Thus, at first, through the appearance of Mary's terrier Snarley with a card in his mouth, Falconer had obtained an insight into the cause of his own continued losses, and the steady success of Hew Montgomerie, with whom, of course, he could never play again; and the knowledge of this, together with the disgrace of being unmasked as a gambler and cheat, added to the growing hatred that possessed the other, who did not appear next morning at breakfast, but left a message with Tunley for Sir Piers, to the effect, that he had gone to fulfil an engagement, for a few days' shooting at Bickerton's place, in the adjacent bailiwick of Kyle, and there, doubtless, he would plot mischief for the time to come. 'A jolly good riddance!' thought Falconer, as he recalled with disgust the episode of the last night. CHAPTER VIII. 'THE LOVE THAT TOOK AN EARLY ROOT.' Several days had passed now since Cecil Falconer found himself fairly installed as a guest at Eaglescraig. Hew was still absent, and Falconer thought it strange, if he and Mary were engaged, or lovers in fact, as many a casual remark from Hew had led him to infer, to the great repression of his own secret hopes, that the handsome Russia leather despatch-box, which was stamped with the three _fleurs-de-lis_, and the three annulets of Montgomerie, and which, with the regularity of clockwork, was brought in at breakfast-time by Mr. Tunley, never contained an epistle from him to her. Cecil naturally supposed that lovers wrote each other daily; but here was a pair who never wrote to each other at all! Cecil gathered a little hope and confidence from the circumstance, till a tormenting doubt suggested that they might have had a lovers' temporary quarrel. The days passed, we say, and in all that time, while almost hourly enjoying the society of Mary Montgomerie, Falconer had in no way betrayed the growing emotions of his heart; and though markedly attentive, there was nothing approaching loverhood in his conduct or bearing; but it would have been very difficult to convince the absent and vindictive Hew of that fact, as it was a fixed conviction of his, that there was more in everything in this world than met the eye, and that all still waters run deep. Cecil's face brightened, and his tone softened more, when addressing Mary Montgomerie than they did when he was with Miss Erroll, or other ladies. There were no other signs; but her keener perception and more subtle instinct told her intuitively that he felt a deeper interest in her than he had yet avowed; and, though she had many admirers, the consciousness of this made her heart beat happily, and gave a little coquetry to her manner, that, when other men were present, scarcely pleased Falconer, who thought that perhaps she was only _amusing_ herself with him in the absence of her ungracious _fiancé_.