ers rightly," said the lawyer, "she will never
get over the blow."

"Tell her that I am here, and why, but tell her also that I refuse to
give an explanation to any human being. Tell her the honor of the
Carruthers seals my lips; try to comfort her if she seems distressed; do
all she wishes you."

"How am I to comfort a mother whose eldest and only son has thrown all
prudence to the wind; who has disgraced himself so far as to stand in a
felon's dock; who has wantonly laid his life bare and waste--for what?"

A strange smile came over the young face.

"Ah! for what! I know; no one else does. There is a reward, and it
satisfies me."

"If ever a Carruthers went mad," said Mr. Forster, angrily, "I should
say you were mad now!"

Basil paid no heed to the remark.

"The only thing I can do," he said, "I will do. I will go to Vienna as
soon as I leave here. I will not remain in London one-half hour."

"I fear your compliance will be too late then," he said. "I must leave
you, if I go to Ulverston this evening. I have several matters that I
must attend to. Will any persuasion of mine induce you to alter your
mind?"

"No; though I thank you for your interest."

And the lawyer left the young man's cell with something like a moan upon
his lips.

CHAPTER IV.

Ulverston Priory.

During his walk from the prison to his office, Mr. Forster was stopped
several times.

"Is this rumor about young Carruthers true?" asked Sir James Hamlyn,
anxiously.

"No," replied the little lawyer, stoutly, "the paragraph is a joke, and
if we can find out the author of it, he will be punished."

"Serve him right. I told Lady Hamlyn there was some absurd mistake. Very
glad to hear it. Good morning."

"Mr. Forster, stop one moment!" cried Major Every; "surely this tale of
Carruthers stealing a watch is all false?"

"False as the foul fiend himself," said the little man, in a rage.

"I knew it--I said so. Young men with twenty thousand a year do not
steal. A likely story! What does it mean, then?"

"Some one who owes him an ill-turn has played this sorry jest upon him;
but we shall pay him."

"He deserves transportation. I do not know a nobler young fellow in all
the world than Basil Carruthers." A fashionable carriage was standing at
his office door when he reached it.

"The Countess of Northdown waiting to see you, sir," said the clerk.

Entering his private room he saw a lovely lady, fashionably attired, who
greeted