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diff --git a/41554-8.txt b/41554-0.txt index 2e5f755..2d28a63 100644 --- a/41554-8.txt +++ b/41554-0.txt @@ -1,39 +1,4 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3), by Richard Dowling - -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: The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41554] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41554 *** THE WEIRD SISTERS. @@ -4211,7 +4176,7 @@ AUTHOR OF "THE WEIRD SISTERS." In Three Vols. "There is not a single bit of 'good society' in the whole book, an omission for which readers may well be thankful. The story is kept - mysterious with success."--_Athenæum._ + mysterious with success."--_Athenæum._ "The novel is unquestionably powerful, well written, true to the life which it describes, and eminently pure and healthy in @@ -4366,7 +4331,7 @@ AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE," ETC. kraal, a miserable stucco erection, is called Berlin, the author proceeds to tell how those creatures manage to exist, what are their institutions, manners, amusements, industries, and so - on."--_Athenæum._ + on."--_Athenæum._ * * * * * @@ -4409,361 +4374,4 @@ By a WORKING MAN. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3), by Richard Dowling -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - -***** This file should be named 41554-8.txt or 41554-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/5/41554/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41554] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41554 ***</div> <div class="figcenter"> <img src="images/tp3.jpg" alt=""/> @@ -4390,7 +4350,7 @@ creative power."—<i>Spectator.</i></p> <p>"There is not a single bit of 'good society' in the whole book, an omission for which readers may well be thankful. The story is kept -mysterious with success."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> +mysterious with success."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> <p>"The novel is unquestionably powerful, well written, true to the life which it describes, and eminently pure and healthy in @@ -4545,7 +4505,7 @@ desert somewhere in the north of Germany, and that their chief kraal, a miserable stucco erection, is called Berlin, the author proceeds to tell how those creatures manage to exist, what are their institutions, manners, amusements, industries, and so -on."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></blockquote> +on."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></blockquote> <hr style="width: 45%;" /> @@ -4581,383 +4541,6 @@ The Last-Year Apprentice, The Bred-and-Born Housewife, Mrs. Muddle, The Motherly Woman, Mrs. Meddle, The Woman who Works, Dorothy Draggle-tail, &c.</p></blockquote> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3), by -Richard Dowling - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - -***** This file should be named 41554-h.htm or 41554-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/5/41554/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41554 ***</div> </body> </html> diff --git a/41554.txt b/41554.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 453764b..0000000 --- a/41554.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4769 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3), by Richard Dowling - -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: The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41554] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - THE WEIRD SISTERS. - - A Romance. - - BY RICHARD DOWLING, - - AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD." - - - In Three Volumes. - VOL. III. - - - LONDON: - TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. - 1880. - - [_All rights reserved._] - - CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, - GREAT NEW STREET, LONDON. - - - - - TO - EDMOND POWER, ESQ., - OF SPRINGFIELD, - Whose kindness to Mine and to Me - I SHALL NEVER FORGET - WHILE I AM. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - Part II.--The Towers of Silence--_continued_. - - - VII.--WAT GREY'S BUSINESS ROMANCE 1 - - VIII.--MAKING HOLIDAY 20 - - IX.--THE END OF THE HOLIDAY 39 - - - Part III.--Husband and Wife. - - - I.--THE SECRET OF THE SALE 58 - - II.--"SIR WILLIAM--" "NO; MIDHARST" 77 - - III.--THE PARTING 96 - - IV.--BETWEEN THE LIGHTS 116 - - V.--"A WOMAN OF NO NAME" 142 - - VI.--PENNILESS 159 - - VII.--LOSING 174 - - VIII.--"I AM HE. FIRE." 190 - - IX.--BANKER AND BARONET 201 - - X.--GREY REMEMBERS WHAT HE FORGOT 215 - - - - - -THE WEIRD SISTERS. - - - - -PART II. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -WAT GREY'S BUSINESS ROMANCE. - - -Grey found his mother in the front parlour of her own house. She was as -bright, intelligent as ever, and put down the _Times_ and took off her -spectacles as he entered. - -"Henry," she exclaimed, as he came in, "what is the matter? You are -looking like a ghost." - -"It is only that I have seen one, mother," he said wearily, tenderly, as -he kissed her, put his arms round her, and placed her in a chair. - -"Seen what?" she demanded, looking up impatiently at her stalwart son. - -"A ghost, mother." - -"Nonsense, Henry. Of late I see but little of you; and when I do see -you, you are full of mysteries, only fit for sempstresses in penny -parts. You ought not to treat me as if I wanted to be roused into -interest in your affairs by secrets and surprises." - -She patted her foot impatiently on the floor, and looked with vivacious -reproach in his face. - -He placed his hand gently but impressively on her shoulder, and said, -looking down calmly from his large blue frank eyes into her swift bright -gray eyes: - -"I am not, mother, practising any art upon you; I am practising a great -art upon myself." - -She now saw something serious was coming or was in his mind; and while -she did not allow her courage to decline, or the resolution of her look -to diminish, she asked simply, - -"And what is that art, Henry?" - -"That of enduring the company of a villain in the presence of the person -I most respect on earth." - -She looked round the room hastily. - -"He can't mean this place," she thought, "for we are alone." Raising -impatient eyes to his, she said, "I am listening. Who is this villain?" - -"Your son." - -"Say that again, my hearing----" She paused and put her hand behind her -ear, and bent forward her wrinkled neck to catch the words. - -"In your presence, mother, I am trying to endure the presence of your -villanous son, my villanous self." - -"Sit down, Henry," she said very quietly. - -He sat down on a chair a little distance in front of her. - -She thought, "His father never told me there was a taint of insanity on -his side of the family, and I know there was none on mine. This is -terrible, but I must keep cool. Perhaps it will pass away. We shall have -the best advice. He looks haggard. The wisest thing is to make little of -what he says." Then she said aloud, "Well, Henry, I suppose you are -going to tell me something else?" - -"I am going to tell you, mother, all man durst utter. The unspeakable -must remain unsaid." - -He leaned his elbow on a small table, and supported his brow with his -thumb and forefinger, shading his eyes with the fingers and the palm of -the hand. - -She sat upright on her chair. It was an easy chair, but she disdained -the support of elbows or back. She thought his words, "The unspeakable -must remain unsaid." "My son! my son! what has turned his poor head?" -Aloud she said, "Tell me all you please, Henry." - -"It is so cool and sweet and pure here, mother, in this house of yours, -in your presence; I would give all the world if I might live here." - -"Then why not come? That great empty house is too much for you, and you -are growing morbid there. Come here at once, and it will be like old -times to you and me." - -"I am not so lonely in that house as you might think," he said, with a -ghastly contraction of the lips and a shudder. - -"But you see no one now. You have no company, and even at its best and -brightest it was a dismal old barracks. Suppose, Henry, I live with -you?" - -He looked up suddenly, fiercely, and cried in a loud voice: - -"No, no; you must not think of that. That is the last thing likely to -happen. How could you think of such a thing?" - -His head, his head was clearly gone. Fancy his resisting such an offer -from her in such a passionate, ill-tempered way. - -"Then come and live with me; the isolation of that house is preying upon -you." - -He had dropped his head once more to its old position. - -"I am not so much alone there as you might suppose." - -"I thought you saw nobody lately." - -"But I am often, when at home now, in the company of Bee in her better -days." - -What splendid self-torture this was! To dance thus before his mother on -the brink of a precipice she did not see was exhilarating. It was -almost worth committing a crime to enjoy the contrast between the ideas -these words brought up in his mind and his mother's. - -"A bad sign," thought the old woman. "A bad sign of reason, when the -mind of a man of his age is always with the past." She said: "I think it -would be much better for you to shut up the Manor and come here. If you -take my advice you would most certainly leave that hateful house. It was -all very well when you were strong and happy to call parts of your house -by horrible names, but when you are ill and weak and nervous you get -superstitious, and full of foolish notions about those very things you -have been playing with." - -"Do you know, mother, I would not exchange my Tower of Silence for any -castle in England at this moment; no, not for the fee-simple of -Yorkshire." - -The tone, the words, and the awful smile that accompanied them, cowed -the spirit of the woman. "My God!" she thought, "this is worse than -death. His reason is toppling, toppling." - -She did not speak, but waited for him to go on. - -"But, mother, there is another reason for my not selling the Manor." - -"And what is that, Henry?" - -"I am thinking of getting married." - -"Married! Married!" - -"Yes. Am I so old or so feeble that I should not think of marrying -again?" he asked, with a clumsy attempt at a smile as he half uncovered -his pallid face. - -"No," she answered slowly. - -"Then why are you astonished?" - -"I did not say I was astonished." - -"No, mother, but you looked astonished; tell me why? Why were you -astonished at the idea of my marrying a second time? Do you know any -_reason_ why I should not?" - -This was a fierce pleasure. It was like stirring up a sleeping lion when -there was no chance of escape save through a small door, before reaching -which he might, if he awoke, spring upon you, seize you by the back, and -batter out your brains with one swing against the bars. It was like -mounting a parapet under fire, and standing there thirty seconds, watch -in hand, expecting to be struck, and trying to anticipate where. - -"Reason for your not marrying! No, I know nothing to prevent your -marrying." - -She did care to excite him in his very critical mental condition by -reference to the little comfort he had derived from his experience of -wedlock. - -"Well, mother, it is not only that no cause exists why I should not -marry, but an absolute necessity--a necessity there is no evading, -makes the step inevitable." - -He had raised his head from his hand and was looking in her face. - -"You have always had good reasons for your acts," she said, humouring -his whim. - -"And, moreover, it is imperatively necessary I shall marry one -particular woman, and no other." - -"What! in love again already!" exclaimed Mrs. Grey, with a desperate -attempt at archness. - -The attempt failed utterly, and her face wore a look of anxiety and -pain. It was now clear her son did not suffer from mere hallucination; -this was a break up of the whole intellect. - -The man was so lost to external things he did not notice the change in -his mother's face. He was deliberately rehearsing aloud his plan of -campaign, and counting his forces and chances. He had almost forgotten -he addressed his mother. He knew he might speak out with safety. This -was the first time he had dared to give utterance to his thoughts in the -presence of another. There was intoxication in the fearless recital of -his case, and, with his bodily eyes indifferent to things around him, he -abandoned himself to the delight of speaking his secret thought, and -observing how the uttered words lightened his burden. - -"You are curious to know her name?" he asked, in a mechanical tone. - -"I should like to hear who it is," she returned. - -"It's a very good name. It will bring no discredit on the name of Grey. -Guess." - -"Indeed, I cannot." - -"Maud Midharst." - -"Maud Midharst!" exclaimed the old woman, relaxing the rigidity of her -pose, and falling for support against the back of her chair--"Maud -Midharst!" she repeated, in a tone of dismay. For a moment she had -forgotten she was listening to a man suffering from severe mental -disturbance. Instantly almost she recovered herself, and fixing eyes now -full of tenderness and pity upon her son, resumed her upright attitude, -and continued her former plan of humouring him. "She is very beautiful, -very amiable, and very rich," the woman said. - -"She is very beautiful, very amiable, and _very poor_," he said -impressively. - -Again Mrs. Grey started. His tones were not those of a man of unsound -mind; and although his face looked pale and worn, and there was a queer -expression in the eyes, the whole conveyed the idea of a man overwrought -rather than radically unsound of head. She was so much thrown off her -guard that she could not refrain from repeating aloud, "Very poor!" - -"Yes, very poor," he went on in the same monotonous voice, and with the -same lightless face turned to hers. "And it is because she is very poor -I am going to marry her." - -"A regular love romance!" cried the old lady in a sprightly voice. The -tears were in her eyes. Her son, her only son, the idol of her life, -breaking down thus in his strong manhood! Hard sight for a mother! How -hard to sit still, and seem calm, and watch the light of departing -reason flickering in those large blue eyes, which in the happy warm long -ago had looked up to hers as the baby boy lay at her breast. - -"A real _business_ romance," he said gravely. "A real business romance." - -"It must be a romance indeed if you are marrying her because she is -poor, for I believe you, Henry, are not rich." She thought, "Perhaps it -will be best to take an interest in all this. If I do not he may think I -suspect him of being under delusions, and I daresay that would make him -worse." - -"The Daneford Bank is now secure and in a prosperous condition, but I -have nothing beyond its prosperity, so that, compared with the time I -got the Bank, I am a poor man, for I have lost all my private fortune. -Does it not seem strange to you, mother, that I, a poor man, should -aspire to the hand of a baronet's poor daughter?" - -"But, Henry, this is a love romance, and in love romances all things are -possible." - -"I have explained to you, mother, that it is a _business_, and not a -love romance. But I have not told you half the romance yet." - -"I am most anxious to hear it." - -"I have never said a word of love to her yet. I do believe a word of -love has never yet been spoken to her, and already there is a rival in -the field, so that now we have every element of success." - -"And who is this rival?" - -"The new baronet, Sir William Midharst." - -"Sir William Midharst! I thought he was in Egypt." - -"He has been, but he got back just in time for Sir Alexander's funeral. -He walked to the funeral with me, came back and fell in love with his -cousin Maud." - -"How do you know this?" - -"Mrs. Grant told me." - -"And does Mrs. Grant know you are in love with Miss Midharst?" - -"No, nor any one else." - -"I, for instance, know." - -"Who told you?" - -"You." - -"Never." - -"He forgets already what he told me a few minutes ago. This is terrible. -I shall not be able to stand it much longer. My poor Wat! I wonder what -has turned his brain?" the mother thought. She endeavoured to keep on -her face an expression of vivacious interest. - -He spoke again. "I never told you I was in love with Maud Midharst. I -only told you that it is absolutely necessary I should marry her." - -"In some things," the mother thought, "he is as clear as ever. Of course -all this talk of his marrying Miss Midharst is the result of some way -poor Bee's death affected him," she reflected. Aloud she said, "But, -Henry, if you do not love her, and if she is poor and you are not rich, -why are you compelled to marry her?" - -"If any one knew the answer to that question, mother, that person could -put me in the dock and convict me of embezzlement." - -She started to her feet and placed her hand on his shoulder, and cried -in a voice of agony: "My God, my son is mad!" - -He rose quietly and put both his hands tenderly on her shoulders, and -whispered hoarsely in her ear: "I am not mad now. I never was more sane -in my life. I _was_ mad when I stole Sir Alexander's savings to the last -penny. It was with his money I saved the Bank." - -"Great God, what do I hear!" - -"The truth. I am no better than a thief. I have stolen the old man's -savings and the young girl's fortune, and, unless I marry her, I shall -be found out. Did I not tell you I was in the company of a villain when -I came in first? Now you believe me." - -"And you lied to me when you told me about that money from the Pacific -coast? Ten thousand times better madness than this!" - -"I did." - -"You, Henry, my son, lied to me?" - -"Yes." - -"Understand my question once for all. When you, Henry Grey, told me, -your mother, that the Daneford Bank had been saved by money from the -Pacific coast, did you lie to me?" - -"I did." - -"Then, sir, leave my presence and my house for ever!" - -"Mother!" - -"Go, sir, at once!" - -"Mother, for God's sake! You do not know all!" - -"Go, sir, at once! I do not want to see any more of you--hear any more -of you. You have brought disgrace on our honourable name. You had not -the courage to face ruin, but you had the courage to face crime, and you -had the baseness to lie to me, sir. Go, I tell you, sir, and let me see -you no more. Let me forget there is a man alive who bears your -honourable father's name. Do not let me see you again. Do not let me -hear of you. You will not go, sir? Then I shall leave you. Remember, we -never meet again." - -She swept out of the room. - -When she had gone he stood a while holding his forehead in his hands, -then shook himself, left the room, and drew the front door after him -with a low laugh, muttering: "And I did not tell her all. I forgot a -part." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -MAKING HOLIDAY. - - -When Grey awoke the morning after the interview with his mother, he felt -calmer than usual. He had slept better, and the air of early November -was bright and crisp, and wholesome and invigorating. - -He arose, drew back the curtains, and raised the blind. The leaves were -all off the trees, and the bright sharp fretwork of oak sprays glittered -in the morning sun. The grove was silent. All its winged lodgers had -long since taken flight in search of food. The glades and caverns of the -grove no longer sweltered under canopies of impenetrable leaves. Aisles, -which had been vaults of sultry gloom in summer, lay partly open to the -sky. Here and there the eye could pierce the inter-twisted branches and -catch sight of the mounds of red rotting leaves. - -The grove no longer desired the screen of leaves to hide it from the -eyes of man, to cover up the monsters of soft rank vegetation that -throve and bloated until they burst with the unclean rottenness of -excess. All things perishable in the vegetable domain were now melting -down into the ground, there to lie until the spring-hunger of the seed -and root moved and drank them in, to thrust them once more whence they -lay into the green-giving air. - -In the warm weather these juices, as they move about through the earth, -are caught in the webs of roots and budding seeds, and are pushed -upwards through the crust of earth, and by the sun dyed into a coat of -many colours to keep excessive heat from the under earth. - -In the winter they are shorn of their beauty, and thrust down into all -the crevices of earth, there standing incorruptible sentinels of ice to -prevent the penetration of the cold. - -The coming and going of these juices through the mould is the -respiration of the earth. The breathing of all things grows less -frequent as they increase in size. Man breathes twelve times a minute, -the earth once a year. Can the heat of all earth's time be its share of -one fiery expiration of the sun? - -Grey stood gazing vacantly at the skeleton trees and the mounds of -red-yellow leaves. - -Of late he had observed that his thoughts came much more slowly than of -old, and this was a mercy. This morning they scarcely moved at all. - -"Like a skeleton," he thought. "The grove is like a skeleton from the -bones of which the flesh has rotted, fallen through, and is lying down -there under the ribs." - -He shuddered, put his hand to his head, muttering: "No, no; I must not -think of that; I must not think of that. I must think of anything but -that. Of course, the exposure--it is nearly three months there -now--has--has--and there is nothing left but--Oh, God! No, no, no; I -must not think." - -It took him a long time to collect his thoughts latterly. This morning -he was much slower than usual. It was those sleepless nights that made -him so dull of mornings now. He had such thoughts and visions in the -night that in the mornings he felt weary, worn out, jaded. - -His mother! - -Yes. He had not thought of that until now. That was bad, very bad. These -blows were coming too quickly and too heavily, and that one was the -heaviest of all. He had sought her in his sorest trouble, his direst -fear, and she had spurned him, cast him off, expelled him from her -presence for ever. She--she--she had been cruel to him--cruel to him. -She was all now left to him in the world. He had squandered everything -else in the world but her love and his love for her. He went to her in -his direst need, and confessed a small crime and a little sin, an -embezzlement and a lie only, and she had spurned him--more, it seemed to -him, for the lie than the embezzlement. This was too bad. If she had -spurned him for these, what would she do if he had told her of--of the -other thing? Called the police perhaps. Well, after all, the police were -not so terrible to him now, for there was no one in all the world he -cared for who cared for him, and he was free. - -All things had gone well with him until now, until the funeral of the -baronet. Since then he had learned he was not the absolute guardian of -Maud, he had found out Maud had an admirer, and he had lost the -affection and esteem of his mother for ever. - -The blows were too fast and too heavy. - -What should he do? He could not go on in this way. He should break down -if he did not get relief. There was no use in going to the castle while -that young fellow was there, and even if the young fellow were gone, the -thinker was in no state of mind to push forward his fortunes with Maud. -Indeed, there was absolute danger in going near the castle. In his -present state of mind he might betray his designs on Maud, and that -would be ruin beyond retrieval. That young fellow was not likely to -propose to the orphan a few days after her father's death. He, the -thinker, would take a week's holiday, and come back invigorated for the -game. - -That day he went to the Bank and arranged everything for an absence of a -week or ten days. He wrote a note to Miss Midharst, saying he was -compelled by ill-health to leave Daneford for a week or so. He expressed -his hope that while he was away Mrs. Grant would advise in any little -matter on which Miss Midharst might in the usual course look to him for -guidance; as to any matter of importance, they would have his address at -the Bank, and a messenger should call every day at the castle for any -message, letter, or telegram she might please to send to him. He would -send her his address; but he did not know how long he might stay in -London, where he was going first, as change was what he needed most. - -To Sir William he wrote courteously and blandly to the effect that he -hoped Sir William would not forget his promise of drawing on the -Daneford Bank for the twenty thousand spoken of, and any further sum the -baronet might stand in need of. The banker regretted he was obliged to -go away so soon after the sad event at the castle; but he was absolutely -done up, and rest was the only thing to restore him to vigour. The -writer hoped to be back in Daneford in time to say God speed Sir -William, on the baronet's setting out for Egypt. While the banker was -away, Mr. Matthew Aldridge, manager of the Daneford Bank, would be -delighted to do anything in his power for Sir William. - -Grey wrote a few lines to Mrs. Grant. That note was the shortest of the -three, and took him the longest time to write. He tore up two copies. -Nothing could be simpler or more guileless than the one he sent. It ran: - - "DEAR MRS. GRANT, - - "I am obliged by my health, to take a few days' rest in a new - scene. I hope to be no longer than a week or ten days from home. I - hope you will not think absenting myself so soon after Sir - Alexander's death shows want of devotion to Sir Alexander's child. - My first duty in life is to her. I need not say I leave her with - implicit confidence in your care. I know you will always be loyal - to the wishes of her father, herself, and yours very faithfully, - - "HENRY WALTER GREY." - -When these letters had been disposed of and a few other business -matters attended to, he took train for the south-east and arrived in -London that night. - -The journey fatigued him; and change of air, even when from a good into -a worse atmosphere, being beneficial, he slept soundly that night, and -awoke with less sense of distraction, less difficulty in collecting his -thoughts. - -In Grey's youth he had spent much time in London, and knew portions of -the town, those west of Tottenham Court Road and Trafalgar Square, very -well. But he had little acquaintance with the City, and none with the -east. He had been frequently in the City on banking business, and knew -the ten streets confluent round the Bank. But the bulk of the City was -an unknown land to him. - -Change was what he sought. Novelty without solitude. Therefore, instead -of the quiet hotel in Jermyn Street, where he usually put up, he found -himself this morning in a large City hotel not a bow-shot from the -cathedral of St. Paul. - -A while he lay awake listening to the tremulous mutter of the City -traffic. What a contrast, these groans of wheels and clatters of hoofs -with the morning silence about the Manor House. Here, the walls -vibrated, the solid ground shook, the air fluttered against the -window-panes with the sway of bodies moving ceaselessly hither and -thither. There, no sound came in upon the desert realms of the morning -silence but the faint twitter of a bird or the far-off crack of a -carter's whip or a sportsman's gun. - -Would it not be better for him to stop here always? - -Here were no suggestions of the disastrous past. No one knew him here. -Suppose he burnt down the Manor House, took twenty thousand pounds out -of the Bank, changed his name, disguised himself, and came to live in -the middle of roaring London? Ambition he would abandon. Blows had come -so heavily and so quickly, the ambition had been beaten out of him. -Security and peace were what he yearned for. Security and peace. Peace. - -If he lived in this great whirlpool in the ocean of Man, the shoutings -of his fellows would drown the memories of his ears. Who could hear the -whisperings of a woman's dress in the tumult of this great city, with -its turmoil of multitudinous wheels and clangour of innumerable bells? -Here he could take his ease for the rest of his life, and drown the -vague hideous whispers of the dead in the loud-toned wrangles of the -living. - -There was, however, no necessity for his now changing his name or -adopting disguises. He had some days to rest and recruit. When these had -passed it would be time enough for him to think of precautions. - -He went out after breakfast, and strolled along streets he had never -been in before. - -He moved west through streets running in perplexing zigzags, a little to -the north of Cheapside, Newgate Street, and Holborn. He strolled slowly, -looking in at shop-windows, and taking interest in the disputes of -ragged boys and the bargaining of slattern women at the doors of -slopshops and marine store dealers. He was not used to such scenes, and -they took his mind off his own affairs and condition better than the -deserted parks or richer streets. It seemed to him as though he had -already severed his connection with Daneford, and lived emancipated from -the past. - -At last he came to an open space, in the centre of which stood a large -heavy-looking building he had never seen before. Passing along the -southern side of this open space, he came to the entrance of that -building. - -He thought: "Often as I have been in London, I have never seen even the -outside of this before. It will be a capital place to spend a few -hours." - -He entered the enclosure through the small gate, and walked slowly up to -the deep portico. Under this portico he stood awhile, watching the -pigeons, and the people going in and out. Then turning his back upon the -daylight, he entered the British Museum, that storehouse for the -unclaimed personal property of intestate centuries and forgotten kings. - -Passing slowly through the hall of busts, he reached the Egyptian Room. -He had no great love of the antique, no great curiosity in people who -staggered through the dark approaches leading up to the still, -unspiritualised, unexciting Greek art. He never took much interest in -art. He had been many times to the Academy. He had enjoyed going; but it -is doubtful if he were offered to be allowed to go through the rooms -alone he would have accepted the privilege. - -To-day Egypt had a new meaning and a new attraction for him. From Egypt -that young man had come unexpectedly to thwart his plans. To Egypt that -young man was going back again. - -What preposterous and foolish figures those around were! What impossible -creatures! Cat-headed men! Was this the kind of country that young man -had come from? Alligators, too, and crocodiles! Tombs. The Egyptians -gave more honour to their illustrious dead than we do to our living -poor. With them a dead lion was much better than a living dog. - -Egypt must have been a land of monsters, fools, and tombs. - -Grey was now leaning on the rail which protected a sarcophagus of -polished black stone. His eyes were fixed vacantly on the coffin. - -"The Egyptians," he followed on thinking, "preserved their dead for -ever; the Greeks destroyed them at once; and we put them underground, -and let them shift for themselves. - -"Put them underground--not all!" - -He stopped thinking, and looked around cautiously. There were no -protecting noises here. Infrequent footsteps, and occasionally a cough, -were the only sounds invading the dull gloomy gallery. Coming up towards -the sarcophagus by which he stood was a middle-aged portly man, leading -two fair flaxen-haired children by the hand. The man was describing the -various objects they passed. - -"Sometimes we don't let the living shift for themselves, we shift for -them; and sometimes without putting the dead in the ground we leave -those whom we shifted out of life to shift for themselves unburied." - -The man leading the little girls reached the sarcophagus. He stopped the -children and, pointing to the coffin, said: - -"This was King Pharoah's favourite coffin. When he was quite a young man -he contracted the habit of being buried in this coffin, and as he grew -older he gave way more and more to this degrading habit. Stop, let me -look closer. Upon my word and honour I have made a mistake. I see by one -of the mortuary cards issued at the death, and found when they dug up -this coffin out of the Nile, the body was that of one Ibis Cheops, who -flourished a long time ago. When he was done flourishing they put him -in here. Flourishing long ago was greatly admired; we solicitors are -dead against it now. Let me see any of my copying clerks flourishing, -and he may take down his hat and overcoat and go and enjoy life." - -"Is that in the catalogue, all about this stone hearse?" asked one of -the children. - -"No, child." - -"Then how do you know, uncle? You told us you were never here before." - -"My dear child, you forget I am a solicitor; and once a man has anything -to do with the Court of Chancery he is up to every mean dodge of human -nature. It isn't to say that the muddle-headed ancient Egyptians could -deceive or over-reach him in any way, but he is more than a match at -cheating for the modern Greeks; and that's about as stiff a competitive -examination in roguery as anyone can pass. I beg your pardon, sir; Mr. -Grey, I think, of Daneford? Am I right?" - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE END OF THE HOLIDAY. - - -Grey looked up with an uneasy start and a sudden pallor. - -"You do not remember me. My name is Barraclough. I am London -representative of Mr. Evans, your Daneford solicitor." - -"Of course, of course. This is about the last place in the world I -should think of meeting you, Mr. Barraclough." - -"I may say the same of you, Mr. Grey. Indeed few men--none, practically -speaking--of our age come here, unless specialists of some kind." - -"I have never been here before." - -"Nor have I. That fact explains our presence here to-day at our time of -life. As a rule, boys are brought here when young, under the impression -they are going to have a treat; they find the thing a pedantic stuck-up -bore, get disgusted with the place, and swear an oath (most likely the -only one they swear and keep) that they will not enter this building -again. Ever after in their memory this building seems the sour, old, -crusty, maiden aunt of the sights of London. Now, my dears, just walk on -a little before us; I want to speak to this gentleman. Mind to keep a -sharp look-out for Pharaoh's favourite coffin. I'm sure it's somewhere -hereabouts. You'll know it at once by not being able to distinguish it -from the others until you shut one eye and keep the other eye fixed on -the Rosetta stone, because that is, as you know, the only key we have to -the hieroglyphics. I think they keep the Rosetta stone in one of the -cellars, for fear of the daylight fading the inscription. You shall go -down and see it presently; but now run on, and look up the coffin. My -nieces, Mr. Grey," he explained, as the children with bewildered gravity -walked on. "I live quite close--Bloomsbury Square. My wife had to go -somewhere or other to-day, and asked me to take the children out for a -few hours; so I left word at the office I should be here if they wanted -me. You are not looking quite so well as the last time I saw you." - -"I have not been very well of late, and came up here for a rest from -business." - -"I don't know how you bankers live. If I were one, I should worry myself -to death in forty-eight hours. I should always be thinking my clerks -were pocketing hundred-pound notes, or burglars were breaking into the -strong-box." - -Grey winced a little, but said nothing. The other ran on: - -"I am sure this meeting is most lucky. Will you dine with me to-day? I -got the instructions from Evans this morning, and will do the best I -can, you may be sure. I have not, of course, been able to do anything in -the matter as yet. It will take time. Dine with me, and we can talk the -matter over. We shall be quite alone--no one but my wife. We can -exchange views over a cigar." - -Grey felt perplexed and confounded. He had not the least idea of what -Barraclough referred to. Could it be his head had been so much confused -he had gone to Evans, given him important instructions, and then -forgotten all about them? The thing must be of consequence. There would -be no need to discuss a trifle. It would not, however, do to confess his -ignorance or forgetfulness to this man. - -"Can we not speak of it here?" Grey asked. - -Barraclough looked around, shrugged his shoulders in deprecation of the -place, and said: "I think business always comes best after dessert. Do -dine with me. I promise you an excellent cigar." - -Grey was sorely perplexed. He had no hint of what those instructions -were. It was absolutely necessary he should find out. This was not a -fitting place for a business chat. The idea of dining with anyone was -intolerable. - -"I am very much obliged to you, and should be very pleased to dine with -you, but I--I really cannot. I must keep as quiet as possible. You will -excuse my not going; and, as a favour, tell me now what you have to -say." - -"Certainly, certainly. Let me see--let me see. Of course, Mr. Grey, in a -matter of this kind we must be business-like, and take into -consideration facts we might otherwise leave out of sight." - -"Of course." - -What could be coming? This was a very grave prelude. - -"You are executor and trustee to the will?" - -"Yes." Grey started. "Sole executor and trustee." - -"Sole executor and trustee! Are you sure of that? Evans said you were -one of the executors and trustees." - -"I am sole executor and trustee, I assure you." - -What had he said to Evans about the will? In his conscious moments he -had no intention of saying anything to Evans about the will. The blows -were coming too heavily and too quickly. His head--his head! - -"Strange! Evans ought to be more careful. He said he was not sure -whether the others were living or not; but he mentioned the fact that -it would be necessary to inquire and ascertain if they were living or -dead." - -The attorney looked cautiously into the sarcophagus, as though he -expected the bottom to disappear, disclosing the missing executors and -trustees. - -Grey glanced at the other man in a bewildered way. The whole of his -intellect must be going. Not only had he gone to Evans and given him -important instructions about something or other, but, if he was to -credit Evans and Barraclough, he had forgotten a feature in that will, -and this very feature happened to be enough to destroy him instantly. -Could it be, good Heavens, that there was a second name in the will, and -he had forgotten it, and was roaming here about London instead of taking -the precaution of blowing out his brains! - -He felt sick and faint. His head began to swim. What a blessed fate that -of those men of Egypt who, three thousand years ago, had died, and been -swathed up in bandages, enclosed in huge granite coffins, and buried in -the inviolable silence and security of pyramids! Here was he, all naked -and raw from crime, out in the rough winds, among the rough ways of -unfeeling men; and add to all this his head--his head! - -"I am surprised at Evans," said Grey. "He ought to have known. He ought -to have known better." - -"I should think he ought!" exclaimed the attorney warmly. "To fancy a -man instructing another to move in an important matter of this kind, to -write and say the consent of the trustees might be relied upon, and then -to find out there was but one trustee! Evans must be going mad." - -"Yes; he or--I." - -"Nonsense," returned Barraclough. "There is no chance of your being -wrong. Evans is either careless or mad." - -"What do you purpose doing?" asked Grey cautiously. - -That question might safely be put in the face of any facts. - -"I shall sell, of course. Evans tells me you agree to sell; so that if -you are sole executor and trustee, there is no need to look up anyone -for consent." - -What was he to hear next? This man was telling him he had a co-executor -and co-trustee, and that he had authorised Evans to sell. Monstrous! -Which was his period of insanity: when he had (if he had) given Evans -the instructions, or now? Which was his madness: in giving such -instructions, or in now believing his senses and the words of this man? -He made a great effort, pulled all his faculties together, knit his -brows, and put this question to himself: "Is the lead to overtake the -gold--to-night?" Then he put another question to Barraclough: - -"What did Evans say altogether?" - -"That Mrs. Grey had come to him----" Arrested by the banker's manner, -Barraclough paused. - -Grey had leaned suddenly forward, thrust a pale, shrivelled face close -to Barraclough's, placed one hand on the attorney's shoulder, and, -pointing over his own right shoulder with the other hand, whispered: - -"_This one?_" - -"You are ill?" - -"_No. Go on._" - -"You really look very ill. Let me----" - -"_No. Go on._" - -"He said she wished to sell out her annuity of two thousand a year----" - -"Who said that?" - -"Mrs. Grey, your mother." - -"_My mother?_" - -"Yes." - -Suddenly Grey's face changed. It flushed. He drew himself clear of the -attorney, and, throwing his arms aloft, uttered a loud long laugh, -followed by the words: "Before high Heaven I thought he meant my wife!" - -All eyes were now directed to where the tall banker stood, with his arms -upraised, and a smile of joy upon his flushed face. Ere the last echo of -his voice had died away among these galleries of relics from the wrecks -of a hundred religions, Grey's knees shook, and, with a groan, he fell -to the ground. - -It was hours before Walter Grey regained consciousness. His thoughts -were sluggish and dull. The edges of his ideas were blurred, and -wavering this way and that against the background. Around him all was -dim. It was night. A shaded lamp was somewhere in the room. He did not -know where the lamp stood. - -Where was that lamp? What a strange thing no one came there to tell him -where the lamp lay! He himself could not of course get up to try and -find out where the lamp was. Of course not. - -Why not? Ay, why not? Wasn't it very strange there should be no one -there to tell him where the lamp was, particularly as he could not get -up! - -But why--why--why? - -He lost the sense of sight, and felt his eyes pressed against -illimitable void darkness. His ears, too, were dead, plugged with thick -silence that was not clear, but confused silence, as in the ears of one -deep in water. Then the darkness and the silence shuddered with horror, -and he ceased to be aware. - -It was daylight, and his tongue was very thick--thicker than ever he had -felt it. It was so thick and stiff he could not move it. This was -strange. The light, too, was peculiar. It looked as though the dawn or -daylight lay far from the window. Of course the dawn was far away from -the windows always, but it seemed immeasurably far off this morning. But -then the ringing of all those bells made up for the increased distance -of the dawn. How dull he had been not to see that at first! Of course -the bells more than compensated the distance of the dawn. How he hated -Latin! He'd never even try to learn it--never. They might flog him as -much as ever they chose, but Latin he'd never learn. Not for all the -masters in England. No; not for his father. He would not even pretend to -learn it, only for his mother. But for his mother he'd shy a slate at -the head-master, and hit the Latin man with the heavy, very heavy knob -of the big school-room poker on the bald part, right in the middle of -the bald part, of his head. They were ringing a thousand bells more now. -How the sound did thin out the dawn! It thinned it out until all was -worn away. Well, he had better go to sleep. He had a hard day's work -before him. He had promised Bee (this very day six weeks they had been -married) to take her on the river, their own river, and show her what he -could do with the sculls. He was to pull her down to Seacliff. And yet, -with that run on the Bank, how was he to sleep? Bee too was worrying him -a good deal. Why did they not stop those bells? They had changed the -measure of the bells. They had been ringing peals of joy; they now rang -ten thousand times more bells, but they were all ringing death-bells. -Ah, yes; how stupid he had been! Of course, they were burying the -universe in the Great Darkness, and these were the great bells swung in -the peaked hollows of space, ringing for the burial in chaos of the -dead stars. Now he must go. - -It was afternoon before he again opened his eyes. He felt something had -happened, what he did not know. "I have had a bad fall, or an accident -of another kind; my head feels queer and I am weak. What has happened? -Where am I?" - -He lay still awhile to recover strength. Then he asked feebly: "Is there -anyone here?" - -A nurse showed herself. She would not allow him to speak much, but she -told him the history of his present position briefly: - -While speaking to Mr. Barraclough in the British Museum, he had had an -attack, of what kind the doctor did not say. From the British Museum Mr. -Barraclough had him conveyed to this place, the attorney's house, where -he had been insensible for some hours. - -Had he raved? - -No; not a word. - -Had any message been sent home? - -Yes. Mr. Barraclough had telegraphed to Mr. Grey's chief man at -Daneford, and the gentleman was now waiting below. - -Grey asked that Mr. Aldridge might be sent to him. The nurse agreed to -admit the manager on an understanding the interview was to occupy no -more than a quarter of an hour. - -In a few minutes Aldridge entered the room, and having expressed his -regrets and hopes, and received suitable replies, Grey's first question -was: - -"Have you told anyone of the contents of that telegram?" - -"No." - -"You are sure?" - -"Quite sure." - -"Tell no one on the face of the earth." - -"I promise not." - -"Aldridge, I have known you some time, and I have every reason to -believe and trust you. I am under many obligations to you. Keep this -matter entirely to yourself, and you will double all my gratitude." - -"Rely on me." - -"It may leak out through the telegraph office or through Barraclough. I -want you to go back to Daneford at once, see Evans, and tell him not to -say anything of my illness. This is most important. Now go. Barraclough -may have told Evans. Go at once." - -"Any further orders?" - -"No." - -"I have paid Sir William Midharst's cheque for twenty thousand." - -"All right. Don't lose a moment. Don't miss the first train." - -Grey fell back exhausted. Though his head ached, it felt clearer than -for many weeks. - -"It would never do," he thought, "to have all Daneford gossiping over -the infirmities of a man who must one of these days be a candidate -bridegroom. The least said about me the better. I have neither the -humour nor the strength for criticism or sympathy at present." - -It was several days before he was well enough to go home. He went back -straight to Daneford. - -The evening of his arrival he strolled through the city, and took no -heed of the direction in which he had wandered until he was attracted by -something unusual in a house over the way. The front of the house was -all dark. It was his mother's house. The piers of the gate were covered -with auction bills announcing in a few days the sale of the lease and -furniture. - -He had, until now, forgotten what Barraclough had told him. All rushed -in upon his mind. - -"She is going to sell her annuity, her lease, her furniture, poor old -woman; and I, the only trustee living, cannot prevent her, cannot -approach her. Poor old woman! Wat Grey, I never pitied you until this -moment." - - - - -PART III. HUSBAND AND WIFE. