imited, but which was not absolutely fixed. A couple of hundred
thousand pounds down might have been secured with greater ease. But
here there had been a prospect of endless money,--of an inheritance
which might not improbably make the Auld Reekie family conspicuous for
its wealth even among the most wealthy of the nobility. The old man
had fallen into the temptation, and abnormal difficulties had been the
result. Some of these the reader knows. Latterly two difficulties had
culminated above the others. The young lady preferred another
gentleman, and disagreeable stories were afloat, not only as to the
way in which the money had been made, but even as to its very
existence.

The Marquis, however, was a man who hated to be beaten. As far as he
could learn from inquiry, the money would be there or, at least, so
much money as had been promised. A considerable sum, sufficient to
secure the bridegroom from absolute shipwreck,--though by no means
enough to make a brilliant marriage,--had in truth been already settled
on Marie, and was, indeed, in her possession. As to that, her father
had armed himself with a power of attorney for drawing the income,--but
had made over the property to his daughter, so that in the event of
unforeseen accidents on 'Change, he might retire to obscure comfort,
and have the means perhaps of beginning again with whitewashed
cleanliness. When doing this, he had doubtless not anticipated the
grandeur to which he would soon rise, or the fact that he was about to
embark on seas so dangerous that this little harbour of refuge would
hardly offer security to his vessel. Marie had been quite correct in
her story to her favoured lover. And the Marquis's lawyer had
ascertained that if Marie ever married before she herself had restored
this money to her father, her husband would be so far safe,--with this
as a certainty and the immense remainder in prospect. The Marquis had
determined to persevere. Pickering was to be added. Mr Melmotte had
been asked to depone the title-deeds, and had promised to do so as
soon as the day of the wedding should have been fixed with the consent
of all the parties. The Marquis's lawyer had ventured to express a
doubt; but the Marquis had determined to persevere. The reader will, I
trust, remember that those dreadful misgivings, which are I trust
agitating his own mind, have been borne in upon him by information
which had not as yet reached the Marquis in all its details.

But