Augustus. The idea that his father should strip the
house of every stick of furniture, and the estate of every chattel upon
it, had not occurred to him before the thing was done.

He had thought that his father was indifferent to all personal offence,
and therefore he had been offensive. He found out his mistake, and
therefore was angry with himself. But he still thought that he had been
right in regard to the creditors. Had the creditors been left in the
possession of their unpaid bonds, they would have offered terrible
impediments to the taking possession of the property. He had been right
then, he thought. The fact was that his father had lived too long.
However, the property would be left to him, Augustus, and he must make
up his mind to buy the other things from Mountjoy. He at any rate would
have to provide the funds out of which Mountjoy must live, and he would
take care that he did not buy the chattels twice over. It was thus he
consoled himself till rumors of something worse reached his ears.

How the rumors reached him it would be difficult to say. There were
probably some among the servants who got an inkling of what the squire
was doing when Mr. Grey again came down; or Miss Scarborough had some
confidential friend; or Mr. Grey's clerk may have been indiscreet. The
tidings in some unformed state did reach Augustus and astounded him. His
belief in his father's story as to his brother's illegitimacy had been
unfixed and doubtful. Latterly it had verged toward more thorough belief
as the creditors had taken their money,--less than a third of what would
have been theirs had the power remained with them of recovering their
full debt. The creditors had thus proved their belief, and they were a
people not likely to believe such a statement without some foundation.
But at any rate he had conceived it to be impossible that his own
father should go back from his first story, and again make himself out
to be doubly a liar and doubly a knave.

But if it were so, what should he do? Was it not the case that in such
event he would be altogether ruined,--a penniless adventurer with his
profession absolutely gone from him? What little money he had got
together had been expended on behalf of Mountjoy,--a sprat thrown out to
catch a whale. Everything according to the present tidings had been left
to Mountjoy. He had only half known his father, who had turned against
him with virulence because of his unkindness. Who could hav