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE SECRET OF THE SALE. - - -Grey had taken all the precautions in his power to prevent a report of -his illness spreading, because he did not wish anything to get abroad -which might make his approaches to Maud seem unreasonable. That was an -important consideration. But it sank into insignificance beside the -enormous danger likely to arise from the concentration of public -attention upon him at this time. - -Here was his own mother, the one owner of remaining claims upon his -better nature, imperilling his fortune--his neck. By advertising this -sale, the eyes of all Daneford would be drawn to his mother, and the -tongues of Daneford would be busy with his name. He himself did not know -why his mother had resolved upon converting all she had in the world -into cash, though he had an uneasy suspicion he could guess if he tried. -His great dread was that his mother might do some incautious thing, take -some incautious measure, in carrying out her design. - -Suppose her action did not suggest examination of anything in connection -with him, he would still be in a very uncomfortable position. Surely -people would speak to him of the step his mother was about to take. What -answer should he make? What explanation could he give? If anyone asked -him why his mother was selling, he could not tell, for he did not know. -It would soon be found out that, under the simple conditions of his -father's will, his authority would be necessary to the sale. How could -he justify so unwise an act on the part of his mother? How could he tell -people he approved of it? And yet he must say he sanctioned it, -otherwise people would think there was something wrong. - -But even if he said he sanctioned it, would they not think there was -something wrong? People would look first with amazement and then with -suspicion at the sale of an old woman's annuity, house and furniture, -when he, her childless and only son, was reputed to be enormously rich. -What could induce a woman like Mrs. Grey to sell her house in her native -town, and the chairs her husband had used, the table at which he had -sat, the back drawing-room furniture given her by him as a birthday -present after the coming of their only boy? Clearly nothing but want of -money. - -It would be known his mother and he had been on most affectionate terms -all their lives. Why did not an affectionate son spare an affectionate -mother the unpleasantness of a sale by giving her the paltry few -thousands? Even if he was mean enough not to make her a present of them, -he might advance them upon the security she had to offer. It could not -be that mother and son had quarrelled; if that were so he would clearly -refuse his assent. It could not be she was in difficulties while her son -had money. The clear deduction, the only possible deduction left to the -people of Daneford would be that the selling was with his, Wat's, full -consent, and that the money was for him--for the Daneford Bank. - -All this was quite clear to Grey; beyond it he durst not go. No, he -would not allow his mind to look behind the curtain drawn across the -remote future. - -What should he do? - -All night he lay awake, trying to solve that question. Morning came and -found him without a solution. - -He had recovered wonderfully. His mind was now clear and vigorous. He -resolved not to go to the office this day. He could not face people -without some answer to enquiries sure to be made, and he had not yet -resolved upon the course he should pursue. - -He spent the forenoon reading and writing letters. One he wrote to the -Castle to Miss Midharst, announcing his return, and that he should call -upon her next day. A second he addressed to his mother in the following -terms: - - "MOTHER, - - "One last word. If you persist in attracting attention to my - affairs, by selling out, the chances are I shall be ruined; and - such ruin will be mine that I shall not face it, but leave people - to discuss my conduct over my corpse." - -He did not sign this note. He sent it by James, the stupid, purblind, -discharged soldier, and bade him wait for an answer. - -In an hour James returned with the answer. It was in a large envelope, a -very large envelope. The reply must have been prepared in anticipation -of the appeal. A reply so bulky must be a favourable one. If an adverse -answer had to be given, it would be brief. - -With trembling hands he broke the seal as soon as he was alone. He drew -forth several documents. But the first that caught his eye was the -smallest of all--his own letter returned unopened! Upon the envelope was -written, in the unsteady hand of his mother, these words: - -"Sign the enclosed papers. The signatures must be witnessed. They must -be signed and with me before the sale. I have not opened your letter. I -daresay it does not lie, but how could I be sure?" - -His hand ceased to tremble. He put the unopened letter into his pocket -with a firm deliberate hand, calmly took up the legal papers, perused -them carefully, critically, and paused now and then to extract the sense -from the legal jargon. - -When he had finished reading he rang the bell. James answered it. - -"James, is there any other man who can read and write about the place, -besides you?" - -"One of the clerks has just come with a message for you, sir." - -"Ask him to step this way, please, and come yourself." - -In a few minutes the clerk entered, followed by the servant. - -"Glad to see you, Doughty. Got a message for me? Take a seat." - -"Yes, sir. A message from Mr. Aldridge. This is it." - -"Thank you. I want you, now that you have come so opportunely, to -witness my signature to documents of importance. They concern the sale -of my mother's annuity and property. I am sole surviving trustee to my -father's will, and I am now about to sign these documents, authorising -those sales. Stand up, Doughty, and look at me as I sign. James, come -near. You are near-sighted. Closer still. Now!" - -He signed, and they after him. - -"That will do, James. It is exceedingly unlikely there will be any -dispute. In case there should, all you have to remember is that I signed -these papers in your presence, and you in mine, and in the presence of -one another. I am not sure the last is necessary, but never mind. You -need not trouble yourselves to remember all I have said about the matter -contained in the papers. You may go now, James." - -When the servant had retired he said to the clerk: "Thank you, Doughty. -You came very luckily. I will ask you to take these documents back to -Mrs. Grey's. Usually such matters reach one through an attorney, but I -am sorry to say this is not a very ordinary or pleasant transaction. -Leave the documents with Mrs. Grey. There is no answer. Then go back to -the Bank, and ask Mr. Aldridge to come to me here this afternoon or -evening. I shall not be in town to-morrow, and have something to -communicate to him. This is the reply to the note you brought from him." - -When the manager of the Daneford Bank arrived at the Manor House he was -shown into the presence of the banker. - -Grey received him with more of the old grave blandness than he had -displayed for a long time. - -"Aldridge," he said, "I am sorry I have a little bad news. It does not -concern the Bank. It is worse than that. I wish to Heaven it did concern -the Bank. We can bear reverses in business better than home troubles." -He paused, with his eyes fixed on the ground, in deep thought. - -Aldridge moved his chair closer to Grey's, to show he was giving his -best attention. He did not speak. - -"You can meet a business difficulty face to face; but you shrink from -difficulties or unpleasantnesses which bring the names of those you love -and honour into the public mouth." - -It was plain to Aldridge Grey was weighing his words with the nicest -care. The manager considered it better to preserve his silence still. - -"I am going now," pursued Grey, "to place myself upon your honour----" - -"I am sure you may do that," interrupted Aldridge with respectful -emphasis. The respect in the emphasis was not that of employed to -employer, but of sympathiser for a fellow-man, an esteemed fellow-man in -trouble. - -Something in Aldridge's tone struck Grey. He stood up, stretched out his -hand to Aldridge, took the manager's hand in his, and said impressively: -"Aldridge, I am sure of that." - -"Thank you. Now you may go on. I will not interrupt again." - -"You know my mother has advertised her house and furniture for sale?" - -"Yes." - -"And that she is about to sell her annuity." - -"So I have heard." - -"I, as trustee, have just signed the documents. There is talk about -this affair in town?" - -"There is; a good deal. People cannot understand it." - -"It came as a great shock and surprise to me when I heard it. It was -that shock knocked me up in London." - -"I thought it must have had something to do with it." - -"It was the cause of it. Well, I am placed in a horribly awkward -position. My mother is called upon to pay a large sum of money, say -eight to ten thousand. Of course, we could easily manage that." - -"Easily, I should think," said Aldridge, thinking with pride of the -gallant stand the Bank had made in the late ruinous times. - -"But," continued Grey, "if I paid the money now, I might be called upon -to pay a similar or even a larger sum in six months, and again six -months later, and I could not stand that kind of thing." - -Aldridge shook his head and looked grave in confirmation of Grey's -decision. - -"The things must be sold," continued the banker. "When she has no -property to pledge, no annuity to pawn, I can make a suitable allowance -to her. The fact is, Aldridge, my poor mother has lost all her money in -gambling on the Stock Exchange. Her name does not appear. She did it -through some fellow in London. Now you see how there is nothing for it -but to sell out. You see that clearly?" - -"Nothing in the world could be plainer. A woman of her age!" - -"Isn't it extraordinary in a woman of her years?" - -"Wonderful!" - -"Now I told you I threw myself on your honour, and what I want you to do -is to keep the matter rigidly to yourself, except in such cases as you -in your judgment think silence would injure the Bank, and then you must -not reveal the facts except upon a pledge of strict, the strictest -secrecy. No earthly consideration would induce me to allow my poor -mother's name to become a byword in Daneford, where she has been -respected for so many years. Aldridge, Aldridge, my friend, I count on -you to do this for me." - -This time it was the manager who stood up. He went to the banker, caught -his hand, and said: "You may count upon me in this, Mr. Grey, as upon -yourself. I should be the last in the world to make idle talk about the -name of Grey, and you may rely upon my keeping the secret from everyone, -except when the interest of the Bank is at stake." - -"Thank you, my dear Aldridge. It is a great relief to me to have opened -my mind to you. You are the only man whose discretion I could trust in -so delicate a matter." - -In a little while Aldridge took his leave, and Grey was left alone. - -"By Jove," he mused, "that returned letter was a splendid tonic. It -pulled me together like magic. I feel a new man now--a new man. Now I -have only one person to take care of--myself. She would not hear me. -Because I tried to save her the misery I myself endured, because I -represented things to her as flourishing when all was gone, she turns on -me, throws me off, draws attention to my credit and my reputation when I -should have neither if the truth were known, if the lesser truth were -known; and by opening up inquiry leading to the discovery of the lesser -truth, the disclosure of the greater was risked. - -"By Jove, that returned letter was my salvation! She thought she was -treating me as I deserved, severely; all the time she was only nerving -me to lace my armour and prepare for the great fight. I can easily -provide now against any course she may take short of denunciation, and I -don't think she will go so far as that. - -"The reason for the sale, as Aldridge has heard it, will be known under -pledges of secrecy to-morrow to half-a-dozen of the most important men -in Daneford. That will be more than enough to counteract any sinister -rumours. The pledge of secrecy extracted from the men whom Aldridge -tells will not operate at all, save in making those to whom they give -the news very careful as to whom they in turn tell it. Thus it will -never come to her ears, even if she stays in Daneford, which I doubt; -and thus she will never have an opportunity of denying it." - -He got up and walked about. His elation was great. He swelled out his -chest, threw back his shoulders, and allowed his arms to swing at his -sides. His thoughts ran on: - -"I have been fencing with death, and for the moment I have disarmed my -foe. That sale might have ruined me, given me over to the hangman; I -have averted the danger, and turned the attack into a source of -security. In a moment of weakness I told her, in a moment of strength I -turned the feeble act into a fresh rampart; for how can I tell, if -things went on smoothly, as they had been going (had she not shown the -danger-signal at the Consols), I might not, in the weak and pitiful -state I then was in, have told her all? Now a gulf lies between her and -me. It is unlikely we shall ever meet again. She had the power of -exercising an influence over me which might not be to my safety. I have -ensured my future safety by getting away from the influence of the only -person who could make me indiscreetly talkative." - -He paused in his walk and drew himself up before the glass. Much of the -haggard expression had left his face. He was flushed and -handsome-looking as of old. His eyes shone with excitement and the -anticipation of triumph. - -Once more he strode up and down the room. - -"I feel five-and-twenty to-day. Five-and-twenty; not a month older. And -though in spirits and health and strength I feel no more than half my -age, I am conscious I carry the experience of a second quarter of a -century on the shoulders of the first. I could command an army or make -love to a school-girl. I shall win yet. I shall win in spite of that -lanky nigger, Sir William. I shall win I know, I feel. These muscles are -more than a match for his; this head is more than a match for his; and -in spirits I am a long way his junior. I shall win now, for all -obstacles are out of my way. She is gone for ever, and she was the last -link with----Bah! the old time is dead. Earth to earth. I am a new man, -I say." - -In all this he never thought of her as his mother. He always looked upon -her as she or her; never as mother. He treated her as if the spirit of -his mother had left the body, and the spirit of another, a stranger, had -entered in. - -That night he slept well, and started early for the Castle the next -day. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -"SIR WILLIAM----" "NO; MIDHARST." - - -"The day after to-morrow I must leave, Maud. I shall have to spend a day -or two in London, and then I sail." - -He was looking down very gravely at her. - -She looked up gravely at him. "I wish you had not to go away." - -"So do I, but there is no help for it. I would much rather stay in -England and look after affairs here. You never can trust anyone to carry -out your plans. You must see the men at work, or they must know you may -at any moment see them. I have planned my own designs and decorations, -and tradesmen consider it a point of honour to rob an amateur. They will -not do what an amateur tells them, and they are sure to cheat him most -liberally. The father of a friend of mine determined upon doing up his -house himself. He was not a good man of business like me, but, like me, -he knew what he wanted done. He made a rough estimate of what the job -would cost him, and when it was finished he found the bills came to -about three times his estimate. He got an accountant to look through the -bills. The first item the accountant called the attention of my friend's -father to was six white marble chimney-pieces for bedrooms at two -hundred pounds each. He had told the builder to get three -chimney-pieces; there were places in the house for only three of the -sort. On investigation the builder stated six had been got, three -having been broken after arrival. 'But,' said the accountant, 'you have -not allowed anything for the old ones. What did they fetch?' 'Oh,' said -the builder, 'they fell to pieces, and I broke them up.' Subsequently, -when going over the newly-built house of a friend, he found two -chimney-pieces, one like his old and one like his new ones. 'Where did -you get these?' 'Bought them for a dead bargain. Some man, who heard I -was building, sold me the old one for thirty-five, and the new one for -seventy.' The visitor asked for a description of the seller. It exactly -corresponded with the builder. Subsequently it came out that the new -chimney-pieces had been kept buried in sand until they could be removed -in a cart under a load of straw, and that the old ones had gone out -covered with a layer of rubbish!" - -"Do you not think, William, that if Mr. Grey would consent to look after -the men, such things might be prevented?" - -"Yes; I have thought of asking Mr. Grey. But he is such a busy man. He -will have, I daresay, a great deal to do on account of your father's -will. It would be too much to expect him to spare time for coming down -here and looking after a lot of lazy workmen. In fact, it would be out -of the question. As to a clerk of works, or anything of that kind, I -would not dream of such a thing. They wink at scamped work for a -consideration, and order things they do not want. Dear Maud, I weary you -with lime-and-mortar matter." - -"No, no, no; I like to hear you talk in this way. It is as if--as -if----" She paused, unable for the moment to mould her thoughts into -words. - -"As if what, Maud?" - -"As if you liked to talk to me in this way." - -Her eyes were fixed on his, his on hers. For a moment neither spoke. -Then he said: - -"Yes, I do like to talk to you in this familiar business-way. You know -we are alone now in the world; and if I don't talk freely to you, to -whom else on earth am I?" - -"I had a note from Mr. Grey this morning, saying he has returned, and -will be here to-day. Had you not better speak to him?" - -"I will. That is settled. If he hesitates, I shall not allow him to do -it; but I shall try what he will say. Even if he refuses he may be able -to suggest some trustworthy person he knows. You see, I have been so -short a time in England, and am such an utter stranger here, I know no -one." - -When Grey came he found the cousins together. Some routine matters -having been disposed of, Sir William asked the banker if he would take a -stroll with him across the Island, as he wished to speak to him about -business. - -The banker would be most happy. - -Arm-in-arm the two left the Castle-yard, gained the grass, and walked -towards the Ferry. - -"Mr. Grey," began the young man, "I leave this neighbourhood the day -after to-morrow." - -"I am sincerely sorry to hear you say so." - -"Thank you. Now I am going to try and induce you to let me get even -further into your debt----" - -"Sir William, it is quite unnecessary for you to say a word with such a -view. I told you to draw for any moderate sum you might require, and -your cheque would be honoured----" - -"I am much obliged to you; but it is not money this time." - -Grey bowed. He wondered: "Has he already proposed, and is he going to -talk to me about the will? This looks bad." - -"You know what rogues there are in the world?" - -"I should think I do. I have excellent cause to know of some kinds of -rogues," Grey said. He thought: "This is becoming exciting--diverting." - -The banker was in the most excellent spirits this morning. He felt like -an unruly schoolboy when the holidays come. He was beyond the arm of -physical punishment still, and the phase of mental torture in which he -had existed for some time had yielded to his present jovial bravado. His -old sense of the ridiculous had returned upon him and expelled -self-consideration. While he felt profoundly the necessity for -precautions, he was careless as to the means he used, and inclined to -estimate nothing as more than a grim joke. - -"You see," continued Sir William, "now that I am leaving, I am going to -throw myself upon your indulgence and good-nature. You and I have a lot -of waiting upon legal forms before we can act officially or -authoritatively in the new positions we find ourselves." - -"A lot of waiting upon legal forms," assented Grey; and added mentally, -"Thank God!" - -"But I suppose no one is going to say I am not the right man." - -"You may build on that. I daresay"--with a bland humorous smile--"I -daresay few have greater interest in disputing your identity (there can -be no dispute of your descent) than the representatives of Miss -Midharst; and I"--with a bow and deprecating wave of the long arms and -white hands--"have no such intention." - -"That is all right. Well, now I want to spend the most of that money you -were so kind as to advance me on this place"--with a comprehensive sweep -of the hand taking in the Castle and all the Island. - -"Quite so. I understood that from you before. I do not think you could -do better with the money, Sir William." - -"I am glad you approve. I not only want your approval, but your -co-operation also. Will you help me?" - -"To the utmost of my ability." - -"I do not intend beginning for a month or so; but as I shall then be -away, I shall be unable to ensure the carrying out of my plans unless I -can count on the friendly supervision, however slight, of someone who -would take an interest in the work of renovation and improvement----" - -"And," interrupted the banker with a cordial smile, "you wish to know if -I would undertake to see your wishes carried out. Nothing in the world -could give me greater pleasure. I do not think you could suggest -anything I would more gladly undertake." - -"Allow me to explain a little." - -"I assure you no explanation is necessary." - -"Excuse me, I think it is. It would be the height of impertinence in me -to ask you to do anything of the kind, but----" - -"But that you know I shall always be only too glad to be of any service -to Sir William Midharst." - -"You really overwhelm me with your goodness. I feel very much at taking -such favours from one who has known me so short a time." - -"When people are well met, good-feeling ripens very quickly. Do you, -Sir William, believe in love at first sight?" - -"Yes," said the baronet, looking up with an expression of surprise and -curiosity. "Why?" he asked, in a tone of perplexity. - -"Because," answered the banker, "I believe in friendship at first sight; -and, if you will allow me to say so, I took a most friendly interest in -you from the first moment I saw you and knew who you were." - -"Indeed!" murmured the young man, in a tone of reverie. Then, with a -faint smile, he added: "I certainly thought we waited a little time to -understand one another." - -"I have no doubt it appeared so to you; but I was impressed at the very -beginning. You must remember the circumstances under which we met. I -had no idea who you were, and I was then under the impression the full -responsibility of Miss Midharst's guardianship lay on me. In her -interest I was bound to be cautious. Believe me, my theory of friendship -at first sight is quite as true as that of love at first sight." - -"It may be--you may be right. I have never considered the question -before. I was about to explain a few moments ago that I could not think -of asking you to take any trouble in this matter, only I know you will -often be here to see Miss Midharst on business, or through kindness; and -I thought perhaps you would not consider it too much trouble to watch -how these men get on