, and you
know it,--the heart-broken prayer that his name never more may come to
my ears!"

As he closed these words, to which I ventured no reply, the Captain took
long, disordered strides across the room; and suddenly, as if the space
imprisoned, or the air stifled him, he seized his hat and hastened into
the streets. Recovering my surprise and dismay, I ran after him; but he
commanded me to leave him to his own thoughts, in a voice so stern, yet
so sad, that I had no choice but to obey. I knew, by my own experience,
how necessary is solitude in the moments when grief is strongest and
thought most troubled.

CHAPTER V.

Hours elapsed, and the Captain had not returned home. I began to feel
uneasy, and went forth in search of him, though I knew not whither to
direct my steps. I thought it, however, at least probable that he had
not been able to resist visiting Lady Ellinor, so I went first to St.
James's Square. My suspicions were correct; the Captain had been there
two hours before. Lady Ellinor herself had gone out shortly after
the Captain left. While the porter was giving me this information,
a carriage stopped at the door, and a footman, stepping up, gave the
porter a note and a small parcel, seemingly of books, saying simply,
"From the Marquis of Castleton." At the sound of that name I turned
hastily, and recognized Sir Sedley Beaudesert seated in the carriage
and looking out of the window with a dejected, moody expression of
countenance, very different from his ordinary aspect, except when the
rare sight of a gray hair or a twinge of the toothache reminded him that
he was no longer twenty-five. Indeed, the change was so great that
I exclaimed dubiously,--"Is that Sir Sedley Beaudesert?" The footman
looked at me, and touching his hat, said, with a condescending smile,
"Yes, sir, now the Marquis of Castleton."

Then, for the first time since the young lord's death, I remembered Sir
Sedley's expressions of gratitude to Lady Castleton and the waters of
Ems for having saved him from "that horrible marquisate." Meanwhile my
old friend had perceived me, exclaiming,--

"What! Mr. Caxton? I am delighted to see you. Open the door, Thomas.
Pray come in, come in."

I obeyed, and the new Lord Castleton made room for me by his side.

"Are you in a hurry?" said he. "If so, shall I take you anywhere? If
not, give me half an hour of your time while I drive to the city."

As I knew not now in what direction more th