" She had now clenched both her
fists, and was shaking them rapidly as she stood over him, looking
down upon him.

"Of course it was your own."

"Yes. Though they asked me to compromise, and sent messages to me to
frighten me;--both Barty and your Uncle Tom; ay, and your father too,
Brooke; they did not dare to go to law. To law, indeed! If ever there
was a good will in the world, the will of your Uncle Brooke was good.
They could talk, and malign me, and tell lies as to dates, and strive
to make my name odious in the county; but they knew that the will was
good. They did not succeed very well in what they did attempt."

"I would try to forget it all now, Aunt Stanbury."

"Forget it! How is that to be done? How can the mind forget the
history of its own life? No,--I cannot forget it. I can forgive it."

"Then why not forgive it?"

"I do. I have. Why else are you here?"

"But forgive old Uncle Barty also!"

"Has he forgiven me? Come now. If I wished to forgive him, how should
I begin? Would he be gracious if I went to him? Does he love me,
do you think,--or hate me? Uncle Barty is a good hater. It is the
best point about him. No, Brooke, we won't try the farce of a
reconciliation after a long life of enmity. Nobody would believe us,
and we should not believe each other."

"Then I certainly would not try."

"I do not mean to do so. The truth is, Brooke, you shall have it
all when I'm gone, if you don't turn against me. You won't take to
writing for penny newspapers, will you, Brooke?" As she asked the
question she put one of her hands softly on his shoulder.

"I certainly shan't offend in that way."

"And you won't be a Radical?"

"No, not a Radical."

"I mean a man to follow Beales and Bright, a republican, a
putter-down of the Church, a hater of the Throne. You won't take up
that line, will you, Brooke?"

"It isn't my way at present, Aunt Stanbury. But a man shouldn't
promise."

"Ah me! It makes me sad when I think what the country is coming
to. I'm told there are scores of members of Parliament who don't
pronounce their h's. When I was young, a member of Parliament used to
be a gentleman;--and they've taken to ordaining all manner of people.
It used to be the case that when you met a clergyman you met a
gentleman. By-the-bye, Brooke, what do you think of Mr. Gibson?"

"Mr. Gibson! To tell the truth, I haven't thought much about him."

"But you must think about him. Perhaps you haven't thought ab