At that time the county of Norfolk had been startled from its propriety by the ill-judged action of a young lady belonging to the family of one of its magnates. She had married one of her father's men-servants. Hubert Stone lit his cigar, and quitted the station to return home, thinking of this. Strange to say, he saw in it some encouragement for himself. "If Miss G. can stoop to marry a low fellow like that, surely there's nothing so very outrageous in my aspiring to Ella Winter! I am well educated; I can behave as a gentleman; I am good-looking. There's nothing against me but birth--and fortune. She will have enough of the latter if she comes into Heron Dyke--and if Jago's clever, I expect she will. Any way her fortune will be a fair one, for the Squire must have saved hoards of money. She can well afford to dispense with money in whomsoever she may marry: and if she can only be brought to overlook the disadvantage of my birth----" "Good-evening, Mr. Stone. And how's the Squire?" Hubert's dreams were thus cut short. He answered the question mechanically, and stopped to talk to the chance acquaintance who had accosted him. Meanwhile Ella and Mrs. Carlyon were speeding London-ward as fast as the Great Eastern Railway could carry them. At Cambridge there was a stoppage for two or three minutes. Suddenly Mrs. Carlyon uttered an exclamation of surprise. "Ella, look! Look there! that is surely Mr. Conroy. He is looking for a seat." Ella bent forward. The next moment Mr. Conroy recognised them. He advanced to the carriage window, and raised his hat. "Who, in the name of wonder, expected to see you here?" exclaimed Mrs. Carlyon, as she held out her hand. "I thought you were in Ashantee." "It is one of my privileges to turn up in unexpected places," he answered. Then he shook hands with Ella and inquired after Mr. Denison. "Were you looking for a place?--are you going to town?" asked Mrs. Carlyon. "If you don't mind travelling with unprotected females, there's plenty of room here." And, thanking her, into the carriage stepped Edward Conroy, with the frank look and smile that Ella remembered so well. "Well, if he is not a cool one!" thought the discerning Higson to herself. "I'd not mind answering for it that in some way he got to know Miss Ella would be here, and came down from town on purpose to meet her. I can read it in his eyes. There's no answering for what these venturesome young gents will do!" "And will you kindly explain to us, Mr. Conroy, what business you have to be in England when you ought to be sketching black people out in Africa?" "Within twenty-four hours of the time I was to have sailed, I received a telegram informing me that my father was dangerously ill. Under the circumstances, I could not sail; I had to go to him instead. I stayed some time with him, left him better, and then found that Dempster had been sent in my place." "And a very fortunate thing too." Conroy laughed.