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2 THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1907. THE GHOST OF LOCHRAIN CASTLE-Continued such a happy Impression for her last one. “Isn't It that common little creature who got In flrst-claas with us yester day, and I took for some one’s maid?" she heard Lady I.ambart ask In clear tones as the door closed. Perhaps, If she had caught Kenrith’s answer, she would not have felt so crushed; but she did pot catch It, and so she went away with tingling cheeks, wondering It she really did look common, and If she were the sort of girl, to be mistaken for a lady's maid. ‘ . Her next hour of work, directly after luncheon, was with . I.ady Ardcllffe, whom Mr. McGowan had described as a “peeress who wished to be a poetess." Klspeth had seen her In the morning talking with Hilary Lambart, but Lady Ardcllffe, who was near-sighted and would not wear glasses, did not recog nise the girl. She was fussy and flighty, with an air which would have suited a spoiled young beauty of It, and though she announced that she was engaged upon a dramatic poem for a review, which must be finished with in a week, she would not settle to work. Instead she talked about herself, and what she hod written, and how much nil she had done had been admired. "I do think," she said, dreamily, "that I have a little of the divine afflatus. People sometimes ask me to teach them how to write; but how can one teach what Is as elusive as flame? Countess Ttadepolskol, for Instance. Is quite fool ish over my work. She's Polish, and has attempted verses In her own lan guage. I don't know how successfully. Now she is keen to try in English with my help. Perhaps she will want you to type for her, but If she does, mind, 1 can’t give you up a moment of my hour. You must find other time for her. Have you seen her? Has she usked Mr. McGowan to let her have you yet?" “I saw her for a moment this morn ing,” returned Elspeth, "but nothing has been said about my working for her." The girl clicked her machine as If to quietly remind the poetess that time wus being wasted, but Iauly Ardcllffe rushed olf upon a new tack. "Tell me, did you admire the Count ess?" nhe Inquired, with an eagerness which Elspeth was at a loss to under stand. “I should like the opinion of a newcomer on that subject.” "Oh, yes; 1 thought her exceedingly rtriklng," the girl was replying frankly, when Lady Ardcllffe's face fell almost pitiably. "But very foreign looking," Klspeth went on. "Very, Isn't she?" the elder woman caught up the words. "I should hardly think, should you, that she would be the sort of woman to attract an Amer ican or an Englishman?" "Perhaps not," admitted the glr!, wondering what this was leading up to. "Of course." went on Lady Ardcllffe, "a poor man might wish to marry her for her money, for she Is said to be rich, and 1 suppose she must be, as she dresses extravagantly, and has some very fine Jewelry, but millionaires don’t need to think of such sordid things In connection with a woman." "Poor creature," thought Elspeth, •’she must be over 60, yet 1 do believe she's In love, and Inclined to be jealous, either of Mr. Kenrlth or Mr. Trow bridge, the only two millionaires I've heard of ns stopping In this hotel, wonder which It Is?" But she illd not have to wonder long. Lady Ardcllffe's next sentence helped her to make a shrewd guess. "Mr. Trowbridge said last night he was go. Ing to have Mr. MrOowun's new secre tary to help him with his multitudes of letters,” the poetess went on. "1 sup pose he means you?" Klspeth replied that she was to assist Mr. Trowbridge from fi o'clock until every evening, unless—she added rather lnlseblevously—lie wanted to lend her services to one of his friends. 'i<end you to one of his friends." echoed Lady Ardcllffe, suddenly In a flutter of excitement. “That means t'ountess Radepolskol.” She paused u moment, evidently thinking very earn estly. Then, with Mushed cheeks und dilated eyes, she went on: "Look here, my dear. 1 have something to ask you. Are you fond of Jewelry? But of course you are. All normal young girls are. Now, you are going to help me nicely with nty work, and I want to give you something pretty to encourage you. Perhups you have heard that I have rather a fad for Jewels, and own a great many. Now, lin going to get a box where I keep my rings, und 1 will point out some from among whkii you may take your choice." “Oil, no, lardy Ardclilfe. please not!" cried Elspeth. "You are very good, but 1 couldn't take such a present. I am paid by the management of the hotel for all I ilo for you, and"— "Ah. but there Is something else I want you to do, as a great favor to me, something the management hue noth ing to do with, and will hear nothing about. If you are the nice, sensible girl I take you for," broke In latdy Ardcllffe. "You needn’t hesitate to have the ring, and perhaps another little token later on. If you use me good, for you will have earned them. Don't look so anx ious. It's only quite an easy thing I want you to do, and It won’t Interfere with any duty. All I ask Is that you will