othed that pride to sleep. There was indeed
a grave and sad reason why this beautiful and innocent woman whom he had
won should receive all the full comfort his love and protection could
give her as quickly as possible. Her father was dying, and she must not
know of his approaching death. Her father wished to see her Hinton's
wife as soon as possible. Hinton felt that this was reasonable, this was
fair; for the sake of no pride, true or false, no hoped-for brief, could
he any longer put off their wedding. Nay, far from this. Last night he
had urged its being completed two months sooner than Charlotte herself
had proposed. He saw by the brightness in Charlotte's eyes that, though
she did not at once agree to this, her love for him was such that she
would marry him in a week if he so willed it. He rejoiced in these
symptoms of her great love, and the rejoicings of last night had risen
in a fuller tide this morning. Yes, it was the rule of life, the one
everlasting law, the old must suffer and die, the young must live and
rejoice. Yes; Hinton felt very deep sympathy for Mr. Harman last night,
but this morning, his happiness making him more self-absorbed than
really selfish, he knew that the old man's dying and suffering state
could not take one iota from his present delight.

What then perplexed him? What made him stand aloof from the radiant
guest, Happiness, for a brief half hour? That story of Charlotte's; it
would come back to him; he wished now he had never heard it. For having
heard he could not forget: he could not exorcise this grim Thing which
stood side by side with Happiness in his sunny room. The fact was, his
acute mind took in the true bearings of the case far more clearly than
Charlotte had done. He felt sure that Mrs. Home had been wronged. He
felt equally sure that, if he looked into the case, it lay in his power
to right her. Over and over he saw her pale, sad face, and he hoped it
was not going to haunt him. The tale in his mind lay all in Mrs. Home's
favor, all against John and Jasper Harman. Was it likely that their
wealthy father would do anything so monstrously unjust as to leave all
his money to his two eldest sons with whom he had previously quarrelled,
and nothing, nothing at all to his young wife and infant daughter? It
would be a meaningless piece of injustice, unlike all that he had
gleaned of the previous character of the old man. As to John and Jasper,
and their conduct in the affair, that too