wife when she married Hugh, Earl of Dashton, was the legal wife of his lordship. Hugh Dashton and his wife received the congratulations of everybody who knew them on the result of the great trial. It had ended in a far better way than they had dared to anticipate. The danger of losing Louie had opened the Earl's eyes to the nobility and sweetness of her chai-acter and the puvity of her love, for him, and today there is no happier couple in three kingdoms. The Earl has severed the last tie that bound him to his evil companions, and is now turning his attention to nobler pursuits. Will Joyce has been long ago forgiven for his~ share in the ' blackmail ' plot, and has a fine cattle ranche in Texas, and is coming home next year to look out for a nice amiable little English girl for a wife. Tho Earl says that if he can find one half as good as his sister Louie he will be a very lucky fellow indeed