tell me If Mr. Trowbridge writes any love letters, or. Indeed, letlers of any kind, to women, or if when with him you hear or see anything which mokea you suppose he cores about Countess Radepolskol.'' “I couldn’t possibly," Elspeth replied In haste. "l‘m sure you are speaking thoughtlessly, but If I did what you ask I should be a-Spy, a very mean spy, and I should deserve to be discharged." “Oh, dear!" exclaimed Lady Ard- cIlfTe, distressfully, "such an Idea never occurred to me. pf course, I would not have asked you if It had. Please for get that I did. But you shall see my Jewels some day. In any case; now. If you like"— "Hadn’t we better get on with your work?" suggested Elspeth. "We have been talking for half an hour." But lady Ardcllffe protested that she was In no mood for writing. She had worked herHelf into quite a nerv ous state, she said, and would feel better If she chatted quietly. And so she did chat, though scarcely quietly, about not only her own affairs, but the affairs of everybody else of any Impor tance In the Hydro. She told Elspeth that Lady Lambart was horribly In debt, that wherever she went duns rained upon her. and that “poor, pret ty Hilary" led a terrible life with auch a mother. Somehow or other, how ever, I July Ardcllffe - went on, confi dentially, Ida Lambart had contrived to fascinate John Kenrith, the Lan cashire millionaire, whom everybody liked so much. He was an exceeding ly clever man, os well as a charitable and a good one, but he had not been clever enough, apparently, to i through Ida Lambart People''*were aaylng that she would sooner or later succeed In becoming hlB wife, and, of course, it would be a glorious thing for her, as well aa for Hilary, If sbe should bring off such a great coup as that Stilt tradesmen were not con fident enough of her ultimate success to trust her, in the hope of future benefits when sbe should have secured the rich man, and that looked rather ominous, as tradesmen had such on extraordinary sharp scent Elspeth felt very guilty to alt hear ing these Intimate details concerning Lady Lambart and poor Lady Hilary, and would have been glad to stop Lady Ardcllffe If she could, although she could not help being Interested. It would have been Impossible, how ever, for a person In her position to dictate precepts of propriety to one in Lady Ardcllffe's, and she had no al ternative save to listen, till her hour was at an end. She had been told, when she had finished work with Lady Ardcllffe, to return to Mr. McGowan's room to learn whether or not the time left open for extras was to be filled. As she was about to enter, the door was open ed abruptly, and Mr. Trowbridge came out so suddenly that Elapeth had to start back out of his way. He begged her pardon, and hurried on, but she hud time to notice a look of extreme satisfaction on his handsome face. “He has iierhaps got some favor out of Mr. McGowan,” thought the girl; but Mr. McGowan was not there. Mr. James Grant was alone In the room, sitting at tils own desk with 1a bundle of papers In his hand. He had not the air, however, of having been at work with them. > Evidently he was laboring under some strong excite ment, which, at sight of Elspeth, he used- all his self-control to hide. But he could not conceal the shaking of his lingers that fumbled nervously with the papers, nor the spots of red which burned on his rather high cheek-bones. Elspeth could only fancy that Mr. Trowbridge must have said something to annoy or offend Mr. Grant, possibly criticising some defect In the manage ment, with Insolence, which Mr. Grant, as subordinate, had not been able to resent. She felt sorry for the pale young man, and smiled at him In sweet and friendly way, aa she asked If there was any work for her to do between 3 and !: 30. He did not answer at first, or even seem to have heard her question, ■ hough his eyes were Mxed intently up on her, as if he would have apoken. Jumping up, he began wulking about the smull room In a restless, uneasy way, like an animal In a cage. "I am glad you have corre—glad yen have come, Miss Dean,” he said at last. "Were you wanting me?" ehe inqui r - td. •Yes—ro. I imuii I am glad you have come to Lochraln. I am not hap py here. I Ami a man with boundless ambition. This has been no place to sutlsfy It. I have been eating my heart out; with no one to speak to as a frlenu —no one I would have cared to speak with In such u way. But the flrst mo ment you looked up into my face yes terday I felt the presence of a kindred ptrtt. I want to have you fur a friend. May 1 think of you so?” "Please do said Klspeth. rather puz zled and not quite at 'ease, but still with kindness In her heart for her fel low employee. She was very far from sure that she was a kindred spirit of Mr. Giunt's, but she was quite willing to b« his friend. "Thank you. Hhake hands upon that,” he saitl, seizing her hand and crushing It so hard that she could scarcely re frain from crying out. "Before long I may test your friendship, by asking help such as only a woman can give. Rut I shall not make selfish Ot round* upon it. Don't fear that. 