now and then, once a fortnight or so." - -"Rely upon it I shall look after them much oftener than that. You may -put your mind perfectly at rest, Sir William. I have some knowledge of -things of this kind; a banker meets all sorts of men as customers, and -picks up all sorts of odds and ends of knowledge, so that there is -scarcely a trade or profession I am not familiar with the roguish side -of." - -"I must extract one promise from you." - -"What is it?" - -"That you will not put yourself to any inconvenience in this matter." - -"I promise you most unhesitatingly. A little change will do me good, and -it will be a most salutary change to come down here now and then and see -how things are going on." - -"But you really need never come unless you want to see Miss Midharst." - -"Quite so." - -They separated soon afterwards. - -"What luck I have had!" thought Grey, as he drove towards home. "To -think of how that young man played into my hands is most amusing, quite -comic. He seemed to divine that I wanted an excuse for being as much at -the Castle as possible. What more ample pleas for going than that I have -to confer with Miss Midharst over matters connected with her father's -will, and have undertaken to overlook the works about to be started by -Sir William at the Island? Stop! That thought is worth consideration." - -For a few minutes he lay back in the fly perfectly still, profoundly -absorbed in thought. - -"It's worth doing, and I'll do it," was the concluding link in his -thoughts. - -"Driver!" - -"Yes, sir." - -"Back to the Ferry again. I have forgotten something." - -"All right, sir." - -When he arrived at the Castle he asked for the baronet, and found him at -once. - -"By the way, Sir William, a matter of no absolute importance, but still -of some sentimental value to me, escaped my memory when I was a while -ago saying good-bye to you, as I thought, for some months." - -"And what was that?" - -"You know there is no hurry about Sir Alexander's will?" - -"How do you mean?" - -"Well, nothing need be done about it for months." - -"What then?" - -"You will be back in a few months, less than six?" - -"Let us hope so." - -"Well, I shall do nothing about the will until you come back. We can -then put our heads together and see what is best for Miss Midharst's -interest." - -"I do not fully understand you, Mr. Grey." - -"What I intend doing is this," Grey explained: "I am not bound to do -anything immediately about the will. I know the will is all right. I -will pay the small legacies myself and get rid of them, and when you -come back you and I shall go over the whole matter. I shall prove the -will and administer to the estate, and then you and I will consult as to -what had best be done for Miss Midharst's interests with the money." - -"But what is your object in delay?" - -"Just a whim." - -"I hope, Mr. Grey," said the young man, with warm indignation, "you have -not for a moment fancied I do not think you fully capable in every way -of acting in this matter?" - -"The shadow of such a suspicion never crossed my mind, I assure you, Sir -William. But cannot you understand that the position I occupy of common -friend to the two who now compose the house of Midharst would make me -desirous of having the advice of the head of the house on important -matters, such as the disposal of Sir Alexander's fortune?" - -The young man looked fixedly, searchingly, at the banker's face for a -moment before he answered. When he spoke, he replied with great -deliberateness: - -"There may be a good deal in what you say." - -"You give me your confidence. You leave me to act as your deputy while -you are away. You, in a manner, place yourself in my hands; and you are -content with me as the guardian of your cousin's fortune. You rely upon -my integrity, upon my honour. I feel the burden I lie under. I should -feel less weighed down if you will accept my proposal as a small sign of -the esteem I hold you in, and of my simple faith with regard to your -cousin's affairs." - -The banker held out his hand. He had made his speech in his old and best -manner. - -The young man caught his hand swiftly, eagerly. - -"Grey, I did not hope to find a man like you in you when we met first. I -know what stuff you are made of now. We shall be close friends while we -live." - -"Sir William----" - -"No; Midharst." - -"Midharst, we shall." - -They parted. - -When Grey found himself alone once more, he whispered to the leafless -trees: - -"Now, Mr. Prompter, ring down the drop. That's a very pretty end of the -fourth act." - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE PARTING. - - -Sir William dined with his cousin that day. He was to say good-bye to -her that evening; for, although he did not intend leaving the -neighbourhood before the day after next, he had put off some business -until the last hour, and had been compelled to give up his remaining day -to dry detail and humdrum affairs. - -It was only latterly, within the past few days--in fact, since he had -come into the neighbourhood of Daneford--he had discovered dry detail -and humdrum affairs. Of old details had been to him fascinating, and -affairs a passion. When a new subject came to his hand he devoured it. -When a novel situation presented itself, he dashed at it as impetuously -as a brave soldier at a breach. - -Now all was changed. When he saw the Castle first his impulse was to set -men at work on it instantly. He wished to have it put in order at once; -and nothing but the appearance of indecent haste deterred him from doing -so. To-morrow he had to meet, among others, the people to whom he had -entrusted the work, and he wished them all at the bottom of the -Weeslade. - -"I never knew until now I had such a taste for rural scenery. When I was -away I used to think that if I got back to England I should spend all my -time in London. Now the 'Warfinger Hotel,' overlooking the broad placid -Weeslade, seems to me all I could desire, with now and then a visit to -the Island--a stroll through its grounds and halls alone, or with -Cousin Maud. - -"How cool and fresh the air is around here! Coming into a place like -this out of the great cities of the world is like escaping from a -riotous street into a cathedral where a choir is practising hymns. - -"I wonder does she sing? I know she loves pansies best of all the -flowers. - -"But, as I was saying, it is strange how one's most settled ideas change -as one grows older. Of course, that is but natural. When I got that pony -first I thought all living creatures must admire and envy me. There was -only one thing I envied of those around me, and that was their privilege -of standing and seeing such a splendid sight as I and my pony going -past. I would freely have given all my possessions, except my pony, for -the power of admiring on foot at the roadside the fine spectacle I and -my mount made riding by. - -"Fancy Sir Alexander not keeping a horse and groom for Maud! He didn't -ride of late years, but that is no reason why she should not. She can -ride; she told me so. It is too bad to think of the dark seclusion the -poor girl has been kept in. I wonder how she lived. Upon my soul it was -a shame! There all day long, all the year round, in this gloomy relic of -the cold past, with no other change than a few hours in this sleepy -place--this humdrum city of Daneford. I am surprised she did not die. It -was enough to kill anyone. Fancy passing a whole lifetime away in that -old place and this dull town! Monstrous! - -"Of course I shouldn't mind it, as I was saying a moment ago, for I have -been in the world and seen as much as I want to see. I should feel quite -content to live here always. I should never care for anything better -than a bed at the 'Warfinger Hotel,' and a stroll now and then about the -Midharsts' old place where the Fleureys once lived, a power in the -state. But Maud living here! Monstrous! - -"I know what I'll do when I come back--I never thought of that -before--I'll get the house in St. James's Square put in order, and she -and Mrs. Grant shall go up there, and someone will bring out Maud, and -she shall be the beauty of the year. All the town will talk of the -lovely Miss Midharst. Then I can go and stay at Warfinger and--and see -to improvements, and so on; and then if Maud wanted me she can write or -telegraph. I can fill up a telegraph-form with only the word 'Come,' and -she can keep it in her purse and send it off the moment she wishes to -see me. I'll leave word at the telegraph-office in Daneford, that -anyone bringing me that telegram in half an hour shall have a -sovereign. - -"I daresay I could have a wire to the Island, so there need be no delay. -But it would look strange. I'll make the messenger's fee five pounds, -that will be better. - -"I shall keep a portmanteau always ready packed, so that there will be -no delay after getting the telegram. Even supposing the telegram does -not come for a week or fortnight, I may run up to London to see Maud and -Mrs. Grant, and make my mind easy about them. - -"While they are away I can have alterations made. I can have all the -repairs and alterations done while I am in Egypt overhauled and -perfected. Maud may like many things changed; and, of course, anything -Maud wants to be done shall be done. Of course. Fancy Maud saying she -would like something or other done, and my saying, 'No, Maud; I cannot -do that!' Fancy such a thing! I wish she would ask me for something. It -is so dull to have nothing to do for Maud. - -"Before I knew Maud--it seems a long time, and yet it is only a few -days: it is strange to think how long ago my previous life seems--how -much time the past ten or a dozen days cover. I have often seen -painters, when they had painted-in the solid objects of their pictures, -go over parts with thin transparent colour, and, as if by magic, the -ruin or the mountain that a moment ago pressed offensively forward -retired into its proper place in the composition, and gathered round it -mellow repose and forgetfulness. This glaze takes the heat and worry out -of the picture. It gives it moist perfume and collected dignity. The few -days I have spent here have acted like the glaze on the substantial -background of facts in my past life. Why? - -"Why? Never mind why; I am content. I like the collectedness that has -come upon me. It cannot arise from the title or the estates. I am -leaving all the money behind me, and for all practical purposes the -title also. When I go away I shall be nothing more than a Government -clerk in the foreign service. When I get there, the few Europeans I know -may not have heard of Sir Alexander's death. It is not the title or the -money. What has done it? - -"Before I knew Maud I always fancied anyone called Maud should be young -and fragile and exquisitely fair; and my Maud (she is mine, for are we -not of the one house?) is young and fragile and exquisitely fair. - -"Maud. - -"What a musical name it is! The lips and ears never tire of it. The -oftener you say it the more beautiful it seems. It is a name you must -speak softly. You cannot shout it out or fancy yourself saying it -angrily. Imagine for a moment my speaking angrily to my Maud! - -"Speaking angrily to Maud! The mere supposition is like a blow. Maud is -sanctified to me doubly, as being the last daughter of our family, and -as being friendless. - -"When I go away I shall leave my fortune and my title behind me. Shall I -leave anything else? Yes, everything else. Maud. - -"If I leave my fortune and my title and Maud behind me, what do I take -with me? - -"Nothing worth the carriage. - -"Bounteous God, I thank Thee with all my heart, and all my soul, and all -the faculties of my nature, for having given love to man, and having -given me to love!" - -The evening of the day Grey had visited the Island after his return from -London, the two cousins sat alone in the little drawing-room after -dinner. - -"Maud, will you take great care of yourself while I am away?" he asked -very earnestly. - -She was sitting by a small ebony table in front of the fire. He reclined -in an easy-chair at the opposite side of the grate. - -She looked up with a childish amused smile, and answered: - -"Yes; I will try and take care of myself while you are away. This is a -very safe place to live in. No one can get near us without a boat, and -everyone knows that a farmer's house would be better for thieves than -Island Castle." - -"And yet, Maud, though no man come, something very precious might be -stolen by a thief while I am away." He spoke gravely, with that old -far-away look in his eyes. - -"And who is the thief, and what is the thing?" she asked, with a bright -smile. - -"Ruffian Death," he answered, for a moment overwhelmed by some dark -dread and chilling foreboding. - -She grew paler in her black dress; the hand resting on the table seemed -whiter than life. - -"But, William, I am quite well; I never felt better in all my life; and -I think, considering what has lately happened, that is very wonderful." -She was anxious, and looked into his face with eyes of grave solicitude. - -Still he was following up the chain of his thoughts, and for the moment, -unaware, he uttered them: - -"There is death in every day, danger in every hour; you must encounter -the danger. The way in which you meet the danger decides your relations -with death. Life is a series of compromises with death. I wish I were -not going away." - -"So do I, indeed, William," she said earnestly. "But you must not be -uneasy on my part; I am quite well, and shall keep quite well while you -are away. I should be most unhappy if I thought you went away -uncomfortable on my account." - -The tone of the girl's voice brought him back to a consciousness of the -situation. His manner changed. He looked up at her and smiled. - -"Unhappy about you, Maud! Not I. You must not think that. I was talking -generalities; I was not alluding to your case. You see, when a man has -been a long time in a foreign country, where the speech of the people -in the streets is unknown to him, and where, among the few people who -speak European languages, there are only a couple for whose society he -cares, he falls into one bad habit certainly, that of looking at all -things in the abstract; and into another bad habit probably, that of -muttering aloud to himself. I am afraid I have been treating you to a -small example of both vices." He smiled brightly, and held out his hand -to her. - -She took the small white hand off the ebony table and placed it in his. -The brown fingers closed over the white ones, and looking down at the -joined hands he said: - -"Like the rough brown sheath of the cocoa-nut, and the snow-white fruit -within." - -"What?" - -"My hand round yours." - -She said nothing. - -He released her hand. - -"You will take care of that hand, Maud, while I am away? Some time -someone will value that hand more than the regalia in the Tower. It will -be to him above all price. He would like to set guards over it as they -set guards over the royal jewels, and yet would allow no one to act as -sentinel but himself." - -Such talk was new to her. She did not say anything. - -"We have grown good friends in the few days we have been meeting one -another?" - -"Oh, yes." - -"The best of friends?" - -"The best of friends." - -"And all the time I am away you will never cease to think of me as your -best friend?" - -"Never." - -It almost made her cry, she could not tell why, to hear him asking such -a question. - -"And should you be in any need of aid or advice, you will let me know at -once?" - -"At once." - -There was a pause during which Mrs. Grant entered the room. - -The baronet got up, and sitting down beside the widow, said to both the -women: - -"I had a chat with Mr. Grey to-day apropos of my going, and nothing -could have been nicer or more gratifying. He is, without exception, the -most straightforward and honourably-minded man I have ever met. He has, -Mrs. Grant, not only undertaken to keep his eye on the workmen when they -come here, but he has without any hint or suggestion on my part, -proposed not to do anything final with Maud's fortune until I return. -And, in addition to all this, he will pay all the legacies out of his -own pocket and at his own risk. Maud, I cannot say how grateful I am -that you have fallen into such excellent hands. You may place yourself -wholly under his direction while I am away. You need not consult me on -any subject of business; you will be quite safe with him, and he has a -thousand times my knowledge of business." - -"Did I not tell you so?" asked Mrs. Grant of Miss Midharst. - -"Yes," answered Maud softly. - -"What was it?" asked the baronet, turning with a gratified smile towards -the widow. - -"I told dear Maud long ago that she might have full confidence in Mr. -Grey," answered Mrs. Grant, with lively self-satisfaction. - -"And you told her what was perfectly true. I must go now. I shall not -see you again, Mrs. Grant, until I come back from Egypt. I cannot tell -you how happy it makes me to know how good, how loyal Maud's two -friends are--yourself and Mr. Grey." - -He had shaken both Maud's hands, and kissed her lips for the first time, -and shaken hands with Mrs. Grant, and was gone. - -Her cousin William was gone, and she should not see him again for -months. What a pity he had to go! When he was by her side, or in -Daneford, she felt quite safe; nothing could harm her while he was near. -When her father died she had felt alone and cold in the world. She had -been susceptible to attack on all sides. She had no confidence in -herself; and although Mr. Grey had done everything man could do for her, -she owned no claim upon him. - -But this cousin, this man of her own family, who, finding her timid and -unguarded, sought the privilege of shielding her from the world and the -bleak unknown lying beyond Island Castle--was a new experience, a -delightful improvement on the present. - -But no sooner had she learned to lean upon his reassuring strength than -he must hurry away. What a pity! - -Her cousin William would come back, no doubt; but Egypt was far off, -very far off, and the power of his protection was reduced greatly by -distance. - -Why should she think she would need protection of any kind? Surely Mrs. -Grant and Mr. Grey were protection enough in a quiet well-ordered place -like Daneford and its neighbourhood? - -Yes; but Cousin William had been more than a protector; he had been a -companion as well, and there was something in his talk and manner -neither Mrs. Grant nor Mr. Grey possessed. She was always content with -what Mrs. Grant said, or what Mr. Grey said. Their words always -exhausted the topic; but when he had spoken she felt led on to wonder -what lay behind and beyond what he had said. - -She had told Mrs. Grant truly he had interested her; and although he -always had spoken to her as though there could be no question of the -supremacy of his will over hers, she liked that. - -When Mrs. Grant told her to do a certain thing, the doing of it was dry -and uninteresting. When Cousin William had told her to do a thing, she -always did it with the sound of his voice in her ears; or she had -thought what mystery of Egypt he had before his eyes when he gave her -the command; or she had tried to fathom his mind as to the manner in -which he would best like to see the thing done. - -But now all was cold and monotonous and dull. Really the place had got -so quiet of late that she found her chief delight in her old books of -Egypt, and in the geography of that country, and in following on the map -the overland route he had taken to Africa. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -BETWEEN THE LIGHTS. - - -The day Henry Walter Grey bade good-bye to the young baronet he went -home to the Manor House in the best spirits. - -That latest stroke of his had proved marvellously successful. In fact, -the result completely astonished him. Sir William had been civil, -polite, conciliatory to him up to that last interview. During it the -young man had thrown aside all reserve and rushed into his arms with -enthusiasm. This young man, of whom he had stood in dread a few days -ago, had been not only neutralised, but converted into a friend. - -And at what cost? The voluntary promise that he, Grey, would take no -steps about the will until the return of the head of the house. What a -transcendent joke! There was nothing like it on the stage. Nothing -approaching it. He had won the young man by undertaking not to invest -money already stolen and made away with! - -And how had he done it? Not by worrying and sneaking and shivering and -anticipating all kinds of evils; not by thinking and attending to his -own fears and hopes connected with matters which had been done and could -not be undone. No; but by thinking of what other people might do adverse -to him, and trying to out-manoeuvre them. The general who, upon -hearing the enemy is advancing, does nothing but contemplate the horrors -of defeat, will inevitably be defeated. It is with matters of business -as with a general in the field--to provide against nothing but defeat -is to ensure defeat and final disaster. To dread a disease is to open -the door for its reception. - -Away then for ever with doubts and fears! He was still a player in the -game. It was a game of skill, and he must win. The way to win is never -to think of yourself or of the result of winning or losing, but to -concentrate every human faculty upon the game itself, and the plans for -effecting the defeat of your opponents. - -And now how did his great game stand? Let him see. - -Sir William Midharst would be away in Egypt some while, some months, say -three to four months, during which time it was necessary to win, by any -means he could employ, this girl Maud. He was the guardian of her -fortune and the superintendent of works about to be carried on at the -Castle. This gave him not an excuse so much as a command to be -frequently there. Thus he should have excellent opportunities of -pressing his suit. He was to consult Miss Midharst upon alterations, _et -cetera_; and that supplied the means of obtaining frequent and long -interviews with her in which they should often be alone. Good, very -good! - -He felt strong and healthy and capable. His illness had cleared away the -confusion which had been gathering round him; he slept better of nights, -and awoke cheerful. - -He knew he should be able to interest Maud, and to interest a woman is -to win her. Those solemn, lank, poetical men, like the new baronet, took -such a time to make up their minds, that a man of sanguine temperament -like himself won a woman before one like Sir William determined on the -first sigh. Girls don't like sighs; they prefer laughter. Good! - -The Bank was all right now, and when he had married Maud there was no -one to come and pry into matters. Every one would think by his marriage -with her he had acquired upwards of half a million; and for a man in his -position to have the reputation of riches is almost as good as to have -riches. Splendid! - -He had provided against injury arising out of that sale of the lease and -furniture and annuity. He had not been in a position to resist his -mother. He knew that, having made up her mind to sell, she would sell, -no matter what it cost her feelings. She would threaten to denounce him -rather than be baulked in doing what he supposed she intended with the -money. He did not think she would have gone the length of denouncing -him. She had done worse. She had shown herself indifferent to anything -he might have to say. She could not know but that letter of his told her -he had paid back all the money, or that it contained a plea for a short -respite. She had not cared what happened to him; and he--he had taken -means to protect himself. He did not feel angry with her in the least. -He had simply cut her off from his mind. There was no such person any -longer. That returned letter