hardly gainsaid, otherwise than by a sort of bantering
proviso, that in case of an appeal direct, he could not be expected to
vouch for Mark's entire and disinterested reformation.

With an intense dislike to the world in general, Arthur was considering
how to prevent his wife from meeting Lady Elizabeth, and how to be out
of the way before the report should spread of Mark's addresses, when
everything else was driven from his mind by the arrival of the papers,
with the announcement of the fire at Martindale.

The safety of the infant family of the Honourable Lieutenant-Colonel
Martindale was the first news that met his eye; next, that of the
death of Mrs. Nesbit,--the chief thought that occupied him in his hasty
homeward journey.

He had been taught to think himself her heir; and though never forgiven
for his marriage, hoped that the will might not have been altered,
and considered that, whether it were in his favour or not, so large
a property coming into the family could not fail to render his
circumstances more easy, by enabling his father to augment his
allowance, which, though ample in itself, appeared far from sufficient
to a man with expensive tastes and an increasing family. The hope of
independence, and of not being obliged to wish success to Gardner, was
an opening into liberty and happiness.

By night he was at the parsonage, and Violet in his arms as soon as the
door was opened. That moment was perfect--he was so eagerly tender, so
solicitous lest she should have been injured by terror or exertion, so
shocked at her peril in his absence. In the fulness of her heart she
even asked him to come and see the children safely asleep.

'Now? What should I do that for?'

There was no unkindness, but the full felicity of the evening was
marred.

There was no room for him at the parsonage, and an apartment in the
empty house had been fitted up for him, so that she only saw him for
an hour of confused talk over the events of the fire, and Theodora's
condition, which was very uncomfortable; for though the fever was
slight, the burns and bruises were in an unsatisfactory state, and eyes,
arms, and hands of very little use. She was patient, and resolute as
ever, and so grateful to her nurses that waiting on her was a pleasure.

In fact, attendance on her was the only resource for occupying Lady
Martindale, who, when not thus engaged, was listless and dejected,
attending to nothing that passed around her, and somet