Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: The scheming kinsman (page 46).] FALLEN FORTUNES E. EVERETT-GREEN THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD. LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK 1906 *CONTENTS.* I. On the Field of Ramillies II. Hartsbourne III. The Scheming Kinsman IV. On the Road V. A High-born Dame VI. The Pastimes of the Town VII. A Fair Face VIII. A Startling Discovery IX. "A Mad World, my Masters" X. "The Old Lion" XI. The Lion’s Den XII. Triumph XIII. The Hero of the Hour XIV. Fickle Fortune XV. Dark Days XVI. A Night Adventure XVII. In the House of the Duke XVIII. "Good Queen Anne" XIX. Love’s Triumphing XX. Merry as a Marriage Bell *LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.* The scheming kinsman. . . . . . . Frontispiece The old garden was another favourite haunt of hers. He stood quite still to watch Lord Sandford lead away the fair Geraldine. The hero of the hour. *FALLEN FORTUNES.* *CHAPTER I.* *ON THE FIELD OF RAMILLIES.* "By the beard of the Prophet, we are in luck’s way at last, Dicon; for if that be not the armies of the French and the Allies drawn up in battle array, my name is not Grey Dumaresq!" The speaker had just pushed his horse over the brow of a slope which he and his servant had for some time been mounting, through the steamy warmth of a foggy May morning. The thick haze which lay heavy in this region of marshy ground had hidden the surrounding country from them hitherto; but as they reached the summit of the gradual rise they had been ascending, the cloud wreaths suddenly drifted away, and the sun began to shine out upon the undulating plain stretched before their eyes; and lo, the plain was alive with squadrons of soldiers—infantry, cavalry, artillery—drawn up in battle array; and the note of the bugle rang through the air, whilst away in the distance, on the opposite side of the plain, there was a movement which told that already the battle had begun. A sullen roar from the guns boomed forth, and the whole plain shook with the reverberation. Great masses of smoke rolled along and slowly dispersed after each salvo; but it was upon the evolutions of the bodies of horsemen and footmen that the keen eyes of the youthful traveller were intently fixed.