convey them there; but they were too late. He expired an hour before
their arrival.

I need not dwell upon the details of that sad time. Milly felt the
blow severely; and it was long before I saw her smile, after that
dark December day on which the fatal summons came. She had lost much
of her joyousness and brightness after the disappointment about
Angus Egerton, and this new sorrow quite crushed her.

They brought Mr. Darrell's remains to Thornleigh, and he was buried
in the family vault under the noble old church, where his father and
mother, his first wife, and a son who died in infancy had been
buried before him. He had been very popular in the neighbourhood,
and was sincerely regretted by all who had known him.

Julius Stormont was chief-mourner at the unpretentious funeral. He
seemed much affected by his uncle's death; and his manner towards
his cousin had an unusual gentleness.

I was present at the reading of the will, which took place in the
dining-room immediately after the funeral. Mrs. Darrell, Milly, Mr.
Stormont, myself, and the family lawyer were the only persons
assembled in the spacious room, which had a dreary look without the
chief of the household.

The will had been made a few months after Mr. Darrell's second
marriage. It was very simple in its wording. To Julian Stormont he
left a sum of five thousand pounds, to be paid out his funded
property; all the rest of this property, with the sum to be realised
by the sale of the business at North Shields and its belongings--an
amount likely to be very large--was to be divided equally between
Mrs. Darrell and her stepdaughter. Thornleigh Manor was left to Mrs.
Darrell for her life, but was to revert to Milly, or Milly's heirs,
at her death; and Milly was to be entitled to occupy her old home
until her marriage.

In the event of Milly's dying unmarried, her share of the funded
property was to be divided equally between Mrs. Darrell and Julian
Stormont, and in this case the Thornleigh estate was to revert to
Julian Stormont after the death of Mrs. Darrell. The executors to
the will were Mr. Foreman the lawyer and Mrs. Darrell.

Milly's position was now one of complete independence. Mr. Foreman
told her that after the sale of the iron-works she would have an
income of something like four thousand a year. She had been of age
for more than six months, and there was no one to come between her
and perfect independence.

Knowing this, I felt that it was