Reginald Eversleigh--my
cousin--have you seen him often lately?"
"I have not seen him since he left London for Hallgrove. I am not
likely to see him again."
"I am very glad of that. There is but one fear in my mind when I think
of our future, Paulina."
"And that is?"
"The fear that Reginald Eversleigh may come between you and me."
"You need no longer fear that," replied Madame Durski. "You have been
so noble, so devoted in your conduct to me, that I must be indeed a
worthless wretch if I shrink from the painful duty of laying my heart
bare before you. I have loved your cousin Reginald, foolishly, blindly;
but there must come an end to all folly; there must come a day when the
bandage falls from the eyes that have obstinately shunned the light.
That day has come for me; and Sir Reginald Eversleigh is henceforward
nothing more to me than the veriest stranger."
"A thousand thanks, dearest, for that assurance," exclaimed Douglas;
"and now trust in me. Tour future shall be so bright and happy that the
past will seem to you no more than a troubled dream."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
PREPARING THE GROUND.
Black Milsom made his appearance in the little village of Raynham
immediately after Lady Eversleigh's departure from the castle. But on
this occasion it would have been very difficult for those who had seen
him at the date of Sir Oswald Eversleigh's funeral to recognize, in the
respectable-looking, well-dressed citizen of to-day, the ragged tramp
of that period.
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