o come in. At these
times, when one's heart is almost broken with a sudden blow, one is apt
to be soft and yielding. What with that feeling upon me, and what with
the fright he gave me--"

"What fright did he give you?" interrupted Val.

"Well, my lord, he--he asked me whether his lordship had come fairly by
his death."

"How dare you repeat the insinuation?" broke forth Lord Hartledon, with
more temper than Hedges had ever seen him display. "The very idea is
absurd; it is wicked; it is unpardonable. My brother had not an enemy in
the world. Take care not to repeat it again. Do you hear?"

He turned away from the astonished man, went into the room he had called
sacred, and closed the door. Hedges wondered whether the hitherto
sweet-tempered, easy-mannered younger brother had changed his nature
with his inheritance.

As the days went on, few, if any, further particulars were elicited as to
the cause of accident. That the unfortunate Lord Hartledon had become
partly, if not wholly, disabled, so as to be incapable of managing even
the little skiff, had been drifted by the current towards the mills, and
there upset, was assumed by all to have been the true history of the
case. There appeared no reason to doubt that it was so. The inquest was
held on the Thursday.

And on that same morning the new Lord Hartledon received a proof of the
kindness of his brother. A letter arrived from Messrs. Kedge and Reck,
addressed to Edward Earl of Hartledon. By it Percival found--there was no
one else to open it now--that his brother had written to them early on
the Tuesday morning, taking the debt upon himself; and they now wrote to
say they accepted his responsibility, and had withdrawn the officer from
Calne. Alas! Val Elster could have dismissed him himself now.

He sat with bent head and drooping eyelids. None, save himself, knew how
bitter were the feelings within him, or the remorse that was his portion
for having behaved unkindly to his brother within the last few hours of
life. He had rebelled at his state of debt becoming known to Dr. Ashton;
he had feared to lose Anne: it seemed to him now, that he would live
under the doctor's displeasure for ever, would never see Anne again,
could he recall his brother. Oh, these unavailing regrets! Will they rise
up to face us at the Last Day?

With a suppressed ejaculation that was like a cry of pain, as if he would
throw from him these reflections and could not, Lord Hartledon drew