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334 Dell. In a little time they would have reached the crossing. Elsie asked about her sister. Her heart smote her for having forgotten her.

"She is at the Dell," he said. "They buried Lord Horace in the graveyard at Tunimba, and Lady Horace and the Waveryngs went back to the Dell after the funeral. Poor Lady Horace bore her loss with a curious composure. She seemed far more distressed and broken by her uncertainty about you. But she said that she was convinced you were not dead. She had an extraordinary intuition that Trant had you somewhere in hiding, and she had a belief that I should find you. She will not be surprised when she sees us this morning. Tell her the truth, Elsie, if you please. I mean the truth about your abduction, but keep the secret of Moonlight's lair. But if you take my advice, you will let the rest of the world believe that you and Trant got lost in the mountains, and that it was only by chance I discovered you."

"I will let all the world, including Ina, think so," Elsie answered. "My poor Ina ! She will have no heart for such things. Tell me," she went on hesitatingly, "was there any trouble about Mrs. Allanby?"

"Ah! I see that you know of poor Horace's infatuation; it was very patent to other people. I believe there was some sort of scene, but that it was kept from your sister. Lady Waveryng has behaved like an angel and a woman of the world in one. It was extraordinary the way she watched over both Mrs. Allanby and Lady Horace, keeping them apart, and arranging for Mrs. Allanby to be taken to Leichardt's Town without any suspicion. She was like a sister to that unfortunate woman, from whom it might be supposed that she would naturally shrink as if she were poison. But noblesse oblige," he added with a laugh. "Race tells, after all. Lady Waveryng never seemed to think of her own grief, and it is certain that she was devoted to Lord Horace."

"Yes, Lady Waveryng is good," said Elsie. "I am glad that Ina has got her now."