Full text of "Successors to the title"

MffT. Of CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES

Bppletons'

Uowti ant) Country

Xibrarp

No. 184

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE

L B. WALFORD

AUTHOR OF MR. SMITH, THE BABY'S GRANDMOTHER, ETC.

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1896

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

CHAPTEE I.

"ONLY little May Duncan! That's what I
can't get over ! "

Something had befallen little May Duncan,
and the matter was being discussed by two of her
old friends in common perhaps with all who had
ever known the girl, or anything about her.

The faces of the two who were now speaking
alike wore a curious expression. There was ex-
citement and elation, together with a certain
amount of discomfiture, visible upon each.

Every now and then one would burst forth
with a fresh remark which had yet obviously
nothing new in it, but which would set up a
vehement chatter for a few minutes and this
again would cease as suddenly as it had begun,

and the two sit and stare vacantly into space, as
i

2133596

2 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

though contemplating a problem which neither
knew how to solve.

" If May were extraordinarily pretty, or ex-
traordinarily clever, or extraordinarily rich, or
extraordinarily anything," exclaimed Georgina,
with ever-rising accentuation, after one of those
" flashes of silence," " there would be something
to go upon. Of course, there always are people
of whom one predicts all sorts of possibilities.
But May is nothing literally nothing different
from the rest of us. You, or I, or Janet would
have made every bit as good a countess. And
she had no idea of being one either when she ac-
cepted that silly boy ! We all thought her rather
a goose, don't you remember ? "

" We thought he only took up with May be-
cause none of the rest of us would have anything
to do with him," nodded her sister. " He bored
us ; and I believe if we hadn't laughed at him
and made fun of his being rather a ' softy ' that
he would much rather have come to our house
than to the Duncans'."

Something in her tone made Georgina turn
round sharply. " What do you mean by that ?
Do you mean you think we lost a chance ? Speak
for yourself if you do. /wouldn't have married

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 3

Dolly Feveril if I had known lie was ten times
more likely to come into an earldom than he
seemed to be two years ago. He was three off
then ; and, to do May justice, I don't believe she
ever gave the idea of his succeeding a thought.
But he was her first offer, and she was the sort of
girl to marry the first man who asked her."

"And his people seemed all well enough
pleased," meditated Chatty, after a pause. " We
all thought they rather jumped at May. Don't
you remember what father said that her money
would just about keep him, and that he was ' a
weakly young fellow with no brains, who would
never have been able to keep himself ' ? I re-
member hearing father talk about it with old
Mrs. Gregorson; and they both agreed that if
May's parents had been alive she would never
have been allowed to throw herself away. But
May just did what she liked with that poor stupid
old aunt of hers, who was too ill at the time to
care much about anything, and talked about its
being a Providence that her niece should have a
home of her own and a husband, as it was sup-
posed she herself was going to die. And after
all she never died, but is alive at this moment ! "
concluded the speaker in an aggrieved tone.

4 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"Indeed she will take a new lease of life
now," laughed her sister. "Poor old thing! I
don't grudge her the luck not in the least. I
don't suppose I really grudge it May either.
Only it does seem so the fact is, I can't under-
stand it."

" No one can understand it."

The door opened and voices were heard in the
passage outside.

"Oh, yes, they're in here, Mrs. Duncan.
Girls, here is Mrs. Duncan come over to tell us
about May." And two elderly ladies rustled
through the doorway, the one in cloak and bon-
net being greeted effusively by the daughters of
the house.

"Mrs. Duncan thought she must come over
herself to tell us about May," proceeded the
speaker in a carefully-pleased and interested
voice, for Mrs. Macinroy was one who never
neglected small things, and had the reputation of
being a civil, agreeable woman. " I have been
telling Mrs. Duncan that a rumour had just
reached us, but we take it none the less kind of
her to come over herself."

" Do sit down, Mrs. Duncan ! " Both Georg-
ina and Charlotte hastened to do the honours of

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 5

their pretty morning room, and a comfortable
armchair was pushed forward. "Do sit down
and tell us all about it. When did you hear?
Did May write ? Or did x you only see it in the
newspapers ? Of course, you knew that the other
two men had died."

" My dear Georgie ! The other two men ! "
Georgie's mother looked an elaborate remon-
strance. " "What a way to talk, my dear ! "

" Oh, well ; Mrs. Duncan understands. I don't
know what their names were, but I know they
seemed to prevent Dolly Feveril's having a
chance. He was only a distant cousin, wasn't
he?"

" Dolly's father was the Earl of St. Bees' first
cousin," exclaimed Mrs. Duncan, solemnly. " The
earl had a son and a nephew ; both of whom, as
you truly remark, Georgina, would have suc-
ceeded to the title and estates before my niece's
husband."

(" Humph ! That is being pretty grand ! My
niece's husband ! " muttered Georgina, internally.
" My niece's husband ! That is beginning soon, I
must say.")

"And the earl himself might have married
again, and cut out the nephew any way, even if

6 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

he couldn't the son," interposed Mrs. Macinroy,
in a cheerful, congratulatory voice. " Quite a
youngish man, as one might say. Not much over
sixty. No one would ever have dreamed, with all
those three well and hearty, when Dolly Feveril
married little May, that he and she were going to
step into such grandeur before a couple of years
were out."

" She knew, of course, that she was marrying
into a great family," quoth Mrs. Duncan, stiffly.

And she had scarcely taken her leave before
this stiffness, this sudden accession of dignity and
formality, was the subject for jest and comment
on the part of the three left behind.

" Upon my word, it was as if she had become
' My Lady ' herself ! " cried Mrs. Macinroy, with
pink, flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. " Upon
my word, she is as much set up as though she
were ! "

They had known their old neighbour through
storm and sunshine for twenty years, and thought
they knew her through and through. If they had
held her in a certain measure of contempt, it was
contempt in which respect was mingled, and
wherein there was, moreover, a full admixture of
goodwill. She was " A good old creature," " A

SUCCESSORS OP THE TITLE. f

poor old dear " occasionally tiresome, but invari-
ably harmless.

Everybody had thought it somewhat weak and
silly of Mrs. Duncan to be so well satisfied with
young Dolly Feveril as a suitor for her niece
but had excused such want of worldly wisdom on
the plea of her being an invalid anxious not to
leave a motherless girl alone in the world, should
her doctor's prognostications and her own prove
true. When, to the surprise of all, the sick lady
recovered, and was, to all intents and purposes, as
well as ever, people said anew that May Duncan,
with her nice little fortune, might as well have
remained in the neighbourhood, instead of bene-
fiting a "feckless" stranger, who had come thither
to recruit Ms energies, after the wear and tear of
a competitive examination, in which he had failed
to pass.

One and all agreed that Dolly Feveril was an
idle, useless young man, and brainless, forbye.
He might be respectable enough, but he had no
business to think of matrimony. An indolent
youth, he had no right to take each day as it
came troubling himself in no wise about the
future, especially as it was understood that he had
only himself to depend upon, with relations not

g SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

disposed to do more for him than relations usually
do, when the tie of kindred is not supplemented
by the tie of affection. Accordingly, heads were
shaken over Dolly Feveril, and the Macinroys in
particular had discouraged his coming over to
Dalgenny House, as often he had begun to do on
first arriving in the neighbourhood.

It was true, truer than Georgina Macinroy
had any idea of, that the chance, if chance it
were, of becoming a countess had been hers, and
passed on by her to another. She it was who, to
rid herself of a young man whose company she
did not affect, had paired him off with her friend
during the whole of a long summer day, at the
end of which Dolly was quite sure he was in
love.

Somebody or other was bound to capture
Dolly's heart that day. A reaction had set in
with him. He had bolted off to Scotland men-
tally and bodily fagged out, and the one solace of
the modification of failure which had been added
to the previous strain, was obtained by the gentle
art of angling, in which he was a proficient.

A week passed, during which he spent
every hour along the sunny banks of a broad
salmon river and the peaceful, out-of-door life

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 9

speedily restored all the energies he had ever
possessed.

Then the want of a change began to make
itself felt. He would like to speak to someone
anyone a person of his own age, and of the
other sex best of all. It chanced that he had an
introduction to Mr. Macinroy in his pocket. Mr.
Macinroy was factor on one of the estates through
which ran the river he had come to fish. Directly
our young gentleman found Mr. Macinroy had
daughters he presented the introduction.

And after this he would have presented him-
self at Dalgenny very much oftener than 'Miss
Georgina Macinroy approved, had it not been her
happy thought of pairing him off with little May
Duncan a device which succeeded beyond all
anticipation.

Georgina had, it is true, been as much taken
aback as anyone when bright little May ran
beaming in one fine morning, to announce that
she and Dolly were engaged, and to tell all about
how it took place, and how she knew it was
coming, and how Dolly had come to their house
late the evening before and wouldn't go away,
and Aunt Jean wouldn't see that he .had something
on his mind ; and how at last she herself had to

10 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

make some pretence for going on to the lawn,
and Dolly was after her through the open window
in a moment.

"And do you mean to say you are really
going to marry him ? " Georgina had cried out
at this point. " Of course I have not a word to
say against Dolly Feveril, only he does seem so
very he is such a boy and thinks of nothing
but fishing ! If he is not doing that, he would
be content to lie under the trees all day
long."

Georgina had, however, been obliged to eat
her words. May, with an upright figure and red
cheeks, had indignantly denied the truth of the
picture; and, although the scene had ended in
good humour, it had been apparent that no one in
future was to term Dolly Feveril " a boy " in the
presence of his betrothed.

A speedy marriage had followed. It was sur-
mised that Dolly's kith and kin hailed with joyful
alacrity the prospect of seeing a youth provided
for who would never have been able to provide
for himself ; and the young couple had vanished
from the neighbourhood, returning only at inter-
vals to pay Mrs. Duncan a visit, or, more strictly
speaking, to permit of Dolly's once more wander-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. H

ing, rod in hand, from pool to pool, along the
banks of the salmon river.

No one took any particular interest in the
Feverils as a married pair. May was just May,
a shade more smartly dressed than of yore, and
inclined to talk of people and places unknown to
her former neighbours. But this was natural,
and in its way amusing. Georgina and Charlotte
thought their old companion better company than
she used to be, even if they still patronised her
and called her " little May." But when so much
had been conceded, there was nothing else to be
said. As for May's husband, he was still less
altered. In short, there was but one opinion
current the Feverils were an uninteresting, if
estimable, young couple, of whom nothing was to
be predicted, and who did not even bring a baby
to be exhibited and made much of by former
friends and acquaintances.

When it was known that they were stopping
at Fairlawn, Georgina Macinroy would say to her
sister, " Someone must go over and see May
Feveril." To which Charlotte would reply,
"Well, you go; I 'can't." Then, as often as not,
Georgina would find it equally impossible to
make the call; and as it would never occur to

12 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

either daughter to suggest their mother's troub-
ling herself on account of so insignificant a per-
sonage as their little neighbour and associate of
old, it chanced more than once that May, who
had no idea of standing upon her own dignity,
took the initiative, and appeared at Dalgenny
before any of its inmates had found their way to
Fairlawn.

Upon the death of the intermediate heirs re-
lerred to by Georgma as the " two men," a slight
ripple of curiosity had, it is true, made itself felt
among young Mrs. Feveril's former acquaint-
ances. Mrs. Macmroy had gone so far as to ex-
claim : " Dear me ! One never knows what may
happen ! " And had the contingency mentally
referred to been of lesser magnitude than it was,
it is probable that it would have been taken more
into account.

But the idea was too large to grasp. It
loomed for a moment on the horizon, and faded
again.

The Feverils were abroad when the last death
occurred, and, truth to tell, no one precisely
knew what difference such an event was likely
to make to Dolly's prospects. The neighbour-
hood of Yesterby only knew him as a cousin a

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 13

poor cousin of the reigning Earl of St. Bees
and somehow (for human nature is the same
everywhere) families into whom Dolly had not
married were very particular in not bestowing
upon him any sort of status to which in their
minds he was not entitled by the strictest rule
and regulation.

" So Dolly is in a kind of a way the heir now ! "
was all that Mrs. Macinroy could bring herself to
say, even when the death of Lord St. Bees' only son
was announced. " As long as no one else steps in,
I suppose Dolly may be considered as the heir."

As neither she, nor the person to whom she
addressed herself, had any but the vaguest notions
as to " how such things were managed " in great
families, and as Dolly, to do him justice, had
never sought to enlighten their understandings, the
remark was good enough for its purpose ; and the
phrase, " in a kind of a way the heir," was adopted
in the Macinroys' circle as a fitting and suitable one
when young Feveril's prospects were discussed.

It fell like a thunder clap upon the whole
country side when another sudden and most un-
expected demise brought Dolly's name into the
papers as the successor to the ancient earldom and
large estates of St. Bees.

CHAPTEE II.

IT is, as we know, the unexpected which
always happens.

Two young people had just come down to
breakfast in the large saloon in a foreign hotel,
and the morning post was being distributed as
they passed up the room.

"A pack of bills," quoth Dolly Feveril,
rapidly glancing over a number of uninteresting-
looking blue envelopes directed by clerkily hands.
" How on earth have they found me out ? I am

sure I never left any address " he broke off

suddenly. " But duns will ferret you out, though
you are at the bottom of a lake with a mountain
piled on the top of you," the simile being sug-
gested by the prospect without, where sunny
green slopes were mirrored in glassy waters be-
neath.

"I shan't let them spoil my breakfast, any-
way," the speaker continued decisively. " What's

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. J5

the good of living abroad if you're to be bothered
bj bills just the same as if you were at home ?
Look here, May, put a roll and some tongue in
your pocket, and I'll do the same ; then we shan't
need to come home for luncheon, and can go much
further down the lake than we did yesterday.
They say there is a much better fishing bank than
any we have tried yet, about a mile beyond the
furthest point we reached last night."

"We must get into the shade," suggested
she, " for yesterday I blistered my face in the
sun, as I could not hold up a parasol. Do look,
Dolly."

" Oh, it's all right," said Dolly, indifferently.
" Everybody gets burnt more or less in Switzer-
land. How soon will you start ? "

" As soon as you like."

"In half an hour?"

" Yery well, in half an hour."

" I'll go and order the boat, then," concluded
Dolly, between hungry mouthfuls, " as soon as I
have had eno.ugh breakfast ; and you can follow
me down to the place. It will take you longer
to rig out than I, and it's a pity to waste a minute
on a day like this." He rose almost as he spoke,
and thrust the letters on the table into his pocket.

16 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Mind you are as quick as you can," he exhorted
as he left the room.

His wife, equally eager, equally young, care-
less, and happy, was soon once more by his side,
and a long, jocund day was spent either in hang-
ing, rod in hand, over the sparkling, glittering
water, or in roaming among the woods which
fringed its bank. Neither gave the letters in
Dolly's pocket a second thought.

They were but a pair of children after all
children to whom the present hour was every-
thing, the future nothing. Perhaps they had
rather " outrun the constable " of late but what
then ? Everyone did at some time or other, and
May's dividends, coming in regularly as they did,
would soon pull all straight again.

Indeed, Dolly was not a spendthrift only a
happy-go-lucky, improvident youth; while May
knew nothing of the value of money, and it
drifted away from her in all directions without,
it seemed, any act of voh'tion on her part.

The two were leading a harmless life enough,
if it were, so far, one without aim or purpose
beyond enjoyment. There was, at any rate, noth-
ing in it with which the world could find fault ;
and as there was nothing on the other part for it

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. If

to applaud, the young people were, like many
others so circumstanced, of importance only to
themselves, and of but slight account in the
general estimation.

All of this was now to be changed in the
twinkling of an eye.

" Oh ! Dolly, dear, I am so tired, I really don't
think I can go down to the table d'hote. Dolly,
send me up some dinner, like a good boy, and let
me sit and eat it here by the open window in my
dressing-gown. This is such a nice, cool room,"
and May sank into a low chair with a sigh of
satisfaction. Then, more briskly, " Mind, Dolly,
I'm very hungry. Tell them to bring me up all
that's going; and it will be such a comfort to eat
alone and in peace."

" Aren't you coming down at all to-night ? "

"Now, Dolly, don't bother me. Can't you
see how snug and comfortable I shall be ? It's
nothing for you to dress and go down; you'd
have to get into another suit, anyway ; but I
should have to screw myself into one of my smart
frocks, and do my hair all over again and I
should look ugly at the end, with my face and
neck all burnt, and my eyes as white as that girl's
last night. Oh, Dolly, did vou see her ? I meant

18 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

to point her out, but I forgot. She was a guy !
She had been up some mountain or other, and
tramped in just before dinner so hot and blowsy,
with her eyes looking almost white against the red
of her forehead and cheeks ! Dolly, you wouldn't
like me to look hot and blowsy, would you?"
insinuatingly.

" All right ; / don't mind." Dolly never did
mind anything. " You'll miss the evening band,
that's all. But if you'd rather stay upstairs it is
jolly here, I must say."

" And I am so comfortable." May burrowed
still deeper in her low chair, and shook her unfast-
ened hair over the back. She had fine hair, long,
thick, and of a ruddy chestnut colour. " It is so
nice to get it away from the back of my neck,"
she proceeded, rolling her head from side to side
against the cool wickerwork of the chair, in order
to feel the relief. " I wish you could brush it for
me, Dolly, dear ; but, perhaps, as you can't, you
had better be off. You are not much good as a
husband, though you are pretty well as a fishing
companion," and the two laughed in unison.

" "Well, now, I'm ready ; I only want my
watch," said Dolly, bustling about. " "Where on
earth did I put it ? Oh, here, under these beasts

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 19

of letters. I say, you might just look them
through while I am downstairs," subjoined he,
tossing them into his wife's lap. " They can't be
very urgent, for we are really quite decently
above water just now. But if any of them seem
to want an answer badly, you can scribble a line
to say we'll pay up the end of the month. I'll
run up and see how you are after dinner," and
kissing her as he passed, he opened the door as
the gong sounded from below.

Scarcely had the soup and fish gone round,
than an unusual thing happened at the dinner-
table at the Schweitzer-Hof. Dinner at this
hotel the great hotel of Lucerne is a function
not to be lightly intruded upon, and even tele-
grams are occasionally withheld until their recip-
ients have risen from the table. Eating and
drinking are understood to have precedence for
the time being wherefore to see a man rise up
suddenly with a startled look upon his face, and
abandon a plate of savoury food just placed be-
fore him, is an unusual, not to say disconcerting
apparition.

Dolly Feveril was, moreover, in the midst of
an animated dialogue with his next neighbour
on the topic of all others most interesting to

20 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

himself namely, that of fishing when the little
slip of paper was put into his hand, which made
him forget what he was going to say next, and
stare as though he had seen a ghost.

Only a couple of lines were scrawled in pencil
on the paper ; and these were almost illegible, for
May had written them with a hand shaking with
agitation, " Come up at once. Such news. You
are the Earl of St. Bees ! "

In a single moment Dolly seemed to know
as well as if he had been meditating upon it
ever since the day of his birth, all that was
meant by being Earl of St. Bees.

Perhaps, in spite of his easy nature and in-
dolent contentment with his lot, he had given
more thought to the matter than people sup-
posed. In a flash there now rose before his
eyes the great ancestral mansion standing in the
midst of its velvet lawns and flowering terraces ;
he saw the long, broad avenues stretching away
beneath their arches of foliage on this side and
that ; the deer-park, with its peaceful herds
browsing at sunset ; the shining river bordering
the whole domain and he saw himself as a
little lonely boy being taken round to be im-
pressed by all the grandeur and display which

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 21

was one day to belong to his more fortunate
relation who, he could perceive even then, re-
garded him with the eyes of a superior.

Dolly's parents had not been popular in the
family, and with his father's death his claim
even to such notice as had hitherto been con-
ceded, was at an end.

He had never again been invited to the great
place, with all its luxuries and enjoyments ; and
gradually these had faded into a memory some-
times into rather a bitter memory. They might
have let him come now and then during the
fishing season, he thought. He would have
been in no one's way would even have slept
at the keeper's if not wanted at the house. He
would have liked just to rove about the woods,
and feed the ducks in the ornamental water, and
find their nests on the island in the hatching
season. No one need have been the wiser.

Gradually, however, the poor boy had for-
gotten to think even about such a project. It
was so completely out of the minds of others
that it dropped from his own also.

When his cousin Tom died he was rather
sorry because Tom was the only one of the
family who ever came to see him or seemed to

22 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

remember that he ever had an existence; but
Tom being only the nephew, not the son, of the
house, his demise made no difference either in
Dolly's estimation of himself or in other people's
of Dolly.

The latter did not even say to his wife,
"That brings me one nearer the peerage," as a
calculating young man might have done. He
only said, "Poor Tom; I shall miss him some-
how ; though I only saw him about once a
year."

Then Cyril, the only son and heir, followed
his cousin within six months to the grave. " By
Jove ! " said Dolly, when the lawyers wrote to
him, and Burke and Debrett sent to ask par-
ticulars for their new editions. " By Jove ! I
am turned into a regular swell."

It was only, however, a flash in the pan, he
considered. After a few letters had passed, and
he had answered all inquiries, and found that
they led to nothing, and that his own lif e flowed
on exactly as it did before, Dolly, as we have
said, made no more account of his new position.
His very simplicity served him instead of wis-
dom.

But now now it appeared that the heavens

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 23

had actually fallen! There was no wisdom re-
quired in shutting his eyes to the brilliant future
unfolded before his gaze by the little scrap of
paper crunched up between his fingers. It did
not say, " You may be you have a possible
chance of being some time or other" it said,
" You are the Earl of St. Bees." Viola la dif-
ference !

Without a single word to anyone, and in utter
disregard of a sympathetic interrogation which
escaped his neighbour, the young man rose,
almost staggering, to his feet, pushed back his
chair dropping his napkin as he did so and
found himself at the other end of the great
saloon, pushing his way past the waiters in the
doorway, without being very well aware of how
he came there.

One or two voices accosted him, but the
speakers received no answer and even May's
impatience was satisfied by the celerity with
which her summons had been obeyed.

She was peeping from the bedroom doorway
a white-robed figure, with rippling hair over-
flowing either shoulder when Dolly's head ap-
peared above the staircase ; and, the passage be-
ing empty, new to meet him, letter in hand.

24: SUCCESSORS TO TEE TITLE.

"Dolly oh, Dolly!"

"Hush! Come inside," whispered Dolly, in
panting excitement equalling her own. " Let's
see the letter, quick ! My goodness ! To think it
should have been one of those that came this
morning ! Just fancy if we had never opened it
at all ! " his confused sensations suggesting that in
such a case the whole stupendous announcement
might have resolved itself into a mirage.

" Dolly, I can't believe it ; can you ? "

"Let's be sure there's no mistake." Dolly's
heart was thumping, and his voice was a sound-
less whisper as he seated himself on a couch, feel-
ing literally unable to stand while May nestled
by his side, reading with his eyes as well as her
own, and ever and anon glancing into his face, as
though almost in terror lest she should suddenly
hear him burst out a laughing, and tell her she
had made some wild mistake.

It would have been like Dolly to laugh even
at such a jest against himself. Dolly never would
take things seriously.

Now and then his little Scotch wife, who had
a vein of Caledonian shrewdness and sense in her
nature, would be quite provoked by his invariable,
imperturbable nonchalance.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 25

But she was not to be provoked on the present
occasion.

Indeed, she recognised in the silence with
which her husband perused the document in his
hand, something unknown in Dolly Feveril be-
fore, something which relegated him to his true
position, and restrained her own emotions from
finding vent until invited to do so.

Literally she durst not interrupt the pause
which followed.

At length Dolly himself spoke. " It seems all
straight enough," he said, passing his hand over
his forehead. " I don't see that there can be any
other meaning in the words though these lawyer
fellows have a knack of piling it up so as to make
something mysterious out of the plainest facts."

"But, Dolly, dear, surely there is nothing
very mysterious in that," said May, pointing with
her finger, and reading aloud as she ran it along
the lines.

" We regret to have to inform you that your
relative, the Earl of St. Bees, died suddenly this
morning, at Redditch Castle, after only a few
hours' illness. As you are the heir presumptive
or in point of fact, as you are now the holder
of the title and estates, we shall be glad if you

26 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

will communicate with us at your earliest con-

venience

" There, you see," the reader broke off short,
" nothing could be simpler than that. You knew
you were the heir though you never would let
me speak about it, and always said that if Lord
St. Bees married again, he might have a dozen
children "

" I am sure I quite expected that he would,"
said Dolly, looking round at her, and then gazing
in a blind, bewildered fashion out of the window.
" I wasn't going to turn into the sort of hanger-on
waiting for a dead man's shoes, which some fel-
lows do. It's beastly, I think. There's Harry
Scoberly, he's neither himself nor anybody else
since he became heir to his uncle, Sir Harry ! He
used to be a good fellow enough, as old Hal at
Winchester but now he gives himself such airs
and all on the faith of expectations which may
never come to anything in the end ! But I say,
May, this will rather take the wind out of his
sails, won't it? You remember we were both
disgusted at the way Harry changed his tone
when he found out that I was in as good or better
position that he was, last time we met? He
couldn't understand my saying it made no sort of

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 27

difference. Well," with a deep breath, "well, it

makes a difference now, by "Jove ! I 'pon

my word, I don't know how I feel ! Well, little
woman," turning down on her a tender glance,
and holding back her flowing hair with the hand
that lay across her shoulders, "well, you foolish
little thing, you threw yourself away upon me
' for better, for worse,' and I expect most of your
friends thought it was a case of ' for worse.' What
do you say now ? " shaking her head backwards
and forwards by the hair, half playfully, half seri-
ously. " I declare I believe I am more glad for
your sake, May, than for my own. Although I
do like," his tone kindling, " to think of those
glorious woods, and the old heronry and the fish-
ponds you don't know what a place it is, May !
And to think no, I can't think I can't under-
stand I can't believe. It's too much; it seems
impossible. Oh," throwing the letter from him
with a sudden revulsion of feeling, " I don't know
what I am saying, or what I am doing. But I
wish at least I almost wish that nothing had
ever happened, and that letter had never come I "

CHAPTEK III.

" OH, they're abroad, or somewhere, I be-
lieve."

The Yicar of Eedditch was a typical John
Bull, with whom if a man were " abroad or some-
where " he might as well stay there, or be dead,
or anything else. He neither understood, nor
wished to understand, the nature of a rational
existence beyond the Channel that is to say, as
led by his compatriots.

With him going to Paris meant going to eat
frogs and learn vice ; a trip to China involved the
acquirement of a pig-tail; while Turkey sug-
gested a sack and the depths of the Bosphorus on
the instant.

For forty years he had been parish priest of a
small district in the heart of the country; and
although at rare intervals he and his solitary
middle-aged daughter did concede so much to
modern prejudice as to pass a couple of weeks in

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 9

the metropolis chiefly spent on his part in see-
ing cricket and on hers at picture galleries both
were soon fagged out by the unwonted dissipa-
tion, and returned with a sense of relief, almost
of exultation, to their own f amiliar haunts, where
they knew everybody, where every object had its
association, and where Mr. Kathbone, if not lord
of all, was, at any rate, somebody.

Perhaps no one short of Lord St. Bees him-
self, had felt the death of his two nearest heirs
more keenly than the vicar.

He had known the lads from infancy; they
were in a manner his own. From him they had
learnt the beginnings of all they knew ; and they
had haunted his house as their own during child-
hood, schoolboyhood, and youth.

When both were taken, and the terrible fact
had to be faced, that the great title and estates of
St. Bees must revert to a kinsman in whom
neither he nor his patron took the slightest in-
terest, and whose very existence had almost
ceased to be recognised, it had seemed that there
was nothing else for it than that the elderly peer
should, as speedily as possible, re-enter the bonds
of matrimony and hope for the best. Mr. E-ath-
bone had gone the length of openly imploring

30 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Lord St. Bees to do so and the petition had not
been received amiss.

