some of the finest rugged scenery in Scotland.

So that in one sense his visit was a complete success. He increased his
social importance; he made friends who would be of great value to him;
but, so far as Marion was concerned, it was a complete, dead failure. He
had expected long interviews with her; he had thought of long and
pleasant hours in the grounds; he had pictured to himself how she would
renew her vows of fidelity to him; how she would listen, as she had done
before, to his love-making, and perhaps even seem fonder to him than she
had ever done before.

Instead of which she certainly shrank from him. Never once during the
whole of his stay at Thorpe Castle did he contrive to get one
tete-a-tete with her. If he wrote a little note asking her to meet him
in the shrubbery or the grounds, or to give him five minutes in the
conservatory, her answer was always that she was engaged. If he rose
earlier than usual, hoping to meet her in the breakfast-room, she
invariably remained later than usual upstairs. He could not, contrive as
he would, obtain five minutes with her. In vain he asked his sister to
manage an interview for him; Marion seemed instinctively aware of what
she wanted. When Miss Lyster suggested a walk in the garden, Marion,
knowing that her brother would be sure to appear, declined it. Her only
safeguard lay in continually seeking Lady Ridsdale's society.

"The dear child is so warmly attached to me!" said the mistress of
Thorpe Castle to her husband. "It is really wonderful."

While Allan and his sister began to feel, with something of baffled
rage, that their power over her was growing less.