1 want the friendship which you have promis'd to promote your advantage and ad vancement. I can't explain how at this moment, though you will know what 1 mean before long." "You are very good,” replied the girl. "But you haven't told me yet whether I am wanted for the spare hour and a half before 4:30—" Grant seemed to wake from a fever ish dream. "Yes—yes!" he said. "I had forgotten Captain Oxford—the man I told you about this morning—has sent to know whether there Is any one who can write from bis dictation a few let ters which he Is very ansxious t> get off as soon as possible. I suppose you will have to go to him, though I don't quite like the Idea. Indeed. I suggest ed to Mr. McGowan that I might do what was wanted, nut he thinks he has some work which I, and nobody else, must do for him this afternoon. Rather inconsiderate, I call It. How ever, patience Is the word for the pres- cnt. Everything may be'very different soon... Captain Oxford has a little room opposite Mr. Kenrith's. and Mr. Keu- rith—who Is a friend of his—has lent him that handsome sitting room which you saw this morning. Captain Ox ford lias,been moving over there for the afternoon, and It Is to be at his disposal each day after lunch, as often as he likes, while he’s on the sick list Very kind of Mr. Kenrlth, I call It quite unnecessarily kind. Anyhow, that Is where you will And the Interest ing Invalid." There was bitterness ir. Grant's voice, and it was clear to Elspeth, os it had begun to be earlier In the day, that the manager's assistant did not like Cap tain Oxford. This, for some perverse reason, made her the more curioys to see the young man of whom she had heard so much that was interesting and even mysterious. It seemed, therefore, that whenever she went to Mr. Ken rith's sitting room, she was destined to look forward with more than ordina ry Interest to the events that awaited her on the other side of the door. What would he be like, this young man who loved Lady Hilary Lambart, and was loved by her In return; who bad begun life os a foundling, and made a career for himself In the army; who had we n John Kcnrilh'a friendship and loyal admiration; who was labelled "dangerous” by Lady lambart, and bit terly disliked by James Grant? This was the thought In her mldd as ehe tapped at the door of Mr. Kenrith's sitting room, for the second time that John Kenrlth himself opened it, and somehow she had the conviction—con ceited though It might hnve been In a mere typewriter—that he was present for her sake, to Introduce her to Cap tain Oxford and put her at her esse. His flrst words conflrmed the lm pression. “I ran In before keeping a golf en' gagement, to see if you were here, as 1 heard you were coming," he explain ed. "My friend. Captain Oxford, met with an ugly adventure last night, with a rascally poacher, or some one of that ilk. It's supposed, and waa shot In the arm—of course, the arm that had been hurt before! That'a usually so, isn't It? He won’t be ablo to help himself much for a day or two, though It's the left arm, for he has lost a good deal of blood end Is rather weak. I think you had better not let him dictate many let ters this afternoon; say three or four at most; and I'm sure he'll listen to your advice, and rest afterward, though he doesn't like playing Invalid. Now come and be Introduced. Sec, there he is on the sofa over there." Kenrith led Elspeth across the large room toward a comfortablo sofa, piled with cushions among which could be seen the back of a men's head—a well shaped head, thickly covered with close cropped, rippling bronze hair. In an other moment ahe saw the face, which turned toward her as she approached, at Kenrith's side, and as the handsome eyes and llpa smiled faintly In greeting, the girl gave a alight start of surprise. “Why,” she asked herself eagerly, "where have I seen him, or someone exactly like him, only a ahort time ago?" CHAPTER V. Tangled Threads. A second glance at Captain Oxford assured Elspeth that, despite the haunting likeness to some other face, ahe had certainly never seen him be fore. He wan not a young man to be easily forgotten, and the girl did not wonder that he had attarcted Lady Hilary. Not only was he remarkably good to look at, but it seemed to her that, with auch eyes—bronxe, like his hair, and only a few shades darker than his sunburned skin—he must be honest and sincere. If there were a mystery about his adventure of last night, she told herself that It could be nothing of which he need feel ashamed. When Elspeth had been made ac quainted with Captain Oxford, Kenrlth left them alone, and went off to play golf—perhaps the girl thought grudg ingly, with Lady Lambart. She wrote two or three short letters, which she would not have judged to be very Important, and then came a pause. "Don't you think ynu ought to rest now?" she asked, remembering Mr. Kenrith's instructions. "Yea” the young man answered, “I’m not going to ask you to do any more letters today. But”— he hesitated, and Elspeth took up the sentence where It broke off, inquiring if there were any thing further that she could do for him. "Yes, there Is aomethiuk" he sold. "I—ray friend, Mr. Kenrlth, told me you traveled up In the same earring., with him yesterday, and—with Lady Lambart and her daughter.” y Elspeth'a eyes brightened, ahe knew what would please him now, and did not see any wrong In doing It "Oh yes," she answered. It was so crowded they put me In flrst class, and Ladv Hilary Lambart was so sweet about It I never saw such a lovely girl as she Is “d J,? r T’„* Ure she nlce a» she Is beautiful." “ Captain Oxford's face lighted up. and he smiled, showing his white teeth .