It was the forged bill. Without a word or gesture he looked at it for a full minute, gloating over it as if it were some live, sentient thing lying in his path and utterly at his mercy; then at last he raised his head, and his lips parted with a smile of conscious power. "So soon!" he muttered; "so soon! Fate is with me! She is mine! My beautiful Stella! Yes, she is mine, though a hundred Lord Leycesters stood between us!" CHAPTER XVIII. When Stella awoke in the morning it was with a start that she remembered the scene of last night, and that she was, with the exception of Mrs. Penfold, alone in the cottage. While she was dressing she recalled the incidents of the eventful evening--the party at the Hall, the telegram, and, not least, the finding of the mysterious miniature. But, above all, there shone out clear and distinct the all-important fact that Lord Leycester loved her, and that she had promised to meet him this evening. But for the present there was much on her mind. She had to meet Mrs. Penfold, and communicate the information that Mr. Etheridge had suddenly been called to London on important business. She could not suppress a smile as she pictured Mrs. Penfold's astonishment and curiosity, and wondered how she should satisfy the latter without betraying the small amount of confidence which her uncle had placed in her. She went down-stairs to find the breakfast laid, and Mrs. Penfold hovering about with unconcealed impatience. "Where's your uncle, Miss Stella?" she asked. "I do hope he hasn't gone sketching before breakfast, for he is sure to forget all about it, and won't come back till dinner-time, if he does then." "Uncle has gone to London," said Stella. "To--where?" demanded Mrs. Penfold. Then Stella explained. "Gone to London last night; hasn't slept in his bed! Why, miss, how could you let him?" "But he was obliged to go," said Stella, with a little sigh and a rueful glance at the empty chair opposite her own. "Obliged!" exclaimed Mrs. Penfold. "Whatever was the matter? Your uncle isn't obliged to go anywhere, Miss Stella!" she added with a touch of pride. Stella shook her head. "There was a telegram," she said. "I don't know what the business was, but he was obliged to go." Mrs. Penfold stood stock-still in dismay and astonishment. "It will be the death of him!" she breathed, awe-struck. "He never goes anywhere any distance, and starting off like that, Miss Stella, in the dead of night, and after being out at the Hall--why it's enough to kill a gentleman like him who can't bear any noise or anything sudden like." "I'm very sorry," said Stella. "He said that he was obliged to go." "And when is he coming back?" asked Mrs. Penfold. Stella shook her head. "I don't know. I hope to-day--I do hope to-day! It all seems so quiet and lonely without him." And she looked round the room, and sighed. Mrs. Penfold stood, with the waiter in her hand, staring at the beautiful face.