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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cursed by a Fortune, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cursed by a Fortune
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2010 [EBook #34537]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURSED BY A FORTUNE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Cursed by a Fortune, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+CURSED BY A FORTUNE, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+"Yes, James; this is my last dying speech and confession."
+
+"Oh, papa!" with a burst of sobbing.
+
+"Be quiet, Kitty, and don't make me so miserable.  Dying is only going
+to sleep when a man's tired out, as I am, with the worries of the world,
+money-making, fighting for one's own, and disappointment.  I know as
+well as old Jermingham that it's pretty nearly all over.  I'm sorry to
+leave you, darling, but I'm worn out, and your dear mother has been
+waiting for nearly a year."
+
+"Father, dearest father!" and two white arms clung round the neck of the
+dying man, as their owner sank upon her knees by the bedside.
+
+"I'd stay for your sake, Kitty, but fate says no, and I'm so tired,
+darling, it will be like going into rest and peace.  She always was an
+angel, Kitty, and she must be now; I feel as if I must see her
+afterwards.  For I don't think I've been such a very bad man, Will."
+
+"The best of fellows, Bob, always," said the stout, florid,
+country-looking gentleman seated near the great heavily-curtained
+four-post bed.
+
+"Thanks, James.  I don't want to play the Pharisee, but I have tried to
+be an honest man and a good father."
+
+"Your name stands highest in the city, and your charities--"
+
+"Bother!  I made plenty of money by the bank, and I gave some away, and
+I wish it had done more good.  Well, my shares in the bank represent a
+hundred and fifty thousand; those are Kitty's.  There's about ten
+thousand pounds in India stock and consols."
+
+"Pray, pray don't talk any more, papa, dear."
+
+"Must, Kitty, while I can.  That money, Will, is yours for life, and
+after death it is for that boy of yours, Claud.  He doesn't deserve it,
+but perhaps he'll be a better boy some day.  Then there's the lease of
+this house, my furniture, books, plate, pictures, and money in the
+private account.  You will sell and realise everything; Kitty does not
+want a great gloomy house in Bedford Square--out of proceeds you will
+pay the servants' legacies, and the expenses, there will be ample; and
+the residue is to be given to your wife for her use.  That's all.  I
+have made you my sole executor, and I thought it better to send for you
+to tell you than for you to wait till the will was read.  Give me a
+little of that stuff in some water, Kitty."
+
+His head was tenderly raised, and he drank and sank back with a sigh.
+
+"Thank you, my darling.  Now, Will, I might have joined John Garstang
+with you as executor, but I thought it better to give you full control,
+you being a quiet country squire, leading your simple, honest,
+gentleman-farmer's life, while he is a keen speculative man."
+
+James Wilton, the banker's brother, uttered something like a sigh,
+muttered a few words about trying to do his duty, and listened, as the
+dying man went on--
+
+"I should not have felt satisfied.  You two might have disagreed over
+some marriage business, for there is no other that you will have to
+control.  And I said to myself that Will would not try to play the
+wicked uncle over my babe.  So you are sole executor, with very little
+to do, for I have provided for everything, I think.  Her money stays in
+the old bank I helped to build up, and the dividends will make her a
+handsome income.  What you have to see to is that she is not snapped up
+by some plausible scoundrel for the sake of her money.  When she does
+marry--"
+
+"Oh, papa, dear, don't, don't!  You are breaking my heart.  I shall
+never marry," sobbed the girl, as she laid her sweet young face by the
+thin, withered countenance on the pillow.
+
+"Yes, you will, my pet.  I wish it, when the right man comes, who loves
+you for yourself.  Girls like you are too scarce to be wasted.  But your
+uncle will watch over you, and see to that.  You hear, Will?"
+
+"Yes, I will do my duty by her."
+
+"I believe you."
+
+"But, papa dear, don't talk more.  The doctor said you must be kept so
+quiet."
+
+"I must wind up my affairs, my darling, and think of your future.  I've
+had quite enough of the men hanging about after the rich banker's
+daughter.  When my will is proved, the drones and wasps will come
+swarming round you for the money.  There is no one at all, yet, is
+there?" he said, with a searching look.
+
+"Oh, no, papa, I never even thought of such a thing."
+
+"I know it, my darling.  I've always been your sweetheart, and we've
+lived for one another, and I'm loth to leave you, dear."
+
+"Oh, father, dearest father, don't talk of leaving me," she sobbed.
+
+He smiled sadly, and his feeble hand played with her curls.
+
+"God disposes, my own," he said.  "But there, I must talk while I can.
+Now, listen.  These are nearly my last words, Will."
+
+His brother started and bent forward to hear his half-whispered words,
+and he wiped the dew from his sun-browned forehead, and shivered a
+little, for the chilly near approach of death troubled the hale,
+hearty-looking man, and gave a troubled look to his florid face.
+
+"When all is over, Will, as soon as you can, take her down to Northwood,
+and be a father to her.  Her aunt always loved her, and she'll be happy
+there.  Shake hands upon it, Will."
+
+The thin, white, trembling hand was placed in the fat, heavy palm
+extended, and rested there for some minutes before Robert Wilton spoke
+again.
+
+"Everything is set down clearly, Will.  The money invested in the bank
+is hers--one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, strictly tied up.  I
+have seen to that.  There, you will do your duty by her, and see that
+all goes well."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am satisfied, brother; I exact no oaths.  Kate, my child, your uncle
+will take my place.  I leave you in his hands."  Then in a low voice,
+heard only by her who clung to him, weeping silently, he whispered
+softly, "And in Thine, O God."
+
+The next morning the blinds were all down in front of Number 204,
+Bedford Square, which looked at its gloomiest in the wet fog, with the
+withered leaves falling fast from the great plane trees; and the iron
+shutters were half drawn up at the bank in Lothbury, for the old
+leather-covered chair in the director's rom was vacant, waiting for a
+new occupant--the chairman of the Great British and Bengalie Joint Stock
+Bank was dead.
+
+"As good and true a man as ever breathed," said the head clerk, shaking
+his grey head; "and we've all lost a friend.  I wonder who will marry
+Miss Kate!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+"Morning, Doctor.  Hardly expected to find you at home.  Thought you'd
+be on your rounds."
+
+The speaker was mounted on a rather restive cob, which he now checked by
+the gate of the pretty cottage in one of the Northwood lanes; and as he
+spoke he sprang down and placed his rein through the ring on the post
+close by the brass plate which bore the words--"Pierce Leigh, M.D.,
+Surgeon, etc.," but he did not look at the ring, for his eyes gave a
+furtive glance at the windows from one to the other quickly.
+
+He was not a groom, for his horse-shoe pin was set with diamonds, and a
+large bunch of golden charms hung at his watch chain, but his coat, hat,
+drab breeches, and leggings were of the most horsey cut, and on a near
+approach anyone might have expected to smell stables.  As it was, the
+odour he exhaled was Jockey Club, emanating from a white pocket
+handkerchief dotted with foxes' heads, hunting crops and horns, and
+saturated with scent.
+
+"My rounds are not very regular, Mr Wilton," said the gentleman
+addressed, and he looked keenly at the commonplace speaker, whose ears
+stood out widely from his closely-cropped hair.  "You people are
+dreadfully healthy down here," and he held open the garden gate and drew
+himself up, a fairly handsome, dark, keen-eyed, gentlemanly-looking man
+of thirty, slightly pale as if from study, but looking wiry and strong
+as an athlete.  "You wished to see me?"
+
+"Yes.  Bit off my corn.  Headache, black spots before my eyes, and that
+sort of thing.  Thought I'd consult the Vet."
+
+"Will you step in?"
+
+"Eh?  Yes.  Thankye."
+
+The Doctor led the way into his flower-decked half-study,
+half-consulting room, where several other little adornments suggested
+the near presence of a woman; and the would-be patient coughed
+unnecessarily, and kept on tapping his leg with the hunting crop he
+carried, as he followed, and the door was closed, and a chair was placed
+for him.
+
+"Eh?  Chair?  Thanks," said the visitor, taking it by the back, swinging
+it round, and throwing one leg across as if it were a saddle, crossing
+his arms and resting his chin there--the while he stared rather
+enviously at the man before him.  "Not much the matter, and you mustn't
+make me so that I can't get on.  Got a chap staying with me, and we're
+going after the pheasants.  I say, let me send you a brace."
+
+"You are very good," said the Doctor, smiling rather contemptuously,
+"but as I understand it they are not yet shot?"
+
+"Eh?  Oh, no; but no fear of that.  I can lick our keeper; pretty sure
+with a gun.  Want to see my tongue and feel my pulse?"
+
+"Well, no," said the Doctor, with a slight shrug of his shoulders.  "I
+can pretty well tell."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By your looks."
+
+"Eh?  Don't look bad, do I?"
+
+"Rather."
+
+"Something nasty coming on?" said the young man nervously.
+
+"Yes; bad bilious attack, if you are not careful.  You have been
+drinking too much beer and smoking too many strong cigars."
+
+"Not a bad guess," said the young man with a grin.  "Last boxes are
+enough to take the top of your head off.  Try one."
+
+"Thank you," was the reply, and a black-looking cigar was taken from the
+proffered case.
+
+"Mind, I've told you they are roofers."
+
+"I can smoke a strong cigar," said the Doctor, quietly.
+
+"You can?  Well, I can't.  Now then, mix up something; I want to be
+off."
+
+"There is no need to give you any medicine.  Leave off beer and tobacco
+for a few days, and you will be all right."
+
+"But aren't you going to give me any physic?"
+
+"Not a drop."
+
+"Glad of it.  But I say, the yokels down here won't care for it if you
+don't give them something."
+
+"I have found out that already.  There, sir, I have given you the best
+advice I can."
+
+"Thankye.  When am I to come again?"
+
+"Not until you are really ill.  Not then," said the Doctor, smiling
+slightly as he rose, "for I suppose I should be sent for to you."
+
+"That's all then?"
+
+"Yes, that is all."
+
+"Well, send in your bill to the guv'nor," said the young man, renewing
+his grin; "he pays all mine.  Nice morning, ain't it, for December?
+Soon have Christmas."
+
+"Yes, we shall soon have Christmas now," said the Doctor, backing his
+visitor toward the door.
+
+"But looks more like October, don't it?"
+
+"Yes, much more like October."
+
+"Steady, Beauty!  Ah, quiet, will you!" cried the young man, as he
+mounted the restive cob.  "She's a bit fresh.  Wants some of the dance
+taken out of her.  Morning.--Sour beggar, no wonder he don't get on,"
+muttered the patient.  "Take that and that.  Coming those games when I'm
+mounting!  How do you like that?  Wanted to have me off."
+
+There was a fresh application of the spurs, brutally given, and after
+plunging heavily the little mare tore off as hard as she could go, while
+the Doctor watched till his patient turned a corner, and then resumed
+his walk up and down the garden--a walk interrupted by the visit.
+
+"Insolent puppy!" he muttered, frowning.  "A miserable excuse."
+
+"Pierce, dear, where are you?" cried a pleasant voice, and a piquant
+little figure appeared at the door.  "Oh, there you are.  Shall I want a
+hat?  Oh, no, it's quite mild."  The owner of the voice hurried out like
+a beam of sunshine on the dull grey morning, and taking the Doctor's arm
+tried to keep step with him, after glancing up in his stern face, her
+own looking merry and arch with its dimples.
+
+"What is it, Jenny?" he said.
+
+"What is it, sir?  Why, I want fresh air as well as you; but don't
+stride along like that.  How can I keep step?  You have such long legs."
+
+"That's better," he said, trying to accommodate himself to the little
+body at his side.
+
+"Rather.  So you have had a patient," she said.
+
+"Yes, I've had a patient, Sis," he replied, looking down at her; and a
+faint colour dawned in her creamy cheeks.
+
+"And you always grumbling, sir!  There, I do believe that is the
+beginning of a change.  Who was the patient?"
+
+The Doctor's hand twitched, and he frowned, but he said, calmly enough,
+"That young cub from the Manor."
+
+"Mr Claud Wilton?" said the girl innocently; "Oh, I am glad.  Beginning
+with the rich people at the Manor.  Now everyone will come."
+
+"No, my dear; everyone will not come, and the sooner we pack up and go
+back to town the better."
+
+"What, sell the practice?"
+
+"Sell the practice," he cried contemptuously.  "Sell the furniture, Sis.
+One man--fool, I mean--was enough to be swindled over this affair.
+Practice!  The miserable scoundrel!  Much good may the money he
+defrauded me of do him.  No, but we shall have to go."
+
+"Don't, Pierce," said the girl, looking up at him wistfully.
+
+"Why?" he said angrily.
+
+"Because it did do me good being down here, and I like the place so
+much."
+
+"Any place would be better than that miserable hole at Westminster,
+where you were getting paler every day, but I ought to have been more
+businesslike.  It has not done you good though; and if you like the
+place the more reason why we should go," he cried angrily.
+
+"Oh, Pierce, dear, what a bear you are this morning.  Do be patient, and
+I know the patients will come."
+
+"Bah!  Not a soul called upon us since we've been here, except the
+tradespeople, so that they might get our custom."
+
+"But we've only been here six months, dear."
+
+"It will be the same when we've been here six years, and I'm wasting
+time.  I shall get away as soon as I can.  Start the New Year afresh in
+town."
+
+"Pierce, oh don't walk so fast.  How can I keep up with you?"
+
+"I beg your pardon."
+
+"That's better.  But, Pierce, dear," she said, with an arch look; "don't
+talk like that.  You wouldn't have the heart to go."
+
+"Indeed!  But I will."
+
+"I know better, dear."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"You couldn't go away now.  Oh, Pierce, dear, she is sweet!  I could
+love her so.  There is something so beautiful and pathetic in her face
+as she sits there in church.  Many a time I've felt the tears come into
+my eyes, and as if I could go across the little aisle and kiss her and
+call her sister."
+
+He turned round sharply and caught her by the arm, his eyes flashing
+with indignation.
+
+"Jenny," he cried, "are you mad?"
+
+"No, only in pain," she said, with her lip quivering.  "You hurt me.
+You are so strong."
+
+"I--I did not mean it," he said, releasing her.
+
+"But you hurt me still, dear, to see you like this.  Oh, Pierce,
+darling," she whispered, as she clung to his arm and nestled to him;
+"don't try and hide it from me.  A woman always knows.  I saw it from
+the first when she came down, and we first noticed her, and she came to
+church looking like some dear, suffering saint.  My heart went out to
+her at once, and the more so that I saw the effect it had on you.
+Pierce, dear, you do love me?"
+
+"You know," he said hoarsely.
+
+"Then be open with me.  What could be better?"
+
+He was silent for a few moments, and then he answered the pretty,
+wistful eyes, gazing so inquiringly in his.
+
+"Yes," he said.  "I will be open with you, Sis, for you mean well; but
+you speak like the pretty child you have always been to me.  Has it ever
+crossed your mind that I have never spoken to this lady, and that she is
+a rich heiress, and that I am a poor doctor who is making a failure of
+his life?"
+
+"What!" cried the girl proudly.  "Why, if she were a princess she would
+not be too grand for my brave noble brother."
+
+"Hah!" he cried, with a scornful laugh; "your brave noble brother!
+Well, go on and still think so of me, little one.  It's very pleasant,
+and does not hurt anyone.  I hope I'm too sensible to be spoiled by my
+little flatterer.  Only keep your love for me yet awhile," he said
+meaningly.  "Let's leave love out of the question till we can pay our
+way and have something to spare, instead of having no income at all but
+what comes from consols."
+
+"But Pierce--"
+
+"That will do.  You're a dear little goose.  We must want the Queen's
+Crown from the Tower because it's pretty."
+
+"Now you're talking nonsense, Pierce," she said, firmly, and she held
+his arm tightly between her little hands.  "You can't deny it, sir.  You
+fell in love with her from the first."
+
+"Jenny, my child," he said quietly.  "I promised our father I would be
+an honorable man and a gentleman."
+
+"And so you would have been, without promising."
+
+"I hope so.  Then now listen to me; never speak to me in this way
+again."
+
+"I will," she cried flushing.  "Answer me this; would it be acting like
+an honorable man to let that sweet angel of a girl marry Claud Wilton?"
+
+"What!" he cried, starting, and gazing at his sister intently.  "Her own
+cousin?  Absurd."
+
+"I've heard that it is to be so."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"People say so, and where there's smoke there's fire.  Cousins marry,
+and I don't believe they'll let a fortune like that go out of the
+family."
+
+"They're rich enough to laugh at it."
+
+"They're not rich; they're poor, for the Squire's in difficulties."
+
+"Petty village tattle.  Rubbish, girl.  Once more, no more of this.
+You're wrong, my dear.  You mean well, but there's an ugly saying about
+good intentions which I will not repeat.  Now listen to me.  The coming
+down to Northwood has been a grave mistake, and when people blunder the
+sooner they get back to the right path the better.  I have made up my
+mind to go back to London, and your words this morning have hastened it
+on.  The sooner we are off the better."
+
+"No, Pierce," said the girl firmly.  "Not to make you unhappy.  You
+shall not take a step that you will repent to the last day of your life,
+dear.  We must stay."
+
+"We must go.  I have nothing to stay for here.  Neither have you," he
+added, meaningly.
+
+"Pierce!" she cried, flushing.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; Mr Leigh, sir."
+
+They had been too much intent upon their conversation to notice the
+approach of a dog-cart, or that the groom who drove it had pulled up on
+seeing them, and was now talking to them over the hedge.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" said Leigh, sharply.
+
+"Will you come over to the Manor directly, sir?  Master's out, and
+Missus is in a trubble way.  Our young lady, sir, Miss Wilton, took
+bad--fainting and nervous.  You're to come at once."
+
+Jenny uttered a soft, low, long-drawn "Oh!" and, forgetful of everything
+he had said, Pierce Leigh rushed into the house, caught up his hat, and
+hurried out again, to mount into the dog-cart beside the driver.
+
+"Poor, dear old brother!" said Jenny, softly, as with her eyes
+half-blinded by the tears which rose, she watched the dog-cart driven
+away.  "I don't believe he will go to town.  Oh, how strangely things do
+come about.  I wish I could have gone too."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+John Garstang stood with his back to the fire in his well furnished
+office in Bedford Row, tall, upright as a Life Guardsman, but slightly
+more prominent about what the fashionable tailor called his client's
+chest.  He was fifty, but looked by artificial aid, forty.  Scrupulously
+well-dressed, good-looking, and with a smile which won the confidence of
+clients, though his regular white teeth were false, and the high
+foreheaded look which some people would have called baldness was so
+beautifully ivory white and shiny that it helped to make him look what
+he was--a carefully polished man of the world.
+
+The clean japanned boxes about the room, all bearing clients' names, the
+many papers on the table, the waste-paper basket on the rich Turkey
+carpet, chock full of white fresh letters and envelopes, all told of
+business; and the handsome morocco-covered easy chairs suggested
+occupancy by moneyed clients who came there for long consultations, such
+as would tell up in a bill.
+
+John Garstang was a family solicitor, and he looked it; but he would
+have made a large fortune as a physician, for his presence and urbane
+manner would have done anyone good.
+
+The morning papers had been glanced at and tossed aside, and the
+gentleman in question, while bathing himself in the warm glow of the
+fire, was carefully scraping and polishing his well-kept nails, pausing
+from time to time to blow off tiny scraps of dust; and at last he took
+two steps sideways noiselessly and touched the stud of an electric bell.
+
+A spare-looking, highly respectable man answered the summons and stood
+waiting till his principal spoke, which was not until the right hand
+little finger nail, which was rather awkward to get at, had been
+polished, when without raising his eyes, John Garstang spoke.
+
+"Mr Harry arrived?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"What time did he leave yesterday?"
+
+"Not here yesterday, sir."
+
+"The day before?"
+
+"Not here the day before yesterday, sir."
+
+"What time did he leave on Monday?"
+
+"About five minutes after you left for Brighton, sir."
+
+"Thank you, Barlow; that will do.  By the way--"
+
+The clerk who had nearly reached the door, turned, and there was again
+silence, while a few specks were blown from where they had fallen inside
+one of the spotless cuffs.
+
+"Send Mr Harry to me as soon as he arrives."
+
+"Yes, sir," and the man left the room; while after standing for a few
+moments thinking, John Garstang walked to one of the tin boxes in the
+rack and drew down a lid marked, "Wilton, Number 1."
+
+Taking from this a packet of papers carefully folded and tied up with
+green silk, he seated himself at his massive knee-hole table, and was in
+the act of untying the ribbon, when the door opened and a short,
+thick-set young man of five-and-twenty, with a good deal of French
+waiter in his aspect, saving his clothes, entered, passing one hand
+quickly over his closely-shaven face, and then taking the other to help
+to square the great, dark, purple-fringed, square, Joinville tie,
+fashionable in the early fifties.
+
+"Want to see me, father?"
+
+"Yes.  Shut the baize door."
+
+"Oh, you needn't be so particular.  It won't be the first time Barlow
+has heard you bully me."
+
+"Shut the baize door, if you please, sir," said Garstang, blandly.
+
+"Oh, very well!" cried the young man, and he unhooked and set free a
+crimson baize door whose spring sent it to with a thud and a snap.
+
+Then John Garstang's manner changed.  An angry frown gathered on his
+forehead, and he placed his elbows on the table, joined the tips of his
+fingers to form an archway, and looked beneath it at the young man who
+had entered.
+
+"You are two hours late this morning."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"You did not come here at all yesterday."
+
+"No, father."
+
+"Nor the day before."
+
+"No, father."
+
+"Then will you have the goodness to tell me, sir, how long you expect
+this sort of thing to go on?  You are not of the slightest use to me in
+my professional business."
+
+"No, and never shall be," said the young man coolly.
+
+"That's frank.  Then will you tell me why I should keep and supply with
+money such a useless drone?"
+
+"Because you have plenty, and a lot of it ought to be mine by right."
+
+"Why so, sir?  You are not my son."
+
+"No, but I'm my mother's."
+
+"Naturally," said Garstang, with a supercilious smile.
+
+"You need not sneer, sir.  If you hadnt deluded my poor mother into
+marrying you I should have been well off."
+
+"Your mother had a right to do as she pleased, sir.  Where have you
+been?"
+
+"Away from the office."
+
+"I know that.  Where to?"
+
+"Where I liked," said the young man sulkily, "I'm not a child."
+
+"No, and this conduct has become unbearable.  It is time you went away
+for good.  What do you say to going to Australia with your passage paid
+and a hundred pounds to start you?"
+
+"'Tisn't good enough."
+
+"Then you had better execute your old threat and enlist in a cavalry
+regiment.  I promise you that I will not buy you out."
+
+"Thank you, but it isn't good enough."
+
+"What are you going to do then?"
+
+"Never mind."
+
+Garstang looked up at him sharply, this time from outside the finger
+arch.
+
+"Don't provoke me, Harry Dasent, for your own sake.  What are you going
+to do?"
+
+"Get married."
+
+"Indeed?  Well, that's sensible.  But are there not enough pauper
+children for the parish to keep?"
+
+"Yes, but I am not going to marry a pauper.  You have my money and will
+not disgorge it, so I must have somebody's else."
+
+"Indeed!  Then you are going to look out for a lady with money?"
+
+"No.  I have already found one."
+
+"Anyone I know?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Who is it, pray?"
+
+"Katherine Wilton."
+
+Garstang's eyes contracted, and he gazed at his stepson for some moments
+in silence.  Then a contemptuous smile dawned upon his lip.
+
+"I was not aware that you were so ambitious, Harry.  But the lady?"
+
+"Oh, that will be all right."
+
+"Indeed!  May I ask when you saw her last?"
+
+"Yesterday evening at dinner."
+
+"You have been down to Northwood?"
+
+"Yes; I was there two days."
+
+"Did your Uncle Wilton invite you down?"
+
+"No, but Claud did, for a bit of shooting."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Garstang thoughtfully, and the young man stood
+gazing at him intently.  Then his manner changed, and he took one of the
+easy chairs, drew it forward, and seated himself, to sit leaning
+forward, and began speaking confidentially.
+
+"Look here, step-father," he half-whispered, "I've been down there
+twice.  I suspected it the first time; yesterday I was certain.  They're
+playing a deep game there."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Yes.  I saw through it at once.  They're running Claud for the stakes."
+
+"Please explain yourself, my good fellow; I do not understand racing
+slang."
+
+"Well, then, they mean Claud to marry Kate, and I'm not going to stand
+by and see that done."
+
+"By the way, I thought Claud was your confidential friend."
+
+"So he is, up to a point; but it's every man for himself in a case like
+this.  I'm in the race myself, and I mean to marry Kate Wilton myself.
+It's too good a prize to let slip."
+
+"And does the lady incline to my stepson's addresses?"
+
+"Well, hardly.  I've had no chance.  They watched me like cats do mice,
+and she has been so sickly that it would be nonsense to try and talk to
+her."
+
+"Then your prospects are very mild indeed."
+
+"Oh, no, they're not.  This is a case where a man must play trumps, high
+and at once.  I may as well speak out, and you'll help me.  There's no
+time shilly-shallying.  If I hesitate my chance would be gone.  I shall
+make my plans, and take her away."
+
+"With her consent, of course."
+
+"With or without," said the young man, coolly.
+
+"How?"
+
+"Oh, I'll find a means.  Girls are only girls, and they'll give way to a
+stronger will.  Once I get hold of her she'll obey me, and a marriage
+can soon be got through."
+
+"But suppose she refuses?"
+
+"She'll be made," said the young man, sharply.  "The stakes are worth
+some risk."
+
+"But are you aware that the law would call this abduction?"
+
+"I don't care what the law calls it if I get the girl."
+
+"And it would mean possibly penal servitude."
+
+"Well, I'm suffering that now, situated as I am.  There, father, never
+mind the law.  Don't be squeamish; a great fortune is at stake, and it
+must come into our family, not into theirs."
+
+"You think they are trying that?"
+
+"Think?  I'm sure.  Claud owned to as much, but he's rather on somewhere
+else.  Come, you'll help me?  It would be a grand coup."
+
+"Help you?  Bah! you foolish young ass!  It is impossible.  It is
+madness.  You don't know what you are talking about.  The girl could
+appeal to the first policeman, and you would be taken into custody.  You
+and Claud Wilton must have been having a drinking bout, and the liquor
+is still in your head.  There, go to your own room, and when you can
+talk sensibly come back to me."
+
+"I can talk sensibly now.  Will you help me with a couple of hundred
+pounds to carry this through?  I should want to take her for a couple of
+months on the Continent, and bring her back my wife."
+
+"Two hundred pounds to get you clapped in a cell at Bow Street."
+
+"No; to marry a hundred and fifty thousand pounds."
+
+"No, no, no.  You are a fool, a visionary, a madman.  It is impossible,
+and I shall feel it my duty to write to James Wilton to forbid, you the
+house."
+
+"Once more; will you help me?"
+
+"Once more, no.  Now go, and let me get on with my affairs.  Someone
+must work."
+
+"Then you will not?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then listen to me: I've made up my mind to it, and do it.  I will, at
+any cost, at any risk.  She shan't marry Claud Wilton, and she shall
+marry me.  Yes, you may smile, but if I die for it I'll have that girl
+and her money."
+
+"But it would cost two hundred pounds to make the venture, sir.  Perhaps
+you had better get that first.  Now please go."
+
+The young man rose and looked at him fiercely for a few minutes, and
+Garstang met his eyes firmly.
+
+"No," he said, "that would not do, Harry.  The law fences us round
+against robbery and murder, just as it does women against abduction.
+You are not in your senses.  You were drinking last night.  Go back home
+and have a long sleep.  You'll be better then."
+
+The young man glanced at him sharply and left the room.
+
+Ten minutes spent in deep thought were passed by Garstang, who then
+rose, replaced the papers in the tin case, and crossed and rang the
+bell.
+
+"Send Mr Harry here."
+
+"He went out as soon as he left your room, sir."
+
+"Thank you; that will do."  Then, as the door closed upon the clerk,
+Garstang said softly:
+
+"So that's it; then it is quite time to act."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+"Will that Doctor never come!" muttered plump Mrs Wilton, who had been
+for the past ten minutes running from her niece's bedside to one of the
+front casement windows of the fine old Kentish Manor House, to watch the
+road through the park.  "He might have come from London by this time.
+There, it's of no use; it's fate, and fate means disappointment.  She'll
+die; I'm sure she'll die, and all that money will go to those wretched
+Morrisons.  Why did he go out to the farms this morning?  Any other
+morning would have done; and Claud away, too.  Was ever woman so
+plagued?--Yes, what is it?  Oh, it's you, Eliza.  How is she?"
+
+"Quite insensible, ma'am.  Is the Doctor never coming?"
+
+"Don't ask me, Eliza.  I sent the man over in the dog-cart, with
+instructions to bring him back."
+
+"Then pray, pray come and stay with me in the bedroom, ma'am."
+
+"But I can't do anything, Eliza, and it isn't as if she were my own
+child.  I couldn't bear to see her die."
+
+"Mrs Wilton!" cried the woman, wildly.  "Oh, my poor darling young
+mistress, whom I nursed from a babe--die!"
+
+"Here's master--here's Mr Wilton," cried the rosy-faced lady from the
+window, and making a dash at a glass to see that her cap was right, she
+hurried out of the room and down the broad oaken stairs to meet her lord
+at the door.
+
+"Hallo, Maria, what's the matter?" he cried, meeting her in the hall,
+his high boots splashed with mud, and a hunting whip in his hand.
+
+"Oh, my dear, I'm so glad you've come!  Kate--fainting fits--one after
+the other--dying."
+
+"The devil!  What have you done?"
+
+"Cold water--vinegar--burnt--"
+
+"No, no.  Haven't you sent for the Doctor?"
+
+"Yes, I sent Henry with the dog-cart to fetch Mr Leigh."
+
+"Mr Leigh!  Were you mad?  What do you know about Mr Leigh?  Bah, you
+always were a fool!"
+
+"Yes, my dear, but what was I to do?  It would have taken three hours to
+get--Oh, here he is."
+
+For there was the grating of carriage wheels on the drive, the dog-cart
+drew up, and Pierce Leigh sprang down and entered the hall.
+
+Mrs Wilton glanced timidly at her husband, who gave her a sulky nod,
+and then turned to the young Doctor.
+
+"My young niece--taken bad," he said, gruffly, "You'd better go up and
+see her.  Here, Maria, take him up."
+
+Unceremonious; but businesslike, and Leigh showed no sign of resentment,
+but with a peculiar novel fluttering about the region of the heart he
+followed the lady, who, panting the while, led the way upstairs, and
+breathlessly tried to explain how delicate her niece was, and how after
+many days of utter despondency, she had suddenly been seized with an
+attack of hysteria, which had been succeeded by fit after fit.
+
+The next minute they were in the handsome bedroom at the end of a long,
+low corridor, where, pale as death, and with her maid--erst nurse--
+kneeling by her and fanning her, Kate Wilton, in her simple black, lay
+upon a couch, looking as if the Doctor's coming were too late.
+
+He drew a deep breath, and set his teeth as he sank on one knee by the
+insensible figure, which he longed with an intense longing to clasp to
+his breast.  Then his nerves were strung once more, and he was the calm,
+professional man giving his orders, as he made his examination and
+inspired aunt and nurse with confidence, the latter uttering a sigh of
+relief as she opened the window, and obeyed sundry other orders, the
+result being that at the end of half an hour the sufferer, who twice
+over unclosed her eyes, and responded to her aunt's questions with a
+faint smile, had sunk into the heavy sleep of exhaustion.
+
+"Better leave her now, madam," said Leigh, softly.  "Sleep is the great
+thing for her."  Then, turning to the maid--"You had better stay and
+watch by her, though she will not wake for hours."
+
+"God bless you, sir," she whispered, with a look full of gratitude which
+made Leigh give her an encouraging smile, and he then followed Mrs
+Wilton downstairs.
+
+"Really, it's wonderful," she said.  "Thank you so much, Doctor.  I'm
+sure you couldn't have been nicer if you'd been quite an old man, and I
+really think that next time I'm ill I shall--Oh, my dear, she's ever so
+much better now."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Wilton; and then he gave his wife an angry look, as
+she pushed him in the chest.
+
+"Come in here and sit down, Mr Leigh.  I want you to tell us all you
+think."
+
+The Doctor followed into the library, whose walls were covered with
+books that were never used, while, making an effort to be civil, their
+owner pointed to a chair and took one himself, Leigh waiting till his
+plump, amiable-looking hostess had subsided, and well-filled that
+nearest the fire.
+
+"Found her better then?" said Wilton.
+
+"No, sir," said Leigh, smiling, "but she is certainly better now."
+
+"That's what I meant.  Nothing the matter, then.  Vapours, whims, young
+girls' hysterics, and that sort of thing?  What did she have for
+breakfast, Maria?"
+
+"Nothing at all, dear.  I can't get her to eat."
+
+"Humph!  Why don't you make her?  Can't stand our miserable cookery, I
+suppose.  Well, Doctor, then, it's a false alarm?"
+
+"No, sir; a very serious warning."
+
+"Eh?  You don't think there's danger?  Here, we'd better send for some
+big man from town."
+
+"That is hardly necessary, sir, though I should be happy to meet a man
+of experience in consultation."
+
+"My word!  What airs!" said Wilton, to himself.
+
+"As far as I could I have pretty well diagnosed the case, and it is very
+simple.  Your niece has evidently suffered deeply."
+
+"Terribly, Doctor; she has been heart-broken."
+
+"Now, my dear Maria, do pray keep your mouth shut, and let Mr Leigh
+talk.  He doesn't want you to teach him his business."
+
+"But James, dear, I only just--"
+
+"Yes, you always will only just!  Go on, please, Doctor, and you'll send
+her some medicine?"
+
+"It is hardly a case for medicine, sir.  Your niece's trouble is almost
+entirely mental.  Given rest and happy surroundings, cheerful female
+society of her own age, fresh air, moderate exercise, and the calmness
+and peace of a home like this, I have no doubt that her nerves will soon
+recover their tone."
+
+"Then they had better do it," said Wilton, gruffly.  "She has everything
+a girl can wish for.  My son and I have done all we can to amuse her."
+
+"And I'm sure I have been as loving as a mother to her," said Mrs
+Wilton.
+
+"Yes, but you are mistaken, sir.  There must be something more.  I'd
+better take her up to town for advice."
+
+"By all means, sir," said Leigh, coldly.  "It might be wise, but I
+should say that she would be better here, with time to work its own
+cure."
+
+"Of course, I mean no disrespect to you, Mr Leigh, but you are a young
+man, and naturally inexperienced."
+
+"Now I don't want to hurt your feelings, James," broke in Mrs Wilton,
+"but it is you who are inexperienced in what young girls are.  Mr Leigh
+has spoken very nicely, and quite understands poor Kate's case.  If you
+had only seen the way in which he brought her round!"
+
+"I really do wish, Maria, that you would not interfere in what you don't
+understand," cried Wilton, irascibly.
+
+"But I'm obliged to when I find you going wrong.  It's just what I've
+said to you over and over again.  You men are so hard and unfeeling, and
+don't believe there are such things as nerves.  Now, I'm quite sure that
+Mr Leigh could do her a great deal of good, if you'd only attend to
+your out-door affairs and leave her to me--You grasped it all at once,
+Mr Leigh.  Poor child, she has done nothing but fret ever since she has
+been here, and no wonder.  Within a year she has lost both father and
+mother."
+
+"Now, Maria, Mr Leigh does not want to hear all our family history."
+
+"And I'm not going to tell it to him, my dear; but it's just as I felt.
+It was only last night, when she had that fit of hysterical sobbing, I
+said to myself, Now if I had a dozen girls--as I should have liked to,
+instead of a boy, who is really a terrible trial to one, Mr Leigh--I
+should--"
+
+"Maria!"
+
+"Yes, my dear; but you should let me finish.  If poor dear Kate had come
+here and found a lot of girls she would have been as happy as the day is
+long.--And you don't think she wants physic, Mr Leigh?  No, no, don't
+hurry away."
+
+"I have given you my opinion, madam," said Leigh, who had risen.
+
+"Yes, and I'm sure it is right.  I did give her some fluid magnesia
+yesterday, the same as I take for my acidity--"
+
+"Woman, will you hold your tongue!" cried Wilton.
+
+"No, James, certainly not.  It is my duty, as poor Kate's aunt, to do
+what is best for her; and you should not speak to me like that before a
+stranger.  I don't know what he will think.  The fluid magnesia would
+not do her any harm, would it, Mr Leigh?"
+
+"Not the slightest, madam; and I feel sure that with a little motherly
+attention and such a course of change as I prescribed, Miss Wilton will
+soon be well."
+
+"There, James, we must have the Morrison girls to stay here with her.
+They are musical and--"
+
+"We shall have nothing of the kind, Maria," said her husband, with
+asperity.
+
+"Well, I know you don't like them, my dear, but in a case of urgency--by
+the way, Mr Leigh, someone told me your sister played exquisitely on
+the organ last Sunday because the organist was ill."
+
+"My sister does play," said Leigh, coldly.
+
+"I wish I had been at church to hear her, but my poor Claud had such a
+bad bilious headache I was nearly sending for you, and I had to stay at
+home and nurse him.  I'm sure the cooking must be very bad at those
+cricket match dinners."
+
+"Now, my dear Maria, you are keeping Mr Leigh."
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, he was sent for to give us his advice, and I'm sure it
+is very valuable.  By the way, Mr Leigh, why has not your sister called
+here?"
+
+"I--er--really--my professional duties have left me little time for
+etiquette, madam, but I was under the impression that the first call
+should be to the new-comer."
+
+"Why, of course.  Do sit down, James.  You are only kicking the dust out
+of this horrid thick Turkey carpet--they are such a job to move and get
+beaten, Mr Leigh.  Do sit down, dear; you know how it fidgets me when
+you will jump up and down like a wild beast in a cage."
+
+"Waffle!" said Mr Wilton aside.
+
+"You are quite right, Mr Leigh; I ought to have called, but Claud does
+take up so much of my time.  But I will call to-morrow, and then you two
+come up here the next day and dine with us, and I feel sure that our
+poor dear Kate will be quite pleased to know your sister.  Tell her--no;
+I'll ask her to bring some music.  She seems very nice, and young girls
+do always get on so well together.  I know she'll do my niece a deal of
+good.  But, of course, you will come again to-day, and keep on seeing
+her as much as you think necessary."
+
+"Really I--" said Leigh, hesitating, and glancing resentfully at the
+master of the house.
+
+"Oh, yes, come on, Mr Leigh, and put my niece right as soon as you
+can," he said.
+
+"But your regular medical attendant--Mr Rainsford, I believe?"
+
+"You may believe he's a pig-headed, obstinate old fool," growled Wilton.
+"Wanted to take off my leg when I had a fall at a hedge, and the horse
+rolled over it.  Simple fracture, sir; and swore it would mortify.  I
+mortified him."
+
+"Yes, Mr Leigh, and the leg's stronger now than the other," interposed
+Mrs Wilton.
+
+"How do you know, Maria?" said her husband gruffly.
+
+"Well, my dear, you've often said so."
+
+"Humph!  Come in again and see Miss Wilton, Doctor, and I shall feel
+obliged," said the uncle.  "Good morning.  The dog-cart is waiting to
+drive you back.  I'll send and have you fetched about--er--four?"
+
+"It would be better if it were left till seven or eight, unless, of
+course, there is need."
+
+"Eight o'clock, then," said Wilton; and Pierce Leigh bowed and left the
+room, with the peculiar sensation growing once more in his breast, and
+lasting till he reached home, thinking of how long it would be before
+eight o'clock arrived.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+"I should very much like to know what particular sin I have committed
+that I should have been plagued all my life with a stupid, garrulous old
+woman for a wife, who cannot be left an hour without putting her foot in
+it some way or another."
+
+"Ah, you did not say so to me once, James," sighed Mrs Wilton.
+
+"No, a good many hundred times.  It's really horrible."
+
+"But James--"
+
+"There, do hold your tongue--if you can, woman.  First you get inviting
+that young ruffian of John Garstang's to stay when he comes down."
+
+"But, my dear, it was Claud.  You know how friendly those two always
+have been."
+
+"Yes, to my sorrow; but you coaxed him to stay."
+
+"Really, my dear, I could not help it without being rude."
+
+"Then why weren't you rude?  Do you want him here, fooling about that
+girl till she thinks he loves her and marries him?"
+
+"Oh, no, dear, it would be horrid.  But you don't think--"
+
+"Yes, I do, fortunately," snapped Wilton.  "Why don't you think?"
+
+"I do try to, my dear."
+
+"Bah!  Try!  Then you want to bring in those locusts of Morrisons.  It's
+bad enough to know that the money goes there if Kate dies, without
+having them hanging about and wanting her to go."
+
+"I'm very, very sorry, James.  I wish I was as clever as you."
+
+"So do I.  Then, as soon as you are checked in that, you dodge round and
+invite that Doctor, who's a deuced sight too good-looking, to come
+again, and ask him to bring his sister."
+
+"But, my dear, it will do Kate so much good, and she really seems very
+nice."
+
+"Nice, indeed!  I wish you were.  I believe you are half mad."
+
+"Really, James, you are too bad, but I won't resent it, for I want to go
+up to Kate; but if someone here is mad, it is not I."
+
+"Yes, it is.  Like a weak fool I spoke plainly to you about my plans."
+
+"If you had always done so we should have been better off and not had to
+worry about getting John Garstang's advice, with his advances and
+interests, and mortgages and foreclosures."
+
+"You talk about what you don't understand, woman," said Wilton, sharply.
+"Can't you see that it is to our interest to keep the poor girl here?
+Do you want to toss her amongst a flock of vulture-like relatives, who
+will devour her?"
+
+"Why, of course not, dear."
+
+"But you tried to."
+
+"I'm sure I didn't.  You said she was so ill you were afraid she'd die
+and slip through our fingers."
+
+"Yes, and all her money go to the Morrisons."
+
+"Oh, yes, I forgot that.  But I gave in directly about not having them
+here; and what harm could it do if Miss Leigh came?  I'm sure it would
+do poor Kate a lot of good."
+
+"And Claud, too, I suppose."
+
+"Claud?"
+
+"Ugh!  You stupid old woman!  Isn't she young and pretty?  And artful,
+too, I'll be bound; poor Doctor's young sisters always are."
+
+"Are they, dear?"
+
+"Of course they are; and before she'd been here five minutes she'd be
+making eyes at that boy, and you know he's just like gunpowder."
+
+"James, dear, you shouldn't."
+
+"I was just as bad at his age--worse perhaps;" and Mr James Wilton, the
+stern, sage Squire of Northwood Manor, J.P., chairman of the Quarter
+Sessions, and several local institutions connected with the morals of
+the poor, chuckled softly, and very nearly laughed.
+
+"James, dear, I'm surprised at you."
+
+"Humph!  Well, boys will be boys.  You know what he is."
+
+"But do you really think--"
+
+"Yes, I do really think, and I wish you would too.  Kate does not take
+to our boy half so well as I should like to see, and nothing must occur
+to set her against him.  It would be madness."
+
+"Well, it would be very disappointing if she married anyone else."
+
+"Disappointing?  It would be ruin.  So be careful."
+
+"Oh, yes, dear, I will indeed.  I have tried to talk to her a little
+about what a dear good boy Claud is, and--why, Claud, dear, how long
+have you been standing there?"
+
+"Just come.  Time to hear you say what a dear good boy I am.  Won't
+father believe it?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+Claud Wilton, aged twenty, with his thin pimply face, long narrow jaw,
+and closely-cropped hair, which was very suggestive of brain fever or
+imprisonment, stood leering at his father, his appearance in no wise
+supporting his mother's high encomiums as he indulged in a feeble smile,
+one which he smoothed off directly with his thin right hand, which
+lingered about his lips to pat tenderly the remains of certain
+decapitated pimples which redly resented the passage over them that
+morning of an unnecessary razor, which laid no stubble low.
+
+The Vicar of the Parish had said one word to his lady re Claud Wilton--a
+very short but highly expressive word that he had learned at college.
+It was "cad,"--and anyone who had heard it repeated would not have
+ventured to protest against its suitability, for his face alone
+suggested it, though he did all he could to emphasise the idea by
+adopting a horsey, collary, cuffy style of dress, every article of which
+was unsuited to his physique.
+
+"Has Henry Dasent gone?"
+
+"Yes, guvnor, and precious glad to go.  You were awfully cool to him, I
+must say.  He said if it wasn't for his aunt he'd never darken the doors
+again."
+
+"And I hope he will not, sir.  He is no credit to your mother."
+
+"But I think he means well, my dear," said Mrs Wilton, plaintively.
+"It is not his fault.  My poor dear sister did spoil him so."
+
+"Humph!  And she was not alone.  Look here, Claud, I will not have him
+here.  I have reasons for it, and he, with his gambling and racing
+propensities, is no proper companion for you."
+
+"P'raps old Garstang says the same about me," said the young man,
+sulkily.
+
+"Claud, my dear, for shame," said Mrs Wilton.  "You should not say such
+things."
+
+"I don't care what John Garstang says; I will not have his boy here.
+Insolent, priggish, wanting in respect to me, and--and--he was a deal
+too attentive to Kate."
+
+"Oh, my dear, did you think so?" cried Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Yes, madam, I did think so," said her husband with asperity, "and, what
+was ten times worse, you were always leaving them together in your
+blundering way."
+
+"Don't say such things to me, dear, before Claud."
+
+"Then don't spend your time making mistakes.  Just come, have you, sir?"
+
+"Oh, yes, father, just come," said the young man, with an offensive
+grin.
+
+"You heard more than you said, sir," said the Squire, "so we may as well
+have a few words at once."
+
+"No, no, no, my dear; pray, pray don't quarrel with Claud now; I'm sure
+he wants to do everything that is right."
+
+"Be quiet, Maria," cried the Squire, angrily.
+
+"All right, mother; I'm not going to quarrel," said the son.
+
+"Of course not I only want Claud to understand his position.  Look here,
+sir, you are at an age when a bo--, when a man doesn't understand the
+value of money."
+
+"Oh, I say, guv'nor!  Come, I like that."
+
+"It's quite true, sir.  You boys only look upon money as something to
+spend."
+
+"Right you are, this time."
+
+"But it means more, sir--power, position, the respect of your fellows--
+everything."
+
+"Needn't tell me, guv'nor; I think I know a thing or two about tin."
+
+"Now, suppose we leave slang out of the matter and talk sensibly, sir,
+about a very important matter."
+
+"Go on ahead then, dad; I'm listening."
+
+"Sit down then, Claud."
+
+"Rather stand, guv'nor; stand and grow good, ma."
+
+"Yes, my dear, do then," said Mrs Wilton, smiling at her son fondly.
+"But listen now to what papa says; it really is very important."
+
+"All right, mother; but cut it short, father, my horse is waiting and I
+don't want him to take cold."
+
+"Of course not, my boy; always take care of your horse.  I will be very
+brief and to the point, then.  Look here, Claud, your cousin,
+Katherine--"
+
+"Oh!  Ah, yes; I heard she was ill.  What does the Doctor say?"
+
+"Never mind what the Doctor says.  It is merely a fit of depression and
+low spirits.  Now this is a serious matter.  I did drop hints to you
+before.  I must be plain now about my ideas respecting your future.  You
+understand?"
+
+"Quite fly, dad.  You want me to marry her."
+
+"Exactly.  Of course in good time."
+
+"But ain't I `owre young to marry yet,' as the song says?"
+
+"Years do not count, my boy," said his father, majestically.  "If you
+were ten years older and a weak, foolish fellow, it would be bad; but
+when it is a case of a young man who is bright, clever, and who has had
+some experience of the world, it is different."
+
+Mrs Wilton, who was listening intently to her husband's words, bowed
+her head, smiled approval, and looked with the pride of a mother at her
+unlicked cub.
+
+But Claud's face wrinkled up, and he looked inquiringly at his elder.
+
+"I say, guv'nor," he said, "does this mean chaff?"
+
+"Chaff?  Certainly not, sir," said the father sternly.  "Do I look like
+a man who would descend to--to--to chaff, as you slangly term it, my own
+son?"
+
+"Not a bit of it, dad; but last week you told me I was the somethingest
+idiot you ever set eyes on."
+
+"Claud!"
+
+"Well, he did, mother, and he used that favourite word of his before it.
+You know," said the youth, with a grin.
+
+"Claud, my dear, you shouldn't."
+
+"I didn't, mother; it was the dad.  I never do use it except in the
+stables or to the dogs."
+
+"Claud, my boy, be serious.  Yes, I did say so, but you had made me very
+angry, and--er--I spoke for your good."
+
+"Yes, I'm sure he did, my dear," said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Oh, all right, then, so long as he didn't mean it.  Well, then, to cut
+it short, you both want me to marry Kate?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Not much of a catch.  Talk about a man's wife being a clinging vine;
+she'll be a regular weeping willow."
+
+"Ha! ha! very good, my boy," said Wilton, senior; "but no fear of that.
+Poor girl, look at her losses."
+
+"But she keeps going on getting into deeper misery.  Look at her."
+
+"It only shows the sweet tenderness of her disposition, Claud, my dear,"
+said his mother.
+
+"Yes, of course," said his father, "but you'll soon make her dry her
+eyes."
+
+"And she really is a very sweet, lovable, and beautiful girl, my dear,"
+said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Tidy, mother; only her eyes always look as red as a ferret's."
+
+"Claud, my dear, you shouldn't--such comparisons are shocking."
+
+"Oh, all right, mother.  Very well; as I am such a clever,
+man-of-the-world sort of a chap, I'll sacrifice myself for the family
+good.  But I say, dad, she really has that hundred and fifty thou--?"
+
+"Every shilling of it, my boy, and--er--really that must not go out of
+the family."
+
+"Well, it would be a pity.  Only you will have enough to leave me to
+keep up the old place."
+
+"Well--er--I--that is--I have been obliged to mortgage pretty heavily."
+
+"I say, guv'nor," cried the young man, looking aghast; "you don't mean
+to say you've been hit?"
+
+"Hit?  No, my dear, certainly not," cried Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Oh, do be quiet, ma.  Father knows what I mean."
+
+"Well, er--yes, my boy, to be perfectly frank, I have during the past
+few years made a--er--two or three rather unfortunate speculations, but,
+as John Garstang says--"
+
+"Oh, hang old Garstang!  This is horrible, father; just now, too, when I
+wanted to bleed you rather heavily."
+
+"Claud, my darling, don't, pray don't use such dreadful language."
+
+"Will you be quiet, ma!  It's enough to make a fellow swear.  Are you
+quite up a tree, guv'nor?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, my boy, not so bad as that.  Things can go oh for years
+just as before, and, er--in reason, you know--you can have what money
+you require; but I want you to understand that you must not look forward
+to having this place, and er--to see the necessity for thinking
+seriously about a wealthy marriage.  You grasp the position now?"
+
+"Dad, it was a regular smeller, and you nearly knocked me out of time.
+I saw stars for the moment."
+
+"My dearest boy, what are you talking about?" asked Mrs Wilton,
+appealingly.
+
+"Oh, bother!  But, I say, guv'nor, I'm glad you spoke out to me--like a
+man."
+
+"To a man, my boy," said the father, holding out his hand, which the son
+eagerly grasped.  "Then now we understand each other?"
+
+"And no mistake, guv'nor."
+
+"You mustn't let her slip through your fingers, my boy."
+
+"Likely, dad!"
+
+"You must be careful; no more scandals--no more escapades--no follies of
+any kind."
+
+"I'll be a regular saint, dad.  I say, think I ought to read for the
+church?"
+
+"Good gracious me, Claud, my dear, what do you mean?"
+
+"White choker, flopping felt, five o'clock tea, and tennis, mother.
+Kate would like that sort of thing."
+
+Wilton, senior, smiled grimly.
+
+"No, no, my boy, be the quiet English gentleman, and let her see that
+you really care for her and want to make her happy.  Poor girl, she
+wants love and sympathy."
+
+"And she shall have 'em, dad, hot and strong.  A hundred and fifty
+thou--!"
+
+"Would clear off every lien on the property, my boy, and it would be a
+grand thing for my poor deceased brother's child."
+
+"You do think so, don't, you, my dear?" said Mrs Wilton, mentally
+extending a tendril, to cling to her husband, "because I--"
+
+"Decidedly, decidedly, my dear," said the Squire, quickly.  "Thank you,
+Claud, my boy," he continued.  "I shall rely upon your strong common
+sense and judgment."
+
+"All right, guv'nor.  You give me my head.  I'll make it all right.
+I'll win the stakes with hands down."
+
+"I do trust you, my boy; but you must be gentle, and not too hasty."
+
+"I know," said the young man with a cunning look.  "You leave me alone."
+
+"Hah!  That's right, then," said the Squire, drawing a deep breath as he
+smiled at his son; but all the same his eyes did not look the confidence
+expressed by his words.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+"Why, there then, my precious, you are ever so much better.  You look
+quite bright this morning."
+
+"Do I, 'Liza?" said Kate sadly, as she walked to her bedroom window and
+stood gazing out at the sodden park and dripping trees.
+
+"Ever so much, my dear.  Mr Leigh has done you a deal of good.  I do
+wonder at finding such a clever gentlemanly Doctor down in an
+out-of-the-way place like this.  You like him, don't you?"
+
+The girl turned slowly and gazed at the speaker, her brow contracting a
+little at the inner corners of her straight eyebrows, which were drawn
+up, giving her face a troubled expression.
+
+"I hardly thing I do, nurse, dear; he is so stern and firm with me.  He
+seems to talk to me as if it were all my fault that I have been so weak
+and ill; and he does not know--he does not know."
+
+The tears rose to her eyes, ready to brim over as she spoke.
+
+"Ah! naughty little girl!" cried the woman, with mock anger; "crying
+again!  I will not have it.  Oh! my own pet," she continued, changing
+her manner, as she passed her arm lovingly about the light waist and
+tenderly kissed her charge.  "Please, please try.  You are so much
+better.  You must hold up."
+
+"Yes, yes, nurse, I will," cried the girl, making an effort, and kissing
+the homely face lovingly.
+
+"And what did I tell you?  I'm always spoken of as your maid now--lady's
+maid.  It must not be nurse any longer."
+
+"Ah!" said Kate, with the wistful look coming in her eyes again; "it
+seems as if all the happy old things are to be no more."
+
+"No, no, my dear; you must not talk so.  You not twenty, and giving up
+so to sadness!  You must try and forget."
+
+"Forget!" cried the girl, reproachfully.
+
+"No, no, not quite forget, dear; but try and bear your troubles like a
+woman now.  Who could forget dear old master, and your poor dear mother?
+But would they like you to fret yourself into the grave with sorrow?
+Would they not say if they could come to you some night, `Never forget
+us, darling; but try and bear this grief as a true woman should'?"
+
+"Yes," said the girl, thoughtfully, "and I will.  But I don't feel as if
+I could be happy here."
+
+The maid sighed.
+
+"Uncle is very kind, and my aunt is very loving in her way, but I feel
+as if I want to be alone somewhere--of course with you.  I have lain
+awake at night, longing to be back home."
+
+"But that is impossible now, darling.  Cook wrote to me the other day,
+and she told me that the house and furniture had been sold, and that the
+workmen were in, and--oh, what a stupid woman I am.  Pretty way to try
+and comfort you!"
+
+"It's nothing, 'Liza.  It's all gone now," said the girl, smiling
+piteously.
+
+"That's nice and brave of you; but I am very stupid, my dear.  There,
+there, you will try and be more hopeful, and to think of the future?"
+
+"Yes, I will; but I'm sure I should be better and happier if I went away
+from here.  Couldn't we have a cottage somewhere--at the seaside,
+perhaps, and live together?"
+
+"Well, yes, you could, my dear; but it wouldn't be nice for you, nor yet
+proper treatment to your uncle and aunt.  Come, try and get quite well.
+So you don't like Doctor Leigh?"
+
+"No, I think not."
+
+"Nor yet Miss Jenny?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I like her," said Kate, with animation.  "She is very sweet
+and girlish.  Oh, nurse, dear, I wish I could be as happy, and
+light-hearted as she is!"
+
+"So you will be soon, my darling.  I don't want to see you quite like
+her.  You are so different; but she is a very nice girl, and by-and-by
+perhaps you'll see more of her.  You do want more of a companion of your
+own age.  There goes the breakfast bell!  What a wet, soaking morning;
+but it isn't foggy down here like it used to be in the Square, and the
+sun shines more; and Miss Kate--"
+
+"Oh, don't speak like that, nurse!"
+
+"But I must, my dear.  I have to keep my place down here."
+
+"Well, when we are alone then.  What were you going to say?"
+
+"I want you to try and make me happy down here."
+
+"I?  How can I?"
+
+"By letting the sunshine come back into your face.  You've nearly broken
+my heart lately, what with seeing you crying and being so ill."
+
+"I'm going to try, nurse."
+
+"That's right.  What's that?  Hail?"
+
+At that moment there was a tap at the door.
+
+"Nearly ready to go down, my darling?"
+
+The door opened, and Mrs Wilton appeared.
+
+"May I come in?  Ah, quite ready.  Come, that's better, my pretty pet.
+Why, you look lovely and quite a colour coming into your face.  Now,
+don't she look nice this morning?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am; I've been telling her so."
+
+"I thought we should bring her round.  I am pleased, and you're a very
+good girl.  Your uncle will be delighted; but come along down, and let's
+make the tea, or he'll be going about like a roaring lion for his food.
+Oh! bless me, what's that?"
+
+"That" was a sharp rattling, for the second time, on the window-pane.
+
+"Not hail, surely.  Oh, you naughty boy," she continued, throwing open
+the casement window.  "Claud, my dear, you shouldn't throw stones at the
+bedroom windows."
+
+"Only small shot.  Morning.  How's Kate?  Tell her the breakfast's
+waiting."
+
+"We're coming, my dear, and your cousin's ever so much better.  Come
+here, my dear."
+
+Kate coloured slightly, as she went to the open window, and Claud stood
+looking up, grinning.
+
+"How are you?  Didn't you hear the shot I pitched up before?"
+
+"Yes, I thought it was hail," said Kate, coldly.
+
+"Only number six.  But come on down; the guv'nor's been out these two
+hours, and gone to change his wet boots."
+
+"We're coming, my dear," cried Mrs Wilton; "and Claud, my dear, I'm
+sure your feet must be wet.  Go in and change your boots at once."
+
+"Bother.  They're all right."
+
+"Now don't be obstinate, my dear; you know how delicate your throat is,
+and--There, he's gone.  You'll have to help me to make him more
+obedient, Kate, my dear.  I've noticed already how much more attention
+he pays to what you say.  But there, come along."
+
+James Wilton was already in the breakfast-room, looking at his letters,
+and scowling over them like the proverbial bear with the sore head.
+
+"Come, Maria," he growled, "are we never to have any--Ah, my dear, you
+down to breakfast!  This makes up for a wet morning," and he met and
+kissed his niece, drew her hand under his arm, and led her to a chair on
+the side of the table nearest the fire.  "That's your place, my dear,
+and it has looked very blank for the past fortnight.  Very, very glad to
+see you fill it again.  I say," he continued, chuckling and rubbing his
+hands, "you're quite looking yourself again."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Wilton, "but you needn't keep all the good mornings and
+kisses for Kitty.  Ah, it's very nice to be young and pretty, but if
+Uncle's going to pet you like this I shall grow quite jealous."  This
+with a good many meaning nods and smiles at her niece, as she took her
+place at the table behind the hissing urn.
+
+"You've been too much petted, Maria.  It makes you grow too plump and
+rosy."
+
+"James, my dear, you shouldn't."
+
+"Oh, yes, I should," said her husband, chuckling.  "I know Kitty has
+noticed it.  But is that boy coming in to breakfast?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes, my dear; but don't shout so.  You quite startle dear
+Kitty.  Recollect, please, that she is an invalid."
+
+"Bah!  Not she.  Going to be quite well again directly, and come for
+rides and drives with me to the farms.  Aren't you, my dear?"
+
+"I shall be very pleased to, Uncle--soon."
+
+"That's right.  We'll soon have some roses among the lilies.  Ha! ha!
+You must steal some of your aunt's.  Got too many in her cheeks, hasn't
+she, my dear--Damask, but we want maiden blush, eh?"
+
+"Do be quiet, James.  You really shouldn't."
+
+"Where is Claud?  He must have heard the bell."
+
+"Oh, yes, and he, came and called Kitty.  He has only gone to change his
+wet boots."
+
+"Wet boots!  Why, he wasn't down till nine.  Oh, here you are, sir.
+Come along."
+
+"Did you change your boots, Claud?"
+
+"No, mother," said that gentleman, seating himself opposite Kate.
+
+"But you should, my dear."
+
+Wilton gave his niece a merry look and a nod, which was intended to
+mean, "You attend to me."
+
+"Yes, you should, my dear," he went on, imitating his wife's manner;
+"and why don't you put on goloshes when you go out?"
+
+Claud stared at his father, and looked as if he thought he was a little
+touched mentally.
+
+"Isn't it disgusting, Kitty, my dear?" said Wilton.  "She'd wrap him up
+in a flannel and feed him with a spoon if she had her way with the great
+strong hulking fellow."
+
+"Don't you take any notice of your uncle's nonsense, my dear.  Claud, my
+love, will you take Kitty's cup to her?"
+
+"She'd make a regular molly-coddle of him.  And we don't want doctoring
+here.  Had enough of that the past fortnight.  I say, you're going to
+throw Leigh overboard this morning.  Don't want him any more, do you?"
+
+"Oh, no, I shall be quite well now."
+
+"Yes," said her uncle, with a knowing look.  "Don't you have any more of
+it.  And I say, you'll have to pay his long bill for jalap and pilly
+coshy.  That is if you can afford it."
+
+"I do wish, my dear, you'd let the dear child have her breakfast in
+peace; and do sit down and let your cousin be, Claud, dear; I'm sure she
+will not eat bacon.  It's so fidgeting to have things forced upon you."
+
+"You eat your egg, ma!  Kitty and I understand each ether.  She wants
+feeding up, and I'm going to be the feeder."
+
+"That's right, boy; she wants stamina."
+
+"But she can't eat everything on the table, James."
+
+"Who said she could?  She isn't a stout elderly lady."
+
+The head of the family looked at his niece with a broad smile, as if in
+search of a laugh for his jest, but the smile that greeted him was very
+wan and wintry.
+
+"Any letters, my dear?" said Mrs Wilton, as the breakfast went on, with
+Kate growing weary of her cousin's attentions, all of which took the
+form of a hurried movement to her side of the table, and pressure
+brought to bear over the breakfast delicacies.
+
+The wintry look appeared to be transferred from Kate's to her uncle's
+face, but it was not wan; on the contrary, it was decidedly stormy.
+
+"Yes," he said, with a grunt.
+
+"Anything particular?"
+
+"Yes, very."
+
+"What is it, my dear?"
+
+"Don't both--er--letter from John Garstang."
+
+"Oh, dear me!" said Mrs Wilton, looking aghast; and her husband kicked
+out one foot for her special benefit, but as his leg was not eight feet
+long the shot was a miss.
+
+"Says he'll run down for a few days to settle that little estate
+business; and that it will give him an opportunity to have a few chats
+with Kate here.  You say you like Mr Garstang, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Kate, quietly; "he was always very nice and kind to me."
+
+"Of course, my darling; who would not be?" said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Claud, boy, I suppose the pheasants are getting scarce."
+
+"Oh, there are a few left yet," said the young man.
+
+"You must get up a beat and try and find a few hares, too.  Uncle
+Garstang likes a bit of shooting.  Used to see much of John Garstang, my
+dear, when you were at home?"
+
+"No, uncle, not much.  He used to come and dine with us sometimes, and
+he was always very kind to me from the time I was quite a little girl,
+but my father and he were never very intimate."
+
+"A very fine-looking man, my dear, and so handsome," said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Yes, very," said her husband, dryly; "and handsome is as handsome
+does."
+
+"Yes, my dear, of course," said Mrs Wilton; and very little more was
+said till the end of the breakfast, when the lady of the house asked
+what time the guest would be down.
+
+"Asks me to send the dog-cart to meet the mid-day train.  Humph! rain's
+over and sun coming out.  Here, Claud, take your cousin round the
+greenhouse and the conservatory.  She hasn't seen the plants."
+
+"All right, father.  Don't mind me smoking, do you, Kitty?"
+
+"Of course she'll say no," said Wilton testily; "but you can surely do
+without your pipe for an hour or two."
+
+"Oh, very well," said Claud, ungraciously; and he offered his cousin his
+arm.
+
+She looked surprised at the unnecessary attention, but took it; and they
+went out through the French window into the broad verandah, the glass
+door swinging to after them.
+
+"What a sweet pair they'll make, James, dear," said Mrs Wilton, smiling
+fondly after her son.  "How nicely she takes to our dear boy!"
+
+"Yes, like the rest of the idiots.  Girl always says snap to the first
+coat and trousers that come near her."
+
+"Oh, James, dear! you shouldn't say that I'm sure I didn't!"
+
+"You!  Well, upon my soul!  How you can stand there and utter such a
+fib!  But never mind; it's going to be easy enough, and we'll get it
+over as soon as we decently can, if you don't make some stupid blunder
+and spoil it."
+
+"James, dear!"
+
+"Be just like you.  But a nice letter I've had from John Garstang about
+that mortgage.  Never mind, though; once this is over I can snap my
+fingers at him.  So be as civil as you can; and I suppose we must give
+him some of the best wine."
+
+"Yes, dear, and have out the china dinner service."
+
+"Of course.  But I wish you'd put him into a damp bed."
+
+"Oh, James, dear!  I couldn't do that."
+
+"Yes, you could; give him rheumatic fever and kill him.  But I suppose
+you won't."
+
+"Indeed I will not, dear.  There are many wicked things that I feel I
+could do, but put a Christian man into a damp bed--no!"
+
+"Humph!  Well, then, don't; but I hope that boy will be careful and not
+scare Kitty."
+
+"What, Claud?  Oh, no, my dear, don't be afraid of that.  My boy is too
+clever; and, besides, he's beginning to love the very ground she walks
+on.  Really, it seems to me quite a Heaven-made matter."
+
+"Always is, my dear, when the lady has over a hundred thousand pounds,"
+said Wilton, with a grim smile; "but we shall see."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+"I say, don't be in such a jolly hurry.  You're all right here, you
+know.  I want to talk to you."
