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‘BOVRH. “Driving in the toWn, and shop- rping, and things," Violet anSWer- ed with a. little yaWn ; “and I walked up from the lodge just for a. bit of exercise,” she added; Whilst Joy, listening in silent. astonish» ment, wondered at the..glibness With which the half-truths or whole lies (she could._ not determine which) flowed from the girl’s tongue. She wouldrppenhaps, have been still more astonished had she known “what an exceedingly small fraction of truth lay behind Vio- let’s wordag~for, as an aetual fact, the girl had not driven into the town ,at all, but, alightin from the flog-cart in the village, e had in- ormed- the room that she had for- gotten a cal she mu'st pay at the rectory, that she would give up her visit to the town, and, he could drive on without her and give her , orders to the shops. With her Jhrewd knowledge of characters and classes, she was quite well mware that neither her stepâ€"mother nor Jo would dream of questionâ€" lug eit er the man or herself about the afternoon’s outing; with a halfâ€" it‘ying, half-envious contempt she now that they would believe whatâ€" rver she elected to tell them withâ€" out demur or doubt, and, whilst flespising them for their credulity, the pie ed upon it for her own pur- 'pose. ad either of them seen the dogâ€"cart returning without her. she No one could have showed less appearance of fatigue, and Joy thought'ehe had never seen her vaung employer look more lovely. iolet’s eyes shone brilliantly, there was a. delicious color in her cheeks; the wind had ruffled her hair till it looked like a bright halo about her head. She had taken off her hat before coming into the room, and when she flung herself into a. chair with her head against 'baekgraund of pale blue-cushions, ‘oy felt as if she was looking at some daintin exquisite picture. “What has tired you, my deal: “I” Lady Martindale said gently: al- most invariablyin s aking to her step-daughter her voioe took a. gentler tone, as if, Joy thought, she were trying to atone for a want of affection towards the girl by giv- ing her a larger amount of court- esy. * ' All the Goodness of Prime Beef lâ€"morrow. I thought [he would ave been here by this time,” and, is she spoke, she bridled a little, pnd shot a glance at Lady Martinâ€" lale, a. glance-for which Joy longed M strike her lovely, smiling face. “I went for a walk,” Joy an- l/wered confusedly, with an odd tense of guilt; “everything is so lelicious to-dayr” r was ready with the plausible excuse that she had longed just for a. little exercise, and the information that she had walked up from the lodge was thrown in promiscuously, as a piece of useful color. Joy watched her curiously. Her blue eyes never wavered as she ked geily of the town and the )hops; she looked from one to the )ther of her listeners with the inâ€" nocent look of a child pouring out p recital of its doings; but when he laughed Joy shivered. The , ugh reminded her of the hazel Vpopse, of the conversation she had unintentionally overheard, of the man’s vulgar voice, of his hateful threats. She lost the thread of Violet’s discourse, and was only Housed by the laughing questionâ€"â€" “Whatever are you dreaming about, Joy? I’ve asked you twice what you’ve been ‘doing with your- !«elf this afternoon.” “Hasn’t Cou‘sin Godfrey~ come 7” Violet interrupted her. “He was poming to arrange about, a ride for It makes every dish with which it is used much more nutritious and gives the rich appetising flavor of prime roast beef. Use it for your graviea and sauces. ' A DIPPICULT SITUATION; OHAPTER XII.â€"(Cont’d) Contains OR, THE END CROWNS ALL. ‘ “Quite easily.” Lady Martinâ€" dale’s voice was cold; she could not hinder the quick flash of mem- ory that reminded her how she- and Godfrey had taken that identical ride more-than once during the weeks following Jasper’s death a year and more ago. And a/lthough Joy did not hold the clue to‘that flash of memory she saw and un- derstood how bitter to the elder woman was Violet’s assumption of‘ special rights and. special claims upon Sir Godfrey’s time and thoughts. The brief conversation she had heard in the copse pushed itself into the forefront of her mind; she longed to cry aloud to Violet: his ‘flfamily” could wish to Eye into the garden at such an