The Argosy — page 260: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

owe Gs O SY. OCFTOEE RR. 7880. THE MYSTERIES OF HERON DYKE. Ee ee eel CHAPTER XXVIII. MR, CHARLES PLACKETT IS PUZZLED, |. IND, Ella, you have promised to come to me in London during the autumn, and to stay for a fortnight at least,” had been Mrs. Carlyon’s last words to her niece when she was leaving Heron Dyke: and, in making the promise, Ella Winter had fully intended to fulfil it. But the autumn was drawing to a close, Christmas would be here before long, and the visit had not been paid. Circumstances had prevented it. But in those circumstances there seemed to be a lull now; and Mrs. Carlyon took advantage of it. She wrote a pressing letter to Ella. The cold weather was setting in, she said; her cough was becoming troublesome, and she had nearly made up her mind to go to Hyéres: but nothing would induce her to go anywhere until she had seen her niece again. By return of post Mrs. Carlyon received an answer. Ella would pay the visit at once. On the following day she and Maria Kettle, whom she begged leave to bring witb her, would quit the Hall for Bayswater. Change, as Miss Winter knew, would be good for Maria. It might not be amiss for herself. Truth to tell, Miss Winter had been more disturbed by her friend’s positive assertion of having seen Katherine Keen, than she cared to acknowledge even to her own mind. Maria Kettle had a fund of practical good sense, she was not at all romantically inclined ; and Ella could not pooh-pooh her account, strange though it might be, as she probably would have done that of an uneducated or superstitious person. Maria’s account did not stand alone: it was impossible for Miss Winter not to recall how strongly it was corroborated. She herself had never forgotten her visit to Katherine’s room, when she found the VOL, XXX. R CORNICE LHO© cS (SO)