informed him of her death. Those documents -he had signed for her were announcements of her decease. That auction -bell would ring for the interment of the past and the future which had -of late given him trouble. With her went everything he loved. He was -alone now, face to face with his fate, and free from any unmanning -influence or depressing considerations. This was best of all! - -As to the other and greater danger, that was scarcely worth counting. So -far there had not been the shadow of menace. Farleg had, no doubt, got -out of the country, and was now settled with his wife somewhere out -West. No reason existed for supposing Farleg would betray him; for he -had taken hush-money, and no reward had been offered, as nothing had -been suspected. No; he need not fear that source. Only one thing -remained to be done. He had shaken off those superstitious terrors which -had haunted him for a while. He was still menaced by the cancelled pages -in London; that was the only danger ahead. All his energy for the future -should be directed towards avoiding the consequences of his theft. - -The day Sir William left Daneford Grey spent at the Bank. His private -correspondence and such account-books as he himself kept, to which no -one but himself had access, were in arrears, and had to be brought up to -the current day. He had to give a long audience to Mr. Aldridge, and -several merchants wanted to see him, so that the hours were fully -occupied, and when he got home he felt tired; it was dark, and he -resolved not to go to the Island until the early part of the next -afternoon. - -When next day he got to the Castle, he found Mrs. Grant in the great -hall about to go out. - -"I am lucky to meet you, Mrs. Grant. If you are not in a great hurry I -should like a few words with you." - -"Certainly, Mr. Grey; I shall be most happy. I am going to town for a -few things Miss Midharst and myself want. I have not been out since poor -Sir Alexander's death; but I'm in no hurry." - -They were now in the open air. - -"I hope Miss Midharst is quite well?" - -"Quite well, thank you." - -"And not pining after her handsome cousin?" with a gay smile. - -"Handsome! Do you too think him handsome?" - -"Yes. But who else thinks him good-looking?" with a still brighter -smile. - -"Miss Midharst says he is one of the handsomest men she ever saw." - -"Upon my word I am inclined to believe with her." This was accompanied -by the brightest smile of all. "It is useful to know what she thinks of -her cousin's appearance," thought Grey gravely. - -"Well, Mr. Grey, I can see nothing handsome about him. I like an -Englishman to look like an Englishman; but I forgive him his looks -because of his good behaviour. Nothing could have been better than his -conduct from first to last. He makes Miss Midharst stay here; he -promises to do up the Castle and grounds; and last of all, Mr. Grey, he -speaks of you before he goes away in words which do him credit." - -"Indeed!" - -"Yes. Nothing could have been more manly than the way he spoke his mind -to Miss Midharst and myself about you the other evening, the last day -you were here. I don't think he liked you at first; but he made up for -that at last. Nothing could be better than what he said." - -"I am glad to find he does not misunderstand me." These were two useful -and significant facts: that Maud thought her cousin good-looking, and -that her cousin had been favourably impressed by him. "Mrs. Grant," he -said, after a pause, "you said you were going to town to buy some things -for yourself and Miss Midharst." - -"Yes." - -"Will you have the goodness to put this parcel in your purse? It is what -you are entitled to under the will of Sir Alexander." - -He held out his hand to her with a bundle of notes. - -"I really don't want it now, Mr. Grey," she said, remembering what Sir -William had told her. - -They had already reached the Ferry-slip. He held out his hand to her. -She held out the notes to him. He smiled, shook his head, shrugged his -shoulders, and said: - -"Give me your hand only. I want to help you into the boat. Put that -bundle in your pocket. I hope you do not think I want it." - -He handed her into the boat, raised his hat, and, when the ferryman had -pulled a dozen strokes from the slip, raised his hat again and turned -towards the Castle. - -As he walked he thought: "That is not the worst investment I ever made. -Prompt payment and attention go a long way with women who are no longer -young. Now for a woman who is young and charming." - -"What an agreeable man Sir William is!" said Grey, when he had been some -time seated with Maud. "So affable, good-natured, and amusing. He is one -of the most pleasant young men I ever met." - -"I am glad you like him," said Maud, a little surprised. - -"Like him! Of course I do. He is a man after my own heart. So -open-minded and full of go, of animal spirits. You very seldom find a -man who has been long out of Europe retain his animal spirits. The -inhabitants of Asia and Africa are always afraid of sunstroke or snakes, -tigers or tyrants. In the tropics no one ever makes a joke. Life is -always serious there. Who ever heard of an Eastern Joe Miller? No; they -have proverbs and poetry, but no jokes. When you are always expecting -to find a snake coiled round the leg of the table, or an official -waiting outside the door with a drawn sword to cut off your head, you -are afraid to laugh. Now what I admire most in Sir William is that, -although he has been long in Africa, he has kept his animal spirits -unimpaired. Isn't it a great blessing?" - -"Yes," answered Maud, in amazement. - -"I know it is not what very straitlaced people would like, but the views -he holds of all serious things are most diverting. I am very sorry I had -to go away while he was here. It is such a privilege to meet a man like -him--a man of the world who knows everything, and can laugh at the -weaknesses and follies of the world, under which heads of weaknesses and -follies he classes much of what smug respectability calls the Generous -and Noble Aspirations of Men. I will not say I hold his views, but I -hold my sides when he tells them. Did you hear any of his stories?" - -"No, Mr. Grey," answered Maud, ready to cry. Was there really this -other, this light and frivolous side to her cousin's character? She -could hardly believe it. Yet here was Mr. Grey telling her about it, and -no one could think of doubting Mr. Grey's word. - -"Ah! Quite so. Yes. It is likely he thought you might not care for them. -They might seem profane to you. I have been most unwise. I felt sure he -had told them to you. He might be displeased with me if he knew I had -mentioned them to you. Will you promise not to allude to them when you -speak or write to him? I daresay he will write to you, and you will -write to him." - -"He promised to write, and I promised to write to him." - -What a revelation was in the banker's words! Could it be her cousin had -two sides? If it was so, where did the insincerity end? This was a -miserable discovery after she had lifted him up in her mind as a perfect -model of what a man should be. - -"Of course you will write to your guardian and your only cousin; but -mind you are not to say anything about what I have been saying to you. I -should not mind speaking of it to him in your presence, but a thing of -that kind in black and white looks very bad. Have you heard from him -yet?" - -"Yes; I got a note saying he was about to set off. It was written -yesterday." - -Her face looked wan and weary. It was disenchanting to hear all this of -Cousin William. How could it be? - -"A bad sign. A very bad sign," thought the banker. "But we must be a -match for him. We must be a match for him. No precaution shall be -neglected." Then he said aloud: "I shall be very often at the Castle -now; for not only shall I have to come and see you, but I am also to -look after the workmen for Sir William, so that I fear you will have to -make up your mind to endure a great deal of me." - -"I shall be very glad to see you every day. But I think you are doing -too much for me--for us." - -"Miss Midharst, you must understand once for all that there is -absolutely nothing in my power I am not anxious to do for you -personally." - -He said this with great emphasis and precision, raising his right hand -slightly towards the ceiling while he spoke, as though calling Heaven -to witness his words. - -She did not know what to say. There was an earnestness in his manner -forbidding commonplace thanks. - -His face suddenly lightened. - -"I was about to say that either I or a messenger from the Bank will be -here every day, and whoever comes can take any orders you and Mrs. Grant -may have for town. This will save Michael's going in so often. I will -get you a letter-bag. You shall keep one key and I the other, so there -will be no danger of letters getting lost. In old times Michael was, of -course, as safe as the post; but now we shall have comparative -strangers--clerks and so on--whose honesty has not been so well tried as -Michael's." - -Soon he took his leave. Next day he did not call, but a clerk came with -a letter-bag and a key. There was nothing in the bag. Miss Midharst had -no letters. One from Mrs. Grant went back to town. That was all. - -When the clerk got to the Bank, he handed the bag to the banker. The -banker opened it, glanced at the one letter it contained, smiled, put -Mrs. Grant's among his own letters for post, and whispered to himself: -"Everything is fair in love and war. If this had been Maud's, I should -have had just one peep." - -Now he began to visit the Castle almost daily. The men had not yet been -set to work, but already the furniture makers and upholsterers were busy -in the work-shops. Hangings had been ordered at Paris; designers were -carrying out plans for restoring the great banqueting-hall to its olden -splendour; brass-founders were casting fittings; and gardeners had -inspected the grounds with a view to ascertaining their capabilities. - -At first Grey made it a point not to see Maud every time he called. By -the end of a month he was at the Island six days out of the seven, and -never left without seeing her. - -During that month she had twice written to her cousin. He had carried -the letters from her to the Bank, and there opened and read them. He -closed them and sent them on. There had been nothing particular in -either, beyond copious praise of Grey's great kindness to her, and his -ceaseless attention to the business of her cousin. - -So far all went well. He continued in good spirits, and the people of -Daneford said he had never looked better or seemed gayer. - -His mother's place had been sold out, and she had gone he knew not -whither. - -"That is all the better," he thought. "The stage is clearer, and nothing -remains to distract my attention from the main thing." - -He had been very cautious in his interviews with Maud. He had said or -done nothing which could give her a hint of his aim. He had been -good-humouredly and sedulously careful to do all she wished as she -wished it done. He had taken her and Mrs. Grant for drives in quiet -country places, where the freshness of their mourning would be free from -observation and remark. On these occasions, although Maud occupied the -seat of honour, he was more attentive to her companion. - -But the time for winning had a limit, and at the end of the first month -he gradually changed his manner. - -When they met he gazed into her eyes longer and with more interest than -of yore. He pressed her hand more warmly, and retained it longer. His -voice, when he spoke to her, was lower and softer. His solicitude for -her health gained daily, and when they walked out into the grounds -together, he chose for her the easiest ways, and showed his anxiety that -her feet should not touch the wet grass, or the ragged brambles her face -or figure. - -He prolonged his visits. He always found an excuse for getting her out -into the grounds, or into some room where for a time they might be -alone. When parting from her, he would say, if no one was by: - -"I am sorry I must leave now. I am sorry I am obliged to go back to -Daneford and that lonely Manor. I wish I could stay here." - -And she would say: - -"I am sure, if you will stay, Mrs. Grant will make you comfortable. But -you lose too much time for us." - -He would answer: - -"No. Oh no, dear Miss Midharst. The only pleasant time I have now is -when I am here, in your society, trying to make this place better for -you." - -Then he would say good-bye impressively, and move off with a dejected -look, and turn round, when he had taken a few paces, and wave his hand -to her in a way that said: "Do not grieve because I am sad. I am -nobody." - -This manner set the girl pondering, and she said to the widow one day: - -"Mrs. Grant, I think living all alone in that house, where his wife was -once, is bad for Mr. Grey." - -"There is no doubt of it, my child. It will kill him, I am sure. He -ought to marry again soon." - -"Marry again soon!" cried the girl in surprise. The idea that he might -marry again had never suggested itself to her mind, and it seemed very -wonderful. - -"Yes, my dear. He's a young man. A much younger man than many men of -thirty." - -"I know he is very amusing, but I had never before thought of Mr. Grey -marrying again." - -To Maud the idea was not only novel, but a little shocking at first. She -had been in the habit of classing him with her father. Now for the first -time she had come to think of him as a man who was not only not nearly -so old as her father, but relatively young. - -All at once the recent change in his manner towards her struck her, and, -little as had been her experience of the world, or her knowledge of its -ways, she could not but see a desire on Mr. Grey's part to be -particularly agreeable to her. This, coupled with the fact that she -could no longer regard him as a man the events of whose life were merely -awaiting the final audit to be posted into the eternal ledger, made her -feel an awakened interest in him. He was a new man, an individuality -hitherto unexplored. - -Another thing struck her at the same time. - -Her cousin, whom she had taken as a grave, serious-minded, chivalric -soul, turned out to have two sides to his character. When not with her, -he could be light, trivial, profane. - -The banker also had two sides to his character. He was robust, honest, -jovial, in general. But at home sorrow and loneliness were eating him -away in the house where once he had been happy with the wife so suddenly -taken from his side. - -What a strange discovery! Were all men who were not as old as her -father double-sided like these? She should not like to ask even Mrs. -Grant that question. Then what a contrast did these two men afford: the -one assuming or wearing naturally towards her the manner of earnest -collectedness, while towards others he showed questionable levity; the -other showing her a steady brightness, while in reality his heart was -consumed by a great sorrow! Were all men like these? How wonderful it -seemed! - -The contrast revealed to her by these two men first aroused Maud -Midharst to perceive men's minds and ways differed widely from the minds -and ways of women. Of old she had known men were stronger than women, -had greater capacity for affairs, more knowledge of the world and more -wisdom. Until now she had never reached the fact that there were in the -minds of men faculties differing from those of women, not only in -quality and intensity, but also in kind. Instantly her wonder at the -superiority of men left her. She no longer felt astonished at disparity -between mental faculties common to men and women. She suddenly awakened -to a curiosity never felt before. She was now interested in all things -which enabled her to discover where the thoughts of men differed from -the thoughts of women. - -When she had heard her cousin speak on the day her father was buried, -she had felt surprise and interest. What he said had given her a -pleasant shock. Now she had gone a post farther on the great road of -life. She had learned to speculate. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -"A WOMAN OF NO NAME." - - -One day when Maud was sitting alone in the library by the fire reading, -a servant entered with word a lady who declined giving any name wished -to see Miss Midharst. She was, the servant said, a thin, tall, old lady, -dressed in black. - -No ladies called at the Castle. What could this woman want? Maud -wondered. Who could she be? A tall, thin, old lady, dressed in black. -Had she asked by name for Miss Midharst? - -"Yes; she said she wanted to see Miss Midharst. I asked her would Mrs. -Grant do, and she said No, she wanted to see Miss Midharst alone." - -"Alone?" - -"Alone." - -Who could it be? The last person who had asked to see her and declined -to give a name was William. (She would write to William to-day and tell -him what she thought. It was a strange thing for her to have to write to -him. But she did not know what to do. William was her only friend. She -was afraid to speak to Mrs. Grant about it. If she mentioned the matter -to Mrs. Grant, no one could tell but it might get back to Mr. Grey's -ears, and that would never do. Never.) Ah, the servant is waiting yet. - -"Where is the lady?" - -"In the hall-room, madame." - -"Tell her I will come to her at once." - -Maud rose slowly and put down her book. As she moved along the -corridors, she thought: - -"This is most unpleasant, it is terrible. My father is not yet two -months dead, and Mr. Grey's manner frightens me. At first I did not -notice it, but now--now I can have no doubt. He has not said anything -plain yet, but he can mean nothing else. He calls me Maud, and not Miss -Midharst. He takes my hand, too, when we are alone, and looks in my eyes -and frightens me. His eyes are queer. When he is looking at me he seems -suddenly to forget who I am, or where he is. It is only within the past -week I noticed this; and yesterday he looked at me with those awful -eyes, and begged me to be good to him and come, for God's sake, and take -the thing away from the dark passages and the doorways. Then he asked me -if I smelt blood, and burst out laughing, and said all this was part of -a play he was writing. Judas Iscariot, the hero of his play! What a -horrible thought!" - -She reached the hall-room. It had long ago been used by the family as a -breakfast-parlour when few guests were at the Castle; for many years it -had been made a waiting-room. - -Maud opened the door and entered. The day was cold, and she directed her -glance first towards the fire. No one was there, but she saw standing -with her back to the window a tall, thin, old woman. - -The stranger did not move. She fixed her eyes on Maud, and stood staring -at the girl. - -Maud moved slowly and timidly up the room. When within a couple of yards -of the other she said: - -"I am Miss Midharst. You wish to see me. Will you not take a chair near -the fire?" - -"Yes, I wanted to see you. I want to see you." - -She did not move. Her voice was firm and hard, with a tone of menace in -it. - -"I--I cannot recall your face, and the servant did not bring your name." - -"We never met before. The servant did not bring you any name, for I have -none. I am a woman of no name." - -"A woman with no name!" cried Maud, with a feeble attempt at a smile. -There was no provocation for smiles in the words or manner of the -unknown, and Maud felt uneasy. - -"Yes; I once had an honourable name, and was connected with honourable -people who bore it. But that name was dishonoured by one who owned it, -and the name died. My name would not live dishonoured." The voice was -firm and hard still, and the original pose unbroken. - -"I am sorry for that," murmured Maud, not knowing anything else to say. -What a contrast between this unknown visitor and the former! And yet, -although a strong contrast appeared, there was a subtler similarity. - -"And I am sorry for you." - -Maud started and repeated: "Sorry for me! Why are you sorry for me?" - -"Because you are young. I used once, until lately, to think it a -privilege to be young; now I consider it a privilege to be very old or -dead." - -Maud felt more and more uncomfortable. This was not a cheerful way of -looking at things. Maud had quite enough unpleasant matters to occupy -her mind, and she was quite unstrung. What business had this woman with -her? She would try. She spoke somewhat tremulously: - -"Can I be of any use to you?" - -"No. Nor can I be of much to you." - -"To me!" said Maud in surprise. "I hope no one has been asking you to -do anything unreasonable for me. Of course, as I did not know you until -now, and never heard your name, you will excuse my not thanking you for -what you may have done for me." - -"I have done nothing for you but evil." - -"Evil! I assure you you must be mistaken. No one has done me harm, as -far as I know." - -"But there may be evil you do not know of, and I may have been the -innocent cause of it." - -"But if you were innocent you must not trouble yourself about it; and -besides, whatever the harm was, it has not hurt me, so that you must -make your mind easy." - -"The evil may be done, and yet unfelt, and may be felt later on, and the -evil may not be done yet." - -"I do not clearly understand you." - -"I do not intend you should. I do not know why I have spoken so much. I -cannot say more. I have merely called to deliver into your hands a -parcel of some consequence. The contents of this parcel is yours. I said -I cannot do much for you. I can do no more than give you this. You must -promise me not to open this parcel until to-morrow morning. You need not -be afraid of it. The things in it are good things. You promise?" The -woman held out her hand with a small parcel in it. - -"Yes," answered Maud, taking the parcel. - -At that moment the door opened, and a voice said: - -"I beg your pardon, Miss Midharst; I did not know there was anyone -here." - -Maud turned round, and saw Henry Walter Grey smiling and bowing in the -doorway. With the handle of the door still in his hand, he took a -backward step, when the old woman said: - -"Come in. I have finished with Miss Midharst." - -At the sound of the voice Grey sprang back a step, thrust his head -forward, and uttered a low cry of surprise and pain. - -Maud moved towards him, saying: - -"Are you ill, Mr. Grey? Are you ill?" - -His face was shrivelled and his mouth hung open. - -Before Maud could take another step the hand of the old woman was on her -shoulder, and the voice of the old woman was in her ear, firm and hard -as before: - -"Remember your promise! Good-bye." - -With erect head, bright eyes, and a quick step, the stranger walked to -the door, on the outside of which Grey stood paralysed. He bowed and -groaned as she approached, and as she passed him he crouched against -the wall. - -She swept by him without looking at him, turned the corner of the -corridor and passed out of sight. - -Maud, transfixed with amazement, stood where the old woman had arrested -her. - -When the stranger had disappeared, Grey made a prodigious effort, shook -himself, assumed a sickly smile, and straightened his figure. - -The action of the banker dissolved the stupefaction of the girl, and she -moved rapidly towards the door to escape. Just as she reached it the -manner of the man suddenly changed. His face became dark and -threatening, and he bounded into the doorway, barring the exit and -crying: - -"Stop! I must speak with you before you leave the room!" - -The girl recoiled in terror, and began with "Mr. Grey!" in a tone of -fear and expostulation. - -"Go back. I say I _must_ speak with you before you leave this room!" - -She struggled with herself for a moment, and then summoned courage -enough to begin with: - -"By what right, Mr. Grey----" - -"By any right or by any wrong you must speak with me. Do I look like a -child, or a