Lord St. Bees was, it is true, a contented
widower of many years' standing. Nature
seemed never to have designed him for a husband
scarcely for a father but he had desired an
heir, and to that end had married when approach-
ing middle age. Within a year, the young wife,
who had consented to become a countess under
pressure, had yielded up her life, and lay within
the family vault, remembered only by the one
achievement which marked her brief tenure of
office.

She had presented her husband with the de-
sired son. And thus much having been accom-
plished, it was surmised that his regret for her
loss was but slight.

To be told roundly that he "had the whole
thing to begin over again," as he himself phrased
it, would have caused him to redden with vexa-
tion, had his counsellor been any other than the
faithful friend and neighbour of so many years'
duration.

But the two men understood each other ; felt
alike, suffered alike.

It was not even sympathy which the vicar

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 31

evinced on the momentous occasion above al-
luded to it was participation to the inmost fibre
of his soul. He had no need to say " I feel for
you; your trouble is my own." His dim eyes
and broken breath made words unnecessary.
There was a long conference, in which the one
spoke and the other listened; then there was a
close pressure of the hands, and the two parted at
the little side gate, from which a footpath led
straight into the vicarage garden ; and here Miss
Sybella was waiting, on thorns, to learn what had
passed, and how the mission had sped ?

" He will do it," said her father, nodding at
her. " He will do it, Sybella. I told him as it
was my duty to do all that was involved ; and
pointed out the strait that we were in though it
cut me to the heart to do so. But it seemed to
me that I could wait no longer. Poor Cyril has
been dead six months ; and here we are without
an heir, and, if anything were to happen, good
heavens ! it makes me hot and cold to think
of it ! "

" How did you begin, papa ? "

" Begin ? I'm sure I don't know how I began.
I don't fancy I ' began ' at all ; I just bounced
into the middle of it ! Luckily he was alone, and

32 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

said he had been wanting to see me about the new
churchwardenship, and was starting upon it at
full length, when I got him stopped somehow. I
said : ' My lord, I'll do whatever you wish in the
matter. Regard it as settled. There is something
else far more important on my mind, and I must
ask you to let me have it out.' And then but
really, Sybella, I can't tell how, I found myself in
the very thick of all I had been thinking of all
we had both been thinking and saying to each
other during this past six months. At first
he coloured up he certainly did colour up a
good deal, and the corners of his mouth twitched
you know that way they have when he is
nervous. But he didn't attempt to interrupt
me. Indeed, I doubt if I should have allowed
myself to be interrupted. For it was so strongly
on my mind, and I had strung myself up to such
a pitch, that I shouldn't have swerved aside if I
had seen Balaam's ass herself in the way."

" My dear papa, you forget. It was the ass
who "

" Never mind never mind. Ass or no ass, I
can't stop to be so particular. You said you
wanted to hear how he took it," proceeded Mr.
Rathbone in an aggrieved tone, "and then you

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 33

must needs strike in just when I was going to tell
you!"

"I beg your pardon, dear papa, it was
only- -

" Do you want to hear, or do you not ? Well,
then, don't interrupt me again. I tell you I know
how to manage him " (at the vicarage Lord St.
Bees was simply " him ") " I know him in and out,
and through and through," proceeded the vicar,
regaining his equanimity, " and besides, I didn't
care if I did anger him I didn't care a snap of
my fingers. He might have told me to mind my
own business and not meddle in his family affairs ;
but have it out I would, even if it were but just
to plant the seed, and let it grow of itself. So I
gave it him all round ; and by and by I could see
his mouth relax, and his eyelids begin to twinkle.
Then I knew all was right. And then and
not till then I accused myself of impertinence.
"What do you think he said ? He just took me
by the hand and shook it, saying that if I were
impertinent I was the only man alive who had a
right to be so. After that we talked like brothers.
And I tell you what, Sybella, I believe he'll go
into action straight away. He regularly winced
when he spoke of the title's passing to that son of

34: SUCCESSOES TO THE TITLE.

Adolplras Feveril, and said it was only one de-
gree better than if it had gone to Adolphns him-
self. He never could endure Adolplms no more
could any of us. Of course, the young man may
be nice enough but look what his parents were !
The father, an idle, sponging, whining, poor re-
lation, who yet would cock his feather, and be as
bumptious as anybody the moment he was taken
the slightest notice of ! And the mother, a mere
nobody out of a country town, who knew nothing
about high life and its duties and responsibilities !
Then the education they gave their boy ! He was
sent to a common school not such a school as a
nobleman's heir ought to be sent to at all "

"Probably they could not afford a better^'
hinted Miss Sybella, mildly.

"Just so; they could not afford it. They
could not afford to bring up their boy to the posi-
tion into which he has now been chucked by the
merest accident."

" Not quite by accident, dear papa."

"Hoots! You know what I mean. It is
quite an unforeseen turn of events, at any rate ;
and it's our business to see that it does not turn
out a most disastrous one. Poor Cyril! He
would have been an ideal Earl of St. Bees ! He

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 35

had grown into it from his cradle. He but

its no use lamenting. It was the will of Provi-
dence to take him, and all that remains for us to
do is to try and provide another. I have done
my part, and I am thankful it's over," taking off
his large broad-brimmed hat to cool his brow.
" So now, we must wait in patience to see what the
next step will be. He mustn't be hurried," revert-
ing to the central object of his thoughts. " I
shall never broach the subject to him again, but
let him begin of himself, when he's ready for fur-
ther discussion. Only, you mark my words, Sy-
bella, I prophesy that by this day next year we
shall have once more a countess reigning at the
castle."

The prediction, like many another of its kind,
was fulfilled in a manner little intended by its
author.

Had Lord St. Bees lived, it is true, there is
every reason to believe he would, at any rate,
have endeavoured to carry out the counsels of his
mentor. More than once during the few weeks
which followed their delivery, he voluntarily re-
curred to them ; and on each occasion expressed
his sense of their prudence, and his growing in-
tention of carrying them out in the future. But

36 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

he was disinclined sorely disinclined to take
the plunge.

Lord St. Bees was a busy man, with a multi-
tude of interests. To the claims of large estates
upon their landlord, was united a considerable
amount of county business ; and he had, further-
more, ventures in other lands to be looked after,
and trusts to be superintended and checked. He
never felt himself free to embark upon a new proj-
ect ; had seldom leisure to chew the cud of a new
idea. He had lived in a groove for so many years
that even with its multifarious ties and obliga-
tions, the groove was easy and smooth to his feet
but they shrank from stepping over the side to
right or to left.

There was also another and an unsuspected
hindrance to immediate action. The earl himself
would have said that he was in a lazy mood, that
the heat of the summer months sapped his ener-
gies and made him languid and fit" for nothing but
his easy chair. When cooler weather came he
would renew his strength, and consider seriously
what course should be pursued in accordance with
the dictates of prudence and the obligations of his
ancient race.

One morning he even went so far as to pen a

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 37

note offering a visit to a distant relation, a county
magnate like himself, with a large family of
daughters, amongst whom it was possible a lady
might be found answering the requirements of his
case.

" There are six of them," he mused, his finger
on the page of Debrett in which the family was
detailed. " Six, and all over twenty. They must
be a monstrous plain set of women. But that's
neither here nor there. What is wanted is a
healthy, good-tempered, accommodating creature,
who would not require too much at my hands,
nor turn things upside down, once she was in-
stalled at the old place. People always say it is a
good thing to pick a wife out of a set of sisters.
Keswick's daughter would have had the nonsense
shaken out of her, and learned not to think too
much of herself. A good hearty country lass
that is what I am in search of ; not another fine

lady like but, 'tis ill speaking hard words of

the dead. She could not help being delicate, poor
thing," his thoughts reverting to the deceased
countess. " I ought to have known better than to
marry into that puny race ! "

He had then sealed and directed the envelope,
feeling he had done a good day's work.

38 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

But the letter was never sent. And the sight
of it lying about unstamped for some days there-
after gave the worthy vicar of Kedditch many a
pang.

Somehow he suspected its purport.

He had himself casually let fall the fact that
the nobleman to whom it was addressed had many
olive-branches, of whom he had chanced to hear
an altogether satisfactory report. Lord St. Bees
had taken no notice at the tune, but before the
close of the interview he had, as he fancied, in
the easiest manner possible, reverted to the sub-
ject, and caused Mr. Rathbone to repeat precisely
all he knew. Mr. Rathbone had gone away chuck-
ling.

When within the next twenty-four hours he
was sent for in haste to the castle, where all was
confusion and dismay, his old friend and patron
lying unconscious, with laboured breath and slack-
ening pulses and his eye fell upon the letter with
which it appeared Lord St. Bees had been occu-
pied shortly before his seizure, the superscription
to his mind bore only too palpable witness to the
thoughts within the writer's bosom.

For three days the letter lay untouched where
the dying man had placed it ; then, when all was

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 39

over, Mr. Rathbone, unable longer to endure the
sight, enclosed it in a larger envelope and for-
warded it, together with a few explanatory words,
to its destination.-

This happened on the same day which saw
another missive penned to be sent further a-field ;
the family lawyer was actually writing to Dolly
Feveril in another room, whilst the vicar of Red-
ditch was mournfully despatching the now useless
note of relationly inquiry to Yiscount Keswick.

" Why did I wait so long ? " He took himself
to task that night. "This ought to have been
seen to years ago. Those poor dear boys neither
of them had an ounce of stamina. When Tom
died, at any rate, I should have struck in. I
should never have allowed a succession of such
importance to hang upon a single thread. What's
one life ? And poor dear Cyril so often ailing !
I might have known. Although, on the other
hand," proceeded the old clergyman, shaking his
head, " I doubt I very much doubt whether he
would have listened to me while Cyril was alive.
Ah, well, it's over now, and we've got to face the
worst. A rattling, scampering, chattering young
fellow (if he's like what his father was), and a
wife as young and flighty as himself ! And these

40 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

and their children are to be here, to live among
us, to reign over us till the end of time."

And each daj as he rose to face the world,
the old man's heart grew sorer, and more and
more estranged from the inevitable bond of union
to come.

CHAPTEE IV.

A THEILL of excitement pervaded the whole
district surrounding Redditch Castle. Antago-
nism, and a certain species of dogged resentment
against Fate, might mingle with the feeling in
the breasts of the older inhabitants, but the
young, and those who had only of recent years
come to the place, were all for the new lord and
his lady, anticipating a gay time, and a brisk re-
newal of trade.

The very complaints of the old folks against
the distant heir whom Fortune had now put in
possession of the field, placed him favourably
before their eyes. He would have " No respect
for traditions," the vicar said. "Well, and what
were traditions ? He would not " Keep up the
family dignity." The family dignity had much
better not be kept up. He would be " Hail
fellow well met with every ne'er-do-weel in the

42 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

place." The ne'er-do-weels grinned congratula-
tions to each other.

Poor Mr. Kathbone, going about with lugu-
brious face and dolorous voice taking it for
granted that everyone felt with him, and like
him had shock upon shock. Gratitude and
veneration, he declared, were no more. Old
feudal feeling had fled the face of the earth.

If there had ever existed the man calculated
to inspire respect and affection from rich and
poor alike, it was his beloved friend the late
(he had almost said the last) Earl of Bees.
Could anyone ever point to a single dereliction
of duty on the part of that most estimable noble-
man ? Could it ever be alleged that he had
been aught but a kind master and a just land-
lord ? Yet here had the grave scarcely closed
over his lamented remains, when one and all
were clamouring to know all there was to be
known about his successor; eager to form new
ties, and apparently oblivious of any former ob-
ligation, as well as indifferent to any sense of
loss.

" You must remember, dear father, that much
as we all regret the untimely death of "dear Lord
St. Bees," hinted Miss Sybella at last, u he was

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 43

hardly the same to us he was to you. He was
ahem a most excellent gentleman in his own
way "

" In his own way ! What do you mean by
' In his own way ' ? " demanded the vicar, fierce-
ly. " What other way could he be excellent in 3
His own way, indeed ! "

" It was only a figure of speech, dear papa ; I
would not for the world suggest anything else ;
indeed, Lord St. Bees was always as nice and
pleasant as possible to me

" The best friend you ever had," growled her
father.

" Indeed I have always said so always
thought so; that is to say, he was your greatest
friend, so of course "

" Well ? And what would you have ? I sup-
pose my friends are yours, are they not ? A
pretty thing indeed, if a daughter is to turn up
her nose at her father's friends ! "

" Oh, papa ! Turn up my nose ! "

"I call it turning up your nose to talk of
Lord St. Bees being ' Excellent in his own way.'
I don't believe you would ever have said such a
thing if he had been alive, either," after a pause
during which Miss Sybella looked distressedly

44 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

round, as though for some inspiration, which was
not forthcoming.

" You are just gone over to the new man like
the rest of them," proceeded the vicar testily.
" You women are all for novelty. And now
you'll be prancing up to the castle, and calling
on the silly creature "

" Of course I must call, papa."

" Oh, of course ! I knew you would ; and ex-
pect me to call, too, I'll be bound. And then I
shall have to walk up the old doorsteps and see a
new face meet me in the doorway and be asJced
my name ! " he broke off with a shudder of dis-
gust.

" It will be hard upon you, papa." The pic-
ture touched Miss Sybella, who knew his weak
point ; and she laid a sympathetic hand upon his
arm. " You have been accustomed to do so ex-
actly as you chose at the castle scarcely even to
feel yourself a visitor "

" And now I shall feel myself a stranger," the
corners of the old man's mouth quivered.

" Only for a very little while, papa. Only till
they are settled down, and get to know who we
are and all about us. And, papa, you must re-
member that there is some good I mean," cor-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 45

recting herself hastily, " that a lady at the castle
you know, papa, it always was a little there
never was anybody for me to talk to." She got
to the point at last. " I know how nice it was
for you ; you were always perfectly happy in
Lord St. Bees' society, and perfectly content to
have no other. But I believe other people feel
as I do," concluded the speaker, with unwonted
temerity ; " deeply as we mourn Lord St. Bees'
death, it is not altogether a loss to the com-
munity."

Mr. Rathbone looked his daughter full in the
face, then walked to the door, opened it, and
slammed it after him.

" All the same, I am in the right."
The gentle spinster fortified herself by the
above reflection ; for, dutiful daughter though she
was, Miss Sybella could now and then make a
stand, and was not to be driven from it. " Papa
does not hear what the people say. They would
not say to him the things they say to me. And,
of course, Lord St. Bees was a good man, and did
his duty, and no one could honestly speak a word
against his character. But for my own part "
here the vicar's daughter nodded to herself em-
phatically, and with a keen delight in her own
4

46 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

freedom of speech, feeling at once guilty and val-
orous in that she should at length dare to give
vent to the pent-up emotions of so many years
"for my own part, I never could see anything
very wonderful in Lord St. Bees, after all. I
often thought that if he had not been what he
was or, rather, who he was he would just have
been a stupid, tiresome body, with a knack of tak-
ing up a wrong notion of every subject, and need-
ing continually to have the right one argued into
him before he would adopt it. That suited papa ;
he liked to tell Lord St. Bees what to do, and to
find that he was obeyed in the long run, whatever
opposition might be started at the first. Of course
I was dreadfully shocked when the poor man died
so suddenly " (already the late peer had ceased to
be " him " in Sybella's mind, and she now thought
of him quite easily as the " poor man ") " but
when I am called upon to think that all the glory
has departed from Eedditch Castle, and that
henceforth it will be no more the head and centre
of the neighbourhood, I must beg leave to reserve
my opinion. Poor papa is hardly a competent
judge," she summed up decidedly. "We shall
see what we shall see."

The first thing that she saw on approaching

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. . 47

the castle the following day was a curly chestnut
head stretched far out of one of the windows,
thrown open as high as it would go. May was
inhaling the scent of the mignonette and sweet
peas, which was wafted upwards from a vast bed
upon the terrace below, where were also gerani-
ums, heliotropes, and begonias in a blaze of
bloom.

The young people had arrived the night be-
fore, dispensed with all ceremony, and driven
quietly to their new home. Dolly was now out,
and his wife, surfeited with exploring and admir-
ing, was well pleased to have her thoughts turned
in another direction by the entrance of a vis-
itor.

" I am afraid you are hardly unpacked yet,"
began the latter, who had come armed with an
apology, " but my father fancied that there might
be some matters in which he and I could be of
help. My father is the vicar of the parish," sub-
joined Miss Rathbone hastily, and with a curious
sense of never having had to explain as much be-
fore. "He was was the late I mean he was
always on terms of the greatest intimacy that is,
we have lived here all our lives, and known the
St. Bees family ever since I was born," proceeded

48 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

she in an incoherent nutter. "And my father

said I should call to-day, although he he "

The truth was, her father had flatly refused to
accompany her. " You can go if you like ; it will
have to come to that sooner or later, so you may
as well begin at once. But I can't go, I tell you.
For forty years I have regularly walked up to the
castle to pay my respects the day after the family
came home from wherever they had been first
in the old lord's time, and then in that of him
that's gone. Never but once did I fail to go, and
then father and mother (his parents, they were)
and sons and daughters even that poor hare-
brained Adolphus the nephew, as he was then-
every single member of the family who had
arrived, found his or her way down to ask how I
was ! For I was in bed with a chill, and the doc-
tor wouldn't hear of my getting out of it. I can
hear now the door-bell ringing all that afternoon,
and see the little servant girl we had, bringing in
the cards upon the plate ! And in the evening
there was game, and fruit and all the time I was
ill there was something every day."

" Dear papa, I don't wonder that you feel it."
How often had she heard the tale ! The ill-
ness had happened many, many years before,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 49

when Sybella was quite a little girl 'but it had
remained as fresh as ever in the mind of the
seventy-year-old hale-and-hearty vicar, who had
never once spent a whole day in bed since that
memorable epoch.

" I daresay I could make your apologies, and
I could say that you would certainly call to-
morrow or the next day," she added tentatively.

" Say what you please for yourself, but say
nothing about me." But after a pause, and see-
ing she did not press the point, Mr. Eathbone
had conceded, "Well, well, you can make up
some sort of civility if you think it is absolutely
necessary. I suppose it would be rude to leave
me out of the question altogether."

" Considering your position, papa."

It had ended in her being allowed to say
something, the precise terms of which had not
been definitely fixed, and, so far satisfied, she had
set forth upon her mission.

" My husband is out, so I am glad you came
alone," said May frankly. " I was just wonder-
ing what I should do this afternoon. I have
been all over the house, and I feel such a funny
little creature in it. The servants began asking
me about things, but I didn't know what to say

50 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

to them ; so I pretended I was tired, and couldn't
attend to anything to-day. To tell the truth, I
am rather afraid of them all ; and that is why I
am sitting up here. I am longing to go out
into that lovely garden, but I don't know how to
get to it ; and if I am found wandering about in
the passages, someone is sure to pounce upon me.
But I daresay you know the way " a bright
thought striking her " if you will take me ? "

" Oh, certainly," said Miss Sybella, smiling.

"Then shall I get on my hat? You don't
mind, do you ? "We can go and sit in the shade
if you are tired from walking here."

" I am not the least tired. It is only a step
from the vicarage. Just across that bit of the
park. There it is," pointing to a roof among the
trees, " within the park palings, you see."

"I see. I had been wondering what house
that was. Oh, how nice and near. Do you
know," confidingly, " I said to Dolly this morn-
ing, when we were looking out on every side, and
seeing nothing but our own woods whichever way
we turned, ' Where are our neighbours to come
from ? ' And Dolly could not recollect that there
were any neighbours to come from anywhere!
Dolly was only sixteen the last time he was here,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 51

you know. But lie says lie never remembers

/ v

people coming to call, or carriages at the door, or
things of that sort."

" Lord St. Bees was not fond of society," said
Miss Sybella somewhat stiffly.

" Oh, neither are we. Not of what people
call 'society.' And we both hate London, and
big towns generally. In fact, we know nothing
about them at least I don't. But still it would
be rather dull to have a nice place like this, and
no one come near it "

"My dear young lady" Miss Sybella had
nearly said, "My dear child," there was some-
thing so childlike in the face before her, so sim-
ple and winning in the little note of complaint
" you may be quite sure you will have as many
people as ever you want, ready to visit you at
Redditch Castle. Forgive my saying so, but per-
haps you hardly realise yet what an inheritance
your husband has entered into. You will take
not only the first position in the county

" Dolly told me so "

" And of course it will entail a great deal of
responsibility of course it has its duties and
obligations as well as its pleasures," proceeded
Miss Sybella, who thought she now saw her op-

52 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

portunity. " A great position has to be faced in
all its bearings "

" Suppose I get my hat, and you tell me all
about it out-of-doors. But please don't leave this
room while I am away, or I should never find you
again. I know my way back here, but I have no
idea how to get to the other rooms ; I was always
losing myself about the big hotels on the Con-
tinent." And off she flew.

" Leave this room ! " murmured Miss Sybella
to herself. " How very odd ! She seems to
know nothing about conventionalities. As if I
should go roaming about the house during a
morning call, directly I was left by myself ! My
father warned me what I should find her an
utterly ignorant, unsophisticated girl. I am
afraid he is right. She is simple and pleasing,
but she is not a fit person to be the Countess of
St. Bees. And the world will say so and it will
break papa's heart ! "

May, however, came back all unconscious.
" Here I am, and I haven't kept you long, have
I? I had to dodge old Mrs. What's-her-name,
however, in the passage. I knew she was lying
in wait for me. So I just waited till she had
turned the corner, and then I slipped across in

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 53

here. If we issue forth together, she can't pos-
sibly grab me, can she ? I can say I am engaged
with visitors, can't I ? Now then," opening the
door, " will you lead the way ? I've an idea that
there's a glass door somewhere beyond that land-
ing."

" Certainly. It opens on to the terrace."

"All right. Lead on, and I'll follow. Oh,
Mrs. Grimm," as the stately housekeeper emerged
at the moment, and looked almost imploringly
from one to the other, as though beseeching as-
sistance from the familiar countenance of the
vicar's daughter. "You see I'm engaged just
now," proceeded the speaker, quickly. " Yes, I
know I did say I would see you this afternoon,
but won't to-morrow do ? I haven't been out of
doors yet."

"Certainly, my lady. But there's so much
to be talked about, Miss Rathbone," and the poor
anxious woman again looked wistfully into the
other lady's face. "I thought, perhaps, when I
heard you were here, you might have helped her
ladyship to settle some things."

" If I can be any help to Lady St. Bees," said
Sybella, with alacrity.

"Then let us all come out." Lady St. Bees

54 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

had for the moment but one desire. " You come
along, too, Mrs. Grimm ; and if we can find a
nice place in the shade, we can all sit down, and
do our business. That will please everybody,
won't it ? "

It pleased herself ; but Mrs. Grimm curtseyed
with an inscrutable look, and Sybella Rathbone
scarely suppressed an exclamation.

CHAPTER V.

" I HEAR they go on in the most extraordinary
manner."

"Well, we knew they would before they
came. ' Set beggars on horseback ' you know
the proverb. You've got to call, however they
go on."

The speakers were Sir Thomas and Lady
Milner, and the personages under discussion were
the new Lord and Lady St. Bees.

" If only he had not married," mused the lady,
"it would have mattered so infinitely less. He
could have been taken in hand by some experi-
enced person, put through a couple of seasons in
town, and would have suited himself to his new
position in a very short time. But to come here
already saddled with a little, underbred wife."

" Aye, that's what you can't get over. And
you're not alone in your opinion. I fancy you
have half the mothers in the county with you. I

56 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

must own it is rather rough luck on you all to
have a fellow not yet four-and-twenty come down
upon us as the new Lord St. Bees, and a full-
fledged married man to boot. Such a catastrophe
ought to have been prevented I'm hanged if it
oughtn't! Our daughters ought to have been
given a chance, eh, Emily ? "

The speaker wound up with a sardonic laugh.

" You know very well, Sir Thomas, it was not
that I was thinking of. You always will persist
in imagining that I am on the look-out to marry
my daughters."

" Yery naturally, my dear. There are seven
of them, and what the deuce is to become of
them all if they are not married ? "

" There is no need for you or me to consider
that, Sir Thomas. "We were talking of the new
Lord and Lady St. Bees "

"And talk of the you-know-who," said Sir
Thomas, nodding, " here he comes. Here's Dolly
Feveril coming up the back way ! I should know
him anywhere, though I haven't seen him since
he was a long-legged, long-necked lad, with ap-
parently about as much chance of coming into the
title as I myself! What brings Dolly here, I
wonder?" eyeing his visitor from the window.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 57

" I suppose it is me lie has come to see. Some
county business, I'll be bound. I'll go down and
bring him in," leaving the room.

The speaker was right. County business it
was. And at the end of the interview Sir
Thomas Milner's feelings were not unlike those
of Miss Rathbone after a somewhat similar ex-
perience under the trees at Redditch Castle.

"He not only knows nothing but wishes to
know nothing. Tried to shunt the whole work
on to my shoulders. Would be 'so glad if I
would undertake it.' Says, honestly enough, that
he's as ignorant as the new-born babe, and that
people will only laugh at him, if he attempts to
give an opinion. He's in the right there. The
odds are he'll get laughed at whether he gives an
opinion or not; but he can't foist his responsi-
bility on to other men's shoulders as he seems to
think." And the old country gentleman shook
his head emphatically.

" And I hear that she is trying to do exactly
the same," Lady Milner struck in, eagerly.
"Wants her housekeeper to manage the house-
hold, and Miss Rathbone to manage the parish,
and she herself to do nothing but run about the
flower-garden, or feed the deer in the park ! Miss

58 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Rathbone suggested that she should pay a visit to
the almshouses one day, but she said it was too
hot. And they asked her to give away the prizes
at the rose competition at Flavell next week, but
she said it was too far. "What kind of a person
can she be, Sir Thomas ? "

"Why don't you go over and find out for
yourself ? You have been six days at home, and
St. Bees and his wife have been six weeks at the
Castle. You have picked up enough gossip about
them to make you inquisitive, but apparently not
enough to make you civil. Why don't you go
this afternoon ? "

It ended in her agreeing to go that afternoon.

And it proved to be rather an unfortunate
afternoon for so solemn an event to happen upon,
although perhaps none of those most concerned
had any idea of its being so.

Lady Milner presumed that she saw her young
hostess in her normal state, that the presence of a
third person, and that other a girl visitor of May's
own age, in no wise affected the situation ; May
herself considered Georgina Macinroy rather in
the light of a support than otherwise during the
formidable half hour occupied by the visit ; whilst
Georgina, upon whom the seclusion of the great

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 59

place was beginning to pall after a week of May's
almost unbroken companionship, was well pleased
to have anyone from the outer world to talk to,
even though it were the fashionable-looking girl
who followed her mother into the room, and
whose clothes, in their elegant simplicity and ab-
solute freshness, made her own, which had known
better days, and were now being worn out where
it was considered they would be exposed to no
critical eye, seem at once too smart and too
shabby.

It was only Henrietta Milner who had eyes to
pierce below the surface.

" I wish we had come when the poor thing
was alone," reflected Henrietta, taking in with a
curious instinct which she alone of her family
possessed, certain subtle influences at work. " I
believe we are seeing her at her worst ; mamma
is terrifying, to begin with. Had I been free to
quell mamma, I could have made things easier.
Then, again, this poor Lady St. Bees is trying to
keep up her dignity before her friend, who I
daresay is watching her like a cat to tell the
people at home how she behaves and how she
gets on as a great lady. Miss Rathbone said she
was not at all shy with her, only very friendly

60 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

and simple, and I do think it is rather hard on
them both that everybody should be on the look-
out for misdemeanours, and that they should be
tabooed at the very beginning. What if they do
know nothing about anything ? They can't help
it. It's not their fault, and what I say is, it's a
shame."

