Mr. Hartington was most unfortunately
a shareholder, and which has involved hundreds of families in ruin. The
greatest sympathy is everywhere expressed for Mr. Cuthbert Hartington.
We understand that the price given by Mr. Brander was L55,000. We
believe that we are correct in stating that Mr. Brander was the holder
of a mortgage of L15,000 on the estate."

"Mortgage for L15,000," Cuthbert repeated, "impossible. Why should my
father have mortgaged the place? He could have no occasion to raise the
money. His tastes were most simple, and I am sure that he never lived
beyond his income. He paid me a handsome allowance, but, thank God, I
never exceeded it. What in the world can this mean! I will write to
Brander at once. No, I won't, I will write to the liquidator. If there
was such a thing he is certain to have looked into it closely, for it
was so much off the sum available for assets."

By return of post Cuthbert received the following letter:

"Dear Mr. Hartington--In reply to your question I beg to confirm the
statement in the newspaper cutting you send to me. Mr. Brander was the
holder of a mortgage for L15,000 on your father's estate. I looked into
the matter very closely, as it came as a surprise upon us. Everything
was in proper order. Mr. Brander's bank-book showed that he drew out
L15,000 on the date of the mortgage, and the books of the bank confirm
his book. Notice had been given to them a week previously that he would
require that sum in notes and gold, and it was so paid over to him. His
books also show payment of the interest, and his receipts for the same
were found among Mr. Hartington's papers. There was, therefore, no
shadow of a doubt possible as to the genuine nature of the
mortgage.--Yours truly, W. H. Cox."

Although satisfied that for some reason or other his father had borrowed
this sum on mortgage from his lawyer, Cuthbert was no less puzzled than
before as to the purpose for which it had been raised, or what his
father could possibly have done with the money. He, therefore, wrote to
Mr. Brander, saying that though it was a matter in which he had himself
no pecuniary interest, he should be glad if he would inform him of the
circumstance which led his father to borrow such a sum.

"I thought," he said, "that I knew everything about my father's money
affairs, for he always spoke most openly about them to me, and he never
let drop a word as to the mortgage or as to any difficulty in which he
ha