+
+"You really must excuse me now, Claud; I have not been well, and I'm
+going back to my room."
+
+"Of course you haven't been well, Kitty--I say, I shall call you Kitty,
+you know--you can't expect to be well moping upstairs in your room.
+I'll soon put you right, better than that solemn-looking Doctor.  You
+want to be out in the woods and fields.  I know the country about here
+splendidly.  I say, you ride, don't you?"
+
+"I?  No."
+
+"Then I'll teach you.  Get your old maid to make you a good long skirt--
+that will do for a riding-habit at first--I'll clap the side-saddle on
+my cob, and soon show you how to ride like a plucky girl should.  I say,
+Kitty, I'll hold you on at first--tight."
+
+The speaker smiled at her, and the girl shrank from him, but he did not
+see it.
+
+"You'll soon ride, and then you and I will have the jolliest of times
+together.  I'll make you ride so that by this time next year you'll
+follow the hounds, and top a hedge with the best of them."
+
+"Oh, no, I have no wish to ride, Claud."
+
+"Yes, you have.  You think so now, because you're a bit down; but you
+wait till you're on the cob, and then you'll never want to come off.  I
+don't.  I say, you haven't seen me ride."
+
+"No, Claud; but I must go now."
+
+"You mustn't, coz.  I'm going to rouse you up.  I say, though, I don't
+want to brag, but I can ride--anything.  I always get along with the
+first flight, and a little thing like you after I've been out with you a
+bit will astonish some of them.  I shall keep my eye open, and the first
+pretty little tit I see that I think will suit you, I shall make the
+guv'nor buy."
+
+"I beg that you will not, Claud."
+
+"That's right, do.  Go down on your poor little knees and beg, and I'll
+get the mount for you all the same.  I know what will do you good and
+bring the blood into your pretty cheeks.  No, no, don't be in such a
+hurry.  I won't let you go upstairs and mope like a bird with the pip.
+You never handled a gun, I suppose?"
+
+"No, never," said Kate, half angrily now; "of course not."
+
+"Then you shall.  You can have my double-barrel that father bought for
+me when I was a boy.  It's light as a feather, comes up to the shoulder
+splendidly, and has no more kick in it than a mouse.  I tell you what,
+if it's fine this afternoon you shall put on thick boots and a hat, and
+we'll walk along by the fir plantations, and you shall have your first
+pop at a pheasant."
+
+"I shoot at a pheasant!" cried Kate in horror.
+
+"Shoo!" exclaimed Claud playfully.  "Yes, you have your first shot at a
+pheasant.  Shuddering?  That's just like a London girl.  How horrid,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, horrible for a woman."
+
+"Not a bit of it.  You'll like it after the first shot.  You'll be ready
+enough to shove in the cartridges with those little hands, and bring the
+birds down.  I say, I'll teach you to fish, too, and throw a fly.
+You'll like it, and soon forget all the mopes.  You've been spoiled; but
+after a month or two here you won't know yourself.  Don't be in such a
+hurry, Kitty."
+
+"Don't hold my hand like that, Claud; I must really go now," said Kate,
+whose troubled face was clouded with wonder, vexation, and something
+approaching fear.  "I really wish to go into the house."
+
+"No, you don't; you want to stop with me.  I shan't have a chance to
+talk to you again, with old Garstang here.  I say, I saw you come out to
+have this little walk up and down here.  I was watching and came after
+you to show you the way about the grounds."
+
+"It was very kind of you, Claud.  Thank you; but let me go in now."
+
+"Shan't I don't get a chance to have a walk with such a girl as you
+every day.  I am glad you've come.  It makes our house seem quite
+different."
+
+"Thank you for saying so--but I feel quite faint now."
+
+"More need for you to stop in the fresh air.  You faint, and I'll bring
+you to again with a kiss.  That's the sort of thing to cure a girl who
+faints."
+
+She looked at him in horror and disgust, as he burst into a boisterous
+laugh.
+
+"I suppose old Garstang isn't a bad sort but we don't much like him
+here.  I say, what do you think of Harry Dasent?"
+
+"I--I hardly know," said Kate, who was trying her best to get back along
+the path by some laurels to where the conservatory door by the
+drawing-room stood open.  "I have seen so little of him."
+
+"So much the better for you.  He's not a bad sort of a fellow for men to
+know, but he's an awful cad with girls.  Not a bit of a gentleman.  You
+won't see much more of him, though, for the guv'nor says he won't have
+him here.  I say, a month ago it would have made me set up on bristles,
+because I want him for a mate, but I don't mind now you've come.  We'll
+be regular pals, and go out together everywhere.  I'll soon show you
+what country life is.  Oh, well, if you will go in now I won't stop you.
+I'll go and have the little gun cleaned up, and--I say, come round the
+other way; I haven't shown you the dogs."
+
+"No, no--not now, please, Claud.  I really am tired out and faint."
+
+He still kept her hand tightly under his arm, in spite of her effort to
+withdraw it, and followed her into the conservatory, which was large and
+well-filled with ornamental shrubs and palms.
+
+"Well, you do look a bit tired, dear, but it becomes you.  I say, I am
+so glad you've come.  What a pretty little hand this is.  You'll give me
+a kiss before you go?"
+
+She started from him in horror.
+
+"Nobody can't see here.  Just one," he whispered, as he passed his arm
+round her waist; and before she could struggle free he had roughly
+kissed her twice.
+
+"Um-m-m," exclaimed Mrs Wilton, in a soft simmering way.  "Claud,
+Claud, my dear, shocking, shocking!  Oh, fie, fie, fie!  You shouldn't,
+you know.  Anyone would think you were an engaged couple."
+
+"Aunt, dear!" cried Kate, in an agitated voice, as she clung to that
+lady, but no further words would come.
+
+"Oh, there, there, my dear, don't look like that," cried Mrs Wilton.
+"I'm not a bit cross.  Why, you're all of a flutter.  I wasn't blaming
+you, my dear, only that naughty Claud.  It was very rude of him, indeed.
+Really, Claud, my dear, it is not gentlemanly of you.  Poor Kate is
+quite alarmed."
+
+"Then you shouldn't have come peeping," cried the oaf, with a boisterous
+laugh.
+
+"Claud! for shame!  I will not allow it.  It is not respectful to your
+mamma.  Now, come in, both of you.  Mr Garstang is here--with your
+father, Claud, my love; and I wish you to be very nice and respectful to
+him, for who knows what may happen?  Kate, my dear, I never think
+anything of money, but when one has rich relatives who have no children
+of their own, I always say that we oughtn't to go out of our way to
+annoy them.  Henry Dasent certainly is my sister's child, but one can't
+help thinking more of one's own son; and as Harry is nothing to Mr
+Garstang, I can't see how he can help remembering Claud very strongly in
+his will."
+
+"Doesn't Claud wish he may get it!" cried that youth, with a grin.  "I'm
+not going to toady old Garstang for the sake of his coin."
+
+"Nobody wishes you to, my dear; but come in; they must be done with
+their business by now.  Come, my darling.  Why, there's a pretty bloom
+on your cheeks already.  I felt that a little fresh air would do you
+good.  They're in the library; come along.  We can go in through the
+verandah.  Don't whistle, Claud, dear; it's so boyish."
+
+They passed together out of the farther door of the conservatory into
+the verandah, and as they approached an open window, a smooth bland
+voice said:
+
+"I'll do the best I can, Mr Wilton; but I am only the agent.  If I
+stave it off, though, it can only be for a short time, and then--Ah, my
+dear child!"
+
+John Garstang, calm, smooth, well-dressed and handsome, rose from one of
+the library chairs as Kate entered with her aunt, and held out both his
+hands: "I am very glad to see you again--very, very sorry to hear that
+you have been so ill.  Hah!" he continued, as he scrutinised the
+agitated face before him in a tender fatherly way, "not quite right yet,
+though," and he led her to a chair near the fire.  "That rosy tinge is a
+trifle too hectic, and the face too transparently white.  You must take
+care of her, Maria Wilton, and see that she has plenty of this beautiful
+fresh air.  I hope she is a good obedient patient."
+
+"Ve-ry, ve-ry, good indeed, John Garstang, only a little too much
+disposed to keep to her room."
+
+"Oh, well, quite natural, too," said Garstang, smiling.  "What we all do
+when we are ailing.  But there, we must not begin a discussion about
+ailments.  I'm very glad to see you again, though, Kate, and
+congratulate you upon being here."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Garstang," she replied, giving him a wistful look, as a
+feeling of loneliness amongst these people made her heart seem to
+contract.
+
+"Well, Wilton, I don't think we need talk any more about business?"
+
+"Oh, we're not going to stay," cried Mrs Wilton.  "Come, Kate, my
+child, and let these dreadful men talk."
+
+"By no means," said Garstang; "sit still, pray.  We shall have plenty of
+time for anything more we have to say over a cigar to-night, for I've
+come down to throw myself upon your hospitality for a day or two."
+
+"Of course, of course," said Wilton, quickly; "Maria has a room ready
+for you."
+
+"Yes, your old room, John Garstang; and it's beautifully aired, and just
+as you like it."
+
+"Thank you, Maria.  You aunt always spoils me, Kate, when I come down
+here.  I look upon the place as quite an oasis in the desert of drudgery
+and business; and at last I have to drag myself away, or I should become
+a confirmed sybarite."
+
+"Well, why don't you?" said Claud.  "Only wish I had your chance."
+
+"My dear Claud, you speak with the voice of one-and-twenty.  When you
+are double your age you will find, as I do, that money and position and
+life's pleasures soon pall, and that the real enjoyment of existence is
+really in work."
+
+"Walker!" said Claud, contemptuously.
+
+Garstang laughed merrily, and while Wilton and his wife frowned and
+shook their heads at their son, he turned to Kate.
+
+"It is of no use to preach to young people," he said, "but what I say is
+the truth.  Not that I object to a bit of pleasure, Claud, boy.  I'm
+looking forward to a few hours with you, my lad--jolly ones, as you call
+them, and as I used.  How about the pheasants?"
+
+"More than you'll shoot."
+
+"Sure to be.  My eye is not so true as it was, Maria."
+
+"Stuff!  You look quite a young man still."
+
+"Well, I feel so sometimes.  What about the pike in the lake, Claud?
+Can we troll a bit?"
+
+"It's chock full of them.  The weeds are rotten and the pike want
+thinning down.  Will you come?"
+
+"Will I come!  Indeed I will; and I'd ask your cousin to come on the
+lake with us to see our sport, but it would not be wise.  How is the
+bay?"
+
+"Fit as a fiddle.  Say the word and I'll have him round if you're for a
+ride."
+
+"After lunch, my dear, after lunch," said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Yes, after lunch I should enjoy it," said Garstang.
+
+"Two, sharp, then," said Claud.
+
+"Yes, two, sharp," replied Garstang, consulting his watch.  "Quarter to
+one now."
+
+"Yes, and lunch at one."
+
+"By the way," said Garstang, "Harry said he had been down here, and you
+gave him some good sport.  I'm afraid I have made a mistake in tying him
+down to the law."
+
+Wilton moved uneasily in his chair and darted an angry look at his wife,
+who began to fidget, and looked at Kate and then at her son.
+
+Garstang did not seem to notice anything, but smiled blandly, as he
+leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Oh, yes, he blazed away at the pheasants," said Claud, sneeringly; "but
+he only wounded one, and it got away."
+
+"That's bad," said Garstang.  "But then he has not had your experience,
+Master Claud.  It's very good of you, though, James, to have him down,
+and of you, Maria, to make the boy so welcome.  He speaks very
+gratefully about you."
+
+"Oh, it isn't my doing, John Garstang," said the lady, hurriedly; "but
+of course I am bound to make him welcome when he comes;" and she uttered
+a little sigh as she glanced at her lord again, as if feeling satisfied
+that she had exonerated herself from a serious charge.
+
+"Ah, well, we'll thank the lord of the manor, then," said Garstang,
+smiling at Kate.
+
+"Needn't thank me," said Wilton, gruffly.  "I don't interfere with
+Claud's choice of companions.  If you mean that I encourage him to come
+and neglect his work you are quite out.  You must talk to Claud."
+
+"I don't want him," cried that gentleman.
+
+"But I think I understood him to say that you had asked him down again."
+
+"Not I," cried Claud.  "He'd say anything."
+
+"Indeed!  I'm sorry to hear this.  In fact, I half expected to find him
+down here, and if I had I was going to ask you, James, if you thought it
+would be possible for you to take him as--as--well, what shall I say?--a
+sort of farm pupil."
+
+"I?" cried Wilton, in dismay.  "What!  Keep him here?"
+
+"Well--er--yes.  He has such a penchant for country life, and I thought
+he would be extremely useful as a sort of overlooker, or bailiff, while
+learning to be a gentleman-farmer."
+
+"You keep him at his desk, and make a lawyer of him," said Wilton
+sourly.  "He'll be able to get a living then, and not have to be always
+borrowing to make both ends meet.  There's nothing to be made out of
+farming."
+
+"Do you hear this, Kate, my dear?" said Garstang, with a meaning smile.
+"It is quite proverbial how the British farmer complains."
+
+"You try farming then, and you'll see."
+
+"Why not?" said Garstang, laughingly, while his host writhed in his
+seat.  "It always seems to me to be a delightful life in the country,
+with horses to ride, and hunting, shooting and fishing."
+
+"Oh, yes," growled Wilton, "and crops failing, and markets falling, and
+swine fever, and flukes in your sheep, and rinderpest in your cattle,
+and the bank refusing your checks."
+
+"Oh, come, come, not so bad as that!  You have fine weather as well as
+foul," said Garstang, merrily.  "Then Harry has not been down again,
+Claud?"
+
+"No, I haven't seen him since he went back the other day," said Claud,
+and added to himself, "and don't want to."
+
+"That's strange," said Garstang, thoughtfully.  "I wonder where he has
+gone.  I daresay he will be back at the office, though, by now.  I don't
+like for both of us to be away together.  When the cat's away the mice
+will play, Kate, as the old proverb says."
+
+"Then why don't you stop at the office, you jolly old sleek black tom,
+and not come purring down here?" said Claud to himself.  "Bound to say
+you can spit and swear and scratch if you like."
+
+There was a dead silence just then, which affected Mrs Wilton so that
+she felt bound to say something, and she turned to the visitor.
+
+"Of course, John Garstang, we don't want to encourage Harry Dasent here,
+but if--"
+
+"Ah, here's lunch ready at last," cried Wilton, so sharply that his wife
+jumped and shrank from his angry glare, while the bell in the little
+wooden turret went on clanging away.
+
+"Oh, yes, lunch," she said hastily.  "Claud, my dear, will you take your
+cousin in?"
+
+But Garstang had already arisen, with bland, pleasant smile, and
+advanced to Kate.
+
+"May I?" he said, as if unconscious of his sister-in-law's words; and at
+that moment a servant opened the library door as if to announce the
+lunch, but said instead:
+
+"Mr Harry Dasent, sir!"
+
+That gentleman entered the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+"Hello, Harry!" said Claud, breaking up what is generally known as an
+awkward pause, for the fresh arrival had been received in frigid
+silence.
+
+"Ah, Harry, my boy," said Garstang, with a pleasant smile, "I half
+expected to find you here."
+
+"Did you?" said the young man, making an effort to be at his ease.
+"Rather a rough morning for a walk--roads so bad.  I've run down for a
+few hours to see how Kate Wilton was.  Thought you'd give me a bit of
+lunch."
+
+"Of course, my dear," said Mrs Wilton, stiffly, and glancing at her
+husband afterwards as if to say, "Wasn't that right?"
+
+"One knife and fork more or less doesn't make much difference at my
+table," said Wilton, sourly.
+
+"And he does look pretty hungry," said Claud with a grin.
+
+"Glad to see you looking better, Kate," continued the young man, holding
+out his hand to take that which was released from his step-father's for
+the moment.
+
+"Thank you, yes," said Kate, quietly; "I am better."
+
+"Well, we must not keep the lunch waiting," said Garstang.  "Won't you
+take in your aunt, Harry?  And, by the way, I must ask you to get back
+to-night so as to be at the office in good time in the morning, for I'm
+afraid my business will keep me here for some days."
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll be there," replied the young man, with a meaning look at
+Garstang; and then offering his arm to Mrs Wilton, they filed off into
+the dining-room, to partake of a luncheon which would have been eaten
+almost in silence but for Garstang.  He cleverly kept the ball rolling
+with his easy, fluent conversation, seeming as he did to be a master of
+the art of drawing everyone out in turn on his or her particular
+subject, and as if entirely for the benefit of the convalescent, to whom
+he made constant appeals for her judgment.
+
+The result was that to her own surprise the girl grew more animated, and
+more than once found herself looking gratefully in the eyes of the
+courtly man of the world, who spoke as if quite at home on every topic
+he started, whether it was in a discussion with the hostess on cookery
+and preserves, with Wilton on farming and the treatment of cattle, or
+with the young men on hunting, shooting, fishing and the drama.
+
+And it was all so pleasantly done that a load seemed to be lifted from
+the sufferer's breast, and she found herself contrasting what her life
+was with what it might have been had Garstang been left her guardian,
+and half wondered why her father, who had been one of the most refined
+and scrupulous of men, should have chosen her Uncle James instead of the
+polished courtly relative who set her so completely at her ease and
+listened with such paternal deference to her words.
+
+"Wish I could draw her out like he does," thought Claud.--"These old
+fogies! they always seem to know what to say to make a wench grin."
+
+"He'll watch me like a cat does a mouse," said Harry to himself, "but
+I'll have a turn at her somehow."
+
+James Wilton said little, and looked glum, principally from the pressure
+of money on the brain; but Mrs Wilton said a great deal, much more than
+she should have said, some of her speeches being particularly
+unfortunate, and those which followed only making matters worse.  But
+Garstang always came to her help when Wilton's brow was clouding over;
+and the lady sighed to herself when the meal was at an end.
+
+"If Harry don't come with us I shall stop in," said Claud to himself;
+and then aloud, "Close upon two.  You'd like a turn with us, Harry,
+fishing or shooting?"
+
+"I?  No.  I'm tired with my walk, and I've got to do it again this
+evening."
+
+"No, you haven't," said Claud, sulkily; "you know you'll be driven
+back."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Garstang; "your uncle will not let you walk.  Better
+come, Harry."
+
+"Thanks, no, sir; I'll stop and talk to Aunt and Kate, here."
+
+"No, my dear; we must not tire Kate out, she'll have to go and lie down
+this afternoon."
+
+"Oh, very well then, Aunt; I'll stop and talk to you and Uncle."
+
+"Then you'll have to come round the farms with me if you do," growled
+Wilton.
+
+"Thanks, no; I've walked enough through the mud for one day."
+
+"Let him have his own way, Claud, my lad," cried Garstang.  "We must be
+off.  See you down to dinner, I hope, Kate, my child?"
+
+She smiled at him.
+
+"Yes, I hope to be well enough to come down," she replied.
+
+"That's right; and we'll see what we can get to boast about when we come
+back.  Come along, boy."
+
+Claud was ready to hesitate, but he could not back out, and he followed
+Garstang, the young men's eyes meeting in a defiant gaze.
+
+But he turned as he reached the door.
+
+"Didn't say good-bye to you, Mamma.  All right," he cried, kissing her
+boisterously.  "I won't let them shoot me, and I'll mind and not tumble
+out of the boat.  I say," he whispered, "don't let him get Kate alone."
+
+"Oh, that's your game, is it?" said Harry to himself; "treats it with
+contempt.  All right, proud step-father; you haven't all the brains in
+the world."
+
+He followed the gentlemen into the hall, and then stood at the door to
+see them off, hearing Garstang say familiarly: "Let's show them what we
+can do, Harry, my lad.  It's just the day for the pike.  Here, try one
+of these; they tell me they are rather choice."
+
+"Oh, I shall light my pipe," said the young man sulkily.
+
+"Wise man, as a rule; but try one of these first, and if you don't like
+it you can throw it away."
+
+Claud lit the proffered cigar rather sulkily, and they went off; while
+Harry, after seeing Wilton go round to the stables, went back into the
+hall, and was about to enter the drawing-room, but a glance down at his
+muddy boots made him hesitate.
+
+He could hear the voice of Mrs Wilton as she talked loudly to her
+niece, and twice over he raised his hand to the door knob, but each time
+lowered it; and going back into the dining-room, he rang the bell.
+
+"Can I have my boots brushed?" he said to the footman.
+
+"Yes, sir, I'll bring you a pair of slippers."
+
+"Oh, no, I'll come to the pantry and put my feet up on a chair."
+
+The man did not look pleased at this, but he led the way to his place,
+fetched the blacking and brushes, and as he manipulated them he
+underwent a kind of cross-examination about the household affairs,
+answering the first question rather shortly, the rest with a fair amount
+of eagerness.  For the visitor's hand had stolen into his pocket and
+come out again with half-a-crown, which he used to rasp the back of the
+old Windsor chair on which he rested his foot, and then, balancing it on
+one finger, he tapped it softly, making it give forth a pleasant
+jingling sound that was very grateful to the man's ear, for he brushed
+away most diligently, blacked, polished, breathed on the leather, and
+brushed again.
+
+"Keep as good hours as ever?" said Dasent, after several questions had
+been put.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir.  Prayers at ha'-past nine, and if there's a light going
+anywhere with us after ten the governor's sure to see it and make a row.
+He's dreadful early, night and morning, too."
+
+"Yes, he is very early of a morning, I noticed.  Well, it makes the days
+longer."
+
+"Well, sir, it do; but one has to be up pretty sharp to get his boots
+done and his hot water into his room by seven, for if it's five minutes
+past he's there before you, waiting, and looking as black as thunder.
+My predecessor got the sack, they say, for being quarter of an hour late
+two or three times, and it isn't easy to be ready in weather like this."
+
+"What, dark in the mornings?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir, I don't mean that.  It's his boots.  He gets them that
+clogged and soaked that I have to wash 'em overnight and put 'em to the
+kitchen fire, and if that goes out too soon it's an awful job to get 'em
+to shine.  They don't have a hot pair of feet in 'em like these, sir.
+Your portmanteau coming on by the carrier?"
+
+"Oh, no, I go back to-night.  And that reminds me--have they got a good
+dog-cart in the village?"
+
+"Dog-cart, sir?" said the man, with a laugh; "not here.  The baker's got
+a donkey-cart, and there's plenty of farmers' carts.  That's all there
+is near."
+
+"I thought so, but I've been here so little lately."
+
+"But you needn't mind about that, sir.  Master's sure to order our trap
+to be round to take you to the station, and Tom Johnson'll be glad
+enough to drive you."
+
+"Oh, yes; of course; but I like to be independent.  I daresay I shall
+walk back."
+
+"I wouldn't, sir, begging your pardon, for it's an awkward road in the
+dark.  Tell you what, though, sir, if you did, there's the man at
+Barber's Corner, at the little pub, two miles on the road.  He has a
+very good pony and trap.  He does a bit of chicken higgling round the
+country.  You mention my name, sir, and he'd be glad enough to drive you
+for a florin or half-a-crown."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see," said Dasent, putting down his second leg.
+"Look a deal better for the touch-up.  Get yourself a glass."
+
+"Thankye, sir.  Much obliged, sir.  But beg your pardon, sir, I'll just
+give Tom Johnson a 'int and he'll have the horse ready in the dog-cart
+time enough for you.  He'll suppose it'll be wanted.  It'll be all
+right, sir.  I wouldn't go tramping it on a dark night, sir, and it's
+only doing the horse good.  They pretty well eat their heads off here
+sometimes."
+
+"No, no, certainly not," said Dasent.  "Thank you, though, er--Samuel,
+all the same."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said the man, and the donor of half-a-crown went back
+through the swing baize-covered door, and crossed the hall.
+
+"Needn't ha' been so proud; but p'raps he ain't got another half-crown.
+Lor', what a gent will do sooner than be under an obligation!"
+
+Even that half-crown seemed to have been thrown away, for upon the giver
+entering the drawing-room it was to find it empty, and after a little
+hesitation he returned to the hall, where he was just in time to
+encounter the footman with a wooden tray, on his way to clear away the
+lunch things.
+
+"Is your mistress going out?" he said.  "There is no one in the
+drawing-room."
+
+"Gone upstairs to have her afternoon nap, sir," said the man, in a low
+tone.  "I suppose Miss Wilton's gone up to her room, too?"
+
+Dasent nodded, took his hat, and went out, lit a cigar, and began
+walking up and down, apparently admiring the front of the old, long,
+low, red-brick house, with its many windows and two wings covered with
+wistaria and roses.  One window--that at the end of the west wing--took
+his attention greatly, and he looked up at it a good deal before slowly
+making his way round to the garden, where he displayed a great deal of
+interest in the vineries and the walls, where a couple of men were busy
+with their ladders, nailing.
+
+Here he stood watching them for some minutes--the deft way in which they
+used shreds and nails to rearrange the thin bearing shoots of peach and
+plum.
+
+After this he passed through an arched doorway in the wall, and smoked
+in front of the trained pear-trees, before going on to the yard where
+the tool shed stood, and the ladders used for gathering the apples in
+the orchard hung beneath the eaves of the long, low mushroom house.
+
+Twice over he went back to the hall, but the drawing-room stood open,
+and the place was wonderfully quiet and still.
+
+"Anyone would think he was master here," said one of the men, as he saw
+Dasent pass by the third time.  "Won't be much he don't know about the
+place when he's done."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder if he is," said the other.  "Him and his father's
+lawyers, and the guv'nor don't seem none too chirpy just now.  They say
+he is in Queer Street."
+
+"Who's they?" said his companion, speaking indistinctly, consequent upon
+having two nails and a shred between his lips.
+
+"Why, they.  I dunno, but it's about that they've been a bit awkward
+with the guv'nor at Bramwich Bank."
+
+"That's nothing.  Life's all ups and downs.  It won't hurt us.  We shall
+get our wages, I dessay.  They're always paid."
+
+The afternoon wore on and at dusk Garstang and Claud made their
+appearance, followed by a labourer carrying a basket, which was too
+short to hold the head and tail of a twelve-pound pike, which lay on the
+top of half-a-dozen more.
+
+"Better have come with us, Harry," said Claud.  "Had some pretty good
+sport.  Found it dull?"
+
+"I?  No," was the reply.  "I say, what time do you dine to-night?"
+
+"Old hour--six."
+
+"Going to stay dinner, Harry?" said Garstang.
+
+"Oh, yes; I'm going to stay dinner," said the young man, giving him a
+defiant look.
+
+"Well, it will be pleasanter, but it is a very dark ride."
+
+"Yes, but I'm going to walk."
+
+"No, you aren't," said Claud, in a sulky tone of voice; "we're going to
+have you driven over."
+
+"There is no need."
+
+"Oh, yes, there is.  I want a ride to have a cigar after dinner, and I
+shall come and see you off.  We don't do things like that, even if we
+haven't asked anyone to come."
+
+Kate made her appearance again at dinner, and once more Garstang was the
+life and soul of the party, which would otherwise have been full of
+constraint.  But it was not done in a boisterous, ostentatious way.
+Everything was in good taste, and Kate more than once grew quite
+animated, till she saw that both the young men were eagerly listening to
+her, when she withdrew into herself.
+
+Mrs Wilton got through the dinner without once making her lord frown,
+and she was congratulating herself upon her success, as she rose, after
+making a sign, when her final words evolved a tempestuous flash of his
+eyes.
+
+"Don't you think you had better stop till the morning, Harry Dasent?"
+she said.
+
+But his quick reply allayed the storm at once.
+
+"Oh, no, thank you, Aunt," he said, with a side glance at Garstang.  "I
+must be back to look after business in the morning."
+
+"But it's so dark, my dear."
+
+"Bah! the dark won't hurt him, Maria, and I've told them to bring the
+dog-cart round at eight."
+
+"Oh, that's very good of you, sir," said the young man; "but I had made
+up my mind to walk."
+
+"I told you I should ride over with you, didn't I?" growled Claud.
+
+"Yes, but--"
+
+"I know.  There, hold your row.  We needn't start till half-past eight,
+so there'll be plenty of time for coffee and a cigar."
+
+"Then I had better say good-night to you now, Mr Dasent," said Kate,
+quietly, holding out her hand.
+
+"Oh, I shall see you again," he cried.
+
+"No; I am about to ask Aunt to let me go up to my room now; it has been
+a tiring day."
+
+"Then good-night," he said impressively, and he took and pressed her
+hand in a way which made her colour slightly, and Claud twitch one arm
+and double his list under the table.
+
+"Good-night.  Good-night, Claud."  She shook hands; then crossed to her
+uncle.
+
+"Good-night, my dear," he said, drawing her down to kiss her cheek.
+"Glad you are so much better."
+
+"Thank you, Uncle.--Good-night, Mr Garstang."  Her lip was quivering a
+little, but she smiled at him gratefully as he rose and spoke in a low
+affectionate way.
+
+"Good-night, my dear child," he said.  "Let me play doctor with a bit of
+good advice.  Make up your mind for a long night's rest, and ask your
+uncle and aunt to excuse you at breakfast in the morning.  You must
+hasten slowly to get back your strength.  Good-night."
+
+"You'll have to take great care of her, James," he continued, as he
+returned to his seat.  "Umph!  Yes, I mean to," said the host.  "A very,
+very sweet girt," said Garstang thoughtfully, and his face was perfectly
+calm as he met his stepson's shifty glance.
+
+Then coffee was brought in; Claud, at a hint from his lather, fetched a
+cigar box, and was drawn out by Garstang during the smoking to give a
+lull account of their sport that afternoon with the pike.
+
+"Quite bent the gaff hook," he was saying later on, when the grating of
+wheels was heard; and soon after the young men started, Mrs Wilton
+coming into the hall to see them off and advise them both to wrap up
+well about their chests.
+
+That night John Garstang broke his host's rules by keeping his candle
+burning late, while he sat thinking deeply by the bedroom fire; for he
+had a good deal upon his brain just then.  "No," he said at last, as he
+rose to wind up his watch; "she would not dare.  But fore-warned is
+fore-armed, my man.  You were never meant for a diplomat.  Bah!  Nor for
+anything else."
+
+But it was a long time that night before John Garstang slept.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+"I say, guv'nor, when's old Garstang going?"
+
+"Oh, very soon, now, boy," said James Wilton testily.
+
+"But you said that a week ago, and he seems to be settling down as if
+the place belonged to him."
+
+The father uttered a deep, long-drawn sigh.
+
+"It's no use for you to snort, dad; that doesn't do any good.  Why don't
+you tell him to be off?"
+
+"No, no; impossible; and mind what you are about; be civil to him."
+
+"Well, I am.  Can't help it; he's so jolly smooth with a fellow, and has
+such good cigars--I say, guv'nor, rather different to your
+seventeen-and-six-penny boxes of weeds.  I wouldn't mind, only he's in
+the way so.  Puts a stop to, you know what.  I never get a chance with
+her alone; here are you two shut up all the morning over the parchments,
+and she don't come down; and when she does he carries me off with him.
+Then at night you're all there."
+
+"Never mind! he will soon go now; we have nearly done."
+
+"I'm jolly glad of it.  I've been thinking that if it's going on much
+longer I'd better do without the four greys."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Oh, you know, guv'nor; toddle off to Gretna Green, or wherever they do
+the business, and get it over."
+
+"No, no, no, no.  There must be no nonsense, my boy," said Wilton,
+uneasily.  "Don't do anything rash."
+
+"Oh, no, I won't do anything rash," said Claud, with an unpleasant grin;
+"only one must make one's hay when the sun shines, guv'nor."
+
+"There's one thing about his visit," said Wilton hurriedly; "it has done
+her a great deal of good; she isn't like the same girl."
+
+"No; she has come out jolly.  Makes it a little more bearable."
+
+"Eh, what, sir?--bearable?"
+
+"Yes.  Fellow wants the prospect of some sugar or jam afterwards, to
+take such a sickly dose as she promised to be."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, nonsense.  But--er--mind what you're about; nothing
+rash."
+
+"I've got my head screwed on right, guv'nor.  I can manage a girl.  I
+say, though, she has quite taken to old Garstang; he has got such a way
+with him.  He can be wonderfully jolly when he likes."
+
+"Yes, wonderfully," said Wilton, with a groan.
+
+"You've no idea how he can go when we're out.  He's full of capital
+stories, and as larky when we're fishing or shooting as if he were only
+as old as I am.  Ever seen him jump?"
+
+"What, run and jump?"
+
+"Yah!  When he is mounted.  He rides splendidly.  Took Brown Charley
+over hedge after hedge yesterday like a bird.  Understands a horse as
+well as I do.  I like him, and we get on swimming together; but we don't
+want him here now."
+
+"Well, well, it won't be long before he has gone," said Wilton, hurrying
+some papers away over which he and Garstang had been busy all the
+morning.  "Where are you going this afternoon?"
+
+"Ride.  He wants to see the Cross Green farm."
+
+"Eh?" said Wilton, looking up sharply, and with an anxious gleam in his
+eyes.  "Did he say that?"
+
+"Yes; and we're off directly after lunch.  I say, though, what was that
+letter about?"
+
+"What letter?" said Wilton, starting nervously.
+
+"Oh, I say; don't jump as if you thought the bailiffs were coming in.  I
+meant the one brought over from the station half-an-hour ago."
+
+"I had no letter."
+
+"Sam said one came.  It must have been for old Garstang then."
+
+"Am I intruding?  Business?" said Garstang, suddenly appearing at the
+door.
+
+"Eh?  No; come in.  We were only talking about ordinary things.  Sit
+down.  Lunch must be nearly due.  Want to speak to me?"
+
+All this in a nervous, hurried way.
+
+"Never mind lunch," said Garstang quietly; "I want you to oblige me, my
+dear James, by ordering that brown horse round."
+
+Wilton uttered a sigh of relief, and his face, which had been turning
+ghastly, slowly resumed its natural tint.
+
+"But I understood from Claud here that you were both going out after
+lunch."
+
+"I've had a particular letter sent down in a packet, and I must ride
+over and telegraph back at some length."
+
+"We'll send Tom over for you," said Claud; and then he felt as if he
+would have given anything to withdraw the words.
+
+"It's very good of you," said Garstang, smiling pleasantly, "but the
+business is important.  Oblige me by ordering the horse at once."
+
+"Oh, I'll run round.  Have Brown Charley here in five minutes."
+
+"Thank you, Claud; and perhaps you'll give me a glass of sherry and a
+biscuit, James?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course; but you'll be back to dinner?"
+
+"Of course.  We must finish what we are about."
+
+"Yes, we must finish what we are about," said Wilton, with a dismal
+look; and he rang the bell, just as Claud passed the window on the way
+to the stables.
+
+A quarter of an hour later Garstang was cantering down the avenue, just
+as the lunch-bell was ringing; and Claud winked at his father as they
+crossed to the drawing-room, where his mother and Kate were seated, and
+chuckled to himself as he thought of the long afternoon he meant to
+have.
+
+"Oh, I say, guv'nor, it's my turn now," he cried, as Wilton crossed
+smiling to his niece, and offered her his arm.
+
+"All in good time, my boy; all in good time.  You bring in your mother.
+I don't see why I'm always to be left in the background.  Come along,
+Kate, my dear; you must have me to-day."
+
+"Why, where is John Garstang?" cried Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Off on the horse, mother," said Claud, with a grin.  "Gone over to the
+station to wire."
+
+"Gone without saying good-bye?"
+
+"Oh, he's coming back again, mother; but we can do without him for once
+in the way.  I say, Kate, I want you to give me this afternoon for that
+lesson in riding."
+
+"Riding, my dear?"
+
+"Yes, mother, riding.  I'm going to give Kitty some lessons on the
+little mare."
+
+"No, no; not this afternoon," said the girl nervously, as they entered
+the dining-room.
+
+"Yes, this afternoon.  You've got to make the plunge, and the sooner you
+do it the better."
+
+"Thank you; you're very good, but I was going to read to aunt."
+
+"Oh, never mind me, my dear; you go with Claud.  It's going to be a
+lovely afternoon."
+
+"I should prefer not to begin yet," said Kate, decisively.
+
+"Get out," cried Claud.  "What a girl you are.  You'll come."
+
+"I'm sure Claud will take the greatest care of you, my darling."
+
+"Yes, aunt, I am sure he would; but the lessons must wait for a while."
+
+"All right, Kitty.  Come for a drive, then.  I'll take you a good
+round."
+
+"I should prefer to stay at home this afternoon, Claud."
+
+"Very well, then, we'll go on the big pond, and I'll teach you how to
+troll."
+
+She turned to speak to her uncle, to conceal her annoyance, but Claud
+persevered.
+
+"You will come, won't you?" he said.
+
+"Don't worry your cousin, Claud, my dear, if she would rather not," said
+Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Who's worrying her?" said Claud, testily.  "I say, Kate, say you'll
+come."
+
+"I would rather not to-day," she said, quietly.
+
+"There now, you're beginning to mope again, and I mean to stop it.  I
+tell you what; we'll have out the guns, and I'll take you along by the
+fir plantation."
+
+"No, no, my boy," said Wilton, interposing.  "Kate isn't a boy."
+
+"Who said she was?" said the young man, gruffly.  "Can't a woman pull a
+trigger if she likes?"
+
+"I daresay she could, my dear," said Mrs Wilton; "but I'm sure I
+shouldn't like to.  I've often heard your papa say how badly guns
+kicked."
+
+"So do donkeys, mother," said Claud, sulkily; "but I shouldn't put her
+on one that did.  You'll come, won't you, dear?"
+
+"No, Claud," said Kate, very quietly and firmly.  "I could not find any
+pleasure in trying to destroy the life of a beautiful bird."
+
+"Ha, ha!  I say, we are nice.  Don't you eat any pheasant at dinner,
+then.  There's a brace for to-night.  Old Garstang shot 'em--a cruel
+wretch."
+
+Kate looked at him indignantly, and then began conversing with her
+uncle, while her cousin relapsed into sulky silence, and began to eat as
+if he were preparing for a famine to come, his mother shaking her head
+at him reproachfully every time she caught his eye.
+
+The lunch at an end, Kate took her uncle's arm and went out into the
+veranda with him for a few minutes as the sun was shining, and as soon
+as they were out of hearing Claud turned fiercely upon his mother.
+
+"What were you shaking your head at me like that for?" he cried.  "You
+looked like some jolly old Chinese figure."
+
+"For shame, my dear.  Don't talk to me like that, or I shall be very,
+very cross with you.  And look here, Claud, you mustn't be rough with
+your cousin.  Girls don't like it."
+
+"Oh, don't they?  Deal you know about it."
+
+"And there's another thing I want to say to you.  If you want to win her
+you must not be so attentive to that Miss Leigh."
+
+"Who's attentive to Miss Leigh?" said the young man, savagely.
+
+"You are, my dear; you quite flirted with her when she was here with her
+brother last night, and I heard from one of the servants that you were
+seen talking to her in Lower Lane on Monday."
+
+"Then it was a lie," he cried, sharply.  "Tell 'em to mind their own
+business.  Now, look here, mother, you want me to marry Katey, don't
+you?"
+
+"Of course, my dear."
+
+"Then you keep your tongue still and your eyes shut.  The guv'nor 'll be
+off directly, and you'll be taking her into the drawing-room."
+
+"Yes, my dear."
+
+"Well, I'm not going out; I'm going to have it over with her this
+afternoon, so you slip off and leave me to my chance while there is one.
+I'm tired of waiting for old Garstang to be out of the way."
+
+"But I don't think I ought to, my dear."
+
+"Then I do.  Look here, she knows what's coming, and that's why she
+wouldn't come out with me, you know.  It's all gammon, to lead me on.
+She means it.  You know what girls are.  I mean to strike while the
+iron's hot."
+
+"But suppose--"
+
+"I shan't suppose anything of the kind.  She only pretends.  We
+understand one another with our eyes.  I know what girls are; and you
+give me my chance this afternoon, and she's mine.  She's only holding
+off a bit, I tell you."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, my dear; but don't hurt her feelings by being
+too premature."
+
+"Too gammon!  You do what I say, and soon.  I don't want old Garstang
+back before we've got it all over.  Keep dark; here they come."
+
+Kate entered with her uncle as soon as he had spoken, and Claud attacked
+her directly.
+
+"Altered your mind?" he said.
+
+"No, Claud; you must excuse me, please," was the reply.
+
+"All right.  Off, father?"
+
+"Yes, my boy.  In about half an hour or so; I have two or three letters
+to write."
+
+"Two or three letters to write!" muttered the young man, as he went out
+into the veranda, to light his pipe, and keep on the watch for the
+coveted opportunity; "haven't you any brains in your head?"
+
+But James Wilton's half-hour proved to be an hour, and when, after
+seeing him off, the son returned to the hall, he heard voices in the
+drawing-room, and gave a vicious snarl.
+
+"Why the devil don't she go?" he muttered.
+
+There were steps the next moment, and he drew back into the dining-room
+to listen, the conversation telling him that his mother and cousin were
+going into the library to get some particular book.
+
+There, to the young man's great disgust, they stayed, and he waited for
+quite half an hour trying to control his temper, and devise some plan
+for trying to get his mother away.
+
+At last she appeared, saying loudly as she looked back, "I shall be back
+directly, my dear," and closed the door.
+
+Claud appeared at once, and with a meaning smile at his mother, she
+crossed to the stairs, while as she ascended to her room the son went
+straight to the library and entered.
+
+As he threw open the door he found himself face to face with his cousin,
+who, book in hand, was coming out of the room.
+
+"Hallo!" he cried, with a peculiar laugh; "Where's the old lady?"
+
+"She has just gone to her room, Claud," said Kate, quietly.
+
+"Here, don't be in such a hurry, little one," he cried, pushing to the
+door.  "What's the matter?"
+
+"Nothing," she said, quietly, though her heart was throbbing heavily; "I
+was going to take my book into the drawing-room."
+
+"Oh, bother the old books!" he cried, snatching hers away, and catching
+her by the wrist; "come and sit down; I want to talk to you."
+
+"You can talk to me in the drawing-room," she said, trying hard to be
+firm.
+
+"No, I can't; it's better here.  I say, Kitty, when shall it be?"
+
+"When shall what be?"
+
+"Our wedding.  You know."
+
+"Never," she said, gravely, fixing her eyes upon his.
+
+"What?" he cried.  "What nonsense!  You know how I love you.  I do, 'pon
+my soul.  I never saw anyone who took my fancy so before."
+
+"Do your mother and father know that you are talking to me in this mad
+way?--you, my own cousin?" she said, firmly.
+
+"What do I care whether they do or no?" he said, with a laugh; "I've
+been weaned for a long time.  I say, don't hold me off; don't play with
+a fellow like silly girls do.  I love you ever so, and I'm always
+thinking about your beautiful eyes till I can't sleep of a night.  It's
+quite right for you to hold me off for a bit, but there's been enough of
+it, and I know you like me."
+
+"I have tried to like you as my cousin," she said, gravely.
+
+"That'll do for a beginning," he replied, laughingly; "but let's get a
+little farther on now, I say.  Kitty, you are beautiful, you know, and
+whenever I see you my heart goes pumping away tremendously.  I can't
+talk like some fellows do, but I can love a girl with the best of them,
+and I want you to pitch over all shilly-shally nonsense, and let's go on
+now like engaged people."
+
+"You are talking at random and of what is unnatural and impossible.
+Please never to speak to me again like this, Claud; and now loose my
+wrist, and let me go."
+
+"Likely, when I've got you alone at last I say, don't hold me off like
+this; it's so silly."
+
+She made a brave effort to hide the alarm she felt; and with a sudden
+snatch she freed her wrist and darted across the room.
+
+The flight of the hunted always gives courage to the hunter, and in this
+case he sprang after her, and the next minute had clasped her round the
+waist.
+
+"Got you!" he said, laughingly; "no use to struggle; I'm twice as strong
+as you."
+
+"Claud!  How dare you?" she cried, with her eyes flashing.
+
+"'Cause I love you, darling."
+
+"Let go.  It is an insult.  It is a shame to me.  Do you know what you
+are doing?"
+
+"Yes; getting tighter hold of you, so as to kiss those pretty lips and
+cheeks and eyes--There, and there, and there!"
+
+"If my uncle knew that you insulted me like this--"
+
+"Call him; he isn't above two miles off."
+
+"Aunt--aunt!" cried the girl, excitedly, and with the hot, indignant
+tears rising to her eyes.
+
+"Gone to lie down, while I have a good long loving talk with you,
+darling.  Ah, it's of no use to struggle.  Don't be so foolish.  There,
+you've fought long enough.  All girls do the same, because it is their
+nature to fool it.  There! now I'm master; give me a nice, pretty, long
+kiss, little wifie-to-be.  I say, Kitty, you are a beauty.  Let's be
+married soon.  You don't know how happy I shall make you."
+
+Half mad now with indignation and fear, she wrested herself once more
+free, and, scorning to call for help, she ran toward the fire place.
+But before she could reach the bell he struck her hand on one side,
+caught her closely now in his arms, and covered her face once more with
+kisses.
+
+This time a loud cry escaped her as she struggled hard, to be conscious
+the next moment of some one rushing into the room, feeling herself
+dragged away, and as the word "Hound!" fell fiercely upon her ear there
+was the sound of a heavy blow, a scuffling noise, and a loud crash of
+breaking wood and glass.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+"My poor darling child!--Lie still, you miserable hound, or I'll half
+strangle you."
+
+The words--tender and gentle as if it were a woman's voice, fierce and
+loud as from an enraged man--seemed to come out of a thick mist in which
+Kate felt as if she were sick unto death.  Then by degrees she grew
+conscious that she was being held tightly to the breast of of some one
+who was breathing hard from exertion, and tenderly stroking and
+smoothing her dishevelled hair.
+
+The next moment there was a wild cry, and she recognised her aunt's
+voice, as, giddy and exhausted, she clung to him who held her.
+
+"What is it?  What is it?  Oh, Claud, my darling!  Help, help, help!
+He's killed him--killed."
+
+"Here, what's the matter?  Who called?" came from a little distance.
+Then from close at hand Kate heard her uncle's voice through the mist.
+"What's all this, Maria--John Garstang--Claud?  Damn it all, can no one
+speak?--Kate, what is it?"
+
+"This," cried Garstang, sternly.  "I came back just now, and hearing
+shrieks rushed in here, just in time to save this poor, weak, suffering
+child from the brutal insulting attack of that young ruffian."
+
+"He has killed him.  James--he has killed him," shrieked Mrs Wilton.
+"On, my poor dear darling boy!"
+
+"Back, all of you.  Be off," roared Wilton, as half a dozen servants
+came crowding to the door, which he slammed in their faces, and turned
+the key.  "Now, please let's have the truth," he cried, hotly.  "Here,
+Kate, my dear; come to me."
+
+She made no reply, but Garstang felt her cling more closely to him.
+
+"Will some one speak?" cried Wilton, again.
+
+"The Doctor--send for the Doctor; he's dead, he's dead," wailed Mrs
+Wilton, who was down upon her knees now, holding her son's head in her
+lap; while save for a slight quiver of the muscles, indicative of an
+effort to keep his eyes closed, Claud made no sign.
+
+"He is not dead," said Garstang, coldly; "a knockdown blow would not
+kill a ruffian of his calibre."
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Mrs Wilton, turning upon him now in her maternal fury;
+"he owns to it, he struck him down--my poor, poor boy.  James, why don't
+you send for the police at once?  The cruelty--the horror of it!  Kate,
+Kate, my dear, come away from the wretch at once."
+
+"Then you own that you struck him down?" cried Wilton, whose face was
+now black with a passion which made him send prudence to the winds, as
+he rose in revolt against one who had long been his master.
+
+"Yes," said Garstang, quietly, and without a trace of anger, though his
+tone was full of contempt; "I told you why."
+
+"Yes, and by what right did you interfere?  Some foolish romping
+connected with a boy and girl love, I suppose.  How dared you
+interfere?"
+
+"Boy and girl love!" cried Garstang, scornfully, as he laid one hand
+upon Kate's head and pressed it to his shoulder, where she nestled and
+hid her face.  "Shame upon you both; it was scandalous!"
+
+"Shame upon us?  What do you mean, sir?  What do you mean?--Will you
+come away from him, Kate?"
+
+"I mean this," said Garstang, with his arm firmly round the poor girl's
+waist, "that you and your wife have failed utterly in your duties
+towards this poor suffering child."
+
+"It isn't true," cried Mrs Wilton.  "We've treated her as if she were
+our own daughter; and my poor boy told me how he loved her, and he had
+only just come to talk to her for a bit.  Oh, Claud, my darling! my
+precious boy!"
+
+"Did I not tell you that your darling--your precious boy--was insulting
+her grievously?  Shame upon you, woman," cried Garstang.  "It needed no
+words of mine to explain what had taken place.  Your own woman's nature
+ought to have revolted against such an outrage to the weak invalid
+placed by her poor father's will in your care."
+
+"Don't you speak to my wife like that!" cried Wilton, angrily.
+
+"I will speak to your wife like that, and to you as well.  I forbore to
+speak before: I had no right; but do you think I have been blind to the
+scandal going on here?  The will gives you full charge of the poor child
+and her fortune, and what do I find when I come down?  A dastardly cruel
+plot to ensnare her--to force on a union with an unmannerly, brutally
+coarse young ruffian, that he may--that you may, for your own needs and
+ends, lawfully gain possession of the fortune, to scatter to the winds."
+
+"It's a lie--it's a lie!" roared Wilton.
+
+"It is the truth, sir.  Your wife's words just now confirmed what I had
+noted over and over again, till my very gorge rose at being compelled to
+accept the hospitality of such people, while I writhed at my own
+impotence, my helplessness when I wished to interfere.  You know--she
+knows--how I have kept silence.  Not one word of warning have I uttered
+to her.  She must have seen and felt what was being hatched, but neither
+she nor I could have realised that the cowardly young ruffian lying
+there would have dared to insult a weak gentle girl whose very aspect
+claimed a man's respect and protection.  A lie?  It is the truth, James
+Wilton."
+
+"Oh, my poor, poor boy!" wailed Mrs Wilton; "and I did beg and pray of
+you not to be too rash."
+
+"Will you hold your tongue, woman?" roared Wilton.
+
+"Yes, for heaven's sake be silent, madam," cried Garstang; "there was no
+need for you to indorse my words, and lower yourself more in your poor
+niece's eyes."
+
+"Look here," cried Wilton, who was going to and fro beyond the library
+table, writhing under the lash of his solicitor's tongue; "it's all a
+bit of nonsense; the foolish fellow snatched a kiss, I suppose."
+
+"Snatched a kiss!" cried Garstang, scornfully.  "Look at her: quivering
+with horror and indignation."
+
+"I won't look at her.  I won't be talked to like this in my own house."
+
+"Your own house!" said Garstang, contemptuously.
+
+"Yes, sir; mine till the law forces me to give it up.  I won't have it.
+It's my house, and I won't stand here and be bullied by any man."
+
+"Oh, don't, don't, don't make things worse, James," wailed Mrs Wilton.
+"Send for the Doctor; his heart is beating still."
+
+"You hold your tongue, and don't you make things worse," roared her
+husband.  "As for him--curse him!--it's all his doing."
+
+"But he's lying here insensible, and you won't send for help."
+
+"No, I won't.  Do you think I want Leigh and his sister, and then the
+whole parish, to know what has been going on?  The servants will talk
+enough."
+
+"But he's dying, James."
+
+"You said he was dead just now.  Chuck some cold water over the idiot,
+and bring him to.  Damn him!  I should like to horsewhip him!"
+
+"You should have done it often, years ago," said Garstang, bitterly.
+"It is too late now."
+
+"You mind your own business," shouted Wilton, turning upon him; "I can't
+talk like you do, but I can say what I mean, and it's this: I'm master
+here yet, and I'll stand no more of it.  I don't care for your deeds and
+documents.  I won't have you here to insult me and my wife, and what's
+more, if you've done that boy a mischief we'll see what the law can do.
+You shall suffer as well as I.  Now then: off with you; pack and go, and
+I'll show you that the law protects me as well as you.  Kate, my girl,
+you've nothing to be frightened about.  Come to me here."
+
+She clung the more tightly to her protector.
+
+"Then come to your aunt," said Wilton, fiercely.  "Get up, Maria," he
+shouted.  "Can't you see I want you here?"
+
+"Get up?  Oh, James, James, I can't leave my boy."
+
+"Get up, before you put me in a rage," he yelled.  "Now, then, Kate,
+come here; and I tell you this, John Garstang.  I give you a quarter of
+an hour, and if you're not gone then, the men shall throw you out."
+
+"What!" cried Garstang, sternly, as he drew himself up.  "Go and leave
+this poor girl here to your tender mercies?"
+
+"Yes, sir; go and leave `this poor girl,' as you call her, to my tender
+mercies."
+
+"I can not; I will not," said Garstang, firmly.
+
+"But I say you shall, Mr Lawyer.  You know enough of such things to
+feel that you must.  Curse you and your interference.  Kate, my dear, I
+am your poor dead father's executor, and your guardian."
+
+"Yes, it is true," said Garstang, bitterly.  "Poor fellow, it was the
+one mistake of a good, true life.  He had faith in his brother."
+
+"More than he had in you," cried Wilton.  "Do you hear what I say, Kate?
+Don't visit upon your aunt and me the stupid folly of that boy, whose
+sin is that he is very fond of you, and frightened you by a bit of
+loving play."
+
+"Loving play!" cried Garstang, scornfully.
+
+"Yes, my dear, loving play.  I vouch for it, and so will his mother."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes, Kate, dear.  He does love you.  He told me so, and if he
+did wrong, poor, poor boy, see how he has been punished."
+
+"There, my dear, you hear," cried Wilton, trying hard to speak gently
+and winningly to her, but failing dismally.  "Come to your aunt now."
+
+"Yes, Kate, darling, do, do please, and help me to try and bring him
+round.  You don't want to see him lie a corpse at his sorrowing mother's
+feet?"
+
+"Come here, Kate," cried Wilton, fiercely now.  "Don't you make me
+angry.  I am your guardian, and you must obey me.  Come away from that
+man."
+
+She shuddered, and began to sob now violently.
+
+"Ah, that's better.  You're coming to your senses now, and seeing things
+in their proper light.  Now, John Garstang, you heard what I said--go."
+
+"Yes, my child," said Garstang, taking one of Kate's hands, and raising
+it tenderly to his lips, "your uncle is right.  I have no place here, no
+right to protect you, and I must go, trusting that good may come out of
+evil, and that what has passed, besides opening your eyes to what is a
+thorough conspiracy, will give you firmness to protect yourself, and
+teach them that such a project as theirs is an infamy."
+
+"Don't stand preaching there, man.  Your time's nearly up.  Go, before
+you are made.  Come here to your aunt, Kate."
+
+"No, my dear, do nothing of the sort," said Garstang, gently, as she
+slowly raised her head and gazed imploringly in his face.  "You are but
+a girl, but you must play the woman now--the firm, strong woman who has
+to protect herself.  Go up to your room and insist upon staying there
+until you have a guarantee that this insolent cub, who is lying here
+pretending to be insensible, shall cease his pretensions or be sent
+away.  There, go, and heaven protect you; I can do no more."
+
+Kate drew herself up erect and gazed at him mournfully for a few
+moments, and then said firmly:
+
+"Yes, Mr Garstang, I will do as you say.  Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," he said, as he bent down and softly kissed her forehead.
+Then she walked firmly from the room.
+
+"Brave girl!" said Garstang; "she will be a match for you and your plans
+now, James Wilton."
+
+"Will you go, sir?" roared the other.
+
+"Yes, I will go.  Then it is to be war between us, is it?"
+
+"What you like; I'm reckless now; but you can't interfere with me
+there."
+
+"No, and I will not trample upon a worm when it is down.  I shall take
+no petty revenge, and you dare not persecute that poor girl.  Good-bye
+to you both, and may this be a lesson to you and your foolish wife.  As
+for you, you cur, if I hear that you have insulted your cousin again--a
+girl that any one with the slightest pretension to being a man would
+have looked upon as a sister--law or no law, I'll come down and thrash
+you within an inch of your life.  I'm a strong man yet, as you know."
+
+He turned and walked proudly out of the room; and as soon as his step
+had ceased to ring on the oaken floor of the hall Wilton turned savagely
+upon his son, where he lay upon the thick Turkey carpet, and roared:
+
+"Get up!"
+
+Mrs Wilton shrieked and caught at her husband's leg, but in vain, for
+he delivered a tremendous kick at the prostrate youth, which brought him
+to his senses with a yell.
+
+"What are you doing?" he roared.
+
+"A hundred and fifty thousand pounds!" cried Wilton.  "Curse you, I
+should like to give you a hundred and fifty thousand of those."
+
+Within half an hour the dog-cart bearing John Garstang and his
+portmanteau was grating over the gravel of the drive, and as he passed
+the further wing he looked up at an open window where Kate was standing
+pale and still.
+
+He raised his hat to her as he passed, but she did not stir, only said
+farewell to him with her eyes.
+
+But as the vehicle disappeared among the trees of the avenue she shrank
+away, to stand thinking of her position, of Garstang's words, and how it
+seemed now that her girlish life had come to an end that day.  For she
+felt that she was alone, and that henceforth she must knit herself
+together to fight the battle of her life, strong in her womanly defence,
+for her future depended entirely upon herself.
+
+And through the rest of that unhappy afternoon and evening, as she sat
+there, resisting all requests to come down, and taking nothing but some
+slight refreshment brought up by her maid, she was trying to solve the
+problem constantly before her:
+
+What should she do now?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+Kate was not the only one at the Manor House who declined to come down
+to dinner.
+
+The bell had rung, and after Mrs Wilton had been up twice to her
+niece's room, and reported the ill success of her visits to her lord,
+Wilton growled out:
+
+"Well, I want my dinner.  Let her stay and starve herself into her
+senses.  But here," he cried, with a fresh burst of temper, "why the
+devil isn't that boy here?  I'm not going to be kept waiting for him.
+Do you hear?  Where is he?"
+
+"He was so ill, dear, he said he was obliged to go upstairs and lie
+down."
+
+"Bah!  Rubbish!  He wasn't hurt."
+
+"Oh, my dear, you don't know," sobbed Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Yah!  You cry if you dare.  Wipe your eyes.  Think I haven't had worry
+enough to-day without you trying to lay the dust?  Ring and tell Samuel
+to fetch him down."
+
+"Oh, pray don't do that, dear; the servants will talk enough as it is."
+
+"They'd better.  I'll discharge the lot.  I've been too easy with
+everybody up to now, and I'll begin to turn over a new leaf.  Stand
+aside, woman, and let me get to that bell."
+
+"No, no, don't, pray don't ring.  Let me go up and beg of him to come
+down."
+
+"What!  Beg?  Go up and tell him that if he don't come down to dinner in
+a brace of shakes I'll come and fetch him with a horsewhip."
+
+"James, my dear, pray, pray don't be so violent."
+
+"But I will be violent.  I am in no humour to be dictated to now.  I'll
+let some of you see that I'm master."
+
+"But poor dear Claud is so big now."
+
+"I don't care how big he is--a great stupid oaf!  Go and tell him what I
+say.  And look here, woman."
+
+"Yes, dear," said Mrs Wilton, plaintively.
+
+"I mean it.  If he don't come at once, big as he is, I'll take up the
+horsewhip."
+
+Mrs Wilton stifled a sob, and went up to her son's room and entered, to
+find him lying on his bed with his boots resting on the bottom rail, a
+strong odour of tobacco pervading the room, and a patch or two of cigar
+ashes soiling the counterpane.
+
+"Claud, my dearest, you shouldn't smoke up here," she said, tenderly, as
+she laid her hand upon her son's forehead.  "How are you now, darling?"
+
+"Damned bad."
+
+"Oh, not quite so bad as that, dearest.  Dinner is quite ready."
+
+"--The dinner!"
+
+"Claud, darling, don't use such dreadful language.  But please get up
+now, and let me brush your hair.  Your father is so angry and violent
+because you are keeping him waiting.  Pray come down at once."
+
+"Shan't!"
+
+"Claud, dearest, you shouldn't say that.  Please come down."
+
+"Shan't, I tell you.  Be off, and don't bother me."
+
+"I am so sorry, my dear, but I must.  He sent me up, dear."
+
+"I--shan't--come--down.  There!"
+
+"But Claud, my dear, he is so angry.  I dare not go without you.  What
+am I to say?"
+
+"Tell him I say he's an old beast."
+
+"Oh, Claud, I can't go and tell him that.  You shouldn't--you shouldn't,
+indeed."
+
+"I'm too bad to eat."
+
+"Yes--yes; I know, darling, but do--do try and come down and have a
+glass of wine.  It will do you good, and keep poor papa from being so
+violent."
+
+"I don't want any wine.  And I shan't come.  There!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!  Oh, dear me!" sighed Mrs Wilton; "what am I to do?"
+
+"Go and tell him I won't come.  Bad enough to be hit by that beastly old
+prize fighter, without him kicking me as he did.  I'm not a door mat."
+
+"No, no, my dear; of course not."
+
+"An old brute!  I believe he has injured my liver."
+
+"Claud, my darling, don't, pray don't say that."
+
+"Why not?  The doctor ought to be fetched; I'm in horrid pain."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear; and it did seem very hard."
+
+"Hard?  I should think it was.  I'm sure there's a rib broken, if not
+two."
+
+"Oh, my own darling boy!" cried Mrs Wilton, embracing him.
+
+"Don't, mother; you hurt.  Be off, and leave me alone.  Tell him I
+shan't come."
+
+"No, no, my dear; pray make an effort and come down."
+
+"Shan't, I tell you.  Now go!"
+
+"But--but--Claud, dear, he threatened to come up with a horse whip and
+fetch you."
+
+"What!" cried Claud, springing up on the bed without wincing, and
+staring at his mother; "did he say that?"
+
+"Yes, my love," faltered the mother.
+
+"Then you go down and tell him to come, and I'll knock his old head
+off."
+
+"Oh, Claud, my dear boy, you shouldn't.  I can not sit here and listen
+to such parricidical talk."
+
+"Stand up then, and now be off."
+
+"But, my darling, you will come?"
+
+"No, I won't."
+
+"For my sake?"
+
+"I won't, for my own.  I'm not going to stand it.  He shan't bully and
+knock me about I'm not a boy now.  I'll show him."
+
+"But, Claud, darling, for the sake of peace and quietness; I don't want
+the servants to know."
+
+But dear Claud--his mother's own darling--was as obstinate now as his
+father, whom he condemned loudly, then condemned peace and quietness,
+then the servants, and swore that he would serve Kate out for causing
+the trouble.
+
+"I'll bring her down on her knees--I'll tame her, and make her beg for a
+kiss next time."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear, you shall, but not now.  You must be humble and
+patient."
+
+"Are you coming down, Maria?" ascended in a savage roar.
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear, directly," cried the trembling woman.  "There, you
+hear, darling.  He is in a terrible fury.  Come down with me."
+
+"I won't, I tell you," cried the young man, making a snatch at the
+pillow, to raise it threateningly in his hands; "go, and tell him what I
+said."
+
+"Maria!  Am I to come up?" ascended in a roar.
+
+"Yes--no--no, my dear," cried Mrs Wilton.  "I'm--I'm coming down."
+
+She hurried out of the room, dabbed her eyes hastily, and descended to
+where the Squire was tramping up and down the hall, with Samuel, the
+cook, housemaid, and kitchen maid in a knot behind the swing baize door,
+which cut off the servants' offices, listening to every word of the
+social comedy.
+
+"Well," roared Wilton, "is he coming?"
+
+"N-n-not just now, my d-dear.  He feels so ill and shaken that he begs
+you will excuse him."
+
+"Humbug, woman!  My boy couldn't have made up such a message.  He said
+he wouldn't, eh?  Now then; no prevarication.  That's what he said."
+
+"Y-yes, my dear," faltered the mother.  "Oh, James dearest, pray--pray
+don't."
+
+She clung to him, but he shook her off, strode to the umbrella stand,
+and snatched a hunting whip from where it hung with twisted thong, and
+stamped up the stairs, with his trembling wife following, sobbing and
+imploring him not to be so violent; but all in vain, for he turned off
+at the top of the old oaken staircase and stamped away to the door of
+his son's bedroom--that at the end of the wing which matched to Kate's.
+
+Here Mrs Wilton made a last appeal in a hurried whisper.
+
+"He is so bad--says his ribs are broken from the kick."
+
+"Bah!" roared the Squire; "he has no ribs in his hind legs--Here, you,
+Claud; come down to dinner directly or--Here, unlock this door."
+
+He rattled the handle, and then thumped and banged in vain, while Mrs
+Wilton, who had been ready to shriek with horror, began to breathe more
+freely.
+
+"I thought you said he was lying down, too bad to get up?"
+
+"Yes, yes, dear, he is," faltered the poor woman.
+
+"Seems like it.  Able to lock himself in.  Here, you sir; come down."
+
+But there was no reply; not a sound in answer to his rattling and
+banging; and at last, in the culmination of his rage, the Squire drew
+back to the opposite wall to gain force so as to dash his foot through
+the panel if he could, but just then Eliza opened Kate's door at the far
+end of the long corridor, and peered out.
+
+That ended the disturbance.
+
+"Come on down to dinner, Maria," said the Squire.
+
+"Yes, my dear," she faltered, and they descended to dine alone, Mrs
+Wilton on water, her husband principally on wine, and hardly a word was
+spoken, the head of the house being very quiet and thoughtful in the
+calm which followed the storm.
+
+Just as the untasted pheasants were being taken away, after the second
+course, Wilton suddenly said to the footman:
+
+"Tell Miss Kate's maid to come here."
+
+Mrs Wilton looked at her husband wonderingly, but he sat crumbling his
+bread and sipping his claret till the quiet, grave, elderly servant
+appeared.
+
+"How is your mistress?" he said.
+
+"Very unwell, sir."
+
+"Think the doctor need be sent for?"
+
+"Well, no, sir, I hardly think that.  She has been very much agitated."
+
+"Yes, of course; poor girl," said Wilton, quietly.
+
+"But I think she will be better after a good night's rest, sir."
+
+"So do I, Eliza.  You will see, of course, that she has everything she
+wants."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir.  I did take her up some dinner, but I could not prevail
+upon her to touch it."
+
+"Humph!  I suppose not.  That will do, thank you.--No, no, Maria, there
+is no occasion to say any more."