Meantime she did her best with Miss Georgina
Macinroy.

"Yes, indeed, it's a most beautiful place,"
asserted Georgina, for the third or fourth time.
" Yes, we have been driving and walking every-
where. The weather has been very fine. Yes, it
has been rather too hot."

" If only she would not begin every sentence
with a ' Yes,' " muttered Henrietta to herself.

Then May appealed to Georgina about some-
thing, and Georgina corrected her opinion, and
May was not sure that Georgina was right, and
Georgina argued it out, feeling in the heat of the
controversy that she was once more only dealing
with little May Duncan, and not with Lady St.
Bees in the presence of Lady St. Bees' visitors.

So that the little scene was hardly edif ying ;
and that it was not felt to be so would have been
sufficiently apparent to any impartial bystander

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 61

who had been there to mark the compressed lips
of the stately dowager or the dropped eyelids of
her daughter.

" She is really more dreadful than I could
have supposed ! " The carriage had barely rolled
away from the door, Lady Milner had barely un-
furled her parasol, ere she gave vent to the above
exclamation. " My dear Henrietta, it is no use
your saying anything. I know perfectly well
what you are going to say. You have a mania
for defending everybody ; but those two girls
wrangling together before our very faces "

" Not ' wrangling,' mamma."

" It was nothing else. Correcting and contra-
dicting and all about nothing ! As if it could
possibly matter in the smallest degree, as if it
were of the very slightest consequence to any-
body, whether they went by one road or the
other, or by all the roads in the neighbourhood
at once. I could not make out what it was all
about."

Henrietta was silent.

" You could see for yourself," proceeded her
mother, " how absurdly ill-bred the whole scene
was. You might, at least, agree with me for once,
and own you did."

62 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Of course it was ill-bred ; but, mamma, you
knew beforehand that Lady St. Bees was not
likely to be a particularly well-bred person.
You knew that she was only a simple, country
girl "

"So are you only 'a simple, country girl.'
But I hope that none of my daughters "

" She is an orphan."

" She has been brought up by somebody, I
suppose. Now, Henrietta, do pray not take up a
contrary view, on purpose to put me in the
wrong. No one knows better than you how a
young girl ought to behave. And why should
you try to make out that bad manners are
good?"

" Only because you are so hard, mamma. I
want you to be just a little kinder to this poor
girl. Mamma, you are not really an unkind per-
son " The mother's brow relaxed somewhat.

" You are very good to all of us you are very
good to the poor if anyone is sick or in trouble
no one will do more for them than you "

" I am glad to hear I have some good points,
Henrietta."

" But if a person makes some little slip in good
manners, or has some little surface vulgarity "

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 63

"It is true I cannot stand vulgarity," said
Lady Milner, complacently.

" There are so many worse things," pleaded
Henrietta. " I don't mean worse things than vul-
garity of thought and feeling though, of course,
there are even than of those but little ugly tricks
of voice and manner "

" Quite so ; ugly tricks. Just what they are.
Yery well expressed," interposed her mother, still
approving.

" Mamma, I think you and we all make too
much of them. If anyone speaks with a disagree-
able accent, or makes use of a term we are not
accustomed to, we set them down at once as peo-
ple not to be known. Even as acquaintances they
are not to be endured. They are beyond the
pale."

" But, my dear child, if one is not to be par-
ticular about these things, what is one to be par-
ticular about ? How is one to jndge of what is
within except from what is without? You can
only guess at the orange by its peel."

" Yet they may be very good people true,
sincere, noble-minded people."

" Of course, of course," said Lady Milner, un-
easily.

64 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" They may be real Christians," said Henrietta,
in a lower voice.

Her mother was mute.

" And we not to know* them, because they
pronounce an a like an o, or leave out an h!
Mamma, I often wonder, when we take upon our-
selves the vow to renounce the pomps and vani-
ties of this wicked world, whether we ever think
of this ? There seem to be so many kinds of
pomp and vanity."

" I am sure I never brought you up to to
long for for the world," stammered Lady Mil-
ner, in some confusion at this unwonted view of
the subject. " Surely, my dear child, you are

taking rather an extraordinary . Are you

sure you are not twisting the words to suit your
own purpose ? Not but that I am willing to be
rebuked even by my own daughter. And per-
haps it is true, as you say, that I am too fas-
tidious too sensitive on certain points. I con-
fess I do like to mix with people of my own
class. And from all I heard of this young
Lady St. Bees beforehand, I knew it would be
a trial to call at Redditch Castle. But tell
me now honestly, Henrietta, did you find any-
thing to like in her beyond that she had a rather

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 65

pretty, babyish face, and a not unpleasing
smile ? "

" I found this," said Henrietta, " that she
never made any pretence, and that in itself was
something. She never assumed any sort of
knowledge of her new position. She said
straight out that the had never seen anything,
nor been anywhere. And though she certainly
did not evince any particular desire to have her
ignorance enlightened, I think, mamma, you
know, that the very desire might be taught her."

" But that dreadful friend ! " said Lady Milner
ruefully. " She was much worse than the girl
herself. You cannot say anything for the friend,
Henrietta. Come now," laughing quite good-
huinouredly ; " come, you wise mentor, with all
your superiority, to your poor old mother ; don't
disagree with her at all points. Make what you
can of Lady St. Bees A sigh escaped with

the words. ("What a lady St. Bees she would
have been herself," mentally ejaculated the fond
parent, who was in reality as soft as wax in the
hands of the queenly creature at her side.)
"Make a friend of her, and mould her if you
can ; I shall say nothing against it."

" Promise, mamma." Henrietta bent eagerly

(J6 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

forward. " Promise solemnly. I am to invite her
over ? I am to be allowed to go there ? I am to
get to know her, as girls know each other ? You
will give me a free hand? And not raise ob-
jections, and put obstacles in the way ? "

" Why, Henrietta, you are quite excited ! "

" I feel excited. It is as if I were suddenly
about to undertake a new great work. And I do
so want some real honest work to do in the
world. It is dreadfully conceited of me, I know,
but something tells me that here is the very ob-
ject in life I have been longing for. If only this
girl this young Lady St. Bees will see it too ! I
am three-and-twenty, and she is only twenty;
there are three whole years between us. There
might be thirty, I feel so much, much older."

" Come, come ; that is nonsensical. If you
are going to begin to talk like that I shall have to
withdraw my sanction. Thirty years older, in-
deed."

" Oh, don't be afraid," said Henrietta cheer-
fully. " I shan't say so to her. And, mamma,
as you have been so good I shall give you a vol-
untary promise. I shall be upon honour when-
ever I am with her to uphold the trivialities "

"My dear child!"

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. Qf

" The tittle things that you think so much of.
Come, mamma, you know what I mean. We are
quite of one mind about the great things. But
when I am with May St. Bees when I am con-
ducting her education" laughing merrily "I
shall stretch my conscience as far as ever it will
go to insist upon the vast importance of not wag-
ging the foot when sitting talking with visitors,
for instance."

"And not taking the initiative in conversa-
tion," cried Lady Milner, entering into the spirit
of the idea. "It was not for her to introduce
every new topic of conversation. A girl of
twenty to an old woman like me ! And did you
hear how she began before I had even opened my
lips, with her : ' So good of you to come and see
me ! So glad I was at home ! ' Can you wonder,
Henrietta, that I perceived at once the sort of
girl she was ? "

" Mamma mamma ! At it again ? "

"Well, well, my dear," Lady Milner pulled
her shawl over her shoulders with a little restive
movement ; " but, Henrietta, at least I must say
one thing. The friend was ( common.' I could
not be mistaken in her. It was not only her
voice and manner, it was her laugh. And though

68 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

I did not have much of her, I own, I could see by
your face "

" Oh, I give up the friend," said Henrietta,
laughing.

In her heart she had given up the friend long
before.

CHAPTER VI.

" I SEE you've had some visitors. I saw the
carriage driving off." Dolly looked at his wife
with a pleased expression. More than once
lately it had struck him that although he himself
was having a good time, and enjoying himself in
his own lazy fashion, he was not quite so sure
that May's new position suited her equally well.
She was not quite so merry, so jolly, as she was
wont to be.

For this reason he had suggested the com-
panionship of Georgina Macinroy, and when the
invitation had been readily accepted, had fancied
he should see sunshine restored, and hear again
the lively prattle which used to flow so easily
from the lips of May Feveril, but which had
somewhat flagged in those of Lady St. Bees.

And at first the remedy had answered. May
had been pleased to show Georgina everything ;
to take her about hither and thither; explore

70 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the neighbourhood afresh, and point out its
beauties.

That done, however, there had been a renewal
of the vacuum ; and, although not a man of much
discernment, it had dawned upon her husband
that something, he could not tell what, was want-
ing. He wondered what other people did under
such circumstances.

Certainly May never complained ; she had an
uncomplaining nature ; but when he asked her
at the close of each day what she had done, and
she made answer "Nothing," or he inquired
whom she had seen, and she replied, " Nobody,"
it struck him vaguely that this was not what
could be called an ideal life for a young married
woman, whether countess or not.

Hitherto the pair had wandered round about
the world in a desultory haphazard fashion,
prompted simply by the impulse of the moment
in fixing upon any destination, and quitting it
with like ease when another prospect seemed
alluring. They had never remained long in one
place ; they had never struck their roots deep in
any soil ; nay, they had never even clung to its
surface with the slightest tenacity.

On his part it had been, " Shall we stop for

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 71

a bit at Homburg, or at Biarritz, or at some Eng-
lish or Scotch watering-place ? " "While on hers
the response had been quick and 'cheerful, " Oh!
yes ; a few weeks, a few months there would be
very nice ; and it is just the time to go."

When the temporary halting-place was reached
acquaintances had been easily picked up, and
there had been bands and promenades, and abun-
dance "of small dissipation for May, whilst Dolly
had done equally well with such sport as the
neighbourhood afforded and his means allowed,
varied by billiards on wet days and gossiping and
smoking at all times.

A dreary routine, the reader will perhaps
think ? Dreary, indeed ; trivial, aimless, profitless.
But we must confess the truth ; hitherto this was
the only notion of existence formed by our boy
and girl husband and wife, who had yet to open
their eyes to the world and its realities, and who
had so far been absolutely left to keep them
shut if they chose.

When the great transformation scene took
place, and the insignificant, uninteresting Dolly
Feveril and his wife became the Earl and
Countess of St. Bees, they felt, as we know, very
like two children transformed by the wand of a

72 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

fairy godmother into a prince and princess.
Without the delay of an instant they betook
themselves to the fairy palace of their imagina-
tion, arriving thither one summer evening in pre-
cisely the same inconsequent fashion in which
they would have driven up to some foreign hotel,
where rooms had been telegraphed for during the
journey.

That any preparation was needed either on
their part, or on that of the household, or ten-
antry at Redditch Castle, was the last thing to
have occurred to the minds of the new Lord
and Lady St. Bees. That it would have been well
to halt somewhere on the road, and make such
additions to their equipment as were suitable to
their new state was equally beyond their imagi-
nation. Dolly did indeed pay a hurried visit to
his lawyer in London going after breakfast and
meeting May at the station in time to catch the
noonday train for the north as they passed
through London. But, although Mr. Truby sug-
gested that he would be glad of another business
interview, and seemed altogether taken aback to
find that his new client saw no necessity for any-
thing of the kind, no change was made in the
programme, and the impatient young man had

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 73

stepped into his hansom, and was off again ere
the bewildered Truby could compose his ideas.
Dolly had told him airily that all should go on as
before, and that he could write anything he
wanted to the old place.

May had been equally felicitous in disposing of
her feminine applications. She did not really see
that there was anything for her to do. She had
been caught by old Mother Grimm, as she in-
formed Dolly, and afterwards forced into hearing
a number of fusty -musty details, which were so
much Greek and Latin to her ; but she had found
Dolly's watchword invaluable, and had hurled it
at the old dame's head whenever she got the
chance.

" You know you told me to say, ' Everything
is to go on as before,' " cried she, with the glee of
a child. " It really was masterly, that phrase of
yours, Dolly. It seemed to fit every emergency,
and to stop Mother Grimm's mouth at every turn.
The only thing that could not ' go on as before '
was a maid for me. I couldn't be expected to
inherit poor Lord St. Bees' tottering old valet,
whom even you declined to take on, so I said,
' All right,' she might find a maid for me, which
she is to do at once, and meantime one of the

74 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

housemaids such a nice girl, called Mary not at
all * fine,' no more * fine ' than I am myself has
taken possession of me and my clothes."

This interview with the stately housekeeper,
who had been in the St. Bees' family during two
generations, seemed in the eyes of her new mis-
tress to dispose of all her obligations towards the
remainder of the household.

" I don't like worries," she confessed, frankly.
" And what's the use of being a great lady, and
having plenty of money, and all the rest of it, if
I am to be bothered just like everybody else ?
You see, Miss Eathbone," for this confidence was
made to the vicar's daughter, " Dolly and I agreed
to have no house when we married, but just to go
about and enjoy ourselves. And it really was a
good thing we did, wasn't it, as we hadn't any-
thing to get rid of, nor to fuss about, when we
came in for this beautiful place, and he became
head of the family. I daresay we shall never stop
here very long "

Miss Rathbone uttered an exclamation.

" At least I don't suppose we shall ; we never
do stop long anywhere. But, then, I don't know
anything. Sometimes," she paused, and added
wistfully, " sometimes I almost wish I knew a

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. . 75

little more. I am not quite a child now, but people
always treat me as if I were."

And then, just as Miss Sybella had raised her
head with renewed animation, and was about to
respond joyfully, the conference came to an end
by a donkey, which was drawing the mowing
machine over the lawn in front, beginning to
hee-haw, and May rushing off to pat its
neck, and pull its ears. Afterwards Miss Rath-
bone never found Lady St. Bees in the same
mood.

Dolly, however, had more than once found his
wife looking silently from a window of late, and
was not altogether sure that the panacea provided
by him in the companionship of her early friend,
Georgina Macinroy, had met the case. Was it
possible that May was moping ? He was very
fond of his May, and had rejoiced for her sake
still more than for his own when fortune smiled.
He did not like to see her hanging about the big
rooms disconsolately ; or gazing up at the long
rows of book-cases with blank, bewildered eyes ;
or sitting still, with her arms hanging listlessly
over the side of a great solemn chair in corridor
or ante-chamber.

" Can't you find something to amuse yourself

76 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

with ? " he would say half -pettishly. But it was
really pity which made him pettish.

" Why don't you go for a drive ? " he would
suggest sometimes. But May did not care for

driving when, as she would allege, there was
nothing to drive to. The neighbourhood was but
sparsely populated, and the two or three families
who would have been on visiting terms at the
Castle were not in residence when the new Lord
and Lady St. Bees took possession of their estates.

In consequence, after the first excitement had
evaporated, and the novelty of the situation be-
gun to wear off, one day flowed on very like an-
other, and it must be owned that the evenings
often found the pair yawning in each other's
faces.

To shirk trouble of every kind, to evade every
disagreeable, and to seek emancipation from every
responsibility does not somehow answer in the
long run, even with the most easy, pleasure-loving
youth and maiden; and while people all round
were saying hard things of the young couple,
while at the same tune picturing them rollicking
at ease in the midst of their new-born grandeur,
Dolly and his wife were, in truth, f eeling less and
less inclined to rollick every hour, and although

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 77

neither would have owned it for the world,
secretly hankering after the old days of freedom
and fun, when nobody cared what they did or
whither they went; when a few portmanteaux
enclosed the extent of their worldly possessions,
and when they could hail an 1 acquaintance from
any window of the two rooms which comprised
their sole foothold in life for the tune being.

" Why don't you have more people down ? "
Miss Macinroy had suggested on the fourth day
after her arrival. " You should fill the rooms and
have house parties like other great folks," and as
she spoke her fingers itched to send out the in-
vitations.

May looked at her husband. .

"Oh, bother house parties," said he, rather
shortly. " Besides," he added after a pause, " this
isn't the time for them. No one goes to country-
houses till the shooting begins. Not to houses of
this sort," perceiving a disclaimer about to issue
from Georgina's lips. " It's all very well to ask
your friends to potty little places that is, I
mean," as the mounting colour on her cheek be-
trayed his rudeness, " I mean, of course, that in
smaller neighbourhoods where there are a lot of

little houses, and no one thinks of doing tilings hi
6

78 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

style Oh, bother it ! Miss Macinroy, I am mak-
ing a fool of myself, but yon know what I mean
May and I have got to live np to what we are
now. I know enough the ways of our sort not to
run counter to them. I can't ask men the men
who ought to be asked here, till I have something
to ask them to."

" Besides, do we know any ? " suggested May,
doubtfully. "We have met heaps of people of
course, going about as we have done from place
to place ; but, Dolly, I don't think we ever knew
where any of them lived, did we? When we
said ' Good-bye ' we just shook hands and hoped
to meet again some tune or other. And we very
seldom did meet again ; though, to be sure, there
were some I was very sorry to part from," con-
tinued she, musing, "the Grabhams, for in-
stance."

" The Grabhams ! Oh, we couldn't ask them
here," said Dolly, hastily.

" And there was that nice Mrs. Scott and her
son."

" Nice enough, but she was only a homely old
Scotch body."

" None the worse for being Scotch, I hope,"
interposed Georgina, with a short, sharp, con-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 79

ceited accent. Georgina was still somewhat in-
clined to bridle, and conscious of an irrepressible
desire to put in a remark with a sting. " That
would be rather hard on us, would it not, May,
dear ? We are only Scotch bodies ourselves, are
we not ? "

Dolly had turned to the sideboard, and, un-
perceived, his brows knitted in a frown.

" I wish I had not thought of getting her," he
muttered, internally. " She seemed well enough
down there, but she's out of place here, and al-
most makes May seem out of place too," and he
would not deign any response to the young lady's
sprightliness.

" I daresay, Dolly, when we have lived here a
little longer, everything will be different." Lady
St. Bees looked a little anxiously towards the
figure diligently carving cold beef with back
turned to the table. " We are going to be very
happy here, and I ought to be very proud and
pleased that you have become a great man, and
that all of these," looking up at the pictures on
the ,wall, " were your grandfathers and grand-
mothers. You belong to the old family, Dolly,
even if I don't, so you must teach me how
to behave."

80 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Be hanged if I know myself ! " Dolly, with
recovered good humour and a full plate, returned
to his seat. "But we'll worry along somehow,
and in a year or two I dare say no one will know
we haven't been at it all our lives. Only we
must take our time," added he sagaciously. " It
never does to ' rush ' anything. So, Miss Georg-
ina, I am afraid the house parties must wait,
and you may be content with each other for the
present. Don't you trouble your little head,"
nodding kindly to his wife, " and don't let them
sit upon you in the servants' hall. I mean, don't
let Mrs. Grimm and Bullock and the rest of them
have it all their own way. Give 'em the slip
when they come after you to pester you, if
you don't care to show fight. That's how I do
with Soames " (Soames was the farm steward)
" Soames thought he was going to have two regu-
lar mornings in the week, shut up with me in the
library ! Two whole blessed mornings ! I simply
laughed at the idea ! I told him I never stayed
in the house on a fine morning. Then he asked
me to appoint some other time. I said, ' Oh, any
time.' The consequence is I can always contrive
to dock him short, long before he has got out half
his say and he's so beastly long winded I have

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 81

even yet no notion what length his say might
extend to by finding I must absolutely go to
dress for dinner, or to write some letters in time
for the post. Soames shan't pin me down more
than I am going to be pinned, I can tell him."

" Miss Eathbone has been rather trying to pin.
me down," said May. " She wanted to walk me
off all along that hot, dusty lane to the schools
this morning, and this is the second time she has
made the attempt. I said I really couldn't go;
that I hadn't the courage. However, she worked
upon me to promise I would venture under her
wing one of these days. I made rather a stand,
because she had already hinted about the Ahns-
houses, and the Cottage Hospital, and all sorts of
horrors. But 1 remembered what you said,
Dolly, and I wasn't to be done. I just smiled
and promised, and at last she went away."

"I think you might go and see my father's
old nurse," said Dolly after a minute, "old
Hannah. She's still alive ; about ninety, I be-
lieve, but as lively as a cricket, they tell me.
'You might say I'll call myself one of these days.
I used to be taken to see Hannah when I was a
boy. She has an awfully jolly little cottage down
in the hollow beyond the fish-ponds. It's a

82 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

goodish walk, but you can go through the woods
the whole way "

" Oh, Dolly, not to-dwj!''

" Not to-day, unless you like. Any day will
do," said Dolly, easily. "Only I daresay the
poor old soul will be expecting it. She used to
have the queerest little china cows and sheep
upon her mantelpiece. I remember them per-
fectly. Curly white sheep under green trees.
And there was an old copper warming-pan.
And a worked picture in a frame. I remember
it all. I must really go and see old Hannah, and
see if she has still got that picture, and those
sheep and cows."

" But we needn't go," whispered Georgina, as
they rose from table. " If he goes the old woman
will like it ever so much better. She won't care
for us ; we are interlopers."

And even May had felt that her old friend
was wanting in tact.

CHAPTEK VII.

THEEE or four more days brought this feeling
to a head. Georgina would suggest, and surmise,
and continually remind May of former times, not
in an altogether pleasant manner. She fancied
her role was to be that of confidential adviser and
bosom friend, whereas even in the days she spoke
of there had in reality never existed that close
intimacy now claimed in the retrospect. There
had been neighbourly intercourse, nothing more.

Indeed May could remember very well that
Georgina had rather looked down upon her as a
child, and had even treated her with but scant
ceremony after she had ceased to be May Dun-
can, and had appeared at Dalgeny House expect-
ing, as a young bride naturally expects, to be
petted, and made much of among former associ-
ates.

Once or twice, as we know, none of the
Macinroy ladies had taken the trouble to call on

84: SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Dolly FeveriTs wife, affecting not to know she
was at her aunt's, or at least only to have heard
by report of her being there, and to be quite sur-
prised when she walked in through their own
gate.

Then it would be, " Dear me ! May, here
you are again. Why, it seems as if you were but
just gone. Your aunt will be glad to have you
back, I am sure. It is a great thing for her that
you have no home of your own." None of which
had been resented by the sweet-tempered May at
the time, nor would have been remembered now,
but for Georgina's present effusiveness. It was
that which accentuated the contrast.

" I really think I wish she would go," mur-
mured poor May in her own heart at last. And
on the very day this thought arose the Milner's
called.

We now come back to the point where Dolly
exclaimed, " I see you have had visitors," and
looked to hear the rest.

Georgina, to whom he had not addressed him-
self, was the first to reply. "Such visitors!"
cried she, with a toss of her head. " Such a
couple! A mother and daughter. The most
stuck-up, prim-visaged, poker-backed females you

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 85

ever beheld! Poor May and I felt regularly
skewered through and through by their piercing
eyes. The mother was bad enough; but the

daughter May, you had the best of it.

Or, at any rate, I had the worst of it ! For I
had to sit and make conversation with a girl
who "

" "WTio I should have liked very much to talk
to," said May, steadily. " She had a kind face,
and a sweet voice. And she was so very pretty,
Dolly. More than pretty beautiful. And she
had such graceful movements. And such a calm,
high-bred manner."

" Oh, nonsense ! What rubbish ! " interposed
Georgina, with a frown of vexation. " I didn't
admire her manner at all. It's not polite to take
no more interest than she did in my conversation.
She was always looking at May," pursued the
speaker, turning to May's husband. "Taking
stock of her, you know. She looked her up and
down, and round and round. I daresay she will
go away, and describe every single thing she had
on, and how her hair was done, and all the rest of
it. May wasn't at her best, either."

Dolly gave his wife a quick look.

" I was not feeling very well," murmured she.

86 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"And I am afraid my hair was rather rum-
pled, Dolly. I liad been lying on the sofa, think-
ing no one would come in, because no one ever
does come in the afternoons, and we did not
know anybody was in the house, until the door
opened and Lady and Miss Milner were an-
nounced."

" It was Lady and Miss Milner, was it ? They
are the great people of the neighbourhood next
to ourselves."

"And at first we were awfully glad, to see
them." Here Georgina struck in again, and this
time with renewed vivacity. " May and I were
sick to death of each other she was asleep, and I
was stodging over a book ; and we both jumped
to our feet, and welcomed the Milners with en-
thusiasm. I am sure May did her part and I did
mine. I heard May doing the civil most reli-
giously. I was quite amused at little May hauling
up a chair for the old lady, and thanking her for
coming, and pumping up subjects to talk about,
while I played second fiddle with the younger
one. I didn't get much change out of her I own,
but who could ? "

" Is it true what she says ? " enquired Dolly of
his wife as soon as they were by themselves.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 87

" Did you feel that they were looking down upon
you turning up their noses at you ? "

" I don't quite know how I felt," she paused,
then went on slowly, "to tell the truth, Dolly,
Lady Milner was rather stiff. I fancy she had
come prepared to be stiff, and it was rather uphill
work trying to soften her, but if you had been
there, and if Georgina had not been there, I can't
help thinking it would have been different."

"I can understand that," Dolly nodded, not
ill-pleased. " You could have managed the one
and I could have tackled the other."

" You see Georgie is so very brusque. And
somehow she seemed to talk so loud, and as if
she were trying to be so free and easy ; while at
the same time I know in her heart she was
really cringing. Now, if you could have talked
to Lady Milner, I believe that I could have got
on very well with her daughter. We had a few
minutes together just before they left. "We
went into the other room to look at the garden,
and I told her how fond I was of flowers, and
that I had always been accustomed to look after
aunt's garden at home, and bud the roses, and tie
up the sweet peas, but that I did not like to
offer to do it here, because there were so many

88 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

'men, and I was afraid they would stare. But
she said she always did it at their place, and
had a part of their garden left entirely to her.
And she suggested I should have the same.
Dolly, do you think I could ? "

"You can do whatever Miss Milner does.
And, I say, I wish you could manage to make
friends with her over gardening, or anything else.
It would be the very best thing you could do.
If the Milners would take you up, and put you
in the way of things, it would make ,a start for
us both. Don't you mind what G-eorgina says,
you return the call "

" I wish I could go without her."-

" I wish you could," Dolly reflected. " When
does she leave ? "

" She hasn't talked of leaving yet. You see
we asked her to pay a good long visit."

" I know ; it's unlucky. I used to like Georg-
ina well enough, and so did you. It seemed to
me you'd be all right if you got her here.
But the fact is, May, you and I are beginning
a new life as new people, and I don't know
whether it wouldn't have been as well to have
a blank sheet to begin upon. The whole thing
is so queer ana strange. It seemed awfully jolly

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 89

at first to jump from being a mere nobody, an
unimportant, insignificant, out-at-elbows fellow,
whose first piece of luck it was to meet with a
dear little woman ready to bestow upon him her
own sweet self, with enough to keep the wolf
from the door, to be all at once transformed
into a great nobleman with estates and fortune
to match, that I scarcely knew whether I stood
on my head or my heels ! I'm a silly sort of
chap, and no one has ever taken the pains to
develop such brains as I've got. But after I
came here and began to think about it all, it
has been dawning on me more and more that
there are two sides to the question. My side
was that you and I were provided for, and that
we should no longer need to think about what
we could afford, nor whether we could do this or
that. I thought : ' Hang it all ! we'll have a
glorious time ! Simply write cheques and the
money will roll in! And how beastly civil my
tailor and gun-maker will be ! Besides which,
we'll take a moor.' I never dared to think of
a moor before that night at Lucerne when I lay
awake with the lawyer's letter under my pillow.
Then I said to myself, ' By Jove ! I'll have a
moor, and a salmon river of my own.' It was

90 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

a wonderful night," continued Dolly, musing.
"Do you remember how we talked and talked,
and planned everything. And how the storm
came on in the middle of it all, and you said
you didn't mind the storm a bit, you were so hap-
py ? What an age ago it seems ! And it is not
two months ! It was only six weeks on Friday
last since that first evening we drove up from the
station ! " Then the speaker paused, and looked
intently at the little drooping figure by his side.
" Poor little May," he murmured under his
breath, and laid his hand upon her head.

