son Frederick. Jonquil and Macky, who had been all his life
about him, were his most acceptable attendants. He did not care to have
his son Laurence with him, and when the children came over it was not by
his invitation. Mr. Forbes visited him almost daily, and Mr. Cecil
Burleigh came down from London twice at his request. Bessie remitted no
act of tender thoughtfulness; and one day, shortly before the end, he
said to her, "You are a good girl, Elizabeth." She smiled and said, "Am
I, grandpapa?" but his persistent coldness had brought back her shy
reticence, and neither said any more. Perhaps there was compunction in
the old man's mind--the cast of his countenance was continually that of
regret--but there was no drawing near in heart or confidence ever again,
and the squire died in the isolation of feeling with which living he had
chosen to surround himself. The world, his friends, neighbors, and
servants said that he died in honor respected by all who knew him; but
for long and long after Bessie could never think of his death without
tears--not because he had died, but because so little sorrow followed
him.

CHAPTER XLV.

_THE SQUIRE'S WILL._

Throughout his life Mr. Fairfax had guided his actions by a certain rule
of justice that satisfied himself. The same rule was evident in his last
will. His granddaughter had given him to understand that she should
return to the Forest and cast in her lot with the humble friends from
amongst whom he had taken her, and the provision he made for her was
consonant with that determination. He bequeathed to her a sum of five
thousand pounds--a sufficient portion, as he considered, for that rank
in life--and to Mr. Cecil Burleigh he bequeathed the handsome fortune
that it was intended she should bring him in marriage. He had the dower
without the bride, and though Lady Angleby and his sister quietly
intimated to astonished friends that they had good reason to hope Miss
Fairfax would ultimately be no loser by her grandfather's will, her
uncle Laurence was not the only person by many who judged her unkindly
and unfairly treated. But it was impossible to dispute the old squire's
ability to dispose of his property, or his right to dispose of it as he
pleased. He had been mainly instrumental in raising Mr. Cecil Burleigh
to the position he occupied, and there was a certain obligation incurred
to support him in it. If Mr. Fairfax had chosen to make a son of him, no
one had a right