+
+Mrs Wilton's mouth was open to speak, but she shut it again quickly,
+fearing to raise another storm, and the maid left the room.  But the
+mother would speak out as soon as they were alone.
+
+"I should like to order a tray with one of the pheasants to be sent up
+to Claud, dear."
+
+"I daresay you would," he replied.  "Well, I shouldn't."
+
+"May I send for Doctor Leigh?"
+
+"What for?  You heard what the woman said?"
+
+"I meant for Claud, dear."
+
+"Oh, I'll see to him in the morning.  I shall have a pill ready for him
+when I'm cooled down.  It won't be so strong then."
+
+"But, James, dear--"
+
+"All right, old lady, I'm getting calm now; but listen to me.  I mean
+this: you are not to go to his room to-night."
+
+"James!"
+
+"Nor yet to Kate's, till I go with you."
+
+"My dear James!"
+
+"That's me," he said, with a faint smile, "and you're a very good,
+affectionate, well meaning old woman; but if ever there was one who was
+always getting her husband into scrapes, it is you."
+
+"Really, dear!" she cried, appealingly.
+
+"Yes, and truly.  There, that will do.  Done dinner?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"Don't you want any cheese or dessert?"
+
+"No, dear."
+
+"Then let's go.  You'll come and sit with me in the library to-night and
+have your cup of tea there."
+
+"Yes, dear, but mayn't I go and just see poor Kate?"
+
+"No."
+
+The word was said quietly, but with sufficient emphasis to silence the
+weak woman, who sat gazing appealingly at her husband, whom she followed
+meekly enough to the library, where she sat working, and later on sipped
+her tea, while he was smoking and gazing thoughtfully at the fire,
+reviewing the events of the day, and, to do him justice, repenting
+bitterly a great deal that he had said.  But as the time went on,
+feeling as he did the urgency of his position and the need to be able to
+meet the demands which would be made upon him before long, he grew
+minute by minute more stubbornly determined to carry out his plans with
+respect to his ward.
+
+"He's only a boy yet," he said to himself, "and he's good at heart.  I
+don't suppose I was much better when I was his age, and excepting that
+I'm a bit arbitrary I'm not such a bad husband after all."
+
+At that moment he looked up at his wife, just in time to see her bow
+gently towards him.  But knowing from old experience that it was not in
+acquiescence, he glanced at his watch and waited a few minutes, during
+which time Mrs Wilton nodded several times and finally dropped her work
+into her lap.
+
+This woke her up, and she sat up, looking very stern, and as if going to
+sleep with so much trouble on the way was the last thing possible.  But
+nature was very strong, and the desire for sleep more powerful than the
+sorrow from which she suffered; and she was dozing off again when her
+husband rose suddenly to ring the bell, the servants came in, prayers
+were read, and at a few minutes after ten Wilton took a chamber
+candlestick and led the way to bed.
+
+He turned off, though, signing to Mrs Wilton to follow him, and on
+reaching his niece's room, tapped at the door gently.
+
+"Kate--Kate, my dear," he said, and Mrs Wilton looked at him
+wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"How are you now, my child?"
+
+"Not very well, uncle."
+
+"Very sorry, my dear.  Can your aunt get you anything?"
+
+"No; I thank you."
+
+"Wish you a good night, then.  I am very sorry about that upset this
+afternoon.--Come, my dear."
+
+"Good-night, Kate, my love," said Mrs Wilton, with her ear against the
+panel; "I do hope you will be able to sleep."
+
+"Good-night, aunt," said the girl quietly; and they went back to their
+own door.
+
+"Won't you come and say `good-night' to poor Claud, dear?" whispered
+Mrs Wilton.
+
+"No, `poor Claud' has to come to me first.--Go in."
+
+He held open the door for his wife to enter, and then followed and
+locked it, and for some hours the Manor House was very still.
+
+The next morning James Wilton was out a couple of hours before
+breakfast, busying himself around his home farm as if nothing whatever
+had happened and there was no fear of a foreclosure, consequent upon any
+action by John Garstang.  He was back ready for breakfast rather later
+than his usual time, just as Mrs Wilton came bustling in to unlock the
+tea-caddy, and he nodded, and spoke rather gruffly:
+
+"Claud not down?" he said.
+
+"No, my dear; I saw you coming across the garden just as I was going to
+his room to see how he was."
+
+"Oh, Samuel,"--to the man, who entered with a dish and hot plates,--"go
+and tell Mr Claud that we're waiting breakfast."
+
+The man went.
+
+"Let me go up, my dear.  Poor boy! he must feel a bit reluctant to come
+down and meet you this morning."
+
+"Poor fellow! he always was afflicted with that kind of timid
+shrinking," said Wilton, ironically.  "No, stop.  How is Kate?"
+
+"I don't know, my dear; Eliza said that she had been twice to her room,
+but she was evidently fast asleep, and she would not disturb her."
+
+"Humph!  I shall be glad when she can come regularly to her meals."
+
+"What shall you say to her this morning?"
+
+"Wait and see--Well, is he coming down?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the footman.  "I've been knocking ever so long
+at Mr Claud's door, and I can't get any answer."
+
+Mrs Wilton's hand dropped from the tap of the tea urn, and the boiling
+water began to flow over the top of the pot.
+
+"Humph!  Sulky," muttered Wilton--"Eh?  What are you staring at?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but he didn't put his boots outside last night, and he
+never took his hot water in."
+
+"Oh, James, James!" cried Mrs Wilton, wildly, "I knew it, I knew it.  I
+dreamed about the black cow all last night, and there's something
+wrong."
+
+"Stop a minute: I'll come," said Wilton, quickly, and a startled look
+came into his face.
+
+"Take me--take me, too," sobbed his wife.  "Oh, my poor boy!  If
+anything has happened to him in the night.  I shall never forgive
+myself.  Samuel--Samuel!"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Run round to the stables and send one of the men over for Doctor Leigh
+at once."
+
+Wilton felt too much startled to counter-order this, but before the man
+had gone a dozen steps he shouted to him.
+
+"Tell the gardener to bring a mallet and cold chisel from the tool
+shed."
+
+"Yes, sir," and full of excitement the man ran off, while his master and
+mistress hurried upstairs to their son's door.  But before they reached
+it Wilton had recovered his calmness.
+
+"What nonsense," he muttered.  Then softly: "Here, you speak to him.
+Gently.  Only overslept himself."
+
+He tapped, and signed to his wife.
+
+But her voice sounded full of agitation, as she said:
+
+"Claud, dear; it's getting very late."  Then louder: "Claud!  Claud, my
+dear, are you unwell?"  Then with aery of agony, "Claud!  Claud, my
+darling!  Oh, pray, pray speak to me, or you'll break my poor heart!"
+
+"Here, stand aside," cried Wilton, who was thoroughly startled now.  He
+seized the handle of the door, turned it, and tried to force it open,
+but in vain.  The next moment he was about to lay his shoulder close
+down to the keyhole, when Kate's maid came running up to them.
+
+"Mrs Wilton!  Mrs Wilton!" she cried; "pray, pray come!  My dear young
+lady!  Oh, help, help!  I ought to have spoken sooner.  What shall I
+do?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+Wilton pere and mere had not been gone five minutes when there was a
+gentle tap at Kate's door, and she started and turned her fearful face
+in that direction, but made no reply.  The tap was repeated,
+
+"Miss Kate," came in a sharp whisper; "it is only me, my dear."
+
+"Ah," sighed the girl, as if in relief; and she nearly ran to the door,
+turned the key, and admitted the old servant, locked the door again, and
+flung her arms about the woman's neck, to bury her face in her breast,
+and sob as if her heart would break.
+
+"There, there, there," cooed the woman, as if to the little child she
+had nursed long years before; and she led her gently to a couch, and
+drew the weeping girt down half reclining upon her breast.  "Cry then,
+my precious; it will do you good; and then you must tell Liza all about
+it--what has been the matter, dear?"
+
+"Matter!" cried Kate, starting up, and gazing angrily in the woman's
+face.  "Liza, it's horrible.  Why did I ever come to this dreadful
+house?"
+
+"Hush, hush, my own; you will make yourself had again.  We must not have
+you ill."
+
+"Bad--ill?" cried Kate.  "Better dead and at rest.  Oh, I hate him!  I
+hate him!  How dare he touch me like that!  It was horrible--an
+outrage!"
+
+The woman's face flushed, and her eyes sparkled angrily, then her lips
+moved as if to question, but she closed them tightly into a thin line
+and waited, knowing from old experience that it would not be long before
+her young mistress' grief and trouble would be poured into er ear.
+
+She was quiet, and clasping the agitated girl once lore in her arms, she
+began to rock herself slowly to and fro.
+
+"No, no! don't," cried Kate, peevishly, and she raised her head once
+more, looking handsomer than ever in her anger and indignation.  "I am
+no longer a child.  Aunt and uncle have encouraged it.  This hateful
+money is at the bottom of it all.  They wish me to marry him.  Pah! he
+makes me shudder with disgust.  And how could I even think of such a
+horror with all this terrible trouble so new."
+
+Eliza half closed her eyes and nodded her head, while her mouth seemed
+almost to disappear.
+
+"It is cruel--it is horrible," Kate continued.  "They have encouraged it
+all through.  Even aunt, with her sickly worship of her wretched spoiled
+boy.  Oh, what a poor, pitiful, weak creature she must have thought me.
+No one seemed to understand me but Mr Garstang."
+
+Eliza knit her brows a little at his name, but she remained silent, and
+by slow degrees she was put in possession of all that had taken place;
+and then, faint and weary, Kate let her head sink down till her forehead
+rested once more upon the breast where she had so often sunk to rest.
+
+"Oh, the hateful money!" she sighed, as the tears came at last.  "Let
+him have it.  What is it to me?  But I cannot stop here, nurse; it is
+impossible.  We must go at once.  Uncle is my guardian, but surely he
+cannot force me to stay against my inclination.  If I remained here it
+would kill me.  Nurse," she cried, with a display of determination that
+the woman had never seen in her before, "you must pack up what is
+necessary, and to-morrow we will go.  It would be easy to stay at some
+hotel till we found a place--a furnished cottage just big enough for us
+two; anywhere so that we could be at peace.  We could be happier then--
+Why don't you speak to me when I want comfort in my trouble?"
+
+"Because no words of mine could give you the comfort you need, my dear.
+Don't you know that my heart bleeds for you, and that always when my
+poor darling child has suffered I have suffered, too?"
+
+"Yes, yes, dear; I know," said Kate, raising her face to kiss the woman
+passionately.  "I do know.  Don't take any notice of what I said.  All
+this has made me feel so wickedly angry, and as if I hated the whole
+world."
+
+"Don't I know my darling too well to mind a few hasty words?" said the
+woman, softly.  "Say what you please.  If it is angry I know it only
+comes from the lips, and there is something for me always in my
+darling's heart."
+
+"That does me good, nurse," said the girl, clinging to her
+affectionately for a few moments, and then once more sitting up, to
+speak firmly.  "It makes me feel after all that I am not alone, and that
+my dear, dead mother was right when she said, `Never part from Eliza.
+She is not our servant; she has always been our faithful, humble, trusty
+friend.'"
+
+The woman's face softened now, and a couple of tears stole down her
+cheeks.
+
+"Now, nurse, we must talk and make our plans.  I wish I could see Mr
+Garstang, and ask his advice."
+
+"Do you like Mr Garstang, my dear?" said the woman, gently.
+
+"Yes; he is a gentleman.  He seems to me the only one who can talk to me
+as what I am, and without thinking I am what they call me--an heiress."
+
+"But poor dear master never trusted Mr Garstang."
+
+"Perhaps he had no need to.  He always treated him as a friend, and he
+has proved himself one to-day by the brave way in which he defended me,
+and spoke out to open my eyes to all this iniquity."
+
+"But dear master did not make him his executor."
+
+"How could he when he had his brother to think of?  How could my dear
+father suspect that Uncle James would prove so base?  It was a mistake.
+You ought to have heard Mr Garstang speak to-day."
+
+Eliza sighed.
+
+"I don't think I should put all my trust in Mr Garstang, my dear," she
+said.
+
+"Is not that prejudice, nurse?"
+
+"I hope not my dear; but my heart never warmed to Mr Garstang, and it
+has always felt very cold toward that young man, his stepson."
+
+"Harry Dasent?  Well," said Kate, with a faint smile, "perhaps mine has
+been as cold.  But why should we trouble about this?  It would be no
+harm if I asked Mr Garstang's advice; but if we do not like it, nurse,
+we can take our own.  One thing we decide upon at once: we will leave
+here."
+
+"Can we, my dear?  You have money, but--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk about the hateful thing," cried the girl, passionately.
+
+"I must, my dear.  We cannot take even a cottage without.  This money is
+in your uncle's charge; you, as a girl under age, can not touch a penny
+without your Uncle James' consent."
+
+"But surely he can not keep me here against my will--a prisoner?"
+
+"I don't know, my dear," said the woman, with a sigh.
+
+"Then that is where we want help and advice--that is where Mr Garstang
+could assist me and tell me what to do."
+
+Eliza sighed.
+
+"Well, if the worst comes to the worst, I can take a humble place where
+you can keep house and do needlework to help, while I go out as daily
+governess."
+
+"You!  A daily governess?"
+
+"Well," said the girl, proudly, "I can play--brilliantly, they say--I
+know three languages, and--"
+
+"You have a hundred and fifty thousand pounds in your own right."
+
+"What are a hundred and fifty thousand pounds to a miserable prisoner
+who is being persecuted?  Liberty is worth millions, and come what may,
+I will be free."
+
+"Yes, you shall be free, darling; but you must do nothing rash.  To-day
+has taught me that my dear girl is a woman of firmness and spirit; and,
+please God, all will come right in the end.  There, this is enough.  You
+are fluttered and feverish now, and delicate as you are, you require
+rest.  It is getting late.  Let me help you to undress for a good long
+night's rest.  Sleep on it all, my child; out of the evil good will
+come, and you have shown them that they have not a baby to deal with,
+but a true woman, so matters are not so bad as they seem.  Come, my
+little one."
+
+"I must and will leave here, nurse," said Kate, firmly.
+
+"Sleep on it, my child, and remember that after all you have won the
+day.  Come, let me help you."
+
+"No, Liza, go now.  I must sit for a while and think."
+
+"Better sleep, and think after a long rest."
+
+"No, dear; I wish to sit here in the quiet and silence first.  Look, the
+moon is rising over the trees, and it seems to bring light into my weary
+brain.  I'll go to bed soon.  Please do as I wish, and leave me now--
+Nurse, dear, do you think those who have gone from us ever come back in
+spirit to help us when we are in need?"
+
+"Heaven only knows, my darling," said the woman, looking startled.  "But
+please don't talk like this--You really wish me to go?"
+
+"Yes, leave me now.  I am going to make my plans for to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"No, before I lie down to rest.  Good-night."
+
+"You are mistress, and I am servant, my child.  Good-night, then--
+good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said Kate, and a minute later she had closed and re-locked
+the door, to turn and stand gazing at the window, whose blind was
+suffused with the soft silvery light of the slowly rising moon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+"Who's the letter from, Pierce?"
+
+"One of the medical brokers, as they call themselves--the man I wrote
+to;" and the young doctor tossed the missive contemptuously across the
+breakfast table to his sister, who caught it up eagerly and read it
+through.
+
+"Of course," she cried, with her downy little rounded cheeks flushing,
+and a bright mocking look in her eyes; "and I quite agree with him.  He
+says you are too modest and diffident about your practice; that the very
+fact of its being established so many years makes it of value; that no
+one would take it on the terms you propose, and that you must ask at
+least five hundred pounds, which would be its value plus a valuation of
+the furniture.  How much did you ask?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"What!" cried Jenny, dropping her bread and butter.
+
+"I said I was willing to transfer the place to any enterprising young
+practitioner who would take the house off my hands, and the furniture."
+
+"Oh, you goose--I mean gander!"
+
+"Thank you, Sissy."
+
+"Well, so you are--a dear, darling, stupid old brother," cried the girl,
+leaping up to go behind the young doctors chair, covered his eyes with
+her hands, and place her little soft white double chin on the top of his
+head.  "There you are!  Blind as a bat!  Five hundred pounds!  Pooh!
+Rubbish!  Stuff!  Why, it's worth thousands and thousands, and, what is
+more, happiness to my own old Pierce."
+
+"I thought that subject was tabooed, Sissy."
+
+"I don't care; I have broken the taboo.  I have risen in rebellion, and
+I'll fight till I die for my principles."
+
+"Brave little baby," he said mockingly, as he took the little hands from
+his eyes and prisoned them.
+
+"Yes," she said, meaningly, "braver than you know."
+
+"Jenny!  You have not dared to speak about such a thing?" he cried,
+turning upon her angrily.
+
+"Not such a little silly," she replied.  "What! make her draw in her
+horns and retire into her shell, and begin thinking my own dear boy is a
+miserable money-hunter?  Not I, indeed.  For shame, sir, to think such a
+thing of me!  I never even told her what a dear good fellow you are,
+worrying yourself to death to keep me, and bringing me to live in the
+country, because you thought I was pining and growing pale in nasty old
+Westminster and its slums."
+
+"That's right," said Pierce, with a faint sigh.
+
+"Let her find out naturally what you are; and she is finding it out, for
+don't you make any mistake about it, Miss Katherine Wilton is young, but
+she has plenty of shrewd common sense, as I soon found out, and little
+as I have seen of her I soon saw that she was quite awake to her
+position.  Girls of sense who have fortunes soon smell out people's
+motives; and if they think they are going to marry her right off to that
+out-door sport, Claud, they have made a grand mistake."
+
+"But you have not dared to talk about your foolish ideas to her, Jenny?"
+
+"Not a word.  Oh, timid, modest frere!  I put on my best frock and my
+best manners when we went there to dinner, and I was as nice and
+ladylike as a girl could be.  Reward:--Kate took to me at once, and we
+became friends."
+
+Leigh uttered a sigh of relief.
+
+"But if I had dared I could have told her what a coward you are, and how
+ashamed I am of you."
+
+"For not playing the part of a contemptible schemer, Sis?"
+
+"Who wants you to, sir?  Why, money has nothing to do with it.  Now,
+answer me this, Pierce.  If she were only Miss Wilton without a penny,
+wouldn't you propose for her at once?"
+
+"No, Sis; I would not."
+
+"You wouldn't?"
+
+"No, I wouldn't be so contemptible as to take such a step when I am
+little better than a pauper."
+
+"Boo!  What nonsense.  You a pauper!  An educated gentleman,
+acknowledged to be talented in his profession.  But I know you'd marry
+her to-morrow and turn your poor little sister out of doors if you had
+an income.  Bother incomes and money!  It's all horrid, and causes all
+the misery there is in the world.  Pierce, you shan't run away from here
+and leave the poor girl to be married to that wretched boy."
+
+"Jenny, dear, be serious.  I really must get away from here as soon as I
+can."
+
+"Oh, Pierce!  Don't talk about it, dear.  It is only to make yourself
+miserable through these silly ideas of honour; and it is to make me
+wretched, too, just when I am so well and so happy, and all that nasty
+London cough gone.  I declare if you take me away I'll pine away and
+die."
+
+"No, you shan't, Sissy.  You can't, with your own clever special
+physician at your side," he said merrily.
+
+"Not if you could help it, I know.  But Pierce, darling, don't be such a
+coward.  It's cruel to her to run away, and leave her unprotected."
+
+"Hold your tongue!" said Leigh peremptorily.  "I tell you that is all
+imagination on your part."
+
+"And I tell you it is a fact I've seen and heard quite enough.  Old
+Wilton is very poor, and he wants to get the money safe in his family.
+Mrs Wilton is only the old puss whose paws he is using for tongs.  As
+for Claud--Ugh!  I could really enjoy existence if I might box his big
+ears.  Now look here, big boy," cried Jenny, impulsively snatching up
+the agent's letter: "I am going to burn this, for you shan't go away and
+make a medical martyr of yourself, just because the dearest girl in the
+world--who likes you already for your straightforward manly conduct
+towards her--happens to have a fortune, and your practice beginning to
+improve, too."
+
+"My practice beginning to improve!" he cried, contemptuously.
+
+"Yes, sir, improve; didn't you have a broken boy to mend yesterday? and
+haven't you a chance of the parish practice, which is twenty pounds a
+year? and oh, hooray, hooray!  I am so glad, there's somebody ill at the
+Manor again.  I hope it's Clodpole Claud this time," and she wildly
+waltzed round the room, waving the letter over her head, before stopping
+by the fire, throwing the paper in, and plumping down in a chair,
+looking demure and solemn as a nun.
+
+For Tom Jonson, the groom from the Manor, had driven over in the
+dog-cart, pulled up short, and now rang sharply at the bell.
+
+Leigh turned pale, for the man's manner betokened emergency, and he
+could only associate this with the patient to whom he had been called
+before.
+
+"Will you come over at once, sir, please?"
+
+"Miss Wilton worse?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir.  Something wrong with young Master."  Leigh uttered a sigh
+of relief, and stepped back for his hat.
+
+"Mr Wilton, junior, taken ill, dear," he said.  "I heard, Pierce.  Do
+kill him, or send him into a consumption."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+Leigh hardly heard his sister's words, for he hurried out and sprang
+into the dog-cart, where the groom was full of the past day's trouble,
+and ready to pour into unwilling ears what he had heard from Samuel, who
+knew that Mr Garstang, the solicitor from London, knocked down young
+Master about money, he thought, and that he had heard Mr Claud say
+something about his father kicking him.
+
+"Missus wanted to send for you last night, sir, but Master wouldn't have
+it, and this morning they couldn't make him hear in his room.  Poor
+chap, I expect he's very bad."
+
+The man would have gone on talking, but finding his companion silent and
+thoughtful, he relapsed into a one-sided conversation with the horse he
+drove, bidding him "come on," and "look alive," and "be steady," till he
+turned in at the avenue and cantered up to the hall door.
+
+Mrs Wilton was there, tearful and trembling.
+
+"Oh, do make haste, Mr Leigh," she cried.  "How long you have been!"
+
+"I came at once, madam; is your son in his room?"
+
+"Yes, yes--dead by this time.  Pray, come up."
+
+He sprang up the stairs in a very unprofessional way, forgetting the
+necessity for a medical man being perfectly calm and cool, and Wilton
+met him on the landing.
+
+"Oh, here you are.  Haven't got the door open yet.  Curse the old wood!
+It's like iron.  Maria, go and get all the keys you can find."
+
+"Yes, dear, but while the men are doing that hadn't we better try and
+get poor Claud's door open?"
+
+"No, hers first," cried Wilton, and Leigh started.
+
+"I understood that it was your son who needed help," he said.
+
+"Never mind him for a bit.  You must see to my niece first;" and in a
+few seconds Leigh was in possession of the fact that the maid had been
+unable to make her mistress hear; that since then they could get no
+response to constant calling and knocking, and the door had resisted all
+their efforts to get it open.
+
+On reaching the end of the corridor Leigh found the maid, white and
+trembling, holding her apron pressed hard to her lips, while the footman
+and two gardeners, after littering the floor with unnecessary tools,
+were now trying to make a hole with a chisel large enough to admit the
+point of a saw, so as to cut round the lock.
+
+"Wood's like iron, sir," said the gardener, who was operating.
+
+"But would it not be easier to put a ladder to the window, and break a
+pane of glass?" said Leigh, impatiently.
+
+"Oh, Lord!" cried Wilton, "who would be surrounded with such a set of
+fools!  Come along.  Of course.  Here, one of you, go and fetch a
+ladder."
+
+The second gardener hurried off down the back stairs, while his master
+led the way to the front, leaving Mrs Wilton and the maid tapping at
+the bedroom door.
+
+"Oh, do, do speak, my darling," sobbed Mrs Wilton.  "If it's only one
+word, to let us know you are alive."
+
+"Oh, don't, don't pray say that ma'am," sobbed the maid.  "My poor dear
+young mistress!  What shall I do--what shall I do?"
+
+Mrs Wilton made no reply, but, free from her husband's coercion now,
+she hurried along the corridor to the other wing, to begin knocking at
+her son's door, and then went down upon her knees, with her lips to the
+keyhole, begging him within to speak.
+
+"Such a set of blockheads," growled Wilton; "and I was just as bad,
+Doctor.  In the hurry and excitement that never occurred to me.  You see
+you've come in cool, and ready to grasp everything.  Poor girl, she was
+a bit upset yesterday, and I suppose it was too much for her.  Boys will
+be boys, and I had a quarrel with my son."
+
+This in a confidential whisper, as they crossed the hall, but Leigh
+hardly heard him in his anxiety, and as they passed out and along the
+front of the house he said, hurriedly:
+
+"I'll go on, sir.  I see they have the ladder there."
+
+"What!" cried Wilton, excitedly, "they can't have got it yet, and--God
+bless me! what does this mean?"
+
+He broke into a run, for there, in full view now, at the end of the
+house, with its broad foot in a flower-bed, was one of the
+fruit-gathering ladders, just long enough to reach the upper windows,
+and resting against the sill beneath that of Kate's room.
+
+He reached the place first, clapped his hands upon the sides, and
+ascended a couple of rounds, but stepped back directly, with his florid
+face mottled with white, and his lips quivering with excitement as he
+spoke.
+
+"Here, you're a lighter man than I, Doctor; go up.  The window's open,
+too."
+
+Leigh sprang up, mad now with anxiety and a horrible dread; but as he
+reached the window he paused and hesitated, for more than one reason,
+the principal being a fear of finding that which he suspected true.
+
+"In with you, man--in with you," cried Wilton; "it is no time for false
+delicacy now;" and as he spoke he began to ascend in turn.
+
+Leigh sprang in, and at a glance saw that the bed had not been pressed,
+and that there was no sign of struggle and disturbance in the daintily
+furnished room.  No chair overset, no candlestick upon the floor, but
+all looking as if ready for its occupant, save that an extinguisher was
+upon one of the candles beside the dressing-table glass.
+
+"Gone!" cried a hoarse voice behind him, as he stood there, shrinking in
+the midst of the agony he felt, for it seemed to him like a sacrilege to
+be present.
+
+Leigh started round, to find Wilton's head at the open casement, and
+directly after the heavy man stepped in.
+
+"No, no," he shouted back, as the ladder began to bend again.  "Not you.
+Stop below.  No; take this ladder to the hall door, and wait."
+
+He banged to, and fastened the casement, after seizing the top of the
+ladder, and giving it a thrust which sent it over with a crash on to the
+gravel.
+
+"Don't seem like a doctor's business, sir," continued Wilton, gravely;
+"but you medical men have to be confidential, so keep your tongue quiet
+about what you have seen."
+
+Leigh bowed his head, for he could not speak.  A horrible sensation, as
+if he were about to be attacked by a fit, assailed him, and he had to
+battle with it to think and try to grasp what this meant.  One moment
+there was the fear that violence had been used; the next that it meant a
+willing flight; and he was fiercely struggling with the bitter thoughts
+which came, suggesting that his love for this delicate, gentle girl was
+a mockery, for she was either weak, or had long enough before bound
+herself to another, when he was brought back to the present by the
+action of the Squire, who, after a sharp glance round, stooped to pick
+up the door-key from where it lay on the carpet after being turned and
+pushed out by means of a piece of wire, in the hope, as suggested by
+Samuel, that it could be picked out afterwards at the bottom of the
+door, a plan which had completely failed.
+
+Wilton thrust in the key, turned it, and opened the door, to admit his
+wife and the maid.
+
+"Miss Kate, Miss Kate," cried the latter.
+
+"Call louder," said Wilton, mockingly.  "There's no one here."
+
+"James, James, my dear, what does this mean?" cried Mrs Wilton
+excitedly.
+
+"Bed not been slept in; window open--ladder outside--can't you see?"
+
+Eliza looked at him wildly, as if she could not grasp his words; then
+with a cry she rushed to a wardrobe, dragged it open, and examined the
+hooks and pegs.
+
+"Hat--waterproof!" she cried; and then with a faint shriek--"Gone?"
+
+"Yes, gone," said Wilton brutally.  "Here, Maria; this way."
+
+"Yes, yes; Claud's room.  Come quickly, Doctor, pray."
+
+Pierce Leigh followed the Wiltons along the corridor, hardly knowing
+where he was going, in the wild turmoil which raged, in his brain.
+There were moments when he felt as if he were going mad; others when he
+was ready to think that he was suffering from some strange aberration
+which distorted everything he saw and heard, till he was brought back to
+himself by the Squire's voice which begat an intense desire to know the
+worst.
+
+"Here, Claud," he shouted, after thumping hard at his son's bedroom door
+without result.  "Claud!  No nonsense, sir; I want you.  Something
+serious has happened.  Answer at once if you are here."
+
+There was not a sound to be heard, and Mrs Wilton sobbed aloud.
+
+"Oh, my boy, my boy!  I'm sure he is dead."
+
+"Bah!" cried Wilton, angrily.  "Here, who has been trying to get in this
+room?"
+
+No one answered, and Wilton bent down and looked through the keyhole.
+
+"Has anyone pushed the key out to make it fall inside?"
+
+A low murmur of inquiry followed the question, but there was no reply.
+
+"Come round to the front, Doctor," said Wilton then, and Leigh followed
+him in silence downstairs and out to where the men were waiting with the
+ladder.
+
+This was placed up against the window which matched with Kate's at the
+other end of the house, and at a sign from Wilton, Leigh once more
+mounted, acting in a mechanical way, as if he were no longer master of
+his own acts, but completely influenced by his companion.
+
+"Window fastened?" cried Wilton.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Break it.  Mind; don't cut your hand."
+
+But as Wilton spoke there was the crash of glass, Leigh thrust in his
+hand, and unfastened the casement, which he flung open and stepped in,
+the Squire following.
+
+In this case the bed was tumbled from Claud having been lying down
+outside, but it was evident to his father that he had descended in the
+ordinary way, after locking his room and placing the key in his pocket,
+so as to make it seem that he was still in the room.
+
+"That will do," said Wilton, gruffly.  "We can go down, and it must be
+by the way we came."
+
+He looked at the young doctor as if expecting him to ask some questions,
+but Leigh did not speak a word, merely drawing back for his companion to
+descend.
+
+"You'll hold your tongue about all this, Mr Leigh?" he said.
+
+"Of course, sir," said the young man coldly.  "It is no affair of mine."
+
+"No, nor anybody else's but mine," cried Wilton, fiercely.  Then as soon
+as he reached the foot of the ladder he gazed fiercely at his two men.
+
+"Take that ladder back," he said; "and mind this: if I find that any man
+I employ has been chattering about this business, I discharge him on the
+instant.--Thank you, Doctor, for coming.  Of course, you will make a
+charge.  The young lady seems to prefer fresh air."
+
+Leigh looked at him wildly, and strode rapidly away.
+
+"Disappointed at losing his patient," muttered Wilton, as he went in, to
+find his wife waiting for him with both her trembling hands extended.
+
+"Quick!" she cried; "tell me the worst," as she caught his arm.
+
+He passed his arm about her waist, and seemed to sweep her into the
+library, where he closed the door, and pushed her down into an easy
+chair.
+
+"There is no worst," he said, in a low voice.  "Now, look here; you must
+keep your mouth shut, and be as surprised as I am.  It's all right.  She
+was only a bit scared yesterday.  The boy knew what he was about.  The
+cunning jade has bolted with him."
+
+"Gone--Kate?" cried Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Yes; Claud was throwing dust in our stupid old eyes.  The money won't
+go out of the family, old girl.  They're on the way to be married now,
+and as for John Garstang--let him do his worst."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Pierce, darling, what has happened?" cried Jenny, as her brother
+entered the room and sank into a chair.  "Oh," she cried wildly, as she
+flew to him to throw her arms about his neck and gazed in his ghastly
+face, "it was for Kate.  Oh, Pierce, don't say she's dead!"
+
+"Yes," he said, in a voice full of agony; "dead to me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+"Dead?  Dead to you?  Pierce, speak to me," cried Jenny.  "What do you
+mean?"
+
+"What I say.  They are a curious mixture of weakness and duplicity."
+
+"Who are, dear?" said Jenny, with a warm colour taking the place of the
+pallor which her brother's words had produced.  "Why will you go on
+talking in riddles?"
+
+"Women.  Their soft, quiet ways force you to believe in them, and then
+comes some sudden enlightening to prove what I say."
+
+Jenny caught him by the shoulder as he sat in his chair, looking
+ghastly.
+
+"Tell me what you mean," she cried excitedly.
+
+"Only the falling to pieces of your castle in the air," he said, with a
+mocking laugh.  "The marriage you arranged between the pauper physician
+and the rich heiress.  I can easily be strictly honorable now."
+
+"Will you tell me what you mean, Pierce?" cried the girl, angrily.
+"What has happened?  Is someone ill at the Manor House?"
+
+"No," he said, bitterly.
+
+"Then why were you sent for?"
+
+"To see an imaginary patient."
+
+"Pierce, if you do not wish me to go into a fit of hysterical passion,"
+cried the girl, "tell me what you mean.  Why--were--you--sent--for?"
+
+"Because," replied Leigh, imitating his sister's manner of speaking,
+"Mise--Katherine--Wilton--and--Mr Claud--were--supposed--to--be--
+lying--speechless in their rooms, and--ha-ha-ha! their doors could not
+be forced."
+
+"Pierce, what is the matter with you?" cried Jenny, excitedly; "do you
+know what you are saying?"
+
+"Perfectly," he cried, his manner changing from its mocking tone to one
+of fierce passion.  "When I reached the place, a way was found in, and
+the birds were flown."
+
+"Birds--flown," cried Jenny, looking more and more as if she doubted her
+brother's sanity; "what birds?"
+
+"The fair Katherine, and that admirable Crichton, Claud."
+
+"Flown?" stammered Jenny, who looked now half stunned.
+
+"Well, eloped," he cried, savagely, "to Gretna Green, or a registry
+office.  Who says that Northwood is a dull place, without events?"
+
+"Kate Wilton eloped with her cousin Claud!"
+
+"Yes, my dear," said Pierce, striving hard to speak in a careless,
+indifferent tone, but failing dismally, for every word sounded as if
+torn from his breast, his quivering lips bespeaking the agony he felt.
+
+There was silence for a few moments, and then Jenny exclaimed:
+
+"Pierce, is this some cruel jest?"
+
+"Do I look as if I were jesting?" he cried wildly, and springing up he
+cast aside the mask beneath which he had striven to hide the agony which
+racked him.  "Jesting! when I am half mad with myself for my folly.
+Driveling pitiful idiot that I was, ready to believe in the first pretty
+face I see, and then, as I have said, I find how full of duplicity and
+folly a woman is."
+
+"Mind what you are saying, Pierce," cried his sister, who seemed to be
+strangely moved; "don't say words which will make you bitterly repent.
+Tell me again; I feel giddy and sick.  I must be going to be taken ill,
+for I can't have heard you aright, or there must be some mistake."
+
+"Mistake!" he cried, with a savage laugh.  "Don't I tell you--I have
+just come from there?  Has not old Wilton hid me keep silence?  And I
+came babbling it all to you."
+
+"Stop!" said Jenny thoughtfully; "Kate could not do such a thing.  When
+was it?"
+
+"Who can tell?--late last night--early this morning.  What does it
+matter?"
+
+"It is not true," cried Jenny, with her eyes flashing.  "How dare you,
+who were ready to go down on your knees and worship her, utter such a
+cruel calumny."
+
+"Very well," he cried bitterly; "then it is not true; I have not been
+there this morning, and have not looked in their empty rooms.  Tell me I
+am a fool and a madman, and you will be very near the truth."
+
+"I don't care," cried Jenny angrily; "and it's cruel--almost blasphemous
+of you to say such a thing about that poor sweet girl whom I had already
+grown to love.  She elope with her cousin--run away like a silly girl in
+a romance!  It is impossible."
+
+"Yes, impassible," he said mockingly, as he writhed in his despair and
+agony.
+
+"Pierce, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.  There!  I can only talk
+to you in a commonplace way, though all the time I am longing for words
+full of scorn and contempt with which to crush you.  No, I'm not, my
+poor boy, because I can see how _you_ are suffering.  Oh, Pierce!
+Pierce!" she continued, sobbing as she threw her arms about his neck;
+"how can you torture yourself so by thinking such a thing of her?"
+
+"Good little girl," he said tenderly, moved as he was by her display of
+affection.  "I shall begin to respect myself again now I find that my
+bright, clever little sister could be as much deceived as I."
+
+"I have not been deceived in her.  She is all that is beautiful, and
+good, and true.  Of course, I believe in her, and so do you at heart,
+only you are half mad now, and deceived."
+
+"Yes, half mad, and deceived!"
+
+"Yes.  There is something behind all this--I know," cried Jenny, wildly.
+"They have persecuted her so, and encouraged that wretched boy to pay
+her attentions, till in despair she has run away to take refuge with
+some other friends."
+
+"With Claud Wilton!" said Pierce, bitterly.
+
+"Silence, sir!  No.  Women are not such weak double-faced creatures as
+you think.  No, it is as I say; and oh!  Pierce, dear, he was out late
+last night, and when he got back found her going away and followed her."
+
+"Fiction--imagination," he said bitterly.  "You are inventing all this
+to try and comfort me, little woman, but your woven basket will not hold
+water.  It leaks at the very beginning.  How could you know that he was
+out late last night?"
+
+Jenny's cheeks were scarlet, and she turned away her face.
+
+"There, you see, you are beaten at once, Jenny, and that I have some
+reason for what I have said about women; but there are exceptions to
+every rule, and my little sister is one of them.  I did not include her
+among the weak ones."
+
+To his astonishment she burst into a passionate storm of sobs and tears,
+and in words confused and only half audible, she accused herself of
+being as weak and foolish as the rest, and, as he made out, quite
+unworthy of his trust.
+
+"Oh!  Pierce, darling," she cried wildly, as she sank upon her knees in
+front of his chair; "I'm a wicked, wicked girl, and not deserving of all
+you think about me.  Believe in poor Kate, and not in me, for indeed,
+indeed, she is all that is good and true."
+
+"A man cannot govern his feelings, Sissy," he said, half alarmed now at
+the violence of her grief.  "I must believe in you always, as my own
+little girl.  How could I do otherwise, when you have been everything to
+me for so long, ever since you were quite a little girl and I told you
+not to cry for I would be father and mother to you, both."
+
+"And so you have been, Pierce, dear," she sobbed, "but I don't deserve
+it--I don't deserve it."
+
+"I don't deserve to have such a loving little companion," he said,
+kissing her tenderly.  "Haven't I let my fancy stray from you, and am I
+not being sharply punished for my weal mess?"
+
+She suddenly hung back from him and pressed her hair from her temples,
+as he held her by the waist.
+
+"Pierce!" she said sharply, and there was a look of anger in her eyes,
+"he is a horrid wretch."
+
+"People do not give him much of a character," said Leigh bitterly, "but
+that would be no excuse for my following him to wring his neck."
+
+"I believe he would be guilty of any wickedness.  Tell me, dear; do you
+think it possible--such things have been done?"
+
+"What things?" he said, wondering at her excited manner.
+
+"It is to get her money, of course; for it would be his then.  Do you
+think he has taken her away by force?"
+
+Leigh started violently now in turn, and a light seemed to flash into
+his understanding, but it died out directly, and he said half pityingly,
+as he drew her to him once again:
+
+"Poor little inventor of fiction," he said, with a harsh laugh.  "But
+let it rest, Sissy; it will not do.  These things only occur in a
+romance.  No, I do not think anything of the kind; and what do you say
+to London now?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+"What are you going to do, James, dear?" said Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"What are you going to do, dear?  Oh, you don't know what a relief it is
+to me.  I was going to beg you to have the pike pond dragged."
+
+James Wilton's strong desire was to do nothing, and give his son plenty
+of time; but there was a Mrs Grundy even at Northwood, and she had to
+be studied.
+
+"Do?  Errum!"  He cleared his throat with a long imposing, rolling
+sound.  "Well, search must be made for them directly, and they must be
+brought back.  It is disgraceful I did mean to sit down and do nothing,
+but it will not do.  I am very angry and indignant with them both, for
+Kate is as bad as Claud.  It must not be said that we connived at the--
+the--the--what's the word?--escapade."
+
+"Of course not, my dear; and it is such a pity.  Such a nice wedding as
+she might have had, and made it a regular `at home,' to pay off all the
+people round I'd quite made up my mind about my dress."
+
+"Oh, I'm glad of that," said Wilton, with a grim smile.  "Nothing like
+being well prepared for the future.  Have you quite made up your mind
+about your dress when I pop off?  Crape, of course?"
+
+"James, my darling, you shouldn't.  How can you say such dreadful
+things?"
+
+"You make me--being such a fool."
+
+"James!"
+
+"Hold your tongue, do.  Yes, I must have inquiries made."
+
+"But do you feel quite sure that they have eloped like that?"
+
+"Oh, yes," he said, thoughtfully; "there's no doubt about it."
+
+"I don't know, my dear," said Mrs Wilton, plaintively.  "It seems so
+strange, when she was so ill and in such trouble."
+
+"Bah!  Sham!  Like all women, kicking up a row about the first kiss, and
+wanting it all the time."
+
+"James, my dear, you shouldn't say such things.  It was no sham.  She
+was in dreadful trouble, I'm sure, and I cannot help thinking about the
+pike pond.  It haunts me--it does indeed.  Don't you think that in her
+agony she may have gone and drowned herself?"
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Wilton, with a scowl at his wife.
+
+"Oh!  Horrible!  I was having dreadful dreams all last night.  You do
+think so, then?"
+
+"Yes, you've hit it now, old lady.  She must have jumped down from her
+window on to the soft flower-bed, and then gone and fetched the ladder,
+and put it up there, and afterwards gone and called Claud to come down
+and go hand in hand with her, so as to have company."
+
+"Jumped down--the ladder--what did she want a ladder for, James, dear?"
+
+"What do people want ladders for?  Why, to come down by."
+
+"But she was down, dear.  I--I really don't know what you mean.  You
+confuse me so.  But, oh, James, dear, you don't mean that about Claud?"
+
+"Why not?  Depend upon it, they're at the bottom of that hole where the
+pig was drowned, and the pike are eating bits out of them."
+
+"James!--Oh, what a shame!  You're laughing at me."
+
+"Laughing at you?  You'd make a horse laugh at you.  Such idiocy.  Be
+quiet if you can.  Don't you see how worried and busy I am?  And look
+here--if anyone calls out of curiosity, you don't know anything.  Refer
+'em to me."
+
+"Yes, my dear.  But really it is very shocking of the young people.
+It's almost immoral.  But you think they will get married directly?"
+
+"Trust Claud for that.  Fancy the jade going off in that way.  Ah,
+they're all alike."
+
+"No, James; I would sooner have died than consented to such a
+proceeding."
+
+"Not you.  Now be quiet."
+
+"Going out, dear?"
+
+"Only round the house for a few minutes.  By the way, have you examined
+Eliza--asked her what Kate has taken with her?"
+
+"Yes, dear.  Nothing at all but her hat, scarf, and cloak.  Such a
+shabby way of getting married."
+
+"Never mind that," said Wilton; and he went into the hall, through the
+porch and on to the place where the ladder had been found.
+
+There was little to find there but the deep impressions made by the
+heels, except that a man's footprints were plainly to be seen; and
+Wilton returned to his wife, rang the bell, and assuming his most
+judicial air waited.
+
+"Send Miss Kate's maid here," he said, sternly.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Stop.  Look here, Samuel, you are my servant, and I call upon you to
+speak the whole truth to me about this matter, one which, on further
+thought, I feel it to be my duty to investigate.  Now, tell me, did you
+know anything about this proceeding on Mr Claud's part?"
+
+"No, sir; 'strue as goodness, I didn't."
+
+"Mr Claud did not speak to you about it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Didn't you see him last night?"
+
+"No, sir; I went up to his room to fetch his boots to bring down and
+dry, but the door was locked, but when I knocked and asked for them he
+did say something then."
+
+"Yes, what did he say?"
+
+Samuel glanced at his mistress and hesitated.
+
+"Don't look at me, Samuel," said Mrs Wilton; "speak the whole truth."
+
+"Yes; what did he say?" cried Wilton, sternly.
+
+"Well, sir, he told me to go to the devil."
+
+Wilton coughed.
+
+"That will do.  Go and fetch Miss Wilton's maid."
+
+Eliza came, looking red-eyed and pale, but she could give no
+information, only assure them that she did not understand it, but was
+certain something must be wrong, for Miss Kate would never have taken
+such a step without consulting her.
+
+And so on, and so on.  A regular examination of the servants remaining
+followed in quite a judicial manner, and once more Kate's aunt and uncle
+were alone.
+
+"There," he said; "I think I have done my duty, my dear.  Perhaps,
+though, I ought to drive over to the station and make inquiries there;
+but I don't see what good it would do.  I could only at the most find
+out that they had gone to London."
+
+"Don't you think, dear, that you ought to communicate with the police?"
+
+"No; what for?"
+
+"To trace them, dear.  The police are so clever; they would be sure to
+find them out."
+
+Wilton coughed.
+
+"Perhaps we had better wait, my dear.  I fully anticipate that they will
+come back to-night--or to-morrow morning, full of repentance to ask our
+forgiveness; and er--I suppose we shall have to look over it."
+
+"Well, yes, my dear," said Mrs Wilton.  "What's done can't be undone;
+but I'm sure I don't know what people will say."
+
+"I shall be very stern with Claud, though, for it is a most disgraceful
+act.  I wonder at Kate."
+
+"Well, I did, my dear, till I began to think, and then I did not; for
+Claud has such a masterful way with him.  He was always too much for
+me."
+
+"Yes," said Wilton dryly; "always.  Well, we had better wait and see if
+they come back."
+
+"I am terribly disappointed, though, my dear, for we could have had such
+a grand wedding.  To go off like that and get married, just like a
+footman and housemaid.  Don't you remember James and Sarah?"
+
+"Bah!  No, I don't remember James and Sarah," said Wilton irascibly.
+
+"Yes, you do, my dear.  It's just ten years ago, and you must remember
+about them both wanting a holiday on the same day, and coming back at
+night, and Sarah saying so demurely: `Please, ma'am, we've been
+married.'"
+
+Wilton twisted his chair round and kicked a piece of coal on the top of
+the fire which required breaking.
+
+"James, my dear, you shouldn't do that," said his wife, reprovingly.
+"You're as bad as Claud, only he always does it with his heel.  There is
+a poker, my dear."
+
+"I thought you always wanted it kept bright."
+
+"Well, it does look better so, dear.  But I do hope going off in the
+night like that won't give Kate a cold."
+
+Wilton ground his teeth and was about to burst into a furious fit of
+anger against his wife's tongue, but matters seemed to have taken so
+satisfactory a turn since the previous day that the bite was wanting,
+and he planted his heels on the great hob, warmed himself, and started
+involuntarily as he saw in the future mortgages, first, second and
+third, paid off, and himself free from the meshes which he gave Garstang
+the credit of having spun round him.  As for Claud, he could, he felt,
+mould him like wax.  So long as he had some ready money to spend he
+would be quiet enough, and, of course, it was all for his benefit, for
+he would succeed to the unencumbered estates.
+
+Altogether the future looked so rosy that Wilton chuckled at the glowing
+fire and rubbed his hands, without noticing that the fire dogs were
+grinning at him like a pair of malignant brazen imps; and just then Mrs
+Wilton let her work fall into her lap and gave vent to a merry laugh.
+
+"What now?" said Wilton, facing round sharply.  "Don't do that.  Suppose
+one of the servants came in and saw you grinning.  Just recollect that
+we are in great trouble and anxiety about this--this--what you may call
+it--escapade."
+
+"Yes, dear; I forgot.  But it does seem so funny."
+
+"Didn't seem very funny last night."
+
+"No, dear, of course not; and I never could have thought our troubles
+would come right so soon.  But only think of it; those two coming back
+together, and Kate not having changed her name.  There won't be a thing
+in her linen that will want marking again."
+
+"Bah!" growled Wilton.  "Yes, what is it?" he cried, as the footman
+appeared.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but Tom Jonson had to go to the village shop for some
+harness paste, and it's all over the place."
+
+"Oh, is it?" growled Wilton.  "Of course, if Mr Tom Jonson goes out on
+purpose to spread it."
+
+"I don't think he said a word, sir, but they were talking about it at
+the shop, and young Barker saw 'em last."
+
+"Barker--Barker?  Not--"
+
+"Yes, sir, him as you give a month to for stealing pheasants' eggs.
+That loafing chap."
+
+"He saw them last night?  Here, go and tell Smith to fetch him here
+before me."
+
+Samuel smiled.
+
+"Do you hear, sir?  Don't stand grinning there."
+
+"No, sir; certainly not, sir," said the man, "but Tom Jonson thought
+you'd like to see him, sir, and he collared him at once and brought him
+on."
+
+"Quite right.  Bring him in at once.  Stop a moment.  Put two or three
+`Statutes at Large' and `Burns' Justice of the Peace' on the table."
+
+The man hurriedly gave the side-table a magisterial look with four or
+fire pie-crust coloured quartos and a couple of bulky manuals, while
+Wilton turned to his wife.
+
+"Here, Maria," he growled, in a low tone; "you'd better be off."
+
+"Oh, don't send me away, please, dear," she whispered; "it isn't one of
+those horrid cases you have sometimes, and I do so want to hear."
+
+"Very well; only don't speak."
+
+"No, my dear, not a word," whispered Mrs Wilton, and she half closed
+her eyes and pinched her lips together, but her ears twitched as she sat
+waiting anxiously for the return of the footman, followed by the groom,
+who seemed to have had no little trouble in pushing and dragging a
+rough-looking lout of about eighteen into the room, where he stood with
+his smock frock raised on each side so as to allow his hands to be
+thrust deeply into his trousers pockets.
+
+"Take your hat off," said Samuel, in a sharp whisper.
+
+"Sheeawn't!" said the fellow, defiantly.  "I arn't done nothin'."
+
+Samuel promptly knocked the hat off on to the floor, which necessitated
+a hand being taken slowly from a pocket to pick it up.
+
+"Here, don't you do that ag'in," cried the lad.
+
+"Silence, sir.  Stand up," cried Wilton.
+
+"Mayn't I pick up my hat?  I arn't done nothin'."
+
+"Say `sir'," whispered the footman.
+
+"Sheeawn't.  I arn't done nothin', I tell yer.  No business to bring me
+here."
+
+"Silence, sir," cried Wilton, taking up a pen and shaking it at the lad,
+which acted upon him as if it were some terrible judicial wand which
+might write a document consigning him to hard labour, skilly, and bread
+and water in the county jail.  The consequence being that he stood with
+his head bent forward, brow one mass of wrinkles, and mouth partly open,
+staring at the fierce-looking justice of the peace.
+
+"Listen to me: you are not brought here for punishment."
+
+"Well, I arn't done nothin'," said the lad.
+
+"I am glad to hear it, and I hope you will improve, Barker.  Now, what
+you have to do is to answer a few questions, and if you do so truthfully
+and well, you will be rewarded."
+
+"Beer?" said the lout, with a grin.
+
+"My servant will give you some beer as you go out, but first of all I
+shall give you a shilling."
+
+The fellow grinned.
+
+"Shall I get the book and swear him, sir?" said Samuel, who was used to
+the library being turned into a court for petty cases.
+
+"There is no need," said Wilton austerely.  "Now, my lad, answer me."
+
+"Yes, I sin 'em both last night."
+
+"Saw whom?"
+
+"Young Squire and his gal."
+
+"Young Squire" made Mrs Wilton smile; "his gal" seemed to set her teeth
+on edge.
+
+"Humph!  Are you sure?" said Wilton.
+
+"Sewer?  Ay, I know young Squire well enough.  Hit me many a time.
+Haw-haw!  Know young Squire--I should think I do!"
+
+"Say `sir,'" whispered Samuel again.
+
+"Sheeawn't," cried the fellow.  "You mind your own business."
+
+"Attend to me, sir," cried Wilton, in his sternest bench manner.
+
+"Well, I am a-try'n' to, master, on'y he keeps on kedgin' me."
+
+"Where did you see my son and--er--the lady?"
+
+"Where did I sin 'em?  Up road."
+
+"Where were you?"
+
+"Ahint the hedge."
+
+"And what were you doing behind the hedge--wiring?"
+
+"Naw.  On'y got me bat-fowling nets."
+
+"But you were hiding, sir?"
+
+"Well, what o' that?  'Bliged to hide.  Can't go out anywhere o' nights
+now wi'out summun watching yer.  Can't go for a few sparrers but some on
+'em says its pardridges."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"Hey?"
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"I d'know; nine or ten, or 'leven.  Twelve, may-be."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Hey?"
+
+"What then?"
+
+"What then?  Nothin' as I knows on.  Yes, there weer; he puts his arm
+round her waist, and she give him a dowse in the faace."
+
+"Humph!  Which way did they go then?"
+
+"Up road."
+
+"Did you follow them?"
+
+"What'd I got to follow 'em for?  Shouldn't want nobody to follow me
+when I went out wi' a gal."
+
+Wilton frowned.
+
+"Did you see any carriage about, waiting?"
+
+"Naw."
+
+"What did you do then?"
+
+"Waited till they was out o' sight."
+
+"Yes, and what then?"
+
+"Ketched sparrers, and they arn't game."
+
+The lout looked round, grinning at all present, as if he had posed the
+magistrate in whose presence he was standing, till his eyes lit on Mrs
+Wilton, who was listening to him intently, and to her he raised his
+hand, passing the open palm upward past his face till it was as high as
+he could reach, and then descending the arc of a circle, a movement
+supposed in rustic schools to represent a most respectful bow.
+
+"Ah, Barker, Barker!" said the recipient, shaking her head at him; "you
+never come to the Sunday school now."
+
+"Grow'd too big, missus," said the lad, grinning, and then noisily using
+his cuff for the pocket-handkerchief he lacked.
+
+"We are never too big to learn to be good, Barker," continued Mrs
+Wilton, "and I'm afraid you are growing a bad boy now."
+
+"Oh, I don't know, missus; I shouldn't be a bad 'un if there was no
+game."
+
+"That will do, that will do," said the Squire, impatiently.  "That's all
+you know, then, sir?"
+
+"Oh, no; I knows a lot more than that," said the lad, grinning.
+
+"Then why the deuce don't you speak?"
+
+"What say?"
+
+"Tell me what more you know about Mr Claud and the lady, and I'll give
+you another shilling."
+
+"Will yer?" cried the lad, eagerly.  "Well, I've seed'd 'em five or six
+times afore going along by the copse and down the narrow lane, and I sin
+him put his arm round her oncet, and I was close by, lying clost to a
+rabbud hole; and she says, `How dare you, sir! how dare you!' just like
+that I dunno any more, and that makes two shillin'."
+
+"There; be off.  Take him away, Samuel, and give him a horn of beer."
+
+"Yes sir--Now, then, come on."
+
+But the lad stood and grinned, first at the Squire and then at Mrs
+Wilton, rubbing his hands down his sides the while.
+
+"D'yer hear?" whispered the footman, as the groom opened the door.
+"Come on."
+
+"Sheeawn't."
+
+"Come on.  Beer."
+
+"But he arn't give me the two shillings yet."
+
+"Eh?  Oh, forgot," said the Squire.
+
+"Gahn.  None o' your games.  Couldn't ha' forgetted it so soon."
+
+"There--Take him away."
+
+Wilton held out a couple of shillings, and the fellow snatched them, bit
+both between his big white teeth, stuffed one in each pocket, made Mrs
+Wilton another bow, and turned to go; but his wardrobe had been sadly
+neglected, and at the first step one of the shillings trickled down the
+leg of his trousers, escaped the opening into his ill-laced boot,
+rattled on the polished oaken floor, and then ran along, after the
+fashion of coins, to hide itself in the darkest corner of the room.  But
+Barker was too sharp for it, and forgetting entirely the lessons he had
+learned at school about ordering "himself lowly and reverently to all
+his betters," he shouted: "Loo, loo, loo!" pounced upon it like a cat
+does upon a mouse, picked it up, and thrust it where it could join its
+fellow, and turned to Mrs Wilton.
+
+"Hole in the pocket," he said, confidentially, and went off to get the
+beer.
+
+"Bah!  Savage!" growled Wilton, as the door closed.  "There, Maria, no
+doubt about it now."
+
+"No, my dear, and we can sleep in peace."
+
+But Mrs Wilton was wrong save and except the little nap she had after
+dinner while her husband was smoking his pipe; for that night, just
+before the last light was out--that last light being in the Squire's
+room where certain arrangements connected with hair and pieces of paper
+had detained Mrs Wilton nearly half an hour after her husband had
+announced in regular cadence that he was fast asleep--there came a long
+ringing at the hall door bell.
+
+It was so utterly unexpected in the silence and solitude of the country
+place that Mrs Wilton sprang from her seat in front of the
+dressing-glass, jarring the table so that a scent-bottle fell with a
+crash, and injuring her knees.
+
+"James--James!" she cried.
+
+"Eh, what's the matter?" came from the bed, as the Squire sat up
+suddenly.
+
+"Fire!  Fire!  Another stack burning, I'm sure."
+
+Wilton sprang out of bed, ran to the window, tore aside the blind, flung
+open the casement, and looked down.
+
+"Where is it?" he shouted, for he had more than once been summoned from
+his bed to rick fires.
+
+"Where's what?" came in a familiar voice.
+
+Wilton darted back, letting fall the blind.
+
+"Slip on your dressing gown," he said, hastily, "and pull out those
+confounded things from your hair.  They've come back."
+
+"Oh, my dear, and me this figure!" cried the lady, and for the next ten
+minutes there was a hurried sound of dressing going on.
+
+"Look sharp," said Wilton.  "I'll go down and let them in.  You'd better
+rouse up Cook and Samuel; they'll want something to eat."
+
+"I won't be two minutes, my dear.  Take them in the library; the wood
+ashes will soon glow up again.  My own darlings!  I am glad."
+
+Mrs Wilton was less, for by the time the heavy bolts, lock, and bar had
+been undone, she was out of her room, and hurried to the balustrade to
+look down into the hall, paying no heed to the cool puff of wind that
+rushed upward and nearly extinguished the candle her husband had set
+down upon the marble table.
+
+"My own boy!" she sighed, as she saw Claud enter, and heard his words.
+
+"Thankye," he said.  "Gone to bed soon."
+
+"The usual time, my boy," said Wilton, in very different tones to those
+he had used at their last meeting.  "But haven't you brought her?"
+
+"Brought her?"
+
+"Yes; where's Kate?"
+
+"Fast asleep in bed by now, I suppose," said the young man sulkily.
+
+"Oh, but you should have brought her.  Where have you come from?"
+
+"Fast train down.  London.  Didn't suppose I was going to stop here, did
+you, to be kicked?"
+
+"Don't say any more about that, my boy.  It's all over now; but why
+didn't you bring her down?"
+
+"Oh, Claud, my boy, you shouldn't have left her like that."
+
+"Brought her down--Kate--shouldn't have left," said the young man,
+excitedly.  "Here, what do you both mean?"
+
+"There, nonsense; what is the use of dissimulation now, my boy," said
+Wilton.  "Of course we know, and--there--it's of no use to cry over
+spilt milk.  We did not like it, and you shouldn't have both tried to
+throw dust in our eyes."
+
+"Look here, guv'nor, have you been to a dinner anywhere to-night?"
+
+"Absurd, sir.  Stop this fooling.  Where did you leave Kate?"
+
+"In bed and asleep, I suppose."
+
+"But--but where have you been, then?"
+
+"London, I tell you.  Shouldn't have been back now, only I couldn't find
+Harry Dasent.  He's off somewhere, so I thought I'd better come back.  I
+say, is she all right again?"
+
+"I knew it!  I knew it!" shrieked Mrs Wilton.  "I said it from the
+first.  Oh, James, James!--The pond--the pond!  She's gone--she's gone!"
+
+"Who's gone?" stammered Claud, looking from father to mother, and back
+again.
+
+"Kate, dear; drowned--drowned," wailed Mrs Wilton.
+
+"What!" shouted Claud.
+
+"Look here, sir," said his father, catching him by the arm in a
+tremendous grip, as he raised the candle to gaze searchingly in his
+son's face; "let's have the truth at once.  You're playing some game of
+your own to hide this--this escapade."
+
+"Guv'nor!" cried the young man, catching his father by the arm in turn;
+"put down that cursed candle; you'll burn my face.  You don't mean to
+say the little thing has cut?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+James Wilton stood for a few moments staring searchingly at his son.
+Then, in a sudden access of anger, he rushed to the library door, flung
+it open, came back, caught the young man by the shoulders, and began to
+back him in.
+
+"Here, what are you doing, guv'nor?  Leave off!  Don't do that.  Here,
+why don't you answer my question?"
+
+"Hold your tongue, idiot!  Do you suppose I want all the servants to
+hear what is said?  Go in there."
+
+He gave him a final thrust, and then hurried out to hasten upstairs to
+where Mrs Wilton stood holding on by the heavy balustrade which crossed
+the hall like a gallery, and rocking herself to and fro.
+
+"Oh, James, I knew it--I knew it!" she sobbed out.  "She's dead--she's
+dead!"
+
+"Hush!  Hold your tongue!" cried her husband.  "Do you want to alarm the
+house?  You'll have all the servants here directly.  Come along."
+
+He drew her arm roughly beneath his, and hurried her down the stairs
+into the library, thrust her into her son's arms, and then hurried to
+the hall table for the candle, ending by shutting himself in with them.
+
+"Oh, Claud, Claud, my darling boy!" wailed Mrs Wilton.
+
+"If you don't hold your tongue, Maria, you'll put me in a rage," growled
+Wilton, savagely.  "Sit in that chair."
+
+"Oh, James, James, you shouldn't," sobbed the poor woman, "you
+shouldn't," as she was plumped down heavily; but she spoke in a whisper.
+
+"Done?" asked Claud, mockingly.  "Then, now p'raps you'll answer my
+question.  Has she bolted?"
+
+"Silence, idiot!" growled his father, so fiercely that the young man
+backed away from trim in alarm.  "No, don't keep silence, but speak.
+You contemptible young hound, do you think you can impose upon me by
+your question--by your pretended ignorance?  Do you think you can impose
+upon me, I say?  Do you think I cannot see through your plans?"
+
+"I say, mater, what's the guv'nor talking about?" cried Claud.
+
+"She's dead--she's dead!"
+
+"Who's dead?  What's dead?"
+
+"Answer me, sir," continued Wilton, backing his son till he could get no
+farther for the big table.  "Do you think you can impose upon me?"
+
+"Who wants to impose on you, guv'nor?"
+
+"You do, sir.  But I see through your miserable plan, and I tell you
+this.  You can't get the money into your own hands to make ducks and
+drakes of, for I am executor and trustee and guardian, and if there's
+any law in the land I'll lock up every shilling so that you can't touch
+it.  If you had played honourably with me you would have had ample, and
+the estate would have come to you some day, cleared of incumbrances, if
+you had not killed yourself first."
+
+"I don't know what you're talking about," cried Claud, angrily.  "Who's
+imposing on you?  Who's playing dishonourably?  You behaved like a brute
+to me, and I went off to get out of it all, only I didn't want to be
+hard on ma, and so I came back."
+
+"Oh, my darling boy!  It was very, very good of you."
+
+"Be quiet, Maria.  Let the shallow-brained young idiot speak," growled
+Wilton.  "Now, sir, answer me--have you gone through some form of
+marriage?"
+
+"Who with?" said the young man, with a grin.
+
+"Answer my question, sir.  Have you gone through some form of marriage?"
+
+"I?  No.  I'm free enough, guv'nor."
+
+"You have not?" cried Wilton, aghast.  "You mean to tell me that you
+have taken that poor girl away somewhere, and have not married her?"
+
+"No, I don't mean to tell you anything of the sort.  Here, mother, is
+the pater going mad?"
+
+"Silence, Maria; don't answer him."
+
+"Yes, do ma.  What does it all mean?  Has Kitty bolted?"
+
+"She's drowned--she's drowned, my boy."
+
+"Nonsense, ma!  You're always thinking someone is drowned.  Then she has
+bolted.  Oh, I say!"
+
+"No, sir; she has not bolted, as you term it in your miserable horsey
+slang.  You've taken her away--there; don't deny it.  You've got her
+somewhere, and you think you can set me at defiance."
+
+"Do I, guv'nor?"
+
+"Yes, sir, you do.  But I've warned you and shown you how you stand.
+Now, look here; your only chance is to give up and do exactly as I tell
+you."
+
+"Oh, is it?" said the young man mockingly.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is.  Now then, be frank and open with me at once, and I
+may be able to help you out of the miserable hole in which you have
+plunged us."
+
+"Go ahead, then.  Have it your own way, guv'nor."
+
+"No time must be lost--that is, if you are not deceiving me and have
+already had the ceremony performed."
+
+"I didn't stand on ceremony," said Claud, with a laughing sneer; "I gave
+her a few kisses, and a nice row was the result."
+
+"Will you be serious, sir?"
+
+"Yes, I'm serious enough.  Where has she gone?"
+
+"Where have you taken her?"
+
+"I haven't taken her anywhere, guv'nor."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you did not go up a ladder to her
+window?"
+
+"Hullo!"
+
+"Bring her down and take her right away?"
+
+"I say, guv'nor," cried Claud, with such startling energy that his
+father's last suspicion was swept away; "is it so bad as that?"
+
+"Then you didn't take her off?"
+
+"Of course I didn't.  Take her off?  What, after that scene?  Likely.
+What nonsense, guv'nor!  Do you think she'd have come?"
+
+"Claud, you amaze me, my boy," cried Wilton, who looked staggered, but
+his incredulity got the better of him directly.  "No; only by your
+effrontery," he continued.  "You are trifling with me; worse still, you
+are trifling with a large fortune.  Come, it will pay you best to be
+frank.  Where is she?"
+
+"At the bottom of the pike pond, for all I know--a termagant," cried
+Claud; "I tell you I haven't seen her since the row."
+
+"Then she is drowned--she's drowned."
+
+"Be quiet, Maria!" roared Wilton.  "Now, boy, tell me the truth for once
+in a way; did you elope with Kate?"
+
+"No, guv'nor, I did not," cried the young man.  "I never had the chance,
+or I'd have done it like a shot."
+
+Wilton's jaw dropped.  He was quite convinced now, and he sank into a
+chair, staring at his son.
