DEAD-SEA FRUIT A Novel BY THE AUTHOR OF “LADY AUDLEY’S SECRET,” ETC., ETC., ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW 1868. [_All rights reserved_] LONDON: PRINTED BY J. OGDEN AND CO., 172, ST. JOHN STREET, E.C. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. ALPHA AND OMEGA 1 II. MISS ST. ALBANS BREAKS HER ENGAGEMENT 52 III. MR. DESMOND TO THE RESCUE 78 IV. A PERILOUS PROTEGEE 105 V. OUT OF THE WORLD 132 VI. MRS. JERNINGHAM IS PHILANTHROPIC 146 VII. DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS 173 VIII. DANIEL MAYFIELD’S COUNSEL 189 IX. BETWEEN EDEN AND EXILE 210 X. “L’OISEAU FUIT COMME LE BONHEUR” 233 XI. “THE DISAPPOINTMENTS OF DION” 250 XII. “INFINITE RICHES IN A LITTLE ROOM” 285 DEAD-SEA FRUIT. CHAPTER I. ALPHA AND OMEGA. THERE were some days on which M. de Bergerac had no work for his secretary, and on such occasions the young man was free to dispose of himself as he pleased. These days Eustace Thorburn devoted partly to reading and meditation, partly to the delightful duty of ministering to Helen’s caprices--if, indeed, the word “caprice” can fairly be used in relation to any one so entirely amiable as Mademoiselle de Bergerac. Happily for the ambitious hopes of the student, there were some days on which Helen asked no service from her willing slave, and when the slave could find no excuse for intruding on the privacy of his mistress as she read, or practised, or worked in her pretty drawing-room. On these leisure days Eustace made good progress with his own studies. He cherished the ideas of the ancients as to the requirements of a poet, and thought that whatever was learnt by Virgil should be at least attempted by every student who would fain sacrifice at the shrine of the Muses. On dull days he was wont to spend the morning in his own room, working his hardest, but in fine weather he preferred a solitary ramble in the park, or on the banks of the river, with his own thoughts and a volume of classic prose or poetry for company.