iently up and down the chamber.

"When do you propose to return to the army, my Lord?" said D'Esmonde,
after a pause.

"I'm not sure; I don't even know if I shall return at all!" said
Norwood, hastily. "I see little profit and less glory in the service!
What say you, Morlache? Have they the kind of credit you would like to
accept for a loan?"

"No, my Lord," said the Jew, laughing; "Lombardy scrip would stand low
in our market. I 'd rather advance my moneys on the faith of your good
friend the Lady Hester Onslow."

Norwood bit his lip and colored, but made no reply.

"She has crossed into Switzerland, has she not?" asked D'Esmonde,
carelessly.

"Gone to England!" said the Viscount, briefly.

"When----how? I never heard of that," said the Abbe. "I have put off
writing to her from day to day, never suspecting that she was about to
quit the Continent."

"Nor did she herself till about a week ago, when Sir Stafford took an
equally unexpected departure for the other world--"

"Sir Stafford dead! Lady Hester a widow!"

"Such is, I believe, the natural course of things for a woman to be when
her husband dies."

"A rich widow, too, I presume, my Lord?" said the Abbe, with a quiet but
subtle glance at Norwood.

"That is more than she knows herself at this moment, I fancy; for
they say that Sir Stafford has involved his bequests with so many
difficulties, and hampered them with such a mass of conditions, that
whether she will be a millionnaire or be actually poor must depend
upon the future. I can answer for one point, however, Abbe," said he,
sarcastically; "neither the Sacred College nor the blessed brethren of
the 'Pace' are like to profit by the banker's economies."

"Indeed, my Lord," said the Abbe, slowly, while a sickly pallor came
over his countenance.

"He has left a certain Dr. Grounsell his executor," continued Norwood;
"and, from all that I can learn, no-man has less taste for painted
windows, stoles, or saints' shin-bones."

"Probably there may be other questions upon which he will prove equally
obdurate," said the Abbe, in a voice only audible to the Viscount "Is
her Ladyship at liberty to marry again?"

"I cannot, I grieve to say, give you any information on that point,"
said Norwood, growing deep red as he spoke.

"As your Lordship is going to England--"

"I didn't say so. I don't remember that I told you that!" cried he,
hastily.

"Pardon me if I made such a palpable mistake; but it ran