A large tear dropped from her eyelids as he
did so.

" The other side of the question, I suppose, is
this," continued Dolly, drawing a sigh himself.
" People are saying Here's a fine old title drifted
away into the hands of an interloper, who ought
by all the rules of succession never to have come
in for it. It has come to him by the merest acci-
dent, and he is no more fit to possess it " a sud-
den sob from her parted lips -" and knows no
more what to do with it rather less than if he
had been a ploughman born upon the lands," pur-
sued Dolly, bitterly. " Mr. Rathbone as good as
told me so yesterday. I would not vex you by

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 91

repeating what he said ; and I dare say the old
man was put out, and let slip more than he
meant that is to say, more than he meant me

V '

to see, but not more than existed. He considers
it an ' unheard of misfortune,' and a ' terrible
humiliation ' for the race that I should have been
the only heir left, when the old lord died. I
told him as insolently as I could that he couldn't
expect me to see it in that light. I laughed and
blew off my cigar smoke, and turned on my heel
with what I considered quite a French air of
nonchalance. But all the same, I felt a furious
rush of shame and anger ; especially when he
muttered something about the whole country
thinking the same, and that it would be no easy
matter to get them to think otherwise. I
marched off at that, leaving him standing where
he was he had poked me out down by the river
bridge, saying he was obliged to pursue me there
because I was never to be found at home and
the last thing I saw of him he was stock still
on the same spot, with his great bunch of
papers still in his hand."

" How could he treat you so, Dolly ? " She
was weeping piteously now.

" I tell you it's the other side of the question.

92 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Don't you take it too much to heart. You and I
will think it over, and see what's to be done."

"But, Dolly, I thought Mr. Rathbone was
Buch a nice old man ? "

" Hum ! " said Dolly, significantly.

" To tell you it was a ' humiliation.' "

"Aye, a humiliation. He certainly did tell
me so, slap out. It wasn't very pleasant to hear.
And he hinted besides "

" Something about me," said May, raising her
head quickly. "I know it was about me. Oh,
Dolly, what ? "

" You had better know, perhaps," said Dolly,
reluctantly. " He made no bones about it. The
world's opinion is that you are no more fit for
your place than I am for mine."

If he expected an ejaculation he was mistaken.
There was, indeed, a slight flush of colour on her
cheek, but the lips uttered no sound.

" I believe, honestly, the old boy hardly knew
what he was saying," proceeded Lord St. Bees,
with commendable forbearance. " I had provoked
him, I dare say, more than I knew. He had bad-
gered me off and on for a fortnight about some
parish nuisance that he said Soames couldn't man-
age, and that he must explain to myself. I knew

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 93

it was no sort of use his explaining ; and I hoped
by putting him off when I could, and shutting
him up when I could no longer prevent his open-
ing his mouth on the subject, to wear out his pa-
tience, and make him give it up for altogether.
Then I was disgusted at being followed down to
the river, and nailed there, where I thought no
one could find me out. And I turned on him
sharply, and as good as sent him about his busi-
ness. I oughtn't to have done it that's a fact.
He was doing what he believed to be his duty,
and it couldn't have been an over agreeable one.
And anyway he's an old man, and ought to have
been treated with more respect. But, my word,
I got as good as I gave. And if my rudeness
touched him up his retort has rankled in me ever
since. It was that which made you complain of
my being so dull and out of sorts last night, May.
You poor little thing, I felt so enraged to hear
him say that you were simply playing at being
Lady St. Bees ! "

"Dolly!"

"Well, dear?"

" Supposing it's true, Dolly ? "

"Well!"

" Isn't there anything that can be done ? " said
7

94 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

May, wistfully. " People as young as I, perhaps
even as ignorant as I, have stepped into great
places. And if theyhave tried to learn, and been
anxious to do right, even though they may not
have been very clever I am not at all clever, you
know, Dolly, but still if I did my best, and if
someone would help me and teach me, don't you
think that others have succeeded? And that
as they have, I might perhaps in time, succeed
too."

Dolly's arm dropped to his wife's waist. He
turned her round, drew her closer, and looked into
her eyes.

" That's just about what I was thinking of us
both," he said.

"Well, now, when is this return visit to be
paid ? " cried Miss Macinroy later on the same
evening. " It gives me a * grue ' to think of it.
But I suppose we will have to go."

" There is no need to think about it just yet,"
said May, with a gknce at her husband. " Dolly
says country visits needn't be returned immedi-
ately. It is a very long drive."

" Oh, but I assure you that it is quite, a mis-
take. Men know nothing about such matters.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 95

A first call ought always to be returned within a
few days," and Georgina, with an air of authority,
helped herself to coffee, for the trays were being
handed round, and the three were sitting in the
great summer drawing-room of the castle. " Lady
Milner will certainly expect us to drive over
within the next day or two," proceede4 she. And
unfortunately Lord St. Bees knew she was in the
right.

But he had made up his mind to have at least
a struggle for the mastery.

" All right, it may be so," said he indifferently.
" Then I'll tell you what we'll do, May. I'll run
you over in the dog-cart, and do the civil my-
self."

"In the dog-cart?" Miss Macinroy's eyes
opened to their fullest extent. " That's not the
proper way for ladies to make a call. We ought
to go "

She did not see the obstinate look come over
Dolly's face.

" Proper or not, it's the way I mean to take
my wife," said he his tone conveying, there is
not the slightest need for you to accompany us.
" I haven't driven you for an age, May," con-
tinued the speaker, resolutely turning his shoulder

96 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

upon the visittfr, " so you must give me one after-
noon. And you," addressing Miss Macinroy,
after a momentary pause, " could make that your
day for shopping in Newcastle. You can have
the waggonette and drive to Milwell, and do the
rest by train. Shall we say the day after to-mor-
row, May ? "

And there was in Lord Bees' voice and man-
ner a sudden ring of new authority and decision
which was recognised by both his -hearers, and
against which neither durst raise a syllable of pro-
test. It cowed the one, whilst it exhilarated and
inspired the other.

CHAPTER VIII.

"I CAN'T make out from Georgina's letter
whether she is enjoying herself or not," quoth
Mrs. Macinroy, turning over the pages of a
closely-filled sheet which had arrived by the
morning's post. " At first she was all up in the
air, as we know. Such a grand place, and every-
thing so magnificent and stately. And it was so
delightful to be driving about the country in a
great coronetted carriage with everybody bowing
down before them, and the gates flying open
wherever they went. And there were such de-
scriptions of the castle, and the grounds, and the
deer park, and the view from the terrace, and
altogether I felt as if I must go myself and see
with my own eyes little May cockered up in such
state. And I did pity her poor old aunt to be
laid up in her bed, and not able to accept May's
invitation when it came. For, of course, it would
have been still more to her than to me, poor body.

98 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

She would have been neither to hold nor to bind.
And May was always very nice and affectionate
to her aunt Jean, one must allow that. And so
was that silly Dolly though, to be sure, one
shouldn't speak so of Lord St. Bees. I daresay
he'll turn over a new leaf now, and settle down
into as steady -going a man as anybody. But, as I
was saying, Georgina doesn't seem quite so well
pleased with her quarters as she did. She has
been there a fortnight, and though she meant to
stay a month or more, I doubt she is getting
homesick already."

" Let us hear what she says, mamma."
The letter was read aloud, and at its close the
trio in the breakfast-room at Dalgeny House
looked dubiously in each other's faces.

" As I say, I can't quite make it out," repeated
the mother at last. " It seems to me that there's
some sort of nasty little ill-feeling crept in. You
hear what she says of Dolly, that he's taking the
whip hand, and ordering both the girls about, and
that once or twice she has nearly had a row with
him. One would have thought Dolly couldn't
say ' Boo ' to a goose, he was so easy going but
Georgina ought to know better than to meddle
with a man once he becomes a lord."

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 99

" So Dolly is beginning to feel his feet, is
he ? " A nickering smile dawned on Mr. Macin-
roy's shrewd Scotch face as he spoke. " I just
wondered how long it would take the lad to do
that. Dolly's been longer about it than some
would have been. I've known a youngster shaken
right up into another creature within twenty-four
hours ! I've known one stand an inch higher in
his stocking-soles whilst a will was being read!
Dolly was a simple loon enough, but he had more
guts in him than people thought."

" Dear me, John, what a coarse expression ! "
Mrs. Macinroy bridled, reprovingly. " You might
keep such a word as that for your office."

"It's the only word I know that expresses
what I mean," quoth he, with a grin. " Give me
another, and I'll use it. But I'll tell you what,
Georgina's letter just confirms my own opinion,
and, what's more, your own opinion, for you had
the wit to see it as well as I, though you were
a bit behind me. What was it you said just
now ? "

" Oh, I don't deny that I am quite of your
mind," rejoined she, mollified. "But I must
own," referring to the letter, " that I would like
to hear what Georgina has to say, and not just

100 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

have to guess what's in her mind by these queer
hints and inuendoes. Listen to this now," read-
ing again aloud. " ' I can't say I think his man-
ners are improved. He has grown dreadfully
blunt and overbearing, and won't let us alone to
do what we like. And I do think May is some-
times sly, though I could always manage her if
she hadn't him at her back.' Then, again, here
in another place, ' I don't think she likes my call-
ing him Dolly, but it would be really too ridicu-
lous to begin with Lord St. Bees, when he's no
more like a Lord St. Bees than he ever was.
Neither of them will ever turn into great people,
and with an old friend like me, it's downright
nonsense to assume airs.' " Then the speaker
laid down the letter, and looked round for an
opinion.

" I knew it would have been better for me to
go," was that delivered by her daughter. And
almost at the same instant, " I expect Miss
Georgie has been at her old trick of laying down
the law, and hasn't found it answer," commented
Georgie's father.

" I told her, when she went, to take care how
she behaved," said the mother, a little anxiously.
" I gave her a word when she was packing. Said

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 1Q1

I, ' You make yourself agreeable, and you may be
there long enough ; but don't go ordering about
as you do at home, or you may find yourself in
the wrong box.' "

"And that's just what she's done, you may
take your oath upon it. If Chatty had gone
now "

" I know I could have got along with them
well enough," Chatty, half aggrieved, half com-
placent, endorsed the implied approval. "I
should just have said 'Yes' to everything, and
enjoyed the fun."

" Well, there doesn't seem to have been much
fun ; I can't find that they've been to any jun-
ketings, or met any other great folks but, any-
how, she'll have paid her visit, and we can say
she has ~been there, even if she comes back to-
morrow."

And the factor's wife felt, as she would have
phrased it, that if she had not altogether "got
her pennyworth for her penny," at any rate some
return had been obtained for the expenses en-
tailed by Georgina's journey and outfit. The
latter, it is true, had obviously not come into
requisition. The smart dresses which had been
deemed necessary for Redditch Castle might be

102 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

still lying with undimmed freshness in the
drawers of Georgina's bedroom, but they and
their owner had inhabited the great Northum-
brian castle, and whatever experiences had been
theirs within its walls, no one could deny that
solid fact.

" I say she had better not wear out her wel-

come," quoth the husband and father, rising at
length to close the conference. " I won't have a
daughter of mine stopping in any man's house
longer than she's wanted. You make an excuse
to have her back now," he concluded, leaving the
room.

" And a fortnight's as good as a month, for
all the say of it," Mrs. Macinroy turned to her
daughter. And then, after a moment's pause to
make sure they were alone, " To tell the truth,
Chatty, there were bits in the letter I couldn't
read out, for they would have made papa so wild.
See here," pointing with her finger. " ' If I hadn't
got that money out of papa for the dresses which
have never been worn, and told him I must have
them, as I was going to stay a month at the very
least, and go to all sorts of grand parties and
fetes, I should like to come back at once, for it is
so stupid and tiresome here, and I am not even

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 103

to be taken to return people's calls, as far as I can
see ! Yesterday, when the two went to a swell
place about four miles off, where they were kept
on for several hours, and had a really good time
the first thing of the kind there has been since
they came here I was shipped off by myself in
another direction !- It was awfully mean, and I
felt so angry I couldn't speak about it. The
Milner's were disgusting people, who looked
down on the lot of us and weren't a bit civil when
they called but, of course, I should have liked
to go to their place, as it would have been the
first chance I had had of going anywhere. And
then to be coolly packed off to shop in New-
castle, twenty miles off, which I had only sug-
gested because it was so deadly dull, never do-
ing anything, or seeing anybody. "Wasn't -it a
shame ? '

" So, you see, it was really a Providence your
father suggesting she had better come home,"
whispered Mrs. Macinroy, still cautious of being
overheard, " for I wouldn't have the poor girl be
treated like that a second time for all the world
and by that little rubbishy May Duncan, too."

And Georgina's recall went forth within the
hour.

104 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

May was sitting by herself when Georgina
came in to make the announcement.

She was thinking happier thoughts than had
been hers of late. The call at Monkswood had
not only passed pleasantly, but been product-
ive of results which opened up a vista into a
brighter future than had seemed ever likely to
be within hers and Dolly's reach during the by-
gone dreary weeks, after the first gloss of novelty
had worn off everything, leaving that strange
sense of dissatisfaction and bewilderment behind
which had been felt by both alike.

To begin with, Lady Milner had been by no
means so formidable in her own drawing-room as
she had appeared at Redditch Castle, and this
amelioration in her demeanour had had its im-
mediate effect upon her young visitor. One half
of Lady St. Bees' assumed ease was due to real
timidity and desire to please, coupled with the
strangeness of finding herself entertaining a per-
sonage of such alarming importance as a great
county dowager. May had never in her life been
addressed by anyone of the kind.

Then she had been shackled by Georgina.
Whilst one ear was on the strain to catch the
somewhat low and not very clear articulation of

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 105

her companion on the sofa, the other had been
pierced by the incessant volubility of Miss Macin-
roy's by no means modulated tones.

The contrast had forced itself upon her.

Added to this, she had wondered what
Georgina was saying, and was quite sure she
had heard her once or twice saying something
which Dolly would not like. She had fidgeted
with her foot from an impatience she could not
repress, and we know how the movement had
been interpreted by Henrietta Milner.

Henrietta was agreeably surprised by the im-
provement in Lady St. Bees' demeanour on the
present occasion. Indeed May, if a trifle more
eager and demonstrative than a very correct
young lady might have been under similar cir-
cumstances, was simple and natural, and even her
unconventionality carried a certain charm. After
a time the eyes of the Milners, mother and daugh-
ter, had met and exchanged a telegraphic com-
munication.

"My daughter tells me you are fond of
flowers," Lady Milner had observed, graciously.
" She would like to show you our garden. Lord
St. Bees, pray allow your horses to be put up,
and let us all adjourn to the garden. Although

106 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

my husband is unfortunately out, one of my sons
arrived last night, and he is usually to be found
somewhere about the stables or kennels."

" Let me go and hunt him out," Dolly rose,
well pleased, to his feet. " And I can tell them
to send round the carriage for a bit, thank you.
May will be glad, I know," turning a bright,
open smile upon her ; " and and it is very kind
of you."

/' They can put you on the way." His hostess
divined his feelings, and the relief it would be to
escape from her august presence. " And, Henri-
etta, my dear," turning to her daughter, " I will
desire the servants to have tea under the elms,
and meet you in an hour's time."

Looking back upon that hour afterwards, May
was quite sure she had enjoyed herself. Dolly
had parted from the other two almost immedi-
ately, ready, it seemed, to play into their hands
and leave them together ; and no sooner was she
alone with her new friend for already she was
beginning to look on Henrietta as her new friend
than by some curious, intangible process she
was constrained to lay bare all the hidden dissatis-
faction of her soul all the perplexity, and the
disappointment, and the vague, dim yearnings

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 107

that were beginning to stir her to the very
depths. Hers was a guileless nature which had
nothing to conceal, and confession came easy,
once there was anything to confess.

" It isn't as if I know anything about any-
thing" she owned truthfully, "and Dolly can't
teach me, for he knows nothing himself. ~No one
has ever taken any pains with either of us. Don't
you think they might have taken some pains with
Dolly ? Even though he never expected to be any-
one in particular, still he had to be a man, and a man
ought to be taught. But I hope you don't think
I am complaining of him ? " she broke off hastily.
" Dolly is the best and kindest, and dearest hus-
band, and we are as fond of each other as ever we
can be ; but when I ask him what I am to do
about things he shakes his head, and says he
wishes he could help me, but he can't. "When he
heard you and your mother had been over to call
he was so pleased. For he thought I thought
we both thought that perhaps if you would be our
friends and not be angry with us because we
can't begin all at once to go on as others do who
have lived all their lives in places like ours, and
take interest in the people, and know all about
them, as Mr. Kathbone seems to expect, we should

108 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

we should be so very glad. Just to get into it,
you know. And though I daresay we shall never
be a very good Lord and Lady St. Bees

" I don't see why you shouldn't," said Henri-
etta, filling the pause, with a smile. " It seems to
me that you are making a very good begin-
ning."

"Ought we not to have begun before
now ? " May gathered courage and proceed-
ed. "We have made such a bad impression
already "

" An impression that is only a few weeks' deep
can very soon be obliterated."

"Mr. Kathbone was so angry with Dolly a
few days ago," proceeded the young wife con-
fidentially. "Dolly says he had provoked him,
but even if he had I 'think it was too bad of Mr.
Eathbone to fire up as he did. Let me tell you
what he said."

"Do you think you had better?" hinted
Henrietta. "Sometimes these things are not
meant to be repeated."

" But if I don't repeat it, how are we to know
if it is the truth or not ? Besides, I don't believe
Mr. Rathbone would mind, I daresay he has told
other people. Oh, I am sure he has," catching

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 1Q9

sight of her friend's face. " He has told you, and
boasted of it. I think he is a dreadful old man !
And I don't believe a word of it ! At least oh,
Miss Milner, do let me have it out, and hear what
you think." And scarcely waiting for permis-
sion, the impulsive creature poured forth the
scene, interspersed by her own comments and
ejaculations.

" Dolly would not tell me for a whole day and
night," she wound up in conclusion.

" I suppose he was afraid your feelings would
be wounded. But I think he was quite right to
tell you at last. He wanted your sympathy,
didn't he ? "

" It was something I said that began it," mur-
mured May, her eyes filling at the recollection.
" Until lately Dolly and I never had a thing we
didn't tell each other. But I could scarcely bear
to own to myself how disappointed I was in it all.
And how much happier I used to be going about
with Dolly from place to place with only our
little portmanteau and hat-boxes, and no servants,
and no worries except sometimes, when we had
rather more bills than we could pay but then
they always came right in the long run, and we
never really minded if we had to go without

HO SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

things, we could always find something else we
liked just as well."

Henrietta smiled ; it was such a very child-like
confession.

" I can't tell you how nice it was," continued
the youthful speaker with increasing animation.
" We used to live in the open air, Dolly and I ;
and we were never tied down to hours, and meals,
and tiresome things of that kind. Then we got
to know all sorts of queer, outlandish places;
little villages far, far away from the beaten track ;
and funny, nice people who talked a language of
their own, and were so kind and hospitable to us.
And when we grew tired of any one place, or the
weather changed, or the sport was bad, we just
packed up our traps, and moved on. We were
sure to find it just as jolly somewhere else. And
in between we went home for a bit it isn't really
'home,' because I have only an old aunt there,
and she only took me because my parents were
dead, and I had no other relation, but still it's all
the ' home ' I ever knew. Dolly has no relations
at all ; so he called it ' going home,' too. Oh,
dear, it was just like one long holiday," and she
sighed.

" One long holiday." Henrietta repeated the

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words with significant emphasis. Then she took
the little hand which lay on the lap beside
her.

" But, dear, life is not meant to be only a holi-
day. It is time to wake up now," she said.

CHAPTEK IX.

" No no, Rathbone ; you're too hard upon
him."

Sir Thomas Milner was walking along a
country road, in company with the vicar of
Kedditch. " You were prepared to be down
upon Dolly Feveril before ever he came near
the place," continued the speaker. " The truth
is, you never could endure that branch of the
family, and though I was very much of your
opinion concerning the boy's father, who was as
arrant a ' loafer ' as ever lived and a very doubt-
ful character to boot still, I don't see that the
sins of the fathers ought to be visited upon the
children in a case like this. Adolphus Feveril
lies in the churchyard, and you and I are not
called upon to judge him. Let his son have
fair play at our hands. Let him start with a

112

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. H3

clean sheet of paper, and inscribe his own mark
upon it."

" A precious mark it will be, Sir Thomas !
It is all very well for you to say you have had
' no opportunity of forming an opinion.' I have.
He has been living within half a mile of my own
door for the past two months, and if I do not
meet him every day of my life, at least I know
what he is about, and hear what others say, and
what report they bring."

" Others say what you tell 'em," said Sir
Thomas, sententiously, " The tongues that wag
in Eedditch parish all give music to the same
tune, and the parson sets the key-note."

The parson reddened.

" Don't you suppose," proceeded Sir Thomas,
" that if you had been seen arm-in-arm with the
new Lord St. Bees in and out of church and
schoolhouse

" Lord bless me ! Sir Thomas, schoolhouse ?
He won't go near the schoolhouse ! He "

" If you had smoked a pipe witn him on the
terrace, as I have seen you smoking many a
pipe there in old days "

A groan escaped his companion.

" If you had strolled along the river bank

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

when he was fishing and helped him to basket
his fish carried them yourself, maybe, and
helped to eat them afterwards at a cosy little
dinner in the round dining-room that faces the
setting sun I think you know the room, vicar ?
And the dinner-hour, and the glass of red wine
that comes on with the grapes at dessert ? "

" I have never set foot in it since the late
lord died ! " exclaimed the vicar, in a thick,
choking voice. " I vowed I never would, and I
shall keep my vow. These interlopers "

" That's it ; you look upon them as * inter-
lopers,' as grasping intruders, if not as down-
right thieVes. Now, my good friend, put your-
self in Lord St. Bees' place "

"It makes me sick even to hear him called
' Lord St. Bees,' " broke in Mr. Kathbone. " It
is ' Lord St. Bees ' here and ' Lord St. Bees '
there and I protest I don't know sometimes
whom they mean, or whom they are talking
about."

"Yet, if Cyril had succeeded, you would
have accommodated yourself to the natural
course of events. You "

" If Cyril had succeeded, it would have
been as you justly observed, Sir Thomas, in * the

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natural course of events.' This is an unnatural
course ; a deviation from the path of Nature ;

" A fiat of Almighty God."

Sir Thomas removed, with reverent hand, his
grey wideawake as he spoke.

" Harkee, Parson Rathbone, is not that how
you and I, two Christian men, ought to look
upon it ? I don't presume to say I do, mind
you. I was as wild as 'anybody when first I
heard how things had gone, and that we were
all to be at the mercy of a trumpery youngster
a second or third cousin and scarcely recog-
nised at that ! But my girl, Henrietta, she was
the first to give - me a rap over the knuckles,
and it is pretty much what she said to me that
I am saying second-hand to you. She put it so :
' Bless my soul, father ! ' (that's me, of course ;
but you'll understand, Rathbone). ' "What right
have you to rail against Providence ? Cyril
didn't die to please himself. Neither did his
father. Nor, for that matter, did poor Tom,
the nephew, who might had his chance as well
as another. And how can you blame this poor
tomfool of a Dolly, for stepping into a position
no one could keep him out of ? It was not even

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

his to take or to leave. He is the rightful
Lord St. Bees, and there are no two words
about it."

" Then he ought to be a better one." The
vicar, who had undeniably lost a point, shifted his
ground. " We can't prevent his making good his
claim "

"Chut-chut! There was no question of a
'claim.' He succeeded in straight succession,
though he was somewhat distant from the main
stem. Now he has become a peer of the realm,
and it behoves all who have to do with him to see
that he turns into a worthy and honourable one."

The vicar shook his head.

" Of peers as of poets, Sir Thomas, nascitur
nonfit. It requires generations "

" It doesn't get 'em, then,", quoth Sir Thomas,
shortly. "Why, my dear sir, where are your
eyes ? Look about you and see who are the peers
of to-day? Who are the men on whose heads
peerages are being rained wholesale ? Who "

"I make no account whatever of them, Sir
Thomas." The fine old gentleman raised his chin
and dropped his accents loftily. "This prepos-
terous growth of mushroom nobility is no more
the real thing "

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"Yery true very true. I agree with you
there ; I am with you there, as the lawyers say.
But, Rathbone, to return to Dolly Feveril. You
should remember that it is no mere handle to
his name, fabricated by his party, which has
been bestowed on him in return for so-called serv-
ices "

" Would it were, Sir Thomas would it
were ! "

" Because that you would not value, my
friend?"

" I should not value it a brass farthing. He
might have any handle to his name he chose, as
long as it was not " the speaker's voice thickened
" as long as it was any other than than the
Earldom of St. Bees."

Sir Thomas stood still, owning a secret thrill
of sympathy. Then he suddenly struck his stick
upon the ground with force, and a wave of reso-
lution sent the blood up to his face. He turned
and faced his companion, coming to a dead halt.

" No doubt we should have managed better,
had the matter been given into our hands. We
have the ancient honour of the family at heart,
and would have guarded it more carefully, it
seems, than Divine Omnipotence has done. But

118 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the young man has come into his own ; he is here
among us one of us. For God's sake, Kath-
bone, don't let it be cast up against you and me
in the day when we shall render up our accounts,
that we saw a brother in need, and, like the Le-
vite of old, passed by on the other side."

Hastily seizing the old clergyman's hand, and
wringing it for a moment with fervent signifi-
cance, the speaker turned away and was almost in-
stantly lost to sight behind a cluster of projecting
foliage.

Mute and dazed the man left behind remained
for a full minute standing still where he was.
Then he mechanically brought his limbs again
into motion, and musing as he walked along, his
head sank lower and lower upon his breast.

He felt as though some extraordinary draught
of new ideas had been poured into him without
any act of volition on his part ; nay, almost, in
the teeth of obstinate resistance, and the ideas did
not even emanate from his own respected neigh-
bour and contemporary, but from Sir, Thomas's
chit of a daughter, who, it seemed, had set herself
up to scold everybody round, and teach one and
all their duty. The impertinent minx !

Yet he remembered that he had always liked

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. H9

Henrietta Milner thought her a fine handsome
girl, and an admirable specimen of what a young
woman of rank ought to be. He was quite aware
that Sir Thomas and his wife, together with all
the brothers and sisters of the numerous family
at Monkswood, worshipped at the feet of the eld-
est daughter of the house. And he, in common
with everyone else, distinctly felt that the day
which should take her away from the home of
her childhood would see its glory depart from it.

That was all very well ; but to be lectured vi-
cariously by this spirited martinet on the subject
which made his heart sore day and night was
quite another thing.

He had been secure of Sir Thomas's sympathy,
and participation in his grievance, and had deeply
regretted the absence of the family from the
neighbourhood when most in need of a confiden-
tial ear. Directly he had heard of the Milners'
return he had hurried over to Monkswood heed-
less of the sun overhead, and the burning discom-
fort of the hot, dusty lanes ; anxious only to pour
forth his tale and elicit the inquiries and ejacula-
tions it demanded.

