as been spent in the
endeavour to shield her from crosses, so far as lies in the power of
man; to cherish her in all care and tenderness. There are few husbands
would bear with her--her peculiarities--as I have borne; as I will still
bear. I say this to you, her father; I would say it to no one else. My
chief regret, at the wrenching from me of Verner's Pride, is for
Sibylla's sake."

"My dear sir, I honestly believe you. I know what Sibylla was at home,
fretful, wayward, and restless; and those tendencies are not likely to
be lessened, now disease has shown itself. I always feared it was in her
constitution; that, in spite of all our care, she would follow her
sisters. They fell off and died, you may remember, when they seemed most
blooming. People talked freely--as I understood at the time--about my
allowing her so suddenly to marry Frederick Massingbird; but my course
was dictated by one sole motive--that it would give her the benefit of a
sea voyage, which might prove invaluable to her constitution."

Lionel believed just as much of this as he liked. Dr. West was his
wife's father, and, as such, he deferred to him. He remembered what had
been told him by Sibylla; and he remembered the promise he had given
her.

"It's a shocking pity that you are turned from Verner's Pride!" resumed
the doctor.

"It is. But there's no help for it."

"Does Sibylla grieve after it _very_ much? Has it any real effect, think
you, upon her health?--as she seemed to intimate."

"She grieves, no doubt. She _keeps_ up the grief, if you can understand
it, Dr. West. Not a day passes, but she breaks into lamentations over
the loss, complaining loudly and bitterly. Whether her health would not
equally have failed at Verner's Pride, I am unable to say. I think it
would."

"John Massingbird, under the circumstances, ought to give it up to you.
It is _rightfully_ yours. Sibylla's life--and she is his own
cousin--may depend upon it: he ought not to keep it. But for the loss of
the codicil, he would never have come to it."

"Of course he could not," assented Lionel. "It is that loss which has
upset everything."

Dr. West fell into silence, and continued in it until his house was in
view. Then he spoke again.

"What will you undertake to give me, Mr. Verner, if I can bring John
Massingbird to hear reason, and re-establish you at Verner's Pride?"

"Not anything," answered Lionel. "Verner's Pride is John Massingbird's
according to the law