ring him untold wealth as soon as
the last had finally sunk into the abyss of bankruptcy. Hamlyn's Purlieu
had never known such gaieties as during the fifteen years of Mrs.
Allerton's married life. All kinds of people were brought down by Fred;
and the dignified dining-room, which for centuries had witnessed
discussions, learned or flippant, on the merits of Greek and Latin
authors, or the excellencies of Italian masters, now heard strange talk
of stocks and shares, companies, syndicates, options and holdings. When
Mrs. Allerton died suddenly she was entirely unconscious that her
husband had squandered every penny of the money which had been settled
on her children, had mortgaged once more the broad fields of his
ancestors, and was head over ears in debt. She expired with his name
upon her lips, and blessed the day on which she had first seen him. She
had one son and one daughter. Lucy was a girl of fifteen when her mother
died, and George, the boy, was ten.

It was Lucy, now a woman of twenty-five, who turned her back upon the
Kentish sea and slowly walked across the marsh. And as she walked, the
recollection of the ten years that had passed since then was placed
before her as it were in a single Sash.

At first her father had seemed the most wonderful being in the world,
and she had worshipped him with all her childish heart. The love that
bound her to her mother was pale in comparison, for Lucy could not
divide her affections, giving part here, part there; her father, with
his wonderful gift of sympathy, his indescribable charm, conquered her
entirely. It was her greatest delight to be with him. She was
entertained and exhilarated by his society, and she hated the men of
business who absorbed so much of his time.

When Mrs. Allerton died George was sent to school, but Lucy, in charge
of a governess, remained year in, year out, at Hamlyn's Purlieu with her
books, her dogs, and her horses. And gradually, she knew not how, it was
borne in upon her that the father who had seemed such a paragon of
chivalry, was weak, unreliable, and shifty. She fought against the
suspicions that poisoned her mind, charging herself bitterly with
meanness of spirit, but one small incident after another brought the
truth home to her. She recognised with a shiver of anguish that his
standard of veracity was utterly different from hers. He was not very
careful to keep his word. He was not scrupulous in money matters. With
her, honesty, trut