+
+"I--I thought you had made short work of it," said Wilton, huskily.
+
+"Then she really has gone?" said Claud in a whisper.
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear," burst out Mrs Wilton.  "I knew it!  I was right at
+first."
+
+"Where has she gone, then, mother?"
+
+"Hold your tongue, woman!" cried Wilton, angrily.  "You don't know
+anything about it--how could she get a ladder there?  Footsteps on the
+flower-bed, my boy.  A man in it.  I thought it was you."
+
+"And all that money gone," cried Claud.
+
+"No, not yet, my boy.  There, I beg your pardon for suspecting you.  It
+seemed so much like your work.  But stop--you are cheating me; it was
+your doing."
+
+"Have it your own way, then, guv'nor."
+
+"You were seen with her last night."
+
+"Eh?  What time?" cried Claud.
+
+"I don't know the time, sir, but a man saw you with her.  Come, you see
+the risk you run of losing a fortune.  Speak out."
+
+Claud spoke in, but what he said was his own affair.  Then, after a
+minute's thought, he said; "I say, would it be old Garstang, guv'nor?"
+
+"No, sir, it would not be John Garstang," cried Wilton, with his anger
+rising again.
+
+"No; I have it, guv'nor," cried Claud, excitedly.  "I went up, meaning
+to have a turn in town with Harry Dasent, but he was out.  That's it; he
+hasn't a penny in the world, and he has been down here three times
+lately.  I thought he'd got devilish fond of her all at once; and twice
+over he let out about Kitty being so good-looking.  That's it; he's got
+her away."
+
+"No, no, my dear; she wouldn't have gone away with a man like that,"
+sobbed Mrs Wilton.  "She didn't like him."
+
+"No; absurd," cried Wilton.
+
+"But he'd have gone away with her, guv'nor."
+
+"You were seen with her last night."
+
+"Oh, was I?  All right, then.  If you say so I suppose I was, guv'nor,
+but I'm going back to London after ferreting out all I can.  You're on
+the wrong scent, dad,--him!  I never thought of that."
+
+"You're wrong, Claud; you're wrong."
+
+"Yes, mother, deucedly wrong," cried the young man fiercely.  "Why
+didn't I think of it?  I might have done the same, and now it's too
+late.  Perhaps not.  She'd hold out after he got her away, and we might
+get to her in time.  No, I know Harry Dasent.  It's too late now."
+
+"Look here, Claud, boy, I want to believe in you," said Wilton, who was
+once more impressed by his son's earnestness; "do you tell me you
+believe that Harry Dasent has taken her away by force?"
+
+"Force, or some trick.  It was just the sort of time when she might
+listen to him.  There; you may believe me, now."
+
+"Then who was the lady you were seen with last night?  Come, be honest.
+You were seen with someone.  Who was it?"
+
+"Mustn't kiss and tell, guv'nor," said Claud, with a sickly grin.
+
+"Look here," said Wilton huskily.  "There are a hundred and fifty
+thousand pounds at stake, my boy.  Was it Kate?"
+
+"No, father," cried the young man earnestly; "it wasn't, 'pon my soul."
+
+"Am I to believe you?"
+
+"Look here, guv'nor, do you think I want to fool this money away?  What
+good should I be doing by pretending I hadn't carried her off?  I told
+you I'd have done it like a shot if I had had the chance; and what's
+more, you'd have liked it, so long as I had got her to say yes.  I did
+not carry her off, once for all.  It was Harry Dasent, and if he has
+choused me out of that bit of coin, curse him, if I hang for it, I'll
+break his neck!"
+
+"Oh!  Claud, Claud, my darling," wailed Mrs Wilton, "to talk like that
+when your cousin's lying cold and motionless at the bottom of that
+pond!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+For the better part of two days Pierce Leigh went about like one who had
+received some terrible mental shock; and Jenny's pleasant little rounded
+cheeks told the tale of the anxiety from which she suffered, while her
+eyes followed him wistfully, and she seemed never weary of trying to
+perform little offices for him which would distract his attention from
+the thoughts which were sapping his vitality.
+
+The life at the quiet little cottage home was entirely changed, for
+brother and sister were playing parts for which they were quite unsuited
+in a melancholy farce of real life, wearing masks, and trying to hide
+their sufferings from each other, with a miserable want of success.
+
+And all the time Leigh was longing to open his heart to the loving,
+affectionate little thing who had been his companion from a child, his
+confidante over all his hopes, and counsellor in every movement or plan.
+She had read and studied with him, helped him to puzzle out abstruse
+questions, and for years they had gone on together leading a life full
+of happiness, and ready to laugh lightly over money troubles connected
+with the disappointment over the purchase of the Northwood practice
+through a swindling, or grossly ignorant, agent.
+
+"Don't worry about it, Pierce dear," Jenny had said, "it is only the
+loss of some money, and as it's in the country we can live on less, and
+wear out our old clothes over again.  I do wish I could cut up and turn
+your coats and trousers.  You men laugh at us and our fashions, but we
+women can laugh at you and yours.  Granted that our hats and dresses are
+flimsy, see how we can re-trim and unpick, and make them look new again,
+while your stupid things get worn and shiny, and then they're good for
+nothing.  They're quite hopeless, for I daren't try to make you a new
+coat out of two old ones."
+
+There was many a merry laugh over such matters, Jenny's spirits rising,
+as the country life brought back the bloom of health that had been
+failing in Westminster; and existence, in spite of the want of patients,
+was a very happy one, till the change came.  This change to a certain
+extent resembled that in the yard of the amateur who was bitten by the
+fancy for keeping and showing those great lumbering fowls--the Brahmas,
+so popular years ago.
+
+He had a pen of half-a-dozen cockerels, the result of the hatching of a
+clutch of eggs laid by a feathered princess of the blood royal; and as
+he watched them through their infancy it was with high hopes of winning
+prizes--silver cups and vases, at all the crack poultry shows.  And how
+he tended and pampered his pets, watching them through the various
+stages passed by this kind of fowl--one can hardly say feathered fowl in
+the earlier stages of their existence, for through their early boyhood,
+so to speak, they run about in a raw unclad condition that is pitiful to
+see, for they are almost "birds of a feather" in the Dundreary idea of
+the singularity of plumage; and it is not until they have arrived pretty
+well at full growth that they assume the heavy massive plumage that
+makes their skeleton lanky forms look so huge.  These six young Brahmas
+masculine grew and throve in their pen, innocent, happy, and at peace,
+till one morning their owner gazed upon them in pride, for they were all
+that a Brahma fancier could wish to see--small of comb, heavy of hackle,
+tail slightly developed, broad in the beam, short-legged, and without a
+trace of vulture hock.  "First prize for one of them," said the owner,
+and after feeding them he went to town, and came back to find his hopes
+ruined, his cockerels six panting, ragged, bleeding wrecks, squatting
+about in the pen, half dead, too much exhausted to spur and peck again.
+
+For there had been battle royal in that pen, the young birds engaging in
+a furious melee.  For what reason?  Because, as good old Doctor Watts
+said, "It is their nature to."  They did not know it till that morning,
+but there was the great passion in each one's breast, waiting to be
+evoked, and transform them from pacific pecking and scratching birds
+into perfect demons of discord.
+
+There was wire netting spread all over the top of their carefully sanded
+pen, and till then they had never seen others of their kind.  It was
+their world, and as far as they knew there was neither fowl nor chicken
+save themselves.  The memory of the mother beneath whose plumage they
+had nestled had passed away, for the gallinaceous brain cavity is small.
+
+That morning, a stray, pert-looking, elegantly spangled, golden Hambro'
+pullet appeared upon the wall, looked down for a moment on the pen of
+full-grown, innocent young Brahmas, uttered the monosyllables "Took,
+took!" and flew away.
+
+For a brief space, the long necks of the cockerels were strained in the
+direction where that vision of loveliness had appeared for a brief
+instant; the fire of jealous love blazed out, and they turned and fought
+almost to the death.  It would have been quite, had there been strength.
+
+The owner of these six cripples did not take a prize.
+
+So at Northwood, women, save as sister or friend, had been non-existent
+to Pierce Leigh.  Now the desire to rend his human brother was upon him
+strong.
+
+Jenny knew it, and for more than one reason she trembled for the time
+that must come when Pierce should first meet Claud Wilton, for it had
+rapidly dawned upon her that the long-deferred grand passion of her
+brother was the stronger for its sudden growth.
+
+In her anxiety, she went out during those two days a great deal for the
+benefit of her health, but really on the qui vive for the news that she
+felt must soon come of Claud's proceedings with his cousin; and twice
+over she had started the subject of their projected leaving, making
+Leigh raise his eyebrows slightly in wonder at the sudden change in his
+sister's ideas.  But it was not till nearly evening that, during her
+brother's temporary absence, she heard the news for which she was
+waiting.
+
+One of Leigh's poor patients called to see him--one of the class
+suffered by most young doctors, who go through life believing they are
+very ill, and that it is the duty of a medical man to pay extra
+attention to their ailments, and lavish upon them knowledge and medicine
+to the fullest extent, without a thought of payment entering their
+heads.
+
+Betsy Bray was the lady in question, and as was her custom, Jenny saw
+the woman, ready to hear her last grievance, and tell her brother when
+he returned.
+
+Betsy was fifty-five, and possessed of the strong constitution which
+bears a great deal of ease; but in her own estimation she was very bad.
+From frequenting surgeries, she had picked up a few medical terms, and
+larded her discourse with them and others of a religious tendency, her
+attendance at church dole-giving, and other charitable distributions
+being of the most regular description.
+
+"Doctor at home, miss?" she said, plaintively, as she slowly and plumply
+subsided upon the little couch in the surgery, the said piece of
+furniture groaning in all its springs, for Betsy possessed weight.
+
+"No, Mrs Bray.  He has gone to call on the Dudges, at West Gale."
+
+"Ah, he always is calling on somebody when I've managed to drag my weary
+bones all this way up from the village."
+
+"I am very sorry.  What is the matter now?" said Jenny, soothingly.
+
+"Matter, miss?  What's allus the matter with me?  It's my chronics.  Not
+a wink of sleep have I had all the blessed night."
+
+"Well, I must give you something."
+
+"Nay, nay, my dear; you don't understand my troubles.  It's the
+absorption is all wrong; and you'd be giving me something out of the
+wrong bottles.  You just give me a taste of sperrits to give me strength
+to get home again, and beg and pray o' the doctor to come on and see me
+as soon as he comes home, if you don't want me to be laid out stark and
+cold afore another day's done."
+
+"But I have no spirits, Mrs Bray."
+
+"Got none?  Well, I dessay a glass o' wine might do.  Keep me alive
+p'raps till I'd crawled home to die."
+
+"But we have no wine."
+
+"Dear, dear, dear, think o' that," said the woman fretfully.  "The old
+doctor always had some, and a drop o' sperrits, too.  Ah, it's a hard
+thing to be old and poor and in bad health, carrying your grey hairs in
+sorrow to the grave; and all about you rich and well and happy, rolling
+in money, and marrying and giving in marriage and wearing their wedding
+garments, one and all.  You've heard about the doings up at the Manor
+House?"
+
+"Yes, yes, something about them, Mrs Bray; but I'll tell my brother,
+and he will, I know, come and see you."
+
+"Yes, you tell him; not as I believe in him much, but poor people must
+take what they can get--He's come back, you know?"
+
+"My brother?  No; he would have come straight in here."
+
+"Your brother?  Tchah, no!" cried the woman, forgetting her "chronics"
+in the interest she felt in the fresh subject.  "You're always thinking
+about your brother, and if's time you began to think of a husband.  I
+meant him at the Manor--young Claud Wilton.  He's come back."
+
+"Come back?" cried Jenny excitedly.
+
+"Yes; but I hear he arn't brought his young missus with him.  Nice
+goings on, running away, them two, to get married.  But I arn't
+surprised; he fell out with the parson long enough ago about Sally Deal,
+down the village, and parson give it him well for not marrying her.
+Wouldn't be married here out o' spite, I suppose.  Well, I must go.
+You're sure you haven't got a drop o' gin in the house?"
+
+"Quite sure," said Jenny quickly; "and I'll be sure and tell my brother
+to come."
+
+"Ay, do; and tell him I say it's a shame he lives so far out of the
+village.  I feel sometimes that I shall die in one of the ditches before
+I get here, it's so far.  There, don't hurry me so; I don't want to be
+took ill here.  I know, doctors aren't above helping people out of the
+world when they get tired of them."
+
+"Gone!" cried Jenny at last, with a sigh of relief; and then, with the
+tears rising to her eyes, "Oh, what shall I do?  What shall I do?  If
+they meet--if he ever gets to know!"
+
+She hurried upstairs, put on her hat and jacket, and came down looking
+pale and excited, but without any very definite plans.  One idea was
+foremost in her mind; but as she reached the door she caught sight of
+her brother coming with rapid strides from the direction opposite to
+that taken by the old woman who had just gone.
+
+"Too late!" she said, with a piteous sigh; and she ran upstairs
+hurriedly, and threw off her things.
+
+She had hardly re-arranged her hair when she heard her brother's voice
+calling her.
+
+"Yes, dear," she said, and she ran down, to find him looking ghastly.
+
+"Who was that went away from here?" he said huskily.
+
+She told him, but not of her promise to send him over.
+
+"I'll go to her at once," he said.
+
+"No, no, Pierce, dear; she is not ill.  Pray stay at home; there is
+really no need."
+
+"Why should I stay at home?" he said, looking at her suspiciously.
+
+"I--I am not very well, dear.  You have been so dull, it has upset me.
+I wish you would stay in with me this evening; I feel so nervous and
+lonely."
+
+"Yes, I will," he said; "but I must go there first."
+
+"No, no, dear; don't, please, don't go," she pleaded, as she caught his
+arm.  "Please stay.  She is not in the least ill, and I want you to
+stop.  There, I'll make some tea directly, and we'll sit over it and
+have a long cosy chat, and it will do us both good, dear."
+
+"Jenny," he cried harshly, "you want to keep me at home."
+
+"Yes, dear, I told you so; but don't speak in that harsh way; you
+frighten me."
+
+"I'm not blind," he cried.  "Don't deny it.  You've heard from that old
+woman what I have just found out.  He has come back."
+
+"Pierce!" she cried; and she shrank away from him, and covered her face
+with her hands.
+
+"Yes," he said wildly, and there was a look in his ghastly face which
+she had never seen before.  "I knew it; and you are afraid that I shall
+meet him and wring his miserable neck."
+
+"Oh, Pierce, Pierce," she cried piteously, as she threw herself at his
+feet; "don't, don't, pray don't talk in this mad way."
+
+"Why not?" he said, with a mocking laugh.  "It is consistent.  There,
+get up; don't kneel there praying to a madman."
+
+She sprang up quickly and seized him by the shoulder, and then threw
+herself across his knees and her arms about his neck.
+
+"It is not true," she cried passionately.  "You are not mad; you are
+only horribly angry, and I am frightened to death for fear that you
+should meet and be violent."
+
+"Violent!  I could kill him!" he muttered, with a hard look in his eyes.
+"Good God, what a profanation!  He marry her!  She must have been mad,
+or there has been some cruel act of violence.  Jenny, girl, I will see
+him and take him by the throat and make him tell me all.  I have fought
+against it.  I have told myself that she is unworthy of a second
+thought, but my heart tells me that it is not so.  There has been some
+horrible trick played upon her; she would not--as you have said--she
+could not have gone off of her own will with that miserable little
+hound."
+
+"Yes, yes, that is what I think," she said, hysterically.  "So wait
+patiently, dear, and we shall know the truth some day."
+
+"Wait!" he cried, with a mocking laugh.  "Wait!  With my brain feeling
+as if it were on fire.  No, I have waited too long; I ought to have gone
+off after him at once, and learned the truth."
+
+"No, no, dear; you two must not meet.  Now then, listen to me."
+
+"Some day, little bird," he said, lifting her from his knee, as he rose;
+then kissing her tenderly he extricated himself from her clinging hands
+as gently as he could, and rushed out.
+
+"O, Pierce, Pierce!" she cried.  "Stay, stay!"
+
+But the only answer to her call as she ran to the door was the heavy
+beat of his feet in the gloom of the misty evening.
+
+"And if they meet he'll find out all," she wailed piteously.  She
+paused, waiting for a few moments, and then searched in her pocket and
+brought out a tiny silver whistle, which she placed in the bosom of her
+dress, after flinging the ribbon which was in its ring over her head.
+
+A minute later, with her cloak thrown on and hood drawn over her head,
+she had slipped out of the cottage, and was running down the by-lane in
+the direction of the Manor House.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+The soft light of the moon attracted Kate to her bedroom window, where
+she drew up the blind, and after standing gazing at the silvery orb for
+some minutes, she unfastened and threw open the casement, drew a chair
+forward, to sit there letting the soft air of the late autumn night give
+its coolness to her aching brow.
+
+For the silence and calm seemed to bring rest, and by degrees the dull
+throbbing of her head grew less painful, the strange feeling of
+confusion which had made thinking a terrible effort began to pass away,
+and with her eyes fixed upon the skies she began to go over the events
+of the day, and to try and map out for herself the most sensible course
+to pursue.  Go from Northwood she felt that she must, and at once;
+though how to combat the will of her constituted guardian was not clear.
+Garstang, in his encounter with Wilton, had put the case only too
+plainly, and there was not the vestige of a doubt in her mind as to the
+truth of his words.  It had all been arranged in the family, and
+whatever might have been her cousin's inclinations at first, he showed
+only too plainly that he looked upon her as his future wife.
+
+She shuddered at the thought; but the weak girl passed away again, and
+her pale cheeks began to burn once more with indignant anger, and the
+throbbing of her brow returned, so that she was glad to rest her head
+upon her hand.
+
+By degrees the suffering grew less poignant, and as the pain and mental
+confusion once more died out she set herself to the task of coming to
+some decision as to what she should do next day, proposing to herself
+plan after plan, building up ideas which crumbled away before that one
+thought: her uncle was her guardian and trustee, and his power over her
+was complete.
+
+What to do?--what to do?  The ever recurring question, till she felt
+giddy.
+
+It seemed, knowing what he did, the height of cruelty for Garstang to
+have gone and left her, but she was obliged to own that he could do
+nothing more than upbraid his relatives for their duplicity.
+
+But he had done much for her; he had thoroughly endorsed her own ideas
+as to her position and her uncle's intentions; and at last, with the
+tears suffusing her eyes, as she gazed at the moon rising slowly above
+the trees, she sat motionless for a time, thinking of her happy life in
+the past; and owning to herself that the advice given to her was right,
+she softly closed the casement, drew down the blind, and determined to
+follow out the counsel.
+
+"Yes, I must sleep on it--if I can," she said softly.  "Poor Liza is
+right, and I am not quite alone--I am never alone, for in spirit those
+who loved me so well must be with me still."
+
+There were two candles burning on the dressing-table, but their light
+troubled her aching eyes, and she slowly extinguished both, the soft
+light which flooded the window being ample for her purpose.
+
+Crossing the room to the side furthest from the door, she bent down and
+bathed her aching forehead for a few minutes before beginning to
+undress, and was then about to loosen her hair when she was startled by
+a faint tap outside the window which sounded as if something had struck
+the sill.
+
+She stopped, listening for a few minutes, but all was still, and coming
+to the conclusion that the sound had been caused by a rat leaping down
+somewhere behind the wainscot of the old room, she raised her hands to
+her head once more, but only for them to become fixed as she stood there
+paralysed by terror, for a shadow suddenly appeared at the bottom of the
+blind--a dark shadow cast by the moon; and as she gazed at it in
+speechless fear, it rose higher and higher, and looked monstrous in
+size.
+
+She made an effort to cast off the horrible nightmare-like sense of
+terror, but as she realised that to reach the door she must pass the
+window it grew stronger.
+
+The bell!
+
+That was by the bed's head, and for the time being she felt helpless, so
+completely paralysed that she could not even cry for help.
+
+What could it mean?  Someone had placed a ladder against the window sill
+and climbed up, and at the thought which now flashed through her brain
+the helpless feeling passed away, and the hot indignation made her
+strong, and gave her a courage which drove away her childish fear.
+
+How dare he!  It was Claud, and she knew what he would say--that he had
+come there when all was still in the house and no one could know, to ask
+her forgiveness for the scene that day.
+
+Drawing herself up, she was walking swiftly towards the door, with the
+intention of going at once to Liza's chamber, when there was a fresh
+movement of the shadow on the blind, and the dread returned, and her
+heart throbbed heavily.
+
+Claud was a short-haired, smooth-faced boy--the shadow cast on the blind
+was the silhouette of a broad-shouldered, bearded man.
+
+It was plain enough now--burglars must be trying to effect an entry, and
+in another moment she would have cried aloud for help, but just then
+there was a light tap on one of the panes, the shadow grew smaller and
+darker, as if the face had been pressed close to the window, and she
+heard her name softly uttered twice.
+
+"Kate!  Kate!"
+
+She mastered her fear once more, telling herself it must be Claud; and
+she went slowly to the door; laid her hand upon the bolt to turn it, but
+paused again, for once more came the low distinct voice--
+
+"Kate!  Kate!"
+
+She uttered a spasmodic cry, turned sharply round, and half ran to the
+window with every pulse throbbing with excitement, for she felt that the
+help she had prayed for last night had come.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+There was no hesitation on the part of Kate Wilton.  The dread was gone,
+and she rapidly drew up the blind and opened the casement window.
+
+"You?" she said quickly, as she held out her hands, which were caught at
+once and held.
+
+"Yes; who should it be, my child?  Were you afraid that insolent young
+scoundrel would dare to do such a thing?"
+
+"At first," she faltered, and then quickly, "I hardly knew what to
+think; I was afraid someone was going to break in.  Oh, Mr Garstang,
+why have you come?"
+
+He uttered a little laugh.
+
+"For the same reason, I suppose, that would make a father who knew his
+child was in peril act in the same way."
+
+"It is very, very kind of you; but you will be heard, and it will only
+cause fresh trouble."
+
+"It can cause no greater than has come to us, my child.  I was half-way
+to London, but I could not go on; so I got out at a station ten miles
+away, walked into the village close by, and found a fly and a man to
+drive me over.  I wanted to know how you were getting on.  Have you seen
+them again?"
+
+"No.  I came straight to my room, and have not left it since."
+
+"Good girl!  That was very brave of you.  Then you took my advice."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"And Master Claud?"
+
+He felt her start and shudder.
+
+"Don't talk about him, please.  But there, I am very grateful to you for
+being so kind and thoughtful, and for your brave defence."
+
+"Brave nonsense, my child!" he said bluntly.  "I did as any man of right
+feeling would have done if he found a ruffian insulting a weak, helpless
+girl.  Kate, my dear, my blood has been boiling ever since.  I could not
+go back and leave you in this state; I was compelled to come and see you
+and have a little consultation about your future.  I felt that I must do
+it before seeing James Wilton again.  Not a very reputable way, this, of
+coming to a man's house, even if he is a connection of mine; not
+respectful to you, either, my child, but I felt certain that if I came
+to the door and asked to see you I should have been refused entrance."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Kate, sadly.  "I should not have been told of your
+coming, or I would have insisted upon seeing you."
+
+"You would!  Brave girl!  I like to hear you speak out so firmly.  Well,
+there was nothing for it but for me, middle-aged man as I am, to play
+the daring gallant at the lady's window--lattice, I ought to say."
+
+"Please don't talk like this, Mr Garstang," said Kate.  "It does not
+sound like you to be playful in your manner."
+
+"Thank you, my child, you are right; it does not I accept the reproof.
+Now, then, to be businesslike.  You have been thinking deeply, of
+course, since you have been alone?"
+
+"Yes, very, very seriously about my position.  Mr Garstang, it is
+impossible for me to stay here."
+
+"Quite impossible.  The conduct to you of your aunt and uncle makes
+them--no matter what promises they may give you--quite unworthy of your
+trust.  Well?"
+
+"I have pretty well decided that I shall go away to-morrow with Eliza,
+our old nurse and maid."
+
+"A most worthy woman, my dear.  You could not do better; but--"
+
+"But what?" said Kate, nervously.
+
+"I do not wish to alarm you, but do you fully realise your position
+here?"
+
+"Yes, and that is why I have decided to go."
+
+"Exactly; but you do not fully grasp my meaning.  What about your
+uncle?"
+
+"You mean that he will object?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"But if I am firm, and insist, he will not dare to detain me," said the
+girl warmly.
+
+"You think so?  Well, think again, my child.  He is your guardian and
+trustee; he will absolutely refuse, and will take any steps which he
+considers right to prevent your leaving.  I am afraid that by the power
+your poor father left in his hands he will consider himself justified in
+keeping you quite as a prisoner until you obey his wishes."
+
+"Mr Garstang, surely he dare not proceed to such extremities!"
+
+"I am afraid that he has the power, and I grieve to say he is in such a
+position that he is likely to be reckless in his desire to gain his
+ends."
+
+Kate drew a deep breath, and gazed appealingly in the speaker's face.
+
+"As a solicitor and the husband of your aunt's late sister, James Wilton
+naturally came to me for help in his money affairs, and I did the best I
+could for him.  I found that he had been gambling foolishly on the Stock
+Exchange, instead of keeping to his farms, and was so involved that
+immediate payments had to be made to save him from absolute ruin."
+
+"But my father surely did not know of this?"
+
+"Not a word.  He kept his own counsel, and of course until the will was
+read I had no idea of what arrangements your father had made; in fact, I
+was somewhat taken aback, for I thought it possible that he would have
+made me one of your trustees.  But that by the way.  I helped your uncle
+all I could as a monetary agent, and found clients who were willing to
+advance him money on his estate, which is now deeply mortgaged.  These
+moneys are now wanted, for the interest has not been fully paid for
+years.  In short, James Wilton is in a desperate condition, and my
+visits here have been to try and extricate him from his monetary tangle
+in which he finds himself.  Now do you begin to grasp what his designs
+are?"
+
+"Yes, I see," said Kate, sadly; "it is to get some of the money which
+should be mine, to pay his debts."
+
+"Exactly, and the simplest way to do so is to marry you to Claud."
+
+"No: there is a simpler way, Mr Garstang.  If my uncle had come to me
+and told me his position I should have felt that I could not have done a
+more kindly deed than to help my father's brother by paying his debts."
+
+"Very kind and generous of you, my child; but he would not believe it
+possible, and I must say to you that, after what has passed, you would
+not be doing your duty to the dead by helping your uncle to this extent.
+Kate, my dear, since I have been talking to you it has occurred to me
+that there is but one way out of your difficulty."
+
+"Yes, what is it?" she cried eagerly.
+
+"Of course, you cannot marry your cousin?"
+
+"Mr Garstang!" she cried indignantly.
+
+"It is impossible, of course; and if you stay here you will have to
+submit to endless persecution and annoyance, such as a highly strung,
+sensitive girl like you are will be unable to combat."
+
+"You do not know me yet, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Indeed?  I think I do, as I have known you from a child.  You are
+mentally strong, but you have been, and under these circumstances will
+be, further sapped by sickness, and it would need superhuman power to
+win in so cruel a fight.  You must not risk it, Kate, my child.  You
+must go."
+
+"Yes, I feel that I know I must go, but how can I?  You, as a lawyer,
+should know."
+
+"A long and costly litigation, or an appeal to the Court of Chancery
+might save you, and a judge make an order traversing your father's will,
+but I should shrink from such a course; I know too well the
+uncertainties of the law."
+
+"Then your idea for extricating me from my difficult position is of no
+value," she said, despairingly.
+
+"You have not heard it yet," he said, "because I almost shrink from
+proposing such a thing to your father's child."
+
+"Tell me what it is," she said firmly.
+
+"You desire me to?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"It is this--a simple and effective way of checkmating one who has
+proved himself unworthy.  My idea was that you should transfer the
+guardianship to me."
+
+"Willingly, Mr Garstang; but can it be done?"
+
+"It must and shall be done if you are willing, my child," he said
+firmly, "but it would necessitate a very unusual, a bold and immediate
+step oh your part."
+
+"What is that, Mr Garstang?" she said quietly.
+
+"You would have to place yourself under my guardianship at once."
+
+"At once?" she said, starting slightly.
+
+"Yes.  Think for yourself.  It could not be done slowly and legally, for
+at the first suspicion that I was acting against him, James Wilton would
+place you immediately completely out of my reach, and take ample care
+that I had no further communication with you."
+
+"Yes," she said quietly; "he would."
+
+"Yes," he said, repeating her words, and speaking in a slow,
+passionless, judicial way; "if the thing were deferred, or if he were
+besieged, he would redouble his pressure.  Kate, my dear, that was my
+idea; but it must sound almost as mad to you as it does to me.  Yes, it
+is impossible; I ought not to have proposed such a thing, and yet I can
+not find it in my heart to give up any chance of rescuing you from your
+terrible position."
+
+He was silent, and she stood there gazing straight before her for a few
+moments before turning her eyes upon his.
+
+"Tell me plainly what you mean, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Simply this: I did mean that you should take the opportunity of my
+being here and leave at once.  I have the fly waiting, and I could take
+you to my town house and place you in the care of my housekeeper and her
+daughter.  It would of course be checkmating your uncle, who could be
+brought to his knees; and then as the price of your pardon you could do
+something to help him out of his difficulties.  Possibly a moderate
+payment to his creditors might free him on easy terms.  But there, my
+child, the project is too wild and chimerical.  It must almost sound to
+you like a romance."
+
+She stood there gazing full in his eyes as he ceased speaking; and at
+the end of a minute he said gently, "There, I must not keep you talking
+here in the cold night air.  Your chest is still delicate; but strange
+as the visit may seem, I am after all glad I have come, if only to give
+you a little comfort--to show you that you are not quite alone in the
+world.  There, say good-night, and, of course, you will not mention my
+visit to anyone.  I must go now and catch the night mail at the station.
+To-morrow I will see a very learned old barrister friend, and lay the
+matter before him so as to get his advice.  He may show me some way out
+of the difficulty.  Keep a good heart.  I must show you that you have
+one who will act as an uncle should.  But listen to me," he said, as he
+took her cold hand in his, "you must brace yourself up for the
+encounters to come.  Even if I find that I can assist you, the law moves
+slowly, and it may be months before you can come out of prison.  So no
+flinching; let James Wilton and that scoundrel Claud know that they have
+a firm, mentally strong woman to deal with; and now God bless you, my
+child!  Good-night!"
+
+He let her hand fall, and lowered himself a round of the ladder; but she
+stood as if carved in marble in the bright moonlight, without uttering a
+word.
+
+"Say good-night, my dear; and come, be firm."
+
+She made no reply.
+
+"You are not hurt by my proposal?" he said quietly.
+
+"No," she said at last, "I was trying to weigh it.  I must have time."
+
+"Yes, you must have time.  Think it over, my child; it may strike you
+differently to-morrow, or you may see it in a more impossible light.  So
+may I.  You know my address: Bedford Row will find me.  I am well known
+in London.  Write to me if you require help, and at any cost I will come
+and see you, even if I bring police to force my way.  Now, good-night,
+my dear.  Heigho!  Why did not I have a daughter such as you?"
+
+"Let me think," said Kate gravely.
+
+"No; this is no time for thinking, my child.  Once more, good-night."
+
+"No," said Kate firmly.  "I will trust you, Mr Garstang.  You must not
+leave me to be kept a prisoner here."
+
+"Possibly they would not dare; and I must warn you that you are taking a
+very unusual step."
+
+"Not in trusting you, sir," she said firmly.  "Treat me as you have
+treated the daughter who might have been born to you, and save me at
+once from the position I am in.  Wait while I go and waken Eliza.  She
+must be with us."
+
+"Your maid?" he said.
+
+"Yes, I can not leave her here."
+
+"They will not keep her a prisoner," he said quietly, "and she can join
+us afterwards.  No, my child, if you go with me now it must be alone and
+at once.  I will not put any pressure on you.  Come or stay.  You still
+have me to work for you as far as in me lies.  Which shall it be?  Your
+hat and cloak, or good-night?"
+
+"Don't leave me, Mr Garstang.  I am weak and hysterical still.  I feel
+now, after the chance of freedom you have shown me, that I dare not face
+to-morrow alone."
+
+"Then you will come?" he said, in the same low passionless way.
+
+"I will."
+
+Five minutes after, John Garstang was helping her carefully to descend
+the ladder, guarding her every footstep so that she could not fall; and
+as they reached the ground, he quietly offered her his arm.
+
+"What a beautifully calm and peaceful night!" he said gravely.  "Do you
+feel the cold?"
+
+"No; my cheeks are burning," she answered.
+
+"Ah! yes, a little excitement; but don't be alarmed.  The fly is waiting
+about half a mile away.  A sharp walk will bring back the correct
+circulation.  Almost a shame, though, my child, to take you from the
+clear pure air of the country to my gloomy house in Great Ormond Street.
+Not very far from your old home."
+
+"Don't talk to me, please, Mr Garstang," she said painfully.
+
+"I most, my dear; and about everything that will take your attention
+from the step you are taking.  Are your shoes pretty stout?  I must not
+have you suffering from wet feet.  By the way, my dear, you were
+nineteen on your last birthday.  You look much older.  I thought so
+yesterday.  Dear, dear, ii my poor wife had lived, how she would have
+blessed me for bringing her a daughter to our quiet home!  How you would
+have liked her, my dear!  A sweet, good, clever woman--so different to
+Maria Wilton.  Well, well, a good woman, too, in spite of her weakness
+for her boy."
+
+He chatted on, with Kate walking by him in silence, till the fly was
+reached, with the horse munching the grass at the road side, and the
+driver asleep on the box, but ready to start into wakefulness at a word.
+
+An hour later, Kate sat back in the corner of a first-class carriage,
+when her strength gave way, and she burst into a hysterical fit of
+sobbing.  But she heard Garstang's words:
+
+"I am glad to see that, my child.  Cry on; it will relieve your
+overburdened heart.  You will be better then.  You have done right;
+never fear.  To-morrow you can rest in peace."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+Jenny was almost breathless when she reached the park palings of the
+Manor House, some little distance from the gate at the end of the
+avenue; and here she paused for a few moments beneath an oak which grew
+within the park, but which, like many others, spread out three or four
+huge horizontal boughs right across the boundary lane, and made the way
+gloomy even on sunny days.
+
+She looked sharply back in the direction by which she had come, but the
+evening was closing in more and more gloomy, and the mist exceedingly
+closely related to a rain, was gathering fast and forming drops on the
+edges of dead leaves and twigs, beside making the grass overhanging the
+footpath so wet that the girl's feet and the lower parts of her skirts
+were drenched.
+
+No one was in sight or likely to be in that secluded spot, and having
+gained her breath, she started off once more, heedless of the sticky mud
+of the lane, and followed it on, round by the park palings, where the
+autumn leaves lay thick and rustled as her dress swept over them.  In a
+few minutes she reached a stile in the fence, where a footpath--an old
+right of way much objected to by Squire Wilton, as the village people
+called him--led across the little park, passing the house close by the
+end of the shrubbery, and entering another lane, which curved round to
+join the main road right at the far end of the village, a good mile away
+from the Doctor's cottage.
+
+There were lights in the drawing-room and dining-room, making a dull
+glow on the thickening mist, as Jenny halted at the end of the
+shrubbery, and all was still as death, till a dog barked suddenly, and
+was answered by half a dozen others, pointers and retrievers, in the
+kennel by the stables.  This lasted in a dismal, irritating chorus,
+which made the girl utter little ejaculations suggestive of impatience,
+as she waited for the noise to end.
+
+She glanced round once more, but the evergreens grew thickly just over
+an iron hurdle fence, and she satisfied herself that as she could only
+indistinctly see the shrubs three or four yards away, it was impossible
+for her to be seen from the house.
+
+The barking went on in a full burst for a few minutes.  Then dog after
+dog finished its part; the sextette became a quartette, a trio, a duet;
+and then a deep-voiced retriever performed a powerful solo, ending it
+with a prolonged bay, and Jenny raised her hand to her lips, when the
+hill chorus burst out again, and the girl angrily stamped her foot in
+the wet grass.
+
+"Oh, what a cold I shall catch," she muttered.  "Why will people keep
+these nasty dogs?"
+
+The barking went on for some minutes, just as before, breaking off by
+degrees into another solo; but at last all was still, the little sighs
+and ejaculations Jenny had kept on uttering ceased too.  Then she raised
+her head quickly, and a shrill chirp sounded dead and dull in the misty
+air, followed at intervals by two more.
+
+It was not a regular whistle, but a repetition of such a call as a night
+bird might utter in its flight as it floated over the house.
+
+The mist seemed to stifle the call, and the girl was about to repeat it,
+but it was loud enough for the dogs to hear, and they set up a fierce
+baying, which lasted till there was a loud commotion of yelps and cries,
+mingled with the rattling of chains, the same deep-mouthed dog breaking
+out in a very different solo this time, one suggestive of suffering from
+the application of boot toes to its ribs.
+
+Then quiet, and Jenny with trembling hand once more raised the little
+silver whistle to her lips, and the shrill chirps rang out in their
+former smothered way.
+
+"Oh," sighed Jenny.  "It will be a sore throat--I'm sure it will.  I
+must go back; I dare not stay any longer.  Ugh!  How I do hate the
+little wretch.  I could kill him!"
+
+The girl's pretty little white teeth grated together, and once more she
+stamped her foot, following up this display of irritation by stamping
+the other.
+
+"Cold as frogs," she muttered, "and the water's oozy in my boots.
+Wretch!"
+
+"Ullo!" came in a harsh whisper, followed by the cachination which often
+accompanies a grin.  "You've come, then!"
+
+There was a rustle of the bushes before her, and the dimly seen figure
+of Claud climbed over the iron hurdle, made a snatch at the girl's arm
+with his right and a trial to fling his left about her waist, but she
+eluded him.
+
+"Keep off," she said sharply; "how dare you!"
+
+"Because I love you so, little dicky-bird," he whispered.
+
+"I thought you didn't mean to come."
+
+"No, you didn't, pet.  I heard you first time, but I had to go out and
+kick the dogs.  They heard it, too, and thought it was poachers.  Only
+one, though--come after me!"
+
+"You!" she said, contemptuously.  "You, sir!  Who would come after you?"
+
+"Why, you would."
+
+"Such vanity!"
+
+"Then what did you come for?"
+
+"To bring you back this rubbishing little whistle."
+
+"Nonsense; you'd better keep that."
+
+"I tell you I don't want it.  Take it, sir."
+
+"No, I shan't take it.  Keep it."
+
+"There it is, then," she cried; and she threw it at him.
+
+"Gone in among the hollies," he said.  "Well, I'm not going to prick
+myself hunting for it in the dark.  What a little spit-fire it is!
+What's the matter with you to-night?"
+
+"Matter enough.  I've come to tell you never to make signals for me to
+come out again."
+
+"Why?  I say, what a temper you are in to-night.  Here, let me help you
+over, and we'll go round to the arbor.  You'll get your feet wet
+standing there."
+
+"They are wet, and I shall catch a cold and die, I hope."
+
+"Oh, I say, Jenny!"
+
+"Silence, sir!  How dare you speak to me like that!"
+
+"Come over, then, into the arbor."
+
+"I have told you again and again that I never would!"
+
+"You are a little tartar," he whispered.  "You get prettier every day,
+and peck and say nastier things to me.  But there, I don't mind; it only
+makes me love you more and more."
+
+"It isn't true," she cried furiously.  "You're a wicked story-teller,
+and you know it."
+
+"Am I?"
+
+"Yes; that's the same miserable sickly tale you have told to
+half-a-dozen of the silly girls in the village.  I know you thoroughly
+now.  How dare you follow me and speak to me?  If I were to tell my
+brother he'd nearly kill you."
+
+"Quite, p'raps, with a drop out of one of his bottles."
+
+"I can never forgive myself for having listened to the silly,
+contemptible flattery of the cast-off lover of a labourer's daughter."
+
+"Oh, I like that, Jenny; what's the good of bringing all that up?
+That's been over ever so long.  It was only sowing wild oats."
+
+"The only sort that you are ever likely to have to sow.  I know all
+now--everything; so go to her, and never dare to speak to me again."
+
+"What?  Go back to Sally?  Well, you are a jealous little thing."
+
+"I, jealous--of you?" she said, with contempt in her tone and manner.
+
+"Yes, that's what's the matter with you, little one.  But go on; I like
+it.  Shows me you love me."
+
+"I?  Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Jenny derisively.  "Do you think I don't know
+everything?"
+
+"I daresay you do.  You're such a clever little vixen."
+
+"Do you suppose it has not reached my ears about your elopement with
+your cousin?"
+
+"I don't care what you've heard; it ain't true.  But I say, don't hold
+me off like this, Jenny; you know I love you like--like anything."
+
+"Yes, anything," she retorted angrily; "any thing--your dogs, your
+horses, your fishing-rods and gun."
+
+"Oh, I say."
+
+"You miserable, deceitful trickster, I ought not to have lowered myself
+to even speak to you, or to come out again to-night, but I wanted to
+tell you what I thought about you, and it's of no use to treat such
+thick-skinned creatures as you with contempt."
+
+"Well, you are wild to-night, little one.  Don't want me to show my
+teeth, too, and go, do you?"
+
+"Yes, and the sooner the better, sir; go back to your wife."
+
+"Go back to my wife!" he cried, in tones which carried conviction to her
+ears.  "Oh, I say; you've got hold of that cock-and-bull story, have
+you?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I have got hold of the miserable cock-and-bull story, as you
+so elegantly turn it."
+
+"Oh, I don't go in for elegance, Jenny; it ain't my way; but as for that
+flam, it ain't true."
+
+"You dare to tell me that, when the whole place is ringing with it,
+sir!" she cried, angrily.
+
+"The whole place rings with the noise when that muddle-headed lot got
+pulling the bells in changes.  But it's only sound."
+
+"Don't, pray don't try to be witty, Claud Wilton; you only fail."
+
+"All right; go on."
+
+"Do you dare to tell me that you did not elope with your cousin the
+other night?"
+
+"Say slope, little one; elope is so old-fashioned."
+
+"And I suppose you've married her for the sake of her money."
+
+"Do you?" he said, sulkily; "then you suppose jolly well wrong.  It's
+all a lie."
+
+"Then you haven't married her?"
+
+"No, I haven't married her, and I didn't slope with her; so now then."
+
+"Do you dare to tell me that you did not go up to London?"
+
+"No, I don't, because I did."
+
+"With her, in a most disgraceful, clandestine manner?"
+
+"No; I went alone with a very jolly good-tempered chap, whom everybody
+bullies and calls a liar."
+
+"A nice companion; and pray, who was that?"
+
+"This chap--your sweetheart; and I came back with him too."
+
+"Then where is your cousin?"
+
+"How should I know?"
+
+"She did go away, then, the same night?"
+
+"Yes.  Bolted after a row we had."
+
+"Is this true?"
+
+"Every blessed word of it; and I haven't seen her since.  Now, tell me,
+you're very sorry for all you've said."
+
+"Tell me this; has she gone away with some one else?"
+
+"What do you want to know for?"
+
+"I want to find out that you are not such a wicked story-teller as I
+thought."
+
+"Well, I have told you that."
+
+"Who can believe you?"
+
+"You can.  Come, I say; I thought you were going to be really a bit
+loving to me at last when I heard the whistle.  It's been like courting
+a female porcupine up to now."
+
+"You know whom your cousin has gone with?"
+
+"Pretty sure," he said, sulkily.
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Oh, well, if you must know, Harry Dasent."
+
+"That cousin I saw here?"
+
+"Yes, bless him!  Only wait till we meet."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Jenny, and then she turned to go; but Claud caught her
+arm.
+
+"No, no; you might say something kind now you've found out you're
+wrong."
+
+"Very well then, I will, Claud Wilton.  First of all, I never cared a
+bit for you, and--"
+
+"Don't believe you.  Go on," he said, laughing.
+
+"Secondly, take my advice and go away at once, for if my brother should
+meet you there will be a terrible scene.  He believes horrible things of
+you, and I know he'll kill you."
+
+"Phew!" whistled Claud.  "Then he has found out?"
+
+"Take my advice and go.  He is terrible when he is roused, and I don't
+know what he'd do."
+
+"I say, this ain't gammon, is it?"
+
+"It is the solemn truth.  Now loose my arm; you hurt me."
+
+"Well, it's all right, then, and perhaps it's for the best I am going
+off to-night to hunt out Harry Dasent.  I should have gone before, but I
+had to be about with the guv'nor, making inquiries."
+
+"Then loose my arm at once, and go before it is too late."
+
+"It is too late," thundered a voice out of the gloom.  "Jenny--sister--
+is this you?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+Jenny uttered a faint cry, and staggered against the iron hurdle,
+bringing down a shower of drops upon her head.
+
+Leigh, after his words, uttered first in menace, then in a bitterly
+reproachful tone, paid no more heed to her, but turned fiercely upon
+Claud.
+
+"Now, sir," he cried; "have the goodness to--You scoundrel!  You dog!"
+
+He began after the fashion taught by education, but nature was too
+strong.  He broke off and tried to seize Claud by the throat; but,
+active as the animal mentioned, the young fellow avoided the onslaught,
+placed one hand upon the hurdle, and sprang over among the shrubs.
+
+Leigh followed him in time to receive blow after blow, as the branches
+through which Claud dashed sprang back, cutting him in the face and
+drenching him with water.  Guided, though, by the sounds, he followed as
+quickly as he could, till all at once the rustling and crackling of
+branches ceased, and he drew up short on the soft turf of a lawn,
+listening for the next movement of his quarry, but listening in vain.
+
+A minute later the dogs began barking violently, and Leigh's thoughts
+turned to his sister.  Then to Claud again, and he hesitated as to
+whether he should go to the house and insist upon seeing him.  But his
+reason told him that he could not leave Jenny there in the wet and
+darkness, and with his teeth set hard in his anger and despair, he tried
+to find his way back to the place where he had come over into the
+garden, missing it, and coming to the conclusion that his sister had
+fled, for though he peered in all directions on crossing the hurdles, he
+could see no sign of her in the misty darkness.
+
+As it happened he was not above a dozen yards from where she stood
+clinging to the dripping iron rail; and when with an angry exclamation
+he turned to make for the pathway, her plaintive voice arose:
+
+"Please take me with you, Claud," she said.  "I am so faint and cold!"
+
+He turned upon her with a suppressed roar, caught her by the arm,
+dragged it under his, and set off through the dripping grass with great
+strides, but without uttering a word.
+
+She kept up with him as long as she could, weeping bitterly the while,
+and blinding herself with her tears so that she could not see which way
+they went.  Twice over she stumbled and would have fallen, had not his
+hold been so tight upon her arm, and at last, totally unable to keep up
+with him, she was about to utter a piteous appeal, when he stopped
+short, for they had reached the wet and muddy stile.
+
+Here he loosed her arm, and sprang over into the road.
+
+"Give me your hands," he cried, and she obeyed, and then as he reached
+over, she climbed the stile, stepping on to the top rail at last.
+
+"Jump," he said, sharply; and she obeyed, but slipped as she alighted,
+one foot gliding over the muddy surface, and in spite of his strong
+grasp upon her hands, she fell sideways, and uttered a sharp cry.
+
+"No hysterical nonsense, now, girl," he cried.  "Get up!"
+
+"I--I can't, Pierce.  Oh, pray, don't be so cruel to me, please."
+
+"Get up!" he cried, more sternly.
+
+"My ankle's twisted under me," she said, faintly.  "I--I--!"
+
+A piteous sigh ended her speech, and she sank nerveless nearly to the
+level, but a sudden snatch on his part saved her from falling prone.
+
+Then bending down, he raised her, quite insensible, in his arms, drew
+her arm over his shoulders, and strode on again, the passionate rage and
+indignation in his breast nerving him so that she seemed to possess no
+weight at all.
+
+For another agony had come upon him, just when life seemed to have
+suddenly become unbearable, and there were moments when it appeared to
+be impossible that the bright girl who had for years past been to him as
+his own child could have behaved in so treacherous, so weak and
+disgraceful a way as to have listened to the addresses of the young
+scoundrel who seemed to have blasted his life.
+
+"And she always professed to hold him in such contempt," he said to
+himself.  "Great heavens!  Are all women alike in their weakness and
+folly?"
+
+He reached the cottage at last, where all was now dark; but the door
+yielded to his touch, and he bore her in, and laid her, still
+insensible, upon the sofa.
+
+Upon striking a light, and holding a candle toward her face, he uttered
+a deep sigh, for she was ghastly pale, her hair was wet and clinging to
+her temples, and he could see that she was covered with the sticky,
+yellowish clay of the field and lane.  But he steeled his breast against
+her.  It was her punishment, he felt; and treating her as if she were
+some patient and a stranger, he took off her wet cloak and hood, threw
+them aside, and proceeded to examine for the injury.
+
+But little examination was necessary, and his brow grew more deeply
+lined as he quickly took out a knife, slit her wet boot from ankle to
+toe, and set her foot at liberty.
+
+Then lighting another candle, he walked sharply into his surgery, and
+returned with splints and bandages, to find her eyes open, and that she
+was gazing at him wildly.
+
+"Where am I?  What is the matter?" she cried, hysterically.  "This
+dreadful pain and sickness!"
+
+"At home.  Lie still," he said, coldly.  "Your ankle is badly hart."
+
+"Oh!" she sighed, and the tears began to flow, accompanied by a piteous
+sobbing, for the meaning of it all came back.
+
+He went out again, and returned with a glass containing some fluid, then
+passing his hand beneath her head, he raised her a little.
+
+"Drink this," he said.
+
+"No, no, I can not bear it.  You hurt me horribly."
+
+"I can not help it.  Drink!"
+
+He pressed the glass to her lips, and she drank the vile ammoniacal
+mixture.
+
+"Now, lie still.  I will not hurt you more than I can help, but I must
+see if the bone is broken, and set it."
+
+"No, no, not yet Pierce," she sobbed; "I could not bear it while I am in
+this state.  Let me tell you--let me explain to you first."
+
+"Be silent!" he cried, angrily.  "I do not want to hear a word I must
+see to your ankle before it swells up and the work is impossible."
+
+"Never mind that, dear.  I must tell you," she cried, piteously.
+
+"I know all I want to know," he said, bitterly; "that the sister I have
+trusted and believed in has been cruelly deceiving me--that one I
+trusted to be sweet and true and innocent has been acting a part that
+would disgrace one of the village wenches, for to be seen even talking
+to that young scoundrel under such circumstances would rob her of her
+character.  And this is my sister!  Now, lie still.  I must bandage this
+hurt."
+
+"Oh, Pierce, dear Pierce!  You are hurting me more than I can bear," she
+sobbed; for he had gone down on one knee as he spoke, and began
+manipulating the injured joint.
+
+"I can not help it; you must bear it.  I shall not be long."
+
+"I--I don't mean that, dear; I can bear that," she moaned.  "It is your
+cruel words that hurt me so.  How can you say such things to me?"
+
+"Be silent, I tell you.  I can only attend to this.  If it is neglected,
+you may be lame for life."
+
+"Very well," she said, with a passionate cry; "let me be lame for life--
+let me die of it if you like, but you must, you shall listen to me,
+dear."
+
+"I will not listen to you now--I will not at any time.  You have killed
+my faith in you, and I can never believe or trust in you again."
+
+"But you shall listen to me," she cried; and with an effort that gave
+her the most acute pain, she drew herself up and embraced her knees.
+"You shall not touch me again until you listen to me.  There!"
+
+"Don't behave like a madwoman," he said, sternly.  "Lie back in your
+place; you are injuring yourself more by your folly."
+
+"It is not folly," she cried; "I will not be misjudged like this by my
+own brother.  Pierce, Pierce, I am not the wicked girl you think."
+
+"I am glad of it," he said, coldly; "even if you are lost to shame."
+
+"Shame upon you, to say such words to me."
+
+"Perhaps I was deceived in thinking I found you there to-night with your
+lover."
+
+"My lover!" she cried, hysterically.
+
+"Now, will you lie down quietly, and let me bandage your ankle, or must
+I stupefy you with chloroform?"
+
+"You shall do nothing until you have listened to me," she cried, wildly.
+"He is not my lover.  I never had a lover, Pierce.  I went there
+to-night to tell him to go away, for I was afraid for you to meet him.
+I shivered with dread, you were so wild and strange."
+
+"Were you afraid I should kill him," he said, with an angry glare in his
+eyes.
+
+"Yes, or that he might kill you.  Pierce, dear, if I have deceived you,
+it was because I loved you, and I was fighting your fight."
+
+Indeed! he said, bitterly.
+
+"He has been watching for me, and coming here constantly ever since we
+came to the house.  I couldn't go down the village, or for a walk
+without his meeting me.  He has made my life hateful to me."
+
+"And you could not appeal to your brother for help and protection?"
+
+"I was going to, dear, but matters happened so that I determined to be
+silent.  No, no, don't touch me till you have heard all.  I found how
+you loved poor Kate."
+
+"Will you be silent!" he raged out.
+
+"No, not if I die for it.  I found out how you loved Kate, and I soon
+knew that they meant her for that--that dreadful boy, while all the time
+he was trying to pay his addresses to me.  Then I made up my mind to
+give him just a little encouragement--to draw him on, so as to be able
+to let Kate see how utterly contemptible and unworthy he was, for I
+could lead him on until she surprised us together some day, when all
+would have been over at once, for she would never have listened to him.
+Do you hear me, Pierce?  I tried to fool him, but he has fooled me
+instead, and robbed me of my own brother's love."
+
+"What do you mean by fooling you?" he cried, with his attention arrested
+at last.
+
+"We have been all wrong, dear; I found it out to-night.  He did not take
+Kate away."
+
+"What!  Why, they were seen together by that poaching vagabond, Barker,
+the fellow the keeper shot at and I attended.  He watched them."
+
+"No, dear; it was not Kate with him then: it was I.  Kate is gone, and
+he is in a rage about it."
+
+"Gone?  With whom?"
+
+"With--with--oh!  Pierce, Pierce! say some kind word to me; tell me you
+love and believe me, dear.  I am hot the wicked creature you think,
+and--and--am I dying?  Is this death?"
+
+He laid her back quickly, and hurriedly began to bathe her temples, but
+ceased directly.
+
+"Better so," he muttered; and then with trembling hands, which rapidly
+grew firmer, he examined the injury, acting with such skill that when a
+low sigh announced that the poor girl was recovering her senses, he was
+just laying the injured limb in an easy position, before rising to take
+her hand in his.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+Kate Wilton needed all her strength of mind to bear up against the
+depression consequent upon her self-inflicted position.  As she sat back
+in a corner of the carriage, dimly lit by a lamp in which a quantity of
+thick oil was floating to and fro, she could see that Garstang in the
+corner diagonal to hers was either asleep or assuming to be so, and for
+the moment this relieved her, for she felt that it was from kindness and
+consideration on his part.
+
+But the next minute she was in agony, reproaching herself bitterly for
+what now presented the aspect of a rashly foolish action on her part.
+
+Then, with her mental suffering increasing, she tried to combat this
+idea, telling herself that she had acted wisely, for it would have been
+madness to have stayed at Northwood and exposed herself to the risk of
+further insult from her cousin, now that she knew for certain what were
+her uncle's designs.  For she knew that appeal to her aunt would be
+useless, that lady being a slave to the caprices of her son and the
+stern wishes of her husband, and quite ready to believe that everything
+they said or did was right.
+
+And so on during the slow night journey toward London, her brain growing
+more and more confused by the strangeness of her position, and the
+absence of her natural rest, till the swaying to and fro of her thoughts
+seemed to be somewhat bound up with that of the thick oil in the great
+glass bubble of a lamp and with the stopping of the train and the roll
+and clang of the great milk tins taken up at various stations.
+
+At last her fevered waking dream, as it seemed to her, was brought to an
+end by Garstang suddenly starting up as if from sleep to rub his
+condensed breath off the window-pane and look out.
+
+"London lights," he said.--"Asleep, my dear?"
+
+"No, Mr Garstang.  I have been awake thinking all the while."
+
+"Of course you would be.  What an absurd, malapropos question.  There,
+you see what it is to be a middle-aged, unfeeling man.  I'm afraid we do
+get very selfish.  Instead of trying to comfort you, and chatting
+pleasantly, I curl up like a great black cat and go to sleep."
+
+She made no reply.  The words would not come.
+
+"Cold, my dear?"
+
+"No.  I feel hot and feverish."
+
+"Nervous anxiety, of course.  But try and master it.  We shall soon be
+home, and you can have a good cup of tea and go to bed.  A good long
+sleep will set you right, and you will not be thinking of what a
+terrible deed you have committed in coming away in this nocturnal
+clandestine manner.  That sounds grand, doesn't it, for a very calm,
+sensible move on life's chess-board--one which effectually checks James
+Wilton and that pleasant young pawn his son.  There, there, don't fidget
+about it, pray.  I have been thinking, too, and asking myself whether I
+have done my duty by Robert Wilton's child in bringing you away, and I
+can find but one answer--yes; while conscience says that I should have
+been an utter brute to you if I had left you to be exposed to such a
+scandalous persecution."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Garstang," said Kate, frankly, as she held out her hand
+to him.  "I could not help feeling terribly agitated and ready to
+reproach myself for taking such a step.  You do assure me that I have
+done right?"
+
+"What, in coming with me, my dear?" he said, after just pressing her
+hand and dropping it again.  "Of course I do.  I was a little in doubt
+about it at first, but my head feels clearer after my nap, and I tell
+you, as an experienced man, that you have done the only thing you could
+do under the circumstances.  This night journey excites and upsets you a
+bit, but I'm very much afraid that some of them at Northwood will be far
+worse, and serve them right."
+
+"Poor 'Liza will be horror-stricken," said Kate.  "I wish I had begged
+harder for you to bring her too."
+
+"Ah, poor woman!  I am sorry for her," said Garstang, thoughtfully;
+"servants of that devoted nature are very rare.  It is an insult to call
+them servants; they are very dear and valuable friends.  But just think
+a moment, my dear.  To have roused her from sleep and told her to dress
+and come with you--to join you in your flight would have seemed to her
+then so mad a proceeding that it would have resulted in her alarming the
+house, or at least in upsetting our project.  She would never have let
+you come."
+
+"I am afraid you are right," said Kate, with a sigh.
+
+"I am sure of it, my child; but you must communicate with her at once.
+She must not be kept in suspense an hour longer than we can help.  Let
+me see, I must contrive some way of getting a letter to her.--Ah, here
+we are."
+
+For the train had slowed while they were talking, and was now gliding
+gently along by the platform of the great dimly lighted station.
+
+A porter sprang on to the footboard as he let down the window.
+
+"Luggage, sir?"
+
+"No.  Is the refreshment room open?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That will do, then," said Garstang, and he slipped a coin into the
+man's hand.  "Now, then, my dear, we'll go and have a hot cup of tea at
+once."
+
+"I really could not touch any now, Mr Garstang," said Kate.
+
+"That's what I daresay you said about your medicine when you were a
+little girl; but I must be doctor, and tell you that it is necessary to
+take away that nervous shivering and agitation; and besides, have a
+little pity on me."
+
+She smiled faintly as he handed her out of the carriage, and suffered
+herself to be led to where the cheerless refreshment room was in charge
+of a couple of girls, who looked particularly sleepy and irritable, but
+who had been comforting themselves with that very rare railway beverage,
+a cup of freshly made tea.
+
+"There, I am sure you feel better for that," said Garstang, as he drew
+his companion's arm through his and led her out of the station, ignoring
+the offers of cabman after cabman.  "A nice, little, quick walk will
+circulate your blood, and then we'll take a cab and go home."
+
+She acquiesced, and he took her along at a brisk pace through the
+gas-lit streets, passing few people but an occasional policeman who
+looked at them keenly, and the men busy in gangs sweeping the city
+streets; but at the end of a quarter of an hour he raised his hand to
+the sleepy looking driver of a four-wheeler, handed his companion in,
+gave the man his instructions, and then followed, to sit opposite to
+her, and drew up the window, when the wretched vehicle went off with the
+glass jangling and jarring so that conversation became difficult.
+
+"There!" said Garstang, merrily; "now, my dear, I am going to confess to
+a great deal of artfulness and cunning."
+
+She looked at him nervously.
+
+"This is a miserable cab, and I could have obtained a far better one in
+the station, but now you have come away it's to find peace, quiet, and
+happiness, eh?"
+
+"I hope so, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Yes, and you shall have those three necessities to a young girl's life,
+or John Garstang will know the reason why.  So to begin with I was not
+going to have James Wilton and his unlicked cub coming up to town some
+time this morning, enlisting the services of a clever officer, who would
+question the porters at the terminus till he found the man who asked me
+about luggage, and then gather from that man that he called cab number
+nine millions and something to drive us away.  Then, as they keep a
+record of the cabs which take up and where they are going, for the
+benefit of that stupid class of passengers who are always leaving their
+umbrellas and bags on seats, that record would be examined, number nine
+millions and something found, questioned, and ready to endorse the entry
+as to where we were going; and the next thing would have been Uncle
+James and Cousin Claud calling at my house, insisting upon seeing you,
+and consequently a desperate row, which would upset you and make me say
+things again which would cause me to repent.  Now do you see?"
+
+"Yes," she said, gravely; "they will not follow us now."
+
+"I hope not, but it is of no use to be sure.  I am taking every
+precaution I can; and I shall finish by getting out where I told the
+man--Russell Square; and we will walk the rest of the way."
+
+Kate did not speak, for a vague terror was beginning to oppress her,
+which her companion's bright cheery way had hard work to disperse.
+
+"It is of no use to be sure about anything, but if they do find out that
+you have come with me, these proceedings will throw them off the scent.
+Your uncle does not know that I have a house in Great Ormond Street.  Of
+course he knows of my offices in Bedford Row, and of my place at
+Chislehurst, where Harry Dasent lives with me--when he condescends to be
+at home.  Come, you seem brighter and more cheerful now, but you will
+not be right till you have had a good long sleep."
+
+Very little was said for the rest of the journey, the cab drawing up at
+the end of the narrow passage close to Southampton Row, where there was
+no thoroughfare for horses; and after the man was paid, Garstang led his
+companion along the pavement as if about to enter one of the houses,
+going slowly till the cab was driven off.  Then, increasing his pace, he
+led the way into the great square, along one side, making for the east,
+and finally stopped suddenly in front of a grim-looking red-brick
+mansion in Great Ormond Street--a house which in the gloomy morning,
+just before dawn, had a prison-like aspect which made the girl shiver.
+
+"Strange how cold it is just before day," said Garstang, leading the way
+up the steps, glancing sharply to right and left the while.  The next
+moment a latch-key had opened the ponderous door, and they stood in a
+great hall dimly seen to be full of shadow, till Garstang struck a
+match, applied it beneath a glass globe, and revealed the proportions of
+the place, which were ample and set off by rich rugs, and old oak
+presses full of blue china, while here and there were pictures which
+looked old and good.
+
+"Welcome home, my child," said Garstang, with tender respect.  "It looks
+gloomy now, but you are tired, faint, and oppressed with trouble.  This
+way."
+
+He led the girl to a door at the foot of a broad staircase, opened it,
+entered the room, and once more struck a match, to apply it to a couple
+of great globes held up by bronze figures on the great carved oak
+mantelpiece, and as the handsome, old-fashioned room lit up, he stopped
+and applied a match to the paper of a well-laid fire, which began to
+burn briskly, and added the warmth and glow of its flames and the cheery
+crackle of the wood to the light shed by the globes.
+
+"There," he continued, drawing forward a great leather-covered easy
+chair to the front of the fire, "take off your hat, but keep your cloak
+on till the room gets warmer.  It will soon be right."
+
+She obeyed, trying to be firm, but her hands trembled a little as she
+glanced at her strange surroundings the while, to see that the room was
+heavily but richly furnished, much of the panelled oak wall being taken
+up by great carved cabinets, full of curious china, while plates and
+vases were ranged abundantly on brackets, or suspended by hooks wherever
+space allowed.  These relieved the heaviness of the thick hangings about
+a stained-glass window and over the doors, lying in folds upon the thick
+Persian carpet, while as the fire burned up a thousand little
+reflections came from the glaze of china, and wood polished as bright as
+hands could make it.
+
+"You did not know I was quite a collector of these things, my dear.  I
+hope you will take an interest in them by-and-by.  But to begin with,
+let me say this--that I hope you will consider this calm old house your
+sanctuary as well as home, that you are its mistress as long as you
+please, and give your orders to the servants for anything that seems to
+be wanting."
+
+"You are very good to me, Mr Garstang," faltered Kate, who felt that
+the vague terror from which she had suffered was dying away.
+
+"Good?  Absurd!  Now, then, you will not mind being left alone for a few
+minutes?  I am going to awaken my housekeeper and her daughter.  Rather
+an early call."
+
+As he spoke a great clock over the mantelpiece began to chime musically,
+and was followed by the hour in deep, rich, vibrating tones.
+
+"It's a long time since I was up at five in the morning," said Garstang,
+cheerily.  "Hah! a capital fire soon.  Becky is very clever at laying
+fires.  You will find her and her mother rather quaint, but they are
+devoted to me.  Excellent servants.  I never see anyone else's house so
+clean.  There, I shall not be long."
+
+He smiled at her pleasantly, and left the room, while, as the door
+closed, and the heavy folds of the portiere dropped down, Kate sank back
+in her chair, and the tears which had been gathering for hours fell
+fast.  Then she drew herself up with a sigh, and hastily wiped her eyes,
+as if relieved and prepared to meet this new change of fate.
+
+Garstang's few minutes proved to be nearly a quarter of an hour, during
+which, after a glance or two round the room, Kate sat thinking, with her
+ideas setting first in one direction, then ebbing in the other, the
+feeling that she had done wrong predominating; but her new guardian's
+reappearance changed their course again, and she could feel nothing but
+gratitude to one whose every thought seemed to be to make her position
+bearable.
+
+"I could not be cross with them," he said, as he entered; "but it is an
+astonishing thing how people who have neither worry nor trouble in the
+world can sleep.  Now those two have nothing on their minds but the care
+of this house, which came to me through an old client, and in which I
+very seldom live! and I believe they pass half their time drowsing
+through existence.  If the truth were known, they were in bed by nine
+o'clock last night, and they were so soundly asleep that the place might
+have been burned down without their waking."
+
+"It seems a shame to disturb them," said Kate, with a faint smile.
