hen
there was so much to say in favour of this young man who had lost
it all, and so little to say against him! And it almost seemed to
him for whose sake the purchase was being made, that advantage,--an
unscrupulous if not an unfair advantage,--was being taken of the
purchaser. He could not say all this to his father; but he spoke of
Ralph in such a way as to make his father understand what he thought.
"He is such a pleasant fellow," said Ralph, who was now the heir.

"Let us have him down here as soon as the thing is settled."

"Ah;--I don't think he'll come now. Of course he's wretched enough
about it. It is not wonderful that he should have hesitated at
parting with it."

"Perhaps not," said the Squire, who was willing to forgive past sins;
"but of course there was no help for it."

"That was what he didn't feel so sure about when he declined your
first offer. It was not that he objected to the price. As to the
price he says that of course he can say nothing about it. When I
told him that you were willing to raise your offer, he declared that
he would take nothing in that fashion. If those who understood the
matter said that more was coming to him, he supposed that he would
get it. According to my ideas he behaved very well, sir."

In this there was something that almost amounted to an accusation
against the Squire. At least so the Squire felt it; and the feeling
for the moment robbed him of something of his triumph. According to
his own view there was no need for pity. It was plain that to his son
the whole affair was pitiful. But he could not scold his son;--at any
rate not now. "I feel this, Ralph," he said;--"that from this moment
everybody connected with the property, every tenant on it and every
labourer, will be better off than they were a month ago. I may have
been to blame. I say nothing about that. But I do say that in all
cases it is well that a property should go to the natural heir of the
life-tenant. Of course it has been my fault," he added after a pause;
"but I do feel now that I have in a great measure remedied the evil
which I did." The tone now had become too serious to admit of further
argument. Ralph, feeling that this was so, pressed his father's hand
and then left him. "Gregory is coming across to dinner," said the
Squire as Ralph was closing the door behind him.

At that time Gregory had received no intimation of what had been done
in London, his brother's note not reaching him till th