unprecedentâ€" ed hour. But Thompson still lay snoring in bed, and Joy had not only the whole house, but also the whole garden to herself when she stepped out into the grey half-light of early day. Nothing was stirring but the birds, and they were awake and singing their morning hymns in a. chorus of melodious sweetness that gave Joy a sudden wish to lift up her own voice and sing too. Dew lay heavy on the lawn; the trees in the park were emerging from the mists of morning and showing a. laceworli of bare boughs. "Perhaps he has been detained,” Lady Martindale answered â€" and Joy detected in her voice the little note of stiffness which Violet’s re- marks about Sir Godfrey and her intimate knowledge ‘of his moveâ€" ments always brought there; “he is a, busy person, you know.” “He‘isn’t generally too busy to do the things I want,” Violet said, bridling again and smiling a. sig nificant smile that again roused all Joy’s indignation. “We were planning'a. lovely expedition to the sea. Cousin Godfrey said he could easily ride down to Barthing if we started directly after lunch.” “How dart! you talk like that about Sir Godfrey, when all the time you are secretly seeing your old loverâ€"when you are playing fast; and loose with the two men? Why can’t you be honest; with one of them’l” “What would Roger tell me to do '1” was the question revolving in her mind When, presently, she was alone in her own room. What view would Roger take of thisâ€"this very great difficulty in her new situa- tion? Roger had always been her mentor, the friend to whom she could go for counsel when hard problems arose to be solved, and she could not make it quite clear to herself how Roger would advise her now. It was a great relief to her that Violet did not seek her room that night, or attempt to pour out to her any further confidences; she felt that before Violet again made her a confidante, she must decide what her own course of action ought to be; and when, early in the morning she found herself going over the problem again, and unable to sleep, she got up and dressed, determined to go out into the gar- den and let the fresh air of dayâ€" break help her to some solution. In the old Manor House garden at Mottesl-ey she had been so ale-l customed to go out at all hours of the da and night that there seem,- ed to er nothing strange in passâ€" ing along the dim, silent corridors at the Towers, down the wide stair- case, and across the still, dark hall to the‘ side door whose key‘she could take with her on her early rambles. Thompson’s hair would certainly have stood on end could he have seen her fumbling with the bars and bolts, and his orthodox soul would have revolted at the bare thought thatflany young lady belonging to To the girl reared with the lofti~ est ideals of honor and upright- ness ,& character like Violet/s with its unborn love 01 Intrigue and in- stinctivedelight in the underband, was as incomprehensible as the ba- bits and customs of Oji-‘bxbeway In- dians, and Viol-et’s smiling, inno- cent face and gay, nonchalent voice were revelations to Joy, Whose knowledge of the lovely heiress’s secret weighed 31pm:- her like lead. Ought she 196 tell Violet how much she had unwittingly discov- ered? Ought she even, perhaps, to speak to Lady Martindale of what she had heard? 0r might. she do what her own Graven wishes urged upon her, and leave the whole mat- ter to adjust itself Without her help? against a- background of pearly sky, and in the dimness the crows- es gave the only note of color, lift- ing their bright ‘ gem-like heads above the brown earth in the beds and the short grass of the lawn. The fragrance of growing things was in the air, and Joy drew a long breath of delight. She had no conscious aim for her wander- ings; she was out of doors simply because she longed for the open air, for a wide space of earth and sky, for room, as it were, in which to think, and she walked down one garden path and up another, notic- ing very little where she was goâ€" ing until she reacn-ed a small gate that opened into the lane. Still thinking very little of any definite destination for her wanderings, she opened the gate and sauntered slowly along the lane, Whilstvthe greyness melted slowly out of the sky, before the breaking of day, and rbars of golden light in the east her- alded the coming of the sun. With- out being precisely conscious of her own intentions, she was neverthe- less making her slow way towards her favorite “great “View,” and though her thoughts were too abâ€" sorbed in Violet, and in her \own duty towards Violet, to allow her her face, so that she laughed soft- 1y,~from- sheer gladness of heart. “Nothing can go on being hard for long in such a lovely worldfi’ she said, nodding her‘ head to a. thrush'who contemplated her grave- 1y from a, neighboring hawthorn. .