+
+"What?  Not at all, my child.  Do them good; they want rousing out of
+their lethargy.  I have told them to prepare a bedroom for you, and I
+should advise you to retire as soon as they say it is ready.  There is
+no fear of damp, for the rooms are constantly having fires in them, and
+Sarah Plant is most trustworthy.  Go and have a good long sleep, and
+some time in the afternoon we will have a discussion on ways and means.
+You will have to go shopping, and I shall have to play guardian and
+carry the parcels.  By the way, you will want some money.  Have you
+any?"
+
+"I have a few pounds, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Perhaps that will do for the present; if not, please bear in mind that
+you have unlimited credit with your banker.  I am that banker till you
+can declare yourself independent, so have no compunction whatever about
+asking for what you need Is there anything more that I can do for you?"
+
+"No, Mr Garstang; only to contrive a way of getting Eliza here."
+
+"Oh, yes, of course, I will not forget that; but we must be careful.  We
+don't want any more quarrelling.  It is bad for you, and it upsets me.
+Ah, they're ready."
+
+For at that moment there was a soft tapping at the door.
+
+"Your bedroom is the one over this, and I hope you will find it
+comfortable.  No trees to look out upon; no flowers; no bright full
+moon; plenty of bricks, mortar, and chimney-pots; but there are rest and
+peace for you, my child; so go, and believe that I am ready to fight
+your battles and to make you happy here.  I can if you will only help."
+
+"I shall try, Mr Garstang," she said, with a faint smile.
+
+"Then _c'est un fait accompli_," he replied, holding out his hand.
+"Good-night--I mean, good morning.  Sarah is waiting to show you to your
+room."
+
+She placed her hand in his for a few moments, and then with heart too
+full for words she hurried to the door and passed through into the hall,
+to find a strange-looking, dry, elderly woman standing on the skin mat
+at the foot of the stairs, holding a massive silver bedroom candlestick
+in her hand, and peering at her curiously, but ready to lower her eyes
+directly.
+
+"This way, please, miss," she said, in a lachrymose tone of voice; and
+she began to ascend the low, wide, thickly-carpeted stairs, holding the
+candle before her, and showing her gaunt, angular body against a faint
+halo of light.
+
+Kate followed, wondering, and feeling as if she were in a dream, while
+Garstang was slowly walking up and down among his cabinets, rubbing his
+hands softly, and smiling in a peculiar way.
+
+"Promises well," he said softly; "promises well, but I have my work cut
+out, and I have not reckoned with Harry Dasent yet."
+
+He stopped short, thinking, and then involuntarily raised his eyes, to
+find that he was exactly opposite a curious old Venetian mirror, which
+reflected clearly the upper portion of his form.
+
+He started slightly, and then stood watching the clearly seen image of
+his face, ending by smiling at it in a peculiar way.
+
+"Not so very old yet," he said softly; "a woman is a woman, and it only
+depends upon how you play your cards."
+
+"But there is Harry.  Ah, I must not reckon without him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+Kate's conductress had stopped at a door on the first floor, above which
+an old portrait hung, so that when the woman held the candle which she
+carried above the level of her head, the bodily and mentally weary girl
+felt that two people were peering cautiously at her, and she gladly
+entered the old-fashioned, handsomely-furnished room, and stood by the
+newly-lit fire, which, with the candles lit on the chimney-piece and
+dressing-table, gave it a cheerful welcoming aspect.
+
+She could not have explained why, but the aspect of the woman would
+suggest dead leaves, and the saddened plaintive tone of her voice
+brought up the sighing of the wind in the windows of the old house at
+Northwood.
+
+"I took some of the knobs of coal off, miss, for Becky always will put
+on too much," said the woman plaintively, as she took her former
+attitude, holding the candle on high, and gazed at the new-comer.  "I
+always say to her that when she gets married and pays for coals herself
+she'll know what they cost, though I don't know who'd marry her, I'm
+sure.  I'll put 'em back if you like."
+
+"There will be plenty of fire--none was needed," said Kate, wearily.  "I
+only want to rest."
+
+"Of course you do, miss," said the woman, still watching her, with face
+wrinkled and eyes half closed.  "And you needn't be afraid of the bed.
+Everything's as dry as a bone.  Becky and me slep' in it two nights ago.
+We sleep in a different bed every night so as to keep 'em all aired, as
+master's very particular about the damp."
+
+"Thank you; I am sure you have done what is necessary," said Kate, who
+in her low nervous state was troubled by the woman's persistent
+inquiring stare.
+
+"Is there anything I can do for you, miss?"
+
+"Thank you, no.  I am very tired, and will try and sleep."
+
+"Because I can soon get you a cup of tea, miss."
+
+"Not now, thank you.  In the morning.  I will not trouble you now."
+
+"It's to-morrow morning a'ready, my dear, and nothing's a trouble to
+me," said the woman, despondently, "'cept Becky."
+
+"Thank you very much, but please leave me now."
+
+"Yes, miss, of course.  There's the bells: one rings upstairs and the
+other down, so it will be safest to ring 'em both, for it's a big
+house--yes," she continued, thoughtfully, "a very big house, and there's
+no knowing where Becky and me may be."
+
+"Ah," sighed Kate, as at last she was relieved from the pertinacious
+curious stare, for the door had closed; but as she sank wearily in a
+lounge chair the housekeeper seemed photographed upon her brain, and one
+moment she was staring at her with candle held above her head, the next
+it was the face of the handsome woman above the door, peering
+inquiringly down as if wondering to see her there.
+
+The candles burned brightly and the fire crackled and blazed, and then
+there was a peculiar roaring sound as of the train rushing along through
+the black night; the room grew darker, and shrank in its proportions
+till it was the gloomy first-class carriage, with the oil washing to and
+fro in the thick glass bubble lamp, while John Garstang sat back in the
+corner, and Kate started up, to shake her head and stare about her
+wonderingly, as she mentally asked herself where she was, and shivered
+as she recognised the fire, and the candles upon the mantelpiece.
+
+She glanced round at the turned-down bed, looking inviting beneath the
+thick dark hangings, and felt that it would be better to lie down and
+rest, but thought that she would first fasten the door.
+
+She rose, after waiting for a few moments to let her head get clearer,
+and walked on over the soft carpet toward the dark door, which kept on
+receding as she went, while the power seemed to be given her to see
+through it as if it were some strange transparency.  Away beyond it was
+John Garstang, waving her on towards him, always keeping the same
+distance off, till it grew darker and darker, and then lighter, for the
+fire was blazing up and the wood was crackling, as there was the sound
+of a poker being placed back in the fender; and there, as she opened her
+eyes widely, stood the woman with the chamber candlestick held high
+above her head, gazing at her in the former inquiring way.
+
+"It is a part of a nightmare-like dream," said Kate to herself; "my head
+is confused with trouble and want of rest;" and as in a troubled way she
+lay back in the chair, she fully expected to see the face of the woman
+give place to that over the door, and then to John Garstang moving
+slowly on and on and beckoning her to come away from Northwood Manor
+House, where her aunt and uncle were trying to hurry her off to the
+church, where Claud was waiting, and Doctor Leigh and his sister stood
+in deep mourning, gazing at her with reproachful eyes.
+
+As her thoughts ran in that way she mentally pictured everything with a
+vividness that was most strange, and she was rapidly gliding back into
+insensibility when the woman spoke, and she started back, with her head
+quite clear, while a strange feeling of irritability and anger made her
+features contract.
+
+"Awake, miss?" said the woman, plaintively.
+
+"Yes, yes; why did you come back?  I will ring when I want you--both
+bells."
+
+"There was the fire, miss; I couldn't let that go out I was obliged to
+come every hour, and I left it too long now, and had to start it with a
+bundle of wood."
+
+Kate sat up and stared back at her, then round the room, to see that the
+candles were burning--four--on mantelpiece and dressing-table.
+
+"Didn't hear me set the fresh ones up, miss, did you?" said the woman,
+noticing the direction of her eyes.  "T'others only burned till twelve."
+
+"Burned till twelve--come every hour?  Why, what time is it?"
+
+"Just struck three, miss.  Breakfast will be ready as soon as you are;
+but you'd ha' been a deal better if you'd gone to bed.  I did put you a
+clean night-dress, and it was beautifully aired.  Becky held it before
+the kitchen fire ever so long, for it only wanted poking together and
+burned up well."
+
+"I--I don't understand," faltered Kate.  "Three o'clock?"
+
+"Yes, miss; and as black as pitch outside.  Reg'lar London fog, but
+master's gone out in it all the same.  He said he'd be back to dinner,
+and you wasn't to be disturbed on no account, for all you wanted was
+plenty of sleep."
+
+"Then I have been thoroughly asleep?"
+
+"Yes, miss; about ten hours I should say; but you'd have been a deal
+better if you'd gone to bed.  It do rest the spine of your back so."
+
+Kate rose to her feet, staggered slightly, and caught at the chair back,
+but the giddy sensation passed off, and she walked to the window.
+
+"Can't see nothing out at the back, miss," said the woman, shaking her
+head, sadly.  "Old master hated the tiles and chimney-pots, and had
+double windows made inside--all of painted glass, but you couldn't see
+nothing if they weren't there.  It's black as night, and the fog comes
+creeping in at every crack.  What would you like me to do for you,
+miss?"
+
+"Nothing, thank you."
+
+"Then I'll go and see about the breakfast, miss.  I s'pose you won't be
+long?"
+
+Kate drew a deep breath of relief once more, and trying to fight off the
+terrible sensation of depression and strangeness which troubled her, she
+hurried to the toilet table, which was well furnished, and in about
+half-an-hour went out on to the broad staircase, which was lit with gas,
+and glanced round at the pictures, cabinets, and statues with which it
+was furnished.  Then, turning to descend, she was conscious of the fact
+that she was not alone, for, dimly seen, there was a strange,
+ghastly-looking head, tied up with a broad white handkerchief, peering
+round the doorway of another room, but as soon as its owner found that
+she had attracted attention she drew back out of sight, and Kate
+shuddered slightly, for the face was wild and strange in the half-light.
+
+The staircase looked broader and better as she descended to the room
+into which she had been taken on her arrival, and found that it was well
+lit, and a cheerful fire blazing; but she had hardly had time to glance
+round when the woman appeared at the door.
+
+"Breakfast's quite ready, miss," she said.  "Will you please to come
+this way?"
+
+She led the way across the hall, but paused and turned back to a door,
+and pushed it a little way open.
+
+"Big lib'ry, miss.  Little lib'ry's upstairs at the back-two rooms.
+There's a good fire here.  Like to see it now?"
+
+"No, not now."
+
+"This way then, miss," and the woman threw open a door on the other
+side.
+
+"Dining-room, miss.  There ain't no drawing-room; but master said this
+morning that if you wished he'd have the big front room turned into one.
+I put your breakfast close to the fire, for it's a bit chilly to-day."
+
+Kate thought she might as well have said "to-night," as she glanced
+round the formal but richly furnished room, with its bright brass
+fireplace, and breakfast spread on a small table, and looking attractive
+and good.
+
+"I made you tea, miss, because I thought you'd like it better; but I'll
+soon have some coffee ready if you prefer it.  Best tea, master's
+wonderfully particular about having things good."
+
+"I prefer tea," said Kate, quietly, as she took her place, feeling more
+and more how strange and unreal everything appeared.
+
+And now the magnitude of the step she had taken began to obtrude itself,
+mingled with a wearying iteration of thoughts of Northwood, and what
+must have been going on since the morning when her flight was first
+discovered.  Her uncle's anger would, she knew, be terrible!  Then her
+cousin!  She could not help picturing his rage when he found that she
+had escaped him.  What would her aunt and the servants think of her
+conduct?  And then it was that there was a burning sensation in her
+cheeks, as her thoughts turned to Leigh and his sister, the only people
+that during her stay at Northwood she had learned to esteem.
+
+And somehow the burning in her cheeks increased till the tears rose to
+her eyes, when, as if the heat was quenched, she turned pale with misery
+and despair, for she felt how strongly that she had left behind in Jenny
+Leigh one for whom she had almost unknowingly conceived a genuine
+sisterly affection.
+
+From that moment the struggle she had been having to seem calm, and at
+home, intensified, and she pushed away cup and saucer and rose from the
+table, just as the housekeeper, who had been in and out several times,
+reentered.
+
+"But you haven't done, miss?" she said, plaintively.
+
+"Yes, thank you; I am not very well this morning," said Kate, hastily.
+
+"As anyone could see, miss, with half an eye; but there's something
+wrong, of course."
+
+"Something--wrong?" faltered Kate.
+
+"Yes, miss," said the woman in an ill-used tone.  "The tea wasn't strong
+enough, or the sole wasn't done to your liking."
+
+"Don't think that, Mrs--Mrs--"
+
+"Plant's my name, miss--Sarah Plant, and Becky's Becky.  Don't call me
+Mrs., please; I'm only the servant."
+
+"Well, do not think that, Sarah Plant.  Everything has been particularly
+nice, only I have no appetite this morning--I mean, to-day."
+
+"You do mean that, miss?"
+
+"Of course I do."
+
+"Thank you kindly, miss.  I did try very hard, for master was so very
+particular about it.  He always is particular, almost as Mr Jenour was;
+but this morning he was extra, and poor, dear, old master was never
+anything like it.  Then if you please, miss, I'll send Becky to clear
+away, and perhaps you'd like to go round and see your new house.  I hope
+you will find everything to your satisfaction."
+
+"My new house?"
+
+"Yes, miss; master said it was yours, and that we were to look upon you
+as mistress and do everything you wished, just as if you were his
+daughter come to keep house for him.  This way please, miss."
+
+Kate was ready to say that she wished to sit down and write, for her
+heart was full of self-reproach, and she longed to pour out her feelings
+to her old confidential maid; but the thought that it would be better
+perhaps to fall in with Garstang's wishes and assume the position he had
+arranged for her to occupy, made her acquiesce and follow the
+housekeeper out of the room.
+
+The woman touched a bell-handle in the hall, and then drew back a
+little, with a show of respect, as her eyes, still eagerly, and full of
+compassion, scanned the new mistress she had been told to obey.
+
+"Will you go first, ma'am?"
+
+"No: be good enough to show me what it is necessary for me to see."
+
+"Oh, master said I was to show you everything you liked, miss--I mean,
+ma'am.  It's a dreadfully dark day to show you, but I've got the gas lit
+everywhere, and it does warm the house nicely and keep out the damp."
+
+Kate longed to ask the woman a few questions, but she shrank from
+speaking, and followed her pretty well all over the place until she
+stopped on the first floor landing before a heavy curtain which
+apparently veiled a window.
+
+"I hope you find everything to your satisfaction, ma'am--that the house
+has been properly kept."
+
+"Everything I have seen shows the greatest care," said Kate.
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said the woman, and her next words aroused her
+companion's attention at once, for the desire within her was strong to
+know more of her new guardian's private life, though it would have been,
+she felt, impossible to question.  "You see, master is here so very
+seldom that there is no encouragement for one to spend much time in
+cleaning and dusting, and oh, the times it has come to me like a wicked
+temptation to leave things till to-morrow; but I resisted, for I knew
+that if I did once, Becky would be sure to twice.  You see, master is
+mostly at his other house when he isn't at his offices, where he just
+has snacks and lunches brought in on trays; but it's all going to be
+different now, he tells me, and the house is to be kept up properly, and
+very glad I am, for it has been like wilful waste for such a beautiful
+place never hardly to be used, and never a lady in it in my time."
+
+"Then Mrs Garstang did not reside here?"
+
+"Oh, no, ma'am! nor old master's lady neither--not in my time."
+
+"Mr Garstang's father?"
+
+"Oh, no, ma'am: Mr Jenour, who had it before master, and--and died
+here--I mean there," said the woman, in a whisper, and she jerked her
+head toward the heavy curtain.  "It was Mr Jenour's place, and he
+collected all the books and china and foreign curiosities.  I'll tell
+you all about it some day, ma'am."
+
+"Thank you," said Kate, quietly.  "I will go down to the library now; I
+wish to write."
+
+"There's pen, ink and paper in there, ma'am," said the woman, jerking
+her head sideways; "and you can see the little lib'ry at the same time."
+
+"I would rather leave that till another time."
+
+"Hah!" came in a deep low sigh, as if of relief, and Kate turned quickly
+round in surprise, just catching sight of the face with the handkerchief
+bound round it that she had seen before.
+
+It was drawn back into one of the rooms instantly, and Kate turned her
+questioning eyes directly upon the housekeeper.
+
+"It's only Becky, ma'am--my gal.  She's been following us about to peep
+at you all the time.  I did keep shaking my head at her, but she would
+come."
+
+"Is she unwell--face-ache?" asked Kate.
+
+"Well, no, ma'am, not now.  She did have it very bad a year ago, but it
+got better, and she will keep tied up still for fear it should come
+back.  She says it would drive her mad if it did; and if I make her
+leave off she does nothing but mope and cry, so I let her keep on.
+She's a poor nervous sort of girl, and she has never been right since
+she lost the milkman."
+
+"Lost the milkman?" said Kate, wonderingly.
+
+"He went and married someone else, ma am, as had money to set him up in
+business.  Females has a deal to put up with in this life, as well I
+know.  Then you won't go and see the little lib'ry to-day, ma'am?"
+
+"No, not to-day," said Kate, with an involuntary shiver which made the
+woman look at her curiously, and the deep sigh of relief came again from
+the neighbouring room.
+
+"Cold, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes--no.  A little nervous and upset with travelling," said Kate; and
+she went down at once to the library, took a chair at the old-fashioned
+morocco-covered table, glanced round at the well-filled bookcases, and
+the solid rich air of comfort, with the glowing fire and softened
+gaslight brightening the place, and taking paper stamped with the
+address she began to write rapidly, explaining everything to her old
+maid, pleading the urgency of her position for excuse in leaving as she
+had, and begging that "dear old nurse" would join her at once.
+
+She paused from time to time to look round, for the silence of the place
+oppressed her; and in her nervous anxious state, suffering as she was
+from the feeling that she had done wrong, there were moments when she
+could hardly refrain from tears.
+
+But she finished her long, affectionate letter and directed it, turning
+round to sit gazing into the fire for a few minutes, hesitating as to
+whether she should do something that was in her mind.
+
+There seemed to be no reason why she should not write to Jennie Leigh,
+but at the same time there was a something undefined and strange which
+held her back from communication; but at last decision had its way, and
+feeling firmer, she turned to the table once more and began to write
+another letter.
+
+"Why should I have hesitated?" she said, softly; "I'm sure she likes me
+very much, and she will think it so very strange if I do not write."
+But somehow there was a slight deepening of tint in her cheeks, and a
+faint sensation of glow as she wrote on, her letter being unconsciously
+couched in very affectionate terms; while when she had concluded and
+read it over she found that she had been far more explanatory than she
+had intended, entering fully into her feelings, and the horror and shame
+she had felt on discovering the way in which her cousin had been thrown
+with her, detailing his behaviour; and finally, in full, the scene in
+which Mr Garstang had protected her and spoken out, to the unveiling of
+the family plans.
+
+"Pray don't think that I have acted foolishly, dear Jenny," she said in
+a postscript.  "It may seem unmaidenly and strange, but I was driven to
+act as I did.  I dared not stay; and beside being in some way a
+relative, Mr Garstang is so fatherly and kind that I have felt quite
+safe and at rest.  Pray write to me soon.  I shall be so glad to hear,
+for I fear that I shall be rather lonely; and tell your brother how
+grateful I am to him for his attention to me.  I am much better and
+stronger now, thanks to him."
+
+The glow in her cheeks was a little deeper here, and she paused with the
+intention of re-writing the letter and omitting all allusion to Doctor
+Leigh, but she felt that it would seem ungrateful to one to whose skill
+she owed so much; and in spite of a sensation of nervous shrinking, the
+desire to let him see she was grateful was very strong.
+
+So the letter was finished and directed.
+
+But still she hesitated, and twice over her hand was stretched out to
+take and destroy the missive, while her brain grew troubled and
+confused.
+
+"I can't think," she said to herself at last with a sigh; "my brain
+seems weary and confused;" and then she started from her chair in alarm,
+for Garstang was standing in the room, the thick curtains and soft
+carpet having deadened his approach; and in fact, he had been there just
+within the heavy portiere watching her for some minutes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+Pages 172 and 173, the first two pages of Chapter XXVI, are missing from
+the scan.  We will continue to try to find what was upon them.
+
+the best way, but it was the best way that offered, was it not?"
+
+"Of course; yes," she said eagerly.
+
+"Yes, decidedly it was," he said, still speaking in the same quiet,
+thoughtful way.  "You set me thinking, too, my dear, whether I have done
+right by you in bringing you here.  Yes," he said, turning upon her
+sharply, "I am sure I have, if I treat it as a temporary asylum.  Yes,
+it is right, my child: but perhaps we ought to set to at once--if you
+feel equal to it, and now that we have time and no fear of
+interruption--and go over what distant relations or what friends you
+have, and invite the most suitable, that is to say, the one you would
+prefer--always supposing this individual possesses the firmness to
+protect you.  Then he or she shall be sent for, and you shall go there."
+
+"I do not wish to be ungrateful to you, Mr Garstang."
+
+"You ungrateful!  It isn't in your nature, my dear.  But what do you
+think of my suggestion?"
+
+"I think it is right, and what I should do," she replied.
+
+"Very well then, you shall do it, my dear child; but you cannot, of
+course, do it to-night.  It is a very important step, and you must
+choose deliberately, and after due and careful thought.  In the
+meantime, Great Ormond Street is your temporary resting-place, where you
+are quite safe, and can make your plans in peace.  As for me, I am your
+elderly relative, and we, I mean Mrs Plant and I, are delighted to have
+the monotony of the place relieved by your coming.  Now, is this
+right?--does it set your little fluttering heart at rest?"
+
+"Yes, thank you, Mr Garstang.  I--I am greatly relieved."
+
+"Very well then, let us set all `the cares that infest the day,' as the
+poet has it, aside, and have a calm, restful evening.  You need it, and
+I must confess that I do not feel in my customary fettle, as the country
+folk call it.  Why, you look better already.  I see how it is.  Your
+mind is more at ease."
+
+She smiled.
+
+"That's right; and by the way, man-like I did not think of it till I
+reached my office to see some letters.  I did tell Mrs Plant to try and
+make everything right for you here, but it never occurred to me that a
+lady is not like a man."
+
+She looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"I mean that a man can get along with a clean collar, a tooth-brush, and
+a pocket-comb, while a lady--"
+
+He stopped and smiled.
+
+"Now, look here, my child," he said, "I will leave you for a few minutes
+while you ring and have up Mrs Plant.  You can give her what
+instructions you like about immediate necessities, and they can be
+fetched while we are at dinner.  Other things you can obtain at leisure
+yourself."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Garstang," said Kate, with the look of confidence in her
+eyes increasing, as she rose from her seat and laid her hands in his.
+
+"No, no, please don't," he said, with a pleasant smile, as he gently
+returned the pressure of her hands, and then dropped them.  "Let's see,
+dinner in half an hour."  He looked at his watch.  "Don't think me a
+gourmet, please, because I think a good deal of my dinner; for I work
+very hard, and I find that I must eat.  There, I'll leave you for a
+bit."
+
+He laid his book on the table, nodded and smiled, and walked out of the
+room, while with the tears rising to her eyes Kate stood gazing after
+him, feeling that the cloud hanging over her was lightening, and that
+she was going to find rest.
+
+She rang, and Sarah Plant appeared with her head on one side, looking
+more withered than ever, and to her was explained the needs of the
+moment.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said the woman, plaintively; "of course I'll go, only
+there's the dinner, and if I wait till afterwards the shops will be shut
+up.  I don't think you or master would like Becky to wait table with her
+face tied up, and if I make her take the handkerchief off she'll go into
+shrieking hysterics, and that will be worse.  And then--would you mind
+looking out, ma'am?"
+
+She walked slowly across to the window, and drew aside one of the heavy
+curtains.
+
+Kate followed her, looked, and turned to the woman.
+
+"Draw up the blind," she said.
+
+There was a feeble smile, and a shake of the head.
+
+"It is up, ma'am, and it's been like that all day--black as pitch.
+Plagues of Ejup couldn't have been worse."
+
+"Oh, it is impossible for you to go," said Kate, quickly.  "What am I to
+do?"
+
+"Well, ma'am, if you wouldn't mind, I think I could tell you.  You see,
+master come to this place when Mr Jenour died, and there hasn't been a
+thing taken away since.  It's just as it used to be when Mrs Jenour was
+alive, years before.  There's drawers and drawers and wardrobes full of
+everything a lady can want; and there's never a week goes by that I
+don't spend hours in going over and folding and airing, and I spend
+shillings and shillings every year in lavender.  So if you wouldn't
+mind--"
+
+Sarah Plant did not finish her sentence, but stood looking appealingly
+at the visitor.
+
+"It is impossible for you to go out, Mrs Plant."
+
+"Sarah, if you wouldn't mind, ma'am, and it's very good of you to say
+so."
+
+"Well, then, Sarah," said Kate, smiling, and feeling more at ease, "you
+shall help me to get over the difficulty.  Now go and see to your
+duties.  I do not wish Mr Garstang to be troubled by my visit."
+
+"Troubled, my dear young lady!  I'm sure he'd be pleased to do anything.
+I'm not given to chatter and gossip, and, as I've often told Becky, if
+she'd been more obedient to me, and not been so foolish as to talk to
+milkmen, she'd have been a happier girl.  But I can't help telling you
+what I heard master say this morning to himself, after he'd been giving
+me my orders: `Ah,' he says, quite soft like, `if I had had a child like
+that!' and of course, miss, he meant you."
+
+Speaking dramatically, this formed Sarah Plant's exit, but Kate called
+her back.
+
+"Would you mind and see that these two letters are posted?  Have you any
+stamps?"
+
+"There's lots, ma'am, in that little stand," said the woman, pointing to
+the table; and a couple being affixed the woman took the letters out
+with her.
+
+About half an hour later Garstang entered, smiling pleasantly, and
+offering his arm.
+
+"Dinner is waiting," he said, and he led his guest into the dining-room,
+where over a well-served meal, with everything in the best of taste, he
+laid himself out to increase the feeling of confidence he saw growing in
+Kate's eyes.
+
+His conversation was clever, if not brilliant; he showed that he had an
+amply stored mind, and his bearing was full of chivalrous respect; while
+feeling more at rest, Kate felt drawn to him, and the magnitude of her
+step grew less in her troubled eyes.
+
+The dinner was at an end, and they were seated over the dessert,
+Garstang sipping most temperately at his one glass of claret from time
+to time, and for some minutes there had been silence, during which he
+had been gazing thoughtfully at the girl.
+
+"The most pleasant meal I have had for years," he said suddenly, "and I
+feel loath to break the charm, but it is time for the lady of the house
+to rise.  Will you make the curiosity place the drawing-room, and when
+the tea has been brought up, send for me?  I shall be longing to come,
+for I enjoy so little of the simple domestic."
+
+Sarah Plant's words came to Kate's mind, "Ah, if I had had a child like
+that!" and the feeling of rest and confidence still grew, as Garstang
+rose and crossed the room to open the door for her.
+
+"By the way, there is one little thing, my dear child," he said gravely.
+
+Kate started, and her hand went to her breast.
+
+"Don't be alarmed," he said, smiling, "a mere trifle in your interest.
+You are rapidly getting over the shock caused by the troubles of the
+past twenty-four hours or so, but you are not in a condition to bear
+more."
+
+"My uncle!" cried Kate, excitedly.
+
+"Exactly," said Garstang firmly.  "You see, the very mention of trouble
+sends the blood rushing to your heart.  Those letters that were lying on
+the hall table ready for posting: is it wise to send them and bring him
+here post haste, with his gentlemanly son?  Yes, I know neither is to
+him, but he would know where you were as soon as he saw your letter in
+the bag."
+
+"Mr Garstang, you do not think he would dare to open a letter addressed
+to my maid?"
+
+"Yes," said Garstang, quietly; "unfortunately I do."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+Claud Wilton took to the search for his cousin with the greater
+eagerness that he found it much more pleasant to be where he was not
+likely to come in contact with Pierce Leigh, for there was something
+about that gentleman's manner which he did not like.  He knew of his
+ability in mending bones, for he had become aware of what was done when
+one labourer fell off a haystack, and when another went to sleep when
+riding on the shafts of a wagon, dived under the wheels, and had both
+his legs broken; but all this was suggestive of his ability to break
+bones as well, and recalling a horse-whipping, received in the hunting
+field, from the brother of a young lady to whom he had been too polite,
+he scrupulously avoided running further risks.  Consequently, after the
+unpleasant interruption of his meeting with Jenny Leigh, he lost no time
+in getting up to town, being pretty well supplied with money by his
+father, who was to follow next day.
+
+"I'm short of cash, my boy," said Wilton; "but this is a case in which
+we must not spare expense."
+
+"Go to Scotland Yard, and set the detectives to work?"
+
+"In heaven's name no, boy!  We must be our own detectives, and hunt them
+out.  Curse the young scoundrel.  I might have known he would be after
+no good.  An infernal poacher on our preserves, boy."
+
+"Yes, guv'nor; and he has got clear off with the game."
+
+"Then you must run him down, and when you have found out where he is,
+communicate with me; I must be there at the meeting."
+
+"What?  Lose time like that!  No, guv'nor; I'll half kill him--hang me
+if I don't."
+
+"No, no!  I know you feel ready to--a villain--but that won't do.
+You'll only frighten the poor girl more, and she'll cling to him instead
+of coming away with you."
+
+"But, guv'nor--"
+
+"Don't hesitate, boy; I tell you I'm right.  Let's get Kate away from
+him, and then you may break every bone in his skin if you like."
+
+"But I want to give him a lesson at once."
+
+"Yes, of course you do--but Kate and her fortune, my boy.  Once you're
+on the scent, telegraph to me.  I'll come and stay at Day's, in Surrey
+Street."
+
+"Suppose they're gone abroad, guv'nor?"
+
+"Well, follow them--all round the world if it's necessary.  By the way,
+you've always been very thick with Harry; now, between men of the world,
+has there ever been any affair going on?  You know what I mean."
+
+"Lots, dad."
+
+"Ah!--Ever married either of them?"
+
+"Not he."
+
+"That's a pity," said Wilton, "because it would have made matters so
+easy.  Well, there, be off.  The dog-cart's at the door."
+
+Claud slapped his pocket, started for the station, and went up to stay
+at a bigger hotel than the quiet little place affected by his father;
+and about twelve o'clock the next day he presented himself at Garstang's
+office, where Barlow, the old clerk, was busy answering letters for his
+employer to sign.
+
+"Morning, Barlow," said Claud, "Mr Harry in his room?"
+
+"Mr Harry, sir?  No, sir.  I thought he was down with you, shooting and
+hunting."
+
+"Eh?  Did he say that he was going down to Northwood?"
+
+"Well, dear me!  Really, Mr Claud Wilton, sir, I can't be sure.  I
+think I did hear him say something about Northwood; but whether it was
+that he was going there or had come back from there I really am not
+sure.  Many pheasants this season?"
+
+"Oh, never mind the pheasants," cried Claud, impatiently.  "When was
+that?"
+
+"Dear me now," said the man, thoughtfully; "now when was that--Monday,
+Tuesday, Wednesday--?"
+
+"Thursday, Friday, Saturday," cried Claud, impatiently.  "What a
+dawdling old buffer you are!  Come, when was it: you must know?"
+
+"Really, sir, I can't be sure."
+
+"Was it this week?"
+
+"I shouldn't like to say, sir."
+
+"Well, last week then?"
+
+"It might have been, sir."
+
+"Yah!" growled Claud.  "Think he's down at Chislehurst?"
+
+"He may be, sir."
+
+"Yes, and he may be at Jericho."
+
+"Yes, sir; but you'll excuse me, there was a knock."
+
+The clerk shuffled off his stool, and went to the door to admit a fresh
+visitor in the person of Wilton pere.
+
+"Ah, Claud, my boy!  You here?"
+
+"Yes, father, I'm here; just come," said the young man, sulkily.
+
+"Well, found them?"
+
+"Do I look as if I had found them, dad?  No."
+
+"Tut-tut-tut!" ejaculated Wilton, who looked pale and worn with anxiety.
+"Mr Garstang in, Mr Barlow?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the clerk; "shall I say you are here?"
+
+"Ye-es," said Wilton.  "Take in my card, and say that I shall be obliged
+if he will give me an interview."
+
+The old clerk bowed, and left the outer office for the inner, while
+Wilton turned to his son, to say hastily, "You may as well come in with
+me as you are here."
+
+"Thanks, no; much obliged.  What made you come here?  You don't think
+he's likely to know?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Wilton, in a low voice.  "I believe young Harry's
+carried her off, and that he's backing him up.  You must come in with
+me: we must work together."
+
+"Mr Garstang will see you, gentlemen," said the old clerk, entering.
+
+"Gentlemen!" muttered Claud angrily, to his father.
+
+"Yes, don't leave me in the lurch, my boy," whispered Wilton; and Claud
+noted a tremor in his father's voice, and saw that he looked nervous and
+troubled.
+
+Wilton made way for his son to pass in first, the young man drew back
+for his father, and matters were compromised by their entering together,
+Garstang, who looked perfectly calm, rising to motion them to seats,
+which they took; and then there was silence for a few moments, during
+which Claud sat tapping his teeth with the ivory handle of the stick he
+carried, keeping his eyes fixed the while upon his father, who seemed in
+doubt how to begin.
+
+"May I ask why I am favoured with this visit, gentlemen?" said Garstang,
+at last.
+
+This started Wilton, who coughed, pulled himself together, and looking
+the speaker fully in the face, said sharply,
+
+"We came, Mr John Garstang, because we supposed that we should be
+expected."
+
+"Expected?" said Garstang, turning a little more round from his table,
+and passing one shapely leg over the other, so that he could grasp his
+ankle with both hands.  "Well, I will be frank with you, James Wilton;
+there were moments when I did think it possible that you might come; I
+will not say to apologise, but to consult with me about that poor girl's
+future.  How is she?"
+
+Father and son exchanged glances, the former being evidently taken a
+little aback.
+
+"Well," said Garstang, without pausing for an answer to this question;
+"I am glad you have come in a friendly spirit; I shall be pleased to
+meet you in the same way, so pray speak out.  Let us have no fencing.
+Tell me what you propose to do."
+
+Wilton coughed again, and looked at his son.
+
+"You must see," said Garstang firmly, "that a fresh arrangement ought to
+be made at once.  Under the circumstances she cannot stay at Northwood,
+and I will own that I am not prepared to suggest any relative of her
+father who seems suitable for the purpose.  The large fortune which the
+poor child will inherit naturally acts as a bait, and there must be no
+risk of the poor girl being exposed to the pertinacious advances of
+every thoughtless boy who wishes to handle her money."
+
+"I say, look here," cried Claud, "if you want to pick a quarrel, say so,
+and I'll go."
+
+"I have no wish to pick a quarrel, young man," replied Garstang,
+sternly; "and I should not have spoken like this if you had not sought
+me out.  Perhaps you had better stay, sir, and hear what your father has
+to propose, unless he has already taken you into his confidence."
+
+"Well, he hasn't," said Claud, sulkily.  "Go on, guv'nor, and get it
+over."
+
+"Yes, James Wilton, go on, please, as your son suggests, and get it
+over.  My time is valuable, and in such a case as this, between
+relatives, I shall be unable to make a charge for legal services.  Now
+then, once more, what do you propose?"
+
+"About what?" said Wilton, bluntly.
+
+"About the future home of your niece?"
+
+"Ah, that's what I've come about," said Wilton, gazing at the other
+sternly.  "Where is she?"
+
+Garstang looked at him blankly for a few moments.
+
+"Where is she?" he said at last.  "What do you mean?"
+
+"What I say: where is Kate Wilton?"
+
+"Where is she?" cried Garstang, changing his manner, and speaking now
+with a display of eagerness very different from his calm dignified way
+of a few minutes before.  "Why, you don't mean to say that she has
+gone?"
+
+"Yes, I do mean to say that she has gone."
+
+"Bravo!" cried Garstang, putting down the leg he had been nursing, and
+giving it a hearty slap.  "The brave little thing!  I should not have
+thought that she had it in her."
+
+"That won't do, John Garstang," said Wilton, sourly; "and it's of no use
+to act.  The law's your profession--not acting.  Now then, I want to
+know where she is."
+
+"How should I know, man?  She was not placed in my charge."
+
+"You know, sir, because it was in your interest to know.  This isn't the
+first time I've known you play your cards, but you're not playing them
+well: so you had better throw up your hand."
+
+"Look here, James Wilton," said Garstang, looking at him curiously;
+"have you come here to insult me with your suspicions?  If this young
+lady has left your roof, do you suppose I have had anything to do with
+it?"
+
+"Yes, I do, and a great deal," cried Wilton, angrily.  "You can't
+hoodwink me, even if you can net me and fleece me.  Do you think I am
+blind?"
+
+"In some things, very," said Garstang, contemptuously--
+
+"Then I'm not in this.  I see through your plans clearly enough, but you
+are checked.  Where is that boy of yours?"
+
+"I have no boy," said Garstang, contemptuously.
+
+"Well, then, where is your stepson?"
+
+"I do not know, James Wilton.  Harry Dasent has long enough ago taken,
+as your son here would say, the bit in his teeth.  I have not seen him
+since he came down to your place.  But surely," he cried, springing up
+excitedly, "you do not think--"
+
+"Yes, I do think, sir," cried Wilton, rising too; "I am sure that young
+scoundrel has carried her off.  He has been hanging about my place all
+he could since she has been there, and paying all the court he could to
+her, and you know it as well as I do, the scoundrel has persuaded her
+that she was ill-used, and lured her away."
+
+"By Jove!" said Garstang, softly, as he stood looking thoughtfully at
+the carpet, and apparently hardly hearing a word in his stupefaction at
+this announcement,
+
+"Do you hear what I say, sir?" cried Wilton, fiercely, for he was now
+thoroughly angry; "do you hear me?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," cried Garstang, making an effort as if to rouse
+himself.  "Well, and if it is as you suspect, what then?  Reckless as he
+is, Harry Dasent would make her as good a husband as Claud Wilton, and a
+better, for he is not related to her by blood."
+
+"You dare to tell me that!" thundered Wilton.
+
+"Yes, of course," said Garstang, coolly.  "Why not?"
+
+"Then you do know of it; you are at the bottom of it all; you have
+helped him to carry her off."
+
+"I swear I have not," said Garstang, quietly.  "I would not have done
+such a thing, for the poor girl's sake.  It may be possible, just as
+likely as for your boy here, to try and win the girl and her fortune,
+but I swear solemnly that I have not helped him in any way."
+
+"Then you tell me as a man--as a gentleman, that you did not know he had
+got her away?"
+
+"I tell you as a man, as a gentleman, that I did not know he had got her
+away.  What is more, I tell you I do not believe it.  Tell me more.  How
+and when did she leave?  When did you miss her?"
+
+"Night before last--no, no, I mean the next morning after you had left.
+She had gone in the night."
+
+Garstang's hand shot out, and he caught Wilton by the shoulder with a
+fierce grip, while his lip quivered and his face twitched, as he gazed
+at him with a face full of horror.
+
+"James Wilton," he said, in a husky voice, "you jump at this conclusion,
+but did anyone see them go?"
+
+"No: no one."
+
+"You don't think--"
+
+"Think what, man?  What has come to you?"
+
+"She was in terrible trouble, suffering and hysterical, when she went up
+to her room," continued Garstang, with his voice sinking almost to a
+whisper, and with as fine a piece of acting as could have been seen off
+the stage.  "Is it possible that, in her trouble and despair, she left
+the house, and--"
+
+He ceased speaking, and stood with his lips apart, staring at his
+visitor, who changed colour and rapidly calmed down.
+
+"No, no," he said, and stopped to dear his voice.  "Impossible!  Absurd!
+I know what you mean; but no, no.  A young girl wouldn't go and do that
+just because her cousin kissed her."
+
+"But she has been ill, and she was very weak and sensitive."
+
+"Oh, yes, and the doctor put her right.  No, no.  She wouldn't do that,"
+said Wilton, hastily.  "It's as I say.  Come, Claud, my lad, we can do
+no good here, it seems.  Let's be moving.  Morning, John Garstang; I am
+going to get help.  I mean to run her down."
+
+"You should know her best, James Wilton, and perhaps my judgment has
+been too hasty.  Yes, I think I agree with you: so sweet, pure-minded,
+and well-balanced a girl would never seek refuge in so horrible a way.
+We may learn that she is with some distant relative after all."
+
+"Perhaps so," said Wilton hastily.  "Come, Claud, my lad," and he walked
+straight out, without glancing to right or left, and remained silent
+till they were crossing Russell Square.
+
+"I say, guv'nor," said Claud, who passed his tongue over his lips before
+speaking, as if they were dry, "you don't think that, do you?  It's what
+the mater said."
+
+"No, no, impossible.  Of course not.  She couldn't.  I think, though, we
+may as well get back," and for the moment he forgot all about the ladder
+planted against the sill.
+
+And as they walked on they were profoundly unconscious of the fact that
+Garstang's grave elderly clerk was following them at a little distance,
+and looking in every other direction, his employer having hurried him
+out with the words:
+
+"See where they go."
+
+John Garstang then seated himself before the good fire in his private
+room, and began to think of the interview he had just had, while as he
+thought he smiled.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+Kate gave way most unwillingly, but felt obliged to yield to what she
+felt was a common-sense view of the question.
+
+"If you write now we shall be having endless trouble," said Garstang.
+"Your uncle will come here, and I shall be compelled to give you up."
+
+"But I would refuse to go," said Kate, with spirit.
+
+Garstang smiled, and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Will you give me credit, as an old lawyer, my dear child, for knowing a
+little of the law?"
+
+"Of course," she cried.
+
+"Well, let me tell you that if James Wilton finds out where you are, I
+foresee endless troubles.  You know his projects?"
+
+Kate nodded quickly.
+
+"To compass those plans, he will stop at nothing, even force.  But
+supposing I defeat him in that, for I tell you frankly I should make
+every effort, he would set the law to work.  If I get the best counsel I
+can, we shall have a long, wearisome lawsuit, and probably your late
+father's estate will be thrown into Chancery.  You will become a ward of
+the Lord Chancellor, and the inroads made upon your fortune will be
+frightful."
+
+"I don't think I should care," said Kate, looking at him wistfully, "so
+long as I could be at peace."
+
+"Have you thought out any relative or friend whom you feel that you can
+trust, and to whom you would like to go?"
+
+"No; not yet," said Kate, wearily; "and I have tried very hard."
+
+"Then don't try, my child," he said, with a smile, "and then perhaps the
+idea will come.  I ought to say, though," he added, playfully, "do try
+hard, so as not to succeed, for I do not want you to go.  It is as if a
+change had come over my life, and like the man in one of the old plays,
+I had discovered a long-lost child."
+
+"Pray don't treat it lightly, Mr Garstang," said Kate.  "All this
+troubles me terribly.  I feel so helpless."
+
+"Believe me that if I talk lightly, I think very, very seriously of your
+position," said Garstang, quickly.  "I know how painful it must be for
+you to neglect your friends, those to whom you would write, but really I
+am obliged to advocate reticence for the present.  I will have your
+letters posted if you desire me to, but I am bound to show you the
+consequences which must follow."
+
+Kate sighed, and looked more and more troubled.
+
+"To put it more plainly," continued Garstang, "my position is that I
+have an extensive practice, with many clients to see, and consequently I
+must be a great deal away.  Now suppose one morning, when I am out,
+James Wilton and his son present themselves.  What will you do?"
+
+Kate shivered, and gazed at him helplessly.
+
+"I shall not feel best pleased to come back home to dinner, and find you
+gone."
+
+"My position is terrible," said Kate.  "I almost wish I were penniless."
+
+"Come, come, not so terrible; it is only that of a prisoner who has her
+cell door barred inside, so that she can open it when she pleases.  May
+I try and advise you a little?"
+
+"Yes, pray, pray do, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Well, my advice is this--even if it causes your poor old nurse great
+anxiety.  She will be content later on, when she learns that it was for
+your benefit.  My advice is for you to try and settle down here for a
+while, so as to see how matters shape themselves, or till you have
+decided where it would be better for you to go."
+
+She looked at him wistfully.
+
+"Could I not take apartments somewhere, and have Eliza up to keep house
+for me?"
+
+"Well--yes," he said, thoughtfully.  "It would be risky, for every
+movement of your old servant will be jealously watched just now.  It
+would be better later on.  What do you think?"
+
+"That I do not wish to seem ungrateful for your kindness, neither do I
+feel justified in putting you to great trouble and expense."
+
+"Pooh, pooh," he said, merrily, "I am not so poor that I can not afford
+myself a few pleasures.  But proper pride is a fine thing.  There, you
+shall be independent, and pay me back everything when you come of age."
+
+He glanced at his watch, for breakfast had been over some time, and they
+had sat talking.
+
+"I am keeping you, Mr Garstang," she said.
+
+"Well, I like to be kept, but I have several appointments to-day.  Have
+a good quiet think while I am gone, and we will talk it over again
+to-night."
+
+"No," said Kate, quietly, "you will be tired then.  I will take your
+advice, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Yes?" he said, raising his eyebrows a little.
+
+"I will stay here for a time, where, as you say, I can be at rest and
+safe from intrusion.  We will see what time brings forth."
+
+"Spoken like a thoughtful, wise little woman," said Garstang, without
+the slightest display of elation.  "By the way, you find plenty of books
+to read?"
+
+"Oh, yes, and I have been studying the old china."
+
+"A very interesting subject; but music--you are fond of music.  We must
+see about that."
+
+He nodded and smiled, and then she saw that he became very calm and
+thoughtful, as if immersed in his business affairs.
+
+Once more she was quite alone, thinking that she had been a whole week
+in the solemn old house, and a few minutes later the housekeeper entered
+to clear away the breakfast things.
+
+"Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am?" said the woman sadly, when
+she had finished her task, Kate noticing the while that there was an
+occasional whisper outside the door, as the various articles were handed
+out.
+
+"No, I think not, this morning, Sarah," said Kate, with a smile which
+proved infectious, for the woman stood staring at her for a few moments
+as if in wonder, and then her own countenance relaxed stiffly, as if she
+had not smiled in years, till her face looked nearly cheerful.
+
+"You are handsome, ma'am," she said; "I haven't seen you look like that
+before since you've been here."
+
+"Why does not Becky come in to help you to clear away?" said Kate, to
+change the conversation, and Sarah Plant's face grew stern and withered
+again, as she shook her head.
+
+"She's such a sight, ma'am, with that handkercher round her head."
+
+"I should not mind that; I have not fairly seen her since I came."
+
+"No, ma'am, and you won't if she can help it.  You mayn't mind, but she
+do.  She always hides herself when anybody's about.  Poor girl, she's
+been in trouble almost ever since she was born.  There's sure to be
+something in this life.  Not as I complains of master.  It was just the
+same with old master, and when he died it made Becky ever so much worse.
+You see, ma'am, old master's wife was ill for a long time, and that
+made the house dull and quiet; and then she died, and old master was
+never the same again.  He spent scores o' thousands o' pounds on
+furniture, and books, and china, and did everything he could to make the
+place nice, but he never held up his head again.  And then somehow his
+money went wrong, and new master used to come to help him out of his
+troubles, but it was no use; old master never had the blinds pulled up
+again; and that made Becky and me different to most folk, for it used to
+be like being shut up in a cupboard, and we never hardly went out.
+Becky ain't been out of the house for years, and years, and years."
+
+"We must make the house more cheerful now, Sarah."
+
+The woman looked at her in astonishment, and then shook her head.
+
+"Well, ma'am, I will say that it has seemed different since you came;
+but no--it's beautifully furnished, and I never see a better kitchen in
+my life--but make it cheerful?  No, ma'am, it ain't to be done."
+
+"We shall see," said Kate, smiling, and the woman's face relaxed once
+more as she gazed at the fair, intellectual countenance before her as if
+it were some beautiful object which gave her real pleasure; but as
+Kate's smile died away her own features looked cloudy, and she shook her
+head.
+
+"No, ma'am, it's my belief as this was meant to be a dull house before
+the big trouble came.  Me and Becky used to say to one another it was
+just as if the sun had gone out, but we never expected what came at
+last, or I believe we should have run away."
+
+The moment before Kate had been thinking of dismissing the housekeeper
+to her work, but this hint at something which had happened enchained her
+attention, and the woman went on.
+
+"You see, old master kept on getting from bad to worse, spite of Mr
+Garstang's coming and seeing to his affairs; and one day the doctor says
+to me: `It's of no use, Mrs Plant, I can do nothing for a man who shuts
+himself up and sets all the laws of nature at defiance.'  Those were his
+very words, ma'am; I recollected them because I never quite knew what
+they meant; but the doctor evidently thought master had done something
+wrong, though I don't think he ever did, for he was such a good man.
+Then came that morning, ma'am.  I may as well tell you now.  Becky used
+to sleep with me then, same as she does now, but that was before she had
+face-ache and fits.  I remember it as well as can be.  It was just at
+daylight in autumn time, when the men brings round the ropes of onions,
+and I nudged her, and I says, `Time to get up, Becky,' and she yawned
+and got up and went down, for she always dressed quicker than I could.
+And there I was, dressing, and thinking that master had told me that Mr
+Garstang was coming at ten o'clock, and I was to send him into the
+library at once, and breakfast was to be ready there.
+
+"I'd just put on my cap, ma'am, and was going down, when I heard the
+horridest shriek as ever was, and sank down in a chair trembling, for I
+felt as sure as sure that burglars were in the house, and they were
+murdering my poor Becky.  I was that frightened I got up and tottered to
+the door, and locked and bolted it, for I said they shouldn't murder me.
+But, oh, dear; what I did suffer!  `Pretty sort of a mother you are,' I
+says to myself, `taking care of yourself, and letting poor Becky be cut
+to pieces p'raps to hide their crime.'
+
+"That went to my heart like a knife, ma'am, and I unfastened the door
+again and went out and listened, and all was still as still.  You know
+how quiet it can be in this house, ma'am, don't you?"
+
+Kate nodded.
+
+"So I stood trembling there at the very top of the house, for we used to
+sleep up there, then, before Becky took to wanting to be downstairs,
+where she wasn't so likely to be seen; and though I listened and I
+listened, there wasn't a sound, and I give it to myself again.  `Why,' I
+says, `a cat would scratch if you tried to take away its kitten to drown
+it'--as well I know, ma'am, for I've tried--`and you stand there doing
+nothing about your own poor girl.'  That roused me, ma'am, and I went
+down, with the staircase all gloomy, with the light coming only from the
+sooty skylight in the roof; and there were the china cupboards and the
+statues in the dark corners all seeming to look down at something on the
+first floor.  I was ready to drop a dozen times over, but I felt that I
+must go, even if I died for it; and down I went, step by step, peeping
+before me, and ready to shriek for help directly I saw what it was.
+
+"But there was nothing that I could see, and I stopped on the first
+floor, looking over the banisters and trying to make out whether the
+hall door was open; but no, I couldn't see anything, and I went along
+sideways, looking down still, till I saw that the dining-room door was
+open, and it seemed to me that the shrieking must have come from there.
+I was just opposite to the door leading into the two little lib'ries--
+you know, ma'am, where the big curtain is--and I was taking another step
+sideways, meaning to look a little more over and then go and call up
+master, who didn't seem to have heard, when I caught my foot on
+something, and cried out and fell.  And then I found it was poor Becky,
+who had just crawled out of the doorway on her hands and knees.
+
+"For just a minute I couldn't say a word, but when I did, and asked her
+what was the matter, she only knelt there, clinging to my gownd, and
+staring up at me with a face that was horrible to behold.
+
+"`What is it--what is it?'  I kept on saying, but she couldn't speak,
+only kneel there, staring at me till I took her by the shoulders and
+shook her well.  `Why don't you speak?'  I says.  `What is it?'
+
+"She only said `Oh'--a regular groan it was, and she turned her head
+slowly round to look back at the little lib'ry passage, and then she
+turned back and hid her face in my petticoats.
+
+"`Tell me what it is, Becky,' I says, more gently, for it didn't seem
+that any harm was coming to us, but she couldn't speak, only point
+behind her toward the little lib'ry door, and this made me shiver, for I
+knew there must be something dreadful there.  At last, though, for fear
+she should think I was a coward, I tried to get away from her, but she
+clung to me that tight that I couldn't get my gownd clear for ever so
+long.  But at last I did, and I went into the little lobby through the
+door; but there was nothing there, and the lib'ry door was shut close;
+and I was coming back when I felt Becky seize me by the arm and point
+again, and then I saw what I hadn't seen before; there were footmarks on
+the carpet fresh made, and I saw that Becky must have made 'em when she
+had gone to the lib'ry door; and there was the reason for it, just seen
+by the light which came from the little skylight--there it was, stealing
+slowly under the bottom of the mat."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+Kate Wilton looked at the woman in horror.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," Sarah continued, "there it was, and when I opened the door
+I could only get it a little way, for something was just inside, and as
+I stood there trembling, there came out a nasty wet smell of gunpowder,
+just as if water had been upset on the hob.
+
+"I didn't want any telling, ma'am; I knew, and poor Becky knew, that
+master had shot himself with something and was lying there.
+
+"I waited for just about a minute, ma'am, for my senses seemed to be
+quite gone, and I was as bad as poor Becky; but I got to be a little
+sensible soon, and began to feel that I must do something.  I called to
+Becky to come and help me, but it was no use; she was just as if she was
+stunned, and could only stare at me, shivering all the while.  So I felt
+that I must do what there was to do myself, and I went back to the door,
+and pushed and pushed till I could just squeeze myself through the
+narrow slit I made; and then I dursen't look round, but stood with my
+back to it for ever so long before I could feel that he might be alive,
+and that I ought to go for the doctor.
+
+"I looked round then, feeling as I turned that I should be obliged to
+shriek out, but I didn't.  Poor master, he was lying on his side, with
+his hand under his head, just quiet and calm, as if he had only gone to
+sleep.  It made me wonder what I had been frightened at, and I went down
+on one knee and took the hand which was by his side, touching a pistol."
+
+"Yes?" said Kate, breathlessly, for the woman paused.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, it was quite cold.  He must have shot himself early in the
+night, and I knew it was no good to go to fetch a doctor then.
+Leastwise I think that's what I felt, for I didn't _go_, but crept out
+very softly and shut the door; and then I took hold of poor Becky's arm
+and led her down to the kitchen, where she went off into a dead faint,
+and came to, and fainted over again--fit after fit, so that I was busy
+for hours and didn't know how time went, till all at once there was a
+double knock at the door, which I knew was Mr Garstang come.
+
+"I went up and let him in, and he looked at me so strange.
+
+"`What is it?' he said; `your master?'
+
+"`Yes, sir,' I says, `and I was to show you in as soon as you came.'
+
+"He nodded, and went up at once, neither of us saying another word.
+Then he went in through the door gently, and came out again, looking
+horribly shocked.
+
+"`When did you find him?' he says; and I told him.  `Poor fellow!' he
+says, `I am not surprised.  Sarah Plant, you must go and tell the
+police;' and I did, and there was an inquest, and at last the poor old
+master was to be buried, with only Mr Garstang to follow him, for he
+had no relations or friends.
+
+"I sat in my bit of noo black, and Becky just opposite me, waiting while
+they'd gone to the cemetery, for no one asked me to go, and I sat there
+looking at Becky, who began crying as she heard them carrying the coffin
+downstairs and never stopped all that time.  And I thought to myself,
+`We two will have to go out into the world, and nobody won't take us
+with poor Becky like that;' and my heart was so full, miss--ma'am, that
+I began to cry, too; but I'm afraid it was for myself, not for poor
+master.  Last of all, the carriage came back, and I let Mr Garstang in,
+looking terribly cut up.
+
+"`Bring me a little tea, Sarah,' he says, and I went and got it, and had
+a cup, too, wanting it as I did badly, and by-and-by he rung for me to
+fetch the tray.
+
+"I got to the door with it, when he calls me back.
+
+"`Sarah,' he says, `your poor master has no relations left, and by the
+papers I hold, everything comes to me.'
+
+"`Yes, sir; so I s'posed,' I says to him, `and you want me and Becky to
+go at once.'
+
+"He looked at me with that nice soft smile of his, and he says, `Why
+should you think that?  No,' he says, `I want everything to stay just as
+it is; I won't have a thing moved, and I should be very glad if you and
+Becky would stay and keep the house for me.'
+
+"I couldn't answer him, ma'am, for I was crying bitterly; but I knew
+him, what a good man he was, and that me and Becky had found a friend.
+Seven years ago, ma'am, and never an unkind word from him when he came,
+which wasn't often.  He only told me not to gossip about the place, and
+I said I wouldn't, and never did till I talked to you, ma'am, and as for
+poor Becky, she never speaks to no one.  Perhaps, ma'am, you'd like to
+come upstairs, and see the marks."
+
+"See the marks?" stammered Kate.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, where old master lay.  You've never been in the little
+lib'ry, but if you like I'll show you now.  There's only a little rug to
+move, and there it is, quite plain."
+
+"No, no, I do not wish to see," said Kate, shuddering.  "So there has
+been a terrible tragedy here?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, and that's what makes the place so dull and still.  I often
+fancy I can see poor old master gliding about the staircase and
+passages; but it's all fancy, of course."
+
+"All fancy, of course," said Kate, softly.  "But it is very terrible for
+such a thing to have happened here."
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's what I often think; and there's been times when I'm
+low-spirited; and you know there are times when one does get like that
+Becky's enough to make anyone dumpy, at the best of times, 'specially
+towards night, when she's sitting there with her face tied up and her
+eyes staring and looking toward the door, as if she fancied she was
+going to see master come in; for she will believe in ghosts, and it's no
+use to try to stop her.  Ah, she's a great trial, ma'am."
+
+"Poor girl!" said Kate.
+
+"Thankye, ma'am.  It's very good of you to say so," sighed the woman;
+"and it is nice to have a lady here to talk to.  It's quite altered the
+place.  There have been times, and many of them, when I felt that I must
+take poor Becky away and get another situation, but it would be
+ungrateful to new master, who's a dear good man, and never an unkind
+word since with him I've been.  It isn't everyone who'd keep a servant
+with a girl like Becky about the house.  But he never seems to mind,
+being a busy man, and I s'pose he must see that the only way in which
+Becky's happy is in cleaning and polishing things.  I believe if she
+woke up in the middle of the night and remembered that she hadn't dusted
+something she'd want to get up and do it; and she would, too, if she
+dared.  But go about the house in the middle of the night without me,
+ma'am?  No; wild horses wouldn't drag her."
+
+Sarah Plant ceased speaking, for she suddenly woke to the fact that Kate
+was gazing at the fire, with her thoughts evidently far away; and the
+woman stole softly from the room.  But as the door clicked faintly Kate
+started and looked about her, half disposed to call her back, for the
+narrative she had heard made her position seem terribly lonely.
+
+She restrained herself, though, and sat trying to think and turn the
+current of her thoughts, telling herself that she had no cause for
+anxiety save on Eliza's account.  For Garstang could not have been more
+fatherly and considerate to her.  His words, too, were wise and right.
+To let her uncle know where she was must result in scenes that would be
+stormy and violent; and she determined at last to let herself be guided
+entirely by her self-constituted guardian.
+
+"Yes, he is right.  He is all that is kind and fatherly in his way, and
+I, too, should be ungrateful if I murmured against my position.  It will
+not be for long.  In less than two years I shall be of age, and fully my
+own mistress."
+
+She paused to think, for a doubt arose.
+
+Would she be her own mistress?  She had heard her father's will read,
+but it was at a time when she was distracted with grief, and save that
+she grasped that she was heiress to a large fortune, which was to remain
+invested in her father's old bank, she knew comparatively nothing as to
+the control her uncle possessed.  Yes; she recalled that he was sole
+executor and guardian until she married.
+
+"And I shall never marry," she sighed; but as the words were breathed,
+scenes at the old Manor came back; the pleasant little intimacy with
+Jenny Leigh, her praise of her brother, and that brother's manly, kindly
+attentions to his patient, his skill having achieved so much in bringing
+her back to health.
+
+Yes, he had always been the attentive, courteous physician, and neither
+word nor look had intimated that he was anything else; but these things
+are a mystery beyond human control, and as Kate Wilton sat and thought,
+it was with Pierce Leigh present with her in spirit, and she felt
+startled; for the tell-tale blood was mantling her cheeks, and she
+hurriedly rose to do something to change the current of her thoughts.
+
+"Poor Mr Garstang," she said, softly; "he shall not find me ungrateful.
+He, too, has suffered.  If he had had a daughter like this!"
+
+She recalled his words, evidently not intended for her ears.  Wifeless--
+childless--wealthy, and yet solitary.
+
+Her heart warmed towards him, and she was ready to call herself selfish
+for intruding her wishes upon one whose sole thought seemed to be to
+protect her and make her life peaceful.
+
+"He shall not find me selfish," she said to herself, "and I will be
+guided by him and do what he thinks right."
+
+She went out into the solemn-looking hall and began to ascend the great
+staircase, taking a fresh interest in the place, which seemed now as if
+it would be her home perhaps for months.  The pictures and statues
+interested her, and she paused before a cabinet of curious old china,
+partly to try and admire, partly to think of how ignorant she was of all
+these matters, and a few minutes after, found herself close to the heavy
+curtain, beyond which was the door leading into the little library.
+
+A strange thrill ran through her, and she turned to hurry into her own
+room, with her cheeks growing pale.  But the blood flowed back, and with
+a feeling of self-contempt she walked straight to the curtain, drew it
+aside, passed through an archway, and turned the handle of a door.  This
+opened upon a passage, whose walls were covered with venerable looking
+books, a dim skylight above showing the faded leather and worn gilding
+upon their backs.  There was another door at the end, and as the woman's
+narrative forced itself back to her attention there was a fresh thrill
+which chilled her; but she went on firmly, opened the door, and passed
+through to find herself in the first of two rooms connected by a broad
+opening dimly lit by a stained-glass window, and completely covered with
+books, all old and evidently treasures of a collector.
+
+Once more she shuddered, for she was standing upon one of several small
+Persian rugs dotted about the dark polished floor, and from the woman's
+description she knew that she must be where the former owner of the
+house had lain dead.
+
+But the sensation of dread was momentary, and the warm flush of life
+came back to her cheeks as she said softly:
+
+"What is there to fear?" and then found herself repeating:
+
+  "`There is no Death!  What seems so is transition;
+      This life of mortal breath
+  Is but a suburb of the life elysian
+      Whose portal we call Death.'
+
+"Oh, father--father!" she moaned softly; "but I am so lonely without
+you;" and she sank into a chair, to weep bitterly.
+
+The tears brought relief and firmness, and drying her eyes, she went
+slowly from room to room, thinking of him who had once trod those
+boards--a sad and solitary man.
+
+Somehow her thoughts brought her back to Garstang, who seemed so noble
+and chivalrous in his conduct to her, and how that he, too, was a sad
+and solitary man, for she had heard in the past that his marriage had
+proved unhappy.
+
+A few minutes later, when she let the curtain drop behind her, and stood
+once more on the staircase, a change had come over her, and in spite of
+the slight redness and moisture remaining in her eyes, she looked
+brighter and more at rest, till she caught a glimpse of a strangely wild
+pair of staring eyes gazing at her from one of the dark doorways in
+horror and wonder, till their owner grasped the fact that she was
+observed, and fled.
+
+"Poor Becky!" thought Kate, as she smiled sadly?  "I must try and make
+friends with her now."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+The days passed calmly enough with Kate Wilton, and no more was said on
+either side about communicating with anyone.  Garstang was there at
+breakfast, and left till dinner time, when he returned punctually.
+
+Kate read and worked, and waited for him to speak, striving the while by
+her manner to let her guardian see that she was trying to show her
+gratitude to him for all that he had done.  And so a fortnight glided
+by, and then, unable to bear it longer, she determined to question him.
+
+That evening Garstang came in looking weary and careworn.  There was
+evidently some trouble on the way, and as she rose to meet him she felt
+that she must not speak that night, for her new guardian had cares
+enough of his own to deal with.
+
+But he began at once as he took her hands, smiling gravely as he looked
+in her eyes.
+
+"Well, my poor little prisoner," he said, half-banteringly, "aren't you
+utterly worn out, and longing, little bird, to begin beating your breast
+against the bars of your cage?"
+
+"No," she said, gently; "I am getting used to it now."
+
+"Brave little bird!" he said, raising both her hands to his lips and
+kissing them, before letting them fall; "then I shall come back some
+evening and hear you warbling once again.  I have not heard you sing
+since the last evening I spent in Bedford Square long months ago."
+
+He saw her countenance change, and he went on hastily:
+
+"By the way, has Sarah Plant bought everything for you that you
+require?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she said; "far more."
+
+"That's right.  I am so ignorant about such matters.  Pray do not
+hesitate to give her orders.  Do you know," he continued, as he sat down
+and began to warm his hands, gazing the while with wrinkled brow at the
+fire, "I have been doing something to-day in fear and trembling."
+
+"Indeed?" she said, anxiously.
+
+"Yes," he said, thoughtfully, as he took up the poker and began to
+softly tap pieces of unburned coal into glowing holes.  "My conscience
+has been smiting me horribly about you, my child.  I come back after
+fidgeting all day about your being so lonely and dull, with nothing but
+those serious books about you--by the way, did they send in that parcel
+from the library?"
+
+"Yes.  Thank you for being so thoughtful about me, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!  But I think, my child, we could get rid of that formal
+Mr Garstang.  Do you think you could call me guardian, little maid?"
+
+"Yes, guardian," she said, smiling at him, as he turned to look at her
+anxiously.
+
+"Hah!  Come, that's better," he cried; and he set down the poker and
+rubbed his hands softly, as he gazed once more thoughtfully at the fire.
+"That sounds more as if you felt at home, and I shall dare to tell you
+what I have done.  You see, I have been obliged to beg of you not to go
+out for a bit without me, and I have not liked to propose taking you of
+an evening to any place of entertainment--not a theatre, of course yet
+awhile, but a concert, say."
+
+"Oh no, Mr Garstang!" she said, hastily, with the tears coming to her
+eyes.
+
+He coughed, and looked at her in a perplexed way.
+
+"Oh no, guardian," she said, smiling sadly.
