given way; for she had ceased to believe in the goodness of God.

For some months her life was a blank, her mind was stupefied, and nothing could arouse her from a state of lethargy which had come over her. Her husband continued his usual mode of life, and he and his wife rarely exchanged a word. He was brought home one night on a shutter, dead! Having fallen down in an epileptic fit, and striking his head on the kerbstone, he cut open the temporal arteries, and bled to death. before his body was discovered.

The shock restored his wife's reason; and, by degrees, a certain amount of happiness came to her in a quiet uneventful life in a small country village, where she was at least in peace.

A craving to meet some one of her own kith and kin made her find out Vita, with the result of changing the tenor of both their lives.

Vita was now fourteen, and the companionship of a refined lady was very desirable for her. School had not altogether been a success. Vita was headstrong and wilful, opposed to discipline, and very impetuous. As all her schoolfellows were of aristocratic birth, they-chiefly at the instigation of Lady Sybil Challenger-rather looked down upon her, and she was very quick to resent any slight, apt to retort sharply with her tongue, and did not hesitate occasionally to follow it up with a blow. She was quite a match for any of the other girls, who rather feared her; at the same time they pronounced her plebeian and vulgar, and snubbed her as much as they dared. Vita's faults were due to want of training; her virtues were inherent in her. She was brave, truthful, generous, and unselfish.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

HOME

THERE was great excitement at Marston Towers, for Tom was to return to his home for the first time since he left in the Briseis; and everybody, not excepting his father, was looking forward to seeing him again.

Tom had finished all his examinations and had been confirmed in his acting rank; so that he was returning as a full-blown lieutenant, having been successful in every way.

Dayrell, whose people were abroad, was returning with him for a short visit; and the carriage containing them was expected at any moment.

The

Half-a-dozen times at least Vita had jumped up from her chair, where she was sitting in front of the house with Mrs. Forbes, and had run round to the entrance, thinking she heard the carriage coming up the drive. The last time there was no mistake. wagonette turned the corner as Vita appeared, and, directly it stopped, Tom threw the reins to Dayrell, and, jumping off the box, caught up Vita in his arms and embraced her warmly.

Mr. Marston came up, and, as he looked at the stalwart young giant before him, his vanity told him whose blood ran in his veins, and his old suspicion was lulled. He shook his son heartily by the hand and expressed his pleasure at seeing him once more at home; then turning to Lord Rupert he welcomed him to Marston Towers. Vita and Dayrell made one another's acquaintance, and they all walked round to the front, where Mrs. Forbes was presiding over a tea-table. Vita was leading Tom by the hand, and every now and then she looked shyly up into his bronzed face to see if he were really the same old Tom she had been separated from for so long.

Tom was presented to Mrs. Forbes, of whom he had already heard a good deal, and, as he shook her by the hand, he felt confident he should like her.

The place selected for afternoon tea was in front of the house and under its shadow, looking down upon the river, with The Beacon in the distance. It was the month of June, and the air was loaded with the perfume of roses and honeysuckle which covered this part of the house.

Dayrell at once made himself at home. He threw himself down on the grass, and, giving a deep sigh, he exclaimed:

"By Jove, this is life! What a perfect view you have from here! Could anything be more enjoyable than this? You know, Mrs. Forbes," he continued, "I believe I was intended to be a cow. I should like nothing so much as to lie all day long on the grass and chew the cud."

"You would not have much peace in this weather, Lord Dayrell," said Vita, "for the flies nearly drive the cattle mad, and some of them were nearly drowned a few days ago in trying to get rid of them by wading in the river."

"But I should be a sort of pet, and get you to keep the flies off me with a bunch of bracken, Miss Vita; and, excuse me, but I am not Lord Dayrell."

"Call him Lord Rupert," said Tom, in an undertone.

Vita slipped her hand into Tom's by way of thanking him for the hint. The action was noticed by Dayrell, and he thought Vita the sweetest girl he had ever seen. Without having regular features, she was decidedly a pretty child. Large, well-shaped eyes, a rosy mouth, and soft, wavy, sunny-brown hair, all confined in a white cotton sun bonnet, was a pleasant sight to any one who had been four years on the West Coast of Africa. But Vita's colouring would have made a less comely face than hers beautiful. Her hair had as many shades as there are hues in the

autumn foliage; her eyes, which were really gray, appeared violet at a short distance, from the unusually blue tint in the whites, and the long, dark eyelashes which encircled them. But her greatest beauty of all was her lovely complexion; her skin was as soft and smooth as the petal of a flower; but it had a greater charm than the flower, for, whereas the latter is unchangeable, Vita's colour came and went with every passing emotion. As she looked at Dayrell with a slight flush in her cheeks at having made a mistake in her mode of addressing him, her lips parted ready to make a retort, and, animation showing in every feature, she was a refreshing sight in these days of prematurely old men and women at an age when they should be boys and girls.

"I beg your pardon, my lord," said Vita, with mock seriousness. "I am not accustomed to mix with such exalted personages as yourself." Then imitating Dayrell's manner to the life, she continued: "And, excuse me, but I am not Miss Vita; my name is Victoria Goring."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Victoria Goring. I am not accustomed to mix with personages having such high-sounding names as yours."

"You are wrong again," said Vita, laughing. “I am Miss Goring-Victoria Goring to my schoolfellows; Vita to my nearest friends; and Vic, or anything, to you. Am I not?" she asked, turning to Tom.

"I shall call you Vita, then, and you shall call me Rupert; so that's decided." Then, changing the conversation, he asked: "Does anybody live in that old castle on the hill opposite?"

"Yes. That's The Beacon - Lord Raymond's place," answered Tom.

"What sort of fellow is he? He is a distant connection of mine."

"I like him very much indeed," replied Tom. "He gave me my nomination."

Mr. Marston got up from his chair and walked

away, looking annoyed. Before Tom had been at home a quarter of an hour the old bugbear was resuscitated and his suspicions revivified. His departure did not occasion surprise; he was always rather peculiar.

"You ought to come over to The Beacon, and make your relative's acquaintance. I intend going over there shortly," said Tom to Dayrell.

Very well, I will go with you, although Lord Raymond and I are scarcely relatives. His grandfather and mine married sisters, or something like that. Has he any family?"

"He has a wife and daughter. Vita can tell you more of Sybil Challenger than I, for she has been at school with her."

"

"Sybil Challenger is a vain, conceited donkey, with red hair, and a figure like a young foal."

"That is very severe, Vita," remarked Mrs. Forbes, smiling. "Lady Sybil's hair is pure Irish auburn, and some people admire it very much."

People may admire it, and it may be auburn; but it is exactly the same colour as horse carrots, for all that."

"Talking of horses, what riding horses are there?" asked Tom.

"Oh, come round to the stables and see my mare, 'Beauty.' You know she is my very own. Uncle Robert gave her to me on my birthday. I can sell her to-morrow if I like; and she is worth a great deal of money, for she is quite thoroughbred."

Tom walked off with Vita, followed by Dayrell and Mrs. Forbes. They took some time getting to the stables, as Tom stopped and talked to every gardener and workman he met, who all expressed their delight at seeing him amongst them again. After inspecting the stables they strolled through the gardens; and it was not until the dressing-gong for dinner sounded that they returned to the house.

At dinner Mr. Marston seemed in a very good