He it was who had informed Lady Milner of
all the delinquencies and shortcomings detailed by

120 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

her to Sir Thomas in their discussion of the young
couple, when the first call was under considera-
tion.

Lady Milner had said a great deal more, and
had had a great many more items to communicate
than our readers require to be troubled with.
But she had obtained them all, or nearly all, from
the vicar of the parish.

And Mr. Rathbone had been entirely satisfied
with her ladyship's almost greedy approbation of
the account. He had poured forth his stream,
and it had been drunk in with consoling avidity.
The two had sighed, and exclaimed in unison ;
and Sir Thomas, who had come in towards the
close of the call, hot with disgust over some fool-
ish remarks let fall by Dolly at random, but care-
fully treasured up to be repeated by an antago-
nistic tenant, was in the mood to believe anything
against the new lord of the soil.

Afterwards Sir Thomas had cooled down, and
his wife had found it behoved her to be guarded
in recounting fresh anecdotes and iniquities, espe-
cially as her source of information was almost
invariably the same. Sir Thomas began to
"Pish!" and "Pshaw!" when Mr. Rathbone's
name was mentioned ; and once had gone so far

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

as to mutter, " Confounded old gossip ! " and
" Arrant scandal-monger ! " under his breath.

But the vicar could not know this ; nor that
even his lady friend was beginning to wear out
her first emotions on what was to him a subject of
only increasing bitterness.

As Sir Thomas said, Mr. Rathbone dominated
his own parish as well as his own house. He was
respected and beloved ; but, alas ! for human na-
ture ! the very affection and esteem in which he
was held made him now the recipient of tittle-
tattle. Old and young saw that it pleased him
although he would not have owned as much for
worlds to hear incessantly of fresh misdemean-
ours at Kedditch Castle ; of new trivialities crop-
ping up wherein the new man took another line
from his predecessor.

Accordingly not only was the old gentleman
regaled with a thousand trifling incidents which
were so many pin-prickers of vexation, but as
many more were invented for his special benefit.
He kept his wounds green in this manner.

As for Miss Sybella, albeit of a milder nature,
which had even been disposed secretly to find
alleviations in the new dispensation, she might as
well have been a thorough-going participator in

122 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

her father's feelings, for all the weight she carried
on the other side. Her own ideas of what a Lady
St. Bees ought to be, and of what she had fondly
hoped the new Lady St. Bees might be, had re-
ceived such a shock on her first visit to the castle,
that she had never anything but such "faint
praise " as is known to " damn " afterwards, either
for May, or for her husband.

Mr. Rathbone was therefore not only taken
by surprise but amazed and confounded to his
inmost soul, at the, to him, inexplicable attitude
now assumed by his old friend. And at first
indignation was largely mingled with astonish-
ment. He felt as though he had been out-
witted! As though there were a traitor in his
own camp !

As many a good man has done before him, he
experienced an intense dislike of being taken to
task in the words of Holy Writ. To bring these
to bear on a case such as the present was surely
unseemly and irreverent. He thanked Heaven
his daughter was more dutiful than to thrust her
father's duty or what she conceived to be so
in his face. To talk of seeing a brother in need
and passing by on the other hand to compare
the buoyant, prosperous young Lord St. Bees to

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 123

the wounded, beggared recipient of the Samari-
tan's bounty in the parable of old, was simply
preposterous.

Lord St. Bees wanted no assistance, declined
to take advice. If he were getting himself into a
hopeless muddle, giving offence in every quarter,
letting his affairs drift, and showing himself gen-
erally an ignorant, incompetent landlord, a neg-
lectful master, and worthless cumberer of the
ground, who was to prevent it ?

He had himself parted from Dolly in a rage,
almost shouting at him. So great was his pas-
sion that he had been unable to contain himself,
when an opportunity for venting the same oc-
curred in the shape of the village apothecary,
who, as luck would have it, chanced to be the
first person to be met after the quarrel.

Mr. Wyllie was not the best possible con-
fidant of anyone in such a mood, and at another
time the worthy old parson would have recog-
nised this. But passion in the present case over-
powered his judgment, and the consequence was
that the tale, losing nothing in its flight, flew far
and wide over hill and dale. Before nightfall it
was confidently affirmed that Lord St. Bees had
been seen bolting out of the castle, and running

124 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

off as fast as Ms legs could carry Mm, stopping
his ears with his fingers as he ran, while Parson
Rathbone followed, shaking his stick in one hand
and a bundle of parish papers in the other, the
while he cursed and swore at the top of his voice,
so that high and low, from end to end of the
castle walls, could hear.

Although Parson Rathbone was ignorant of
this improvement on his original recital, he knew
that he had gone so far with Dolly as to make it
probable that his next meeting with the young
nobleman would not be pleasant. He rather
wished now that he had had the sense to keep
within bounds.

Of course, what Sir Thomas Milner said was
nonsense. Sir Thomas was a weathercock ; turned
about by a wife and family hi particular, by one
masterful member of the same. But without
giving in to the Milners' view of the subject in
the slightest degree ha ! "Who was that leaning
against the stile where the wood-path joined the
high road? Plague of plagues! It was that
very Dolly who was the apple of discord in his
worried, baited, badgered thoughts at the mo-
ment !

It was Dolly lazily lounging in the shade,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 125

smoking his pipe, with his fishing-rod set against
the gate-post, and a string of shining trout on the
grass at his feet.

Good Heavens ! How awkward, how uncom-
fortable !

There was no evading the encounter, how-
ever. No path diverged to right or left, except
that over which Lord St. Bees was mounting

guard, while to wheel straight round ? For a

moment Mr. Kathbone thought he would wheel
round.

But, the next, a clear, ringing voice accosted
his ear.

" I have been waiting for you this last half-
hour, Mr. Rathbone." Dolly raised his cap, and
stepped forward briskly. " I saw you part from
Sir Thomas on the bridge, and I thought you
would have been here long before. I want to
ask your pardon, sir, for being so unmannerly the
other day. I was out of sorts ; to tell the truth,
I believe I was vexed with myself, and ashamed
of going on as I was doing. And that made me
take amiss what you said all the more. But if
you'll overlook it, sir," holding out a frank hand,
" and come up to the castle to-morrow, I'll see if
I can't well, you know I am not much of a man

126 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

of business, but anyhow, if you'll bring those
papers once again, I'll do my best to tackle them."

There was a confused murmur on the vicar's
part, but he did not withdraw the hand which the
other had grasped.

" It won't do for us two not to be friends,"
proceeded Dolly, cheerfully. " You told me some
hard truths the other day, Mr. Rathbone, and I
must say I think," his brow slightly clouding,
"that you might have left my wife out of the
question. But oh, never mind, I am sure you
won't do it again ; and she told me to give her
love to Miss Sybella we always hear her called
* Miss Sybella ' in the village, you know and say
she hoped we should see her with you to-mor-
row. My wife and I are alone now, and I have
just parted from her. Oh, and I say, these
trout," lifting up the string, " will you carry them
home for dinner ? I caught them on purpose for
you, and they have scarcely been an hour out of
the pool."

"Poor old fellow! I believe the tears were
in his eyes, and his lips shook so he could scarcely
thank me," said Dolly, recounting the scene in
May's bedroom afterwards.

CHAPTEK X.

" You know her, eli ? "

Two men were standing in the foyer of
Covent Garden Opera-house, and they had just
been remarking to each other that it was well
the last night of the season had come, for Lon-
don was growing intolerably hot, and there were
signs on all sides that the fray was over.

" "Why on earth didn't she put in an appear-
ance," proceeded the speaker, " if she is a pretty
woman, and fit to be seen ? "

"Knew no better," his companion yawned,
and stared languidly round. "Two-penny-half-
penny little girl. Never been in town in her life.
Has no notion what it's like."

" Tremendous piece of luck, wasn't it ? "

" Rather. Wish it had happened to me."

" The deuce you do ! So do most of us. The
confounded thing is that it has happened to so
many people of late. It sets one thinking about

127

128 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

one's relations. There's Hal Scoberly. He talks
of nothing else than of being Sir Harry some day.
It has played Old Harry with old Hal," emitting
a faint chuckle at his own wit, "as I expect it
does with them all. Your people hadn't to wait
long though. By George, to think of his being
three or four off, and dropping in for it in less
than two years' time from the death of his father.
I have done nothing but think over my third and
fourth cousins ever since. The rest of the family
must have been a bit wild though," the speaker
concluded after a pause.

" You may bet on that. All the old cats of
the last generation, who scarcely knew of Dolly
Feveril's existence, and no more thought of ask-
ing him or his wife to their house than of asking
a street scavenger, are ready to tear their eyes
out now that she is installed a she-head of the
family. "With all the diamonds you know ! "

" Who is to present her ? "

The other man yawned again.

" No difficulty about that, my dear boy. She
can get anyone she wants, of course. It will only
be a case of the 'survival of the fittest.' The
Countess of St. Bees you know," and both laughed
significantly.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 129

" You're going down there, are you ? " The
first speaker, a dark, thickset man, with the un-
mistakable air of a club lounger, let his roving
eyes wander round as he spoke. " I don't see
any people here I care about. I had meant to
book some invitations to-night. But apparently
it's rather late in the day. When do you go
north ? "

" Sometime. Can't say." His taller, slighter,
better-looking companion made a movement of
departure. " If the St. Bees can have me, I may
as well take them first on my list. But writing
is a bore, and I've been too busy to think about
it. Such a rush. Until to-night I've never had
a moment to think what I'm going to do next.
Ta-ta. There's someone I must speak to. Dare-
say I shall see you before I go," and he strolled
off.

Captain Hazard was not speaking the exact
truth. He was not even as near the truth or,
we may say, he was still further from it than
usual. When he quitted Major Freemantle's
side, he left the latter under the impression that
although he had never received any direct invi-
tation to Kedditch Castle, he could at least effect
an entrance there and that although there was

130 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

no intimacy between him and the new Lord and
Lady St. Bees, he had had some acquaintanceship
with Dolly Feveril and his wife.

In point of fact, he had only chanced to note
May as a pretty girl at a small foreign watering-
place, where pretty girls were few ; whilst he did
not know her husband even by sight.

There had been a small a very small ad-
venture, in which May had been mixed up. She
had lost a train, and been stranded on the plat-
form of a minute railway station, at some distance
from her hotel, Dolly having elected to walk back
after a fishing excursion. He had given her her
ticket, told her to wait until the train came up,
and started off.

Then what must the heedless young thing do
but find it dull hanging about the small, uninter-
esting stopping place, and take it into her head to
stroll off into the woods, considering that she had
ample time to spare before the arrival of the
train. And it was the last train, and she missed
it, of course.

Captain Hazard, with a party of other tour-
ists, arrived on the scene just as this was being
explained to the English madame; and as they
were all in the same strait, and all bound for the

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

same quarters, it had been only an act of com-
mon humanity to offer her a seat in the waggon-
ette which the unfortunates had to charter, in
default of other means of conveyance.

The ladies of the party had looked rather
scornfully at poor little May. Her cotton frock
was rumpled, her hair was loose, and her face and
hands well burnt beneath the Swiss sun.

Then she had lost her gloves May usually
did lose her gloves and she carried a large bunch
of mountain flowers, drooping and somewhat dis-
orderly in appearance.

Altogether the effect was that of a rather
second-rate young woman on a honeymoon trip.

And, as she was careful to explain that she
had a husband who had not neglected her May
was always particular on this point, being proud
of Dolly's irreproachable faithfulness she was
.voted an uninteresting little bride, and Captain
Hazard, who pronounced her pretty, was face-
tiously told that he only said so because it was a
lie! His weakness for falsehood would actually
carry him to that length.

In consequence, although she was carted safely
home, and received by her husband with more ex-
pressions of relief and pleasure than Dolly would

132 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

have been credited with by those who knew his
easy nature, she whispered to him that he need
not be too grateful to her deliverers.

"Just thank them, but you needn't gush"
murmured she, aside, as the party disembarked in
front of the hotel. "You can offer to pay for
my seat but there's nothing more to pay for."
And, as the two went indoors, she ran on eagerly.
"Not one of them was decently civil to me,
Dolly, except the tall man with the fair mous-
tache, who helped me down. He did offer to put
the end of his plaid over my knees when it grew
cold on the tops of the hills and, oh, Dolly, I
was cold, for I had no jacket, and the sleeves of
this frock have no lining ; and feel how thin they
are ! Yet not one of the ladies lent me a shawl,
or anything! And they stared and all stopped
talking when the man suggested the end of his
plaid ! I hardly liked to take it, they looked so
rude. And even he didn't do it nicely, but with
a kind of contemptuous I-suppose-I-must air.
And that blue woman on his other side, the one
who said she supposed she was to ' fork out for
the chay,' you heard her ? she who seemed to be
the chaperon of the party. I am sure she was
chaffing him my man about even that one

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE/ 133

little bit of kindness! For I heard him say,

l/ 7

quite distinctly, and by way of apology, 'Jolly
pretty girl.' "

" Confound his impudence ! "

" Anyway, he was the best of them." Natu-
rally, " Jolly pretty girl " sounded differently in
her ears, and May almost smiled as she recalled
the compliment, " and he did help me down, and
held my flowers," continued she. " But I hope I
shall never see any one of the set again ; for it
was simply awful being boxed up with them for
mile after mile, and everyone knowing all the rest
except me, and nobody speaking to me at all ! If
they are stopping on in this hotel, Dolly, let us be
off to-morrow morning."

To which proposition Dolly had assented, and
it had been carried into effect forthwith.

And this was the entire extent of the ac-
quaintance between the Countess of St. Bees and
the gentleman who discussed her in the foyer of
the opera-house.

The affair had happened within a few weeks
of Dolly's succession to the title ; which event
might have passed unnoticed by Captain Hazard
and his associates, had they not been a feather-
headed crew whose business in life was to laugh,

134 -SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

and who could turn the veriest molehill of a jest
into a mountain. Hazard had not only spread
his plaid over the little tiresome bride's knee, but
he had offered her his hand on descending from
the waggonette, and even suppressing his dis-
gust relieved her of her cumbersome burden of
worthless, dying flowers, when they seemed to
impede her movements. He had also called the
little plebeian creature a "jolly pretty girl."
That was enough. He had had nothing but chaff
and sly inuendoes about his fair fellow-traveller
for days thereafter, and the name of " Feveril "
stank in his nostrils.

When, three weeks afterwards, he came upon
it occupying a prominent position among the
paragraphs of a Society paper which had fer-
reted out all about Dolly and May, and described
them, and the place in which they were con-
fronted by their elevation in terms of such pre-
cision as to make it well nigh certain they were
his Feverils the husband and wife about whom
he had been quizzed so unmercifully he was at
first absolutely confounded by the revelation.

But in less than an hour he had seen the
matter in a new light. He had turned the tables
on his tormentors.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 135

By this time lie had parted from them ; all
having gone their several ways ; and he could be
tolerably confident that he would never be called
upon to confront them again en bloc.

Consequently he could say what he chose
about pretty little Mrs. Feveril, who had now be-
come the Countess of St. Bees.

He racked his brains to remember what May
was like. Was she tall or short, dark or fair ?
He could not for the life of him tell. She had
on a dirty cotton frock, with a green stain above
the knee ; and her hands looked so red and cold
without any gloves on, that he had felt obliged to
let her have a bit of his plaid.

He had also been disposed to pitch the gar-
bage they carried out into the road before the
waggon entered the town; it gave such a com-
mon, pleasure-party look to the whole carriage
load. But for the fact that he did not wish to
speak at all to the unwelcome addition to their
numbers, knowing that every word he said would
be treasured up against him, he would have
suggested that the bouquet was scarcely worth
keeping.

Had he only known ! Had he ever dreamed
what the future the near future the future

136 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

which was actually knocking at the door had in
store for that little shivering girl ! How easily
might he have turned the whole adventure to
glorious account ! How gallantly might he have
installed the forlorn little figure in the snuggest
corner of the waggonette; himself carried those
wretched flowers as though they had been a hot-
house posy; and, instead of the grudging be-
stowal of his plaid's fag end, have proudly en-
veloped her entire form in its folds; or, like
Elizabeth's knight of old, spread it beneath her
feet to be trodden upon, and made sacred for
ever by the act !

If he had only done all this !

As it was, however, Captain Hazard reflected
complacently that he had at least done what
others had not. He had performed two acts of
politeness not too politely perhaps; but still
they had been wrung out of him and upon these
he could now trade.

He had traded upon as little before now.
"Worked it up, as it were, to the requisite pitch,
when an invitation, or an introduction, or, at the
least, a recognition was desirable. He was skilled
in the art of angling for such; and had been
known to get through a whole autumn season,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 137

visiting from house to house, on the strength of
one card for a luncheon party.

He seldom got any regular invitations; and,
indeed, would hardly have known himself if these
had flowed in spontaneously.

But with him the stock phrase, " Mind you
look us up, if you are our way," was a very defi-
nite rock indeed to cling to. Whilst the slighter
" Shall we see you in the north by-and-bye ? " had
still its tendrils.

Had he only been lucky enough to have
elicited one tiny tendril from May Feveril 1 Had
he only been let alone to run up ever so slight a
flirtation with her! He would have been quite
willing even as it was, even knowing nothing of
possibilities.

But he had been hampered by the presence
of his very smart friends and one very smart
friend in particular, who would simply never
have spoken to him again, had he taken notice
to call notice of the stranger girl. Not from
motives of jealousy, but because it would have
been degrading to the Hon. Angela St. Martin if
her man had seen attraction in anyone out of her
set, and presumably out of her sphere.

Miss St. Martin had been the leader of the

138 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

ring which pelted Hazard with small shafts of
badinage on the Feveril subject; and he was
rather glad now to think how absurdly his very,
very trifling acts of ordinary attention had been
magnified. He himself had even grown to think
that he had evinced some tiny spark of partiality
which had been distorted into the germ of a
flame, by the sprightly imaginations of his com-
peers.

Suppose only suppose that Lady St. Bees was
possessed of imagination ? One could never tell
what impression a good-looking fellow like him-
self was capable of making upon a countrified
damsel, unused to men of the world. The soli-
tary glance he had bestowed on Dolly told him
absolutely nothing. He had seen a dusty youth
in a rough suit, who had effusively claimed his
partner, and borne her off she chattering eager-
ly in his ear and neither bestowing more heed
upon him and his associates, than had been be-
stowed by them on their late charge.

The coalition had been dissolved on the spot ;
and looking back now upon the scene, Hazard
gnashed his teeth as he realised how the golden
moment had thus been thrown away.

He was in London, and the London season

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 139

was just beginning when the transf ormation scene
took place.

The little mountain adventure had occurred
during the month of May too early for Switzer-
land, of course; but, by an odd chance, it had
come about that the smart folks had put in a
short trip before commencing the toils and sweets
of the summer. The Swiss hotels had been fairly
empty ; and an acquaintanceship would have been
more readily made, and more likely to yield fruits
than if the opportunity had offered at a later
period. Oh, what he had lost !

Still, there was this to be said. Lord and
Lady St. Bees would infallibly make their debut
at once on the great stage of the world. Hazard
told himself he must be on the look-out for them ;
and daily he had scanned the page of arrivals in
the Morning Post, and religiously he had in-
quired in every likely quarter if anything had
been heard of the new grandees.

" They're bound to come to town ; if only to
show themselves and make a start," cogitated he.
" If I could but run across her at Ascot, or Hur-
lingham, or Lord's ! " And in the midst of a
thousand distractions he kept a pertinacious eye
still open for May the sort of May he con-

140 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

sidered his little quondam fellow-traveller would
have blossomed into.

"No more cotton frocks, you bet," he winked
to himself. " She was a knowning little shot be-
neath all that demure air ; and the bother of it
is, I daresay I should never know her if I saw
her now. But, to be sure, people would be
pointing her out, and I should get to hear of it
somehow. Someone would give her a box seat
at the coaching meets, or put her in the front at
the Opera."

Once or twice he had suggested, staring
through his glasses, " I fancy that's the new
Lady St. Bees up there," in order to see what
answer the suggestion would provoke. If his
companion for the moment were a man about
town, such an one as made it his business to
master knowledge of the kind, he thought he
might gain the information he sought by this
dexterous throw.

But it had never done anything for him, since
no one knew Lady St. Bees by sight, and it was
absolutely certain that she had made no public
appearance since her elevation. Her name was
not to be found chronicled in any list of guests,
either at Royal or noble functions.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

And the end of the season came, and the fray
was over, as we have said, and nothing had been
heard or seen of the new peer and his wife.

" Has not even taken his seat in the House of
Lords, by Jove ! " quoth Hazard to himself.
" Biding his time. And she, I suppose, biding
hers. I wonder now if she can be such a little
fool as I thought. Or whether she has the sense
to wait till people have forgotten how they fluked
in for the title, and may suppose it came to them
straight ? Not that it matters not a fraction
now they've got it, nobody cares twopence, ex-
cept the old cats of the family, and she could
snap her fingers at them. But a little greenhorn
like that, fancying herself uncommonly sensible,
may choose to wait till she can go and make a
sensation at the first Drawing Room of the year,
and start the whole thing with a dash. Mean-
time she is rusticating at Redditch Castle."

He mused, and a slow cunning smile crept
over his face. " I don't see what's to hinder me
from rusticating at Redditch Castle, too."

CHAPTER XI.

" SUCH a very odd thing has happened,
Dolly ! " Dolly's little wife, all excitement, flew
into the dining-room late for luncheon, and ac-
costed the grey figure placidly munching at the
table. Dolly, when he himself chanced to be in
time, never waited for anyone else. He now
looked round, nodded at her, and drank off a
foaming tumbler.

" All right. But I'm in a hurry," he said.

" In a hurry ? But where are you going ? I
am sorry if you are going anywhere in particu-
lar "

" Can't help it, my girl." Dolly shook his
head with the air of a Solon. " I'm regularly
in for it ; threw up the sponge, and allowed my-
self to be caught and tamed, that day I apolo-
gised to old Rathbone, after our row by the
river. He has me now ; and he and Sir Thomas
Milner take it by turns to lead me by the nose.

142

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 143

If they are off duty by any chance, Soames has a
look in, while Truby fires a series of cannonades
from London."

" You poor Dolly ! But you have become
so good, and wise, and sensible only I am so
sorry you are going out this afternoon, for I
don't know what I shall do. I said you will be
at home."

" Shouldn't have said that. A wife has no
business to answer for her husband."

" But I thought you would have told me if
you had anything to do," persisted May, half
crying, " and you were out riding all the morn-
ing."

" That was because I knew I was to be
boxed up all the afternoon. I have to meet
Soames at an inn along the Plowhill Road, and
there we have to settle with some farmers."

" Oh, never mind never mind. But when
will you be back ? Will you be back for tea ? "

''Not I. Why, my dear child, it is eight
miles to the Black Bull Inn ; and Soames owned
the meeting would take a couple of hours and
more. There are some new leases to be
signed "

" Oh, Dolly, do hear me. I don't care about

144 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the new leases. At least, I know they will be all
right, now that you have begun to do as Mr.
Rathbone thinks you should, and Sir Thomas
looks benignant, and Mr. Soames bustles in and
out of the library quite beaming and important.
But Dolly, you might listen to poor little me
sometimes, you used always to listen to me ; "
a plaintive note again audible, and this tune
accompanied by something of a pout. " I don't
want you to be quite swallowed up by Rathbones
and Soames. Couldn't you listen to me now,
for just one minute ! " seeing Mm preparing to
rise and hurry away.

" Tell me while I'm putting on my coat,"
Dolly pulled her along with him. " It's begin-
ning to rain, and I shall get into my macintosh.
"Well, what is it ? " as she trotted by his side
down the long corridor which led to the great
entrance hall.

" You remember that tiresome adventure I
had in Switzerland that evening I was left be-
hind at the little station among the hills ? " said
May, speaking fast, and doing her best to hold
his wandering attention, which she perceived was
only half given to her tale. " You remember
that horrid set of people who rescued me, but

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 145

who didn't like me a bit, and were so rude and
unkind and wouldn't lend me their shawls

" I remember. Hurry up, little lass. They'd
lend you their shawls now, fast enough, if they
had the chance." And Lord St. Bees laughed,
looking about for his cigar case. " What an age
ago it seems, eh, May ? But I remember your
folks very well. A beastly looking lot they
were ! And you had had a rough time with
them. I could see by your face. Is that the
dogcart ? " to a footman. " Tell James to put in
the little black bag on the library table." Then
turning again to his impatient little spouse.
" Poor little thing, it can't get out its story,"
said Dolly, laying his cheek on hers for a mo-
ment, " but I'll hear it all to-night "

" But, Dolly Dolly, do listen," and two little
hands firmly clutched the lapels of Dolly's coat.
" What am I to do with him when he comes, and
you aren't here ? "

" Him ? What him ? "

"Why the man," said May, letting go her
hold, and laughing almost tearfully, "the man
with the moustache. Don't you remember the
one man of them all, who "

" That's it, is it ? He has turned up, has he ?

146 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"Well, do the civil by him, as he did by you. The
tables are turned now, by Jove ! I can't wait,
you see ; but if you mean that that fellow is visit-
ing in this neighbourhood "

" He was in our own grounds this morning !
I met him there. It was so very strange ! It was
the most extraordinary thing! We knew each
other in a moment ; and we had to talk "

" Of course you had. And asked him up to
the house, I hope ? "

"And I said you would be in at teatime."
May looking relieved, followed him to the door.
" I -am glad I was right to do it, Dolly. But I
wish you could have been in."

" It will do just as well if you are. Any man
would rather talk to a woman than to another
man. And if he's stopping on in the neighbour-
hood, I can look him up."

" May I say you will ? "

"But don't stick me down to a day, or an
hour, mind. Say I am most awfully busy," and
Dolly mounted the dogcart. " Keep him till I
return, if you can," he shouted as he drove away,
leaving his wife her own, smiling, contented little
self again.

Lady St. Bees had at first been more than

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 147

pleased with the ardour evinced by her husband
in his new pursuits. With the eagerness of youth,
no sooner had both alike become convinced of the
necessity for a fresh course of action than they
had set about the work of reform, and had exhib-
ited such energy, tempered by docility and humil-
ity, as had won the hearts of all.

But by-and-by May had begun to feel a shade
less satisfied with the new regime. Her affairs
were more easily set to rights than Dolly's, and did
not lead her so far a-field. He could accompany
her, and did, on many of her missions ; and could
she have gone with him on his, and dispatched his
business as lightly as her own, she would have
been serenely content. But she saw Dolly being
taken out of her hands, and felt that where he
went, there she could not follow.

His correspondence was gradually assuming a
magnitude which startled her ; and the Dolly who
of old used to eye his few letters with aversion,
and toss them over to her to be sifted before he
would glance at them at all, now put her aside
with a superior air if her fingers strayed too near
the pile.

" You would not understand what it meant.
"Women are no hands at business," were frequent

148 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

phrases in his mouth. And although uttered with
no unkindly intonation, they served their end.

And then, again, Dolly in his new role of land-
lord and country gentleman was often absent from
one meal to another, and had nothing to relate
when he came home nothing at least which could
be made interesting to his auditor. She tried to
think that she was glad it should be so proud
and glad that this new sense of his responsibilities
and duties had been kindled within her husband's
breast. Was it not a great thing that Dolly had
been so impressed ? And did it not show what a
man Dolly really was that the moment he was
aroused from his apathy, he lost no time in acting
upon his convictions ?

But all the time the young wife felt al-
though she would not have owned it to any
mortal being, and would scarcely even whisper it
to herself that she was hardly the gainer by the
new development. She did not seem to be quite
so much to her husband as she once had been.

It was at this precise moment that Captain
Hazard appeared upon the scene.

