iness was not worth
preserving.

The old tailor died and was buried, and all Keswick knew that he had
left nothing behind him, except the debt that was due to him by the
Countess, as to which, opinion in the world of Keswick varied very
much. There were those who said that the two Thwaites, father and
son, had known very well on which side their bread was buttered,
and that Daniel Thwaite would now, at his father's death, become
the owner of bonds to a vast amount on the Lovel property. It was
generally understood in Keswick that the Earl's claim was to be
abandoned, that the rights of the Countess and her daughter were to
be acknowledged, and that the Earl and his cousin were to become man
and wife. If so the bonds would be paid, and Daniel Thwaite would
become a rich man. Such was the creed of those who believed in the
debt. But there were others who did not believe in the existence
of any such bonds, and who ridiculed the idea of advances of money
having been made. The old tailor had, no doubt, relieved the
immediate wants of the Countess by giving her shelter and food, and
had wasted his substance in making journeys, and neglecting his
business; but that was supposed to be all. For such services on
behalf of the father, it was not probable that much money would be
paid to the son; and the less so, as it was known in Keswick that
Daniel Thwaite had quarrelled with the Countess. As this latter
opinion preponderated Daniel did not find that he was treated with
any marked respect in his native town.

The old man did leave a will;--a very simple document, by which
everything that he had was left to his son. And there was this
paragraph in it; "I expect that the Countess Lovel will repay to my
son Daniel all moneys that I have advanced on her behalf." As for
bonds,--or any single bond,--Daniel could find none. There was an
account of certain small items due by the Countess, of long date,
and there was her ladyship's receipt for a sum of L500, which had
apparently been lent at the time of the trial for bigamy. Beyond this
he could find no record of any details whatever, and it seemed to him
that his claim was reduced to something less than L600. Nevertheless,
he had understood from his father that the whole of the old man's
savings had been spent on behalf of the two ladies, and he believed
that some time since he had heard a sum named exceeding L6,000. In
his difficulty he asked a local attorney, and the attorney advis