CHAPTER XV.
VAL'S DILEMMA.
It was a mild day in spring.

The air was balmy, but the skies were grey and lowering; and as a gentleman strolled across a field adjoining Hartledon Park he looked up at them more than once, as if asking whether they threatened rain.
Not that he had any great personal interest in the question.

Whether the skies gave forth sunshine or rain is of little moment to a mind not at rest.

He had only looked up in listlessness.

A stranger might have taken him at a distance for a gamekeeper: his coat was of velveteen; his boots were muddy: but a nearer inspection would have removed the impression.
It was Lord Hartledon; but changed since you last saw him.