fool, or a woman?" - -His manner was vehement and over-powering. For an instant she resolved -to defy him, but by a powerful sweep of his arm he indicated that denial -was out of the question. With a palpitating heart and confused head she -stepped back into the room. - -He followed her and locked the door. When she heard him do this her -strength gave way altogether, and she sank on a chair. - -He walked up and down the room some time before he spoke. - -"Tell me, what did that wretched woman say to you? What was her business -with you? What brought her here?" - -"She told me she had wronged me innocently." - -"How?" - -"She would not say." - -"What do you mean, girl? Do you dare to tell me she said she had wronged -you and did not tell you how?" He drew up in front of her chair. - -"Yes." - -"Is that a lie?" - -"Is what a lie?" - -"Have you, girl, told me a lie?" - -"Mr. Grey, I----" - -"Girl, I will have no pretty sentiments! I am talking business now. Such -business as you never even heard of. You may not know the results -hanging on your words. Did that wretched woman tell you the injuries she -had done you?" - -"She did not." Maud felt she should faint. - -"Listen to me now, girl: this is business. Attach ten thousand times -more value to the answers you are going to make me than to any other -answers you gave in all your life. My question is: What names did she -mention?" - -"None. She mentioned no name." - -"Absolutely and literally no name?" - -"She mentioned no name." - -"Not even her own?" - -"Not even her own." - -"But you know, of course, who she is?" - -"I never saw her before. I do not know who she is." - -"The servants know her name." - -"Jordan told me a lady wished to see me in private. He did not know her -name." - -"Are you sure of all this?" - -"Yes." - -"What was her business with you?" - -"She left me that packet on the table." - -"Did she say nothing about it?" - -"That it contained something of mine, and that I was not to open it -until to-morrow morning." - -"Is that all?" - -"That is all." - -"Swear it to me." - -"Mr. Grey!" - -"I know; but swear all the same." - -"I will not." - -"Then you have been lying." - -"I have not. How dare you say such a thing, Mr. Grey!" - -"Well, there, Maud, dear Maud, let us drop the comedy. I am afraid I -have carried it too far already. You know really who the poor creature -is?" - -"I have told you I do not." - -"She is a harmless old woman who is mad on religion, and goes about -doing this kind of thing, and leaving bundles of tracts like this." He -took up the parcel off the table. "She must not be allowed in here -again. I will give orders that she shall not be admitted. And now can -you guess the reason for my comedy?" - -"I cannot." - -"It was, dear Maud, because I heard to-day there is some chance of the -will being disputed, and I wanted to try how you would go through the -ordeal of a severe cross-examination. And I must say, anything to equal -my Maud's admirable coolness I never saw. You did not for a moment fancy -I was in earnest?" - -"I don't know what I thought. I was greatly frightened." - -"Well, I admit I did go too far. But it was in your own interest, dear -Maud--in your own interest. You are all right again, dear Maud?" - -He took her hand in his. - -"I feel a little nervous and hysterical. Please open the door and let me -go." - -"Certainly; it was carrying the joke too far to lock the door; but I was -borne away by the spirit of the thing. You will forgive me." - -"Oh, yes." - -"Well, dear Maud, good-bye now. You are leaving your parcel of tracts -behind you. Never mind; I'll read them for you." - -When she had left the room he took up the parcel, dropped it into his -pocket, and started at once for the city. - -That day Maud wrote to her cousin, Sir William Midharst. The concluding -paragraph of her letter ran thus: - -"I do not know what is the matter with Mr. Grey; his manner terrifies -me. If you can, come back at once." - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -PENNILESS. - - -As Grey drove home he thought: "Was ever man so lucky as I! She did not -denounce me. She did not give her name. She did not mention mine. She -did not tell the nature of the injury she had been the innocent cause -of, and I was in time to prevent surprise being aroused by the contents -of that packet. Was ever man so lucky as I! - -"I think I half convinced Maud the scene between her and me was a -rehearsal. If I have not, I am sure to be able to do so later on. Maud -had no suspicion that woman was my mother; and if she had she could in -no way trace my manner to the presence of my mother. Even if she -discovers later on it was my mother, I shall be able to find out some -back door, some means of escape. It is time enough to say good-day to -the devil when you meet him; so I will not waste time in providing for -what may never arise. - -"This parcel is money, of course. It is a large slice out of the sales -of the annuity, house, and furniture. I don't know what the gross sum -was, but I should not be surprised if she left half of it with Maud. Let -me see." - -He cut the cord, and opened out the parcel. There were two or three -folds of brown paper; then came a bundle of notes, and in the middle one -note doubled up, and in this innermost note four sovereigns, seven -shillings, and a fourpenny-piece. There were seven one thousand pound -notes, three one hundred, and eight tens, making seven thousand three -hundred and eighty pounds in notes, and four pounds seven shillings and -fourpence in coin; in all, seven thousand three hundred and eighty-four -pounds, seven shillings and fourpence. - -Grey knit his brows, counted the money over again, twisted the gold and -silver inquisitively through his fingers, and uttered an exclamation of -dissatisfaction. - -"Of course," he thought, "they could have traced these notes to her as -easily as though her name was written on the back of each. I can now cut -off their history as long as I like. I cannot understand how she got so -much for the lot. Double this would be a thing far above my estimate. At -the very outside I don't think the three things were worth more than ten -thousand. It might have gone to eleven thousand. I should not have -thought so much, certainly not a penny more. This would be about -two-thirds of eleven thousand--a trifle more than two-thirds. Can this -woman have given Maud two-thirds of what the property brought, and left -herself with short of four thousand pounds, when she may live ten or a -dozen years yet? Monstrous! - -"My mother, upwards of seventy years of age, with a bankrupt son and -four thousand pounds--a hundred and fifty pounds a year! Monstrous! I'll -go to Evans and find out the facts of the case, and relieve myself of -this heavy suspicion." - -He drove to Evans's. The solicitor was in an outer office among his -clerks. Grey was too impatient to wait until they could reach the -private room, and too cautious to allow Evans to answer his question -aloud. He took up a sheet of paper and wrote on it: - -"What were the net proceeds of my mother's sale?" - -He handed this to Evans. - -The solicitor wrote some figures, and returned the paper to Grey. - -The banker turned down the side of paper with the figures, and went to -the window. With his back to the attorney and clerks he read the -figures. The paper fell from his hand. He raised his face against the -thin winter light. He folded his arms tightly across his chest. A -convulsive movement began at the shoulders and descended throughout his -body. He swayed to and fro violently. - -Evans raised his head, and saw something was wrong. He stole softly -behind the banker, and placed his hand on the other's arm. - -"Come this way. Come to my private room," whispered the solicitor -gently. - -Grey moved away mechanically. Even with the attorney's assistance he -walked unsteadily. - -When he had reached the private room Evans pressed Grey into a chair, -locked the door, and said: - -"Rest a while. Rest a while, and then tell me." - -Grey rose to his feet laboriously, as if his joints were frozen. He -placed a hand on each shoulder of Evans, and said, in a heavy husky -voice: - -"Evans--my God! Evans--do you know what has happened?" - -"No." - -"My mother, upwards of seventy years of age, has left Daneford and gone -I don't know where; and she has not a roof to cover her, a meal to eat, -or a shilling in her pocket." - -The sum Evans had written on that piece of paper was seven thousand -three hundred and eighty-four pounds, seven shillings and fourpence. - -"Evans, she hasn't kept a copper. By this time she may be without a -shilling." - -Half an hour elapsed before Grey found himself able to command himself -sufficiently to face the public eye. - -Evans offered to do anything in his power. He undertook to find Mrs. -Grey and ascertain her condition; but Grey refused all help. He felt -perfectly convinced his mother would allow nothing to be done for her by -him. If she beggared herself to pay some of the stolen money, it was not -likely she would accept money from him who had committed the theft. - -When he left Evans's office he walked slowly and sadly towards the Bank. -It was now dusk. He went to his private-room, and, flinging himself into -a chair, sat long gazing at the fire. - -He had, he had fancied, banished all thought of his mother from his -mind for ever. He had flattered himself he had cast off all his old -affection, so that it might be no longer a stumbling-stone in the path -of his ambition. But this horrible discovery of the old woman's absolute -destitution could not be resisted. - -His mother a homeless wanderer among strange people in the winter time! -Unendurable thought! She to whom he had looked up with love and -reverence all his life, who had soothed and cheered him in the little -griefs of his boyhood and the trials of his manhood, now without a -fireside of her own! - -He had himself never known what poverty, actual poverty, was; but he had -heard and read of it, and had come in contact with it as a man connected -with the treasurership held by him. There were people in the world at -this moment who were hungry and had not a penny to buy bread. Had not a -penny such as this. - -He had taken a coin out of his pocket, and now held it in his left hand. -He was bent forward; his right elbow rested on his knee; his head -drooped over the left palm, in which lay the coin. - -People who starved for want of such a coin as this! Under privation it -was the children and the old people succumbed first. People of middle -life like him lived through sieges and famines when the young and the -old died. - -To think of people being hungry for want of such a coin as this! - -He had seen the old hungry. As president of the Coal Fund he had visited -poor old people. He had seen their dropped jaws, their dim eyes, their -feeble gait, their degraded humanity. He had seen women, old women who -had once occupied comfortable positions, hobbling along the frozen -streets with tickets for coal in their hands, while boys followed -jeering at them. He had heard these respectable old women utter words of -gratitude so humiliating to themselves, that he had felt to listen was -more the punishment of a crime than the reward of a humane action. - -Once at a Christmas-time he went to see a poor widow on behalf of whom -application had been made to the fund. Her husband had been a well-to-do -tradesman of Daneford. He found the poor creature in a most pitiable -plight. She had nothing but a bundle of straw for a bed, and the ragged -remains of an old patchwork counterpane. There were two broken chairs, a -delf cup, and no saucer. This was a full inventory of the widow's goods. -The old woman said she did not feel hunger half so much as cold. She was -used to hunger all the year round, now and then; but the winter cold -was terrible. When hungry and cold, you were tortured from within and -without. For twelve months she had not tasted hot meat, and for six -months neither eggs nor butter. Sprats were then three-halfpence for two -pounds, and bread three-halfpence a pound. Two pounds of sprats, two -pounds of bread, and the use of a neighbour's fire, carried her over two -days very nicely, but that came to fourpence-halfpenny; and when she had -paid eighteenpence a week for the room, it was not easy to find -fourpence-halfpenny every two days for living. In coming away he gave -her half-a-sovereign. She threw herself down on her knees to him, and -thanked him and Providence that she should now have warm stockings and -taste meat once more before she died. That thin old woman had thrown -herself on her knees to _him_ because she was hungry and cold, and he -had given her half-a-sovereign! Thrown herself on her knees to him! When -he came home he told Bee, and Bee had wept and sent the old woman -clothes. He told his mother, too, about this old woman, and his mother -had gone to see her and sat with her, and never lost sight of her until -the poor woman died. - -What changes since then! Bee had gone, and his mother was a pauper -fugitive. - -His stately keen-minded mother a penniless fugitive! Intolerable! There -must be some mistake. Fancy for a moment his proud high-spirited mother -being obliged to stoop and accept help! Fancy such a thing, she who had -always had a full larder and purse at the service of royal generosity! -The mere idea was preposterous on the face of it. And yet there were the -figures of Evans. His mother prostrate at the feet of a stranger, -thanking him for food! - -"Oh, God, who is our master, and who is the master of our joys and our -woes, afflict me with what Thou wilt, but take away that vision! Take -away that vision from before my eyes! Give me all other pains but that -sight, the result of my misdoings." - -He had risen, and was praying with all the might of his soul, his face -and hands thrown up, and the tones of terrible beseeching in his voice. - -Suddenly he sank to his knees and drew his arms swiftly and strongly -across his eyes; swaying his body to and fro, he moaned out in piteous -entreaty: - -"Oh, God of mercy, show mercy to me, and turn away from me my mother's -eyes!" - -There was a knock at the door. - -He staggered feebly to his feet, and took a few hasty inspirations -before asking: - -"Who's there?" - -"I, sir." - -"What do you want?" - -"The mail is going out, sir." - -"Well?" - -"Have you any letters to go?" - -"No, Doughty." - -"But there's the Castle bag, sir. I want the letters out of that." - -"True; thank you for reminding me of them." He opened the door. "Here is -the key." He handed it through the door, adding: "I am most particularly -engaged. Let no one come to me." - -He retired from the door feebly. He went back to the fire and sat down. - -In half an hour he rang his bell. The porter entered. - -"Are the letters posted?" - -"Yes, sir." - -"All gone?" - -"Yes, sir." - -"That will do." To himself he thought with his hand on his brow: "I -forgot something about the Castle letters. I forget still what it was. I -should have--I remember now. Well, it does not make much difference." - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -LOSING. - - -For a few days after the meeting between Grey and his mother at the -Castle he did not go to the Island. Something repelled him. The thought -of the Castle made him chill and uncomfortable now. He had never gone so -far as to try and persuade himself he was in love with Maud. He never -pretended to himself he felt more than a mild interest in her. The -nature of the circumstances surrounding him and impelling him towards -Maud had almost wholly obliterated the personality of the girl. She was -a minus quantity in the equation of his life. Could he bring her over -to the other side, the minus would become a plus, and he should be -saved. He was too much impressed with the necessity of winning her to -regard her personality with much interest. - -Now he seemed to have receded further from her. He was no less impressed -with the necessity of winning her than before, but between her and him -had come of late a shadow, stretching from that interview at which his -mother, Maud, and himself, had assisted. - -At first this shadow was vague, indistinct, a source of indefinable -uneasiness rather than absolute pain. Gradually, hour by hour after that -interview, his subsequent discoveries in the fly, and at Evans's office, -the appearance of vagueness disappeared, the repelling image took -absolute form, and between the girl and himself flitted the form of a -feeble beggared mother. - -He had made no effort to trace Mrs. Grey. He knew nothing on earth would -induce her to take aid from him. He knew she could not be reached -indirectly, for she would suspect any side approach to be of his -contriving. When she would not keep a shilling of her own honest money -to buy bread, there was no likelihood of her receiving stolen money from -his hand. - -"I have already sacrificed two women, am I about to sacrifice a third?" -He put this question to himself often, but took little interest in the -answer. If any other means of extricating himself offered, he would have -abandoned his design of marrying Maud. He saw no other loophole of -escape. - -"If I don't marry Maud, sooner or later it will be found out I have made -fraudulent uses of my power of attorney, and they will seize me, search -the Bank and the Manor, and--hang me out of one of the crossbars of -that tank--always supposing I do not take the liberty of cheating the -hangman by making away with myself." - -He began to feel jaded, and people saw changes in him, and asked him if -he was quite well. When not racked by dread or torn by remorse, a -strange languor fell upon him, and he could not rouse himself to do -anything not absolutely necessary. - -In these languid moments he would think to himself: "I have been -over-trained by crime, and I am not capable of fighting as of old." - -The first day he called at the Castle after meeting his mother there, -Maud could not be seen. She sent down Mrs. Grant to say she hoped Mr. -Grey would excuse her, as she had a headache, and Mrs. Grant had -recommended her to keep to her room. - -This was an agreeable disappointment. He had come to the Island and -requested he might see Maud, not as a matter of liking at the moment, -but as part of a scheme of self-protection laid down when full of life -and vigour, and now carried out with diminished forces. - -He formally examined the work upon which the men were engaged, and took -an early leave of the Island. - -A meeting with Maud that day would have been too much for him. He did -not feel equal to urging his suit; allusion might have been made to his -manner on the last occasion, and he felt he could not carry off the -fiction of the imaginary dispute of the will with a hand sufficiently -light and firm. - -He had now a vague fear--it went beyond fear, and assumed the settled -form of conviction--that his explanation of his violence had not -satisfied Maud. She might really have been indisposed, but of old so -slight an indisposition as headache would not have excluded him from her -presence. He was quite sure Maud had told him the truth, and that his -mother had divulged nothing prejudicial to him. But this was not all. -His mother may have divulged nothing, and yet his manner, his terror at -the sight of her, his violence when she had gone, and his subsequent -statement that litigation was not impossible, might have created an -impression not to be removed easily from the mind of the girl. - -He allowed a few days more to elapse before calling again. - -Mrs. Grant came to him and said Miss Midharst was so miserably wretched -and unwell she must ask Mr. Grey to be good enough to excuse her not -receiving him. - -"I have been very unfortunate with Miss Midharst of late," said the -banker, with a smile to the little widow. - -"She is so nervous and excitable," said Mrs. Grant, who seemed uneasy -and disconcerted. - -"Until quite lately I have had the pleasure of seeing Miss Midharst -daily. I have not been able to come here so often as of old, and when I -do come I am so unfortunate as to find Miss Midharst laid up." There was -complaint in his tone. - -Mrs. Grant felt exceedingly awkward. Maud had told her of Mr. Grey's -extraordinary conduct at their last interview. At her suggestion Maud -had written to Sir William and avoided an interview with the banker. -Maud had had a headache when he called last, but it was not bad enough -to prevent her seeing him if nothing unusual had happened. To-day she -was not unusually nervous, but she dreaded an interview with the banker -so much she became hysterical when his name had been announced. Still -Mrs. Grant's old feeling for Mr. Grey could not be put aside in a -minute, and now that she was face to face with him who had been so -useful and so kind, and found him complaining of exclusion from the -presence of her over whose fortunes the dead baronet had made him -guardian, she felt powerless and wretched. She said, in an unsteady -voice and confused manner: - -"I am sure I am very sorry you should have been twice disappointed in -seeing Miss Midharst. It is unfortunate. But I hope you will not think -she intends any disrespect to you. I know nothing is further from her -thoughts." - -Grey took the widow's hand gently in his. He felt conscious he was not -as strong as formerly. He had now no friend in the world. A woman, a -widow, had been his greatest friend. He knew Mrs. Grant meant him well. - -"Mrs. Grant," he said, "I am sure I have a sincere friend in you." - -"I am sure you have," she answered tremulously. - -"Will you do me a great favour?" - -"There is no one in the world, except Maud, for whom I would so soon do -all I can," she said earnestly. - -"You will be candid with me, I know. You will be candid with me because -you could not be otherwise with anyone, and you will answer my question -as a favour?" - -"If I can I will; you may rely upon that." - -"I knew I was right. My question is: Has anything occurred to make Miss -Midharst disinclined to meet me?" - -"She is not very well." - -"You were good enough to tell me that some time ago. My question has -reference to something else. Has anything of a personal nature occurred -to make Miss Midharst disinclined to meet me?" - -"You know, Mr. Grey, that when Sir William was here Maud made a promise -to him." - -"Yes. That she would look upon him as her personal guardian. Is it to -that you refer?" - -"It is. I believe Miss Midharst wishes to consult her cousin on some -subject of importance. She has written to him." - -"And will not receive me until she gets his reply? Is that what I am to -understand, Mrs. Grant?" Grey's voice quavered, and his whole body -shook. How had that letter escaped him? - -"I do not think Maud will be quite strong enough to see you for a few -days more." - -"That is, until she hears from her cousin?" - -"Until she sees him." - -"_Sees him!