[Illustration: "So we went down our stairs."--Chap. II.]

_Cecilia de Noël_

BY

LANOE FALCONER

MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTINS ST., LONDON
1910

[Illustration: Title Page]


CECILIA DE NOËL




CHAPTER I

ATHERLEY'S GOSPEL


"There is no revelation but that of science," said Atherley.

It was after dinner in the drawing-room. From the cold of the early
spring night, closed shutters and drawn curtains carefully protected us;
shaded lamps and a wood fire diffused an exquisite twilight; we breathed