"I had really forgotten how kind he was,"
cogitated May, sitting down at last to her neg-
lected luncheon, from which she and Dolly had

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 149

resolutely banished servants at the first. ("I
knew that's all right, at any rate," Dolly had
said ; " I know you can do as you please about
being alone at luncheon at the very biggest
houses.") "And he must have thought more
about me than he pretended," pursued the pretty
little lady, helping herself from one dish and
another, "or else he certainly would not have
known me again, as he did. He knew me in a
moment at least after we had spoken for a few
moments. And how odd how very odd that we
should meet a second time in an out-of-the-com-
mon sort of way ! He trespassing in my grounds,
and having to beg my pardon, and ask to have
the way pointed out to him ! Directly he spoke,
I knew who it was ; for of course I had heard
him speaking all through that long, horrible
drive, though I was never allowed to put in a
word. But it was funny and amusing to see how
the light gradually broke in upon him. He
seemed perfectly confounded ! I daresay it was
an absolute revelation to him !

"And then," continued she, the blood still
dancing in her veins, " how nice it felt to be able
to turn the tables ! He had performed one little
act of kindness, without ever thinking of its com-

150 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

ing back to him in any shape, and now he finds
the poor, little, shivering creature he befriended
turned into a mighty princess, with palaces and
castles at command ! " And the youthful roman-
cist laughed with pleasure, and attacked her cold
pheasant with renewed vigour.

It was now the month of October, for Captain
Hazard has not made good his intention of at-
tacking Redditch Castle and carrying it by storm
on first leaving town. He had floated off on a
current which set in another direction, and had
contrived to bob along on its surface with toler-
able comfort and security for several months.

At the close of this period he found himself
returning from a northern sojourn, and at the
end of his resources for the nonce.

It seemed that the hour had come for pricking
a new vein.

Accordingly, he had had himself put down at
a wayside halting-place within a short distance of
Lord St. Bees' domain; secured a room at the
village inn ; and trusted to his luck.

Having always more or less been indebted to
a civil tongue, and a certain shallow good-nature
for smoothing the path of everyday life, he had
now no difficulty in learning all that he desired

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

regarding the new lord and his lady and all that
he heard pleased him. Had they been the topic
of conversation a few months earlier, the report
would not indeed have been so favourable;
but as it was, one and all with whom Captain
Hazard freely chatted had a good word for Dolly
and his wife.

The worst that could be alleged against them
was that they kept but little company ; that the
castle was not brimming over with gay folks,
necessitating extra journeys on the part of
butcher and poulterer, together with sudden
demands for extraordinary supplies for butter
and eggs in short, a general increase of business
and activity on every side.

It had been confidently anticipated that the
approach of the autumn season would see a revo-
lution at the castle. The quiet life pursued by
its occupants during the earlier months of their
reign had been regarded as a tribute of very
proper respect to the death which had so recently
taken place within its walls ; but, to be sure, there
would be no occasion for prolonged mourning on
the part of so distant a relation as the new peer,
and the 1st of September, the good folks had
argued, would certainly see the commence-

152 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

ment of shooting parties, such as assemble annu-
ally all over England. It had been, indeed, the
only period of the year during which the late
Lord St. Bees had entertained. His successor
might therefore be trusted to do as much.

But the partridges were ready, and Dolly,
according to the general idea, was not. Dolly,
like others of his class of mind, could only think
of one thing at a time, and though even Mr.
Rathbone hinted, " You won't be able to give so
much of your time to county affairs when the
shooting season begins," the insinuation fell on
deaf ears. Not being a keen sportsman, a day in
the stubble twice, or at the outside three times a
week, would suffice for himself, Dolly argued ;
and his keepers might kill the rest.

"But ah don't you intend ah to have
your friends down ? " the vicar had suggested at
last.

Then the colour had risen slightly to Dolly's
cheek, and he had answered evasively ; while to
May he had confided afterwards, " I say, isn't it a
queer thing, but I really know no one I should
care to ask ? "

So that the village was disappointed. But still
it spoke up loyally for the young couple. They

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 153

were taking hold ; they would do very well by-
and-by.

For a whole day Captain Hazard thought out
the situation, then he threw himself across the
young countess's path (having watched for her re-
turn from an early visit paid to the schoolhouse,
where May now went regularly once a week), and
then we know the rest.

" I am so glad that Dolly thought I ought to
have asked him up;" Dolly's wife pursued her
meditations. " He looked so very humble, and
and almost forlorn. Fancy being stranded in this
neighbourhood, and finding his friends had all de-
parted ! And he to be obliged to wait on here,
till they write and say where he is to join them !
I wonder if the ' friends ' are the same he was
with in Switzerland. How he will make them
stare if he tells them about me ! " Her sim-
plicity never suggesting that everyone, including
Hazard himself, had learnt about her long be-
fore.

" I should have felt it dreadfully if I could
not have asked him up, when he looked so wist-
fully towards the house, and said what a fine place
it was, and how beautifully it was situated," pur-
sued the little fly, who had walked straight into

154: SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the spider's web. " If I had had a cross, disagree-
able husband, and been afraid to show any hospi-
tality on my own account, how tiresome it would
have been ! But Dolly is an angel in that way.
And I daresay he will manage to get home before
this Captain Hazard leaves."

By this time she knew the name of her old
acquaintance; he having presented his card,
which now lay beside her plate.

" Who would ever have supposed," concluded
she, as she rose from the table, "that the man
who handed me down from the waggonette that
miserable evening but who hardly looked at me,
and never seemed to listen at all to Dolly's thanks
would be coming up to afternoon tea at our
house only too thankful to come, and only too
pleased ever to have known us!" Finally, she
gave directions that when a gentleman called at
five o'clock, he was to be shown into the white
drawing-room. The white drawing-room was the
finest apartment in Eedditch Castle.

" Gad ! I think I'm doing pretty well," Haz-
ard congratulated himself as he stood within it,
awaiting the appearance of his hostess, some hours
later. " The stars in their courses are fighting for
this poor devil, not against him. To have effected

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 155

the first meeting; to have got inside the walls,
and to find there is not another soul here only
the two dears themselves to be manipulated!

Faith, it's too good to be true ! If I can only '

and he invoked the aid of every patron saint he
knew as the door opened and Lady St. Bees en-
tered.

CHAPTER XII.

AT the close of a week Captain Philip Hazard
was firmly established at Redditch Castle. His
portmanteaux and gun cases were in possession of
a snug chamber, from which they had no mind
to budge, and their master the most amiable,
accommodating, and unobtrusive of guests, never
in the way, and never out of it, ready to shoot
or to fish, to drive or to walk, as occasion offered
was felt to be an acquisition by husband and
wife alike.

"He's such a presentable fellow," quoth
Dolly genially, when announcing to his wife
that Hazard had consented to stay on another
week, although he had been "positively ex-
pected elsewhere, and must himself go to the
telegraph-office to wire the alterations in his
programme to different quarters." "He gives
quite an air to the place! When we met the
Milner party walking home with their guns yes-

156

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 157

terday, and Sir Thomas stopped and introduced
three of his men to me, I must own I was glad
to have one man I could introduce back. Sir
Thomas had not met Hazard before. The day
the rest of them came over, you know, he was
not there. And it appeared Hazard knew one of
the fellows. Did I tell you ? Hazard says he is
an awful fool, and that no one can ever believe
a word he says; but they shook hands right
enough. And Sir Thomas has seen me so often
alone and he has always such a lot of shooting
men with him that it really was lucky Hazard
and I should fall in with them. We, with our
keepers and dogs and they with theirs, you
know."

" I told Henrietta Milner how it was that we
had so few acquaintances, and hardly any rela-
tions," replied his wife. " Henrietta seemed
quite to understand. I fancy she thought it
rather a good thing on the whole, Dolly. You
see the only person she has met here was Georg-
ina Macinroy."

" A bad beginning." Dolly laughed a little.
" Georgina nearly did for us with the Milners.
But we weathered the shock; and now, I am

sure, they can't have anything to say against
11

158 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Hazard," complacently. " I hope Sir Thomas
will ask him over there. May," after a reflective
pause, " there's no need to let out that we only
came to know Hazard by accident, is there ?
There's no need to say anything about it. We
met abroad, and now Hazard's stopping with
us, and that's the whole story. If Henrietta
asks you "

" I told her we had met in Switzerland. She
will not ask any more. Henrietta never asks
troublesome questions."

"All right; you know what to say if she
does." May nodded; but, as she foretold, her
knowledge was never put to the test.

" Good Lord ! To think that a creature like
Hazard should be the only human being the poor
souls can scrape up ! " cried Sir Thomas, having
described the encounter to his wife, within the
precincts of her own dressing-room before dinner.
"I tried to pass it off as well as I could to
Monckton and the rest. They were all shouting
over Hazard's 'cuteness, and wondering where St.
Bees had picked him up, and whether he knew
anything about his character and antecedents ?
I said what I could. Put it this way that St.
Bees was an easy-going young fellow, who had

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 159

travelled abroad a good deal, and been very little
in English society. Ingatestone helped me out
in his good-natured way. Said at once that that
accounted for it for St. Bees' knowing Hazard,
who was at home in half the places people go to
on the Continent. Ingatestone was the only man
of us who knew Hazard to speak to but they
all seemed to know about him, and directly we
had parted company, began to talk among them-
selves. I did the best I could for St. Bees, who
is really behaving very creditably, buckling to
his work like a man, and coming out quite strong
every now and then when you don't expect it.
I said he was a very decent young fellow, and
did not seem to have anything to 'imlearn, any
bad habits or tendencies except, to be sure, idle-
ness and general incompetence. But I was dis-
gusted to see him in company with such a pitiful
creature as Hazard, who, from what Ingatestone
says, is given to skulking about big men's houses,
and ingratiating himself until he has obtained
some sort of foothold. Ingatestone evidently
thought none the better of St. Bees for having
such a man as Hazard in his company."

" You want Lord Ingatestone to think well of
St. Bees?"

160 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"Well, I do for Henrietta's sake. Henrietta
makes such a point of it. And if ever there

is to be anything between those two

Where is she now ? " broke off Sir Thomas
suddenly.

" Somewhere about. Why do you ask ? "

" Ingatestone seemed in such a hurry to get
home," laughed Sir Thomas. " He would hardly
let us get through our day's work, and he didn't
come into the house with us. Said he would go
round by the kennels ; and, somehow I did not
see Henrietta in any of the rooms."

" If you think that Lord Ingatestone had any
idea of meeting her outside," Henrietta's mother
drew up her head, " I can assure you Henrietta is
the last person "

" Oh, I don't know I don't know. I only
thought young people do find each other out.
And he certainly is rather struck eh ? "

"I never interfere in such matters, Sir
Thomas." And Sir Thomas, seeing there was
nothing further to be gained by prolonging
the discussion, suddenly discovered that he was
wet and muddy, and retreated to his own dress-
ing-room.

But all the same he chuckled to himself.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

"Some people forget that they ever were
young," reflected he, pulling off his heavy boots.
"Maybe Hetty will forget too, five-and-twenty
years hence, and be quite astonished to find that
hsr Hetty could think of such a thing as being
found by a young gentleman gathering flowers in
the garden when she ought to have been in her
own room at the top of the house! But I'm
much mistaken if Ingatestone didn't scent a pet-
ticoat somewhere, when he broke off from us to-
day ! I only hope he did. What the deuce ! if
young people are not to meet somewhere except
just at the dinner-table, or in the drawing-room,
how are they ever to get any further ? I think,
my Lady Milner, you and I found a certain Lon-
don balcony not inconvenient in old times ; and I
suspect the back seat of a coach answered our
purpose when there was nothing better to be had.
But now my lady has grown into such a piece of
buckram propriety or thinks she has (though
there's a soft spot somewhere which she won't own
to and which had better be left untouched until
needs must) that I must e'en keep my own
counsel. And so I shall, as long as she doesn't
put her foot in it," he concluded, unbuttoning
vigorously.

162 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" What is going on here ? " Lord Ingatestone
was saying at the same moment.

He had found a merry party running and
shouting beneath a large cedar-tree in the shrub-
bery, and been informed by two eager little ones
of ten and twelve that they were gathering to-
gether the cones which had fallen during a night
of wind. "We have got a whole basketful of
them," said Ethel proudly. " Henrietta got the
largest, but she gave it to Milly, and Milly is
going to varnish it for our room. If you will
help us we shall soon fill the basket." And Lord
Ingatestone professed himself ready to help on
the instant.

Perhaps he did not render any very material
aid; perhaps he was not too anxious that the
basket should be quickly filled. But his presence
certainly added to the zest of the sport; and
when it was over he proposed something else,
which met with universal approbation. The
children had promised to show him their pets,
their rabbits and guinea-pigs which were kept at
the farm would they take him now? And as
they joyfully ran forward to prepare for the ex-
hibition he found himself following, as he had
hoped, alone by the elder sister's side.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 163

" There is something" I want to say to you,"
began he, with a slight hesitation, " and I fancy
I think, perhaps, you would prefer my saying it
quietly I mean while no one else is by. You
are rather a friend of Lady St. Bees, are you
not?"

" I am very fond of her." Henrietta looked
somewhat surprised. " She is a dear little thing,
and as simple as a child. What makes you
ask?"

"We were discussing them last night, you
know." Ingatestone paused as though consider-
ing how best to proceed. "It struck me your
mother and you were not quite of the same
opinion."

" Mamma does not understand Lady St. Bees ;
and May is afraid of her, and never shows her
best when mamma is by."

"I can understand that" thought he, hav-
ing himself a wholesome awe of the stately
dowager.

" Mamma has not been accustomed to people
like May," proceeded Henrietta, " and you know
it is difficult when one has lived all one's life in a
circle of one's own friends ; but it is all right,"
she nodded confidently. "Mamma is going to

164: SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

like May in time ; when I have got it well into
her," laughing. " She will come to see what a
good little thing May really is, by and by."

" Under your care I have no doubt she will
turn into all that she ought to be; worthy of
your friendship, and oh ! don't be vexed ; I am
such a clumsy fool. I see you think I had no
business to say that ! But," proceeded the speaker,
earnestly, " it slipped out before I thought
indeed it did. Miss Milner, if you will forgive
me, I will tell you what I really wish to say. It
is this. "Will you give Lady St. Bees a little
extra bit of watching at present ? She needs it."

" Needs it ! " exclaimed Henrietta, somewhat
startled by his tone. "Needs it? Why? How?
I don't understand. What do you know of Lady
St. Bees and her requirements ? You never met
her before you came here, did you ? "

" Never but I have heard of her."

" What have you heard ? Nothing bad, I am
sure."

" Nothing bad, certainly. But there may be
nothing bad and yet she is rather a soft, weak,
vain little woman, is she not ? "

" Perhaps she is a little weak," conceded
Henrietta, after a momentary reluctance, " and

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 165

she certainly is soft soft, and gentle, and win-
ning. But vain May is not, and whoever said
so "

" It wasn't said, it was inferred. Shall I
tell you the whole thing ? But I can't unless
we have tune to have it out," foreseeing a de-
lightful prospect within his grasp. " Here are
your sisters waiting for us. When we have
seen the rabbits will you send them in, and
take one turn with me in the garden before
we follow ? " He drew nearer as he spoke, bend-
ing his head to bring his eyes to a level with
hers.

It seemed to Henrietta that she could do no
less than agree, though her heart was beating,
and her cheeks tingled as she did so.

Then Lord Ingatestone came out very strong.
He said all kinds of funny things about the rab-
bits ; he pretended to misunderstand what was
told him of their habits and customs ; he made
droll mistakes, and threw the two little girls
into ecstasies of merriment. Finally he prom-
ised them each a specimen of some rare kind,
to be despatched from the Zoo as soon as he
should return south and be able to make the
selection himself.

166 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Then lie looked at Henrietta, and Henrietta
felt a lump rise in her throat. She could not
say what she had to say before the head-gar-
dener, who was standing by but, falling back
upon some incoherent suggestion of getting with-
in doors before the dusk deepened, essayed to
marshal her little troupe homewards.

How was she to get rid of Ethel and Milly
without showing plainly that such was her in-
tention ?

It was easy to yield Lord Ingatestone a tacit
consent, but now that the time for action had
come, poor Henrietta quailed before the frankly
unsuspicious countenances and continuous chatter
of the young ones. They would not even walk
in front. They would march all four abreast,
one on her side, one on Ingatestone's ; and even
as she pondered, a stealthy little hand crept with-
in her arm. By the helpless look she received
at the same moment, it was easy to guess that
a similar capture had been effected on the other
side.

The garden door was reached, and the two
older ones, still confused and undecided, and
more particularly unable to free themselves be-
cause of a certain secret consciousness on the

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 167

part of each, were standfhg irresolutely upon
the stone steps, when the Gordian knot was
suddenly severed by the very intruders them-
selves.

" Oh ! I say, we've forgotten the basket of
cones," cried Ethel, with a sudden rush, and
Milly was after her, and lost to view down a
narrow shrubbery path on the instant.

" Now, quick ! " Lord Ingatestone, with the
air of a conspirator upon whose promptitude all
the success of a deep-laid scheme depended,
seized his companion by the hand and fled in
another direction.

To apologise and laugh at himself was, of
course, a natural sequence of so impulsive a
proceeding, but that done he could proceed
readily to business.

" I had just got to the point where I heard
of Lady St. Bees being an amiable, easily-led
person who had never been about the world,
and who was not likely to know good from bad
in it. It was Hazard who gave me that idea of
her. He didn't put it into those words, you
may believe. What he said was that she was
' an awfully jolly little woman, and a great friend
of his.' Did you ever hear her mention him ? "

168 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Never. What is more, I do not believe she
knew him at all till the other day. Stop, I be-
lieve they had just met at some foreign hotel.
And then, as he was in this neighbourhood,
Lord St. Bees invited him to Redditch."

" It was a pity Lord St. Bees did anything
of the kind," said Ingatestone, significantly.

" You mean that he is not "

" Not the sort of man to have staying as the
only guest in a house where there is a pretty,
silly little woman, whom he chooses to call ' a
great friend.' Whom it will be his interest to
make love to "

" Oh, Lord Ingatestone ! "

" I am afraid that's just about all I've got to
say," said he, looking at her steadily. " At least
what it amounts to. Hazard is as bad a lot,
take him for all in all, as such an utter fool can
be. He hasn't mind enough for any great in-
iquity perhaps ' iniquity ' is too strong a word
but you wouldn't like your friend to have her
name associated with his, and that's precisely
what he would like and what, I fancy, will
be the result of his stay at Redditch Castle,
unless someone can be found to put a spoke in
his wheel."

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 169

Henrietta looked grave.

On a sudden she recalled to mind one or two
little things which had passed unnoticed at the
tune, but which now assumed a new aspect.

" You have met Hazard ? " Lord Ingate-
stone eyed her after a pause of some moments.

""We found him there, when we went over
the other day."

" What did you think of him ? "

We to tell the truth, we rather liked him.
He was good-looking and pleasant ; and seemed
quite at home."

" Exactly. Quite at home. And taking
pains to show he was. And that he and Lady
St. Bees "

\ ". _

" No, indeed ; at least " But Henrietta

felt a sudden qualm even as she made the de-
nial. " There was nothing to suggest he was
only friendly and easy mamma found no fault
we thought nothing about it," she murmured,
uneasily. " Not knowing anything of Captain
Hazard never having even heard his name be-
fore."

" That was it. Naturally, you were not on
the look-out. But if you had known the sort
of fellow he was, and the reputation he has

170 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

and prides himself on having and that people
are shy of having him at decent houses ' :

" Oh, Lord Ingatestone, I am so sorry ; I
wish we had known before. If you had only
told us

" My dear Miss Milner ! Told you ? Think
a moment. Why should I have told you ? "
For she was looking reproach, and he almost
stammered in his haste to vindicate himself.
" I had no notion of his being even in this part
of England, until we came slap upon him out
shooting this afternoon ! And I shouldn't have
said a word now it's not my business to med-
dle with the affairs of other people if it hadn't
been for what transpired yesterday between you
and your mother. If these St. Bees had been
ordinary folks, who could take care of them-
selves and if Hazard had only been one of a
party assembled at their house I should have
held my tongue about him and them, seeing no
reason for doing anything else. But I gather
that this disreputable fellow is the only guest at
Redditch just now ; and that his hosts are an
innocent young couple, who have taken him at
his own valuation. He will twist them round
his little finger. Before they know where they

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

are, he will have spread it far and wide that
he is their most intimate friend and if it stops
short there I mean if that is all that is said it
won't be Hazard's fault. Is is Lady St. Bees
is she of the the susceptible order, may I
ask ? "

The walkers were at the farthest point of
the shrubbery walk as he put the question.
Henrietta stood still and looked across the park
looked long and earnestly ere she turned
round, and with slow, mechanical steps, moved
towards the house. She was not sorry the house
was some little way off.

CHAPTER XIII.

IT was a dull, misty November morning, ex-
actly a fortnight after the conversation recorded
in the last chapter, and Henrietta Milner stood at
a window gazing upon the dreary prospect with a
troubled eye.

Rain and mist had been the order of the day
ever since the month set in ; and such cheerless
weather made many a country house dull, and its
inmates out-of -sorts. For herself she cared little
that the skies were grey and the leaves dropping
from the trees ; she had occupations and pursuits
both out-of-doors and in, with which these in no-
wise interfered, and born and bred in the country
she loved Nature in every garb, and found enjoy-
ment in every season.

But she was thinking of someone else some-
one to whom the monotonous November days
might prove a new experience, and who to relieve

172

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 173

their gloom might be induced to try a new experi-
ment.

After her confidence with Lord Ingatestone
Henrietta had been on thorns to get over to Red-
ditch Castle, and see for herself what was going
on there. She fancied she hoped that he took
an exaggerated view of Captain Hazard's inten-
tions and attractions. Men, she considered, did
take dislikes to each other on slight and fre-
quently unreasonable grounds. Captain Hazard
was a handsome man, a man of a finer appearance,
she frankly told herself, than most people; cer-
tainly he was both taller, better looking, and had
more to say for himself than Ingatestone, whose
exterior was not in any way remarkable, and
whose popularity was due to no efforts of his
own.

Ingatestone was a plain, straightforward man,
content to remain in the background of the
world's stage ; and had Miss Milner not been
anxious to find some lurking motive for his blunt
disparagement of Lord St. Bees' guest, she would
have contended that no one was less likely to be
influenced by jealousy.

But without being hard on Lord Ingatestone,

or condemning the feeling very severely, he might
12

174 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

be presumed not to be above the foibles of -his
kind. She would not, Henrietta assured herself,
for a moment believe that so true and honest a
man would wilfully blacken the character of an-
other and that in what would have been a mean,
underhand fashion had circumstances not war-
ranted the disclosure. Ingatestone would never
have come to her saying what he had said, unless
he had not only believed with his whole heart that
he was speaking the truth, but had also recognised
an urgent necessity for conveying it in the form
he had chosen.

At the moment she had appreciated both the
tact and courage shown by her father's guest.
She had been grateful from her inmost soul for
the delicacy which had put her alone in possession
of facts likely to damage her friend's reputation ;
and when, later on the same evening, Lady Mil-
ner had casually mentioned Captain Hazard in
terms not precisely eulogistic, the easy manner
with which the tentative suggestion had been met,
and the passive refusal of the person addressed
to be drawn into any admissions such as her
mother evidently expected, met with its due re-
ward.

She bestowed on Ingatestone a covert glance

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 175

of the warmest approval, a glance which made
him happy for the remainder of the evening.
He had even had a whispered " Thank you ! "
when the time came to say " Good night."

But afterwards Henrietta, while still doing
justice to her informant's honesty of purpose,
withdrew some share of her faith in his knowledge
and moderation.

" ~No one can help being influenced to some
extent by the weaknesses of human nature," de-
cided she with a profound sense of her own wis-
dom. " I don't think any the worse of Lord In-
gatestone for his disliking heartily such a man as
Captain Hazard. I dare say it is perfectly true
that Captain Hazard is worthless, and a flirt, and
a sponge a character altogether to be despised
but surely he cannot be so bad as to be dangerous
to poor little May; and yet certainly Lord In-
gatestone did seem very much in earnest, and
said as much as he could to a girl like me. Any-
how, I had better go over to-morrow, and rout
him out of Redditch before ill comes of it. There
will be no difficulty if I can get May alone, and
give her the .hint."

Then she had paused to consider that she
must not go too far.

176 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

She had promised Lord Ingatestone to be
careful how she spoke of Hazard. Ingatestone,
with his plain common-sense, had warned her
that if Hazard had been making the running, as
he termed it, rendering himself agreeable to Lady
St. Bees and her husband, and ingratiating him-
self with both, as it was his custom to do, while
giving out in his own set that the wife was his
"particular friend" Ingatestone, we say, had
warned Henrietta that it was on the cards she
might find her task no easy one. Lady St. Bees
would probably fire up at the first breath of
enlightenment; and if any good at all were to
come of interference, her little ladyship would
have to be most tenderly and artfully handled.

" I don't need to tell you, who are so much
cleverer than I," Ingatestone had said, with his
blue eyes full of admiration; "you will know
exactly how to get on, once you have got the cue.
But, of course, it's only men who know about
men ; and your brothers aren't old enough to go
about town and hear things ; and Sir Thomas
well, of course, Sir Thomas would never pay any
attention, even if he heard Hazard talked about
twenty times."

All of which Henrietta knew to be exactly

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 177

true ; and she had, as we have said, given Ingate-
stone credit for being both kind and prompt ;
even whilst arguing that he might have spoken
with greater force and fervour than was actually
warranted by the occasion.

But she had come back from Kedditch Castle
by no means so sure of her own perspicuity
regarding mankind in general, and Lord Ingate-
stone in particular, as when she went. He had
gone up, and someone else had gone down in her
estimation.

Even while annoyed and affronted by the re-
sult of her mission there had been one underly-
ing, almost unsuspected spark of comfort. How
wonderfully acute Lord Ingatestone had been!
How marvelously he had divined all that Captain
Hazard was doing, and the line he was taking!
She was conscious of a new respect for Ingate-
stone.

Her respect for everyone else was at so low
an ebb as to leave a large amount on hand.

To begin with, she had not been able to see
May alone for a single instant and it seemed to
her that May evaded the opportunity. The
drawing-room was empty when she was first
ushered in, but the piano stood open, and a

178 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

quantity of loose music lay scattered about.
"What did this mean ?

Lady St. Bees was no great musician, but she
could play and sing a little in a simple, artless
fashion that was altogether pleasing to listen to ;
and Henrietta had made the most of this gift,
urging her not to let it lie dormant, and propos-
ing various schemes for bringing it into play.

But it was not like May to be diligently prac-
tising by herself. She generally waited for Hen-
rietta to come and beg to hear a new song, or
take part in a duet. Henrietta now turned over
the music it was none she had ever seen before.
More, she observed, with a start, that it consisted
mainly of songs for a tenor voice, several of
which were initialed in pencil "F. Hazard."
Some of them were love songs.

She turned gloomily from the piano, and
walked towards the fireplace.

The first object that met her eye there was a
large photograph reclining against one of the
ornaments, Captain Hazard's handsome profile
being placed in a most advantageous light. The
photograph had evidently just been taken out of
its wrappings, which lay near; and she could
fancy that the afternoon post had brought it

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 179

probably straight from the photographer for
another view of the same head peeped out from
amongst the tissue paper which littered a table
near.

Here was a new discouragement. " He is not
out shooting with Dolly to-day," concluded the
visitor, swiftly. "May could not have opened
this by herself. If she is at home, so is he and
if at home, where are they ? "

At the same moment the door opened, and
the butler re-entered. " My lady is in the
billiard-room, and says will you join her there,
miss ? " And she was preceded down the
corridor.

