state of excitement; Jane sent word that her
grandfather was very unwell, that he appeared to have caught a chill in
the journey home, and could not at present leave his bed. For a week
the old man suffered from feverish symptoms, and, though he threw off
the ailment, it was in a state of much feebleness that he at length
resumed the ordinary tenor of his way. Jane had of course stayed at
home to nurse him; a fortnight, a month passed, and Michael still kept
her from work. Then it happened that, on Joseph's looking in one
evening, the old man said quietly, 'I think I'd rather Jane stayed at
home in future. We've had a long talk about it this afternoon.'

Joseph glanced at his daughter, who met the look very gravely. He had a
feeling that the girl was of a sudden grown older; when she spoke it
was in brief phrases, and with but little of her natural spontaneity;
noiseless as always in her movements, she walked with a staider gait,
held herself less girlishly, and on saying good-night she let her cheek
rest for a moment against her father's, a thing she had never yet done.

The explanation of it all came a few minutes after Jane's retirement.
Michael, warned by his illness bow unstable was the tenure on which he
henceforth held his life, had resolved to have an end of mystery and
explain to his son all that he had already made known to Sidney
Kirkwood. With Jane he had spoken a few hours ago, revealing to her the
power that was in his hands, the solemn significance he attached to it,
the responsibility with which her future was to be invested. To make
the same things known to Joseph was a task of more difficulty. He could
not here count on sympathetic intelligence; it was but too certain that
his son would listen with disappointment, if not with bitterness. In
order to mitigate the worst results, he began by making known the fact
of his wealth and asking if Joseph had any practical views which could
be furthered by a moderate sum put at his disposal.

'At my death,' he added, 'you'll find that I haven't dealt unkindly by
you. But you're a man of middle age, and I should like to see you in
some fixed way of life before I go.'

Having heard all, Joseph promised to think over the proposal which
concerned himself. It was in a strange state of mind that he returned
to the Close; one thing only he was clear upon, that to Clem and her
mother he would breathe no word of what had been told him. After a
night passed without a wi