BY MRS. ALEXANDER Author of "Barbara, Lady's Maid and Peeress,' Bector ) pseudi "The Cost of ie Frenc 1825-1902- PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY ANSFER FROM C. O SEP 1924 THE STEP-MOTHER CHAPTER I. "I DO wish they would ask Mr. Merivale to sing," said a fair young lady in lilac to a dark one in yellow. They were sitting together in a corner of the music room at Forestfield, Sir Thomas Hillton's place in Loamshire, after a large dinner-party, whereat the members of his house-party and his nearer neighbours had been feasted. "Which is Mr. Merivale?" asked Miss Coates, who wore the yellow garment. "That tall, rather slight man, with an orchid in his button-hole, who is speaking to Lady Hillton," returned Miss Barton, her interlocutor. "How very nice-looking he is! But does he sing? Isn't that an unusual accomplishment for a rich man of business?" "Yes, I suppose so; but when I was staying in town with my aunt, last spring, I heard him sing at a concert in aid of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Kensington,—you know they have a Home for the Aged Poor. His voice is quite heavenly.' "He looks very distinguished. Is he staying here? If so, I suppose he will be in church on Sunday," said 5 |