which, and which only,
the provoking circumstances of his position would enable him to devote
to joy and love, her will should be his law. He did not think himself
to be fickle. He would never want another Kate. He would leave her
with sorrow. He would return to her with ecstasy. Everybody around him
should treat her with the respect due to an empress. But it would be
very expedient that she should be called Mrs. Neville instead of Lady
Scroope. Could things not be so arranged for him;--so arranged that he
might make a promise to his uncle, and yet be true to his Kate without
breaking his promise? That was his scheme. Jack said that his scheme was
impracticable. But the difficulties in his way were not, he thought, so
much those which Jack had propounded as the angry eyes of Kate O'Hara's
mother.

At last the day was fixed for his departure. The Earl was already so
much better as to be able to leave his bedroom. Twice or thrice a day
Fred saw his uncle, and there was much said about the affairs of the
estate. The heir had taken some trouble, had visited some of the
tenants, and had striven to seem interested in the affairs of the
property. The Earl could talk for ever about the estate, every field,
every fence, almost every tree on which was familiar to him. That
his tenants should be easy in their circumstances, a protestant,
church-going, rent-paying people, son following father, and daughters
marrying as their mothers had married, unchanging, never sinking an inch
in the social scale, or rising,--this was the wish nearest to his heart.
Fred was well disposed to talk about the tenants as long as Kate O'Hara
was not mentioned. When the Earl would mournfully speak of his own
coming death, as an event which could not now be far distant, Fred with
fullest sincerity would promise that his wishes should be observed. No
rents should be raised. The axe should be but sparingly used. It seemed
to him strange that a man going into eternity should care about this
tree or that;--but as far as he was concerned the trees should stand
while Nature supported them. No servant should be dismissed. The
carriage horses should be allowed to die on the place. The old charities
should be maintained. The parson of the parish should always be a
welcome guest at the Manor. No promise was difficult for him to make so
long as that one question were left untouched.

But when he spoke of the day of his departure as fixed,--as being "the
day afte