e many difficulties in
his path. He could not induce his grandfather to move in the matter of
Richard Boyce without a statement of his own feelings and aims. Nor
would he have avoided frankness if he could. On every ground it was his
grandfather's due. The Raeburns were reserved towards the rest of the
world, but amongst themselves there had always been a fine tradition of
mutual trust; and Lord Maxwell amply deserved that at this particular
moment his grandson should maintain it.

But Raeburn could not and did not flatter himself that his grandfather
would, to begin with, receive his news even with toleration. The grim
satisfaction with which that note about the shooting had been
despatched, was very clear in the grandson's memory. At the same time it
said much for the history of those long years during which the old man
and his heir had been left to console each other for the terrible
bereavements which had thrown them together, that Aldous Raeburn never
for an instant feared the kind of violent outburst and opposition that
other men in similar circumstances might have looked forward to. The
just living of a life-time makes a man incapable of any mere selfish
handling of another's interests--a fact on which the bystander may
reckon.

It was quite dark by the time he entered the large open-roofed hall of
the Court.

"Is his lordship in?" he asked of a passing footman.

"Yes, sir--in the library. He has been asking for you, sir."

Aldous turned to the right along the fine corridor lighted with Tudor
windows to an inner quadrangle, and filled with Graeco-Roman statuary
and sarcophagi, which made one of the principal features of the Court.
The great house was warm and scented, and the various open doors which
he passed on his way to the library disclosed large fire-lit rooms, with
panelling, tapestry, pictures, books everywhere. The colour of the whole
was dim and rich; antiquity, refinement reigned, together with an
exquisite quiet and order. No one was to be seen, and not a voice was to
be heard; but there was no impression of solitude. These warm,
darkly-glowing rooms seemed to be waiting for the return of guests just
gone out of them; not one of them but had an air of cheerful company.
For once, as he walked through it, Aldous Raeburn spared the old house
an affectionate possessive thought. Its size and wealth, with all that
both implied, had often weighed upon him. To-night his breath quickened
as he passed the