+
+"Hah! that's better.  Of course not; of course not.  Forgive me for even
+referring to it.  But er--you will not feel hurt at what I have done?"
+
+She looked at him anxiously.
+
+"Yes," he said, speaking as if he had been suddenly damped.  "I ought
+not to have done it yet.  It will seem as if I were making it appear
+that you will have to stop some time."
+
+"What have you done?" asked Kate, gravely.
+
+"Well, my child, I know how musical you used to be, and as I was passing
+the maker's to-day the thought struck me that you would like a piano.
+`It would make the place less dull for her,' I said, and--don't be hurt,
+my dear--I--I told him to send a good one in."
+
+"Mr Garstang!--guardian!" she said, starting up, with the tears now
+beginning to fall.
+
+"There, there, fought to have known better," he cried, catching up the
+poker, and beginning to use it hurriedly.  "Men are so stupid.  Don't
+take any notice, my dear.  I'll counter-order it."
+
+"No, no," she said gently, as she advanced to him and held out her hand
+"I am not hurt; I am pleased and grateful."
+
+"You are--really?" he cried, letting the poker drop, and catching her
+hand in his.
+
+"Of course I am," she said, simply.  "How could I be otherwise?  Don't
+think me so thoughtless, and that I do not feel deeply all your
+kindness."
+
+"Kindness, nonsense!" he said, dropping her hand again, and turning
+away.  "But will it help to make the time pass better?"
+
+"Yes, I shall be very glad to have it."
+
+"And, er--you'll sing and play to me sometimes when I come back here?"
+
+"Yes," she said, smiling through her tears; "and I would to-night, now
+that you have come back tired and careworn, if it were here."
+
+"Tired and careworn?  Who is?"
+
+"You are.  Do you think I could not see?"
+
+He looked at her with his eyes full of admiration, and then turned to
+the fire again.
+
+"I am most grateful, guardian," she said.  "But shall I have to be a
+prisoner long?"
+
+"Hah!" he said with a sigh, and as if not hearing her question, "you are
+right, my child.  I have had a very, very worrying day."
+
+"I thought so," said Kate, resuming her seat, and looking at him in a
+commiserating way.  "I hope it is nothing very serious."
+
+"Serious?" he said, turning to her, sharply.  "Well, yes it is, but I
+ought not to worry you about it."
+
+"They say that sometimes relief comes in speaking of our troubles."
+
+"But suppose one gets relief, and the other pain?" he said, looking at
+her quickly.
+
+"Then it is something about me?"
+
+He turned and looked at the fire again.
+
+"Please tell me, guardian," she said.
+
+"Only make you unhappy, my dear, just when you are getting back to your
+old self."
+
+She looked at him in a troubled way for some moments, and then with a
+sudden outburst:
+
+"You have seen Uncle James?"
+
+He did not answer for a while, but sat gazing at the fire.
+
+"Yes," he said, at last; "I have seen your Uncle James."
+
+"And he knows I am here," she cried, clasping her hands, and looking at
+him in horror.
+
+He turned slowly and met her eyes.
+
+"Then you don't repent the step you have taken, and want to go back to
+Northwood?" he said.
+
+"How could I when you have protected me as you have, and saved me from
+so much suffering and insult?"
+
+"Hah!" he said, with a sigh of relief, "thank you, my child.  I was
+afraid that you would be ready to return to him."
+
+"Mr Garstang!" she cried.
+
+"Guardian."
+
+"Then, guardian, how could you think it?  If I have seemed dull and
+unhappy, surely it was not strange, considering my position."
+
+"Of course not; but I was flattering myself with the belief that you
+were really getting reconciled to your fate."
+
+"I am reconciled," said Kate, warmly; "but I can not help longing to
+take my old nurse by the hand again, and to see my friends."
+
+"Friends?" he said, looking at her curiously.
+
+"Yes; I made two friends down there whose society was pleasant to me,
+and whom I have missed."
+
+"Indeed!  I did not know."
+
+"But tell me, is uncle coming?  Does he know I am here?" cried Kate,
+excitedly.
+
+"No, he is not coming, my child, and he does not know you are here,"
+said Garstang, watching her searchingly.
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated the girl, with a sigh of relief.  "I could not--I dare
+not meet him."
+
+"That is what I felt.  You can not meet him for some time to come, but
+there are unpleasant complications, my dear, which trouble me a great
+deal."
+
+"Yes?" said Kate, excitedly.
+
+"Such as will, I fear, make it necessary for you to remain still
+secluded."
+
+"But, Mr Garstang, suppose that he should come to see you one day when
+you were out, and he were shown in to me."
+
+"Ah, yes," he said, dryly, watching her troubled face narrowly, "what I
+once said: that would be awkward."
+
+"Oh, it would be horrible," cried Kate, springing to her feet.  "I could
+not go back with him.  And he has a right to claim me, and he would
+insist."
+
+She began to pace the room excitedly, with her hands clasped before her.
+
+"Yes, my child, it would be horrible," said Garstang, gently, "and that
+is why, in spite of its giving you pain, I have been so particular lest
+by any letter of yours he should learn where you were."
+
+"But he might come as I said--to see you, in your absence," she cried.
+
+"No, my dear," he said, reaching out one hand as she was passing the
+back of his chair; and she stopped at once, and placed hers trustingly
+within.  "Don't be alarmed.  I am an old man of the world, and for years
+past I have had to set my wits to work to battle with other people's.
+Uncle James does not know that you are here, and unless you tell him he
+is not likely to know, for the simple reason that he is not aware that I
+have such a place."
+
+Kate uttered a sigh of relief, and let her hand rest in his.
+
+"Poor fellow, he is horribly disappointed, and he is leaving no stone
+unturned to trace you, and his hopeful son is helping him and watching
+me."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Kate, excitedly.  "Yes, but they do not know of this
+place, and are keeping an eye upon my offices in Bedford Row and my
+house down in Kent.  I little thought when my poor old friend and client
+died and this place fell to me that it would one day prove so useful.
+So there, try and stop this fluttering of the pulses, little maid; so
+long as we are careful, and you wish it, you can remain in sanctuary.
+Now let's dismiss the tiresome business altogether.  I am glad, though,
+that you are pleased about the piano."
+
+"No, no; don't dismiss it yet," cried Kate, eagerly.  "Tell me what he
+said."
+
+"Humph!" said Garstang, frowning; "shall I?  No; better not."
+
+"Yes, please; I can not help wanting to know."
+
+"But I'm afraid of upsetting you, my dear."
+
+"It will not now; I am growing firmer, Mr Garstang, my guardian," she
+said.  "Better tell me than leave me to think, and perhaps lie awake
+to-night imagining things that may not be true."
+
+"Well, yes--that would be bad," he said, nodding his head.  "There, sit
+down then, and draw your chair to the fender.  Your face is burning, but
+your hands are cold.  That's better," he continued, as he took up the
+poker again, and sat forward, gazing at the fire, and once more tapping
+the pieces of coal into the glowing caverns.  "You see, he has been to
+me three times."
+
+"And I did not know!" cried Kate.
+
+"No, you did not know, my dear, because I did not want to upset you.
+What do you think he says?"
+
+"That I fled to you, and placed myself under your protection?"
+
+"Wrong," said Garstang, looking round and smiling in the beautiful face
+across the hearth, as he played the part of an amiable fatherly
+individual to perfection.  "Shall I say guess again?"
+
+"No, no, pray don't trifle with me, guardian."
+
+"Trifle with you?" he cried, growing stern of aspect.  "No.  There, it
+must come out.  He did not say that, and he did not accuse me of
+fetching you away, for he and Master Claud are upon a wrong scent."
+
+"Yes--yes," said Kate, eagerly.
+
+"They say that Harry Dasent made an excuse of his friendship with Claud
+to go down to Northwood with another object in view."
+
+"Yes--what?" she said, looking at him wonderingly.
+
+"You, my child."
+
+"Me?" she cried, aghast.
+
+"Well, to speak more correctly, your money, my dear; and that,
+despairing of winning you in a straightforward way, he either came and
+caught you in the humour for being persuaded to leave with him, having
+on his other visits paved the way by making love to you--"
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Kate; "I never noticed anything particular in his
+manner to me--yes, I did, once or twice he was very, very attentive."
+
+"Indeed," said Garstang, frowning.
+
+"But you said `either,'" cried Kate, anxiously.
+
+"Yes; either that he had persuaded you to elope with him, or he had
+climbed to your window and by some means forced you to come away."
+
+"What madness!" cried Kate.
+
+"Yes, and there's more behind; they accuse me of conniving at it, and
+say they are sure you are married, and that I know where you are."
+
+"Mr Dasent!" exclaimed Kate, gazing at Garstang wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, Harry Dasent," he said, drawing himself up.  "He is my poor dead
+wife's son, my dear, and it so happens that he is giving colour to the
+idea by his absence from home on one of his reckless, ne'er-do-weel
+expeditions; but between ourselves, my child, I'd rather see you married
+to Claud Wilton, your cousin, than to him; and," he added warmly, "I
+think I would sooner follow you to your grave than--Yes--what is it?"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," said the housekeeper, "but the dinner's spoiling,
+and I've been waiting half an hour and more for you to ring."
+
+"Then bring it up directly, Mrs Plant, for we are terribly ready."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"At least I am, my dear; I was faint for want of it when I came in.
+Shall we shelve the unpleasant business now?"
+
+"It is so dreadful," said Kate.
+
+"Well, yes, it is; so it used to be with the poor folks who were
+besieged by the enemy.  You are besieged, but you have a strong castle
+in which to defend yourself, and you can laugh your enemies to scorn.
+Really, Kate, my child, this is something like being cursed by a
+fortune."
+
+She nodded her head quickly.
+
+"Money is useful, of course, and I once had a very eager longing to
+possess it; but, like a great many other things, when once it is
+possessed it is--well, only so much hard cash, after all.  It won't buy
+the love and esteem of your fellow-creatures.  Do you know, my dear, if
+it were not for something I should be ready to say to you--`Let Uncle
+James have your paltry fortune and pay off his debts.'  That's what he
+wants, not you.  As for Claud, he'd break your heart in a month."
+
+"Could I deliver the money over to him?" said Kate, looking anxiously in
+her new guardian's face.
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear, that would be easy enough.  And then--I tell you
+what: I have plenty, and I'm tired of the worry and care of a
+solicitor's life.  Why shouldn't I take a few years' holiday and go on
+the Continent with my adopted daughter and her old maid?  Paris, Berlin,
+Vienna, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt--what would you say to that?  It would
+be delightful."
+
+"Yes," said Kate, eagerly, "and then I could be at rest.  No," she said,
+suddenly, with the colour once more rising in her cheeks, "that would be
+impossible."
+
+"Yes," said Garstang, watching her narrowly, as she averted her face, to
+gaze now in the fire.  "Castles in the air, my dear."
+
+"Yes," she said, dreamily, "castles in the air;" but she was seeing
+golden castles in the glowing fire, and her face grew hotter as, in
+spite of herself, she peopled one of those golden castles in a peculiar
+way which made her pulses begin to flutter, and she felt that she dared
+not gaze in her companion's face.
+
+"Yes, castles in the air, my child," said Garstang again.  "For that
+fortune was amassed by your father for the benefit of his child and her
+husband, and she must not lightly throw it away to benefit a foolish,
+grasping, impecunious relative."
+
+"The dinner is served, sir," said Mrs Plant.
+
+Garstang rose and offered his arm, which Kate took at once.
+
+"We may dismiss the unpleasant business now," he said, with a smile.
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," she said.
+
+"But tell me, you do feel satisfied and safe--at rest?"
+
+"Quite," she said, looking smilingly in his face.
+
+"Then now for dinner," he said, leading her to the door.
+
+That evening John Garstang sat over his modest glass of wine alone,
+fitting together the pieces of his plans, and as he did so he smiled and
+seemed content.
+
+"No," he said, softly, "you will not pocket brother Robert's money,
+friend James, for I hold the winning trump.  What beautiful soft wax it
+is to mould!  Only patience--patience!  The fruit is not quite ripe yet.
+A hundred and fifty thou--a hundred and fifty thou!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+"If I could only get poor Pierce to believe in me again!" sighed Jenny,
+as she lay back in an easy chair at the cottage, after a month of
+illness; for in addition to the violent sprain from which she had
+suffered, the exposure had brought on a violent rheumatic cold and
+fever, from which she was slowly recovering.
+
+"But he doesn't believe in me a bit now, even after all I've suffered.
+Oh, how I should like to punish that wretched boy before I go!"
+
+She was sitting close to the window, where she could look down the road
+toward the village, her eyes dull, her face listless, thinking over the
+past--her favourite way of making herself miserable, as she had no heart
+attachment, or disappointment, as a mental "piece de resistance" to
+feast upon during her illness.
+
+Everything had gone so differently from the way she had planned.  Pierce
+was to marry Kate Wilton, and be rich and happy ever afterwards; she
+intended to be what she called a nice, little, old maiden aunt, to pet
+and tend all her brother's children, for, of course, Kate and Pierce
+would have her to live with them; but it was all over--Kate had gone, no
+one knew where; Pierce, who had always loved her so tenderly, scarcely
+ever spoke to her as he used.  He was quiet, grave, and civil, but never
+walked up and down the garden with his arm round her waist, laughing and
+joking with her, and talking about the prince who was to come some day
+to carry her off to his palace.  It was all misery and wretchedness.
+
+"I'm sure nobody could have been so ill and suffered so much before,"
+she said, "and I'm growing so white, and thin, and ugly, and old
+looking, and I'm sure I shall have to go about with a crutch; and it's
+so lonely with Pierce always going out to see old women and old men who
+are not half so bad as I am; and I wish I was dead!  Oh, dear, oh, oh,
+dear, I wonder whether it hurts much to die.  If it does, I'll ask
+Pierce to give me some laudanum to put me out of my misery, and--Oh,
+who's that?"
+
+A carriage had drawn up at the gate, and she leaned forward to see.
+
+"Mrs Wilton's carriage," she said, quickly growing interested, "and
+poor Pierce out.  Oh, dear, how vexatious it is, when he wants patients
+so badly!  I wonder who's ill now.  It can't be that little wretch,
+because I saw him ride by an hour ago, and stare at the place; and it
+can't be Mr Wilton, because he always goes over to Dixter market on
+Fridays.  It must be Mrs Wilton herself."
+
+"If you please, miss, here's Missus Wilton," said the tall, gawky girl,
+just emancipated from the village schools to be Jenny's maid-of-all-work
+and nurse, and the lady in question entered with her village basket upon
+her arm.
+
+"Ah! my dear child!" she cried, bustling across the room, putting her
+basket on the table, and then bobbing down to kiss Jenny, who sat up,
+frowning and stiff.  "No, no, don't get up."
+
+"I was not going to, Mrs Wilton," said Jenny, coldly; "I can't."
+
+"Think of that, now," cried the visitor, drawing a chair forward, and
+carefully spreading her silks and furs as she sat down; "and I've been
+so dreadfully unneighbourly in not coming to see you, though I did not
+know you had been so bad as this.  You see, I've had such troubles of my
+own to attend to that I couldn't think of anything else; but it all came
+to me to-day that I had neglected you shamefully, and so I said to
+myself, I'd come over at once, as Mr Wilton and my son were both out,
+and bring you a bit of chicken, and a bottle of wine, and the very last
+bunch of grapes before it got too mouldy in the vinery, and here I am."
+
+"Yes, Mrs Wilton," said Jenny, stiffly; "but if you please, I am not
+one of the poor people of the parish."
+
+"Why, no, my dear, of course not; but whatever put that in your head?"
+
+"The wine, Mrs Wilton."
+
+"But it's the best port, my dear--not what I give to the poor."
+
+"And the bit of chicken, Mrs Wilton," said Jenny, viciously.
+
+"But it isn't a bit, my dear; it's a whole one," said the lady, looking
+troubled.
+
+"A cold one, left over from last night's dinner," said Jenny, half
+hysterically.
+
+"Indeed, no, my dear," cried the visitor, appealingly; "it isn't a
+cooked one at all, but a nice, young Dorking cockerel from the farm."
+
+"And a bunch of mouldy grapes," cried Jenny, passionately, bursting into
+a fit of sobbing, "just as if I were widow Gee!"
+
+"Why, my dear child, I--oh, I see, I see; you're only just getting
+better, and you're lonely and low, and it makes you feel fractious and
+cross, and I know.  There, there, there, my poor darling!  I ought to
+have come before and seen you, for I always did like to see your pretty,
+little, merry face, and there, there, there!" she continued, as she
+knelt by the chair, and in a gentle, motherly way, drew the little, thin
+invalid to her expansive breast, kissing and fondling and cooing over
+her, as she rocked her to and fro, using her own scented handkerchief to
+dry the tears.
+
+"That's right.  Have a good cry, my dear.  It will relieve you, and
+you'll feel better then.  I know myself how peevish it makes one to be
+ill, with no one to tend and talk to you; but you won't be angry with me
+now for bringing you the fruit and wine, for indeed, indeed, they are
+the best to be had, and do you think I'd be so purse-proud and insulting
+as to treat you as one of the poor people?  No, indeed, my dear, for I
+don't mind telling you that I'm only going to be a poor woman myself,
+for things are to be very sadly altered, and when I come to see you, if
+I'm to stay here instead of going to the workhouse, there'll be no
+carriage, but I shall have to walk."
+
+"I--I--beg your pardon, Mrs Wilton," sobbed Jenny.  "I say cross things
+since I have been so ill."
+
+"Of course you do, my precious, and quite natural.  We women understand
+it.  I wish the gentlemen did; but dear, dear me, they think no one has
+a right to be cross but them, and they are, too, sometimes.  You can't
+think what I have to put up with from Mr Wilton and my son, though he
+is a dear, good boy at heart, only spoiled.  But you're getting better,
+my dear, and you'll soon be well."
+
+"Yes, Mrs Wilton," said Jenny, piteously, "if I don't die first."
+
+"Oh, tut, tut, tut! die, at your age.  Why, even at mine I never think
+of such a thing.  But, oh, my dear child, I want you to try and pity and
+comfort me.  You know, of course, what trouble we have been in."
+
+"Yes," said Jenny.  "I have heard, and I'm better now, Mrs Wilton.
+Won't you sit down?"
+
+"To be sure I will, my dear.  There: that's better.  And now we can have
+a cozy chat, just as we used when you came to the Manor.  Oh, dear, no
+visitors now, my child.  It's all debt and misery and ruin.  The place
+isn't the same.  Poor, poor Kate!"
+
+"Have you heard where she is, Mrs Wilton?"
+
+"No, my dear," said the visitor, tightening her lips and shaking her
+head, "and never shall.  Poor dear angel!  I am right.  I'm sure it's as
+I said."
+
+Jenny looked at her curiously, while every nerve thrilled with the
+desire to know more.
+
+"I felt it at the first," continued Mrs Wilton.  "No sooner did they
+tell me that she was gone than I knew that in her misery and despair she
+had gone and thrown herself into the lake; and though I was laughed at
+and pooh-poohed, there she lies, poor child.  I'm as sure of it as I sit
+here."
+
+"Mrs Wilton!" cried Jenny, in horrified tones.  "Oh, pray, pray, don't
+say that!" and she burst into a hysterical lit of weeping.
+
+"I'm obliged to, my dear," said the visitor, taking a trembling hand in
+hers, and kissing it; "but don't you cry and fret, though it's very good
+of you, and I know you loved the sweet, gentle darling.  Ah, it was all
+a terrible mistake, and I've often lain awake, crying without a sound,
+so as not to wake Mr Wilton and make him cross.  Of course you know Mr
+Wilton settled that Claud was to marry her, and when he says a thing is
+to be, it's no use for me to say a word.  He's master.  It's `love,
+honour, and obey,' my dear, when you're a married lady, as you'll find
+out some day."
+
+"No, Mrs Wilton, I shall never marry."
+
+"Ah, that's what we all say, my child, but the time comes when we think
+differently.  But as I was telling you, I thought it was all a mistake,
+but I had to do what Mr Wilton wished, though I felt that they weren't
+suited a bit, and I know Claud did not care for her.  I'd a deal rather
+have seen him engaged to a nice little girl like you."
+
+"Mrs Wilton!" said Jenny, indignantly.
+
+"Oh, dear me, what have I said?" cried the lady, smiling.  "He's wilful
+and foolish and idle, and fond of sport; but my boy Claud isn't at all a
+bad lad--well, not so very--and he'll get better; and I'm sure you used
+to like to have a talk with him when you came to the Manor."
+
+"Indeed I did not!" cried Jenny, flushing warmly.
+
+"Oh, very well then, I'm a silly old woman, and I was mistaken, that's
+all.  But there, there, we don't want to talk about such things, with
+that poor child lying at the bottom of the lake; and they won't have it
+dragged."
+
+"But surely she would not have done such a thing, Mrs Wilton," cried
+Jenny, wildly.
+
+"I don't know, my dear.  They say I'm very stupid, but I can't help,
+thinking it, for she was very weak and low and wretched, and she quite
+hated poor Claud for the way he treated her.  But I never will believe
+that she eloped with that young Mr Dasent."
+
+"Neither will I," cried Jenny, indignantly.  "She would not do such a
+thing."
+
+"That she would not, my dear; and I say it's a shame to say it, but my
+husband will have it that he has carried her off for the sake of her
+money.  And as I said to my husband, `You thought the same about poor
+Claud, when the darling boy was as innocent as a dove.'  There, I'm
+right, I'm sure I'm right.  She's lying asleep at the bottom of the
+lake."
+
+Jenny's face contracted with horror, and her visitor caught her in her
+arms again.
+
+"There, there, don't look like that, my dear.  She's nothing to you, and
+I'm a very silly old woman, and I dare say I'm wrong.  I came here to be
+like a good neighbour, and try and comfort you, and I'm only making you
+worse.  That's just like me, my dear.  But now look here.  You mustn't
+go about with that white face.  You want change, and you shall come over
+to the Manor and stay for a month.  It will do you good."
+
+"No," said Jenny, quietly.  "I can not come, thank you, Mrs Wilton.  My
+brother would not permit it."
+
+"But he must, for your sake.  Oh, these men, these men!"
+
+"It is impossible," said Jenny, holding out her hand, "for we are going
+away."
+
+"Going away!  Well, I am sorry.  Ah, me!  It's a sad world, and maybe I
+shall be gone away, too, before long.  But you might come for a week.
+Why not to-morrow?"
+
+Jenny shook her head, and the visitor parted from her so affectionately
+that no further opposition was made to the basket's contents.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+Jenny had not been seated alone many minutes after the carriage had
+driven off, dwelling excitedly upon her visitor's words respecting
+Kate's disappearance, when the front door was opened softly, and there
+was a tap on the panel of the room where she sat.
+
+"Who's there?  Come in."
+
+"Only me," said a familiar voice, and, hunting whip in hand, Claud
+Wilton stood smiling in the doorway.
+
+"You!" cried Jenny, with flaming cheeks.  "How dare you come here?"
+
+"Because I wanted to see you," he said.  "Just met the mater, and she
+told me how bad you'd been, and that you talked about dying.  I say, you
+know, none of that nonsense."
+
+"What is that to you, sir, if I did?"
+
+"Oh, lots," he said, twirling the lash of his whip as he stood looking
+at her.  "If you were to pop off I should go and hang myself in the
+stable."
+
+"Go away from here directly.  How dare you come?" cried Jenny,
+indignantly.
+
+"Because I love you.  You made me, and you can't deny that."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated the girl, as her cheeks flamed more hotly.
+
+"I can't help it now.  I've been ever so miserable ever since I knew you
+were so bad; and when the old girl said what she did it regularly turned
+me over, and I was obliged to come.  I say, I do love you, you know."
+
+"It is not love," she cried hotly; "it is an insult.  Go away.  My
+brother will be here directly."
+
+"I don't care for your brother," said the young man, sulkily.  "I'm as
+good as he is.  I wanted to see how bad you were."
+
+"Well, you've seen.  I've been nearly dead with fever and pain, and it
+was all through you that night."
+
+"Yes, it was all through me, dear."
+
+"Silence, sir; how dare you!"
+
+"Because I love you, and 'pon my soul, I'd have been ten times as bad
+sooner than you should."
+
+"It is all false--a pack of cruel, wicked lies."
+
+"No, it ain't.  I know I've told lots of lies to girls, but then they
+were only fools, and I've been a regular beast, Jenny, but I'm going to
+be all square now; am, 'pon my word.  I didn't use to know what a real
+girl was in those days, but I've woke up now, and I'd do anything to
+please you.  There, I feel sometimes as if I wish I were your dog."
+
+"Pah!  Go and find your rich cousin, and tell her that."
+
+"--My rich cousin," he cried, hotly.  "She's gone, and jolly go with
+her.  I know I made up to her--the guv'nor wanted me to, for the sake of
+her tin--but I'm sick of the whole business, and I wouldn't marry her if
+she'd got a hundred and fifty millions instead of a hundred and fifty
+thousand."
+
+"And do you think I'm so weak and silly as to believe all this?" she
+cried.
+
+"I d'know," he said, quietly.  "I think you will.  Clever girl like you
+can tell when a fellow's speaking the truth."
+
+"Go away at once, before my brother comes."
+
+"Shan't I wouldn't go now for a hundred brothers."
+
+"Oh," panted Jenny.  "Can't you see that you will get me in fresh
+trouble with him, and make me more miserable still?"
+
+"I don't want to," he said, softly, "and I'd go directly if I thought it
+would do that, but I wouldn't go because of being afraid.  I say, ain't
+you precious hard on a fellow?  I know I've been a brute, but I think
+I've got some good stuff in me, and if I could make you care for me I
+shouldn't turn out a bad fellow."
+
+"I will not listen to you.  Go away."
+
+"I say, you know," he continued, as he stood still in the doorway, "why
+won't you listen to me and be soft and nice, same as you were at first?"
+
+"Silence, sir; don't talk about it.  It was all a mistake."
+
+"No, it wasn't.  You began to fish for me, and you caught me.  I've got
+the hook in me tight, and I couldn't get away if I tried.  I say, Jenny,
+please listen to me.  I am in earnest, and I'll try so hard to be all
+that is square and right.  'Pon my soul I will."
+
+"Where is your cousin?"
+
+"I don't know--and don't want to," he added.
+
+"Yes you do, you took her away."
+
+"Well, it's no use to swear to a thing with a girl; if you won't believe
+me when I say I don't know, you won't believe me with an oath.  What do
+I want with her?  She hated me, and I hated her.  There is only one nice
+girl in the world, and that's you."
+
+"Pah!" cried Jenny, who was more flushed than ever.  "Look at me."
+
+"Well, I am looking at you," he said, smiling, "and it does a fellow
+good."
+
+"Can't you see that I've grown thin, and yellow, and ugly?"
+
+"No; and I'll punch any fellow's head who says you are."
+
+"Don't you know that I injured my ankle, and that I'm going to walk with
+crutches?"
+
+"Eh?" he cried, starting.  "I say, it ain't so bad as that, is it?"
+
+"Yes; I can't put my foot to the ground."
+
+"Phew!" he whistled, with a look of pity and dismay in his countenance;
+"poor little foot."
+
+"I tell you I shall be a miserable cripple, I'm sure; but I'm going
+away, and you'll never see me again."
+
+"Oh, won't I?" he said, smiling.  "You just go away, and I'll follow you
+like a shadow.  You won't get away from me."
+
+"But don't I tell you I shall be a miserable cripple?"
+
+"Well," he said, thoughtfully; "it is a bad job, and perhaps it'll get
+better.  If it don't I can carry you anywhere; I'm as strong as a horse.
+Look here, it's no use to deny it, you made me love you, and you must
+have me now--I mean some day."
+
+"Never!" cried Jenny, fiercely.
+
+"Ah, that's a long time to wait; but I'll wait.  Look here, little one,"
+he cried, passionate in his earnestness now, "I love you, and I'm sorry
+for all that's gone by; but I'm getting squarer every day."
+
+"But I tell you it is impossible.  I'm going away; it was all a mistake.
+I can't listen to you, and I tell you once more I'm going to be a
+miserable, peevish cripple all my life."
+
+"No, you're not," said the lad, drawing himself up and tightening his
+lips.  "You're not going to be miserable, because I'd make you happy;
+and I like a girl to be sharp with a fellow like you can; it does one
+good.  And as to being a cripple, why, Jenny, my dear, I love you so
+that I'd marry you to-morrow, if you had no legs at all."
+
+Jenny looked at him in horror, as he still stood framed in the doorway;
+but averted her eyes, turning them to the window, as she found how
+eagerly he was watching her, while her heart began to beat rapidly, as
+she felt now fully how dangerous a game was that upon which she had so
+lightly entered.  Rough as his manner was, she could not help feeling
+that it was genuine in its respect for her, though all the same she felt
+alarmed; but directly after, the dread passed away in a feeling of
+relief, and a look of malicious glee made her eyes flash, as she saw her
+brother coming along the road.
+
+But the flash died out, and in repentance for her wish that Pierce might
+pounce suddenly upon the intruder, she said, quickly:
+
+"Mr Wilton, don't stop here; go--go, please, directly.  Here's my
+brother coming."
+
+She blushed, and felt annoyed directly after, angry with herself and
+angry at her lame words, the more so upon Claud bursting out laughing.
+
+"Not he," cried the lad.  "You said that to frighten me."
+
+"No, indeed; pray go.  He will be so angry," she cried.
+
+"I don't care, so long as you are not."
+
+"But I am," she cried, "horribly angry."
+
+"You don't look it.  I never saw you seem so pretty before."
+
+"But he is close here, and--and, and I am so ill--it will make me worse.
+Pray, pray, go."
+
+"I say, do you mean that?" he said, eagerly.  "If I thought you really
+did, I'd--"
+
+"You insolent dog!  How dare you?" roared Pierce, catching him by the
+collar and forcing him into the room.  "You dare to come here and insult
+my sister like this!"
+
+"Who has insulted her?" cried Claud, hotly.
+
+"You, sir.  It is insufferable.  How dare you come here?"
+
+"Gently, doctor," said Claud, coolly; "mind what you are saying."
+
+"Why are you here, sir?"
+
+"Come to see how your sister was."
+
+"What is it to you, puppy?  Leave the house," cried, Pierce, snatching
+the hunting whip from the young man's hand, "or I'll flog you as you
+deserve."
+
+"No, you won't," said Claud, looking him full in the eyes, with his lips
+tightening together.  "You can't be such a coward before her, and upset
+her more.  Ask her if I've insulted her."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Pierce; Mr Wilton has been most kind and gentlemanly--
+more so than I could have expected," stammered Jenny, in fear.
+
+"Gentlemanly," cried Pierce scornfully.  "Then it is by your invitation
+he is here.  Oh, shame upon you."
+
+"No, it isn't," cried Claud stoutly.  "She didn't know I was coming, and
+when I did come she ordered me off--so now then."
+
+"Then leave this house."
+
+"No, I won't, till I've said what I've got to say; so put down that whip
+before you hurt somebody, more, perhaps, than you will me.  You're not
+her father."
+
+"I stand in the place of her father, sir, and I order you to go."
+
+"Look here, Doctor, don't forget that you are a gentleman, please, and
+that I'm one, too."
+
+"A gentleman!" cried Pierce angrily, "and dare to come here in my
+absence and insult my sister!"
+
+"It isn't insulting her to come and tell her how sorry I am she has been
+ill."
+
+"A paltry lie and subterfuge!" cried Pierce.
+
+"No, it isn't either of them, but the truth, and I don't care whether
+you're at home, Doctor, or whether you're out I came here to tell her
+outright, like a man, that I love her; and I don't care what you say or
+do, I shall go on loving her, in spite of you or a dozen brothers.--Now
+give me my whip."
+
+His brave outspoken way took Pierce completely aback, and the whip was
+snatched from his hand, Claud standing quietly swishing it round and
+round till he held the point in his fingers, looking hard at Jenny the
+while.
+
+"There," he said, "I don't mean to quarrel; I'm going now.  Good-bye,
+Jenny; I mean it all, every word, and I hope you'll soon be better.
+There," he said, facing round to Leigh.  "I shan't offer to shake hands,
+because I know that you won't but when you like I will.  You hate me
+now, like some of your own poisons, because you think I'm after Cousin
+Kate, but you needn't.  There, you needn't flinch; I'm not blind.  I
+smelt that rat precious soon.  She never cared for me, and I never cared
+for her, and you may marry her and have her fortune if you can find her,
+for anything I'll ever do to stop it--so there."
+
+He nodded sharply, stuck his hat defiantly on his head, and marched out,
+leaving Pierce Leigh half stunned by his words; and the next minute they
+heard him striding down the road, leaving brother and sister gazing at
+each other with flashing eyes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+For some moments neither spoke.
+
+"Was this your doing?" cried Leigh, at last, and he turned upon his
+sister angrily.
+
+At that moment Jenny was lying back, trembling and agitated, with her
+eyes half closed, but her brother's words stung her into action.
+
+"You heard what Mr Claud Wilton said," she retorted, angrily.  "How
+dare you speak to me like this, Pierce, knowing what you do?"
+
+He uttered an impatient ejaculation.
+
+"Yes, that is how you treat me now," she said, piteously; "your troubles
+have made you doubting and suspicious.  Have I not suffered enough
+without you turning cruel to me again?"
+
+"How can you expect me to behave differently when I find you encouraging
+that cad here?  It is all the result of the way in which you forgot your
+self-respect and what was due to me."
+
+"That's cruel again, Pierce.  You know why I acted as I did."
+
+"Pah!" he exclaimed; "and now I find you encouraging the fellow."
+
+"I was as much taken by surprise as you were, dear," she said.
+
+"And to use the fellow's words, do you think I am blind?  It was plain
+enough to see that you were pleased that he came."
+
+"I was not," she cried, angrily now.  "I tell you I was quite taken by
+surprise.  I was horrified and frightened, and I was glad when I saw you
+coming, for I wanted you to punish him for daring to come."
+
+Leigh looked at his sister in anger and disgust.
+
+"If I can read a woman's countenance," he said, mockingly, "you were
+gratified by every word he said to me."
+
+"I don't know--I can't tell how it was," she faltered with her pale
+cheeks beginning to flame again, "but I'm afraid I was pleased, dear."
+
+"I thought so," he cried, mockingly.
+
+"I couldn't help liking the manly, brave way in which he spoke up.  It
+sounded so true."
+
+"Yes, very.  Brave words such as he has said in a dozen silly girls'
+ears.  And he told you before I came that he loved you?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"And you told him that his ardent passion was returned," he sneered.
+
+"I did not.  I could have told him I hated him, but I could not help
+feeling sorry, for I have behaved very badly, flirting with him as I
+did."
+
+"And pity is near akin to love, Jenny," cried Leigh, with a harsh laugh,
+"and very soon I may have the opportunity of welcoming this uncouth oaf
+for a brother-in-law, I suppose.  Oh, what weak, pitiful creatures women
+are!  People cannot write worse of them than they prove."
+
+Jenny was silent, but she looked her brother bravely in the face till
+his brows knit with anger and self-reproach.
+
+"What do you mean by that?" he cried, angrily.
+
+"I was only thinking of the reason why you speak so bitterly, Pierce."
+
+"Pish!" he exclaimed; and there was another silence.
+
+"Mrs Wilton came this afternoon and brought me a chicken and some wine
+and grapes," said Jenny, at last.
+
+"Like her insolence.  Send them back."
+
+"No.  She was very kind and nice, Pierce.  She was full of self-reproach
+for the way in which poor Kate Wilton was treated."
+
+"Bah!  What is that to us?"
+
+"A great deal, dear.  She is half broken-hearted about it, and says it
+was all the Squire's doing, and that she was obliged.  He wished his son
+to marry Kate."
+
+"The old villain!"
+
+"And she says that poor Kate is lying drowned in the lake."
+
+Leigh started violently, and his eyes looked wild with horror, but it
+was a mere flash.
+
+"Pish!" he ejaculated, "a silly woman's fancy.  The ladder at the window
+contradicted that.  It was an elopement and that scoundrel who was here
+just now was somehow at the bottom of it.  He helped."
+
+"No," said Jenny, quietly, "he was not, I am sure.  There is some
+mystery there that you ought to probe to the bottom."
+
+"That will do," he said, sharply, and she noticed that there was a
+peculiar startled look in her brother's eyes.  "Now listen to me.  You
+will pack up your things.  Begin to-night.  Everything must be ready by
+mid-day to-morrow."
+
+"Yes, dear," she said, meekly.  "Are you going to send me away?"
+
+"No, I am going to take you away.  I cannot bear this life any longer."
+
+"Then we leave here?"
+
+"Yes, at once."
+
+"Have you sold the place?"
+
+"Bah!  Who could buy it?"
+
+"But your patients, Pierce?"
+
+"There is another man within two miles.  There, don't talk to me."
+
+"Won't you confide in me, Pierce?" said Jenny, quickly.  "I can't
+believe that we are going because of what has just happened.  You must
+have heard some news."
+
+He frowned, and was silent.
+
+"Very well, dear," she said, meekly.  "I am glad we are going, for I
+believe you will try and trace out poor Kate."
+
+"A fly will be here at mid-day," he said, without appearing to hear her
+words, and her eyes flashed, for all told her that she was right and
+that the sudden departure was not due to the encounter with Claud.  But
+that meeting had sealed his lips in anger, just when he had reached home
+full of eagerness to confide in his sister that he had at last obtained
+a slight clew to Kate's whereabouts.
+
+For he had been summoned to the village inn to attend a fly-driver, who
+had been kicked by his horse.  The man was a stranger, and the injury
+was so slight that he was able to drive himself back to his place, miles
+away.  But in the course of conversation, while his leg was being
+dressed, he had told the Doctor that he once had a curious fare in that
+village, and he detailed Garstang's proceedings, ending by asking Leigh
+if he knew who the lady was.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+"Here!  Hi!  Hold hard!"
+
+Pierce Leigh paid no heed to the hails which reached his ears as he was
+crossing Bedford Square one morning; but he stopped short and turned
+angrily when a hand was laid heavily upon his shoulder, to find himself
+face to face with Claud Wilton, who stood holding out his hand.
+
+"I saw you staring up at Uncle Robert's old house, but it's of no use to
+look there."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" said Leigh sternly.
+
+"Get out!  You know.  Well, aren't you going to shake hands?"
+
+There was something so frank and open in the young man's look and manner
+that Leigh involuntarily raised his hand, and before a flash of
+recollection could telegraph his second intent it was seized and wrung,
+vigorously.
+
+"That's better, Doctor," cried Claud.  "How are you?"
+
+"Oh, very well," said Pierce shortly.
+
+"Well, you don't look it.  No, no, don't give a fellow the cold shoulder
+like that.  I say, I came ever so long ago and called on the new people
+here, for I thought perhaps she might have been to her old home, but it
+was only a fancy.  No go; she hadn't been there."
+
+"You will excuse me, Mr Wilton," said Pierce, coldly; "I am busy this
+morning--a patient.  I wish you good day."
+
+"No, you don't.  I've had trouble enough to find you, so no cold
+shoulder, please.  It's no good, for I won't lose sight of you now.  I
+say: it was mean to cut away from Northwood like you did."
+
+"Will you have the goodness to point out which road you mean to take,
+Mr Wilton," said Leigh, wrathfully, "and then I can choose another?"
+
+"No need, Doctor; your road's my road, and I'll stick to you like a
+`tec'."
+
+Leigh's eyes literally flashed.
+
+"There, it's of no use for you to be waxy, Doctor, because it won't do a
+bit of good.  I've got a scent like one of my retrievers; and I've run
+you down at last."
+
+"Am I to understand then, sir, that you intend to watch me?" said Leigh,
+sternly.
+
+"That's it.  Of course I do.  I've been at it ever since you left the
+old place.  When I make up my mind to a thing I keep to it--stubborn as
+pollard oak."
+
+"Indeed," said Leigh, sarcastically; "and now you have found me, pray
+what do you want?"
+
+"Jenny!" said Claud, with the pollard oak simile in voice and look.
+
+"Confound your insolence, sir!" cried Leigh, fiercely.  "How dare you
+speak of my sister like that?"
+
+"'Cause I love her, Doctor, like a man," and there was a slight quiver
+in the speaker's voice; but his face was hard and set, and when he spoke
+next his words sounded firm and stubborn enough.  "I told her so, and I
+told you so; and whether she'll have me some day, or whether she won't,
+it's all the same, I'll never give her up.  She's got me fast."
+
+In spite of his anger, Leigh could not help feeling amused, and Claud
+saw the slight softening in his features, and said quickly: "I say, tell
+me how she is."
+
+"My sister's health is nothing to you, sir, and I wish you good
+morning."
+
+He strode on, but Claud took step for step with him, in spite of his
+anger.
+
+"It's of no use, Doctor, and you can't assault me here in London.  I
+shall find out where you live, so you may just as well be civil.  Tell
+me how she is."
+
+Leigh made no reply, but walked faster.
+
+"Her health nothing to me," said Claud, in a low, quick way.  "You don't
+know; and I shan't tell you, because you wouldn't believe, and would
+laugh at me.  I say, how would you like it if someone treated you like
+this about Kate?"
+
+"Silence, sir!  How dare you!" thundered Leigh, facing round sharply and
+stopping short.
+
+"Don't shout, Doctor; it will make people think we're rowing, and
+collect a crowd.  But I say, that was a good shot; had you there.
+Haven't found her yet, then?"
+
+"My good fellow, will you go your way, and let me go mine?"
+
+"In plain English, Doctor, no, I won't; and if you knock me down I'll
+get up again, put my hands in my pockets, and follow you wherever you
+go.  I shan't hit out again, though I am in better training and can use
+my fists quicker than, you can, and I've got the pluck, too, as I could
+show you.  Do just what you like, call me names or hit me, but I shan't
+never forget you're Jenny's brother.  Now, I say, don't be a brute to a
+poor fellow.  It ain't so much of a sin to love the prettiest, dearest,
+little girl that ever breathed."
+
+"Will you be silent?"
+
+"Oh, yes, if you'll talk to a fellow.  You might be a bit more feeling,
+seeing you're in the same boat."
+
+"You insufferable cad!" cried Leigh, furiously.
+
+"Yes, that's it.  Quite right--cad; that's what I am, but I'm trying to
+polish it off, Doctor.  I say, tell me how she is.  She was so bad."
+
+"My sister has quite recovered."
+
+"Hooray!" cried Claud, excitedly.  "But, I say--the ankle.  How is it?"
+
+"Look here, my good fellow, you must go.  I will not answer your
+questions.  Are you mad or an idiot?"
+
+"Both," said Claud, coolly.  "I say, you know, about that ankle.  I
+believe you were so savage that night that you kicked it and broke it."
+
+"What!" cried Leigh, excitedly.  "My good fellow, what do you take me
+for?"
+
+"Her brother, with an awful temper.  Her father would not treat me like
+you do, if he was alive.  It was a cowardly, cruel act for a man to do."
+
+"You are quite mistaken, sir," said Leigh, coldly, as he wondered to
+himself that he should be drawn out like this.  "My sister was
+unfortunate enough to sprain her ankle."
+
+"Glad of it," said Claud, bluntly.  "I was afraid it was your doing, and
+whenever I see you it sets my monkey up and makes me want to kick you.
+Well, you've told me how she is, and that's some pay for all my hunting
+about in town.  I say, there's another chap down at Northwood stepped
+into your shoes already.  The mater has had him in for the guv'nor's
+gout.  He caught a cold up here with the hunting for Kate.  It turned to
+gout, and I've had all the hunting to do.  Now you and I will join hands
+and run her down."
+
+Leigh made an angry gesture, which was easy enough to interpret--"How am
+I to get rid of this insolent cad?"
+
+Claud laughed.
+
+"You can't do it," he said.  "I say, Doctor, sink the pride, and all
+that sort of thing.  It's of no use to refuse help from a fellow you
+don't like, if he's in earnest and means well.  Now, just look here.
+'Pon my soul, it's the truth.  Kate Wilton has got a hundred and fifty
+thou., and your sister hasn't got a penny.  I'm not such a fool as you
+think, for I can read you like a book.  You were gone on Cousin Kate
+long before you were asked to our house, and you'd give your life to
+find her; and, mind, I don't believe it's for the sake of her money.
+Well, I'm doing all I can to find her, and have been ever since you came
+away.  Why?  I'll tell you.  Because it will please little Jenny, who
+about worships you, though you don't deserve it.  And I tell you this,
+Doctor: if I had found her I'd have come and told you straight--if I
+could have found you, for Jenny's sake."
+
+Leigh looked at him fixedly, trying hard to read the young man's face,
+but there was no flinching, no quivering of eyelid, or twitch about the
+lips.  Claud gazed at him with a straightforward, dogged look which
+carried with it conviction.
+
+"Look here," sud Claud, "I haven't found out where she is."
+
+"Indeed?" said Leigh, guardedly.
+
+"But I've found out one thing."
+
+With all the young doctor's mastery of self, he could not help an
+inquiring glance.
+
+Claud saw it, and smiled.
+
+"She did not go off with Harry Dasent I found out that."
+
+Leigh remained silent.
+
+"Ara now look here.  I've gone over it all scores of times, trying to
+think out where she can be, and that there's some relation or friend she
+bolted off to so as to get away from us, but I can't fix it on anyone,
+and go where I will, from our cousins the Morrisons down to old
+Garstang--who's got the guv'nor under has thumb, and could sell us up
+to-morrow if he liked--I can't get at it.  But the scent seems to be
+most toward old Garstang, and I mean to try back there.  The guv'nor
+said it was his doing, to help Harry Dasent, but that's all wrong.
+Those two hate one another like poison, and I can't make out any reason
+which would set Garstang to work to get her away.  He'd do it like a
+shot to get her money, but he can't touch that, for I've read the will
+again.  Nobody but her husband can get hold of that bit of booty, and I
+wish you may get it.  I do, 'pon my soul.  Still, I'm growing to think
+more and more that foxy Garstang's the man."
+
+They had been walking steadily along side by side while this
+conversation was going on, and at last, fully convinced that Claud would
+not be shaken off, and even if he were would still watch him, Leigh
+walked straight on to his new home, and stopped short at a door whereon
+was a new brass plate, while the customary red bull's-eyes were in the
+lamp like danger signals to avert death and disease--the accidents of
+life's great railway.
+
+"Now, Mr Wilton," he said, shortly, "you have achieved your purpose and
+tracked me home."
+
+"And no thanks to you," said Claud, with one of his broad grins.  "Won't
+ask me in, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir, I shall not."
+
+"All right I didn't expect you would.  Of course I should have found you
+out some time from the directories."
+
+"My name is not in them, sir."
+
+"Oh, but it soon would be, Doctor.  I say, shall you tell her you have
+seen me?"
+
+"For cool impudence, Mr Claud Wilton," said Leigh, by way of answer, "I
+have never seen your equal."
+
+"'Tisn't impudence, Doctor," said Claud, earnestly; "it's pluck and
+bull-dog.  I haven't been much account, and I don't come up to what you
+think a fellow should be."
+
+"You certainly do not," said Leigh, unable to repress a smile.
+
+"I know that, but I've got some stuff in me, after all, and when I take
+hold I don't let go."
+
+He gave Leigh a quick nod, and thrusting his hands into his pockets,
+walked right on, without looking back, Leigh watching him till he turned
+a corner, before taking out a latch-key and letting himself into the
+house.
+
+"The devil does not seem so black as he is painted, after all," he said,
+as he wiped his feet, and at the sound Jenny, quite without crutches,
+came hurrying down the stairs.
+
+"Oh, Pierce, dear, have you been to those people in Bedford Street?
+They've been again twice, and I told them you'd gone."
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Leigh.  "What a head I have!  Someone met me on the
+way, and diverted my thoughts.  I'll go at once."
+
+And he hurried out.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+It was a splendid grand piano whose tones rang, through the house, and
+brought poor Becky, with her pale, anaemic, tied-up face, from the lower
+regions, to stand peering round corners and listening till the final
+chords of some sonata rang out, when she would dart back into hiding,
+but only to steal up again as slowly and cautiously as a serpent, and
+thrust out her head from the gloom which hung forever upon the kitchen
+stairs, when Kate's low, sweet voice was heard singing some sad old
+ballad, a favourite of her father's, one which brought up the happy
+past, and ended often enough in the tears dropping silently upon the
+ivory keys.
+
+Such a song will sometimes draw tears from many a listener; the melody,
+the words, recollections evoked, the expression given by the singer, all
+have their effect; and perhaps it was a memory of the baker (or milkman)
+which floated into poor, timid, shrinking Becky, for almost invariably
+she melted into tears.
+
+"She says it's like being in heaven, ma'am," said Sarah Plant, giving
+voice upstairs to her child's strained ideas of happiness.  "And really
+the place don't seem like the same, for, God bless you! you have made us
+all so happy here."
+
+Kate sighed, for she did not share the happy feeling.  There were times
+when her lot seemed too hard to bear.  Garstang was kindness itself; he
+seemed to be constantly striving to make her content.  Books, music,
+papers, fruit, and flowers--violets constantly as soon as he saw the
+brightening of her eyes whenever he brought her a bunch.  Almost every
+expressed wish was gratified.  But there was that intense longing for
+communion with others.  If she could only have written to poor, amiable,
+faithful Eliza or to Jenny Leigh, she would have borne her imprisonment
+better; but she had religiously studied her new guardian's wishes upon
+that point, yielding to his advice whenever he reiterated the dangers
+which would beset their path if James Wilton discovered where she was.
+
+"As it is, my dear child," he would say again and again, "it is
+sanctuary; and I'm on thorns whenever I am absent, for fear you should
+be tempted by the bright sunshine out of the gloom of this dull house,
+be seen by one or other of James Wilton's emissaries, and I return to
+find the cage I have tried so hard to gild, empty--the bird taken away
+to another kind of captivity, one which surely would not be so easy to
+bear."
+
+"No, no, no; I could not bear it!" she cried, wildly.  "I do not murmur.
+I will not complain, guardian; but there are times when I would give
+anything to be out somewhere in the bright open air, with the beautiful
+blue sky overhead, the soft grass beneath my feet, and the birds singing
+in my ears."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know, my poor dear child," he said, tenderly.  "It is
+cruelly hard upon you, but what can I do?  I am waiting and hoping that
+James Wilton on finding his helplessness will become more open to making
+some kind of reasonable terms.  I am sure you would be willing to meet
+him."
+
+"To meet him again?  Oh, no, I could not.  The thought is horrible," she
+cried.  "He seems to have broken faith so, after all his promises to my
+dying father."
+
+"He has," said Garstang, solemnly; "but you misunderstand me; I did not
+mean personally meet him, but in terms, which would be paying so much
+money--in other words, buying your freedom."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes," she cried, wildly, "at any cost.  It is as you said one
+evening, guardian; I am cursed by a fortune."
+
+"Cursed indeed, my dear.  But there, try and be hopeful and patient, and
+we will have more walks of an evening.  Only to think of it, our having
+to steal out at night like two thieves, for a dark walk in Russell
+Square sometimes.  I don't wonder that the police used to watch us."
+
+"If I could only write a few letters, guardian!"
+
+"Yes, my dear, if you only could.  I cannot say to you, do not, only lay
+the case before you once again."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," she said, hastily wiping away a few tears.  "I am very,
+very foolish and ungrateful; but now that's all over, and I am going to
+be patient, and wait for freedom.  I am far better off than many who are
+chained to a sick bed."
+
+"No," he said, gently, shaking his head at her; "far worse off.
+Sickness brings a dull lassitude and indifference to external things.
+The calm rest of the bedroom is welcome, and the chamber itself the
+patient's little world.  You, my dear, are in the full tide of life and
+youth, with all its aspirations, and must suffer there, more.  But
+there; I am working like a slave to settle a lot of business going
+through the courts; and as soon as I can get it over we will take flight
+somewhere abroad, away from the gilded cage, out to the mountains and
+forests, where you can tire me out with your desires to be in the open
+air."
+
+"I--I don't think I wish to leave England," she said, hesitatingly, and
+with the earnest far-off look in her eyes that he had seen before.
+
+"Well, well, we will find some secluded place by the lakes, where we are
+not likely to be found out, and where the birds will sing to you.  And,
+here's a happy thought, Kate, my child--you shall have some fellow
+prisoners."
+
+"Companions?" she said, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, companions," he replied, with a smile; "but I meant birds--
+canaries, larks--what do you say to doves?  They make charming pets."
+
+"No, no," she said, hastily; "don't do that, Mr Garstang.  One prisoner
+is enough."
+
+He bowed his head.
+
+"You have only to express your wishes, my child," he said.--"Then you
+are going to try and drive away the clouds?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I am going to be quite patient," she said, smiling at him; and
+she placed her hands in his.
+
+"Thank you," he said, gently; and for the first time he drew her nearer
+to him, and bent down to kiss her forehead--the slightest touch--and
+then dropped her hands, to turn away with a sigh.
+
+And the days wore on, with the prisoner fighting hard with self, to be
+contented with her lot.  She practiced hard at the piano, and studied up
+the crabbed Gothic letters of the German works in one of the cases.  Now
+and then, too, she sang about the great, gloomy house, but mostly to
+stop hurriedly on finding that she had listeners, attracted from the
+lower regions.
+
+But try how she would to occupy her thoughts, she could not master those
+which would bring a faint colour to her cheeks.  For ever and again the
+calm, firm countenance of Pierce Leigh would intrude itself, and the
+colour grew deeper, as she felt that there was something strange in all
+this, especially when he of whom she thought had never, by word or look,
+given her cause to think that he cared for her.  And yet, in her secret
+heart, she felt that he did.  And what would he think of her?  He could
+not know anything of her proceedings, but little of her reasons for
+fleeing from her uncle's care.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+The memories of her slight friendship with the Leighs--slight in the
+rareness of their meetings--grew and grew as the days passed on, till
+Kate Wilton found herself constantly thinking of the brother and sister
+she had left at Northwood.  Jenny's bright face was always obtruding
+itself, seeming to laugh from the pages of the dull old German book over
+which she pored; and it became a habit in her solitary life to sit and
+dream and think over it, as it slowly seemed to change; the merry eyes
+grew calm and grave, the broad forehead broader, till, though the
+similarity was there, it was the face of the brother, and she would
+close the book with a startled feeling of annoyance, feeling ready to
+upbraid herself for her want of modesty--so she put it--in thinking so
+much of one of whom she knew so little.
+
+At such times she began to suffer from peculiar little nervous fits of
+irritation, which were followed by long dreamy thoughts which troubled
+her more than ever, respecting what the Leighs would think of her
+flight.
+
+Music, long talks with Sarah Plant, efforts to try and draw out poor
+Becky, everything she could think of to take her attention and employ
+her mind, were tried vainly.  The faces of the brother and sister would
+obtrude more and more, as her nervous fretfulness increased, and rapidly
+now the natural struggle against her long imprisonment increased.
+
+She tried hard to conceal it from Garstang, and believed that he did not
+notice it, but it was too plain.  Her efforts to appear cheerful and
+bright at breakfast time and when he came back at night, grew forced and
+painful; and under his calm smiling demeanour and pleasant chatty way of
+talking to her about current events, he was bracing himself for the
+encounter which he knew might have to take place at any moment.
+
+It was longer than he anticipated, but was suddenly sprung upon him one
+evening after an agonising day, when again and again Kate had had to
+fight hard to master the fierce desire to get away from the terrible
+solitude which seemed to crush her down.
+
+She knew that she was unwell from the pressure of her solitary life upon
+her nerves; the thoughts which troubled her magnified themselves; and
+now with terrible force came the insistent feeling that she had behaved
+like a weak child in not bravely maintaining her position at her uncle's
+house, and forcing him to fulfill his duty of protector to his brother's
+child.
+
+"Is it too late?  Am I behaving like a child now?" she asked herself,
+and at last with a wild outburst of excitement she determined that her
+present life must end.
+
+She had calmed down a little just before Garstang returned that evening,
+and the recollection of his chivalrous treatment and fatherly attention
+to her lightest wants made her shrink from declaring that in spite of
+everything she must have some change; for, as she had told herself in
+her fit of excitement that afternoon, if she did not she would go mad.
+
+She was very quiet during dinner, and he carefully avoided interrupting
+the fits of thoughtfulness in which from time to time she was plunged,
+but an hour later, when he came after her to the library from his glass
+of wine, he saw that her brows were knit and that the expected moment
+had come.
+
+"Tired, my dear?" he said, as he subsided into his easy chair.
+
+"Very, Mr Garstang," she said, quickly; and the excited look in her
+eyes intensified.
+
+"Well, I don't like parting from you, my child," he said; "I have grown
+so used to your bright conversation of an evening, and it is so restful
+to me, but I must not be selfish.  Go to bed when you feel so disposed.
+It is the weather, I think.  The glass is very low."
+
+"No," said Kate quickly, "it is not that; it is this miserable suspense
+which is preying upon me.  Oh, guardian, guardian, when is all this
+dreadful life of concealment to come to an end?"
+
+"Soon, my child, soon.  But try and be calm; you have been so brave and
+good up to now; don't let us run risks when we are so near success."
+
+"You have spoken to me like that so often, and--and I can bear it no
+longer.  I must, at any risk now, have it put an end to."
+
+"Ah!" he sighed, with a sad look; "I am not surprised to hear you talk
+so.  You have done wonders.  I would rather have urged you to be patient
+a little longer, my dear, but I agree with you; it is more than a bright
+young girl can be expected to bear.  I have noticed it, though you have
+made such efforts to conceal it; the long imprisonment is telling upon
+your health, and makes you fretful and impatient."
+
+"And I have tried so hard not to be," she cried, full of repentance now.
+
+"My poor little girl, yes, you have," he said, reaching forward to take
+and pat her hand.  "Well, give me a few hours to think what will be best
+to do, and then we will decide whether to declare war against James
+Wilton and cover ourselves with the shield of the law, or go right away
+for a change.  You will give me a few hours, my dear, say till this time
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she said, with a sigh of relief.  "Pray forgive me; I cannot
+help all this."
+
+"I know, I know," he said, smiling.  "By the way, to-morrow is my
+birthday; you must try and celebrate it a little for me."
+
+She looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"I mean, make Sarah Plant prepare an extra dinner, and I will bring home
+plenty of fruit and flowers; and after dinner we will discuss our plans
+and strike for freedom.  Ah, my dear, it will be a great relief to me,
+for I have been growing very, very anxious about you.  Too tired to give
+me a little music?"
+
+"No, indeed, no," she said eagerly.  "Your words have given me more
+relief than I can tell."
+
+"That's right," he said, "but to be correct, I ought to ask you to read
+to me, to be in accord with the poem.  But no, let it be one of my
+favourite songs, and in that way,
+
+  "`The night shall be filled with music,
+      And the cares which infest the day
+  Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
+      And as silently steal away.'"
+
+"Longer than I expected," said Garstang, as she left him that night for
+her own room.  "Now let us see."
+
+In accordance with his wish, Kate tried to quell the excitement within
+her breast by entering eagerly into the preparations for the evening's
+repast, but the next day passed terribly slowly, and she uttered a sigh
+of relief when the hands of the clock pointed to Garstang's hour of
+returning.
+
+He came in, smiling and content, laden with flowers and fruit, part of
+the former taking the shape of a beautiful bouquet of lilies, which he
+handed to her with a smile.
+
+"There," he cried; "aren't they sweet?  I believe, after all, that
+Covent Garden is the best garden in the world.  I'm as pleased as a
+child over my birthday.  Here, Mrs Plant, take this fruit, and let us
+have it for dessert."
+
+The housekeeper came at his call, and smiled as she took the basket he
+had brought in his cab, shaking her head sadly as she went down again.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Garstang; "and I must have an extra glass of wine in
+honour of the occasion.  It is all right, my dear," he whispered, with a
+great show of mystery.  "Plans made, cut and dried.  We'll have them
+over with the dessert."
+
+Kate gave him a grateful look, and took up and pressed her bouquet to
+her lips, while Garstang went to a table drawer and took out a key.
+
+"You have never seen the wine cellar, my dear.  Come down with me.  It
+is capitally stored, but rather wasted upon me."
+
+He went into the hall and lit a chamber candle, returning directly.
+
+"Ready?" he said, as she followed him down the dark stairs to the
+basement, Becky being seen for a moment flitting before them into the
+gloom, just as Garstang stopped at a great iron-studded door, and picked
+up a small basket from a table on the other side of the passage.
+
+The door was unlocked, and opened with a groan, and Garstang handed his
+companion the candlestick.
+
+"Don't you come in," he said; "the sawdust is damp, and young ladies
+don't take much interest in bottles of wine.  But they are interesting
+to middle-aged men, my dear," he continued as he walked in, his voice
+sounding smothered and dull.  Then came the chink of a bottle, which he
+placed in the wine basket, and he went on to a bin farther in.
+
+"Don't come," he cried; "I can see.  That's right.  Our party to-night
+is small," and he came out with the two bottles he had fetched, stamped
+the sawdust off his feet, re-locked the door, and led the way upstairs,
+conveying the wine into the dining-room.
+
+Ten minutes later they were seated at the table, and Garstang opened the
+bottle of champagne he had fetched himself.
+
+"There, my dear," he said; "you must drink my health on this my
+birthday," and in spite of her declining, he insisted.  "Oh, you must
+not refuse," he said.  "And, as people say, it will do you good, for you
+really are low and in need of a stimulus."
+
+The result was that she did sip a little of the sparkling wine, with the
+customary compliments, and the dinner passed off pleasantly enough.  At
+last she rose to go.
+
+"I will not keep you long, my dear," he said.  "Just my customary glass
+of claret, and by that time my thoughts will be in order, and I can give
+you my full news."
+
+Kate went into the library, growing moment by moment more excited, and
+trying hard to control her longing to hear Garstang's plans, which were
+to end the terrible life of care.  It seemed as if he would never come,
+and he did not until some time after the housekeeper had brought in the
+tea things and urn.
+
+"At last," she said, drawing a deep breath full of relief, for there was
+a step in the hall, the dining-room door was heard to close, and
+directly after Garstang entered, and she involuntarily rose from her
+seat, feeling startled by her new guardian's manner, though she could
+not have explained the cause.
+
+"I have been growing so impatient," she said hastily, as he came to
+where she stood.
+
+"Not more so than I," he said; and she fancied for the moment that there
+was a strange light in his eyes.
+
+But she drove away the thought as absurd.
+
+"Now," she cried; "I am weary with waiting.  You have devised a way of
+ending this terrible suspense?"
+
+"I have," he said, taking her hands in his; and she resigned them
+without hesitation.
+
+"Pray tell me then, at once.  What will you do?"
+
+"Make you my darling little wife," he whispered passionately; and he
+clasped her tightly in his arms.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+For a few moments Kate Wilton was passive in Garstang's arms.  The
+suddenness of the act--the surprise, stunned her, and his words seemed
+so impossible that she could not believe her hearing.  Then horror and
+revulsion came; she knew it was the truth, and like a flash it dawned
+upon her that all that had gone before, the chivalrous behaviour, the
+benevolence and paternal tenderness, were the clever acting of an
+unscrupulous man--the outcome of plans and schemes, and for what?  To
+obtain possession of the great fortune by which she felt more than ever
+that she was cursed.
+
+With a faint cry of horror she thrust him back with both hands upon his
+breast, and struggled wildly to escape from his embrace.
+
+But the effort was vain; he clasped her tightly once again, in spite of
+her efforts, and covered her face, her neck, her hair, with his kisses.
+
+"Silly, timid little bird!" he whispered, as he held her there,
+horrified and panting; "what ails you?  The first kisses, of course.
+There, don't be so foolish, my darling child; they are the kisses of him
+who loves you, and who is going to make you his wife.  Come, have I not
+been tender and patient, and all that you could wish, and is not this an
+easy solution of the difficulties by which you are surrounded?"
+
+"Mr Garstang, loose me, I insist!" she cried.  "How dare you treat me
+so!"
+
+"I have told you, my beautiful darling.  Come, come, be sensible; surely
+the love of one who has worshipped you from the first time he met you is
+not a thing to horrify you.  Am I so old and repulsive, that you should
+go on like this?  Only a few hours ago you were pressing my hands,
+holding your face to mine for my kisses; while now that I declare myself
+you begin struggling like a newly-captured bird.  Why, Kate, my darling,
+I am talking to you like a poetic lover in a sentimental play.  Really,
+dry lawyer as I am, I did not know that I could rise to such a flow of
+eloquence.  Yes, pet, and you are acting too.  There, that is enough for
+appearances, and there is no one to see, so let's behave like two
+sensible matter-of-fact people.  Come and sit down here."
+
+"I wish to go--at once," she cried, striving hard to be firm, feeling as
+she did that everything, in her hopeless state, depended upon herself.
+
+"We'll talk about that quietly, when you have seated yourself.  No--you
+will not?" he cried playfully.  "Then you force me to show you that you
+must," and raising her in his arms, he bore her quickly to the couch,
+and sat beside her, pinioning her firmly in his grasp.
+
+"There," he said, "man is the stronger in muscles, and woman must obey;
+but woman is stronger in the silken bonds with which she can hold man,
+and then he obeys."
+
+She sat there panting heavily, ceasing her struggles, as she tried to
+think out her course of action, for she shrank from shrieking aloud for
+help, and exposing her position to the two women in the house.
+
+"That's better," he said; "now you are behaving sensibly.  Don't pretend
+to be afraid of me.  Now listen--There, sit still; you cannot get away.
+If you cry out not a sound could reach the servants, for I have sent
+them to bed; and if a dozen men stood here and shouted together their
+voices could not be heard through curtains, shutters, and double
+windows.  There, I am not telling you this to frighten you, only to show
+you your position."
+
+She turned and gazed at him wildly, and then dragged her eyes away in
+despair as he said, caressingly.
+
+"How beautiful you are, Kate!  That warm colour makes you more
+attractive than ever, and tells me that all this is but a timid girl's
+natural holding back from the embraces of the man whom she has enslaved.
+There is no ghastly pallor, your lips are not white, and you do not
+turn faint, but are strong and brave in your resistance; so now let's
+talk sense, little wifie.  You fancy I have been drinking; well, I have
+had a glass or two more than usual, but I am not as you think, only calm
+and quiet and ready to talk to you about what you wished."
+
+"Another time--to-morrow.  Mr Garstang, I beg of you; pray let me go to
+my own room now."
+
+"To try the front door on the way, and seek to do some foolish thing?
