ness. Even
of this he would not have learned, since no one took the trouble to put
it in any paper that he saw, had it not chanced that the Rev. Mr.
Knight died intestate, and that therefore his small belongings
descended to Godfrey as his natural heir. With them were a number of
papers, among which in the after days Godfrey found the very letter
that Isobel wrote to him which his father "posted" in his desk.

For his son there was no word, a circumstance that showed the
implacability of this man's character. Notwithstanding his continual
profession of the highest Christian principles he could never forget or
forgive, and this although it was he who was in fault. For what wrong
had Godfrey done to him in loving a woman whom he did not chance to
like? So he died silent, bearing his resentment to the grave. And yet
some odd sense of justice prevented him from robbing Godfrey of his
little inheritance, something under two thousand pounds, that came on a
policy of insurance and certain savings, a sum which in after years
when money was plentiful with him Godfrey appointed to the repair and
beautifying of the Abbey Church at Monk's Acre.

Strangely enough, although from his childhood they had been always
estranged, Godfrey felt this conduct of his father very much indeed. It
seemed dreadful to him that he should vanish thus into the darkness,
taking his wrath with him; and often he wondered if it still animated
him there. Also he wondered what could be the possible purpose of it
all, and indeed why his father was so fashioned that he could grow
venomous over such a matter. To all of which questions no answer came,
although one suggested itself to him--namely, that he was the victim of
some hereditary taint, and therefore not in fact to blame.

In the case of Isobel the darkness was equally dense, for both of them
kept their word, and with the single exception of the episode of the
exchange of rings, neither attempted to communicate with the other
directly or indirectly. From Mrs. Parsons he heard that Hawk's Hall was
shut up, and that Sir John and his daughter lived mostly in London or
at a place that the former had bought in Scotland. Once indeed Mrs.
Parsons did write, or got someone else to write, to him that she had
seen Isobel drive past her in the street, and that she looked well,
though rather "stern and quiet-like."

That was all the news Godfrey had of Isobel during those ten years,
since she was not a person wh