and the larger portion of the lands
was confiscated. Loyalty to a Plantagenet was of course treason to
a Tudor. But the regeneration of the family rested with their direct
descendants, who had saved from the general wreck of their fortunes what
may be called a good squire's estate,--about, perhaps, the same rental
as my father's, but of much larger acreage. These squires, however,
were more looked up to in the county than the wealthiest peer. They
were still by far the oldest family in the county; and traced in their
pedigree alliances with the most illustrious houses in English history.
In themselves too for many generations they were a high-spirited,
hospitable, popular race, living unostentatiously on their income, and
contented with their rank of squires. The castle, ruined by time and
siege, they did not attempt to restore. They dwelt in a house near to
it, built about Elizabeth's time, which you could not see, for it lies
in a hollow behind the tower,--a moderate-sized, picturesque, country
gentleman's house. Our family intermarried with them,--the portrait you
saw was a daughter of their house,--and very proud was any squire in the
county of intermarriage with the Fletwodes."

"Fletwode,--that was their name? I have a vague recollection of having
heard the name connected with some disastrous--oh, but it can't be the
same family: pray go on."

"I fear it is the same family. But I will finish the story as I have
heard it. The property descended at last to one Bertram Fletwode, who,
unfortunately, obtained the reputation of being a very clever man of
business. There was some mining company in which, with other gentlemen
in the county, he took great interest; invested largely in shares;
became the head of the direction--"

"I see; and was of course ruined."

"No; worse than that: he became very rich; and, unhappily, became
desirous of being richer still. I have heard that there was a great
mania for speculations just about that time. He embarked in these, and
prospered, till at last he was induced to invest a large share of the
fortune thus acquired in the partnership of a bank which enjoyed a high
character. Up to that time he had retained popularity and esteem in
the county; but the squires who shared in the adventures of the mining
company, and knew little or nothing about other speculations in which
his name did not appear, professed to be shocked at the idea of a
Fletwode of Fletwode being ostensibly joined