ve been a larger motive."

"But when I was the only one left alive. Surely I became valuable then.
I can not have been such a cipher."

"Yes, for a long time you would have been," replied the Saturnian
banker. "I do not wish to disparage your attractions when you were a
fortnight old. They may have begun already to be irresistible. Excuse
me; you have led me into the light vein, when speaking of a most sad
matter. You must blame your self-assertion for it. All I wish to convey
to you is my belief that something wholly unknown to us, some dark
mystery of which we have no inkling, lies at the bottom of this terrible
affair. Some strange motive there must have been, strong enough even
to overcome all ordinary sense of honor, and an Englishman's pride in
submitting to the law, whatever may be the consequence. Consider that
his 'flight from justice,' as it was called, of course, by every one,
condemned his case and ruined his repute. Even for that he would not
have cared so much as for his own sense of right. And though he was a
very lively fellow, as I first remember him, full of tricks and jokes,
and so on, which in this busy age are out of date, I am certain that he
always had a stern sense of right. One never knows how love affairs and
weakness about children may alter almost any man; but my firm conviction
is that my dear old school-fellow, George Castlewood, even with a wife
and lovely children hanging altogether upon his life, not only would
not have broken jail, but would calmly have given up his body to be
hanged--pardon me, my dear, for putting it so coarsely--if there had not
been something paramount to override even apparent honor. What it can
have been I have no idea, and I presume you have none."

"None whatever," I said at once, in answer to his inquiring gaze. "I am
quite taken by surprise; I never even thought of such a thing. It has
always seemed to me so natural that my dear father, being shamefully
condemned, because appearances were against him, and nobody could enter
into him, should, for the sake of his wife and children, or even of one
child like me, depart or banish himself, or emigrate, or, as they might
call it, run away. Knowing that he never could have a fair trial, it was
the only straightforward and good and affectionate thing for him to do."

"You can not see things as men see them. We must not expect it of you,"
Mr. Shovelin answered, with a kind but rather too superior smile, which
remind