The click of billiard balls, and the sound of
gay voices and laughter struck unpleasantly on
Henrietta's ear as the door of the billiard-room
was thrown back ; and somehow she knew before
she entered that she would not find Lord St.
Bees there. Futher, it was intuitively revealed
to her that Lord St. Bees had not been there
that the players had been enjoying a solitude d
deux since the commencement of the game if
game it could be called.

"I am getting on famously," cried May,
flourishing her cue, and running to embrace her

180 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

friend. "This is my master," pointing to
Hazard, who followed, smiling and self-satisfied.
"This is only my third lesson, and he gives a
very good report of me, you will be glad
to hear. You know, Henrietta, you said I ought
to learn to play billiards; it was such good ex-
ercise on a wet afternoon. See how I have
obeyed you."

As she spoke there was nothing but pleased
expectancy in her face, and to have met the look
with any other than one of cheerful interest
would have been absurd.

"Suppose you and Captain Hazard have a
game now," suggested the pupil, with an evident
effort of self-abnegation. "I can look on. I
am not good enough to join, am I ? " appealing
to her instructor. "I dare say you will be a
very good match," added she preparing to retire
to one of the seats raised for onlookers.

" Charmed, I am sure." But Captain Hazard
could scare hide a smile beneath his moustache.
He could give points to almost any man at his
club, and it tickled him hugely to be told he
might find a match in this country girl. " Shall
I find you a cue, Miss Milner ? "

Miss Milner was also smiling, coldly smiling

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 181

to herself. She did not think she heard her
name being bandied about amongst Captain
Hazard's associates as his antagonist on the
green cloth. She was a skilful player, and would
have enjoyed a game, and the surprise her pro-
ficiency would probably have elicited but play
billiards with Captain Philip Hazard after what
Ingatestone had said of him, and in the teeth
of what she had come herself to Redditch Castle
expressly to say of him ? It could not be done.
A fit of disgust seized her as she looked at the
table, the balls, and the two who had been oc-
cupied with them in the heavy gas-laden atmos-
phere. It seemed as though there were some-
thing in the very air of the room unwholesome
and repulsive.

Without, it was true, the wind was keen, and
the clouds were sweeping the treetops. But she
seemed to have come in from purity and fresh-
ness; and to have left those behind when she
entered the luxurious apartment with its artificial
glow of warmth and colour.

. Captain Hazard had been smoking, too, Hen-
rietta was sure of it; and though Dolly's wife
always professed to enjoy the odour of her hus-
band's cigar, and though a billiard-room is the

182 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

recognised domain of King Tobacco, yet the
present exhalation, faint as it was, scored another
point against its author. Alone with Lady St.
Bees, she ought to have been treated with more
respect.

And Lady St. Bees looked so perfectly un-
conscious of anything amiss ! Henrietta felt al-
most more annoyed with May for this childish
unconsciousness than if she had exhibited any
species of confusion, any sense of being
" caught."

"It is too ridiculous. Even though she is
such a perfect baby in knowledge of the world,
she ought to have feelings and sensations she
ought to know by instinct how to behave with a
man like this ; I believe even if Lord Ingatestone
had never said a word about Captain Hazard, I
should have felt it in my l)ones that he was not a
man to be free and easy with ! " And in spite of
every effort to maintain an air of calm politeness
something of these internal emotions painted
themselves upon Miss Milner's countenance as she
negatived the proposal.

May looked faintly surprised and discon-
certed. Hazard walked round the table, ex-
tracted the red ball from a pocket at the farther

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 183

end, and affected to busy himself placing it upon
the spot.

"Don't let me interrupt you, however," said
Henrietta, feeling she could say no less. " It is
not quite tea-time, and I should like to see how
you get on, May." After which the lesson had
proceeded, and even to the most critical eye
there had been nothing to find fault with in
the demeanour of either teacher or pupil.
Philip Hazard knew when it behoved him to
be careful.

The three had adjourned to the drawing-room
for tea, and there had been a stroll on the terrace
afterwards and presently Dolly had arrived,
cheerful and important, as he usually was in
these days; and Henrietta had to go, having
done nothing and received no very clear impres-
sion but with a dim sense of dissatisfaction, and,
as we have said, a higher opinion of Lord Ingate-
stone's discernment than she had previously ex-
perienced.

Two days afterwards Lady St. Bees had been
met driving alone with her guest at some distance
from Redditch Castle. Sir Thomas had encoun-
tered the pair, and been informed that Dolly had
been driven to an outlying railway station, where

184 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

he had been dropped, to be picked up again in
the course of two hours.

"Who was going to pick him up, I don't
know," remarked Sir Thomas, as though amused
by the idea. " 'Pon my word, Lord St. Bees is
going ahead of us all in his devotion to business.
I couldn't have believed it of Dolly four months
ago. But I think he should hardly leave that
nice young wife of his to find her own company,"
continued he, after a moment's pause. " Hetty,"
turning to his daughter, who was standing silently
by with a disturbed countenance, "you have
taken Lady St. Bees in hand. Give her a hint
about Hazard. Tell her to be more 'circum-
spect,' as your mother would say," and he
moved off.

Henrietta raised her eyes to meet Ingate-
stone's, and the two instantly looked away from
each other.

The following day another attempt was made.
A note was sent over to Eedditch Castle, and a
pony-carriage in which May was invited to return
and spend the day at Monkswood. Henrietta
wrote that she particularly wished to see her
friend, and that hearing from her father that
the gentlemen were all going to shoot together,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 185

she seized the opportunity, and Lady St. Bees
must come. A postscript was added to the
effect that Lady Milner would be happy if the
trio would dine at Monkswood in which case, if
May would bring her evening dress, a room
would be at her disposal, and she need not re-
turn to the castle until she drove home with
her husband in the evening.

The pony-carriage came back empty.

Lady St. Bees had promised to take Miss
Rathbone to shop in a neighbouring town that
afternoon, and in the morning she had such a
number of things to do which had accumulated
of late, she was afraid she could not possibly
spare the time. Lord and Lady St. Bees, how-
ever, together with Captain Hazard, would have
much pleasure in dining at Monkswood, and
would all arrive there in company at eight
o'clock.

" And deuced civil of them to ask me, I'm
sure ! " cogitated Hazard, with much inward
self-gratulation. " I must have been mistaken
about that girl. She has an infernally stiff, dis-
agreeable manner ; but country girls often have
that. Little May was ever so prim when I first
knew her. I have taught her better; she is

186 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

quite jolly now, and indeed she is such a little
simple fool that I only hope she won't show
too plainly what friends we have become in this
fortnight. She has no notion of its being some-
what against the conventionalities. The hus-
band's an ass, too ; but that's as well. If he were
to be glum and surly at this juncture, it might
be awkward. I like to keep in with everybody
all around," concluded our astute adventurer in
the height of his prosperity.

CHAPTEK XIY.

LADY ST. BEES was not able to accompany
her husband and guest to the dinner at Monks-
wood, and to Henrietta this absence seemed to
have been of set purpose. We may inform our
readers that this was not so. May had returned
from her shopping expedition with a severe head-
ache, and genuinely unfit for an evening's fes-
tivity. But to her friend the disappointment
conveyed in a message by Dolly had the ring of a
false note and she was sure that Ingatestone
shared her apprehensions. She could not look at
him whilst the apology was being tendered.

Then Lord Ingatestone left Monkswood, and
left it perhaps without having obtained all he
had hoped for there; yet with certain secret
vistas of his own, with which at present our
readers have nothing to do.

And now we come to the November after-
noon when Miss Milner stood gazing idly from

188 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the window, fretted, anxious, and irresolute, and
through it all missing more than she would have
liked to own the wistful face which had taken
itself off that morning, and in which alone there
was to be found sympathy and participation in
the secret burden which oppressed her soul.

She could not get at May, do what she would.
It seemed as though a barrier had risen up be-
tween the two. And though its construction
might be partially due to accident and partially,
she could not help suspecting, to the adroitness
of Captain Hazard still his youthful hostess
must surely have been willing to play into his
hands; and it seemed to her that into May's
countenance there had gradually crept some con-
sciousness of this.

May did not look quite so straight into
Henrietta's eyes as she had done that first day
in the billiard-room. She flushed a little when
she mentioned Hazard's name. And there was
an anxiety to account for her actions, and a
careful explanation of the reasons for her walk-
ing or driving alone with her guest, which would
not, Henrietta felt, have formerly been there.

"What on earth does that fellow stay on
for ? " Sir Thomas exclaimed more than once,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 189

when the third week drew to a close, and Hazard
was still at Redditch Castle.

" Henrietta, I thought you meant to oust
him," continued the speaker, turning abruptly to
his eldest daughter. " He is not the sort of man
at all St. Bees ought to have for a friend. And
just as he and his wife were beginning to do so
well too ! It's a monstrous pity there should be
anything of this sort cropping up to set people off
on the other tack again."

" I was always afraid you over-rated Lady St.
Bees ; " Henrietta's mother followed suit directly
her husband ceased. " My first impression, you
will remember, was not favourable. But you
were inclined to take her up. I am afraid you
are going to be disappointed."

"Aye, if she turns into one of those fast,
flirting young married women of fashion, she is
no friend for you, Hetty," cried Sir Thomas,
with the blunt disapprobation of the British
paterfamilias. "And I tell you what, it's my
belief that we have got a rum customer in this
Lady St. Bees. He's well enough; St. Bees
himself is turning out a trump ; but she, with her
innocent baby face- '

" And she made out she was the one who was
13

190 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

most anxious to do her duty in her new posi-
tion," chimed in Lady JVIilner again. "You
thought she spoke so nicely about it, Hetty ; and
was to consult you and Miss Rathbone in every-
thing. You got me to let her grow quite inti-
mate with us," in an aggrieved tone. " And now
people will be saying "

" I'll tell you what they're saying." It was Sir
Thomas's turn. " Willoughby told me yesterday
that people were saying St. Bees had no ballast
that when he first came he wouldn't look at a
title-deed, and scarcely sign his name to a lease.
And now he's all over the county, hunting up
abuses, and sweeping about like a new broom
while his pretty little wife is left to amuse her-
self with Why, Hetty? Eh? Upon my

word ! " Sir Thomas looked round in consterna-
tion, while Lady Milner.'s lips parted, and the em-
broidery needle fell from between her fingers.

For each was suddenly conscious that they had
been hearkened to thus far in dumb submission,
because Henrietta had no words to speak because
her throat was swelling and her lips were quivering,
and the blinding tears were dropping thick and
fast from her averted eyes.

All that had been said was only what she was

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

saying to herself every day, every hour now. She
had been so buoyant, so confident, and her task
apparently beyond all anticipation so easy when
she first undertook to train the natural, unaffected,
little May St. Bees into a great lady. Little May
was already charming, she declared ; needing so

very little such a mere touch to to

And though the sentence was left to the imagina-
tion of her hearers, everyone knew what Henri-
etta meant. The soil being fallow, it had seemed
there would be no difficulty whatever in stocking
it abundantly with good seed which in time should
bear good fruit. She had not calculated on- the
need of enrichment for the soil itself.

And then had come the check.

It had come at the very height of Henrietta's
triumph. May had made a remarkably good ap-
pearance at a large county gathering. The Mil-
ners had been told over and over again how agree-
ably surprised everybody was in Lady St. Bees.
Dolly, it was understood, was quite likely to hark
back to family traditions, and speedily become just
such a Lord St. Bees as his forefathers had been ;
and such a Lord St. Bees as would be satisfactory
to the county generally. But his wife had noth-
ing to fall back upon. Nobody knew who she

192 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

was or ever had been ; and her appearance in their
midst had been resented as an intrusion, and a
most unfortunate circumstance.

The extremely quiet life the young couple had
led up to the present time had, however, done
something to modify public opinion ; and the un-
deniable improvement in the outward bearing and
demeanour of the young countess which had taken
place before she made her first public appearance,
had done still more. May, with quick apprehen-
sion, had caught the tone of the Milner family,
and insensibly imbibed enough of what she saw
there to pass muster when met in their midst,
and presented by them among their friends.

Henrietta had been jubilant when the party
drove home after the fete ; foretelling that in a
very short tune no one would remember anything
of her friend's humbler antecedents, that she
would gradually acquire all the necessary knowl-
edge entailed by her position, and fill worthily
and gracefully the post to which she had been
called by fortune.

The very next day Captain Hazard had been
met in the grounds of Redditch Castle.

And now the father and mother could do
nothing but look at each other in wondering per-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 193

turbation, whilst the poor girl wept on. Henri-
etta was not one to whom consolation could be
offered too easily. Had they guessed how cruelly
every previous word struck home they would
have been more chary of speech ; they would
have avoided a joint attack ; Sir Thomas would
have held his peace altogether in his daughter's
presence, and to his wife would have fallen the
task of privately imparting the views of both upon
the subject.

As things had gone, however, a hasty retreat
fi-om the scene was now the only course which
commended itself to a fond, cowardly father, and
the poor gentleman, in his extremity, simply
bolted from the room.

" I I believe there's someone someone wait-
ing for me," muttered he, and fled incontinently.

Then Lady Milner understood what she had
to do.

" My dear child my poor Hetty. Come and
sit down, and let us talk it over together," said
she, patting the sofa by her side. " I am so
grieved, my darling. Papa and I had no idea
that you felt it like this. We should never have
spoken as we did if we had known. But, Hetty
dear, you never said a word, and we thought you

194 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

saw nothing. And really it was time though I
cannot bear to put such thoughts into young
girls' minds," murmured the sober matron, who,
like many others of her way of thinking, held that
youth knew nothing until it was instructed by
age. " It appears, then, that you have been think-
ing your own thoughts about about all this ? "
she suggested vaguely, still reluctant to approach
the distasteful subject in plainer terms.

Henrietta nodded.

" And that was why you were so vexed at be-
ing unable to persuade Lady St. Bees to come
here last week, and so disappointed at not finding
her at home once or twice when you were over
there lately ? "

" Yes, mamma. I cannot get at May," burst
forth Henrietta at last, struggling with her tears.
" If I could once persuade her to talk with me as
she used to do, and tell me all her difficulties, and
open her heart mamma, she used to tell me
e&ryfhing and there was not a thought that girl
had that you might not have known, and I might
almost say that you would not have approved.
You would simply have been astonished to find
how little there was that you would have thought
needed remedying. She was ignorant, and that was

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 195

all. And she was willing to learn and, mamma,
I learnt something from her too I used to come
away from Redditch feeling ever so much hum-
bler than when I went there. I hated my own
superior voice instructing and dictating, and felt
ashamed of being always looked up to. It made
me long to tell May I was not at all the sort of be-
ing she took me for. I did try to say so, and the
look she gave me made me feel that it would be
better to let it alone, and only set myself to be
what poor little May thought I was. I have been
trying "

"I know you have, my love. We have all
noticed it. You were always a conscientious, un-
selfish girl, Hetty, but a little inclined to think
too much of your own opinion. Well, well,
never mind that now. And you are greatly
improved, my dear; and, indeed, no one could
have foreseen this turn of events; for we were
all so pleased with the way the St. Bees were
turning out but if May has been deceiving
you " Her tone grew sterner.

" Mamma, I am sure she has not been deceiv-
ing me but I am afraid she is deceiving herself.
Mamma, I must speak to her and save her ; get
her out of the hold of this man. I don't believe

196 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

May has any idea of the sort of man he is. /
should never have guessed but for "

" For what ? "

"For Lord Ingatestone's telling me," said
Henrietta, in a low voice. " It is no use keeping
it to myself any longer. When Captain Hazard
had been a week at the castle, and Lord Ingate-
stone had been two days with us, they met on the
marsh between the two shooting grounds, do you
remember ? "When Lord Ingatestone returned
that evening, he told me in the garden all about
Captain Hazard at least, he probably did not
tell me all ; but he said very plainly that he had
a disreputable character, and was well known as
a fast man, who made it his business to stay
about in houses where people were not too par-
ticular, and and I knew what he meant. Cap-
tain Hazard would like to boast that he was a
great friend of Lady St. Bees, and have his name
coupled with hers, and all the rest of it. He
ought never to have been allowed to stay on as he
has done."

" Your father did give Lord St. Bees a hint,"
said Lady Milner, looking troubled, " as broad a
one as one gentleman could give another, he told
me. And the answer was that Captain Hazard

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 197

was leaving the next day. But that was a week
ago, and he is still there."

" He is so plausible and agreeable ; " said
Henrietta, "and makes himself useful to Lord
St. Bees, and behaves perfectly well when he is
present. I think he would even be careful how
far he went with May. He can see, as we all
can, that she is in her heart perfectly devoted
to her husband, and that she would never go
beyond a sentimental flirtation with anyone else.
Mamma, I am sure she would not. I am not in
the least afraid for her. But what I am afraid of
is that she likes the admiration, and the amuse-
ment, and the little silly fun of it all, in these
dull days when there is nothing else to do. And,
perhaps, it is the first time that anything of the
kind has ever come in her way. I daresay no
man of Captain Hazard's stamp had ever thought
it worth while to pay her attention when she was
only insignificant little Mrs. Feveril. She wasn't
pretty enough as that. And then I gather that
she had invariably her dear Dolly at her elbow,
and they did everything together. It is almost a
pity that Dolly is so much away from her now.
May wants someone, she can't stand alone yet.
If she had some variety, some distraction

198 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

mamma, I liave a thought. Will you let me go
to London ? "

" To London, my dear ! "

" I really want to do my Christmas shopping.
There are a heap of things to get, both for our-
selves and for the village. I want oh, a number
of things. My wardrobe is run down to its low-
est ebb. And there are the prizes for the school-
children ; and if we are to get up that entertain-
ment, we shall want scenery and dresses and all
sorts of odds and ends. Then I heard you saying
yesterday you did not know how you were going
to get on without sending someone to bring down
provisions "

" But what has this all to do with Lady St.
Bees?"

" I shall take May with me," said Henrietta,
rising from the sofa with sparkling eyes. " I
shall simply make her go ! Aunt Laura shall
take us both in, and she and the cousins in Park
Street can trot about with us everywhere. "We
shall fly all over the place, and May shall be in
such a bustle, and find everything so bright and
jolly in Portman Square that mamma, I must
go over at once. If I can catch her and if I
can't catch her I'll wait for her I shall boldly

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 199

say to Captain Hazard that he must excuse Lady
St. Bees for leaving him to his own devices, as I
have something very special to say to her in pri-
vate. I'll say it quite good-humouredly, so that
neither of them shall suspect anything. And,
mamma, don't you think it would be better even
when we two are alone, not to say a word
more about Captain Hazard if I can help it ? To
wait until I have won May back to be her old
self with me ? If he agrees to go quietly he
shan't go with us, for I won't have him, I'll
speak out rather than that "

" Certainly I should not allow him to travel
with you."

" If he should have the effrontery to propose
such a thing, I should know how to meet it."

Henrietta drew up her beautiful long neck
with an air which the most venturesome would
scarce have dared to trifle with.

" Then I may go, mamma ? Thank you, dear
mother," kissing her, and pausing to think before
taking action. "I could drive round by Hurl-
mere on the way home, and send aunt Laura a
telegram from there," she meditated aloud.

"If Lady St. Bees gives you a favourable
reply," hinted her mother.

CHAPTEK.XY.

" BY Jove ! If that isn't a nuisance ! " ex-
claimed Captain Hazard, standing on the portico
steps of the castle, " you've been all the morn-
ing boxed up with one female," indicating Miss
Rathbone, who was scuttling out of sight with
Sybella's own brisk, hurried step, as he addressed
Lady St. Bees within the doorway, " and here
comes another ! Just as I was going to suggest
a stroll down to the river to see what luck St.
Bees is having, too ! " and he eyed discontentedly
Henrietta's pony-cart approaching as he spoke.

" I told St. Bees we would look him up some
time, and he will wonder what has become of us,"
pursued the speaker artfully. " You can tell
your friend so, can't you ? Say we are going
down to join him, and have been delayed al-
ready ? "

" Oh, don't delay for me," said Miss Milner,
when this was explained to her. " I have come

200

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 201

over to see Lady St. Bees about a project I have
on hand, and as I want to talk it all out, Captain
Hazard can join Lord St. Bees," looking at her
friend, " and tell him that he must give you up
to me for the rest of the morning."

" Unless Miss Milner would also come down
to the river ? " suggested Hazard.

And it is notable that neither he nor Hen-
rietta addressed each other directly, but both
kept their eyes steadily fixed on the third per-
son in the trio.

" May, dear, you don't grudge me an hour of
your company ? " said Henrietta, in a voice that
trembled a little, for she could not but be con-
scious of a certain blankness which had fallen
over the other's face. Also it seemed to her
that Hazard, playing ostentatiously with Lady
St. Bees' spaniel, was gathering up his forces to
defeat her purpose. Her heart beat a little fast-
er; the confidence wherewith she had started,
begotten of this new prospect, and of her own
unhesitating belief in its efiicacy, was fast ooz-
ing away beneath such a reception.

" Oh, yes certainly of course " after a mo-
mentary hesitation, and in a manner altogether
unlike her own, Lady St. Bees at length found

202 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

the requisite answer. But even as she spoke, a
timid glance seemed to assure Hazard of her
sympathy in his disappointment, and unwilling-
ness to carry out the decree.

It was a bright frosty morning, and independ-
ently of other considerations, she was longing to
be out-of-doors in the exhilarating sunshine ; yet
somehow did not feel disposed to suggest a walk
to Henrietta.

On a walk one would be absolutely en tete a
tete with one's companion, one would have to lis-
ten and reply, whatever might be said. There
could be no interruptions, no distractions.

Supposing Henrietta had come over prepared
to be rather down upon poor Captain Hazard for
instance ? He knew well enough that he was
not beloved of Miss Milner, and had frankly
pointed this out to his hostess even before she
saw it for herself. By-and-by he had cunningly
insinuated the reason young ladies did not like
to see each other preferred. And poor little
foolish May had swallowed the bait without
hesitation.

After that it had come to be quite a little joke
between her and Hazard. He had vowed " Miss
Milner was not his style " ; what was more, he

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 203

"never could see anything fine in figures like
hers, nor in those deuced long necks." They
gave a confoundedly haughty appearance, he
thought. Miss Milner would be as like her
mother as two peas twenty years hence, and,
for his part, he thought Lady Milner the most
forbidding-looking dowager he had ever set eyes
upon.

And subsequent to that May had felt the
increasing gravity on her friend's brow every
time the friends met.

At first she wondered that Henrietta should
not be above any little petty jealousy, and being
so beautiful and so much admired, should not be
able to dispense with the homage of one stray
man. She had seen Henrietta so often the ob-
ject of attention, and been so ready to concede
her claims to it on every ground, that it did
seem hard, and absurd too, if directly someone
came to the castle who seemed to prefer her
own harmless little self, Henrietta should purse
up her lips with the air of a disapproving
angel.

So May put it to herself. Scarcely to her
own heart would she allow that there was some
foundation for the calm gravity of her friend's

204: SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

demeanour that already the fascinating Hazard
had whispered more than one aside which he had
been fain to apologise for afterwards, only half
explaining it away, and deprecating her resent-
ment with look and voice, which in themselves
repeated the offence. She had been angry with
him, and forgiven him, and had said nothing
about the matter to Dolly and in this last lay
the evil germ.

It was but a germ so far. Yet the germ
brought a red spot to May's cheek, even as the
worm in the apple causes the same upon its sur-
face; and she felt a reluctance to being alone
with her friend, which betrayed to herself more
than she had ever suspected before.

Accordingly, when Captain Hazard, feeling,
as he phrased it to himself, that the game was up
for the present, obeyed her implied mandate with
the best grace he could, and still calling to the
dog, and affecting to be engaged with its gam-
bols, strolled off in the direction of the river,
Lady St. Bees assumed a vivacity she was far
from feeling, suddenly recollected that she had a
dozen things to show Henrietta ; and would fain
have kept her looking at this and that, and chat-
tering about trifles, in order to put off anything

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 205

like serious conversation, and use up the time as
much as possible.

Henrietta understood perfectly. But she, too,
had a courage of her own, and calling it to her
aid, brought up short the volatile little lady just
as some fresh toy was about to be exhibited, and
a new topic started.

" No more to-day, May, I have not too long to
stay," consulting her watch, and not unconscious
of a brightening on the other's countenance at
the words, " and, you see, as mamma spared me
this morning, and took our guests off my hands
on purpose that I might come here, you must let
me get my business settled before we amuse our-
selves." She then, as easily as she could, in-
troduced her mission, placing it in as attractive a
light as possible, and concealing her anxiety be-
neath a garb of confident anticipation.

For she could not but perceive that there was
no jubilant outcry of acquiescence such as she
could have counted upon eliciting a month
before.

"How very kind of you! Yes, indeed it
would be very nice ! I wonder if I could man-
age it."

At length the uncertain, hesitating syllables
14

206 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE,

formed themselves on lips that belied their
purport.

" Of course it would be delightful if Mrs.
Courtenay really would have us. How kind of
you to think of it! Of course I must ask
Dolly."

" Oh, certainly. "We can ask him at once.
And I propose to telegraph as I go home."

" But did you say to-morrow ? Would not that
be rather sudden ? Are they likely to be able to
take us in on such very short notice ? "

"It is a large house, and none of Mrs.
Courtenay's sons or daughters are at home."

"But would it not be taking her by sur-
prise ? "

" My aunt likes to be taken by surprise."

" You have friends staying with you ; you do
not mind leaving them ? "

" They go to-morrow ; they would travel part
of the way with us. "We should just fill a ladies'
carriage."

"But we also have a guest," the speaker's
tone altered and each alike knew that the critical
moment had come. It stared them in the face,
and caused a simultaneous quickening of both
pulses.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 207

Rehearsing the scene beforehand, Henrietta
had fancied it would be easy to let fall a few mild
firm words about Captain Hazard which would
effect her purpose without too openly betraying
that he was the instigation of the whole project
whilst yet letting it be felt that his departure was
advisable, and his amour propre not to be taken
into account. She had been sure that some diffi-
culty would be raised, upon which her little
friendly admonition could hinge.

But brought to face with those averted eyes
and that lowered tone, the plunge was worse than
she had anticipated. Indeed looking back upon
it she could scarce remember what happened
next, and was fain to wonder what she could have
said to call forth the impassioned defence against
which she found herself all at once directing a
whole battery of representations and arguments.

" I knew you did not like him ; I knew it all
along," panted May at last. " And you got him
out of the way this morning on purpose to say
this. He sees it too."

" He is very welcome to see it." Miss Mil-
ner's haughty tone would have chilled a less-
excited auditor. " Captain Hazard is probably
not unaccustomed to provoking the feeling."

208 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Then, in a more natural manner. " He is a
dangerous man, dear May. You are no match
for a man like him. Just see how he got into
your house at the first. You knew nothing what-
ever about him ; you know nothing now "

An indignant protest.

" Nothing but what he tells you "

"How can we know? We know very few
people. We have never met any of his set. I
daresay if we had lived more in the world "

" If you had li ved more in the world," said
Henrietta, taking her hand, " you would not I
feel sure you would not have been caught by a
worthless, unprincipled adventurer you would
have heard what others said of him you would
have detected for yourself "

" What others say of liim ! " cried May, flam-
ing with scorn. And Henrietta perceived that
to pursue that argument was useless. She aban-
doned it with a motion of her hand.

" There, never mind that," she cried, with a
secret swift dread of Ingatestone's name being
mentioned (which was unfounded, for May had
been too much engrossed with her own affairs to
give any heed to Ingatestone). "Never mind
what people say, I can understand your thinking

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 209

it of no consequence ; I should feel the same
about a friend "

" You would, Henrietta ? " A softer look
stole over Lady St. Bees' girlish countenance.
"It always makes me angry to hear people
spoken unkindly about behind their backs," she
murmured. " You used to agree with me."

