n her and the ruin which threatened her
family. How well that grand-looking open-minded Squire would become a
great station, fitted as he was by nature, descent, and tradition, to
play the solid part of an English country gentleman of the good old-
fashioned kind. It was pitiful to think of a man of his stamp forced
by the vile exigencies of a narrow purse to scheme and fight against
the advancing tide of destitution. And Ida, too,--Ida, who was
equipped with every attribute that can make wealth and power what they
should be--a frame to show off her worth and state. Well, it was the
way of the world, and he could not mend it; but it was with a bitter
sense of the unfitness of things that with some little difficulty--for
he was not yet fully accustomed to its twists and turns--he found his
way past the swelling heap of Dead Man's Mount and round the house to
his own front door.

He entered the house, and having told Mrs. Jobson that she could go to
bed, sat down to smoke and think. Harold Quaritch, like many solitary
men, was a great smoker, and never did he feel the need for the
consolation of tobacco more than on this night. A few months ago, when
he had retired from the army, he found himself in a great dilemma.
There he was, a hale, active man of three-and-forty, of busy habits,
and regular mind, suddenly thrown upon the world without occupation.
What was he to do with himself? While he was asking this question and
waiting blankly for an answer which did not come, his aunt, old Mrs.
Massey, departed this life, leaving him heir to what she possessed,
which might be three hundred a year in all. This, added to his pension
and the little that he owned independently, put him beyond the
necessity of seeking further employment. So he had made up his mind to
come to reside at Molehill, and live the quiet, somewhat aimless, life
of a small country gentleman. His reading, for he was a great reader,
especially of scientific works, would, he thought, keep him employed.
Moreover, he was a thorough sportsman, and an ardent, though owing to
the smallness of his means, necessarily not a very extensive,
collector of curiosities, and more particularly of coins.

At first, after he had come to his decision, a feeling of infinite
rest and satisfaction had taken possession of him. The struggle of
life was over for him. No longer would he be obliged to think, and
contrive, and toil; henceforth his days would slope gently down
towards th