he had much at the Castle, so he yielded
himself up to his new sensations, which are not commonly the portion of
gentlemen of his years. He anticipated that Nevil would at least come
down to the funeral, but there was no appearance of him, nor a word to
excuse his absence. Cecil was his only supporter. They walked together
between the double ranks of bare polls of the tenantry and peasantry,
resembling in a fashion old Froissart engravings the earl used to dote
on in his boyhood, representing bodies of manacled citizens, whose
humbled heads looked like nuts to be cracked, outside the gates of
captured French towns, awaiting the disposition of their conqueror, with
his banner above him and prancing knights around. That was a glory
of the past. He had no successor. The thought was chilling; the
solitariness of childlessness to an aged man, chief of a most ancient
and martial House, and proud of his blood, gave him the statue's outlook
on a desert, and made him feel that he was no more than a whirl of the
dust, settling to the dust.

He listened to the parson curiously and consentingly. We are ashes. Ten
centuries had come to an end in him to prove the formula correct. The
chronicle of the House would state that the last Earl of Romfrey left no
heir.

Cecil was a fine figure walking beside him. Measured by feet, he might
be a worthy holder of great lands. But so heartily did the earl despise
this nephew that he never thought of trying strength with the fellow,
and hardly cared to know what his value was, beyond his immediate uses
as an instrument to strike with. Beauchamp of Romfrey had been his
dream, not Baskelett: and it increased his disgust of Beauchamp that
Baskelett should step forward as the man. No doubt Cecil would hunt
the county famously: he would preserve game with the sleepless eye of a
General of the Jesuits. These things were to be considered.

Two days after the funeral Lord Romfrey proceeded to London. He was
met at the station by Rosamund, and informed that his house was not yet
vacated by the French family.

'And where have you arranged for me to go, ma'am?' he asked her
complacently.

She named an hotel where she had taken rooms for him.

He nodded, and was driven to the hotel, saying little on the road.

As she expected, he was heavily armed against her and Nevil.

'You're the slave of the fellow, ma'am. You are so infatuated that you
second his amours, in my house. I must wait for a clearanc