Trefalden was coming down on Thursday; and
by that time they had reached the park gates,
and were driving up to the beautiful old red
house, which looked as if dyed in the sunsets of
many centuries.

Then the Earl took his guest round to the
stables, built on the princely scale of the old
Elizabethan days, and now more than three
parts empty. Here Saxon saw the stalls set
apart for his two thorough-breds; and presently
Major Vaughan came into the yard, white with
dust, leading his own beautiful Arabian,
Gulnare, and followed by a docile bay, carrying a
lady's saddle; and Saxon found that he had been
riding with Mademoiselle Colonna.

After this, they strolled about the gardens,
and the Earl initiated Saxon into the topography
of the smoking-room, the billiard-room, and all
that part of the house called the bachelors'
quarters. Then the gong was sounded, and it
was time to dress for dinner.

It was Saxon's first entry into the society of
ladies; and this fact, coupled with his reluctance
to meet the Colonnas, made him somewhat
nervous on going into the drawing-room. The
ladies, however, were not yet down; and he
found only a group of four men standing round
the fire. Two of these were Castletowers and
Major Vaughan; the third he at once recognised
for the dark-eyed Italian whom he had seen at
Reichenau; and the fourth was a stranger.

"My friend, Mr. Saxon Trefalden—Signor
Colonna—the Reverend Edwin Armstrong,"
said Lord Castletowers, getting through the
introductions as quickly as he could.

The clergyman bowed somewhat stiffly; but
Signor Colonna held out his hand.

"Gervase's friends are mine," he said, with a
smile of singular sweetness. "I have heard
much of you, Mr. Trefalden, and rejoice to know
you. Is this your first visit to Castletowers?"

It was evident that he had no more
remembrance of Saxon, than Saxon had of the world
before the Flood.

At this moment, the ladies came in. The
Earl, with some ceremony, presented his young
friend to his mother, and while Saxon was yet
bending over her fair hand, dinner was announced.
The Earl immediately gave his arm to
Mademoiselle Colonna, Signor Colonna took Lady
Castletowers, and the rest followed. Thus it
happened that the introduction which Saxon
most dreaded was altogether omitted, and that
he did not even see Mademoiselle Colonna's
face till he had taken his seat at the dining-
table. He then looked up, and, to his intense
discomposure, found her superb eyes turned full
upon himself.

"My vis-à-vis is, I suppose, your young
millionnaire?" she said presently to Lord
Castletowers. "I have met him before; but I
cannot remember where."

The Earl laughed, and shook his head.

"Impossible," he replied. "He has only
been six or eight weeks in England, and during
the whole of that time you have not been up in
town, I think, for a single day."

"But I may have met him abroad, perhaps
at Milan?"

"He has never visited Italy in his life."

"Well, then, in Paris?"

"And I know that he has never been in Paris.
In fact, it is more than improbable that you can
have seen him before this evening. I speak
thus positively, because I know all the story of
his life up to this time; and a very curious
story it is."

"You must tell it to me," said Mademoiselle
Colonnn.

"I will, by-and-by; and when you have heard
it, you will grant that you are only misled by
some accidental resemblance."

Mademoiselle Colonna looked at Saxon again.
He was talking to Lady Castletowers, and she
could scrutinise his features at her leisure.

"I do not think I shall make any such
concession to your narrative powers," she said.
"The more closely I look at him, the more
convinced I am that we have not only met, but
spoken—and not very long since, either. Why,
I recognise the very inflections of his voice."

"Nay, madam, I claim to be a Swiss," Saxon
was saying. "I was born in Switzerland, and
so were my father and grandfather before me."

"But Trefalden is not a Swiss name," said
Lady Castletowers.

"No, Trefalden is a Cornish name. We are
of Cornish descent."

The colour flew to Olimpia Colonna's face at
the discovery conveyed to her by these few
words.

"I knew it was no accidental resemblance,"
she said, with a troubled look. "I remember
all about him now, and he remembers me. I
knew he did, I saw it in his face."

"Then you really have met before?"

"Yes, in Switzerland, a few weeks ago. I—
I was so unobservant as to mistake him for an
ordinary peasant, and I—that is to say, we—
offended him cruelly. My father has forgotten
all about it; but I shall tender him a formal
apology by-and-by. I hope he will forgive me."

"Forgive you!" echoed the Earl, in a low,
passionate tone.

But Miss Colonna did not seem to hear him.

Later in the evening, when the little party
was dispersed about the drawing-room, she
turned to Saxon, who was inspecting some
engravings on a side-table, and said:

"If it were not that oblivion and pardon are
thought to go hand in hand, I should ask to be
remembered by Mr. Trefalden. As it is, I can
only hope that he has forgotten me."

Saxon bowed profoundly.

"I should be much concerned for my memory,
madam," he replied, "if that were possible."

She looked at him inquiringly.

"Is that a sarcasm," said she, "or a
compliment?"

"I did not mean it for either."

"What is it, then?"

"A simple statement of a simple fact.
Mademoiselle Colonna is associated in my memory
with the most eventful day of my life, and if I