_ What do you mean?" - -"She wrote him, asking him to come back, if he could." - -"That is not true. I never saw the letter," he whispered. - -"Yes. She wrote him the day she saw you last, and he is coming back. He -has telegraphed to her saying so." - -"The day she saw me last! The day I met another woman talking to her." - -"Yes." - -"Was it at the suggestion of that woman she wrote for Sir William to -come home?" - -"No; that lady did not, as far as I can hear, mention Sir William's -name." - -"And that was the day," said Grey, letting fall Mrs. Grant's hand and -pressing it against his throbbing forehead--"that was the day I forgot -the bag. How soon is Sir Alexander expected here?" - -"Sir William, you mean." - -"Ah, yes; Sir William I mean, of course. I forgot--I forgot!" - -"We don't know exactly when he may be here, but he will certainly not be -longer than a fortnight." - -"And between this and then Miss Midharst will not see me?" - -He had still his hand on his brow. She did not answer. - -Without taking any further notice of her he walked feebly out of the -room. For an hour he wandered aimlessly about the Castle grounds. There -were men at work, but he took no notice of them. When it grew dusk he -crossed over in a boat to the mainland, and set out to walk home. - -The cool air and the walking gradually improved his tone, and little by -little he became familiar with the new aspect of affairs. He was -conscious of mental indifference, weakness, or numbness--he did not know -exactly what it was. Thoughts and ideas and things had lost half their -values to him. He felt like a man who wakes for the first time in a -prison where he is to pass his life, only the prisoner's heart is -afflicted with the memory of a better past. Grey, as he walked along, -did not once turn his eyes back. He kept them fixed rigidly forward. - -In the immediate future he saw he should lose all influence at the -Castle. The moment Sir William came home his suspicions would be -aroused. He would make inquiries, and find not a single shilling of Sir -Alexander's money in the books of the Bank of England. - -Then would come ruin and death, or death and ruin--put it either way. He -was beaten. He confessed it to himself. Discovery could not be three -weeks off. There was no loophole--no means of escape. The days of -abduction were dead and buried long ago. He could not carry Maud away -forcibly and marry her. He had, by law, no control over her person. She -would not see him until Sir William's return. Most likely she was acting -under the young man's advice in not seeing him. - -A month ago he was keener, and would have felt angry at the interference -of this young man and the stubbornness of this girl; but he was past all -that now. He was beaten, beaten beyond all hope of retrieving his -fortune. His life was forfeit. His name would be branded for ever in the -town where it had been almost worshipped for years. - -And when he had died by his own hand, and all had been discovered, his -mother, a wanderer on the land, would, as she sank into a pauper's -grave, learn the enormity of his crime, and call out that the sin of -having brought such a monster into the world might be taken away from -her in consideration of the wrongs he had done her. - -No! no! no! Ten thousand times No! His mother should never hear the -awful words: "Henry Walter Grey found guilty of Wife Murder," or, -"Discovery of the body of Mrs. Henry Walter Grey, with a history of her -murder by her husband." - -No; that must never be. But how was he to prevent it? Only one way -remained. - -If he could hide the embezzlement, he could hide the murder. There was -now only one way of hiding the fraud: he must throw himself on the mercy -of Miss Midharst and her cousin. The moment Sir William returned, he -should make a full confession. While there is life there is hope, and -that was not a foolish hope. Sir William was young and chivalric. Sir -William would listen to his prayer and show mercy. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -"I AM HE. FIRE." - - -The morning after Grey had been at the Castle, he awoke cold and -depressed. The magnitude of the misfortune just come upon him was more -apparent than the evening before. Up to yesterday he had been fighting -to defeat the past and render the future glorious. Henceforth all -thought of glory must be cast aside, and the struggle conducted solely -with a view to prevent fatal disgrace. He had lost the stake, and ran a -grave risk of losing his life. He had been playing against Sir William -Midharst. Now he was playing against the hangman. - -The day of the baronet's return was not known. The young man must pass -through Daneford on his way to the Castle. More than likely he would -call at the "Warfinger Hotel," to leave his luggage there before setting -out for the Island. - -Grey went to the "Warfinger Hotel," saw the landlord, told him Sir -William was expected home; and requested him to send instantly to the -Bank word of the baronet's arrival. - -He felt queer to-day. That old sensation of everything being far away -and of little interest to him had come back upon him fourfold. He went -through the routine business of the Bank with as little interest as a -copying-clerk. He signed papers without reading them, and did not -understand those he read. - -And now day after day the banker lived without change or adventure. All -his life he had been a man of action, a leader, and now he was wearily -waiting, waiting in weak hope haunted by fierce terrors. He felt his -physical health declining under the ordeal, but he had no alternative. - -At last one afternoon, as he was sitting alone in his private office a -messenger came from the "Warfinger Hotel" announcing the return of Sir -William. The baronet had just arrived and ordered luncheon, so that in -all likelihood he would be at the hotel for an hour or two. - -Grey rose heavily and walked to the hotel with a misgiving heart. He -carried in his hand his small black bag. - -What reason had he to think this young man would take a merciful view of -the case? All his pride was gone now, except the pride in a good name he -did not deserve. He would crawl on his knees in private to this young -man, rather than lower his front a jot before the public. If he could -win over this young man he might save his name. It was not the hangman -he dreaded most. It was not death. It was the groans and execrations of -people over whom he once held imperial sway, and by whom he had been -regarded as the high-priest of humanity and justice. - -When he arrived at the hotel, he sent in his card and was instantly -admitted. - -The young man fixed his dark dreamy eyes upon the other as he entered, -rose slowly from his chair, and held out his hand freely, saying: - -"I am very much obliged to you for calling. I wanted to see you -particularly." - -This was unexpected. Grey thought Sir William would refuse to meet him -until after a visit to the Castle. What did the young man know? Grey -said: - -"I have to speak to you on a very important matter indeed, and I would -wish to speak to you about it at once." - -"I am quite at your service for an hour. Sit down. You are not looking -as well as I should like to see so good a friend." - -"Friend!" sighed Grey. "Don't use that word again until I have -finished." - -A quick look of present interest came into the dreamy eyes. The baronet -said: "I am ready to hear." - -"I have been told by Mrs. Grant that you have come home to consult with -Miss Midharst about some important matter--I do not know what, and I do -not seek to know. Before you see Miss Midharst, I want to say to you -some words of the deepest importance, and I want you to permit me -to--lock the door." He was grave and collected in manner, and as he said -the last words he waved his hand softly towards the door. - -"You may lock the door," said Sir William, taking an easy-chair, and -relapsing into his dreamy manner. - -The banker walked slowly to the door, locked it deliberately, and then -came back to the window at which the young man was sitting. Then he sat -down on a chair opposite Sir William, having placed his bag on a small -table that stood between them. - -The day was bright and clear. Past the wall of the hotel through which -that window looked ran the Weeslade. It was ebb tide, and now and then -down the river shot a small boat or glided a barge, while from the upper -wharves came the sound of chains and tackles, and the hoarse hoot of the -steamboat blowing off steam. - -For a few seconds Grey sat silent, resting his head upon his hand. At -last he spoke: - -"You have been asked to come back from Egypt to give advice to Miss -Midharst on some subject of importance. You are by your relationship -with her, and by her own agreement with you, the guardian of her person. -I am by the will of her father the guardian of her fortune. _Yours_ is a -precious trust." - -Grey paused here to give the young man an opportunity of saying -something. Sir William merely said: "That is so." - -"What I have further to say to you," continued Grey, "is in the nature, -Sir William, of a confession. A confession so degrading and humiliating, -that I have debated a thousand times whether I should make it or put an -end to my life." - -"I am sincerely glad you adopted the alternative of confiding in me." - -"Sir William, what do you consider the greatest calamity which could -befall Miss Midharst?" - -"Really I have not thought of such a question, and could not answer it -off-hand." - -"What would you do to the man who behaved in an unscrupulous manner to -Miss Midharst?" - -Suddenly the young man lost his languid manner, sat bolt upright in his -chair, looked with a strong present interest in his eyes at the banker, -and demanded sharply: "What do you mean?" - -Grey raised his head, and for the first time the eyes of the two men -met. - -"A terrible injury, an irreparable injury; who had inflicted upon her an -injury so great that the sacrifice of his life could not atone for it, -not the devotion of a lifetime undo it?" - -"Shoot him. Where is he?" - -Grey opened the black bag, took out the revolver, and holding the muzzle -pointed at his own breast, handed it to the baronet, saying: "I am he. -Fire." - -The young man sprang to his feet, seized the revolver, and keeping the -banker covered with it, said thickly through his clenched teeth: "A -moment. Wait a moment." - -For some seconds there was neither motion nor word. The one man stood -over the other, the revolver in his hand, his finger on the trigger. - -"I have thought of Maud until I am ready to shoot you here. Now speak. -What was it?" - -"She is a beggar." - -"How?" - -"I have stolen all her fortune. I sold out the Consols and used the -money. The money is all gone." - -"Have you confessed all?" - -"Yes; all." - -"And are you ready to die for that?" - -"I am." - -"There is nothing for you to add about Maud?" - -"No. I have told you all candidly." - -The young man seized Grey by the throat, and pulled him upon his feet. -For a moment he swayed the banker to and fro. - -"Not this. Fire if you are a man. Not this." - -"Damnation seize you for a fool! You terrified me about nothing." He -flung Grey violently from him. - -"About nothing! I told you all her money is gone." - -"And when did I tell you I wanted her money?" - -"You never said anything to me about it." - -"You are a fool, sir, and have terrified me for nothing." - -Sir William stooped down, picked up the revolver, which had fallen from -his hand in the scuffle, and raising the window quietly dropped it into -the Weeslade. Then turning to the banker he said: - -"Who knows of this?" - -"Only you and I and my mother." - -"That is true, is it?" - -"It is." - -"Miss Midharst has no suspicion of it?" - -"Not the slightest. Only three people on earth know it. The three I have -named." - -"Keep the secret where it is, and meet me here to-morrow at noon. I -shall then let you know what I intend doing." - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -BANKER AND BARONET. - - -Next noon, as appointed, Grey called at the "Warfinger Hotel" and saw -Sir William. The interview was a brief one. Sir William informed the -banker he had made up his mind to only one thing so far, namely, to keep -the secret and do nothing for a month or two. "This looks very like -compounding a felony," said the young man, "but I am prepared to take -that risk." - -Grey went away respited. It was a great relief nothing was to be done at -once, but when something came to be done what would it be? That was the -question which followed Grey day and night, waking and sleeping, through -two long weary months. One qualifying fact operated greatly in his -favour: day after day he lost susceptibility. Something was happening -which dulled his sense of danger or exposure. He had begun to forget -more and more, and it was only on rare occasions he had a clear and -well-defined idea of his position. He had a weak conviction Sir William -would not have him prosecuted, but what would the young man do? - -But if the tyranny of the theft had lost its poignancy, he had two -fiercer troubles left. - -Every old broken-down woman he met in the street was his mother. By day -he met his mother a thousand times; she crawled close to the wall, she -had sold all her clothes for bread, she had worn out her boots, and her -bare feet, her poor old bare feet, touched the cold wet streets. If he -took up a paper his eye fell on some paragraph relating to the death in -great misery of an old woman over seventy who had seen better days. - -But it was when the twilight had died, and all the land lay in the dark -trance of night, the prime actor in his mental disaster entered on the -scene. - -In order that he might marry Maud and so cover up his robbery, he had -taken upon him the awful burden of blood. Now Maud had slipped through -his grasp, and there was a chance his theft might still remain -undisclosed. What was his position with regard to the deed of the -seventeenth of August? If the warm-breathing body of his wife were by -his side he should be in no worse position. - -When the dusk came down upon the earth, when the fields lay under the -shadow of the wings of ill angels, the warm and breathing body of his -wife was not at his side, but there, no matter where he might sit, was -the clammy cold thing he had left that night on the top of the Tower of -Silence. It lay in passage and hall, and in the dining-room it was -always stiff and stark behind his chair, where he could not see it, but -whence the clammy chill radiating from it reached his back and froze his -spirit. - -That was not the worst, for it was vague; not the figure of his wife so -much as that of the victim of murder. Over one shoulder, he knew not -which, came that face, not now calm and passionless as before, but full -of love and tender reproach, an expression in which the love -out-measured the reproach ten thousand-fold. It was this new look of old -love made him shut his fists, and grind his teeth, and sob and groan. - -From the ghastly caverns of night's silence whispers of her voice came -to him pleading for mercy. - -"Do not, for God's sake, Wat, do not send me in my sin before my Maker!" - -These awful whispers made him start and stare, and caused the cold sweat -to start from all the pores of his body. - -Then followed night and dreams. When he awoke after dreams he always -thought the dreaming worse than waking. When he sought his bed at night -he prayed for dreams as a relief. In the privacy of his own room, and in -the still deeper privacy of dreams, he was always in her presence when -the rustle of her dress made his pulses thicken with joy. - -These dreams were his only resting-places. But, unfortunately, not only -did they not last always, but towards the end of each it changed and -died in an awful sense of unascertainable disaster. Something had -happened to his love, something so hideous and unheard of, that not man -or woman, beast or stone, would tell him the secret. With a great shout -he awoke, sprang out of bed to seek for his love through all the world, -tore open the door, and found his murdered wife lying across the -threshold, and upon his hands her blood. - -Day by day the influence of these terrors wrought on Grey until his eyes -grew dim, his hands palsied, his gait feeble, and his mind dull. He -forgot oftener now than formerly. In the midst of business transactions -he would stop suddenly, put his hand to his head, mutter a few -incoherent words, cease speaking for a while, and then exclaim -piteously: "I have forgotten something! I have forgotten something!" - -All who came in contact with him saw he was breaking down. They said: - -"Poor Grey loved his wife so deeply, so tenderly, he is losing his -reason for loss of her." - -This popular verdict was not only a great cause of drawing sympathy -towards the widower, but almost wholly washed away the stain which had -smirched his dead wife's name. For those who had heard of her failing, -and believed it fact, now asked themselves: - -"How could any man care for a woman so afflicted? How could any man wear -away his life in sorrow for the loss of an intemperate wife?" - -The evening Grey first visited Sir William Midharst at the "Warfinger -Hotel" the young man went to the Castle and had a long talk with Maud, -in which she told him of Grey's extraordinary conduct on the occasion of -the unknown old woman's visit. She did not tell him she suspected the -banker had been trying to make himself more than agreeable to her. He -did not say anything to her of the scene between the banker and himself -at the "Warfinger." He heard all Maud had to say to him without comment -beyond expressions of surprise. - -"I know the whole secret," he thought, "but I must have time to think -out the situation before I decide on a course of action. When I have -considered all the points I shall not be slow to move." - -As he was going down a corridor after saying good-night to Maud Mrs. -Grant overtook him. - -She said: "How can you account for Mr. Grey's conduct, Sir William? I -cannot understand it at all. Of course Maud told you all. You do not -think his manner of wooing likely to win?" - -"His manner of wooing! I was told nothing of his wooing. Did he make -love to Maud?" - -"Ah, did she not tell you. I suppose the poor child felt it might not -be delicate to mention the matter. He has been making downright love to -her. She told me all about it. That's the extraordinary part of the -thing; he has been making love to her, and then he breaks out into that -violent manner all at once. Acting, indeed! I don't believe a word of -it." - -"So," thought Sir William to himself, as he went home to his hotel, "I -did not know the whole secret, but I think I have it all now. Of course, -if he married Maud he need say nothing about the money. It's all gone, -no doubt. A man would not tell such a lie and offer to back it up with a -bullet. Let me see now. My return has forced his hand. He saw he had no -chance of winning Maud. What a preposterous idea to think of his making -love to my angel Maud! What insolent presumption! Poor Maud a beggar -through his means! It is well I am not. I suppose we can live on the old -estate as the Midharsts have done for generations before us. I am full -of hope. I am drunk with the belief Maud shall be mine. I think she is -glad I am back, and will be glad to see me every day. Fancy seeing Maud -every day from this out! Fancy being permitted to take her hand, and to -feel that hand on my arm! Fancy being able to say 'Maud' a thousand -times a day to herself and not to an image of her. Oh, Maud, my -beautiful, be with me for ever as the flowers are with summer. - -"What shall I do with this scoundrel Grey? He was very nearly too deep -for me. He imposed on me, but that is all over now. What am I to do with -him? If he is prosecuted there will be worry, and the past will be gone -into, and the peculiarities of Sir Alexander, among other things his -hatred of me and the, let me say, friendship between his daughter and -me. - -"They might call Maud, these lawyers have no taste, no sense of -propriety. Think of putting Maud in the box and cross-examining her, -and--yes, by Heavens, some of those legal bullies might be ungentle to -my lily sweet Maud. - -"What a wonderful thing Maud's hand is. It is like the moon, always the -same, and yet you can't be in sight of it without looking at it often. - -"But this scoundrel Grey. I wish I were done with him. I have given up -all taste for affairs and difficulties. I am become bucolic. Suppose he -is prosecuted we can't get the money back, for such a prosecution would -shut up his Bank. We should have all the trouble and worry for nothing. -Then what is the object of prosecuting the scoundrel? - -"It is strange about Maud's hand. I thought as I looked at it this -evening that if I were dying of wounds on a battle-field, parched with -that last terrible thirst, and Maud came and put her hand on my -forehead, the thirst would leave me. I know it would. - -"But about Grey? - -"Yes. Isn't it too bad that when I have Maud to think about this -wretched Grey should thrust himself in between Maud and me. I wish the -devil would take Grey. He'll want that bland burglar sometime, and he'd -oblige me greatly by taking him now. - -"What a beautiful thing Maud's ear is. While I was looking at it -to-night I found out why when I speak to her I seem to pray; it is -because I know my words must reach the spirit of a saint. - -"But here is this Grey. I am to meet him to-morrow and let him know my -decision. I wish the devil would take him now, or Heaven would inspire -me what to do with him. If the money had been mine I should before going -to bed to-night sign a receipt for the full amount, send the receipt to -him, and beg of him never to allude to the matter again. - -"If the money was mine! - -"Ah! That is a thought worth considering twice. - -"If I marry Maud the supposititious money will be mine. I don't want the -money if I could get it, and I can't get it, or any of it, if I wanted -it. The prosecution would involve nothing but trouble and worry. - -"Come, on the day I marry Maud, I'll give him a clear receipt for it! -But I'll put him off for a couple of months and then tell him. - -"If all the rest of the world were mine on the day I marry Maud, and it -would save her worry not to take it, I should pass it by. - -"My gentle Maud, you are the infinite sum of all my earthly hopes to -which nothing can be added, from which nothing can be taken away." - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -GREY REMEMBERS. - - -Grey sat in his breakfast-room turning over his letters. Suddenly his -eyes fell on one and remained fixed on it. - -"At last," he thought, "at last I am to hear something of her, of my -poor old mother. Whatever this tells me is all I am likely ever to know -of her until I die. To-night I cut off for ever my connection with the -career of Wat Grey. To-day Wat Grey departs this life of Daneford." - -He broke the envelope and found these unsigned, undated words: - -"Through the kindness of some honest friends of your honest father I am -now in a London almshouse, so I am fully provided for. I think it only -right you should know this. I have seen by the papers that Sir William -Midharst will, the morning you get this, marry Miss Midharst. I handed -that lady all I had in the world to the last penny. I do not know how -you have evaded discovery so long. But follow my example, and give back -to the robbed all you have left in the world. These are my last words to -you." - -He put down the letter, sighed, and muttered: - -"An ungracious final leave-taking, mother, an ungracious farewell. The -giving back forms no part of my plan. Sir William would not touch a -penny. You yourself will relent and be sorrowful when you hear of this -day's events, for they will get into the papers as well as the marriage -of Sir William. The newspapers will have the marriage paragraph, and -then one headed, 'Shocking Death of Mr. Henry Walter Grey.' - -"No, mother, I must save my name and save my reputation, and both can be -best preserved by sacrificing Wat Grey. Wat Grey must go to keep his -name good. There is no need he should really die. It will be quite -enough if he change his habitation and his name. - -"I am not strong enough to fight it out any longer. I cannot leave this -house as it is, and this house is killing me. It is killing me slowly -with its awful sights and sounds and memories. I must, I will fly. This -very night I shall leave it for ever, and I shall leave it incapable of -telling any tales. - -"At one blow I shall destroy its sights, and its sounds, and its -memories, and cut myself off from it, Daneford, and the past for ever. -I shall get rid of all the burden I bear. I shall break away from all my -old associations, all things to remind