+There, you see I can read your thoughts, my darling.  So far from having
+exceeded, I am too sensible for mat; but you could not get out of the
+house, for the door is locked, and I have the key here.  There; to
+begin; you would like to leave here to-night?"
+
+"Yes, yes, Mr Garstang; pray let me go."
+
+"Where?  You would wander about the streets, a prey to the first ruffian
+who meets you.  To appeal to the police, who would not believe your
+story; and even if they did, where would you go?  To-morrow back to
+Northwood, to be robbed of your fortune; to go straight to that noble
+cousin's arms.  No, no, that would not do, dear.  Now, let's look the
+position in the face.  I am double your age, my child.  Well, granted;
+but surely I am not such a repellent monster that you need look at me
+like that I love you, my pretty one, and I am going to marry you at
+once.  As my wife, you will be free from all persecution by your uncle.
+He will try to make difficulties, and refuse to sign papers, and do
+plenty of absurd things; but I have him completely under my thumb, and
+once you are my wife I can force him to give up all control of you and
+yours."
+
+"To-morrow--to-morrow," she said, pleadingly, as she felt how hopeless
+it was to struggle.  "I am sick and faint, Mr Garstang; pray, pray let
+me go to my room now."
+
+"Not yet," he said playfully, and without relaxing his grasp; "there is
+a deal more to say.  You have to make me plenty of promises, that you
+will act sensibly; and I want these promises, not from fear, but because
+you love me, dear.  Silent?  Well, I must tell you a little more.  I
+made up my mind to this, my child, when I came to you that night.  `I'll
+marry her,' I said; `it will solve all the difficulties and make her the
+happiest life.'"
+
+"No, no, it is impossible, Mr Garstang," she cried.  "There, you have
+said enough now.  You must--you shall let me go.  Is this your conduct
+towards the helpless girl who trusted you?"
+
+"Yes," he said laughingly, "it is my conduct towards the helpless girl
+who trusted me; and it is the right treatment of one who cannot help
+herself."
+
+"No," she cried desperately; "and so I trusted to you, believing you to
+be worthy of that trust."
+
+"And so I am, dear; more than worthy.  Kate, dearest, do you know that I
+am going to make you a happy woman, that I give you the devotion of my
+life?  Every hour shall be spent in devising some new pleasure for you,
+in making you one of the most envied of your sex.  I am older, but what
+of that?  Perhaps your young fancy has strayed toward some hero whom
+your imagination has pictured; but you are not a foolish girl.  You have
+so much common sense that you must see that your position renders it
+compulsory that you should have a protector."
+
+"A protector!" she cried bitterly.
+
+"Yes; I must be plain with you, unless you throw off all this foolish
+resistance.  Come, be sensible.  To-morrow, or the next day, we will be
+married, and then we can set the whole world at defiance."
+
+"Mr Garstang, you are mad!" she cried, with such a look of repugnance
+in her eyes that she stung him into sudden rage.
+
+"Mad for loving you?" he cried.
+
+"For loving me!" she said scornfully.  "No, it is the miserable love of
+the wretched fortune.  Well, take it; only loose me now; let me go.  You
+are a lawyer, sir, and I suppose you know what to do.  There are pens
+and paper.  Loose me, and go and sit down and write; I promise you I
+will not try to leave the room; lock the door, if you like, till you
+have done writing."
+
+"It is already locked," he said mockingly; and he smiled as he saw her
+turn pale.
+
+"Very well," she said calmly; "then I cannot escape.  Go and write, and
+I will sign it without a murmur.  I give everything to you; only let me
+go.  It is impossible that we can ever meet again."
+
+"Indeed!" he said, laughing.  "Foolish child, how little you know of
+these things!  Suppose I do want your money; do you think that anything
+I could write, or you could sign, would give it me without this little
+hand?  Besides, I don't want it without its mistress--my mistress--the
+beautiful little girl who during her stay here has taught me that there
+is something worth living for.  There, there, we are wasting breath.
+What is the use of fighting against the inevitable?  Love me as your
+husband, Kate.  I am the same man whom you loved as your guardian.
+There, I want to be gentle and tender with you.  Why don't you give up
+quietly and say that you will come with me like a sensible little girl,
+and be my wife?"
+
+"Because I would sooner die," she said, firmly.
+
+"As young ladies say in old-fashioned romances," he cried mockingly.
+"There, you force me to speak very plainly to you.  I must; and you are
+wise enough to see that every word is true.  Now listen.  You have not
+many friends; I may say I, your lover, am the only one; but when you
+took that step with me one night, eloping from your bedroom window,
+placing yourself under my protection, and living here secluded with me
+in this old house for all these months, what would they say?  Little
+enough, perhaps nothing; but there is a significant shrug of the
+shoulders which people give, and which means much, my child, respecting
+a woman's character.  You see now that you must marry me."
+
+"No," she said calmly; "I trusted myself to the guardianship of a man
+almost old enough to be my grandfather.  He professed to be my father's
+friend, and I fled to him to save myself from insult.  Will the world
+blame me for that, Mr Garstang?"
+
+"Yes, the world will, and will not believe."
+
+"Then what is the opinion of the world, as you term it, worth?  Now,
+sir, I insist upon your letting me go to my room."
+
+As she spoke, she struggled violently, and throwing herself back over
+the head of the couch made a snatch at the bell-pull, with such success
+that the smothered tones of a violent peal reached where they were.
+
+Garstang started up angrily, and taking advantage of her momentary
+freedom, Kate sprang to the door and turned the key, but before she
+could open it he was at her side.
+
+"You foolish child!" he said, in a low angry voice; "how can you act--"
+
+Half mad with fear, she struck at him, the back of her hand catching him
+sharply on the lips, and before he could recover from his surprise, she
+had passed through the door and fled to her room, where she locked and
+bolted herself in, and then sank panting and sobbing violently upon her
+knees beside her bed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+"Yes; what is it?"
+
+Kate Wilton raised her head from where it rested against the bed as she
+crouched upon the floor, and gazed round wonderingly, conscious that
+someone had called her by name, but with everything else a blank.
+
+There was a tapping at the door.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Kate; and she hurried across the room.
+
+"If you please, ma'am, breakfast is waiting, and master's compliments,
+and will you come down?"
+
+"Yes; I'll be down directly," she cried; and then she pressed her hands
+to her head and tried to think, but for some moments all was strange and
+confused, and she wondered why she should have been sleeping there upon
+the floor, dressed as she was on the previous night, the flowers she had
+worn still at her breast.
+
+The flowers crushed and bruised!
+
+They acted as the key to the closed mental door, which sprang open, and
+in one flash of the light which flooded her brain she saw all that had
+passed before she fled there, and then knelt by the bedside, praying for
+help, and striving to evolve some means of escape, till, utterly
+exhausted, nature would bear no more, and she fell asleep, to be
+awakened by the coming of the housekeeper.
+
+And she had told her that she would be down directly.  What should she
+do?
+
+Hurrying to the bell, she rang, and then waited with beating heart for
+the woman's footsteps, which seemed an age in coming; but at last there
+was a tap at the door.
+
+"Did you ring, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes; I am unwell I am not coming down."
+
+"Can I do anything for you, ma'am?"
+
+"No."
+
+Kate stood thinking for a few moments with her hands to her throbbing
+brows, for her head was growing confused again, and mental darkness
+seemed to be closing in; but once more the light came, and she tore the
+crushed flowers from her breast, put on her bonnet and mantle, and then,
+hurriedly, her gloves.
+
+She felt that she must get away from that house at once; she could not
+determine then where she would go; that would come afterwards; she could
+not even think then of anything but escape.
+
+Her preparations took but a few minutes, and then she went to the door
+and listened.
+
+All was still in the house as far as she could make out, and timidly
+unfastening the door, she softly opened it, to look out on the great
+landing, but started back, for in the darkest corner there was a figure.
+
+Only one of the statues, the one just beyond the great curtain over the
+archway leading to the little library; and gaining courage and
+determination, she stepped out, and cautiously looked down into the
+sombre hall.
+
+Everything was still there, and she could just see that the dining-room
+door was shut, a sign that Garstang was within, at his solitary
+breakfast.
+
+Her breath came and went as if she had been running, and she pressed her
+hand upon her side to try and subdue the heavy throbbing of her heart.
+
+If she could only reach the front door unheard, and steal out!
+
+She drew back, for there was a faint rattling sound, as of a cover upon
+a dish; then footsteps, and as she drew back she could see the
+housekeeper cross the hall with a small tray, enter the dining-room,
+whose door closed behind her, and the next minute come out,
+empty-handed, re-cross the hall, and disappear.  Then her voice rose to
+where Kate stood, as she called to her daughter.
+
+Garstang must be in the dining-room, at his breakfast; and, desperate
+now in her dread, Kate drew a deep breath, walked silently over the soft
+carpet to the head of the stairs, and with her dress rustling lightly,
+descended, reached the hall, seeing that the door appeared to be in its
+customary state, and the next moment she would have been there, trying
+to let herself out, when she was arrested by a faint sound,
+half-ejaculation, half-sigh, and turning quickly, there, upon the
+staircase, straining over the balustrade to watch her, was Becky, with
+the sunlight from a stained-glass window full upon her bandaged face.
+
+Making an angry gesture to her to go back, Kate was in the act of
+turning once more when a firm hand grasped her wrist, an arm was passed
+about her waist, and with a sudden drag she was drawn into the library
+and the door closed, Garstang standing there, stern and angry, between
+her and freedom.
+
+"Where are you going?" he cried.
+
+"Away from here," she said, meeting his eyes bravely.  "This is no place
+for me, Mr Garstang.  Let me pass, sir."
+
+"That is no answer, my child," he said.  "Where are you going?  What are
+your plans?"
+
+She made no answer, but stepped forward to try and pass him; but he took
+her firmly and gently, and forced her to sit down.
+
+"As I expected, you have no idea--you have no plans--you have nowhere to
+go; and yet in a fit of mad folly you would fly from here, the only
+place where you could take refuge; and why?"
+
+"Because I have found that the man I believed in was not worthy of that
+trust."
+
+"No; because in a maddening moment, when my love for you had broken
+bounds, I spoke out, prematurely perhaps, but I obeyed the dictates of
+my breast.  But there, I am not going to deliver speeches; I only wish
+to make you understand fully what is your position and mine.  I said a
+great deal last night, enough to have taught you much; above all, that
+our marriage is a necessity, for your sake as much as mine.  No, no; sit
+still and be calm.  We must both be so, and you must talk reasonably.
+Now, my dear, take off that bonnet and mantle."
+
+She made no reply.
+
+"Well, I will not trouble about that now.  You will see the necessity
+after a few minutes.  First of all, let me impress upon you the simple
+facts of your position here.  In the first place, you are kept here by
+the way in which you have compromised yourself.  Yes, you have; and if
+you drove me to it I should openly proclaim that you have been my
+mistress, and were striving to break our ties in consequence of a
+quarrel."
+
+She made no reply, but her eyes seemed to blaze.
+
+"Yes," he said, with a smile; "I understand your looks.  I am a traitor,
+and a coward, and a villain; that is, I suppose, the interpretation from
+your point of view; but let me tell you there are thousands of men who
+would be ten times the traitor, coward and villain that you mentally
+call me, to win you and your smiles, as I shall."
+
+He stood looking down at her with a proud look of power, and she
+involuntarily shrank back in her seat and trembled.
+
+"In the second place," he continued, "I take it from your manner that
+you mean for a few days to be defiant, and that you will try to escape.
+Well, try if you like, and find how vain it is.  I have you here, and in
+spite of everything I shall keep you safely.  I will be plain and frank.
+For your fortune and for yourself I love you with a middle-aged man's
+strong love for a beautiful girl who has awakened in him passions that
+he thought were dead.  You will try and escape?  No, you will not; for
+now, for the first time, I shall really cage the lovely little bird I
+have entrapped.  You will keep to your room, a prisoner, till you place
+your hands in mine, and tell me that you are mine whenever I wish.  You
+will appeal to my servants?  Well, appeal to them.  You will try and
+escape by your window?  Well, try.  You must know by now that it opens
+over a narrow yard, and an attempt to descend from that means death; but
+there are ways of fastening such a window as that, and this will be
+done, for I want to live and love, and your death would mean mine."
+
+He paused and looked down at her in calm triumph, but her firm gaze
+never left his, and her lips were tightly drawn together.
+
+"I could appeal to your pity, but I will not now.  I could tell you of
+my former loveless marriage, and my weary life with the wretched woman
+who entrapped me; but you will find all that out in time, and try to
+recompense me for the early miseries of my life, and for your cruel
+coldness now.  There, I have nearly done.  I have gambled over this, my
+child, and I have won, so far as obtaining my prize.  To obtain its full
+enjoyment, I have treated you as I have since you have been here, during
+which time I have taught you to love me as a friend and father.  I am
+going to teach you to love me now as a husband--a far easier task."
+
+"No!" she cried, angrily.  "I would sooner die."
+
+"Spare your breath, my dear, and try and school yourself to the
+acceptance of your fate.  Claud Wilton is in town, hunting for you, and
+do you think I will let that young scoundrel drag you into what really
+would be a degrading marriage?  I would sooner kill him.  Come, come, be
+sensible," he cried, speaking perfectly calmly, and never once
+attempting to lessen the distance between them.  "I startled you last
+night.  See how gentle and tender I am with you to-day.  I love you too
+well to blame you in any way.  I love you, I tell you; and I know quite
+well that the passion is still latent in your breast; but I know, too,
+that it will bud and blossom, and that some day you will wonder at your
+conduct toward one who has proved his love for you.  I cannot blame
+myself, even if I have been driven to win you by a coup.  Who would not
+have done the same, I say again?  You have charmed me by your beauty,
+and by the beauties of your intellect; and once more I tell you gently
+and lovingly that you must now accept your fate, and look upon me as a
+friend, father, lover, husband, all in one.  Kate, dearest, you shall
+not repent it, so be as gentle and kind to me as I am to you."
+
+He ceased, and she sat there gazing at him fixedly still.
+
+"Now," he said, changing his manner and tone, "we must have no more
+clouds between us.  You need not shrink and begin beating your wings,
+little bird.  I will be patient, and we will go on, if you wish it,
+where we left off last evening when you came here from the dining-room.
+I am guardian again until you have thought all this over, and are ready
+to accept the inevitable.  We must not have you ill, and wanting the
+doctor."
+
+A thrill ran through her, and as if it were natural to turn to him who
+came when she was once before sorely in need of help, she recalled the
+firm, calm face of Pierce Leigh; but a faint flush coloured her cheek,
+as if in shame for her thought.
+
+Garstang saw the brightening of her face, and interpreted it wrongly.
+
+"A means of escape from me?" he said.  "What a foolish, childish
+thought!  Too romantic for a woman of your strength of mind, Kate.  No,
+I shall not let you leave me like that.  There, you must be faint and
+hungry; so am I.  Take off your things, and come and face your guardian
+at the table, in the old fashion.  No?  You prefer to go back to your
+room this morning?  Well, let it be so.  Only try and be sensible.  It
+is so childish to let the servants be witnesses to such a little trouble
+as this.  There, your head is bad, of course; and you altered your mind
+about going for a walk."
+
+He opened the door for her to pass out, and then rang the bell.
+
+"Mrs Plant answered the bell last night," he said, meaningly.  "Poor
+woman, she had gone to bed, and came here in alarm; so she knows that
+you were taken ill and went to your room.  I would not let her come and
+disturb you, as you were so agitated.--Ah, Mrs Plant, your mistress
+does not feel equal to staying down to breakfast.  Go and get a tray
+ready, and take it up to her in her room."
+
+The woman hurried to carry out Garstang's wishes, and Kate rose to her
+feet, while he drew back to let her pass.
+
+"The front door is fastened," he said, with a quiet smile, "and there is
+no window that you can open to call for help.  Even if you could, and
+people came to inquire what was the matter, a few words respecting the
+sick and delirious young lady upstairs would send them away.  It is
+curious what a wholesome dread ordinary folk have of an illness being
+infectious.  Will you come down to dinner, or sooner, dearest?" he said,
+sinking his voice to a whisper, full of tenderness.  "I shall be here,
+and only too glad to welcome you when you come, sweet dove, with the
+olive branch of peace between us, and take it as the symbol of love."
+
+A prisoner, indeed, and the chains seemed to fetter and weigh her down
+as, without a word, her eyes fixed and gazing straight before her, she
+walked by him into the hall, mastered the wild agonising desire to fling
+herself at the door and call for help, and went slowly to the stairs,
+catching sight of the pale bandaged face peering over the balustrade and
+then drawn back to disappear.
+
+But as Kate saw it a gleam of hope shot through the darkness.  Poor
+Becky--letters--appeals for help to Jenny Leigh.  Could she not get a
+message sent by the hand of the strange-looking, shrinking girl?
+
+She went on steadily up towards her room, without once turning her head,
+feeling conscious that Garstang was standing below watching her; but by
+the time she reached the first landing there was the sound of a faint
+cough and steps crossing to the dining-room, and she breathed more
+freely, and glanced downward as she turned to ascend the second flight.
+
+The hall was vacant, and looking toward the doorway through which Becky
+had glided, she called to her in a low, excited whisper:
+
+"Becky!  Becky!"
+
+But there was no reply, and hurrying up the rest of the way she followed
+the girl, entered the room into which she had passed, and found her
+standing in the attitude of one listening intently.
+
+"Becky, I want to speak to you," she whispered; but the girl darted to a
+door at the other end, and was gliding through into the dressing-room,
+through which she could reach the staircase.
+
+This time Kate was too quick for her, and caught her by the dress, the
+girl uttering a low moan, full of despair, and hanging away with all her
+might, keeping her face averted the while.
+
+"Don't, don't do that," whispered Kate, excitedly.  "Why are you afraid
+of me?"
+
+"Let me go; oh! please let me go."
+
+"Yes, directly," whispered Kate, still holding her tightly; "but please,
+Becky, I want you to help me.  I am in great trouble, dear--great
+trouble."
+
+"Eh?" said the girl, faintly, "you?"
+
+"Yes, and I do so want help.  Will you do something for me?"
+
+"No, I can't," whispered the girl.  "I'm no use; I oughtn't to be here;
+don't look at me, please; and pray, pray let me go."
+
+"Yes, I will, dear; but you will help me.  Come to my room when your
+mother has been."
+
+The girl turned her white grotesque face, and stared at her with dilated
+eyes.
+
+"You will, won't you?"
+
+Becky shook her head.
+
+"Not to help a poor sister in distress?" said Kate, appealingly.
+
+"You ain't my sister, and I must go.  If he knew I'd talked to you he'd
+be so cross."
+
+With a sudden snatch the girl released her dress and fled, leaving Kate
+striving hard to keep back her tears, as she went on to the broad
+landing and reached her room, thinking of the little library and the
+account she had heard of the former occupant, who found life too weary
+for him, and had sought rest.
+
+Her first impulse was to lock her door, but feeling that she had nothing
+immediate to fear, and that perhaps a display of acquiescence in
+Garstang's plans might help her to escape, she sat down to think, or
+rather try to think, for her brain was in a whirl, and thought crowded
+out thought before she had time to grasp one.
+
+But she had hardly commenced her fight when there was a tap at the door,
+and Sarah Plant entered with a breakfast tray, looking smiling and
+animated.
+
+"I'm so sorry, ma'am; but I've made you a very strong cup of tea, and
+your breakfast will do you good.  There.  Now let me help you off with
+your things."
+
+"No, no, never mind now.  Mrs Plant, will you do something to help me?"
+
+"Of course, I will, ma'am.  There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."
+
+"Why are you smiling at me in that way?"
+
+"Me smiling, ma'am?  Was I?  Oh, nothing."
+
+"I insist upon your telling me.  Ah, you know what has taken place."
+
+"Well, well, ma'am, please don't be angry with me for it.  You did give
+the bell such a peal last night, you quite startled me."
+
+"Then you do know everything?"
+
+"Well, yes, ma'am; you see, I couldn't help it.  Me and poor Becky
+always knew that you were to be the new missis here from the day you
+came."
+
+"No, it is impossible.  I must go away from here at once."
+
+"Lor', my dear, don't you take it like that!  Why, what is there to
+mind?  Master is one of the dearest and best of men; and think what a
+chance it is for you, and what a home."
+
+"Oh, silence; don't talk like that!  I tell you it is impossible."
+
+"Ah, that's because you're thinking about Master being a bit older than
+you are.  But what of that?  My poor dear man was twice as old as me,
+and he never had but one fault--he would die too soon."
+
+"I tell you it is impossible, my good woman," cried Kate, imperiously.
+"I have been entrapped and deceived, and I call upon you, as a woman, to
+help me."
+
+"Yes, ma'am, of course I'll help you."
+
+"Ah! then wait here while I write a few lines to one of my father's old
+friends."
+
+"A letter?  Yes, ma'am; but if you please, Master said that all letters
+were to be taken to him."
+
+"As they were before?" said Kate, with a light flashing in upon her
+clouded brain.
+
+"Yes, ma'am; he said so a week or two before you came."
+
+"Planned, planned, planned!" muttered Kate, despairingly.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, and of course I must take them to him.  You see, he is my
+master, and I will say this of him--a better and kinder master never
+lived.  Oh, my dear, don't be so young and foolish.  You couldn't do
+better than what he wishes, and make him happy, and yourself, too."
+
+"Will you help me, woman, to get away from here?  I will pay you enough
+to make you rich if you will," said Kate, desperately.
+
+"I will do anything I can for you, ma'am, that isn't going against
+Master; of that you may be sure."
+
+"Then will you post a couple of letters for me?" cried Kate,
+desperately.
+
+"No, ma'am, please, I mustn't do that."
+
+"Go away," cried Kate, fiercely now.  "Leave me to myself."
+
+"Oh, my dear, don't, pray, go on like that I know you're young, and the
+idea frightens you; but it isn't such a very dreadful thing to be
+married to a real good man."
+
+Kate darted to the door, flung it open, and stood with flashing eyes,
+pointing outward.
+
+"Oh, yes, ma'am, of course I'll go; but do, pray, take my advice.  You
+see, you're bound to marry him now, and--"
+
+The door was closed upon her, and Kate began to pace up and down, like
+some timid creature freshly awakened to the fact of its being caged, and
+grown desperate at the thought.
+
+"Helpless, and a prisoner!" she groaned to herself.  "What shall I do?
+Is there no way of escape?"  And once more the thought of Jenny Leigh
+and her brother came to her mind, and the feeling grew stronger that she
+might find help there.
+
+But it seemed impossible unless she could write and stamp a letter and
+throw it from the window, trusting to some one to pick it up and post
+it.
+
+No; the idea seemed weak and vain, and she cast it from her, as she
+paced up and down, with her hands clasped and pressed to her throbbing
+breast.
+
+"There is no help--no help!" she moaned, and then uttered a faint cry of
+alarm, for the door behind her was softly opened, and the idea that it
+was Garstang flashed through her brain as she looked wildly round.
+
+Becky's white tied-up face was just thrust in, and the door held tightly
+to, as if about to act as a perpendicular guillotine and shave through
+her neck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+Kate uttered a gasp of relief on finding her fear needless, and darted
+towards the door, when, to her despair, the grotesque head was snatched
+back.
+
+"Becky!  Becky!" she cried piteously, as the door was closing; and she
+stood still, not daring to approach.
+
+Her action had its effect, for the door was slowly pressed open again,
+and the bow of the washed-out cotton handkerchief which bandaged the
+woman's face gradually appeared, the ends, which stuck up like a small
+pair of horns, trembling visibly.  Then by very small degrees the
+woman's forehead and the rest of the face appeared, with the eyes
+showing the white all round, as their owner gazed at the prisoner with
+her usual scared look intensified.
+
+"Pray come in, Becky," said Kate, softly; and she drew back towards a
+chair, so as to try and inspire a little confidence.
+
+The head was slowly shaken, and the door drawn once more tightly against
+the woman's long thin neck.
+
+"Whatcher want?" she said, faintly.
+
+"I want you to come in and talk to me," said Kate in a low, appealing
+tone.  "I want you to help me."
+
+"Dursn't."
+
+"Yes, yes, you dare.  Pray, pray don't say that I have no one to ask but
+you.  Oh, Becky, Becky, I am so unhappy.  If you have a woman's heart
+within your breast, have pity on me!"
+
+"Gug!"
+
+A spasm contracted the pallid face as a violent sob escaped from her
+lips, and the tears began to flow from the dilated eyes, and were
+accompanied by unpleasant sniffs.
+
+"Don't make me cr-cr-cry, miss, please."
+
+"No, no, don't cry, Becky dear, pray," whispered Kate, anxiously.
+
+"You make me, miss--going on like that; and d-don't call me dear,
+please.  I ain't dear to nobody; I'm a miserable wretch."
+
+"I always pitied you, Becky, but you never would let me be kind to you."
+
+"N-no, miss.  It don't do no good.  On'y makes me mis'rable."
+
+"But I must be; I will be kind to you, Becky, and try and make you
+happy," whispered Kate.
+
+"Tain't to be done, miss, till I die," said the woman, sadly; and then
+there was a triumphant light in her eyes, and her face lit up as she
+said more firmly, "but I'm going to be happy then."
+
+"Yes, yes, and I'll try to make you happy while you live; but you will
+help me, dear?"
+
+The poor creature shook her head.
+
+"Yes, you will--I'm sure you will," pleaded Kate.  "But pray come in."
+
+"Dursn't, miss."
+
+"But I am in such trouble, Becky."
+
+"Yes, I know; he wants to marry you, and he's going to keep you locked
+up till he does.  I know."
+
+"Yes, yes; and I want to get away."
+
+"But you can't," whispered the woman, and she withdrew her head, and
+Kate in her despair thought she had gone.  But the head reappeared
+slowly.  "Nobody watching," she whispered.
+
+"I must go away, and you must help me, Becky," whispered Kate.
+
+"It's no good.  He won't let you, miss.  But don't you marry him."
+
+"Never!" cried Kate.
+
+"Hush, or they'll hear you; and mother's siding with him, and going to
+help him.  She says he's an angel, but he's all smooth smiles, and talks
+to you like a saint, but he's a horrid wretch."
+
+"Yes, yes.  But now listen to me."
+
+"Yes, I'm a-listening, miss.  It's all because you're so pretty and
+handsome, and got lots o' money, aintcher?"
+
+"Yes, unhappily," sighed Kate.
+
+"That's what he wants.  He got all poor old master's money, and the
+house and furniture out of him."
+
+"He did?" whispered Kate, excitedly.
+
+"Yes, miss; I know.  Mother says it's all nonsense, and that we ought to
+love him, because he's such a good man.  But I know better.  Poor old
+master used to tell me when I took him up his letters: `Ah, Becky, my
+poor girl, you are disappointed and unhappy,' he says, `but I'm more
+unhappy still.  That man won't be satisfied till he has ground the last
+farthing out of me, and there's nothing left but my corpse.'  I didn't
+believe him, and I said, `Don't let him have it, sir.'  `Ah, Becky,' he
+says, `I'm obliged; signed papers are stronger than iron chains,' he
+says, `and he's always dragging at the end.  But he shall have it all,
+and heavy pounds o' flesh at the end, and the bones too.'  I didn't know
+what he meant, miss; and I didn't believe as anyone could be as unlucky
+as me.  But I believed him at last, when I went to his room and found
+him dead on the floor; and then I knew he must be worse than I was, for
+I couldn't have done what he did."
+
+"Becky," whispered Kate, fixing the trembling woman with her eyes, "I
+can understand how people who are very unhappy seek for rest in death.
+Do you wish to come here some morning, and find me lying dead?"
+
+"Oh, miss!" cried the woman, excitedly, pushing the door more open;
+"don't, please don't you go and do a thing like that.  You're too young
+and beautiful, and--oh, oh, oh!  Please don't talk so; I can't abear
+it--pray!"
+
+"Then help me, Becky, for I tell you I would sooner die."
+
+"What, than marry him?"
+
+"Yes, than marry this dreadful man."
+
+"Then--then," whispered the woman, after withdrawing her head to gaze
+back, "I feel that I dursn't, and p'raps he'll kill me for it--not as I
+seem to mind much, and mother would soon get over it, for I ain't o' no
+use--but I think I will try and help you.  You want to get away?"
+
+In her wild feeling of joy and excitement, Kate sprang toward the door,
+and she would have flung her arms round the unhappy woman's neck.  But
+before she could reach her the head was snatched back, and the fastening
+gave a loud snap, while when she opened it, Becky had disappeared and
+her mother was coming up the stairs to fetch the breakfast tray.
+
+"And not touched a bit, my dear," said the housekeeper, with a
+reproachful shake of the head.  "Now you must, you know; you must,
+indeed.  And do let me advise you, my dear.  Mr Garstang is such a good
+man, and so indulgent, and it's really naughty of you to be so foolish
+as to oppose his wishes."
+
+Kate turned upon her with a look that astounded the woman, who stood
+with parted lips, breathless, while a piece of bread was broken from the
+loaf on the tray, and a cup of tea poured out and placed aside.
+
+"Take away that tray," said Kate, imperiously; "and remember your place.
+Never presume to speak to me again like that."
+
+"No, ma'am--certainly not, ma'am," said the woman, hastily.  "I beg your
+pardon, ma'am, I am sure."
+
+"Leave the room, and do not come again until I ring."
+
+"My!" ejaculated the woman, as soon as she was on the landing, "to think
+of such a gentle-looking little thing being able to talk like that!
+P'raps master's caught a tartar now."
+
+There was a gleam of hope, then, after all.  Poor Becky was not the
+vacant idiot she had always appeared.  Kate felt that she had made one
+friend, and trembling with eagerness she went to the writing-table and
+wrote quickly a few lines to Jenny Leigh, briefly explaining her
+position, and begging her to lay the matter before her brother and ask
+his help and advice.
+
+This she inclosed and directed, and then sat gazing before her,
+conjuring the scene to follow at the cottage, and the indignation of
+Leigh.  And as she thought, the warm blood tinged her pale cheeks once
+more, and she covered her face with her hands, to sit there sobbing for
+a few minutes before slowly tearing up the letter till the fragments
+were too small ever to be found and read by one curious to know their
+contents.
+
+Gladly as she would have seen Pierce Leigh appear and insist upon her
+taking refuge with his sister, she felt that she could not send such an
+appeal to those who were comparative strangers; and though she would not
+own to it even to herself, she felt that there were other reasons why
+she could not write.
+
+An hour of intense mental agony and dread passed, and she had to strive
+hard to keep down the terrible feeling of panic which nearly mastered
+her, and tempted her to rush down the stairs to try once more to escape,
+or to go to one of the front windows, throw it open, and shriek for
+help.
+
+"It would be an act of madness," she sighed, as she recalled Garstang's
+words respecting the sick lady.  "And they would believe him!" she
+cried, while the feeling of helplessness grew and grew as she felt how
+thoroughly she was in Garstang's power.
+
+Then came the thought of her aunt and uncle, her natural protectors, and
+she determined to write to them.  James Wilton would fetch her away at
+once, for he was her guardian; and surely now, she told herself, she was
+woman enough to insist upon proper respect being paid to her wishes.
+She could set at defiance any of her cousin's advances; and her conduct
+in leaving showed itself up in its strongest colours, as being
+cowardly--the act of a child.
+
+With a fresh display of energy she wrote to her aunt, detailing
+everything, and bidding her--not begging--to tell her uncle to come to
+her rescue at once.  But no sooner was the letter written than she felt
+that her aunt would behave in some weak, foolish way, and there would be
+delay.
+
+She tore up that letter slowly, and after hiding the pieces, she sat
+there thinking again, with her brow wrinkled, and the look of agony in
+her face intensifying.
+
+"I have right on my side.  He is my guardian, and he dare not act
+otherwise than justly by me.  I am no longer the weak child now."
+
+And once more she took paper, and wrote this time to James Wilton
+himself, telling him that Garstang had lured her away by the promise of
+protection, but had shown himself in the vilest colours at last.
+
+"He must--he shall protect me," she said, exultantly, and she hastily
+directed the letter.
+
+But as she sat there with the letter in her hand, she shrank and
+trembled.  For in vivid colours her imagination painted before her the
+trouble and persecution to which she would expose herself.  She knew
+well enough what were James Wilton's aims, and that situated as he was,
+he would stand at nothing to gain them.  It was in vain she told herself
+that anything would be preferable to staying there at John Garstang's
+mercy, the horror of rushing headlong back to her guardian, and the
+thoughts of his triumphant looks as he held her tightly once again,
+proved too much for her, and this letter was slowly torn up and the
+pieces hidden.
+
+As she sat there, with every nerve on the rack, a strange feeling of
+faintness came over her, and she started up in horror at the idea of
+losing her senses, and being at this man's mercy.  And as she walked
+hurriedly to and fro, trembling as she felt the faintness increasing,
+some relief came, for she grasped the fact that her faintness was due to
+want of food, and it was past mid-day.
+
+There was the bread close at hand, though, and turning to it she began
+to crumble up the pieces and to eat, though it was only with the
+greatest difficulty that she accomplished her task.
+
+But it had the required effect--the sensation of sinking passed off.
+And now she set herself the task of trying to think of some one among
+the very few friends she had known before her father's death to whom she
+could send for help; but there did not occur to her mind one to whom she
+could apply in such a strait.  There were the people at the bank, and
+the doctor who had attended her father in his last illness, but they
+were comparatively such strangers that she shrank from writing to them;
+and at last, unnerved, and with her mind seeming to refuse to act, she
+sat there feeling that there was not a soul in the world whom she could
+trust but the Leighs.  She could send to Jenny, who would, she knew, be
+up in arms at once; but there was her brother.  She could not, she dared
+not, ask him; and it would be, she felt, asking him.  It would be so
+interpreted if she wrote.
+
+And then came the question which sent a shiver through her frame--what
+must he think of her, and would he come to her help as he would have
+done before she committed so rash an act?
+
+Kate's weary ponderings were interrupted by a tap at the door, which
+produced a fit of trembling, and she glided to it to slip the bolt,
+which had hardly passed into its socket before the housekeeper's voice
+was heard.
+
+"I beg your pardon, ma'am, but lunch is ready, and master would be glad
+to know if you are well enough to come down."
+
+A stern negative was the reply, and for about a quarter of an hour she
+was undisturbed.  Then came another tap, and the rattling of china and
+glass.
+
+"If you please, ma'am, I've brought your lunch."
+
+She hesitated for a few moments.  The desire was strong to refuse to
+take anything, but she felt that if she was to keep setting Garstang at
+defiance till she could escape, she must have energy and strength.  So,
+unwillingly enough, she unfastened the door, the housekeeper entered
+with a tray, and set it down upon the table.
+
+"Can I bring you up anything more, ma'am, and would you like any wine?"
+
+"No," was the abrupt answer, in tones that would bear no reply, and the
+woman went away, the door being fastened after her.
+
+The lunch tray looked dainty enough, but it remained untouched for a
+time.  A desperate resolve had come upon the prisoner, and once more
+seating herself, she wrote a piteous letter to Jenny, imploring help,
+directed it, and placed it ready for giving to poor Becky when she came
+again.  Stamps she had none, but she had a little money, and doubtless
+the girl would dispatch her note in safety.
+
+The desperate step taken, she felt more at ease, and feeling that her
+state of siege must last for a couple of days longer, she sat down and
+once more forced herself to eat, but she shrank from touching the water
+in the carafe, looking at it suspiciously, and preferring to partake of
+some that was in the room.
+
+The tray was fetched in due time, and the housekeeper smiled her
+satisfaction; but she went off without a word, and Kate felt that she
+would go straight to Garstang and report that the lunch had been eaten.
+
+She winced at this a little, but felt that it was inevitable, and
+feeling in better nerve she went to the door, which she had fastened,
+opened it a little, and stood there to watch for the coming of Becky.
+
+But the hours glided by, and with a creeping sense of horror she saw the
+wintry evening coming rapidly on, and thought of the night.
+
+Whenever a footstep was heard she was on the qui vive, but each time it
+was the mother.  The daughter, who had before this seemed to be always
+gliding ghost-like about the place, was now invisible, and as Kate
+watched she saw the housekeeper light the hall jets and then descend to
+the kitchen region.
+
+Twice over she shrank back and secured the door, for she heard Garstang
+cough slightly, and saw him cross the hall from library to dining-room,
+and in each case she let some minutes elapse before she dared open and
+peer out again.  The last time it was to be aware of the fact that the
+dinner hour had come once more, and soon after the woman began to ascend
+the stairs, Kate retiring within and slipping the bolt, to stand and
+listen for the message she knew would be delivered.
+
+"Master's compliments, and are you well enough to come down, ma'am?"
+
+The brief negative sent the messenger down again, and the prisoner was
+left undisturbed for a few minutes, when there was the sound of a tray
+being brought to the door, but this time it was refused entrance.
+
+Kate watched again eagerly now, feeling that in all probability Becky
+would try to see her while her mother was occupied in the dining-room,
+but the time passed on and there was no sign of her, and thoughts of
+desperate venturing to try and reach the front door attacked the
+listener, but only to be dismissed.
+
+"It would only be to expose myself to insult," she said, and growing
+more and more despondent, she once more closed and secured the door,
+expecting that there would be a fresh message sent up.
+
+In due time there was another tap at the door, but no request for her to
+come down.
+
+"I have brought you up some tea, ma'am."
+
+Kate hesitated about admitting the woman, for the memory of the scene at
+the same hour on the previous night flashed across her, but
+instinctively feeling that the messenger was alone, she unfastened the
+door and let her in.
+
+"Master's compliments, ma'am, and he hopes that your quiet day's rest
+will have done you good.  He says he will not trouble you to see him
+to-night, but he hopes you will be yourself again in the morning.
+Good-night, ma'am; I won't disturb you again.  The things can be left on
+the side-table.  Is there anything else I can do?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said Kate, coldly.
+
+"Very good, ma'am."
+
+The woman went back to the door, and Kate's last hope of her turning a
+friend to help her died out, for she heard her sigh and say softly,
+evidently to be heard:
+
+"Poor dear master; it's very sad."
+
+"Good-night!" said Kate, involuntarily repeating the woman's words.
+"God help me and protect me through the long night watches, and inspire
+me with the thought that shall bring me help.  How can I dare to sleep?"
+
+The answer came from Nature--imperative, and who knew no denial; for
+once more the prisoner awoke, wondering to find that it was morning and
+that she must have slept for many hours in a chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+In the hope that an opportunity would soon come, and to be ready at any
+moment, one of Kate's first acts that morning was to write plainly a few
+words on a sheet of paper, begging Becky to post her letter, and
+inclosing it with the note in another envelope, which she directed to
+the woman herself.  This she placed in the fold of her dress, where she
+could draw it out directly, and waited.
+
+The housekeeper was not long before she made her appearance with the
+breakfast tray, and was respectful in the extreme.
+
+"Master thought, ma'am, that perhaps you might like your breakfast alone
+this morning, but he hopes to see you at lunch.  He is so unwell that he
+is not going out this morning."
+
+"Staying to watch for fear I should escape," thought Kate, and a nervous
+shiver ran through her; but rest seemed to have given her mental
+strength, and after breakfast she felt disposed to ridicule the idea of
+her being kept there against her will.  "It must be possible to get
+away," she thought.  It only wanted nerve and determination, for there
+was but the wall of the house between her and safety.
+
+Soon after breakfast the housekeeper appeared again, to remove the
+breakfast things.
+
+"Would you mind me coming to tidy up your room, ma'am, while you are
+here, or would you prefer my waiting till you go down?"
+
+"Do it now," said Kate, quietly; and to avoid being spoken to, she took
+up a book and held it as if she were reading.  But all the time she was
+noting everything, with her senses on the alert, and the next minute her
+heart began to throb wildly, for she saw the woman go to the door, pass
+out the tray, and it was evident that some order was given.
+
+Becky was there, and Kate sat trembling, her excitement increasing when
+the next minute there was a light tap at the door, and Becky was
+admitted to assist in rearranging the room.
+
+This went on for about a quarter of an hour, with Becky carefully
+minding not to glance at the prisoner, who, with head bent, watched her
+every movement, on the hope of her being left alone for a few minutes.
+
+But as the mother was always near at hand, the opportunity did not come;
+and at last, with the envelope doubled in her hand, Kate began to feel
+that she might give up this time, and would have to wait till she could
+see the woman passing her room.
+
+The disappointment was terrible, and Kate's heart sank in her despair as
+the housekeeper suddenly said:
+
+"There, that will do--get on downstairs."
+
+She stood back for her daughter to pass her, and then followed to the
+door, where a whispered conversation ensued.
+
+"What?  Left the brush?"
+
+"Yes; other side of the room."
+
+"Be quick, then.  Fetch it out."
+
+The housekeeper was passing through the door as she spoke, and Becky
+reappeared, to cross the room hurriedly, with her face lighting up as
+she gave the prisoner a meaning look, drew something from her bosom, and
+thrust it into Kate's hand, and took the note offered to her.
+
+"Now, Becky!" came from outside.
+
+The woman darted to the door.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Can't find it.  Tain't there."
+
+The door closed, and Kate was once more alone, to eagerly examine the
+tiny packet handed to her.
+
+It was square, about an inch across, roughly tied up with black worsted,
+and proved to be a sheet of note paper, doubled up small, and containing
+the words, written in an execrable hand:
+
+"You run away.  Come down at twelve o'clock, and I'll let you out threw
+the airy."
+
+Letter rarely contained such hope as this, and the receiver, as she sat
+there, with her pulses bounding in her excitement, saw no further
+difficulty.  Her lonely position in London, the want of friends to whom
+she could flee, the awkward hour of the night--these all seemed to be
+trifles compared to the great gain, for in a few hours she would be
+free.
+
+She carefully destroyed the note, burning it in the fireplace, and then
+sat thinking, after opening and gazing out of the window, to realise how
+true Garstang's words had been.  But they were of no consequence now,
+for the way of escape was open, and she repented bitterly that she had
+dispatched her letter to Jenny.  Then once more a feeling akin to shame
+made her flush, as she thought of Leigh and what he would feel on
+hearing the letter read by his sister.
+
+The day passed slowly on.  A message came, asking if she would come down
+to lunch, and she refused.  Later on came another message, almost a
+command, that she would be in her usual place at dinner, and to this she
+made no reply, for none seemed needed; but she determined that she would
+not stir from her room.
+
+Then more and more slowly the time glided on, till it was as if night
+would never come.
+
+But she made her preparations, so as to be ready when midnight did
+arrive.  They were simple enough, and consisted in placing, bonnet,
+mantle, and the fewest necessaries.  Her plans were far more difficult:
+where to go?
+
+She sat and thought of every friend in turn, but there was a difficulty
+in the way in each case; and in spite of trying hard to avoid it, as the
+last resource, she seemed to be driven to take refuge with Jenny Leigh;
+and in deciding finally upon this step she forced herself to ignore the
+thought of her brother, while feeling exhilarated by the thought that
+the course pursued would be the one most likely to throw Garstang off
+her track, for Northwood would be the last place he would credit her
+with fleeing to.
+
+Her head grew clearer now, as her hope of escape brightened, and the
+plans appeared easier and easier, and the way more clear.
+
+For it was so simple.  Garstang and the housekeeper would by that time
+be asleep, and all she would have to do would be to steal silently down
+in the darkness to where Becky would be waiting for her.  She would take
+her into the basement, and she would be free.  If she could persuade
+her, she would take the poor creature with her.  She would be a
+companion and protection, and rob her night journey of its strange
+appearance.
+
+The rest seemed to be mere trifles.  She would walk for some distance,
+and then take a cab to the railway terminus at London Bridge, and wait
+till the earliest morning train started.  The officials might think it
+strange, but she could take refuge in the waiting room.
+
+And now, feeling satisfied that her ideas were correct, she thought of
+her letter to Jenny.  This would only be received just before her
+arrival, but it would have prepared her, and all would be well.  The
+only dread that she had now was that she might encounter anyone from the
+Manor House at the station.  On the way, the station fly would hide her
+from the curious gaze, but the thought made her carefully place a veil
+ready for use.
+
+Then came a kind of reaction; was it not madness to go to Northwood?
+Her uncle would soon know, and as soon as he did, he would insist upon
+her going back, and then--
+
+Kate reached no farther into the future, for there was a knock at the
+door, and the housekeeper appeared, smiling at her, and handed her a
+note.
+
+She saw at a glance that it was in Garstang's handwriting, and she
+refused to take it, whereupon the woman placed it upon the table, close
+to her elbow, and left the room.
+
+For quite half an hour, Kate sat there determined not to open the
+letter, and trying hard not even to look at it; but human nature is
+weak, and unable to control the desire to know its contents, and
+excusing herself on the plea that perhaps it might have some bearing
+upon her plans for that night--a bearing which would force her to alter
+them--she took it up, opened it, and then sat gazing at it in despair.
+
+It was a large envelope, and the first thing which fell from it was her
+letter to Jenny, apparently unopened, but crumpled and soiled as if it
+had been held in a hot and dirty hand; while the other portion of the
+contents of the envelope was a letter from Garstang, calling her foolish
+and childish and asking her if she thought his threats so vain and empty
+that he had not taken precautions against her trying such a feeble plan
+as that.
+
+"I can not be angry with you," he concluded, "I love you too well; but I
+do implore you, for your sake as well as my own, to act sensibly, and
+cease forcing me to carry on a course which degrades us both.  Come,
+dearest, be wise; act like a woman should under the circumstances.  You
+know well how I worship you.  Show me in return some little pity, and
+let me have its first fruits in your presence at the dinner-table this
+evening.  I promise you that you shall have no cause to regret coming
+down.  My treatment shall be full of the most chivalrous respect, and I
+will wait as long as you wish, if only you will give me your word to be
+my wife."
+
+Was there any other way of sending the letter?  Could she cast it from
+the window, in the hope of its being picked up and posted?  She feared
+not, and passed the weary minutes thinking that she must give it up.
+But she roused herself after a time.  The mother had evidently taken the
+letter from Becky, and handed it to Garstang; but the flight was Becky's
+own proposal, and now, after getting into trouble as she would have done
+over the letter, she would be the more likely to join in the flight.
+
+Dinner was announced, but she refused to go down, and after partaking of
+what was sent up, she waited and waited till bed-time was approaching,
+giving the housekeeper cause to think from her actions that she was
+going to bed, and fastening her door loudly as the woman left the room
+after saying good-night.
+
+And now came the most crucial time.  She knew from old experience what
+Garstang's habits were.  He would read for about half an hour after the
+housekeeper had locked and barred the front door; and then go up to his
+room, which was in the front, upon the second floor; and she stood by
+the door, listening through the long leaden minutes for the sharp sound
+of the bolts and the rattle of bar and chain.  Her brow was throbbing,
+and her hands felt damp in the palms with the dread she felt of some
+fresh development of Garstang's persecution, and she would have given
+anything to have unbolted and opened her door, so as to stand in the
+darkness and watch, but shivered with fear at the very thought.
+
+At last, plainly heard, came the familiar sounds, and now she pictured
+what would follow--the extinguishing of the staircase and hall lights,
+as the housekeeper and her child went up to bed in the attic, and the
+place left in darkness, save where a faint bar of rays came from beneath
+the library door.  Half an hour later that door would be opened, and
+Garstang would pass up.  Then there would be nearly an hour to wait
+before she dared to steal away.
+
+The agony and suspense now became so unbearable that Kate felt that she
+must do something or she would go mad; and at last she softly threw back
+the bolt, opened the door, and looked out.
+
+All was dark, and after listening intently, she glided out inch by inch
+till she reached the balustrade and peered down into the hall.
+
+Exactly as she had pictured, there were a few faint rays from the
+library door, and just heard there was the smothered sound of a cough.
+
+She stole back to listen, but first closed and bolted the door hastily,
+put on bonnet, veil, and mantle, and then put out the candles burning
+upon her dressing-table.
+
+This done, she crept back to the door and stood there, waiting to hear
+some sound, or to see the gleam of a candle when Garstang went up, but
+she waited in vain.
+
+The half-hour must have long passed, and she was fain to confess that
+since her coming she had never once heard him go up to bed.  The thick
+carpets, the position of her door, would dull sound and hide the light
+passing along the landing, and when another half-hour had passed she
+mustered up sufficient courage to once more slip the bolt.
+
+It glided back silently, but the hinges gave a faint crack as she opened
+them, and she then stood fast, with her heart beating violently, ready
+to fling the door to and fasten it again.  But all was still, and at
+last once more, inch by inch, she crept out silently till she was able
+to gaze down into the hall.
+
+The breath she drew came more freely now, for the faint bar of light
+from the library was no longer there, and in the utter silence of the
+place she knew that the door must be wide open, and the fire nearly
+extinct, for all at once there was the faint tinkling sound of dying
+cinders falling together.
+
+He must have gone up to bed.
+
+For a few moments Kate Wilton felt ready to hurry down the stairs, but
+she checked the desire.  It was not the appointed time, and she stole
+back, closed the door, and forced herself to sit down and wait Becky had
+said twelve o'clock, and it would be folly to go down earlier.
+
+Never had the place seemed so silent before.  The distant roll of a cab
+sounded faint in the extreme, and it was as if the great city was for
+the time being dead.  And now her heart sank again at the thought of her
+venture.  She was going to plunge into the silence and darkness of the
+streets, so it seemed to her then; and the idea was so fraught with fear
+that she felt she must resign herself to her fate, for she dared not.
+
+The faint striking of a clock sent a thrill through her, and once more
+she felt inspired with the courage to make the attempt.  Becky would
+have stolen down, and be waiting, and perhaps after the trouble of the
+letter business be quite ready to go with her.  "Yes, she must go," she
+said; and now, with every nerve drawn to its highest pitch of tension,
+she opened the door, and stood for a few moments listening.
+
+All was perfectly still, and hesitating no longer, she walked silently
+and swiftly to the staircase, caught at the hand-rail, and began to
+descend, her dress making a faint rustling as it passed over the thick
+carpet.
+
+Her goal was the door leading to the kitchen stairs, and the only dread
+she had now was that she might in the darkness touch one of the hall
+chairs, and make it scrape on the polished floor; but she recalled where
+each stood, and after a momentary pause, feeling convinced that she
+could make straight for the spot, she went on down into the darkness,
+reached the mat, and then found that there was a faint, dawn-like gleam
+coming from the fan-light over the door.
+
+Then her heart seemed to stand still, for just before her there was
+something shadowy and dark.
+
+"One of the statues," she thought for the moment, and then turned to
+flee, but stopped.
+
+"Becky," she whispered, and a hand touched her arm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+A wild, despairing cry escaped Kate Wilton's lips, as the firm grasp of
+a man's hand closed upon and prisoned her wrist.
+
+"Hush, you foolish girl," was whispered, angrily, and she was caught by
+a strong arm thrown round her, the wrist released, and a hand was
+clapped upon her lips.  "Do you want to alarm the house?"
+
+Her only reply was to struggle violently and try to tear the hand from
+her mouth, but she was helpless, and the arm round her felt like iron.
+
+"It is of no use to struggle, little bird," was whispered.  "Are you not
+ashamed to drive me to watch you like this, and prevent you from
+perpetrating such a folly?  What madness!  Try to leave the house at
+midnight, by the help of that wretched idiotic girl, and trust yourself
+alone in the street.  Truly, Kate, you need a watchful guardian.  Now,
+as you prefer the darkness, come and sit down with me; I want a quiet
+talk with you.  Kate, my dear, you force me to all this, and you must
+listen to reason now.  There, it is of no use to struggle.  Come with me
+quietly and sensibly, or I swear that I will carry you."
+
+Her answer was another frantic struggle, while, wrenching her head
+round, she freed herself from the pressure of his hand, and uttered
+another piercing scream.
+
+"Silence!" he cried, fiercely; and he was in the act of raising her from
+the floor, when she writhed herself nearly free, and in his effort to
+recover his grasp, he caught his foot on the mat and nearly fell.
+
+It was Kate's opportunity.  With one hand she thrust at him, with the
+other struck at him madly, ran to the stairs, and bounded up, just
+reaching her room as a light gleamed from above and showed Garstang a
+dozen steps below, too late to overtake her before her door was dashed
+to and fastened.
+
+Then, as she stood there, panting and ready to faint with horror, she
+heard Garstang's angry voice and the whining replies of the housekeeper,
+while, though she could not grasp a word, she could tell by the tones
+that the woman was being abused for coming down, and was trying to make
+some excuse.
+
+How that night passed Kate Wilton hardly knew, save that it was one
+great struggle to master a weak feeling of pitiful helplessness which
+prompted her to say, "I can do no more."
+
+At times, from utter mental exhaustion, she sank into a kind of stupor,
+more than sleep, from which she invariably started with a faint cry of
+horror and despair, feeling that she was in some great peril, and that
+the darkness was peopled with something against which she must struggle
+in spite of her weakness.  It was a nightmare-like experience,
+constantly repeated, and the grey morning found her feverish and weak,
+but in body only.  Despair had driven her to bay, and there was a light
+in her eyes, a firmness in her words, which impressed the housekeeper
+when she came at breakfast time.
+
+"Master's compliments, ma'am, and he is waiting breakfast," she said;
+"and I beg your pardon, ma'am, but I thought I ought to tell you he is
+very angry.  I never saw him like it before; and if you would be ruled
+by me, I'd go down and see him.  You have been very hard to him, I know;
+and you can't, I'm sure, wish to hurt the feelings of one who is the
+best of men."
+
+Kate sat looking away from her in silence, and this encouraged the woman
+to proceed.
+
+"He was very cross when he found out that you had been persuading poor
+Becky to post a letter for you.  He suspected her, and had her into the
+lib'ry and made her confess; and then he took the letter away from her.
+But that was nothing to what he was when he found that instead of going
+to bed Becky had come down again and was waiting to try and let you out
+I thought he would have turned her into the street at once.  But oh, my
+dear, he is such a good man, he wouldn't do that.  But he said it was
+disgracefully treacherous of her.  And between ourselves, my dear, it
+was quite impossible.  Master has, I know, taken all kinds of
+precautions to keep you from going away.  He told me that it was only a
+silly fit of yours, and that you didn't mean it; and, oh, my dear, do
+pray, pray be sensible.  Think what a good chance it is for you to marry
+one of the noblest and best of--"
+
+Sarah Plant ceased speaking, and stood with her lips apart, gazing
+blankly at the prisoner, who had slowly turned her head and fixed her
+with her indignant eyes.
+
+"Silence, you wretched creature!" she said, in a low, angry whisper.
+"How dare you address me like this!  Go down to your master, and tell
+him that I will see him when he has done his breakfast."
+
+"Oh, please come now, ma'am."
+
+"Tell him to send me word when he is at liberty, and I will come."
+
+Kate pointed to the door, and the woman hurried out.
+
+She returned in a few minutes, though, with a breakfast tray, which she
+set down without a word, and once more Kate was alone; but she started
+at a sound she heard at the door, and darted silently to it to slip the
+bolt; but before her hand could reach it there was a faint click, and
+she knew that the key had been taken out and replaced upon the other
+side.  She was for the first time locked in, and a whispering told her
+that Garstang was there.
+
+The struggle with her weakness had not been without its result.  An
+unnatural calmness--the calmness of despair--had worked a change in her,
+and she was no longer the frightened, trembling girl, but the woman,
+ready to fight for all that was dear in life.  She knew that she was
+weak and exhausted in body, and sat down with a strange calmness to the
+breakfast that had been brought up, eating and drinking mechanically,
+but thinking deeply the while of the challenge which she felt that she
+had sent down to Garstang, and collecting her forces for the encounter.
+
+Quite an hour had passed before she heard a sound; and then the key was
+turned in the lock, and the housekeeper appeared.
+
+"Master is in the library, ma'am," she said, "and will be glad to see
+you now."
+
+This was said with a meaning smile, which said a great deal; but Kate
+did not even glance at her.  She walked calmly out of her room,
+descended the staircase, and went straight into the library, where
+Garstang met her with extended hands.
+
+"My dearest child," he began.
+
+She waved him aside, and walked straight to her usual place, and sat
+down.
+
+"Ah!" said Garstang, as if to himself; "more beautiful than ever, in her
+anger.  How can she wonder that she has made me half mad?"
+
+"Will you be good enough to sit down, Mr Garstang?" she said, gazing
+firmly at him.
+
+"May I not rather kneel?" he said, imploringly.
+
+"Will you be good enough to understand, Mr Garstang," she continued,
+with cutting contempt in her tones, "that you are speaking to a woman
+whose faith in you is completely destroyed, and not to a weak, timid
+girl."
+
+"I can only think one thing," he whispered, earnestly, "that I am in the
+presence of the woman I worship, one who will forgive me everything, and
+become my wife."
+
+"Your wife, sir?  I have come here this morning, repellent as the task
+is, to tell you what you refuse to see--that your proposals are
+impossible, and to demand that you at once restore me to the care of my
+guardian."
+
+"To be forced to marry that wretched boy?" he cried, passionately;
+"never!"
+
+"May I ask you not to waste time by acting, Mr Garstang?" she said,
+with cutting irony.  "You call me `My dear child!'  You are a man of
+sufficient common sense to know that I am not the foolish child you wish
+me to be, and that your words and manner no longer impose upon me."
+
+"Ah, so cruel still!" he cried; but she met his eyes with such scathing
+contempt in her own that his lips tightened, and the anger he felt
+betrayed itself in the twitching at the corners of his temples.
+
+"You have unmasked yourself completely now, sir, and by this time you
+must understand your position as fully as I do mine.  You have been
+guilty of a disgraceful outrage."
+
+"My love--I swear it was my love," he cried.
+
+"Of gold?" she said, contemptuously.  "Is it possible that a man
+supposed to be a gentleman can stoop to such pitiful language as this?
+Let us understand each other at once.  Your attempts to replace the
+fallen mask are pitiful.  Come, sir, let us treat this as having to do
+with your scheme.  You wish to marry me?"
+
+"Yes; I adore you."
+
+She rose, with her brow wrinkling, her eyes half closed, and the look of
+contempt intensifying.
+
+"Perhaps I had better defer what I wished to say till to-morrow, sir?"
+
+He turned from her as if her words had lashed him, but he wrenched
+himself back and forced himself to meet her gaze.
+
+"In God's name, no!" he cried, passionately; "say what you have to say
+at once, and bring this folly to an end."
+
+She resumed her seat.
+
+"Very well; let us bring this folly to an end.  I am ready to treat with
+you, Mr Garstang."
+
+"Hah!" he cried, with a mocking laugh.  "An unconditional surrender?"
+
+"Yes, sir; an unconditional surrender," she said calmly.  "You have been
+playing like a gamester for the sake of my fortune."
+
+"And your beautiful self," he whispered.
+
+"For my miserable fortune; and you have won."
+
+"Yes," he said, "I have won.  I am the conqueror; but Kate, dearest--"
+
+She rose slowly from her seat.
+
+"Will you go on speaking without the mask, Mr Garstang?" she said,
+coldly; and she heard his teeth grit together, as he literally scowled
+at her now, with a look full of threats for the future.
+
+"I am your slave, I suppose," he said, bitterly; but she remained
+standing.
+
+"I wish to continue talking to Mr Garstang, the lawyer," she said,
+coldly.  "If this is to continue it is a waste of words."
+
+He threw himself back in his chair, and she resumed hers.
+
+"Now, sir, you are a solicitor, and learned in these matters; can you
+draw up some paper which will mean the full surrender of my fortune to
+you? and this I will sign if you set me at liberty."
+
+"No," he said, quietly, "I can not draw up such a paper."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because it would be utterly without value."
+
+"Very well, then, there must be some way by which I can buy my liberty.
+The money will be mine when I come of age."
+
+"Yes, there is one way," he said, gazing at her intently.
+
+"What is that, sir?"
+
+"By signing the marriage register."
+
+"That I shall never do," she said, rising slowly.  "Once more, Mr
+Garstang, I tell you that this money is valueless to me, and that I am
+ready to give it to you for my liberty."
+
+"And I tell you the simple truth--that you talk like the foolish child
+you are.  You cannot give away that which you do not possess.  It is in
+the keeping of your uncle, and the law would not allow you to give it
+away like that."
+
+"Does the law allow you to force me to be your wife, that you may, as
+my husband, seize upon it?"
+
+"The law will let you consent to be my wife," he said, wincing slightly
+at her words.
+
+"I have told you my decision," she said, coldly.
+
+"Temporary decision," he said, smiling.
+
+"And," she continued, "I shall wait until your reason has shown you that
+we are not living in the days of romance.  Your treatment would be
+horrible in its baseness if it were not ridiculous.  I own that I was
+frightened at first, but a night's calm thought has taught me how I
+stand, has given me strength of mind, and I shall wait."
+
+"And so shall I," he said, gazing at her angrily as he leaned forward;
+but she did not shrink from his eyes, meeting them with calm
+contemptuous indifference; and he sprang up at last with an angry oath.
+
+"Once more, Kate," he said, "understand this: you must and shall be my
+wife.  You may try and set me at defiance, shut yourself up in your
+room, and keep on making efforts to escape, but all is in vain.  I
+weighed all this well before I put my plans in execution.  You hear me?"
+
+"Every word," she said, coldly.  "Now hear me, Mr Garstang.  I shall
+never consent to be your wife."
+
+"We shall see that," he cried.
+
+"I shall not shut myself up in my room, and I shall make no further
+attempt to leave this house.  It would be too ridiculous.  Sooner or
+later my uncle will trace me, and call you to account.  I shall keep
+nothing back, and if he thinks proper to prosecute you for what you have
+done I shall be his willing witness."
+
+"Then you would go back to Northwood?" he said, with a laugh.
+
+"Yes; if my uncle were here I should return with him at once.  I was an
+impressionable, weak girl when I listened to you that night I had faith
+in you then.  Events since have made me a woman."
+
+She rose again, and took a step or two to cross the room, and he sprang
+up to open the door.
+
+"We shall see," he said, with an angry laugh.
+
+"Thank you," she said, calmly.  "I was not going upstairs."  And to his
+utter amazement she passed beyond him to one of the bookshelves, took
+down the volume she had been studying, and returned to her seat.
+
+He stood gazing at her, utterly confounded; but she calmly opened the
+book, and, utterly ignoring his presence, sat reading and turning over
+the leaves.
+
+There was a profound silence in the room for a few minutes, save that
+the clock on the chimney-piece kept on its monotonous tick; and then
+Garstang strode angrily to the door, went out, and closed it heavily
+behind him, while Kate uttered a low, deep sigh, and with her face
+ghastly and eyes closing, sank back in her chair.
+
+The tension had been agonising, and she felt as if something in her
+brain was giving way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY TWO.
+
+"Still obstinate?"
+
+Kate turned her head and looked gravely at Garstang, but made no reply.
+
+A week had passed since the scene in the library, and during that period
+she had calmly resumed her old position in the house, meeting her enemy
+at the morning and evening meals; and while completely crushing every
+advance by her manner, shown him that she was waiting in full confidence
+for the hour of her release.
+
+She never once showed her weakness, or let him see traces of the misery
+or despair which rendered her nights, sleeping or waking, an agony; she
+answered him quietly enough whenever he spoke on ordinary subjects, but
+at the slightest approach to familiarity, or if he showed a disposition
+to argue about the folly, as he called it, of her conduct, she rose and
+left the room, and somehow her manner impressed him so, that he dared
+not try to detain her.
+
+He felt, as she had told him, that it was no longer the weak girl with
+whom he was contending, but the firm, imperious woman; while her
+confidence in her own power increased as she, on more than one occasion,
+realised the fact that she had completely mastered.
+
+But the position remained the same, and as soon as she was alone the
+battle with another enemy commenced.  Despair was always making its
+insidious approaches, sapping her very life, and teaching her that her
+triumph was but temporary; and she shuddered often as she thought of the
+hour when her strength and determination would fail.
+
+Another week commenced, and she noted that there was a marked change in
+Garstang.  Consummate actor as he was, he had returned to his former
+treatment, save that he no longer played the amiable guardian, but the
+chivalrous gentleman, full of deference and respect for her slightest
+wish.  He made no approaches.  There was nothing in his behaviour to
+which the most scrupulous could have objected; but knowing full well now
+that he had only covered his face with a fresh mask, she was more than
+ever on her guard, never relaxing her watchfulness of self for a moment.
+
+She could only feel that he was waiting his time, that it was a siege
+which would be long, but undertaken by him in the full belief that
+sooner or later she would surrender.
+
+That he left the house sometimes she felt convinced; but how or when she
+never knew, and the greater part of his time was passed in the library,
+where he evidently worked hard over what seemed to be legal business.
+Japanned tin boxes had made their appearance, and she had more than once
+seen the table littered with papers and parchments; but all these
+disappeared into the boxes at night, and the evenings were spent much as
+of old, though the conversation was distant and brief.
+
+At last, about a fortnight after the setting in of the fresh regime, she
+was descending the stairs one afternoon, when she had proof of
+Garstang's having been away, for a latch-key rattled in the door, he
+entered, and stood with it open, while a cabman brought in a large deed
+box, set it down in the hall, and the door was closed and locked.  After
+this, Garstang lifted the box to bear it into the library, when he
+caught sight of Kate descending to enter the inner room, the one into
+which he had ushered her on the morning of her coming, and in which he
+now passed a great deal of his time.
+
+As their eyes met she saw that he looked pale and haggard, and it struck
+her at the moment that something had occurred to disturb him.  Her heart
+leaped, for naturally enough she felt that it must be something relating
+to her, and in the momentary fit of exultation she felt that help was
+coming, and hurried into the room to hide the agitation from which she
+was suffering.
+
+And now for the first time since her attempt to escape, she caught sight
+of Becky, passing down from the upper part of the staircase, but the
+glance was only momentary.  As soon as she saw that she was observed,
+the pale-faced woman drew back.
+
+There she stood, panting heavily as if suffering from some severe
+exertion.  For she felt that Garstang would follow her in, that there
+would be a scene; but the minutes went by, and all was quite still, and
+by degrees her firmness was restored; but instinctively she felt that
+something was about to happen, and the dread of this, whatever it might
+be, set her longing to escape.
+
+And now once more the idea came that it was absurd for her to be in
+prison there, when it seemed as if she had only to open the door and
+step out, or else descend to the basement, wait till one of the
+tradesmen came down the area, and then seize that opportunity to go.
+
+But she had tried it and failed.  The doors were always locked, save
+when tradesmen or postmen came; and then there was the area gate.  No
+one ever came down.
