CHAPTER XI.
FALSE AND FORGETFUL.
The day when Lord Hawbury called on Lady Dalrymple was a very eventful one in his life, and had it not been for a slight peculiarity of his, the immediate result of that visit would have been of a highly important character.

This slight peculiarity consisted in the fact that he was short-sighted, and, therefore, on a very critical occasion turned away from that which would have been his greatest joy, although it was full before his gaze.
It happened in this wise: On the day when Hawbury called, Ethel happened to be sitting by the window, and saw him as he rode up.

Now the last time that she had seen him he had a very different appearance--all his hair being burned off, from head and cheeks and chin; and the whiskers which he had when she first met him had been of a different cut from the present appendages.
In spite of this she recognized him almost in a moment; and her heart beat fast, and her color came and went, and her hands clutched the window ledge convulsively.
[Illustration: "'IT'S HE!' SHE MURMURED."] "It's _he_!" she murmured.
Of course there was only one idea in her mind, and that was that he had heard of her presence in Naples, and had come to call on her.
She sat there without motion, with her head eagerly bent forward, and her eyes fixed upon him.

He looked up carelessly as he came along, and with his chin in the air, in a fashion peculiar to him, which, by-the-way, gave a quite unintentional superciliousness to his expression.

For an instant his eyes rested upon her, then they moved away, without the slightest recognition, and wandered elsewhere.
Ethel's heart seemed turned to stone.