Transcriber’s Note: Some words at the bottom of page 8 were omitted from the original printing and have been filled in by comparison with another edition of the book, published by S. W. Partridge & Co. in London c. 1905: “Sydney! Sydney!” Mildred said reprovingly, “don’t you [remember what mother was] saying to you only yesterday? That other edition also gave the name of the illustrator, Wal Paget. SYDNEY LISLE _THE HEIRESS OF ST. QUENTIN_ [Illustration: “She went through the park.” (Page 297)] SYDNEY LISLE THE HEIRESS OF ST. QUENTIN BY DOROTHEA MOORE [Illustration] PHILADELPHIA DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER 610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. A WONDERFUL GUINEA 7 II. HER OWN PEOPLE 15 III. UPROOTED 27 IV. THE FIRST NIGHT 40 V. THE FIRST MORNING 53 VI. LORD ST. QUENTIN 67 VII. MISS MORRELL 78 VIII. ACCOMPLISHMENTS 86 IX. THE HEIRESS-APPARENT 97 X. A MEETING 105 XI. ON THE CHURCH TOWER 117 XII. MERRY CHRISTMAS 136 XIII. HUGH’S BATTLE 152 XIV. AT THE DEANERY 161 XV. LITTLE THINGS 170 XVI. A PROPOSAL 181 XVII. ST. QUENTIN’S STORY 197 XVIII. THE CHAIN BROKEN 205 XIX. PAULY’S BIRTHDAY 212 XX. HUGH TO THE RESCUE 220 XXI. FEVER-STRICKEN 231 XXII. GIVEN BACK 245 XXIII. WHAT HUGH TOLD 251 XXIV. THE WAITING OF TWO 261 XXV. IN THE DEANERY GARDEN 270 XXVI. A HOME-COMING 279 XXVII. DESDICHADO 287 XXVIII. CONCLUSION 294 SYDNEY LISLE CHAPTER I A WONDERFUL GUINEA A rainy November afternoon was drawing to its close. The sun had set in a haze of fog, to which it gave a fleeting warmth of colour. The street lamps were lit, and chinks of light showed here and there through the shuttered windows of the tall, dingy houses in a dull old square not far from Euston Station. Yes, chinks of light were coming from almost every house, casting little gleams of brightness on to the wet pavements and rusty iron bars guarding the areas; but from one, the last in the square, considerably more was to be seen.