eldest son, and was, in fact, at that moment the legitimate owner of
Tretton, in accordance with the existing contract. He did not wish to
dispute his father's will, though his father's mental and bodily
condition at the time of the making of the will might, perhaps, enable
him to do so with success. The will might be allowed to pass valid, but
the rights of primogeniture must be held sacred.

Nevertheless, having his mother's memory in great honor, he felt himself
ill inclined to drag the family history before the public. For his
mother's sake he was open to a compromise. He would advise that the
whole property,--that which would pass under the entail, and that which
was intended to be left by will,--should be valued, and that the total
should then be divided between them. If his brother chose to take the
family mansion, it should be so. Augustus Scarborough had no desire to
set himself over his brother. But if this offer were not accepted, he
must at once go to law, and prove that their Nice marriage had been, in
fact, the one marriage by which his father and mother had been joined
together. There was another proviso added to this offer: as the
valuation and division of the property must take time, an income at the
rate of two hundred pounds a month should be allowed to Augustus till
such time as it should be completed. Such was the offer which Augustus
had authorized his attorney to make.

There was some delay in getting Mountjoy to consent to a reply. Before
the offer had reached Mr. Barry he was already at Monte Carlo, with that
ready money his father had left behind him. At every venture that he
made,--at least at every loss which he incurred,--he told himself that it
was altogether the doings of Florence Mountjoy. But he returned to
England, and consented to a reply. He was the eldest son, and meant to
support that position, both on his mother's behalf and on his own. As to
his father's will, made in his favor, he felt sure that his brother
would not have the hardihood to dispute it. A man's bodily sufferings
were no impediment to his making a will; of mental incapacity he had
never heard his father accused till the accusation had now been made by
his own son. He was, however, well aware that it would not be preferred.
As to what his brother had done for himself, it was hardly worth his
while to answer such an allegation. His memory carried him but little
farther back than the day on which his brother turned him