t gone
to sleep."

James Ellis looked Daniel Barnett in the eyes, and both had the same
thought in their minds.

What a change in the younger man's prospects this last stroke of fate
had made!

CHAPTER FIVE.

"I am very deeply grieved, Mr Manning," said Mrs Mostyn, as she sat in
her drawing-room, holding a kind of consultation with the doctor and
James Ellis, her old agent, and as she spoke, the truth of her words was
very evident, for she kept applying her handkerchief to her eyes. "I
liked John Grange. A frank, manly fellow, whose heart was in his work,
and I fully intended, Ellis, that he should succeed poor old Dunton."

"Yes, ma'am; a most worthy young man," said the bailiff.

"Worthy? He was more than that. He was fond of his work and proud of
the garden. Go in that conservatory, doctor, and look at my orchids.
His skill was beyond question."

"Your flowers are the envy of the county, Mrs Mostyn," said the doctor.

"Ah, well! It is not my flowers in question, but this poor fellow's
future. Do you mean to tell me that you can do nothing for him?"

"I regret to say that I must," said the doctor gravely. "We try all we
can to master Nature's mechanism, but I frankly confess that we are
often very helpless. In this case the terrible shock of the fall on the
head seems to have paralysed certain optical nerves. Time may work
wonders, but I fear that his sight is permanently destroyed."

"Oh, dear, dear, dear!" sighed Mrs Mostyn, down whose pleasant old face
the tears now coursed unchecked; "and all to satisfy my whims--all
because I objected to a ragged, broken branch. But, doctor, can nothing
be done?"

"I can only recommend one thing, madam--that he should go up to one of
the specialists, who will suggest that he should stay in his private
infirmary."

"Well, why not?" said Mrs Mostyn eagerly.

"There is the expense, madam," said the doctor hesitatingly.

"Expense? Pooh! Fudge! People say I am very mean. Poor old Dunton
used to say so, and James Ellis here."

"I beg your pardon, ma'am--" began the bailiff.

"Oh, don't deny it, James; you know you have. I heard of it over and
over again, because I would not agree to some extravagant folly proposed
by you or poor old Dunton for the estate or garden."

"But--"

"Silence! I remember Dunton said I could spend hundreds on new orchids,
and stinted him in help; and you were quite angry because I wouldn't
have half-a-mile of new par