Long after he had gone Ida sat, leaning forward in her chair and gazing at the fire.  Stafford was now Lord Highcliffe, a peer, but poor and a wanderer.  She started:  was it really he whom she had seen on the cattle steamer?  Then they had been near each other, had looked into each other’s eyes!  Perhaps she would never seem him again—­but, ah, yes! it was quite probable she would, for was he not engaged to the wealthy Miss Falconer, and would he not come back to marry her?  The following evening she received a short note from Mr. Wordley:  it informed her that the Villa was not for sale.  It had been purchased by Mr. Falconer for his daughter.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Within a few days she received invitations from the Bannerdales and Vaynes and the other county families, who were evidently possessed by the kind determination that she should become one of them.  The dinner at Bannerdale Grange was quite en famille; she was made a great deal of; and if she had given them the least encouragement they would actually have petted her; but though Ida had lost something of her old pride and hauteur, caused by her isolation, she was still somewhat reserved, and, grateful as she was for their overtures of affection, she could not respond as fully as she would have liked.  It was the same with the Vaynes and Avorys; they were all more than kind to her, and she longed to receive their attention with open arms; but she could not:  the fact was, her wounded heart was so tender that it shrank even from the gentlest touch.

“The girl is all right,” remarked Lord Bannerdale.  “She has been in great trouble and it has hurt her very badly; and though she seems rather cold and reserved, she is more sensitive than most women:  you must give her time.”

Ida had resolved that though she could not altogether forget the great sorrow of her life, she would not brood over it.  She knew that for her complaint there was nothing worse than idleness; and she sought employment for her mind and body with an eagerness that sometimes became almost feverish.  When she was not visiting or receiving visits from, what might be called her new, friends, she was busy about the farm and the estate, and took long rides on Rupert accompanied as of old by the dogs.  Very soon, too, Mr. Hartley began at the restoration; and Ida was deeply interested in the progress of the work.  Then, again, the hunting season commenced, and to the delight of Sir Robert Vayne, the master, she appeared at the first meet:  and, is it necessary to say? was in at the death.  She enjoyed that first run more than she had enjoyed anything since the fatal morning she had lost both sweetheart and father; and she was very nearly happy as she rode home with a crushed hat and a habit splashed with mud.