^^ e onr7v,Set,5 C y.!. n hS > S d ng Jgj beg?n« V at'flrit* sight."* adm ‘ raUon that "So do J, and love, too,” said Elsneti, •'If I were a man I should have fallen In I f d5 I. F?* Lambart" a" first sight. As It Is, I would do any- thlngl could ‘“Please or help her, ami I told her so this morning.” Y , 0U , b “" ta . lk,ns ‘osether this morning? I was going to try and pump you, without letting you find out what I waa doing, but now I begin to see It Isn’t necessary to do that.” "It Isn’t a bit,” laughed Elspeth, "if you really don't mind my saying so" "Mind? Why, now that I know you are such a staunch ally of hers. It will simply be paradise to have a chance of talking about her. Do tell me. since we’ve come down so quickly to ‘bed rock,’ aa the Americans say, how did you And out that I was In* love with Lady Hilary Lambart?" "Shall I tell all the truth?” "Why, of course." At this encouragement Elspeth pro ceeded to give Captain Oxford a short sketch of the Journey; how she had heard his name mentioned by Mr Ken rlth; how I<ady Lambart had not seemed pleased with the news that he was staying at Lochraln Hydro; and how she (Elspeth) had fancied from the look on Lady Hilary’s face that her emotion was very different. "I didn't try to listen," the girl apol ogized, "but I couldn't help being In terested, because It seemed such a romance, and Lady Hilary Is such an Ideal heroine for a love story.” “Bless her; I should think she was!” exclaimed the young man. "The only heroine possible for a love story of mine, even if I were banished to some far country, and knew that I could never see her again. She knows I love her. or course, and I do think she likes me a little, but I am afraid she will never go against her mother's wishes, and marry me. Perhaps I oughtn't even to wish it, for she Is so lovely, she could have anybody, and I’m a poor man, heavily handicapped In many ways. But I can't rise to such heights of unselfishness.” "I'm sure she would have you to rise to that," said Elspeth, absolutely on Captain Oxford’s side now. "Do tell me why you think so—or do you only say It to be kind?" "I think so because of something that happened this morning." And then she told him how Lady Hilary had been as one struck with a blow on hearing from the gossip of Lady Ard cllffe that he had been dangerously wounded. She told also how she had managed to give the girl news of the real state of his health, when she heard of It from Mr. Grant. “You really do seem to have been aent here by Providence, Miss Dean." aaid Captain Oxford, half laughing, half aerlous. "Of course, you guessrd why I asked that I might have you to write letters for me?" "You hoped that, as I had seen Lady Hilary, you might get me to talk about her, and that Is just what_has hap pened.” "You have guessed right. I thought you would. And I shouldn't wonder If Kenrlth guessed, too. He admires Lady Lambart very much, but he is against her where I am concerned. He didn't know till yesterday that she dis approved of me as an acquaintance for a woman with a marrlagcble dughter, though it he weren't rather unworldly In some ways, despite his shrewdness In others, he might have guessed how It would be with her. He has too much money himself to care about whether others have It or not, or oven think of It; but Lady Lambart has very little, unfortunately for me, oth erwise she would perhaps not mind so much. As It Is, I'm sure she would have thanked Heaven devoutly If I hud been killed last night out of her daugh ter’s way forever, instead of Just winged, and laid up for a day or two." Elspeth shuddered. "It doesn’t mut ter so much to you about what she feels," aaid the girl. "But do you real ly think that It was a poacher who shot you by mistake for a keeper?" "No, I’m certain It was not," he answered. "Mr. Grant and, I suppose, Mr. Mc Gowan, are certain It was." “I haven’t told them everything. I have my own reasons for not doing so." said Captain Oxford, thoughtfully. Ills face changed to sternneas aa he spoke, end Elspeth wondered If she could have been mistaken after all In fancying htin absolutely frank and open. Sud denly he looked like a man who could keep a secret well, and might have se crets of his own. The words thut Kenrlth had said before going out dart ed back Into Elspeth'a brain. "He lost a good deal of blood." What of the ruby drops that hod fallen from that mysterious place above, Inhabited by no one save ghosts—the ruby dtpp* that had stained the face of the boy In the sketch! . (Continued in Saturday’s Georgian.*