Produced by Darleen Dove, Shannon Barker, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) A MERE CHANCE. A NOVEL. BY ADA CAMBRIDGE, AUTHOR OF "IN TWO YEARS TIME," &c. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1882. _Right of Translation Reserved._ CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. CHAPTER I.--A Parable II.--"When Yule is Cold." III.--A Discovery IV.--"To Meet Mr. and Mrs. Kingston." V.--A Crisis VI.--Mrs. Reade meets her Match VII.--Good-bye VIII.--Consolation IX.--Reparation X.--Fulfilment XI.--Conclusion A MERE CHANCE. CHAPTER I. A PARABLE. It was about a month after the foregoing conversation took place, that Melbourne society was fluttered by a rumour that the engagement between Mr. Kingston and Miss Fetherstonhaugh, which had been unaccountably broken off, was "on" again, and that the long-delayed wedding was to take place immediately. Rumour for once in the way, was perfectly correct. People went to call at Toorak, and found the aunt serene and radiant, and the bride-elect wearing all the honours of her position--not shyly as of yore, but with a quiet candour and dignified self-possession that was not generally considered becoming under the circumstances. It was thought that a little humility would be proper in a young person who was going to enjoy such altogether undeserved good fortune. It happened while she was staying at South Yarra. _How_ it happened nobody quite knew. Gossip attributed it to Mrs. Reade's manoeuvres; but Mrs. Reade, far from encouraging anything of the sort, set herself steadily against it, and warned Mr. Kingston of probable consequences in the most terse and trenchant manner (she had taken a very different view of the situation since her return from Adelonga). Gossip likewise attributed it to the seductions of the new house, which was beginning to shadow forth in Palladio-gingerbread of the most ambitious pattern, the magnificence of the establishment that was to be; but gossip was equally misinformed in this respect. Rachel was as ready as ever to admire the house, and the beautiful tiles, and carvings, and hangings, and upholstery, that were constantly being designed and produced for its adornment; she fully understood how much they represented for whoever was to possess and enjoy them. But they had not a featherweight of value in her eyes as compared with the happiness she had hoped for and lost; they did not suggest the idea of compensation or consolation in even a slight degree. The fact was that Mr. Kingston was determined to have her.