walk away with Chillon John. Soon it was to appear supernaturally
bright, a very magician's cave for brilliancy.

Now, this had happened--and comment on it to yourselves, remembering
always, that Chillon John was a lover, and a lover has his excuses,
though they will not obviate the penalties he may incur; and dreadful
they were. After reading Henrietta's letter to him, he rode out of his
Canterbury quarters across the country to the borders of Sussex, where
his uncle Lord Levellier lived, on the ridge of ironstone, near the wild
land of a forest, Croridge the name of the place. Now, Chillon John knew
his uncle was miserly, and dreaded the prospect of having to support a
niece in the wretched establishment at Lekkatts, or, as it was popularly
called, Leancats; you can understand why. But he managed to assure
himself he must in duty consult with the senior and chief member of his
family on a subject of such importance as the proposal of marriage to
his lordship's niece.

The consultation was short: 'You will leave it to me,' his uncle said:
and we hear of business affairs between them, involving payment of
moneys due to the young man; and how, whenever he touched on them, his
uncle immediately fell back on the honour of the family and Carinthia
Jane's reputation, her good name to be vindicated, and especially that
there must be no delays, together with as close a reckoning as he
could make of the value of Lord Fleetwood's estates in Kent and in
Staffordshire and South Wales, and his house property in London.

'He will have means to support her,' said the old lord, shrugging as if
at his own incapacity for that burden.

The two then went to the workshops beside a large pond, where there was
an island bordered with birch trees and workmen's cottages near the main
building; and that was an arsenal containing every kind of sword and
lance and musket, rifle and fowling-piece and pistol, and more gunpowder
than was, I believe, allowed by law. For they were engaged in inventing
a new powder for howitzer shells, of tremendous explosive power.

Nothing further did either of them say, concerning the marriage. Nor did
Carinthia Jane hear any mention of Lord Fleetwood from her brother on
the landing-place at Dover. She was taken to Admiral Baldwin Fakenham's
house in Hampshire; and there she remained, the delight of his life,
during two months, patiently expecting and rebuking the unmaidenliness
of her expectations, as honest y