atton, wealthy and absorbed in his pursuits. The meeting with Morley
excited him, and he turned over the matter anxiously in his mind as he
sat alone.

"The son of Walter Gerard, a Chartist delegate! The best blood in
England! Those infernal papers! They made my fortune; and yet the deed
has cost me many a pang. It seemed innoxious; the old man dead,
insolvent; myself starving; his son ignorant of all--to whom could they
be of use, for it required thousands to work them? And yet with all my
wealth and power what memory shall I leave? Not a relative in the world,
except a barbarian. Ah! had I a child like the beautiful daughter of
Gerard. I have seen her. He must be a fiend who could injure her. I am
that fiend. Let me see what can be done. What if I married her?"

But Hatton did not offer marriage to Sybil. He did much to make her stay
in London pleasant; but there was something about the maiden that awed
while it fascinated him. A Catholic himself, Hatton was not surprised to
hear from Gerard of Sybil's wish to enter a convent. "And to my mind she
is right. My daughter cannot look to marriage; no man that she could
marry would be worthy of her."

This did not deter Hatton from considering how the papers relating to
Gerard's lost estates could be recovered.

The first move was an action entered against Lord de Mowbray, and this
brought that distinguished peer to Mr. Hatton's chambers in the Temple,
for Hatton was at that time advising Lord de Mowbray in the matter of
reviving an ancient barony. Hatton easily quieted his client.

"Mr. Walter Gerard can do nothing without the deed of '77. Your
documents you say are all secure?"

"They are at this moment in the muniment room of the tower of Mowbray
Castle."

"Keep them; this action is a feint."

As for Mr. Baptist Hatton, the next time we see him a few months had
elapsed. He is at the principal hotel in Mowbray in consultation with
Stephen Morley.

A great labour demonstration had taken place the previous night on the
moors outside the town, and Gerard had been acclaimed as a popular hero.

"Documents are in existence," said Hatton, "which prove the title of
Walter Gerard to the proprietorship of this great district. Two hundred
thousand human beings yesterday acknowledged the supremacy of Gerard.
Suppose they had known that within the walls of Mowbray Castle were
contained the proofs that Walter Gerard was the lawful possessor of the
lands on which they live?