+
+The dinner time came, and she calmly took her place.  Garstang was
+quietly cordial, though a little more silent than customary to her; but
+it was plain enough that he was suffering from some unusual excitement,
+when he addressed the housekeeper.  For he found fault with nearly
+everything, and finally dismissed her in a fit of anger.
+
+"Servants are so thoughtless," he said, with an apologetic smile.  "That
+woman knows perfectly well what I like, and yet if I do not go into a
+fit of anger with her now and then, she grows dilatory and careless.
+But there, I beg your pardon; I ought to have waited until we were
+alone."
+
+Kate rose soon after and went into the library, where, as she sat
+reading, she was dimly conscious of voices in the passage; and assuming
+that the housekeeper was again being taken to task, she forced herself
+to think only of her book, and soon after silence and the closing of the
+dining-room door told her that Garstang had gone back to his wine.
+
+His stay after dinner had grown longer now, and it was quite half-past
+nine before he joined her, sometimes partaking of a cup of tea, but more
+often declining it, and sitting in silence gazing at the fire.
+
+Upon this occasion she sat until the housekeeper brought in the tea
+tray, placed it upon its table, while a low, hissing sound outside told
+her that the urn was waiting; and Kate found herself thinking that Becky
+must be there until her mother fetched it, and she wondered whether it
+would be possible to get a few words with the woman again, and if she
+would be too frightened to try and post another letter.
+
+Kate looked up suddenly and found that the housekeeper was watching her
+in a peculiar manner, but turned hurriedly away in confusion, and
+fetched the tea-caddy to place beside the tray.  And again Kate found
+that she was watching her, and it seemed to her that it was with a
+pitying look in her eyes.  This idea soon gave place to another.  The
+woman wanted to talk to her, and her theme would be Garstang.
+
+"That will do, Mrs Plant," she said; when the woman darted another
+peculiar look at her, and Kate saw the woman's lips move, but she said
+nothing aloud, and left the room, leaving its occupant thoughtful and
+repentant.  For it struck her that the woman's eyes had a pitying
+sympathetic aspect, and that perhaps a few words of appeal to her better
+feelings would be of no avail, and that help might come through her
+after all.
+
+Should she ring and try?
+
+A few minutes' thought, and the idea grew less and less vivid, till it
+died away.
+
+"She dare not, even if she would," thought Kate; and calmly and
+methodically she proceeded to make the tea, just casually noticing that
+the screw which held in its place the ornamental knob on the lid of the
+silver tea-pot had been off and was secured in its place again with what
+appeared to be resin.
+
+It was a trifle which seemed to be of no importance then, as she turned
+on the hot water from the urn, rinsed out the pot made the tea and sat
+thinking while she gave it time to draw.  Her thoughts were upon the old
+theme, the way of escape, or to find a way of sending letters to both
+Jenny and her uncle.
+
+She started from her reverie, poured out a cupful, took up her book
+again, grew immersed in it, and sat back sipping her tea from time to
+time, till about half the cup was finished, before she noticed that it
+had a peculiar flavour, but concluded that it was fresh tea, and she had
+made it a little too strong.
+
+The old German book was interesting, and she still read on and sipped
+her tea till she had finished the cup, and then sat frowning, for the
+last spoonful or two had the peculiar flavour intensified.
+
+It was very strange.  The tea was very different.  She smelt the dregs
+in her cup, and the odour was strongly herbaceous.
+
+She tasted it again, and it was stronger, while the flavour was now
+clinging to her palate.
+
+She sat thinking for a few moments, laid her book aside, and let a
+little water from the urn flow into the spare cup, and examined it.
+
+Pure and tasteless, just boiled water; there was nothing there; so she
+drew the pot to her side, opened the lid and smelt it.
+
+The odour was plain enough.  A dull, vapid, flat scent, which seemed
+familiar, but she could not give it a name.
+
+"What strange tea!" she thought; and then the mystery was out, for she
+caught sight of the fastening of the lid handle.  It was as it usually
+appeared; but the screw was loose, and it turned and rattled in her
+fingers.  The dark, resinous patch which had held it firmly had gone,
+melted by the heat and steam, and hence the peculiar flavour of the tea.
+
+"How stupid!" she exclaimed; and rising from her seat, she rang the
+bell.
+
+The housekeeper was longer than usual in answering, and Kate was about
+to ring again, when the woman appeared, looking nervous and scared.
+
+"Did you ring, ma'am?" she asked; and her voice sounded weak and husky.
+
+"Yes; look at that tea-pot, Mrs Plant; smell the tea."
+
+"Is--is anything the matter with it, ma'am?" faltered the woman.
+
+"Matter?  Yes!  How could you be so foolish!  I noticed that something
+had been used to fasten the knob on the lid."
+
+"Yes--yes, ma'am; it has worn loose.  The screw has got old."
+
+"What did you use to fasten it with--resin?"
+
+"I--I did not do anything to it, ma'am," faltered the woman, whose face
+was now ghastly.
+
+"Someone did, and it melted down into the tea.  It tastes horrible.
+Take the pot, and wash it out I must make some fresh."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said the woman eagerly, glancing from the tea-pot to her
+and back again.  "You had better make some fresh, of course."
+
+She uttered a sigh, as if relieved, but Kate saw that her hands trembled
+as she took up the pot.
+
+"There, be quick.  I shall not complain to Mr Garstang, and get you
+another scolding."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am--no ma'am," said the woman faintly, and she glanced
+behind her toward the door, and then caught at the table to support
+herself.
+
+"What is the matter?  Are you unwell?" asked Kate.
+
+"N-no, ma'am--a little faint and giddy, that's all," she faltered.  "I--
+am gettin' better now--it's going off."
+
+"You are ill?" said Kate kindly.  "Never mind the tea.  I will go to the
+cellaret and get you a little brandy.  There, sit down for a few
+moments.  Yes, sit down; your face is covered with cold perspiration.
+Are you in the habit of turning like this?"
+
+The woman did not answer, but sat back in the chair into which she had
+been pressed, moaning slightly, and wringing her hands.
+
+"No-no," she whispered wildly; "don't go.  He's there.  I dursen't.  I
+shall be better directly.  Miss Wilton, I couldn't help it, dear; he--he
+did it.  Don't say you've drunk any of that tea!"
+
+It was Kate's turn to snatch at something to support her, as the
+horrible truth flashed upon her; and she stood there with her face
+ghastly and her eyes wild and staring at the woman, who had now
+struggled to her feet.
+
+For some moments she could not stir, but at last the reaction came, and
+she caught the housekeeper tightly by the arm, and placed her lips to
+her ear.
+
+"You are a woman--a mother; for God's sake, help me!  Quick, while there
+is time.  Take me with you now."
+
+"I can't--I can't," came back faintly; "I daren't; it's impossible."
+
+Kate thrust the woman from her, and with a sudden movement clapped her
+hands to her head to try and collect herself, for a strange singing had
+come in her ears, and objects in the room seemed a long distance off.
+
+The sensation was momentary and was succeeded by a feeling of wild
+exhilaration and strength, but almost instantaneously this too passed
+off; and she reeled, and saved herself from falling by catching at one
+of the easy chairs, into which she sank, and sat staring helplessly at
+the woman, who was now speaking to someone--she could not see whom--but
+the words spoken rang in her ears above the strange metallic singing
+which filled them.
+
+"Oh, sir, pray--pray, only think!  For God's sake, sir!"
+
+"Curse you, hold your tongue, and go!  Dare to say another word, and--do
+you hear me?--go!"
+
+Kate was sensible of a thin cold hand clutching at hers for a moment;
+then a wave of misty light which she could not penetrate passed softly
+before her eyes, and this gradually deepened; the voices grew more and
+more distant and then everything seemed to have passed away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
+
+"Curse you!  Do you hear what I say?" roared Garstang, furiously; "leave
+the room!"
+
+"No, sir, I won't!" cried the housekeeper, as she stood sobbing and
+wringing her hands by Kate's side.  "It's horrible; it's shameful!"
+
+"Silence!"
+
+"No, I won't be silenced now," cried the woman.  "You're my master, and
+I've done everything you told me up to now, for I thought she was only
+holding back, and that at last she'd consent and be happy with you; but
+you're not the good man I thought you were, and the poor dear knew you
+better than I did; and I wouldn't leave her now, not if I died for it--
+so there!"
+
+"Come, come," said Garstang, hurriedly; "don't be absurd, Sarah.  You
+are excited, and don't know what you are saying."
+
+"I never knew better what I was saying, sir," cried the woman,
+passionately.  "Absurd!  Oh, God forgive you--you wicked wretch!  And
+forgive me too for listening to you to-day.  You took me by surprise,
+you did, and I didn't see the full meaning of it all.  Oh, it's
+shameful!--it's horrible!  And I believe you've killed her; and we shall
+all be hung, and serve us right, only I hope poor Becky, who is innocent
+as a lamb, will get off."
+
+"Look here, Sarah, my good woman; you are frightened, and without
+cause."
+
+"Without cause?  Oh, look at her--look at her!  She's dying--she's
+dying!"
+
+"Hush, you silly woman!  There, I won't be cross with you; you're
+startled and hysterical.  Run into the dining-room and fetch the brandy
+from the cellaret."
+
+"No.  If you want brandy, sir, fetch it yourself.  I don't stir from
+here till this poor dear has come to, or lies stiff and cold."
+
+Garstang ground his teeth, and rushed upon the woman savagely, but she
+did not shrink; and he mastered himself and took a turn or two up and
+down the room before facing her again, and beginning to temporise.
+
+"Look here, Sarah," he said, in a low, husky voice; "I've been a good
+friend to you."
+
+"Yes, sir, always," said the woman, with a sob.
+
+"And I've made a home here for your idiot child."
+
+"Which she ain't an idiot at all, sir, but she ain't everybody's money;
+and grateful I've always been for your kindness, and you know how I've
+tried to show it.  Haven't I backed you up in this?  Of course, you
+wanted to marry such a dear, sweet, young creature; but for it to come
+to that!  Oh! shame upon you, shame!"
+
+Garstang made a fierce gesture, but he controlled himself and stopped by
+her again.
+
+"Now just try and listen to me, and let me talk to you, not as my old
+servant, but as my old friend, whom I have trusted in this delicate
+affair, and whom I want to go on trusting to help me."
+
+"No, sir, no.  You've broken all that, and I'll never leave the poor
+dear--there!"
+
+"Will you hear me speak first?" said Garstang, making a tremendous
+effort to keep down his rage.
+
+"Yes, sir, I'll listen," said the woman; "but I'll stop here."
+
+"Now, let me tell you, then--as a friend, mind--how I am situated.  It
+is vital to me that we should be married at once, and you must see as a
+woman, that for her reputation's sake, after being here with me so long,
+she ought to give up all opposition.  Now, you see that--"
+
+"I'd have said `Yes' to it yesterday, sir," said the woman, firmly; "but
+I can't say it to-night."
+
+"Nonsense!  I tell you it is for her benefit.  I only want her to feel
+that further resistance is useless.  There, now, I have spoken out to
+you.  You see it is for the best.  To-morrow or next day we shall be
+married by special license.  I have made all the arrangements."
+
+"Then, now go and make all the arrangements for the poor dear's funeral,
+you bad, wicked wretch!" cried the woman passionately, as she sank on
+her knees and clasped Kate about the waist.  "Oh, my poor dear, my poor
+dear, he has murdered you!"
+
+"Silence, idiot!" cried Garstang, in a fierce whisper.  "Can't you see
+that she is only asleep?"
+
+"Asleep?  Do you call this sleep?  Look at her poor staring eyes.  Feel
+her hands.--No, no, keep back.  You shan't touch her."
+
+She turned upon him with so savage and cat-like a gesture that he
+stopped short with his brows rugged and his hands clenched.
+
+There was a few moments' pause, but the woman did not wince; and
+Garstang felt more than ever that he must temporise again.  He burst
+into a mocking laugh.
+
+"Oh, you silly woman," he said.  "All this nonsense about a girl's
+holding off for a time.  You've often heard her say how she liked me.
+You know she came here of her own free will.  And I know you feel that I
+mean to marry her as soon as I can persuade her to come to the church.
+What a storm you are making about nothing!  She has taken something.
+Well, you consented to its being given her; and you are going as frantic
+as if I had poisoned her."
+
+"I know, I know," cried the woman, "and I was a vile wretch to consent
+to help you."
+
+"Stuff and nonsense, Sarah, old friend.  Now look here; suppose instead
+of its being a harmless sleeping draught, it had been the effect of her
+drinking an extra glass or two of champagne.  Would you have gone on
+then like this?"
+
+"It's of no use for you to talk; I know what a smooth winning tongue
+you've got, as would bring a bird down out of a tree; but I know you
+thoroughly now; and Becky was right; you're a base man, and you did
+worry and worry poor dear Mr Jenour till he shot himself.  You robbed
+him till you'd got everything that was his, and now you've murdered this
+poor darling girl."
+
+"That will do," cried Garstang, stung now to the quick.  "If you will be
+a fool you must suffer for it.  Now, listen to me, woman; this is my
+house, and this is my wife.  She came to me, and she is mine.  I have
+told you that I will take her to the church.  Now, go up to your room--I
+am desperate now--and if you dare to make a sound or to leave it till
+to-morrow morning, I'll shoot you and your girl too."
+
+The woman stared at him, her lips parted, and with dilated eyes.
+
+"You know what this place is.  Not a sound can reach the outside.  You
+have not a soul who would come to inquire after you, and the world would
+never know what had become of you.  Now go."
+
+She stood up, trembling like a leaf, fascinated by his fierce eyes, and
+began to walk slowly round to the other side of the table, sidewise, so
+as to keep as far from him as she could.
+
+"Hah!" he said, through his set teeth, "you understand me then at last.
+Upstairs with you at once," and as he spoke he stepped quickly to Kate's
+side, dropped on one knee, and took hold of her icy hand.  But he sprang
+to his feet, half stunned, the next moment, for with a wild cry, the
+woman threw open the door as if to escape from him, but tore out the
+key.
+
+"Becky!  Becky!" she shrieked.
+
+"Yes, mother!" came from where the tied-up face was stretched over the
+balustrade on the first floor.
+
+"Lock yourself in master's room, open the window, and shriek murder
+until the police come."
+
+"Damnation!" roared Garstang; and he rushed at and seized the woman, who
+clung to one of the bookshelves, bringing it down with a crash, and a
+shriek came from the upper floor.
+
+"Stop her," roared Garstang.  "There, I give in.  Here, Becky, your
+mother will speak to you."
+
+"Lock yourself in the room, but don't scream till I tell you, or he
+comes," cried the woman.
+
+"That will do," said Garstang, savagely, and he loosed his hold, with
+the result that the woman ran back to the insensible girl, and once more
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+Garstang began to pace up and down the room, but paused at the door, to
+reach out and see Becky's white face and eyes displaying the white rings
+round them, peering down from above.
+
+At the sight of him she rushed to his bedroom, and stood half inside,
+ready to lock herself in if he attempted to ascend.
+
+A wild cry from Sarah Plant took Garstang back to her side.
+
+"I knew it--I knew it!" she cried, bursting into a passionate fit of
+sobbing; "you've killed her.  Look at her, sir, look.  Oh, my poor dear,
+my poor dear!  God forgive me!  What shall I do?"
+
+A chill of horror ran through Garstang, and he bent down over his
+victim, trembling violently now, as he raised one eyelid with his
+finger, then the other, bent lower so that his cheek was close to her
+lips, and then caught her hand, and tried to feel her pulse.
+
+"No, no; she is only sleeping," he said, hoarsely.
+
+"Sleeping!" moaned the woman, hysterically; "do you call that sleep?"
+
+Garstang drew a deep breath, and his horror increased.
+
+"Help me to lay her on the couch," he said, huskily.
+
+"No, no, I'm strong enough," groaned the woman.  "Oh, my poor dear--my
+poor dear! he has murdered you."
+
+She rose quickly, and in her nervous exaltation, passed her arms round
+the helpless figure, and lifted it like a child, to bear it to the
+couch, and lay it helplessly down.
+
+"Oh, help, help!" she groaned, in a piteous wail.  "A doctor--fetch a
+doctor at once."
+
+"No, no, go for brandy--for cold water to bathe her face."
+
+"I don't leave her again," cried the woman, passionately; "I'd sooner
+die."
+
+Garstang gazed down at them wildly for a few moments, and then rushed
+across into the dining-room, obtained the brandy, a glass, and a carafe
+of water, and returned, to begin bathing Kate's temples and hands, but
+without the slightest result, save that her breathing became fainter,
+and the ghastly symptoms of collapse slowly increased.
+
+"She's going--she's going!" moaned the shuddering woman, who knelt by
+the couch, holding Kate tightly as if to keep her there.  "We've
+poisoned her! we've poisoned her!"
+
+The panic which had seized upon Garstang increased, as he gazed wildly
+at his work.  Strong man as he was, and accustomed to control himself,
+he began now to lose his head; and at last, thoroughly aghast, he caught
+the housekeeper by the shoulder and shook her.
+
+"Don't leave her," he said, in a husky whisper.  "I'm going out."
+
+"What!" cried the woman, turning and catching his arm; "going to try and
+escape, and leave me here?"
+
+"No, no," he whispered; "a doctor--to fetch a doctor."
+
+"Yes, yes," moaned the woman; "a doctor--fetch a doctor; but it is too
+late--it is too late!"
+
+Garstang hardly heard her words, as he bent down and took a hurried look
+at Kate's face.  Then hurrying to the door, he caught sight of Becky
+still watching.
+
+"Go down and help your mother," he cried, excitedly; and unfastening the
+door, he rushed out.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
+
+Pierce Leigh returned home after a long weary day of watching.  From
+careful thought and balancing of the matter, he had long come to the
+conclusion that Claud Wilton's ideas were right, and that John Garstang
+knew where his cousin was.  But suspicion was not certainty, and though
+he told himself that he had no right or reason in his conduct, he could
+not refrain from spending all the time he could spare from his
+professional work in town--work that was growing rapidly--in trying to
+get some news of the missing girl.
+
+He was more amenable now, and ready to discuss the matter with his
+sister, who remained Kate's champion and declared that she was sure
+there was some foul play in the matter; but he would not give way, and
+laughed bitterly whenever Jenny aired her optimism, and said she was
+sure that all would end happily after all.
+
+"Silly child!" he said bitterly.  "If Miss Wilton was the victim of foul
+play--which I do not believe--she could have found some means of
+communicating with her friends."
+
+"But she had no friends, Pierce," cried Jenny.  "She told me so more
+than once."
+
+"She had you."
+
+"Oh, I don't count, dear; I was only an acquaintance, and it had not had
+time to ripen into affection on her side.  I soon began to love her, but
+I don't think she cared much for me."
+
+"Ah, it was a great mistake," sighed Leigh.
+
+"What was?" cried Jenny sharply.
+
+"Our going down to Northwood.  I lost a thousand pounds by the
+transaction."
+
+"And gained the dearest girl in the world to love."
+
+"Don't talk absurdly, child," said Leigh, firmly.  "I beg that you will
+not speak to me in that tone about Miss Wilton.  Has Claud been again?"
+
+"I beg that you will not speak to me in that tone about Mr Wilton,"
+said Jenny, with a mischievous look at her brother, who glanced at her
+sharply.
+
+"Claud Wilton is not such a bad fellow after all, I begin to think.  All
+that horsey caddishness will, I daresay, wear off."
+
+"I am sorry for the poor woman who has to rub it off," said Jenny.
+
+"You did not tell me if he had called."
+
+"Yes, he did call."
+
+"Jenny!"
+
+"I didn't ask him to call, and he did not come to see me," said the girl
+demurely.  "He wanted you, and left his card.  I put it in the surgery.
+I think he said he had some news of his cousin."
+
+"Indeed?" said Leigh, starting.  "When was this?"
+
+"Yesterday evening.  But Pierce, dear, surely it is nothing to you.
+Don't go interfering, and perhaps make two poor people unhappy."
+
+Leigh turned upon her angrily.
+
+"What a good little girl you would be, Jenny, if you had been born
+without a tongue."
+
+"Yes," she said, "but I should not have been half a woman, Pierce,
+dear."
+
+"Did he say when he would come again?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did he say more particularly what his news was?"
+
+"No, dear, and I did not ask him, knowing how particular you are about
+my being at all intimate with him."
+
+He gave her an angry glance, but she ignored it.
+
+"Anyone else been?"
+
+"Yes; there was a message from Mrs Smithers, saying she hoped you would
+drop in after dinner and see her.  Her daughter came--the freckly one.
+The buzzing in her mother's head had begun again, and Miss Smithers says
+she is sure it is the port wine, for it always comes after her mother
+has been drinking port wine for a month."
+
+"Of course.  She eats and drinks twice as much as is good for her.--Did
+young Wilton say anything about Northwood?"
+
+"Yes," said Jenny, carelessly.  "The new doctor has got the parish work,
+but he isn't worked to death.  Oh, by the way, there's a letter on the
+chimney-piece."
+
+Leigh rose and took it eagerly, frowning as he read it.
+
+"Bad news, Pierce, dear?"
+
+"Eh?  Bad?  Oh, dear no; I have to meet Dr Clifton in consultation at
+three to-morrow, at Sir Montague Russell's."
+
+"Oh!  I say, Pierce dear, how rapidly you are picking up a practice!"
+
+"Yes," he said, with a sigh; and then with an effort to be cheerful,
+"How long will dinner be?"
+
+"Half an hour," said Jenny, after a glance at the clock, "and then I
+hope they will let you have a quiet evening.  You have not been at home
+once this week."
+
+"Ah, yes, a quiet evening would be pleasant."
+
+"Thinking, Pierce dear?" said Jenny, after a pause.
+
+"Yes," he said dreamily, as he sat back with his eyes closed.  "I can't
+make it all fit.  He rarely goes to the office, I have found that out;
+and from what I can learn he must be living in the country.  The house I
+saw him go to has all the front blinds drawn down, and last time I rode
+by I saw a woman at the gate, but I could not stop to question her--I
+have no right."
+
+"No, dear, you have no right," said Jenny, gravely.  "That was only a
+fancy of yours.  But how strangely things do come to pass!"
+
+Leigh started, and gazed at his sister wonderingly.
+
+"What do you mean?" he said.
+
+"I was only replying to your remarks, dear, about your suspicions of
+this Mr Garstang."
+
+"I?  My remarks?" he said, looking at her strangely.  "I said nothing."
+
+"Why, Pierce dear, you did just now."
+
+"No, not a word.  I was asleep when you spoke."
+
+"Asleep?"
+
+"Yes.  What is there strange in that?  A man must have rest, and I have
+been out for the last three nights with anxious cases.  Was I talking?"
+
+"Yes, dear," said Jenny, rising, to go behind the chair and lay her soft
+little hands upon her brother's head.  "Talking about that shut-up
+house, and this Mr Garstang.  I thought it was not possible, and that
+it was very wild of you to take a house in this street so as to be near
+and watch him, but nothing could have been better.  You are getting as
+busy as you used to be in Westminster.  But Pierce, dear," she whispered
+softly, "don't you think we should be happier if we were in full
+confidence with one another--as we were once?"
+
+"No," he said, gloomily, "I shall never be happy again."
+
+"You will, dear, when some day we meet Kate, and all this mystery about
+her is at an end."
+
+"Meet Miss Wilton and her husband," he said, bitterly.
+
+"No, dear; if I know anything of women you will never meet Kate Wilton's
+husband.  Pierce, dear, I am your sister, and I have been so lonely
+lately, ever since we came to London.  You have never quite forgiven me
+all that unhappy business.  Don't you think you could if you tried?"
+
+He sat perfectly silent for a few moments, and then reached round, took
+her in his arms, and kissed her long and lovingly.
+
+In an instant she was clinging to his neck, sobbing wildly, and he had
+hard work trying to soothe her.
+
+But she changed again just as quickly, and laughed at him through her
+tears.
+
+"There," she cried, "now I feel ten years younger.  Five minutes ago I
+was quite an old woman.  But, Pierce, you will confide in me now, and
+make me quite as we used to be?"
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+She wound her arms tightly round his neck, and laid her face to his.
+
+"Then confess to me, dear," she whispered.  "You do dearly love Kate
+Wilton?"
+
+He was silent for some moments, and then slowly and dreamily his words
+were breathed close to her ear.
+
+"Yes; and I shall never love again."
+
+Jenny turned up her face and kissed him, but hid it, burning, directly
+after in his breast.
+
+"Pierce dear," she whispered, "I have no one else to talk to like this.
+May I confess something now to you?"
+
+"Why not?" he said, gently.  "Confidence for confidence."
+
+She was silent in turn for some time.  Then she spoke almost in a
+whisper.
+
+"Will you be very angry, Pierce, if I tell you that I think I am
+beginning to like Claud Wilton very much?"
+
+"Like--him?" he cried, scornfully.
+
+"I mean love him, Pierce," she said, quietly.
+
+"Jenny!  Impossible!"
+
+"That's what I used to think, dear, but it is not."
+
+"You foolish baby, what is there in the fellow that any woman could
+love?"
+
+"Something I've found out, dear."
+
+"In Heaven's name, what?"
+
+"He loves me with all his heart."
+
+"He has no heart."
+
+"You don't know him as I do, Pierce.  He has, and a very warm one."
+
+"Has he dared to make proposals to you again?"
+
+"No, not a word.  But he isn't like the same.  It was all through you,
+Pierce.  I made him love me, and now he looks up to me as if I were
+something he ought to worship, and--and I can't help liking him for it."
+
+"Oh, you must not think of it," cried Leigh.
+
+"That's what I've told myself hundreds of times, dear, but it will come,
+and--and, Pierce, dear, it's very dreadful, but we can't help it when
+the love comes.  Do you think we can?"
+
+She slipped from him, and dashed the tears from her eyes, for her quick
+senses detected a step, and the next moment a quiet-looking maid-servant
+announced the dinner.
+
+No more was said, but the manner of sister and brother was warmer than
+it had been for months; and though he made no allusions, there was a
+half-reproachful, half-mocking smile on Leigh's lips when his eyes met
+Jenny's.
+
+The dinner ended, he went into their little plainly-furnished
+drawing-room to steal half-an-hour's rest before hurrying off to make
+the call as requested; and he had not left the house ten minutes when
+there was a hurried ring at the bell.
+
+Jenny clapped her hands, and burst into a merry laugh.
+
+"I am glad," she cried.  "No; I ought to be sorry for the poor people.
+But how they are finding out what a dear, clever, old fellow Pierce is!
+I wonder who this can be?"
+
+She was not kept long in doubt, for the servant came up.
+
+"If you please, ma'am, there's that gentleman again who called to see
+master."
+
+"What gentleman?" said Jenny, suddenly turning nervous--"Mr Wilton?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Did you tell him your master was out?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, and he said would you see him just a moment?"
+
+"I'll come down," said Jenny, turning very hard and stiff; and it seemed
+to be a different personage who descended to Leigh's consulting room,
+where Claud was walking up and down with his hat on.
+
+"Ah, Miss Leigh!" he cried, excitedly, as he half ran to her, with his
+hands extended.
+
+But Jenny did not seem to see them; only standing pokeresque, and gazing
+at the young fellow's hat.
+
+"Eh?  What's the matter?  Oh, I beg your pardon," he cried, catching it
+off confusedly; "I'm so excited, I forgot.  But I can't stop; I'll come
+in again by and by and see your brother.  Only tell him I've found her."
+
+"Found Kate Wilton?" cried Jenny, dropping her formal manner and
+catching him by the arm, his hand dropping upon hers directly.
+
+"Yes, I'm as sure as sure.  I've been on the scent for some time, and I
+never could be sure; but I'm about certain now, and I want your brother
+to come and help me, for he has a better right than I have to be there."
+
+"My brother, Mr Wilton?" said Jenny, in a freezing tone.
+
+"Oh, I say, please don't," he whispered earnestly; "I am trying so hard
+to show you that I'm not such a cad as you used to think, and when you
+speak to me in that way it makes me feel as if there's nothing, left to
+do but enlist, and get sent off to India, or the Crimea, or somewhere,
+to be killed out of the way."
+
+"Tell me quickly, where is she?"
+
+"I can't yet.  I'm not quite sure."
+
+"Pah!"
+
+"Ah, you wait a bit, and you'll see; and if I do find her I shall bring
+her here."
+
+"Here?" cried Jenny, excitedly.
+
+"Yes, why not? she likes you better than anybody in the world; he likes,
+her, and--.  Here, I can't stop.  Good-bye; tell him I'll be back again
+as soon as I can, for find her I will to-night."
+
+"But Mr Wilton--Claud!"
+
+"Ah!" he cried excitedly, turning to her.
+
+"Tell me one thing."
+
+"Everything," he cried, wildly, "if you'll speak to me like that.
+Someone I thought had got her; I'm about sure now, but--I'd give
+anything to stop--but I can't."
+
+He rushed out into the street, and Jenny returned to her room and work,
+trembling with a double excitement, one moment blaming herself for being
+too free with her visitor, the next forgetting everything in the news.
+
+"Oh, Pierce, dear Pierce! if it is only true," she muttered, as her work
+dropped from her hands, and she sat hour after hour longing for her
+brother's return.  This was not till ten, when she was trembling with
+excitement, and in momentary expectation of seeing Claud Wilton return
+first.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.
+
+Jenny was standing at the window, watching the people go by, when a cab
+drew up and Leigh sprang out, to let himself in with his latch-key; and
+she was half-way down to meet him as he was coming up.
+
+"Pierce," she whispered excitedly.  "Claud Wilton has been.  He has, he
+is sure, found Kate; and he is coming again to fetch you to where she
+is."
+
+Leigh staggered, and caught at the balustrade to save himself from
+falling.
+
+"Where is she?" he panted.
+
+"I--don't know; he was not quite sure, but he is coming again.  He says
+no one but you has a right to be there when she is found; and Pierce--
+Pierce--he is going to bring her here!"
+
+Leigh stood gazing straight before him, feeling as if he could hardly
+breathe, and he followed his sister into the drawing-room, but had
+hardly sunk into a chair when there was a tremendous peal at the bell.
+
+"Here he is!" cried Jenny; and Leigh sprang from his seat to hurry down,
+but restrained himself, and to his sister's despair, stood waiting.
+
+"Pierce, dear," she whispered, "pray go."
+
+"I have no right," he said huskily; and Jenny wrung her hands and tried
+vainly for what she deemed the correct words to say.
+
+The painful silence was broken by the appearance of the maid.
+
+"A gentleman to see you, sir; very important."
+
+"Mr Wilton?" cried Jenny.
+
+"No, ma'am, a strange gentleman," said the girl.  "Someone very bad."
+
+Leigh exhaled his pent-up breath with a sigh of relief, and went quickly
+down to where his visitor was waiting, looking wild and ghastly.
+
+Garstang!--the man he had been watching for months without result, but
+who looked at him as one whom he had never met before.
+
+"Will you come with me directly?" he cried.  "My house--only in the next
+street.  I'd better tell you at once, so that you may bring some
+antidote with you.  I need not explain--a young lady--my wife--a foolish
+quarrel--a little jealousy--and she has taken some of that new sedative,
+Xyrania--a poisonous dose, I fear."
+
+"A young lady--my wife," rang in Leigh's ears like the death knell of
+all hopes.  Then he was right: this man had carried her off with her
+consent, and it had come to this.
+
+"Do you not hear me, sir?" cried Garstang; "Mr--I don't know your name;
+I came to the first red lamp.  You are a doctor?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," cried Leigh, hastily.
+
+"Then, for God's sake, come on before it is too late!"
+
+Leigh was the calm, cold, collected physician once again, and he spoke
+in a strange tone that he did not know as his own.
+
+"Xyrania," he said; and he went to a case of bottles and jars, took down
+one of the former, poured a small quantity into a phial, corked it, and
+said solemnly--
+
+"Lead the way, sir--quick; but I must tell you that an overdose of that
+drug means sleep from which there is no awaking."
+
+Garstang uttered a low, harsh sound, and motioned towards the door,
+leading the way; while Leigh followed him, with his brain feeling, in
+addition to the terrific crushing weight of depression as if all the
+world were nothing now, confused and strange, as he wondered that the
+man did not recognise him; and too much stunned to grasp the fact that
+he who had filled so large a measure of his thoughts for months had
+never met him face to face--probably had never heard of him, save as
+some doctor in practice at Northwood.
+
+Then, as they hurried along the pavement, and at the end of another
+hundred yards turned into Great Ormond Street, Leigh felt oppressed by
+another thought--that after all, Kate, if it were she he was being taken
+to see, must have been for months past in the house he had so often
+gazed at in passing, with an intense desire to enter, but had always
+crushed down that desire, telling himself that it was insane.
+
+Meanwhile Garstang was talking to him in a hurried excited tone,
+uttering words that hardly reached his companion's understanding; but he
+caught fragments about "unhappy temper--insomnia--indulgence in the
+potent drug--his agony and despair"--and then he cried wildly, as he
+paused at the door of the familiar house with its overhanging eaves, and
+inserted the latch-key:
+
+"Doctor--any fee you like to demand, but you must save my wife's life."
+
+"Must save his wife's life!" groaned Leigh, mentally, as his heart gave
+what seemed to be one heavy throb.  Then he stepped into the great
+gloomy hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
+
+"His wife!"
+
+The words kept repeating themselves in Pierce Leigh's brain like the
+beating of some artery charged to bursting, and the agony seemed greater
+than he could bear; while the revelation which had been so briefly made
+told of misery and a terrible despair which had driven the woman he
+loved to this desperate act.  But for one thought he would have rushed
+madly away to try and forget everything by a similar act, for the means
+were at home, ready to his hand, his suffering being more than he could
+bear.
+
+But there was that thought; she was in peril of her life, and the
+husband had flown unconsciously to him for help.  He might be able to
+save her--make her owe that life to him--and this thought fought against
+his weakness, and for the time being made him strong enough to follow
+Garstang to the library door, just as poor Becky darted away and
+disappeared through the doorway leading to the basement.
+
+As Leigh entered and saw Kate lying motionless upon the sofa, with the
+housekeeper kneeling by her side, a pang shot through him which seemed
+to cleave his heart; then as it passed away he was the calm stern
+physician once more.
+
+"You had better go, sir," he said sharply, "and leave me with the
+nurse."
+
+"No: do your work," said Garstang harshly; "I stay here."
+
+Leigh made no answer, but took the housekeeper's place, to examine the
+sufferer's dilated pupils and test the pulsation, and then he turned
+quickly to Garstang.
+
+"Where are the bottle and glass?" he said sharply.
+
+"What bottle--what glass?" replied Garstang, taken by surprise.
+
+"The symptoms seem to accord with what you say, but I want to make
+perfectly sure.  Where is the drug she took?"
+
+"Oh, it was in the tea, sir, there," cried the housekeeper.
+
+Garstang turned upon her with a savage gesture, and Leigh saw it.  His
+suspicions were raised.
+
+"Here, sir," said the woman, pointing to the pot.
+
+"Oh yes," said Garstang hurriedly: "she took it in her tea."
+
+"She did not, sir!" cried the woman desperately.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" roared Garstang.
+
+"I won't, doctor, if I die for it," cried the woman.  "He drugged her,
+poor dear.  I was obliged to do as he said."
+
+"The woman's mad," cried Garstang.  "Go on with your work."
+
+A savage instinct seemed to drive Leigh, on hearing this, to bound at
+Garstang, seize him by the throat and strangle him; but a glance at Kate
+checked it, and the physician regained the ascendancy.
+
+He poured a little of the tea into a clean cup, smelt, tasted, and spat
+it out.
+
+"Quite right," he said firmly.  "Don't let that tea-pot be touched
+again."
+
+Garstang winced, for the words were to him charged with death, a trial
+for murder, and the silent evidence of the crime.
+
+"Here, you help me," said Leigh, quickly; and he rinsed out the cup with
+water from the urn, poured a couple of teaspoonfuls from a bottle into
+the cup, and kneeling by the couch while the housekeeper held the
+insensible girl's head, tried to insert the spoon between the closely
+set teeth.
+
+The effort was vain, and he was forced to trickle the antidote he tried
+to administer through the teeth, but there was no effort made to
+swallow; the insensibility was too deep.
+
+"Better?" said Garstang, after watching the doctor's efforts to revive
+his patient for quite half an hour.
+
+"Better?" he said, fiercely.  "Can you not see, man, that she is
+steadily passing away?"
+
+"No, no, she seems calmer, and more like one asleep.  Oh, persevere,
+doctor!"
+
+"I want help here--the counsel and advice of the best man you can get.
+Send instantly for Sir Edward Lacey, Harley Street."
+
+"No," said Garstang, frowning darkly.  "You seem an able practitioner.
+It is a matter of time for the effects of the potent drug to die out, is
+it not?"
+
+"Yes, of course; but I fear the worst."
+
+"Go on with what you are doing, doctor; I have faith in you."
+
+At that moment Leigh felt that nothing more could be done--that nature
+was the great physician; and he once more knelt down by the side of the
+couch for a time, while a terrible silence seemed to have fallen on the
+place, even the housekeeper looking now as if she were turned to stone,
+and dared not move her lips as she intently watched the calm white face
+upon the pillow.
+
+"I can do no more," said Leigh at last, in a hoarse whisper.  "God help
+me!  How weak and helpless one feels at a time like this!"
+
+The words came involuntarily from his lips, for at that moment he seemed
+to be alone with the sufferer, his patient once again, whose life he
+would have given his own to save.
+
+"Oh, come, come, doctor!" said Garstang, breaking in harshly upon the
+terrible stillness, and there was a forced gaiety in his tone.  "It was
+a little sleeping draught; surely the effects will soon pass off.  You
+are taking too serious a view of the case."
+
+"I take the view of it, sir," said Leigh, gravely, as he bent lower over
+the marble face before him, fighting hard to control the wild desire to
+press his lips to the temple where an artery throbbed, "I take the view
+given to us by experience.  You had better send for further help at
+once."
+
+"No, no.  It is only making an expose, where none is necessary.  I will
+not believe that she is so bad.  You medical men are so prone to magnify
+symptoms."
+
+"Indeed?" said Leigh, who dared not look at the speaker, but bent once
+more over his patient.  "You came and told me that your wife was dying."
+
+"His wife, sir?" cried the housekeeper, indignantly.  "It's a wicked
+lie!"
+
+Garstang turned savagely upon the woman, but he had to face Leigh, who
+sprang to his feet with a wild exaltation making every pulse throb and
+thrill.
+
+"Not his wife!" he cried fiercely.
+
+"No, sir, and never would be."
+
+"Curse you!" roared Garstang, making at her; but Leigh thrust him back.
+
+"Then there has been foul play here."
+
+"How dare you?" cried Garstang.  "I called you in to--But go on with
+your work, sir.  Can you not see that the woman drinks?--she is mad
+drunk now.  Hysterical, and does not know what she is saying.  The lady
+is my wife, and I insist upon your attending to your professional duties
+or leaving the house.  Is this the conduct of a physician?"
+
+"It is the conduct of a man, sir, who finds himself face to face with a
+scoundrel."
+
+"You insolent hound!"
+
+"John Garstang--"
+
+"John Garstang!"
+
+"Yes, John Garstang; you see I know you!  It is true then that you have
+abducted this lady, or lured her into this place, where you have kept
+her secluded from her friends.  There is no need to ask the reason.  I
+can guess that."
+
+"You--you--" cried Garstang, ghastly now in his surprise.  "Who are you
+that you dare to speak to me like this?"
+
+"I, sir, am the physician you called in to see his old patient, dying, I
+fear, from the effects of the drug you have administered," said Leigh,
+with unnatural calmness; "the man whose instinct tempts him to try and
+crush out your wretched life as he would that of some noxious beast.
+But we have laws, and whatever the result is here, my duty is to hand
+you over to the police."
+
+"Oh, doctor! doctor!" cried the woman wildly, from behind the couch.
+"Quick, quick!  Look!  Oh, my poor, poor child!"
+
+Leigh sprang back to the couch and fell upon his knees, for a violent
+twitching had convulsed the girl's motionless form.
+
+Garstang, his face wild with fear, stood gazing down over the doctor's
+shoulder, and then strode quickly to the back of the library, bent over
+a table, and took something from a drawer, before striding back, to
+stand looking on, trembling violently now, as he witnessed the strange
+convulsions, which gradually died out, and a low gasping sound escaped
+the sufferer's lips.
+
+Garstang drew a long, deep breath, turned quickly, and made for the
+door; but as he reached it Leigh's hand was upon his collar, and he was
+swung violently round and back into the room.
+
+He nearly fell, but recovered himself, and stood with his hand in his
+breast.
+
+"Stand away from that door," he cried.
+
+"To let you escape?" said Leigh, firmly.  "No; whether that convulsion
+means death or life to your victim, sir, you are my prisoner till the
+police are here.  You--woman, go to the door, and send for or fetch the
+police."
+
+The housekeeper started forward, but with one heavy swing of the arm
+Garstang sent her staggering back, and then approached Leigh slowly,
+with a half-crouching movement, like some beast about to spring.
+
+"Stand away from that door, and let me pass," he said, huskily.
+
+"Go back and sit down in that chair," said Leigh sternly; and he now
+stepped slowly and watchfully toward him.
+
+"Stand away from that door," said Garstang again.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Leigh, as he caught a glimpse of something in the
+man's hand; and he sprang at him to dash it aside, when there was a
+flash, a loud report, and as a puff of smoke was driven in his face,
+Leigh spun round suddenly, and fell half across the farther table with a
+heavy thud.
+
+At the same moment, Garstang thrust a pistol into his breast, darted to
+and flung open the door, to run right into the hall, where he was seized
+by a man, and a tremendous struggle ensued, Garstang striving fiercely
+to escape, his adversary to force him back toward the staircase; chairs
+were driven here and there, one of the marble statues fell with a crash,
+and twice over Garstang nearly shook his opponent off.
+
+But he was wrestling with a younger man, who was tough, wiry, and in
+good training, while, in spite of the desperate strength given for the
+moment by fear, Garstang was portly, and his breath came and went in
+gasps.
+
+"Here, you girl, open the door; call help--can't hold him!" came in
+gasps.
+
+A low wailing sound was the only response, and poor Becky, who was by
+the front door, with her face tied up, covered it entirely with her
+hands, and seemed ready to faint.
+
+The struggle went on here and there, and once more there was the gleam
+of a pistol and a voice rang out:
+
+"Ah! coward, fight fair."
+
+As utterance was given to these words the speaker made a desperate
+spring to try and catch the pistol, his weight driving Garstang back,
+whose heels caught against a heavy fragment of the broken piece of
+statuary, and its owner went down with the back of his head striking
+violently against another piece of the marble.
+
+The next moment, fainting and exhausted, his adversary was seated on the
+fallen man's chest, wresting the pistol from his grasp.
+
+"Thought he'd done me.  Here, you're a pretty sort of a one, you are!
+Why didn't you call the police?"
+
+"Oh, I dursen't!  I dursen't!" sobbed Becky.
+
+"You dursen't, you dursen't!" grumbled the speaker.  "Hi! help,
+somebody!  Hi, Kate! are you in there?  What, Doctor!  Then you've got
+here, after all.  I did go to your house."
+
+For Pierce Leigh suddenly appeared at the library door, where he stood,
+supporting himself by the side.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.
+
+"I say, he didn't shoot you, did he?"
+
+"Yes--through the arm," said Leigh faintly.  "Better directly.  Can you
+keep him down, Wilton?"
+
+"Oh yes, I'll keep the beggar down," said Claud, cocking the pistol.
+"Do you hear, you sir?  You move a hand and as sure as I've got you
+here, I'll fire.  Send for a doctor someone."
+
+"No, no," cried Leigh, a little more firmly; "not yet;" and he drew a
+handkerchief from his pocket and folded it with one hand.  "Tie this
+tightly round my arm."
+
+"You take the pistol then--that's it--and let the brute have it if he
+stirs.  I won't get off him.  Kneel down."
+
+Leigh obeyed after taking the pistol, and Claud bound the handkerchief
+tightly round his arm.
+
+"Hurt you?"
+
+"Yes; but the sickness is going off.  Tighter: it will stop the
+bleeding."
+
+"All right; but I say, we had better have in a doctor," said Claud
+excitedly.
+
+"Not yet.  We don't want an expose," said Leigh anxiously.
+
+"Shall I go for one, sir?" said the housekeeper.
+
+"No.  How is she now?" said Leigh anxiously.
+
+"Just the same, sir," said the woman, stifling her sobs.
+
+"I'll come in a moment or two.  Go back; there is nothing to fear now."
+
+A burst of hysterical sobbing came from the front door, where Becky was
+crouching down, with her face buried in her hands.
+
+"Take her with you," said Leigh hastily; and he stood before Garstang
+while Becky walked into the library, shivering with dread.
+
+"Here, you hold up, what's your name," cried Claud.  "You behaved like a
+trump.  It's all right; he can't hurt you now."
+
+"No," said Leigh, in a harsh whisper, as the two women passed in and the
+door swung to; "nor anyone else.  Look."
+
+"Eh?" said Claud wonderingly.  "What at?"
+
+"Don't you see?" said Leigh, bending down and turning Garstang's head a
+little on one side.
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Claud.  "Blood!  I didn't mean that.  Why, he must
+have hit his head on that bit of marble."
+
+"Yes," answered Leigh, after a brief examination, "the skull is
+fractured.  We must get him away from here."
+
+"Not dangerous, is it, doctor?" said Claud, aghast.
+
+Leigh made no answer, but rose to his feet and sat down on one of the
+hall chairs.
+
+"What is it--faint?" said Claud.
+
+"Yes--get me--something--he cannot move."
+
+"She seems to be more like sleeping now, sir," said the housekeeper,
+appearing at the door.  "Oh, no, no; don't let him get up!"
+
+"It's all right, old lady.  Here, got any brandy?  The doctor's hurt,
+and faint."
+
+"Yes, sir; yes, sir," said the woman, glancing in a horrified way, at
+the two injured men, as she passed into the dining-room, from which she
+returned directly with a decanter and glass.
+
+"It's port wine, sir," she said in a trembling voice; and she poured out
+a glass.
+
+Leigh drained it, and rose to his feet.
+
+"I will come back directly," he said.
+
+"That's right.  I say, I don't quite like his looks."
+
+Leigh bent over the prostrate man, but said nothing, and passed into the
+library, where he spent five minutes in attendance upon Kate; and at the
+end of that time he rose with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Will she come to, sir?" whispered the housekeeper, with her voice
+trembling.
+
+"Yes, I think the worst is over.  The medicine I gave her is
+counteracting the effects of the drug."
+
+"Oh, oh, oh!" burst out Becky; and she flumped down on the carpet and
+caught one of Kate's hands, to lay it against her cheek and hold it
+there, as she rocked herself to and fro.
+
+"Becky!  Becky! you mustn't," whispered her mother.
+
+"Let her alone; she will do no harm," said Leigh, quietly.
+
+"Are--are you going to send for the police, sir?" faltered the woman.
+
+"No, certainly not yet," replied Leigh; and he went back into the hall.
+
+"I say," said Claud, in a voice full of awe, "I'm jolly glad you've
+come.  He ain't dying, is he?"
+
+For answer Leigh went down on one knee, and made a fresh examination.
+
+"No," he said at last; "but he is very bad.  I cannot help carry him,
+but he must be got into one of the rooms."
+
+"Fetch that old girl out, and we'll carry him," said Claud; and after a
+moment or two's thought Leigh went to the library, stood for a while
+examining his patient there, and then signed to Becky and her mother to
+follow him.
+
+Under his directions a blanket was brought, passed under the injured
+man, and then each took a corner, and he was borne into the dining-room
+and laid upon a couch.
+
+"I don't like to call in police, or a strange surgeon," Leigh whispered
+to Claud.  "We do not want this affair to become public."
+
+"By George, no!" said Claud, hastily.
+
+"Then you must help me.  I can do what is necessary; and these women can
+nurse him."
+
+"But I can't help you," protested the young man.  "If it was a horse I
+could do something.  Don't understand men."
+
+"I do, to some extent," said Leigh, smiling faintly.  Then, to the
+woman, "You can go back now.  Call me at once if there is any change."
+
+The two trembling women went out, and after another feeble protest Claud
+manfully took off his coat, and acting under Leigh's instructions,
+properly bandaged the painful wound made by Garstang's bullet, which had
+struck high up in Leigh's arm, and passed right through, a very short
+distance beneath the skin.
+
+"A mere nothing," said Leigh, coolly, as the wound was plugged and
+bandaged, the table napkins coming in handy.  "Why, Wilton, you'd make a
+capital dresser."
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated the young man, with a shudder.  "I should like to be
+down on one.  Sick as a cat."
+
+"Take a glass of wine, man," said Leigh, smiling.
+
+"I just will," said Claud, gulping one down.  "Thank you, since you are
+so pressing, I think I will take another.  Hah! that puts Dutch courage
+in a fellow," he sighed, after a second goodly sip.  "It's good port,
+Garstang.  Here's bad health to you--you beast."
+
+He drank the rest of his wine.
+
+"I say, doctor, you don't expect me to help timber his head, do you?"
+
+Leigh nodded, as he drew his shirt-sleeve down over his bandages.
+
+"But the brute would have shot me, too."
+
+"Yes, but he's hors de combat, my lad, and you don't want to jump on a
+fallen enemy."
+
+"Don't know so much about that, doctor," said the young man, dryly, "but
+you ought."
+
+"Perhaps so," replied Leigh, "but I am what you would call crotchety,
+and I must treat him as I would a man who never did me harm.  Come, your
+wine has strung you up.  Let's get to work."
+
+"Must I?  Hadn't you better put the beggar out of his misery?  He isn't
+a bit of good in the world, and has done a lot of harm to everyone he
+knows."
+
+"Bad fracture," said Leigh, gravely, as he passed his hand round the
+insensible man's head, "but not complicated.  He must have fallen with
+tremendous violence."
+
+"Of course he did," said Claud.  "He had my weight on him, as well as
+his own.  Can he hear what we say?"
+
+"No, and will not for some time to come.  Now, take the scissors out of
+my pocket-book, and cut away all the hair round the back.  There, cut
+close: don't be afraid."
+
+"Afraid!  Not I," said Claud, with a laugh, "I'll take it all off, and
+make him look like a--what I hope he will be--a convict."
+
+He began snipping away industriously, talking flippantly the while, to
+keep down the feeling of faintness which still troubled him.
+
+"Fancy me coming to be old Garstang's barber!  I say, doctor, you'd like
+to keep a lock of the beggar's hair, wouldn't you?  I mean to have one."
+
+"Mind what you are doing," said Leigh, quietly; and as Claud went on
+cutting he prepared bandages with one hand and his teeth, from another
+of the fine damask napkins; and in spite of the pain he suffered,
+bandaged the injury, and at last sank exhausted in a chair, but rose
+directly to go across to the library.
+
+"How is she?" said Claud, anxiously, upon his return.
+
+"The effects are passing off, and in two or three hours I hope she will
+come to."
+
+"Then look here," said Claud, anxiously, "ought I to--I mean, ought you
+to send over to somebody and tell her how things are going on?  She'll
+be horribly anxious."
+
+Leigh frowned slightly.
+
+"You mean my sister, of course," he said.  "No; she is aware that I was
+called in to a case of emergency, but she does not know that it is
+here."
+
+"Doesn't she know?  I say, though, I'm a bit puzzled how you came here."
+
+"This man fetched me."
+
+"Fetched you?  How came he to do that?"
+
+"In ignorance of who I was, of course.  But how came you here so
+opportunely?"
+
+"Oh, I've been watching and tracking for long enough, till I ran him to
+earth; and I've been trying for days to get at him.  Got hold of that
+woman with the tied-up head at last--only this evening--and was going to
+bribe her, but she let out everything to me, and after telling me
+everything, said she'd let me in.  So I went for you, and as you were
+out I was obliged to try and get Kate away at once.  You know the rest I
+say, this is what you call a climax, isn't it?"
+
+Leigh sat gazing at him sternly, but Claud did not avoid his eyes, and
+went on.
+
+"Now look here; of course he got her for the sake of her money, and she
+can't stop here.  But she must be taken away as soon as she can be
+moved."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Claud, firmly.  "It isn't a time for stickling
+about ourselves; we've got to think about her, poor lass.  Damn him!  I
+feel as if I could go and tear all his bandages off--a beast!"
+
+"What do you propose, then?" said Leigh, calmly.
+
+"Well, for the present we'd better take her to your house.  She must be
+in a horrid state, and the best thing for her is to find herself along
+with some one she loves.  It will do her no end of good to find
+Jenny's--I beg your pardon, Miss Leigh's arms around her."
+
+"Yes, you are quite right; and I could go to an hotel."
+
+"Humph!  Yes, I suppose you ought to, but I've been thinking of
+something else, if you don't mind.  The guv'nor's shut up with his gout,
+so I think I ought to go home and fetch the mater.  She talks a deal,
+but she's a jolly motherly sort, and was fond of Kate.  There's no harm
+in her, only that she's a bit soft about her beautiful boy--me, you
+know," he said, with one of his old grins.
+
+Leigh winced a little, and Claud's face grew solemn directly.
+
+"I say," he said hastily, "it was queer that he should have come and
+fetched you, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said Leigh, "a curious stroke of fate, or whatever you may call
+it; and yet simple enough.  It was in a case of panic; he was seeking a
+doctor, and my red lamp was the first he saw.  But after all, it was the
+same when we were boys; if we had strong reasons, through some escapade,
+for wishing to avoid a certain person, he was the very first whom we
+met."
+
+"Yes, Mr Wilton; what you propose is the best course that can be
+pursued, and I think it is our duty towards your cousin; we can arrange
+later on what ought to be done about this man.  You and your relatives
+may or may not think it right to prosecute him, but you may rest assured
+that his injury will keep him a close prisoner for a long while to
+come."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that fall was a regular crippler, but you have to think
+about prosecuting too.  The law does not allow people to use pistols."
+
+"We can discuss that by-and-by.  Now, please, I shall be greatly obliged
+if you will go to my sister, and tell her as much as you think is
+necessary.  If she has gone to bed she must be roused.  Ask her to be
+ready to receive Miss Wilton, and then I think you ought to go down to
+Northwood and fetch Mrs Wilton."
+
+"All right--like a shot," said Claud, eagerly.  "I mean directly," he
+cried, colouring a little.  "But, er--you mean this?"
+
+"Of course," said Leigh, smiling; "why should I not?  Let me be frank
+with you, if I can with a sensation of having a hole bored through my
+arm with a red-hot bar.  A short time back I felt that if there was a
+man living with whom I could never be on friendly terms, you were that
+man; but you have taught me that it is dangerous to judge any one from a
+shallow knowledge of what he is at heart.  I know you better now; I hope
+to know you better in the future.  Will you shake hands?"
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Claud, seizing the hand violently, and dropping it the
+next instant as if it were red-hot.  For Leigh's face contracted, and he
+turned faint from the agony caused by the jar.  "What a thoughtless
+brute I am!  Here, have another glass of that beast's wine."
+
+"No, no, I'm better now.  There, quick!  It must be very late, and I
+don't want my sister to have gone to bed.  I dare say she would sit up
+for me some time, though."
+
+"Yes, I'm off," cried Claud, excitedly; "but let me say--no, no, I can't
+say it now; you must mean it, though, or you wouldn't have spoken like
+that."
+
+He had reached the door, when Leigh stopped him.
+
+"I'll go in first and see how your cousin is; Jenny would like the last
+report."
+
+"Better, certainly," he said on his return; and Claud hurried out of the
+house.
+
+"He said `Jenny,'" he muttered, as he ran towards Leigh's new home.
+"`Jenny,' not `my sister,' or `Miss Leigh.'  Oh, what a lucky brute I
+am!  But I do wish I wasn't such a cad!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT.
+
+Before morning Kate was sufficiently recovered to be removed to Leigh's
+house; but it was days before her senses had fully returned, and her
+brain was thoroughly awake to the present and the past, to find herself
+lovingly attended by her aunt and Jenny Leigh, who was her companion
+down to Northwood, while Claud kept the doctor company in town and
+accompanied him as assistant every time he visited Great Ormond Street.
+For Leigh, in spite of his own injuries, continued to attend Garstang
+till he was thoroughly out of danger, though it was months before he was
+able to go to his office.
+
+It was time he went there, for the place, and his country house in Kent,
+were in charge of his creditors' representatives, it having come like a
+crash on the monetary world that Garstang, the money-lender and
+speculator, had failed for a very heavy sum.
+
+Poetic justice or not, John Garstang found himself bankrupt in health
+and pocket; his bold attempt to save his position by making Kate his
+wife being the gambler's last stroke.
+
+As a matter of course, James Wilton was involved; led on by Garstang, he
+had mortgaged his property deeply, and the money was now called in, and
+ruin stared him in the face just at a time when he was prostrate with
+illness.
+
+"It's jolly hard on the old man," said Claud one day when he had come up
+to town and called on Leigh, "for the guv'nor has lorded it down at
+Northwood all these years, and could have been doing it fine now if it
+hadn't been for old Garstang.  He gammoned the guv'nor into speculating,
+and then gammoned him when he lost to go on with the double or quits
+game, and a nice thing Johnny must have made out of it.  If it had been
+sheep or turnips, of course the old man would have been all there; but
+it was a fat turkey playing cards with a fox, and I suppose everything
+comes to the hammer."
+
+"Very bad for your mother," said Leigh.
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  I say, may I light my pipe?"
+
+"Oh, yes; smoke away while you have any brains left."
+
+"Better smoke one's brains away than catch some infection in your
+doctor's shop.  How do I know that some one with the epidemics hasn't
+been sitting in this chair?--ah! that's better.  I say, it's a pity you
+don't smoke, Leigh."
+
+"Is it?  Very well, then, I'll have a cigar with you to help keep off
+the infection.  I did have a rheumatic patient in that chair this
+morning."
+
+"Eh?  Did you?  Oh, well, I'll risk that.  Ah, now you look more
+sociable, and as if you hadn't got your back up because I called."
+
+"I couldn't have had, because I was very glad to see you."
+
+"Were you?  Well, you didn't look it.  You were saying about being bad
+for the mater.  I don't believe she'll mind, if the guv'nor don't worry.
+She's about the most contented old girl that ever lived, if things will
+only go smooth.  The crash comes hardest on poor me.  It's Othello's
+occupation, gone, and no mistake, with yours truly.  I say, don't you
+think I could turn surgeon?  I have lots of friends in the Mid-West
+Pack, and if they knew I was in the profession I could get all the
+accidents."
+
+"No," said Leigh, smiling; "you are not cut out for a doctor."
+
+"I don't think I am cut out for anything, Leigh, and things look very
+black.  I can farm, and of course if the guv'nor hadn't smashed I could
+have gone on all right.  But it's heart-breaking, Leigh; it is, upon my
+soul.  I haven't been home for weeks.  Been along with an old aunt."
+
+"Why, you oughtn't to leave a sinking ship, my lad."
+
+"Well, I know that," said Claud, savagely; "and that's why I've come
+here."
+
+"Why you've come here?" said Leigh, staring.
+
+"Yes; don't pretend that you can't understand."
+
+"There is no pretence.  Explain yourself."
+
+Claud Wilton had only just lit his pipe, but he tapped it empty on the
+bars, and sat gazing straight before him.
+
+"I want to do the square thing," he said; "but I'm such an impulsive
+beggar, and I can't trust myself.  I want you to send for your sister
+home; Kate's all right again; mother told me so in a letter; and she has
+got her lawyer down there, and is transacting business.  Look here,
+Leigh: it isn't right for me to be down there when your sister's at the
+Manor.  I can't see a shilling ahead now, and it isn't fair to her."
+
+Leigh looked at him keenly.
+
+"I shall have to marry Kate after all," continued Claud, with a bitter
+laugh.  "Do you hear, hated rival?  We can't afford to let the chance
+go.  Oh, I say, Leigh, I wish you'd give me a dose, and put me out of my
+misery, for I'm about the most unhappy beggar that ever lived."
+
+"Things do look bad for you, certainly," said Leigh.  "How would it be
+if you tried for a stewardship to some country gentleman--you
+understand?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I understand stock and farming generally; but who'd have me?
+Hanged if I couldn't go and enlist in some cavalry regiment; that's
+about all I'm fit for."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, my lad.  Where are you staying?"
+
+"Nowhere--just come up.  I shall have to get a cheap room somewhere."
+
+"Nonsense!  You can have a bed here.  We'll go and have a bit of dinner
+somewhere, and chat matters over afterwards.  I may perhaps be able to
+help you."
+
+"With something out of the tintry-cum-fuldicum bottle?"
+
+"I have a good many friends; but there's no hurry.  We shall see?"
+
+Claud reached over, and gripped Leigh's hand.
+
+"Thankye, old chap," he said.  "It's very good of you, but I'm not going
+to quarter myself on you.  If you have any interest, though, and could
+get me something to go to abroad, I should be glad.  Busy now, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes, I have patients to see.  Be with me at six, and we'll go
+somewhere.  Only mind, you will sleep here while you are in town.  I
+want to help you, and to be able to put my hand on you at once."
+
+The result was that Claud stayed three days with his friend; and on the
+third Leigh had a letter at breakfast from his sister, enclosing one
+from Mrs Wilton to her son, whose address she did not know, but thought
+perhaps he might have called upon Leigh.
+
+"Eh?  News from home?" said Claud, taking the note, and glancing eagerly
+at Leigh's letter the while.  "I say, how is she?"
+
+"My sister?  Quite well," said Leigh, dryly.
+
+Claud sighed, and opened his own letter.
+
+"Poor old mater! she's such a dear old goose; she's about worrying
+herself to death about me, and--what!--oh, I say.  Here, Leigh!  Hurrah!
+There is life in a mussel after all."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, hark here.  You know I told you that Kate had got her lawyer down
+there?"
+
+"Yes," said Leigh, frowning slightly.
+
+"Well, God bless her for the dearest and best girl that ever breathed!
+She has arranged to clear off every one of the guv'nor's present
+liabilities by taking over the mortgages, or whatever they are.  The
+mater don't understand, but she says it's a family arrangement; and what
+do you think she says?"
+
+Leigh shook his head.
+
+"That she is sure that her father would not have seen his brother come
+to want God bless her.  What a girl.  Leigh, it's all over with you now.
+Intense admiration for her noble cousin, Claud, and--confound it, old
+fellow, don't look at me!  I feel as if I should choke."
+
+He went hurriedly to the window, and stood looking out for some minutes,
+before coming back to where Leigh sat gravely smoking his cigar.
+
+Claud Wilton's eyes had a peculiarly weak look in them as he stood by
+Jenny's brother, and his voice sounded strange.
+
+"I'm going down by the next train," he said.  "This means the work at
+home going on as usual, and I shan't be a beggar now, Leigh.  I say, old
+man, I am going to act the true man by hier.  I may speak right out to
+her now?"
+
+"Whatever had happened I should not have objected, for sooner or later I
+know you would have made her a home."
+
+Claud nodded.
+
+"And look here," he cried, "why not come down with me?  Kate would be
+delighted to see you.  Only you wouldn't bring Jenny back?"
+
+"Take my loving message to my sister," said Leigh, ignoring his
+companion's other remark, "that I beg she will come home now at once."
+
+"Because I'm going down?" pleaded Claud.
+
+"Yes," said Leigh, gravely, "because you are going down."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+A year and a half glided by, and Kate Wilton had become full mistress of
+her property, and other matters remained, as the lawyers say, "in statu
+quo," save that Jenny was back with her brother.  James Wilton was very
+much broken, and his son was beginning to be talked of as a rising
+agriculturist.  John Garstang was at Boulogne, and his stepson had
+married a wealthy Australian widow in Sydney.
+
+Jenny had again and again tried to urge her brother to propose to Kate,
+but in vain.
+
+"It is so stupid of you, dear," she said.  "I know she'd say yes to you,
+directly.  Of course any girl would if you asked her."
+
+"Yes, I'm a noble specimen of humanity," said Leigh, dryly.
+
+"I believe you're the proudest and most sensitive man that ever lived,"
+cried Jenny, angrily.
+
+"One of them, sis."
+
+"And next time I shall advise her to propose to you.  You couldn't
+refuse."
+
+"You are too late, dear," he said, gravely, as he recalled a letter he
+had received a month before, in which he had been reproached for
+ignoring the writer's existence, and forcing her to humble herself and
+write.
+
+There were words in that letter which seemed burned into his brain and
+he had a bitter fight to hold himself aloof.  For in simple,
+heart-appealing language she had said: "Am I never to see you and tell
+you how I pray nightly for him who twice saved my life, and enabled me
+to live and say I am still worthy of being called his friend?"
+
+Pride--honourable feeling--true manhood--whatever it was--he fought and
+won, for in his unworldly way he told himself that in his early
+struggles for a position he could not ask a rich heiress to be his wife.
+
+"I know," Jenny often said, "that she wishes she had hardly a penny in
+the world."
+
+It does not fall to many of us to have our fondest wishes fulfilled, but
+Kate Wilton had hers, though in a way which brought misery to thousands,
+though safety to more who have lived since.
+
+For the great commercial crisis burst upon London.  One of the great
+banks collapsed, and dragged others, like falling card houses, in its
+wake.  Among others, Wilton's Joint Stock Bank came to the ground, and
+in its ruin the two-thirds left of Kate's money went out like so much
+burning paper, leaving only a few tiny sparks to scintillate in the
+tinder, and disappear.
+
+"Oh, how horrible!" cried Jenny, when the news reached the Leighs.
+"What a horrid shame!  I must go and see her now she is in such
+trouble."
+
+"No," said Leigh, drawing himself up with a sigh of relief, "let me go
+first."
+
+"Pierce!" cried Jenny, excitedly, as she sprang to her brother's breast,
+her face glowing from the result of shockingly selfish thoughts
+connected with Claud Wilton and matrimony, "and you mean to ask her
+that?"
+
+He nodded, kissed her lovingly, and hurried to Kate Wilton's side.
+
+The interview was strictly private, as a matter of course, but the
+consequences were not long in following, and among other things James
+Wilton made his will--the will of a straightforward, honest man.
+
+There were people who said that the passing of the Limited Liability Act
+was mainly due to the way in which Kate Wilton's fortune was swept away.
+That undoubtedly was a piece of fiction, but out of evil came much
+good.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Cursed by a Fortune, by George Manville Fenn
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