room, and heard her uncle go
on to his. She rang her bell, sent for Donal, and told him what had
passed.

"I will go to him," said Donal.

Arctura said nothing more, thus leaving the matter entirely in his
hands.

Donal found him lying on the couch.

"My lord," he said, "you must be aware of the reasons why you should
not present yourself here!"

The earl started up in one of his ready rages:--they were real enough!
With epithets of contemptuous hatred, he ordered Donal from the room
and the house. Donal answered nothing till the rush of his wrath had
abated.

"My lord," he said, "there is nothing I would not do to serve your
lordship. But I have no choice but tell you that if you do not walk
out, you shall be expelled!"

"Expelled, you dog!"

"Expelled, my lord. The would-be murderer of his hostess must at least
be put out of the house."

"Good heavens!" cried the earl, changing his tone with an attempted
laugh, "has the poor, hysterical girl succeeded in persuading a man of
your sense to believe her childish fancies?"

"I believe every word my lady says, my lord. I know that you had nearly
murdered her."

The earl caught up the poker and struck at his head. Donal avoided the
blow. It fell on the marble chimney-piece. While his arm was yet jarred
by the impact, Donal wrenched the poker from him.

"My lord," he said, "with my own hands I drew the staple of the chain
that fastened her to the bed on which you left her to die! You were yet
in the house when I did so."

"You damned rascal, you stole the key. If it had not been for that I
should have gone to her again. I only wanted to bring her to reason!"

"But as you had lost the key, rather than expose your cruelty, you went
away, and left her to perish! You wanted her to die unless you could
compel her to marry your son, that the title and property might go
together; and that when with my own ears I heard your lordship tell
that son that he had no right to any title!"

"What a man may say in a rage goes for nothing," answered the earl,
sulkily rather than fiercely.

"But not what a woman writes in sorrow!" rejoined Donal. "I know the
truth from the testimony of her you called your wife, as well as from
your own mouth!"

"The testimony of the dead, and at second hand, will hardly be received
in court!" returned the earl.

"If after your lordship's death, the man now called lord Forgue dares
assume the title of Morven, I will publish what I know.