“I expect I shall find a way out of the difficulty.” And with this philosophical reflection, and one more glance over the sunlit coun- try, she was turning back along the lane when her attention was caught by a glimpse of something fluttering in the morning breeze from the ditch in the bend of the lane be- hind her, With the flash of sunlight, still on’her face, the joy of the sign} rise fillingfl her heart, she moved forwarda few paces to investigate the fluttering white object; then, with a low cry of dismay she start- ed back, white, trembling, and sick with horror; for, lying at her feet 'in the ditch was a, limp huddled 'body, the body of a man whose face was turned to the hedge, from whose hand floated the handker- chief which had first drawn her eyes to the spot. ‘ l ’r For many seconds Joy stood in the lane, coward fear holding her motionless, her heart beating in sickening. thumps, humanity urging her to look more closely at the prostrate man, craven terror whis- pering to her to run to the lodge or to the villag-eanol get help from there. But to whatever rank of life Joy’s forbears had belonged, they had not been a. race of’ cowards; and choking down her fears, trymg not to allow her nervous imagining-s to‘ drive her into panicâ€"strlcken flight, she moved nearer to the Was, he asleep? Was he uncon- scious? Or7<wasâ€"heâ€"dea,d 2 GHAPT‘ER XIII. In the east the sky was a flame; of living, gold, and a. golden haze; lay over the outspread lendsoape. The rich brown of the ploughed field in the foreground, the purple softness of the hazels, the amber of the larches against the dark green of the pinesâ€"these were de- finite notes of color melted into indefinite greens, and dnns and‘ browns, until all were caught to- gether into that far-off golden haze ‘ on the very rim of the world. Every confusing problem, every harassing? 'V But. her touch on the limIâ€"J arm produced no answering movement; there wasrnp reply to her tremb- to observe much of what she passed, yet, when she reached the gate ev- erything else faded into insignifi- cance before the wonder of what lay spread out beneath her eyes. thought: slipped from joy’s mindw She could only lean on the gate, as huddled: Mp in the ditch, and stooping over him tcguched his arm. “Are you ill ’1” 'she sald trema- lously, her own voice awakening startling echoes in the quiet leme. “Are you hurt? Can I help you ‘I” The Canada Sugar Refining Co., Limited. Montreal and you’ll feel like a new person. Sour stomach~heartburn~ occasional indigestionâ€"chronic dyspepsiaâ€"all yield quickly to NA-DRU-CO Dyspepsia Tablets. The properly digested food restores your strength, your stomach regains its tone, and soon requires no further aid. Stop starving yourselfâ€"stop sfiffering the pangs of indigestionâ€"stop worrying about what you dare and dare not eat. 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Established in 1854 by John Redpath “I wish Roger could «see it, tom", she breathed, rather than spoke, the words. “Roger and I do love the sunrise,” and as she spoke the". sun flashed up over the horizon’s' rim and shot a. shaft of light upon’ ling questions, and to her frighten-’ ed eyes it seemed as if the silent, figure in the ditch had become on!y; more awfully silent, because of the; echoes of her voice. ,“H-‘aw did Thompson get so bald?” “Oh, half his hair came out through worrying about a girlfl’ -“But how did he leise the other half?” “Oh, that came out after the girl married him!” The pretty girl was lavishing a' wealth of affection on her masltiff, and ’ahe very soft young man wax watching her. “I Wish I were an dog,” he said laugh-ingly. “D0111? worry,” she answered, “you’ grow.” ‘ she had leant upon it during the previous afternéon, and drink in the loveliness with eager, happy eyes. (To .135 icicsrilrtinued.)