“You knew her, then?” said the duke.

“Only by report while I was staying at Castle Lone.  But the report came from the tenantry, who had known her from childhood—­a handsome, ignorant, vain and credulous fool of a peasant girl, more likely to become the victim of some godless man, than the confederate of murderers.  Did you know her, duke?” meaningly inquired the lady, as she remembered the reports in circulation at Castle Lone, that connected the name of the handsome shepherdess with that of the young nobleman.

“No, I never saw the girl in my life.  I have heard her beauty highly praised by some of the late companions of my hunting expeditions at Ben Lone; but I had no opportunity of judging for myself; and, moreover, I always discouraged such conversation among my comrades.  But there, that is quite enough of the unhappy girl.  I mentioned her arrest not as a most important fact only, but in order to warn you not to let our dear Salome get a sight of the daily papers, until you have looked over them, and assured yourself that they contain no reference to this arrest.”

“I see the wisdom of your warning, and I will endeavor to be guided by it; but it may be difficult to do so.  My very sequestration of the papers may excite Salome’s suspicions.”

“Then lose them; tear them; but do not let her see any part of them which may contain any reference to this girl.  I thank Heaven that to-morrow I shall be able to take her out of the country and guard her peace and safety with my own head and hand.  I shall take care also to keep her away until the trial and conviction of the criminals shall be over and done with, so that she may not be in any way harassed or distressed by the proceedings.”

“Yes, that will be very wise.  If she were in England or Scotland during the time of the trial, she might be subpoenaed as a witness for the prosecution.  She was the first, poor child, to discover the dead body of her father, you know,” said Lady Belgrade.

“I do not forget that circumstance, or what distress it may yet cause her,” replied the young duke.

And very soon after he took leave and went away.

Lady Belgrade’s task in keeping the day’s papers from the sight of Salome
Levison was easier than she had anticipated.

Salome, deeply interested and absorbed in the final preparations for her marriage, did not even think of the newspapers, much less ask for them.

The bridal day dawned, once more, for the heiress of Lone.

Salome, with her attendant, was up early.  The young girl, since her departure from Lone Castle, the scene of her father’s murder, and her arrival at Elmhurst House, and occupations with her wedding preparations, had wonderfully recovered her health and spirits.

Yet on this, her bridal day, she arose with a heavy heart.  A vague dread of impending evil weighed upon her spirits.

This occasion might well have brought back vividly cruelly to her memory, that fatal bridal morn when, going to invoke her father’s presence and blessing on her marriage, she found him lying stiff and stark in the crimson pool of his own curdled blood.  She had no father here on earth, now, to give her to the man she loved, and to bless her union with him.