eds of miles at a stretch, if you
like. No confinement there; no fences and boundaries; all as free as
air. No monotony: one week you can dig for gold, another you can ride
among your flocks, another you can hunt. All this in a climate so
delightful that you can lie all night in the open air, without a
blanket, under a new firmament of stars, not one of which illumines the
dull nights of Europe."

The bait was too tempting. "Well, you _are_ the right sort," cried
Reginald.

But presently he began to doubt. "But all that will cost a lot of
money."

"It will, but I have a great deal of money."

Reginald thought, and said, suspiciously, "I don't know why you should
do all this for me."

"Do you not? What! when I have brought you into this family, and
encouraged you in such vast expectations, could I, in honor and common
humanity, let you fall into poverty and neglect? No. I have many
thousand pounds, all my own, and you will have them all, and perhaps
waste them all; but it will take you some time, because, while you are
wasting, I shall be saving more for you."

Then there was a pause, each waiting for the other.

Then Lady Bassett said, quietly, and with great apparent composure, "Of
course there is a condition attached to all this."

"What is that?"

"I must receive from you a written paper, signed by yourself and by
Mrs. Meyrick, acknowledging that you are not Sir Charles's son, but
distinctly pledging yourself to keep the secret so long as I continue
to furnish you with the means of living. You hesitate. Is it not fair?"

"Well, it looks fair; but it is an awkward thing, signing a paper of
that sort."

"You doubt me, sir; you think that, because I have told one great
falsehood, from good but erring motives, I may break faith with you. Do
not insult me with these doubts, sir. Try and understand that there are
ladies and gentlemen in the world, though you prefer gypsies. Have you
forgotten that night when you laid me under so deep a debt, and I told
you I never would forget it? From that day was I not always your
friend? was I not always the one to make excuses for you?"

Reginald assented to that.

"Then trust me. I pledge you my honor that I am this day the best
friend you ever had, or ever can have. Refuse to sign that paper, and I
shall soon be in my grave, leaving behind me my confession, and other
evidence, on which you will be dismissed from this house with ignominy,
and without a farthing; for