the long
narrative--now growling out angry comments on what he was reading;
and now dashing down the paper impatiently on his knees, with
fierce outbursts of oaths, which he had picked up in the terrible
swearing-school of the Californian gold mines.

He began, however, with perfect regularity at the proper part of the
letter; sitting as near to the window as he could, and slanting the
closely written page before him, so as to give himself the full benefit
of all the afternoon light which still flowed into the room.

CHAPTER VIII. JOANNA GRICE'S NARRATIVE.

"I intend this letter to be read after my death, and I purpose calling
it plainly a Justification of my conduct towards my Niece. Not because
I think my conduct wants any excuse--but because others, ignorant of
my true motives, may think that my actions want justifying, and may
wickedly condemn me unless I make some such statement in my own
defense as the present. There may still be living one member of my late
brother's family, whose voice would, I feel sure, be raised against me
for what I have done. The relation to whom I refer has been--"

(Here Mat, who had read carefully thus far, grew impatient, and growling
out some angry words, guided himself hastily down the letter with his
finger till he arrived at the second paragraph.)

"--It was in the April month of 1827 that the villain who was the ruin
of my niece, and the dishonor of the once respectable family to which
she belonged, first came to Dibbledean. He took the little four room
cottage called Jay's Cottage, which was then to be let furnished, and
which stands out of the town about a quarter of a mile down Church-lane.
He called himself Mr. Carr, and the few letters that came to him were
directed to 'Arthur Carr, Esq.'

"He was quite a young man,--I should say not more than four or five and
twenty--very quiet mannered and delicate--or rather effeminate looking,
as I thought--for he wore his hair quite long over his shoulders, in the
foreign way, and had a clear, soft complexion, almost like a woman's.
Though he appeared to be a gentleman, he always kept out of the way of
making acquaintances among the respectable families about Dibbledean. He
had no friends of his own to come and see him that I heard of, except
an old gentleman who might have been his father, and who came once or
twice. His own account of himself was, that he came to Jay's Cottage for
quiet, and retirement, and study; but h