MOUNT ROYAL A Novel BY THE AUTHOR OF "LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET" ETC. ETC. ETC. In Three Volumes VOL. II. LONDON JOHN AND ROBERT MAXWELL MILTON HOUSE, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET 1882 [_All rights reserved_] Ballantyne Press BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., EDINBURGH CHANDOS STREET, LONDON CONTENTS TO VOL. II. CHAP. PAGE I. "LET ME AND MY PASSIONATE LOVE GO BY" 1 II. "ALAS FOR ME THEN, MY GOOD DAYS ARE DONE" 16 III. "GRIEF A FIXED STAR, AND JOY A VANE THAT VEERS" 25 IV. "LOVE WILL HAVE HIS DAY" 49 V. "BUT HERE IS ONE WHO LOVES YOU AS OF OLD" 87 VI. "THAT LIP AND VOICE ARE MUTE FOR EVER" 115 VII. "NOT THE GODS CAN SHAKE THE PAST" 131 VIII. "I HAVE PUT MY DAYS AND DREAMS OUT OF MIND" 149 IX. "AND PALE FROM THE PAST WE DRAW NIGH THEE" 164 X. "BUT IT SUFFICETH, THAT THE DAY WILL END" 203 XI. "WHO KNOWS NOT CIRCE?" 241 XII. "AND TIME IS SETTING WI' ME, O" 276 MOUNT ROYAL. CHAPTER I. "LET ME AND MY PASSIONATE LOVE GO BY." That second week of July was not altogether peerless weather. It contained within the brief span of its seven days one of those sudden and withering changes which try humanity more than the hardest winter, with which ever Transatlantic weather-prophet threatened our island. The sultry heat of a tropical Tuesday was followed by the blighting east wind of a chilly Wednesday; and in the teeth of that keen east wind, blowing across the German Ocean, and gathering force among the Pentlands, Angus Hamleigh set forth from the cosy shelter of Hillside, upon a long day's salmon fishing. His old kinswoman's health had considerably improved since his arrival; but she was not yet so entirely restored to her normal condition as to be willing that he should go back to London. She pleaded with him for a few days more, and in order that the days should not hang heavily on his hands, she urged him to make the most of his Scottish holiday by enjoying a day or two's salmon fishing. The first floods, which did not usually begin till August, had already swollen the river, and the grilse and early autumn salmon were running up; according to Donald, the handy man who helped in the gardens, and who was a first-rate fisherman. "There's all your ain tackle upstairs in one o' the presses," said the old lady; "ye'll just find it ready to your hand."