me of the past. With twenty -thousand pounds in my pocket, and the whole breadth of sunny France -between me and this place, I shall be at ease. They may charge my memory -with the crime of theft, but I shall leave evidence of my innocence -behind me. Farleg may come back and accuse my name of murder; but he -will have neither Wat Grey nor evidence against Wat Grey, for Wat Grey -and the evidence against him will disappear together, and I will live a -quiet life beyond the Alps or the Pyrenees." - -He leant back in his chair and reviewed his preparations with the -deliberate complaisance of one whose plans were unassailable. - -"Yes, everything so far is arranged. I have the money. I have the -letter written to Aldridge, saying I enclose Sir William's -acknowledgment for the amount of Consols converted into cash at his -request, and handed to him on this the day of his wedding with Miss -Midharst. I also tell Aldridge I send him this to put in the -strong-room, as I shall not go into town to-morrow, but stay at home -attending to some final business connected with the Midharst affairs. I -have paid all the small legacies, and made investments to yield the -annuities. For two months I have been sleeping in the tower-room, so -that no one will expect me to sleep anywhere else. I have got that -rope-ladder ready to hook on the bar of the back window, and the piece -of twine rove through the hook to unship the ladder when I am down safe -on the ground. Once I am on the ground I start on my way to France, and -I walk to-night at the burial of the past. There can be no hitch. -Things must run smooth. To-morrow I shall be free! Free!" - -He stood up and looked around him triumphantly. Suddenly his face grew -pale and expressionless. He pressed his hand to his forehead, his lips -opened feebly, and he muttered: - -"I have forgotten something! I have forgotten something!" - -He dropped down in his chair, and for a few minutes his face did not -alter. All at once the natural look came back. He rose again, shook -himself briskly, and said: - -"Another of those half-fainting fits I have been free from so long. They -were worst when my mind was most tortured. Of late I have been almost -free from them. They will disappear altogether when I get south, and -to-morrow at this hour I shall be out of bondage." - -It was now time to set out for the Castle. It had been arranged that he -should attend and give away the bride. "If I am not present," said the -banker to Sir William, "there will be no end of remarks made, and if I -do attend it will be as Miss Midharst's guardian, in which capacity, -there being no relative, I ought to give away the bride." And Sir -William, seeing no harm in this, and wanting to avert comment as much as -possible, consented. - -A full year had not elapsed since the death of Sir Alexander, but -several considerations beyond the impatience of the baronet made it -desirable the wedding should take place at once. - -Maud was alone in the world and had no protector but him. She was in -mourning, and objected to go to London and be brought out so soon after -her father's death. The Castle was lonely and dreary. They were engaged -to be married, and it could make no difference to anyone, and could be -no offence against the puny laws of society, if they got married within -the year and lived quietly at the Castle until the time of mourning had -passed. Then they could go to London. They should know very few people -at first, but that would soon be altered. - -So the marriage had been fixed to take place on Wednesday the 8th of -August, 1877. - -The wedding was to be strictly private. No one was to be present but -Mrs. Grant and Mr. Grey. The ceremony was to be performed by the rector, -and the tenants were informed that the bride and bridegroom desired no -demonstration of any kind. - -After the ceremony Sir William and Lady Midharst were to return to the -Castle, where no unusual preparation would be made to receive them. - -This simple programme was carried out without let or accident. Grey and -the baronet drove from Daneford, Maud and Mrs. Grant from the Castle, to -the quiet country church, where the rector performed the short service -by request. In the vestry Sir William handed Grey an envelope containing -something. He said, "This is it, Grey." No more. - -From the church the four drove back to Island Ferry. Here Grey bade the -party good-bye. Sir William in saying good-bye added, under his breath, -so that no one but Grey heard him, "for ever." Grey echoes the "for -ever" in his heart, but took no further notice of the supplement to the -farewell. - -The banker then drove back to the Manor House. - -"My last visit to the Castle," he thought, as he swept up the -carriage-drive. "My last entry into the Manor House. To-day I bid a -life-long adieu to the Weird Sisters. I am not sorry. I am over weary -and want rest. I have allowed nothing to stand between me and ambition. -I have lost the game and now I want only peace. What I have done cannot -be undone. In a new climate, among new people, the past, the Weird -Sisters, the Towers of Silence, and the story of my tower will fade into -the background, and the things of the seventeenth of August will become -as vague and shadowy to my mind as the story of the Spanish lady whose -bones were found on the top of the tower in Warfinger Castle." - -He had many things to arrange at the Manor that day, and had determined -not to go to the Bank. He opened the envelope Sir William had given him, -and found in it what he had been promised: a receipt in full for claims -upon him in settlement of Miss Midharst's money. This receipt he put -into the letter he had ready written for Aldridge and posted it. There -had been trouble about the marriage settlement, but as Grey was -guardian, and the baronet knew all about the money, things had gone -smoothly in the end. - -He spent most of the remainder of the day in the library looking through -various books and accounts, but having slight interest in them. The day -before a girl marries she cannot take a very lively interest in the -gardener's work at her father's house. She is going to wear another -name, break from old associations, and take up her residence in a new -home. By to-morrow Grey would have changed his name, broken from old -associations, and taken up his residence in a new home. - -Day grew on and at last dinner-hour arrived. He was too much excited to -eat; he played with a cutlet, and drank three glasses of marvellous -brown sherry for which he was famous. After dinner, although he rarely -touched spirits, he had a glass of brandy-and-water with his cigar. - -At eight o'clock he rang for coffee. When James came with it he said: "I -am going to bed soon. I shall not require you or any of the others again -to-night. I shall want breakfast half an hour earlier than usual in the -morning, at eight o'clock. Call me at five minutes to seven. I am not -going to town to-morrow, but shall stay at home all day. Good-night." - -Grey waited a few minutes to give James time to get out of hearing. Then -he rose, and took his way to the room he had slept in of late, the first -floor of the Tower of Silence. - -It was now half-past eight. - -"In half an hour I shall be free," he exclaimed rapturously to himself, -as he turned up the gas. - -He shook the thick shutters of the window to ascertain that they were -secure. He lit a candle, went up those hideous stairs to the first -floor, bolted the shutters on the front window there and the shutters on -the landing window. - -"I do not want the neighbours to see it too soon or they might come and -_rescue_ me." He chuckled at the idea of being rescued, and descended to -the storey beneath. On the landing here the window stood open. He looked -out. All was still below. None of his household had ever occasion to go -to the rear of the house after nightfall. No stranger could approach the -house at the rear unless by passing through that hideous grove. - -The night was calm and dark and still. "Nothing could be better," -thought Grey, as he fixed the hooks of a ladder of ropes to an iron bar -of the small balcony, and ascertained that the twine by which these -hooks were to be unshipped ran freely through the ring screwed into the -window-frame. - -"All's well," he thought. "Now be quick!" - -Going back again into the first-floor room, he rapidly took off his -black frock-coat, light trousers, and waistcoat, and put on a -tight-fitting corduroy suit, a pair of false whiskers and moustaches, -and a low round hat. - -When this was done he looked in the glass, and started back with a -shout. "By Jove!" cried he, after a moment; "I thought all was lost. I -thought my own reflection was another man's! I _am_ already another man. -I feel it in every fibre. No one who knew me, and thinks I am dead, -would recognise me. I might walk down the streets of Daneford -to-morrow, and talk about my own sad end to my most intimate friend, and -he would not recognise me. The Daneford Bank would open an account for -me to-morrow in the name of Grey, and observe no likeness between their -new customer and their old master. I am a new man already. I feel new -blood in all my veins, new sinews in all my limbs; the nightmare of the -past is vanishing; I shall sleep now of nights, and whistle once more -while I dress of mornings. Ten thousand times better this feeling than -all the pomp my ambition longed for with the canker and the care." - -He took from the pocket of the coat he had removed a small packet, -thinking: "All I want is the money. Twenty thousand pounds will be a -large fortune in either Spain or Italy." - -He threw the clothes he had worn on the bed, opened the cupboard, and -took out one after another four cans. Two of these he emptied over his -own bed, one on the floor and furniture, and one on the landing and -first flight of the stairs. Turpentine! - -He then threw the four cans on the bed, wrenched off the gas-brackets -and set fire to the gas at the ends of the broken pipes. - -He cast one hasty glance round. - -"All right!" - -He struck a match and held it to the saturated bed. - -A little spirt of flame shot out of the counterpane to the match. The -spirt of flame then fell back and spread slowly until it formed a spire -as large as a pine-cone. - -Grey backed to the door and seized the handle. - -From that cone flashed twenty javelins of light this way and that. The -air of the room sobbed, and a solid mass of white flame stood up over -that bed. - -Swiftly opening the door Grey sprang out, and shut the door leading to -the landing. A second he stood there, threw up his hands, and cried in a -husky voice: - -"Saved!" - -He looked out of the window. - -"All right." - -He put his hand on the iron bar. - -"Quite firm." - -Suddenly he drew back. Had he seen anyone below? - -No. - -He put his hand on his breast. - -"The money is here," he whispered to himself, "but I have forgotten -something. What is it?" A few seconds passed and he yelled: "I know! I -know! What I forgot is on the roof." - -With furious speed he dashed up the noisome stairs. - -As he did so there arose a soft flapping sound at the door on the -landing, and a lazy serpent of white flame crawled across the landing -and climbed up the stairs. - - * * * * * - -A sweetheart of one of the maid-servants, leaving the Manor House by the -side door at half-past nine, saw fire issuing from the window on the -first floor of the tower, ran back to the servants' hall, and gave the -alarm. - -By that time the fire raged madly, rioting on the parched woodwork of -the staircase and the dry joists and planks of the floors. The staircase -was a cavern of white flame. In front of the glare rushed a fierce -column of black suffocating smoke. Twice already had a man tried to -force his way down, and twice had he been driven back before the -scalding vapour. Now he crouched on the roof in the corner furthest from -the tank. - -By ten a small crowd had assembled and he could hear men at work. The -roof was getting hot; now and then the opening from the staircase panted -forth a cloud of sparks. - -"If they see me they will try to save me. They will come here, find out -all, and save me--for the gallows. Better the fire." - -He crouched closer and held his breath lest they should hear him -breathe. He had no memory of how he came to that roof. He must have -rushed there in one of those unconscious moments. - -At half-past ten red tongues began to issue from the opening in the -roof. - -By a quarter to eleven the weight of the tank told on the sapped roof. -That portion showed signs of subsidence. - -Still the man crouched low, his eyes now fixed in agonised expectation -on the tank. - -The man on the roof heard the clocks of Daneford strike eleven. Just -then the tank trembled, swayed a moment, then shot downward with a roar. -Up the hole made by it danced a cloud of flame. - -The man on the roof sprang to his feet, and with a shout leaped on the -parapet crying: - -"Help! Help! For God's sake, help!" - -With that tank the evidence against him had vanished. - -A groan came up from the people below, and then a cheer. - -"The fire-escape is coming. Have courage!" - -Shading his eyes with his hands he looked in the direction of the lodge, -and saw approaching by the carriage-way the fire-escape. - -"Help! Quick!" - -"Courage, Wat! We will save you!" - -Another crash. Something warm struck his back. He turned round. All the -roof was gone now. He looked into a pool of flame. - -A fiercer blow than the former. Sight gone. Head giddy. Ah! - -They saw the flame touch him; they saw him thrust his arms before his -face. They saw him sway, and fall into the crater. - -They knew he had lost his life in the tower that night, but they never -knew that tower was the tomb of husband and wife. - - * * * * * - -"Well, Maud, as we are not leaving home for our honeymoon, and there is -only one place in the Castle where you have never been--the top of the -Tower of Silence, suppose we take lanterns and go there for an hour. I -am curious to see this historic tower, this Weird Sister dowered with a -legend of blood. You are not afraid to go." - -"I should like to go. There is nothing I would like better. It will be -an adventure." - -When they were there he said: "I am glad we came. We are promised a -glorious view presently. There is the moon rising." - -"The moon does not rise there. It rises here," pointing. - -"Then there must be a fire." - -"That is the direction of the Manor House----." - - -THE END. - -CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. - - * * * * * - -NOTICE. - -Now ready, at every Library in the Kingdom, - -THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD. - -A New Novel. - -By RICHARD DOWLING, - -AUTHOR OF "THE WEIRD SISTERS." In Three Vols. - - "A noticeable book; it contrives to arouse and maintain interest - with a very small number of incidents and personages, dramatically - handled. Hugo might in his younger days, and before he had learnt - the fatal lesson of setting his own personality above the claims of - art and reason, have given us such pictures."--_Academy._ - - "All things being taken in consideration, it may be pronounced a - decided success ... This work alone would have been enough to have - established the author's claim to a place amongst the first of - living writers of exciting fiction of the more intense - kind."--_Morning Post._ - - "Full of dramatic action. Clever delineations of strongly - contrasted human eccentricities, interwoven with which is a - love-story of singular freshness."--_Illustrated London News._ - - "The nature of the novel is indeed uncommonly fine."--_World._ - - "Novels are so apt to belie their name by running in the most - well-worn of ruts, and by exhibiting a striking deficiency of - novelty, that we welcome with special eagerness any outcome of real - imaginative invention; and the conception of the original - situation, the nature of which is sufficiently indicated here, - amply proves that Mr. Dowling possesses a large measure of genuine - creative power."--_Spectator._ - - "There is not a single bit of 'good society' in the whole book, an - omission for which readers may well be thankful. The story is kept - mysterious with success."--_Athenaeum._ - - "The novel is unquestionably powerful, well written, true to the - life which it describes, and eminently pure and healthy in - tone."--_Globe._ - - "Mr. Dowling has wisely avoided the footsteps of his predecessors, - and has given us a powerfully realistic picture of the wild - unexplored beauty of the coast of Clare and its inhabitants, not - relying upon such poor phrases as 'begorra' and 'bedad' for humour. - The characters are well drawn, the descriptions are almost - photographic, and the story is vigorously written."--_Whitehall - Review._ - - "He has given us a book to 'read,' and one we can commend to all - who care for a realistic picture without the too common trash - associated with the ordinary novel."--_Examiner._ - - "Is a psychological study. The style is all that it should be: - simple, graphic, and at times powerful. We have not read a novel - with so much pleasure for a long time."--_John Bull._ - - "_A book to read and be thankful for. It will be a day to be marked - by a white stone when Mr. Dowling gives us another - novel._"--STANDARD. - - * * * * * - -TINSLEY BROTHERS' NEW NOVELS. - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "A LONDON SEASON." - -COUNTY PEOPLE. By Mrs. PENDER CUDLIP, author of "A London Season," -"Denis Donne," &c. 3 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "PRETTY MISS BELLEW." - -A GARDEN OF GIRLS. By THEO. GIFT, author of "Pretty Miss Bellew," "True -to her Trust," "Maid Ellice," &c. 3 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "A WOMAN SCORNED." - -MOLLY CAREW. A New Novel. By E. OWENS BLACKBURN, author of "Illustrious -Irishwomen," "A Woman Scorned," &c. 3 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "WILD GEORGIE." - -SEALED BY A KISS. By JEAN MIDDLEMASS, author of "Mr. Dorillion," "Wild -Georgie," &c. 3 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "JENNIE OF 'THE PRINCE'S.'" - -NELL-ON AND OFF THE STAGE. By B. H. BUXTON, author of "Jennie of 'The -Prince's,'" "Won," "Fetterless," "Great Grenfell Gardens," &c. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD." - -THE WEIRD SISTERS. By RICHARD DOWLING, author of "The Mystery of -Killard," &c. 3 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "AN INNOCENT SINNER." - -OUR BOHEMIA. By MABEL COLLINS, author of "An Innocent Sinner," "In this -World," &c. 3 vols. - -"You shall see great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your -Sicilia."--_Winter's Tale._ - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE WEIRD SISTERS." - -THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD. By RICHARD DOWLING, author of "The Weird -Sisters" (see "Tinsley's Magazine"). 3 vols. - - -BY MAURICE LEE. - -O WHERE AND O WHERE? 2 vols. - - -BY THE AUTHOR OF "JULIET'S GUARDIAN." - -POOR WISDOM'S CHANCE. By Mrs. H. LOVETT CAMERON, author of "Juliet's -Guardian," &c. 3 vols. - -THE BLACK COTTAGE; Or Tom Brace's Picture: _A GHOST STORY FOR THE -FIRESIDE._ BY W. E. BROUGHAM. - - * * * * * - -TINSLEY BROTHERS' NEW PUBLICATIONS. - -Illustrated with upwards of 400 ENGRAVINGS from DESIGNS by GERMAN -ARTISTS. - -Now ready, in 2 vols. - -BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE. - -Its Institutions, Inhabitants, Industry, Monuments, Museums, Social -Life, Manners, and Amusements. - -By HENRY VIZETELLY. - -AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE," ETC. - - "There is no lack of lively matter in Mr. Vizetelly's volumes, - while they embrace a vast amount of information of general interest - and permanent value. In a book which goes far beyond Berlin, Mr. - Vizetelly sketches with a vigorous hand the political and social - system of the Empire.... Nor less entertaining than these clever - social sketches are the political portraits, including public men - of all parties and of any note, from the Emperor and his mighty - Chancellor to the Socialist members of the Chambers. Nor, talking - of sketches, can we conclude our notice without referring again to - the excellent illustrations, chiefly of a humorous character, which - makes one smile over the perusal of the gravest chapters. The - selection is worthy of the author's reputation as an - artist."--_Times._ - - "We have to thank Mr. Henry Vizetelly for a really instructive - book. 'Berlin under the New Empire,' published by Messrs. Tinsley - Brothers, is a work of substantial information, conveniently - arranged, clearly and agreeably written, and mingled with - entertaining descriptive passages, and with lively notices of the - habits of the townsfolk.... These volumes contain, in short, a - large amount of materials for the understanding of present home - affairs in Prussia and North Germany, which are frequently made the - topic of remarks in the current journals of political - discussion."--_Illustrated London News._ - - "Mr. Vizetelly seems to have forgotten and omitted nothing that - could render these volumes instructive or contribute to the - entertainment of the reader; and the plentiful drawings with which - every page is furnished bring home to us with striking reality the - scenes so graphically described by the author."--_Daily News._ - - "Mr. Vizetelly's book, every page of which is interesting, is - unquestionably one of the best books of its kind that has appeared - in England for many years. In fact, we scarcely remember ever to - have read a more entertaining volume, or one which contains so much - valuable and evidently accurate information. It instructs and - amuses in equal degrees."--_Morning Post._ - - "After having discovered that a tribe of savages live in a sandy - desert somewhere in the north of Germany, and that their chief - kraal, a miserable stucco erection, is called Berlin, the author - proceeds to tell how those creatures manage to exist, what are - their institutions, manners, amusements, industries, and so - on."--_Athenaeum._ - - * * * * * - -FEMALE WARRIORS. Memorials of Female Heroism, from the Mythological Ages -to the Present Era. By ELLEN C. CLAYTON, author of "Queens of Song," -"English Female Artists," &c. - - English and Scotch Heroines; French, German, and Genoese Amazons; - Female Warriors of the Reformation; Heroines of the Irish - Rebellion; Captain Rodeaux, Female Officer in the French Army; - Christian Davies, Female Soldier in the 20th Foot; Hannah Snell, - Private in the Line and Marines; Phoebe Hessel, Private in the - 5th Regiment; Hannah Whitney and Ann Chamberlayne, Female Sailors; - Mary Ralphson, Jenny Cameron, Pretty Polly Oliver, &c. - - "The most successful of Miss Clayton's attempts to fittingly - commemorate the actions of the illustrious members of the softer - sex."--_Court Journal._ - - * * * * * - -TYPICAL WORKING MEN AND WOMEN. - -By a WORKING MAN. - - The Lushington, The Above-their-Business Order, The Club Man, The - Job-for-Life Man, The Rolling-stone, The Handy Man, The Workshop - Bully, The Workshop Oracle, The Saint Mondayite, The Unskilled - Labourer, The Regular Roadster, The Workshop Orator, The Hard - Bargain, The Cas'alty Man, The Thoroughly Domesticated Man, The - Evening-from-Home Man, The Single Man, The Wasteral, The Scholar, - The Last-Year Apprentice, The Bred-and-Born Housewife, Mrs. Muddle, - The Motherly Woman, Mrs. Meddle, The Woman who Works, Dorothy - Draggle-tail, &c. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Weird Sisters, Volume III (of 3), by -Richard Dowling - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME III *** - -***** This file should be named 41554.txt or 41554.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/5/41554/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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