do you.'"

"Why, of course she will," said Mr. Walter. "Why, _I_ love her
better than I do myself, and you've got to follow suit, or else I'll
murder you."

So that question was settled.

* * * * *

The five hundred guineas reward rankled in the minds of those detectives,
and, after a few months, with the assistance of the ordinary police in
all the northern towns, they got upon a cold scent, and then upon a warm
scent, and at last they suspected their bird, under the _alias_ of
Carruthers. So they came to the house to get sight of him, and make sure
before applying for a warrant. They got there just in time for his
funeral. Middleton was there and saw them, and asked them to attend it,
and to speak to him after the reading of the will.

"Proceedings are stayed," said he; "but, perhaps, having acted
against me, you might like to see whether it would not pay better to
act with me."

"And no mistake," said one of them; so they were feasted with the rest,
for it was a magnificent funeral, and after that Middleton squared them
with L50 apiece to hold their tongues--and more, to divert all suspicion
from the house and the beautiful woman who now held it as only trustee
for her son.

Remembering that he had left the estate to another man's child, Monckton,
one fine day, bequeathed his personal estate on half a sheet of
note-paper to Lucy. This and the large allowance Middleton obtained from
the Court for her, as trustee and guardian to the heir, made her a rich
woman. She was a German, sober, notable, and provident; she kept her
sheep, and became a sort of squire. She wrote to her husband in the
States, and, by the advice of Middleton, told him the exact truth instead
of a pack of fibs, which she certainly would have done had she been left
to herself. Poverty had pinched Jonathan Braham by this time; and as he
saw by the tone of her letter she did not care one straw whether he
accepted the situation or not, he accepted it eagerly, and had to court
her as a stranger, and to marry her, and wear the crown matrimonial; for
Middleton drew the settlements, and neither Braham nor his creditors
could touch a half-penny. And then came out the better part of this
indifferent woman. Braham had been a good friend to her in time of need,
and she was a good and faithful friend to him now. She was generally
admired and respected; kind to the poor; bountiful, but not lavish; an
excellent manager, but