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THE LIVING LINK.

A Novel

By James De Mille

Author of "The Dodge Club," "Cord and Creese," "The Cryptogram," "The
American Baron," &c, &c.



THE LIVING LINK.



CHAPTER I.


A TERRIBLE SECRET.

On a pleasant evening in the month of May, 1840, a group of young ladies
might have been seen on the portico of Plympton Terrace, a fashionable
boarding-school near Derwentwater. They all moved about with those
effusive demonstrations so characteristic of young girls; but on this
occasion there was a general hush among them, which evidently arose from
some unusual cause. As they walked up and down arm in arm, or with arms
entwined, or with clasped hands, as young girls will, they talked in low
earnest tones over some one engrossing subject, or occasionally gathered
in little knots to debate some point, in which, while each offered a
differing opinion, all were oppressed by one common sadness.

While they were thus engaged there arose in the distance the sound of a
rapidly galloping horse. At once all the murmur of conversation died
out, and the company stood in silence awaiting the new-comer. They did
not have to wait long. Out from a place where the avenue wound amidst
groves and thickets a young girl mounted on a spirited bay came at full
speed toward the portico. Arriving there, she stopped abruptly; then
leaping lightly down, she flung the reins over the horse's neck, who
forthwith galloped away to his stall.

The rider who thus dismounted was young girl of about eighteen, and of
very striking appearance. Her complexion was dark, her hair black, with
its rich voluminous folds gathered in great glossy plaits behind. Her
eyes were of a deep hazel color, radiant, and full of energetic