CHAPTER VII.

KELMSCOTT OF TILGATE.





To both Elma and her mother this meeting between Colonel Kelmscott
and Guy Waring was full of mystery. For the Kelmscotts, of Tilgate
Park, were the oldest county family in all that part of Surrey;
and Colonel Kelmscott himself passed as the proudest man of that
haughtiest house in Southern England. What, therefore, could have
made him give so curious and almost imperceptible a start the
moment Guy Waring's name was mentioned in conversation? Not a word
that he said, to be sure, implied to Guy himself the depth of his
surprise; but Elma, with her marvellous insight, could see at once,
for all that, by the very haze in his eyes, that he was fascinated
by Guy's personality, somewhat as she herself had been fascinated
the other day in the train by Sardanapalus. Nay, more; he seemed
to wish, with all his heart, to leave the young man's presence, and
yet to be glued to the spot, in spite of himself, by some strange
compulsion.

It was with a dreamy, far-away tone in his voice that the Colonel
uttered those seemingly simple words, "And is your brother here,
too, this afternoon, Mr. Waring?"

"Yes, he's somewhere about," Guy answered carelessly. "He'll turn
up by-and-by, no doubt. He's pretty sure to find out, sooner or