" Oh, I do." This was touching a weak
point. " And when I first heard Captain Haz-
ard had the reputation " But here anew the

speaker swerved off a quicksand. Suppose May
were to inquire from whom had come the infor-
mation ? "I thought him an agreeable good-
looking man," proceeded Miss Milner, feeling
as if the worst had passed, and the ice having
been broken, her companion would now be amen-
able to something like calm discussion. " But my
father "

" "Was it Sir Thomas ? " said May, looking
round quickly.

" I don't think it matters much who it was.
You know we had a party of men with us when
Captain Hazard came here first, and they all spoke
of him among themselves, and some of them
knew him, and they told the rest. Papa did try
to give Lord St. Bees a hint."

210 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Dolly told me," said May, reluctantly.

"And Lord St. Bees thought that Captain
Hazard was leaving the next day." Henrietta
turned, and looked her companion full in the
face. The eyes before her fell. May knew
who had caused the alteration in Hazard's
plans.

"Dear," said Henrietta, suddenly throwing
her arms about the slight figure at her side.
" Dear May dearest May, did you not say I
was to be your sister? Won't you listen to
your sister? Does not your own heart echo
what she says ? You know May you know it
does. Oh, don't put me off with words and
arguments. It is so easy to make it all out to
be right, and yet to know in one's heart that it
is wrong. And you, dear, you are so young
and sweet and simple and this bad man has
been playing on your guilelessness and he has
found your husband trusting you so implicitly,
and believing in you so thoroughly is not that
it, May ? "

May was regarding her with the astonished
air of a child amazed at wisdom beyond her
grasp.

"And you thought there could be no harm

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 211

as long as jour own husband was satisfied. And
you felt just as fond of him as ever," flashed
forth Henrietta, to whom the workings of her
friend's mind seemed now laid bare as by a sort
of revelation. " And your husband was pleased
to have you looking bright and happy again, and
thought what a good thing it was for you to have
some cheerful companionship these dull winter

days "

"He did, he did. Indeed, Hetty, sometimes
when Captain Hazard was quite pressing to go,
and saying that he was ashamed of being still
found here when you and others came over, and
that he was sure people must wonder whether he
was ever going away, Dolly would say back, ' Oh,
we can't spare you. You keep us going.' And
Captain Hazard has been so useful to him about his
dogs and horses. He sat up half the night with a
sick dog, and wouldn't have the vet., for he said
he knew as well as any vet. ; and he fetched the
medicine himself ; we drove all the way to Swan-
burn for it," suddenly the eager voice broke off,
and the speaker's cheeks burned afresh. " Dolly
said I was to go. He himself said it. He ar-
ranged the drive, and thought it would do me
good. And when Dolly goes out shooting, Cap-

212 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

tain Hazard always goes with him ; and when he's

fishing we go down and look on "

"May," Henrietta took the brown head be-
tween her hands, and looked into the eyes before
her. " I told you that words could be made to
say anything. And, besides, I know all this is
true, and that you have been deluded by it just
because it is true. But it doesn't reach down
below the surface, May. "When your husband
sends you out walking and driving with his friend,
and when he is quite pleased that you should be
passing your time together in the drawing-room,
or billiard-room, do you think he would be equal-
ly well content if he were there and neither of
you knew it ? Don't answer me," proceeded
Henrietta quickly, " there is no need for me to
know more than he knows. Only say you'll go
with me to London, dear," catching sight of two
figures approaching the house, and feeling there
was not a moment to be lost. " Dear May, until
now you have not known what you were doing ;
you have allowed yourself a little amusement, a
little admiration, and a few sensations new to
you; you have thought no harm, at least you
have hardly begun to suspect there was any.
But, if after this oh, May, you can't, you won't

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 213

after this persist in shutting your eyes ? You do
know now yes, I can see it in your face. Say
then that you will end it now at once and for
ever. Say that you will go with me."

For answer May turned, as it were, mechan-
ically, towards the open window which faced the
lawn, and moving forwards, passed through,
whilst Henrietta kept even pace by her side.
"What was passing through her mind could only
be guessed. Was she about to prove her acquies-
cence by immediate action ? Or was she, on the
other hand, bent on bringing the interview to a
close without having anything further elicited on
her part ?

The two figures had disappeared from view,
lost in the shrubbery on which her eyes were
bent ; and judging it best to let her take her
own course without bringing to bear further
pressure, yet in some doubt as to how the affair
would end, the elder young lady said no more,
and they walked along in silence.

Every moment Henrietta expected to be met
by a gay greeting, and obviously May did the
same, for on entering a narrow path, shut in by
thick hedges of laurel, she came to a sudden half,
and looked round in surprise. No one was to be

214 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

seen, and not a sound was to be heard! Each
alike thought, " Where can they have vanished
to?"

But the next moment the fragrance of cigar
smoke betrayed the proximity of mankind, and in
a blyther mood would have suggested an ambush
and a frolic. The hidden pair were within a few
feet ; could almost have been touched ; smoking
serenely in a tiny alcove among the laurels,
which abutted on a lower path. In this snug
corner they had apparently seated themselves.

It would have been a jest for the surprise
party to have dropped from above some little
notification of their neighbourhood. But had
any such idea presented itself a single sentence
uttered in an unknown voice which the next
instant fell distinctly on their ears, would have
dispelled it.

" And sets you free to spoon the little count-
ess ? Ha ha ha ! " The words were followed
by a harsh, grating laugh and the folds of Hen-
rietta's dress were suddenly clutched by May's
little hand. Henrietta herself stood petrified ; the
feet of both were rooted to the ground.

" Dolly was always an absolute noodle," pur-
sued the same voice, " but you must have man-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 215

aged him well, to get housed and fed for three
weeks, only at the cost of flirting with his wife."

" Oh, she's a jolly little thing. But they're
both as green as you make 'em." Hazard's
voice. May's face changed from red to white.

" Can turn them both round my little finger,
don't you know," proceeded the same speaker.
And there was another rude, jarring laugh.

Sick with disgust, Henrietta would fain have
dragged her companion from the spot, suddenly
realising the terrible position into which they had
been entrapped.

But May apparently was insensible to her
touch, probably also unable to realise that she
was in fact, even if not consciously, an eaves-
dropper.

"Come away, come away," muttered Hen-
rietta, as imperatively as she dared. The two
men had lowered their voices, but were still
conversing, and it might be hoped that the re-
treating footsteps would, therefore, be as inaudi-
ble as the advancing ones had been.

" Come," said Henrietta, with a relentless
grip. But even as she uttered the word a final
sentence rang out with cruel distinctness from
below.

216 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Doesn't know what a ' tame cat ' is ? You
bet she does. Anyhow, you'll have taught Lady
St. Bees that, if you've taught her nothing else.
She may be a common little girl from the
wilds "

The " common little girl from the wilds " al-
most flew from the spot.

" What time shall we start to-morrow ? "
The question was put by a pair of quivering
lips, which could scarcely articulate an almost
soundless whisper, and as the reply was whis-
pered back, the trembling Henrietta experienced
a sensation of the strangest awe, as though a
Higher Hand than her own had taken up the
broken thread with which she had sought to
draw her friend back to the paths of peace and
safety.

CHAPTER XYI.

THE streets of London just before Christmas
time, present an appearance tempting to every
feminine mind, and trebly so to new arrivals
from the depths of the country, who have long
been debarred the dearest delight of their sex.

When one is young, rich, and generously dis-
posed, moreover, the field for extravagance, if ex-
travagance it can be called, is boundless. And,
although the first two days after her arrival in
Portman Square saw the youthful Lady St. Bees
still suffering from the shock consequent on the
cruel scene narrated in our last chapter, still de-
jected, listless, and apt to sit and sigh when she
thought herself unperceived, on the third morn-
ing there was an improvement a change for the
better set in.

She had gone to bed fatigued, mentally and
bodily, after a long day of variety and amuse-
ment. She had striven to preserve the outward

217

218 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

demeanour wliich should do credit to her dignity
in Henrietta's eyes, and win for Henrietta the
approval of her relations. Henrietta's affec-
tionate " good-night " had been bestowed with
even more tenderness than usual, and felt to be
deserved.

Then May had had a nice loving little note
from Dolly to place under her pillow, and her
heart had gone out to Dolly in a way it had
perhaps never done before, when she wrote
back by the next post.

After all this she had slept soundly for nine
hours at a stretch the tired, dreamless sleep of a
healthy child ; and with the morning's awakening
there had been something also of a child's elas-
ticity of spirit and joyful looking forward to
what the day might bring forth.

JsTot once did she sigh, or pause to think of
the mortifying, humiliating past, whilst dressing ;
and the gong sounded for breakfast just as she
had thrown open her window to inhale the
keen frosty breath of a glorious December
morning.

How much was to be done that day ! She
was to be fitted on by tailor and dressmaker.
She was to have a nice new driving coat,

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 219

trimmed with sable, Dolly's Christmas pres-
ent, and it behoved her to be very particular
that Dolly should approve the cut and shape.
The sable-bordered cap to match was also to
be ordered, and Dolly had bidden her add
a muff " to keep her poor little hands warm
when driving about over those beastly cold
hills."

She had had a long talk with Dolly the night
before leaving home such a talk as she had only
had once or twice in her life before. Not be-
cause either had ever kept anything back until
within the last three weeks, but because so little
had occurred in their married lif e of deeper im-
port than what could easily be confided at any
time, and in almost any place. The stirring of
stronger emotions had waited until now.

But now it would have been not only un-
wifely, but impossible, to reserve from Dolly the
trouble of her soul.

Dolly had seen something was amiss directly
he returned to the house and found Captain
Hazard and his friend alone in the dining-room
with luncheon on the table. They had sat down
and were hard at work eating and drinking hav-
ing received a message from the lady of the

220 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

house to the effect that she had a headache and
was sorry to be unable to appear.

" She has been bothered all the morning with
old cats coming talking business," Hazard had
explained to his friend on receipt of the mes-
sage and neither had troubled themselves fur-
ther in the matter. " I daresay she is shy of you,
too," Hazard had laughed knowingly in reply to
a shaft of banter. "If I had been alone she'd
have come down fast enough."

Then Dolly had come in, and been concerned
about the headache, and gone up at once in his
kindly way to see if there were anything he
could do, and what were to be the plans for the
afternoon ?

With rare self-control May had quietly al-
lowed that something was wrong something had
vexed her made her cry and brought on, in
actual fact, the throbbing head which served as
a shield for her seclusion. But she had also peti-
tioned as a favour that her husband would ask
no more at the present moment. She would tell
him all at the close of the day. And would he
just do this for her ? Behave to Captain Hazard
and the stranger who was with him, as though
nothing were the matter, but not be drawn on to

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 221

extend any further hospitality to the latter,
and, if possible, contrive that Captain Haz-
ard, too, should quit the castle the following
day.

" Hazard ? Is it about him ? " Dolly had ex-
claimed at this. Whereat it had required all
May's strength to prevent a fresh flood of tears
which would have driven poor Dolly out of his
senses, and also, horrible to contemplate, have
perhaps betrayed to Hazard, if not the true
state of the case, enough to set him on its
track.

The hour which had been passed by May in
solitude had taught her the line she must pursue
at all costs. "Wherefore at Dolly's start and
wrathful exclamation she replied with a calmness
that astonished herself, even while her hand un-
consciously wrenched the nearest thing it could
lay hold of in the effort to let no unguarded look
or word escape.

"Dolly, I would rather not tell you yet,
because you are not very good at keeping things
to yourself, and it would never do for these men
to know Dolly, I can't explain, because that
would be telling, but "

" What has Hazard been saying to you ? " said
15

222 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Dolly bluntly. He felt as though a light were
breaking in upon him.

" To me ! Nothing whatever. I have never
seen him since the morning, when we parted
quite good friends. And that is why I don't go
down now, for I want to be quite good friends
again to-night, and keep it up till the last. Then
I want him to go away to-morrow, and oh!
Dolly, I forgot, may I go too ? Not with him,"
almost laughing at Dolly's tell-tale countenance of
amazement. "No, indeed, but with Henrietta
Milner."

" Oh ! with Henrietta Milner ? " The hus-
band's face shortened by half a yard.

" But I am keeping you here talking, and you
want your luncheon, poor boy."

May laid her hand on his arm in her old
tender way.

" And you must go down to those men, or

they will be wondering Dolly, who is he ?

And what is he doing here ? "

" By Jove, I don't know," said Dolly, good-
humouredly. " All I know is that about an hour
ago, when he appeared at the river side, Hazard
produced another fellow of his own cut, whom he
had apparently picked up in the village, or some-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 223

where I really didn't listen to what was said
but told them to go in to luncheon, and I'd fol-
low. I took it for granted it would be all right.
And if you're going to start questions, I don't see
my luncheon getting any nearer. Well, what's
to be done ? Am I to go down and be just as
usual ? "

" Yes yes ; only you needn't be too At

least No, you mustn't make any change.

And to-night, when it's all over, I'll tell you what
it was "

" You are sure he hasn't been impertinent to
you ? Mind you, I was just beginning to think
he was growing a bit too easy."

Then a maid had knocked at the door. And
the interview was over.

Dolly, however, had been too curious to wait
till night for it to be continued, and having got
rid of his companions on some plausible pretext,
had hurried upstairs again as soon as he had seen
them off from the front door. He had turned a
resolutely deaf ear to the hints dropped by Mr.
St. Martin (one of the original party on the
Swiss mountain, who had seen no reason why he
should not find Redditch Castle as good a
" billet " as his- friend had done) and assumed an

224 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

air so well befitting a dignified host and master of
the lordly domain, that both adventurers had been
instinctively subdued, not to say cowed thereby.

They shared an uncomfortable suspicion of
having been somehow outwitted by the Lord St.
Bees who had thus suddenly developed before
their very eyes. They could not complain of
him, but neither could they be familiar with him.
They were driven off in state with every atten-
tion paid to their comfort; and he was free to
bound upstairs again to May's bedroom.

But though the husband and wife had thus
one long, uninterrupted hour, the fullest con-
fidences, and the most perfect understanding had
been reserved, as we know, till there was no
further need of any restraint being practised
before the offender, when May need no longer
catch herself up with, " Oh, Dolly, I don't want
to put you more against him," and admonish alike
Dolly and herself with the reminder, " Dolly, if
we make enemies of this man there is no knowing
what he will say."

The evening had passed in the exercise of
this wonderful new self-restraint, May, woman-
like, distancing her husband in the art. The
impromptu journey to London had been cheer-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 225

fully discussed in all its bearings ; Lady St. Bees
had dilated on the goodness of the Milners in
planning such a merry trip, and on the value of
having their assistance in her shopping expedi-
tions. She had also spoken gleefully with a
little exaggerated glee, but it was difficult to be
precisely natural of going to theatres and con-
certs, regretting with a little air that there was
no opera at that season of the year, and that her
presentation at Court must wait until February.
By that time, however, Dolly would take his seat
in the House of Lords, and the family mansion in
Hill Street would be ready for their reception,
which was charming to look forward to.

As it was, Henrietta said that Mrs. Courtenay
had a lively house, where there was plenty going
on and Mrs. Courtenay was quite the right per-
son to go about with. She knew everybody, and
stood high in the estimation of the best people.
The " best people " was uttered with an emphasis
intended to convey that Lady St. Bees was already
learning to appreciate such distinctions.

Even Hazard had been baffled and discon-
certed by the stream of prattle, and the well-
feigned exhilaration of his hostess ; while Dolly
had backed her up in the best way he could, by

226 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

affecting to laugh at the whole thing as a frivo-
lous arrangement which had caught her fancy, and
to which he must perforce submit.

" As she has set her heart upon it, I must give
in like a dutiful husband eh, Hazard?" He
shook his head in rueful deprecation. " And to
tell the truth, it won't be a bad opportunity for
me to go and see that place of mine in York-
shire, which I have not been near yet, and where
they've been crying out for me to come ever since
I succeeded. It's a bore; but Soames tells me
that it ought to be done, and that they are rather
indignant I have not been there before. So I
sent a wire this afternoon. And if you won't
think it rather short notice to be off with us in
the morning," addressing his guest pointedly,
" we can all make an early start together ; you
and I in the dog cart, and Lady St. Bees and her
maid in the close carriage."

He had been used to call his wife by her name
to Hazard, but he would never use this familiarity
again.

Whatever Hazard suspected he may have
thought that his introduction of a friend upon
the scene had been resented as an encroachment
it could not but be plain to him that from some

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 227

cause or other his reign was at an end ; and as
May retired early to rest and did not appear the
next day until the carriages were actually at the
door, when she laughingly alleged she had no
time for anything or anybody and even at the
station was all in a bustle, and surrounded by
the Milners he had no opportunity for the soft
little note of lamentation and tender farewell,
which he had trusted might provoke response if
conveyed unseen and unheard.

He tried to think that his pretty little friend
was acting a part, and could he but take her
unawares when she could give supervision the
slip ? but he was foiled in the attempt. To
the very last volubility and smiles were kept up,
and a gay farewell was waved to him and Dolly,
left standing side by side upon the platform, as
the London train moved off. He did not even
have his share of the last glance, which was
directed frankly and fully towards May's hus-
band.

It had all been well done. And then had
come the revulsion on the part of the poor young
nature so cruelly wounded ; and May had thrown
herself back in the corner of the carriage, and
scarce spoken a word for many hours thereafter.

228 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

One thing she had felt thankful for, that
Henrietta understood this silence. There had
been no need to keep on the mask directly the
station platform was left behind. The two other
young ladies of the party were instructed that
Lady St. Bees was not feeling very well, and was
to be kept quiet. Henrietta had smilingly called
herself May's nurse, and so long as others were
present silence was guaranteed in the compart-
ment.

Indeed, the wise Henrietta had forborne to
disturb the pensive reverie into which her fellow-
traveller had sunk by more than an occasional
inquiry or comment, even when the two were
alone. May had been encouraged to doze when
not disposed to amuse herself with light reading,
and she had felt this thoughtful consideration to
the depths of her soul ; her gratitude to Henrietta
was in itself an instigation to further effort
when effort was required.

JBut it was not until the third day after the
girl's arrival in Portman Square that, as has been
said, mental convalescence set in on the part of
Miss Milner's patient.

Once begun, however, there was no going
back; no single hour had its drawback. "Why

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 229

should not May be happy again ? She had been
punished for her folly ; and though the folly had
been sufficient to make her still wince at the rec-
ollection, and fervently trust it might be long
ere she set eyes on Hazard's face again, there was
the comfort of reflecting that Dolly knew all that
had ever happened, and had only called her " a
silly little goose " at the end.

Dolly had, moreover, pointed out that Hazard
had nothing to show in proof of his assertions,
should he be so unwise as to boast of his flirtation.
" Not so much as a scrap of paper," he had re-
peated triumphantly, having been assured of the
fact. " And when a fellow has nothing but his
own word for it, and we give no countenance to
anything he says, the odds are he won't get be-
lieved at all."

"And even Mr. St. Martin won't give him
credit for all he said, will he ? " murmured May.
" When you were cold to him, and I wouldn't
come down, and he was turned out the next
day ? " and she took comfort in the recollec-
tion.

Comfort once begun, throve apace.

And then there was a perfect hubbub of
bright, busy doings, morning, noon, and night, in

230 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Mrs. Courtenay's house, of which Mrs. Courte-
nay herself was the head and front.

Henrietta's aunt was as unlike her mother as
it was possible for two sisters to be. On first
acquaintance, Lady Milner had looked May over
with a little distant air of formal politeness, and
made conversation with her in the style due to a
lady of position and importance; whereas Mrs.
Courtenay begged to be allowed to call the
young wife by her Christian name almost directly
they began to talk petted her, laughed at her,
and kissed her when she went to bed.

The next day saw May on a footstool by the
elder lady's chair talking about her old home and
her first meeting with Dolly Feveril. A long
confab had wound up with

"I wish you would tell me when I do any-
thing wrong ; " and on the third day she was told
of something. It delighted her. She had not
had a scolding, she said, since she was married.

A few days later Henrietta wrote to her
mother that May was a perfect darling, and that
everyone was enchanted with her.

" She takes such interest in getting together
her bundles of things for the people at Red-
ditch," wrote the kind girl, scribbling as fast as

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 231

pen could go. " Yesterday she was hours select-
ing the prize books and pictures for the schools,
and the dolls and sweetmeats for the Children's
Hospital. She owned she did not care so much
for the old people's tobacco ; but still she laid in
great stores, and said Dolly had told her what to
get, and that he would know whether he was
right or not. We are to look out the things for
our Christmas tree this morning ; and May means
to have one too, and dinners, and all sorts of
things. She was delighted with their house in
Hill Street, and, aunt Laura says, behaved so
prettily to the old butler and his wife who are
taking care of it. She asks aunt Laura about
everything. And in a few days, when she has got
her new coat and hat, she is to be taken to
Brown's Hotel, where some of the St. Bees' rela-
tions are stopping, to be presented to them.
Aunt Laura suggested that she should write be-
fore hand, and offer to call. She wrote such a
funny little note, but when she saw by our faces
for she brought it to be looked over that it
would hardly do to send, she said at once, * I was
afraid that I did not know what ought be said,
and I nearly asked to be told. But I thought I
had better just try, as I did not like to trouble

232 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

anyone.' Aunt Laura simply took her in her
arms! And they went off together, and May
says she means to learn how to do this like all the
rest. And, mamma, I do think she wishes to be a
good woman as well as a great lady. I don't like
to repeat what she says about this nor to tell you
what I notice for myself, because it would hardly
be fair on such a subject. But I feel so happy
about dear May, and so sure that whatever mis-
takes she has made, or may still make, she is
really and truly seeking to do right in great
things as well as small. Mamma, if I might dare
to prophesy, and you would not call me too im-
pulsive a second time, I should predict that the
day will come when we shall all be proud of the
new Countess of St. Bees."

CHAPTER XVII.

"READY for the call, May? Well, you do
look nice ! Doesn't she look nice, aunt Laura ?
And isn't that coat well cut ? And the hat be-
coming ? I wish Lord St. Bees were here "

The door opened and Lord St. Bees entered ! It
was like a scene in the " Count of Monte Christo."

What was the meaning of it ? What had
brought him ? Where had he come from ?

With a cry of unfeigned delight, and unmind-
ful of all beside, the young wife flung herself on
her husband's breast, where Dolly's arms enclosed
her fast while Mrs. Courtenay and her niece dis-
creetly looked the other way, after one smiling
glance into each other's eyes.

In a few moments, however, the new-comer
was ready with his explanation, one entirely satis-
factory to all present.

" I simply couldn't help coming," said Dolly,
frankly. "I hope, Mrs. Courtenay, you won't

234 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

laugh at me too much. But the fact is, it all
sounded so jolly up here, and my little wife,"
keeping hold of her hand as he spoke, " sent me
such accounts of your kindness, and the fun she
was having, that I couldn't resist taking the next
train to London. I have got a room at the
'Langham' along here, you know" pointing
with his thumb " and and I hope it isn't too
much to ask if I may go about with you some-
times ? "

" Oh, Dolly dear, it will be heavenly ! " Then
May let go her husband's hand, and ran up to her
hostess.

" You don't mind," cried she, all gleeful con-
fidence. "You are pleased to see him, I
know."

"Indeed I am. More than pleased. De-
lighted. We are all delighted." And there was
welcome not only in the voice, but on the face of
the speaker, whilst Henrietta looked little less
radiant than May herself ; and any further apolo-
gies that might have been meditated on Dolly's
part were felt to be not only unnecessary, but ab-
surdly superfluous.

He was given to understand that he had dis-
tinguished himself, performed a meritorious ac-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 235

tion, and flattered, in the most ingenious manner,
everybody's vanity.

Seated in the midst of the admiring little
group, he had again to recount the details of his
sudden resolution, and the events of his journey
and arrival at the station and hotel.

Then Mrs. Courtenay had to regret a thou-
sand times that he could not be accommodated in
her house, where workmen were engaged in sun-
dry rooms, and he had to assure her that he had
never for a moment contemplated such an ar-
rangement. And it was shown how he could still
take part in everything that went on in Portland
Place, being only at the end of the street ; and
altogether one would have thought it was a near
and dear relation of the kind hostess whose joyful
advent was the source of the hubbub and the
occasion of the self-gratulations on this and that
place's being vacant which could now be filled,
and which it almost seemed had been reserved
for such a contingency.

" And now, May, get up and show yourself."
At last came the pause which Henrietta was wait-
ing for.

May was looking her best; and Dolly, who
admired his wife in everything she wore, must

236 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

still be made to observe that she was suited to
perfection by the rich furs and handsome cloth,
and that in future the little odd-come-short skirts
and jackets, for the most part ready-made, which
had formed Lady St. Bees' only wardrobe hither-
to, might give place to garments more suitable to
her rank.

Henrietta did not know that in his own
mind May's husband had actually forestalled this
opinion.

He had been pondering over the matter dur-
ing hours of solitary travelling.

" If she didn't look so like a little school-
girl, I fancy it would be a good thing," he had
told himself among other reflections.

And certainly May looked anything but like a
schoolgirl now.

Accordingly, Lord St. Bees astonished them
all by his next remark. Had they taken evening
as well as morning dress into consideration ? He
intended to have hum ha some sort of a
Christmas gathering at Redditch. And it would
consist of people who would be accustomed to
wearing full evening attire. He would tell them
all about it if they would allow him for May's
eyes were opening large and wide, whilst the

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 237

other ladies were all sympathetic interest and
expectancy.

" Oh, yes, there is plenty of time," said Mrs.
Courtenay, Dolly having murmured something
about not keeping the party indoors. " None of
us are going out for another hour. May dressed
beforehand, because her things have only just
come, and we were to look her over and see if
any alterations were required. My dear," ad-
dressing her young friend with a charming smile,
" if you will forgive an old woman for paying you
a very blunt compliment, I see nothing that could
be altered for the better, either in these clothes or
their wearer."

After that it was easy for Dolly to unfold his
heart, big with new purposes and resolutions,
the outcome of which was that Redditch Castle
should be looked upon in the light that cer-
tain other stately homes he knew of were re-
garded.

It was not alone to be his home and May's ; it
ought to be the central point, the rallying place,
as occasion offered, for all to whom the tie of
blood should give a claim. Kith and kin should
be recognised as such, and brought together with-
in the walls of the old domain from time to time
16

238 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

should be encouraged to proceed thither when re-
turning from distant lands. Schoolboys should
be invited for their holidays. Old people should
find a niche in the great stone pile where they
could peacefully stay on and on, feeling them-
selves in no one's way.

There was room for all, Dolly said. And he
remembered how he used to feel when he thought
of the sunny woodlands and shining river, and
how he would have enjoyed them, and asked noth-
ing of anybody but just to be allowed a little
nook to sleep in among the innumerable bed-
rooms, and a seat at the stately board where there
was always so much empty space.

" Don't you think, ma'am ? " the speaker final-
ly appealed to Mrs. Courtenay, whose animated
countenance betrayed her approval and sympathy
" don't you think that when a man finds himself
at the head of a family like ours, and comes in for
all the good of it, he ought to try what he can do
for the other less lucky members, and let them
have their share as much as he can ? What I
mean is," pursued Dolly, rather red in the face
with the effort to be clear and sensible, " that it
isn't as if we had made our own position, built
our own house with our own money (of course

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 239

even then one wouldn't wish to be selfish) still it
would be different ; in that case one might do as
one chose about entertaining, and showing hospi-
tality ; but with us, with May and me, I am sure I
don't know how to explain," he broke off short.
" But you understand, don't you ? And Miss Mil-
ner does too ? " turning to Henrietta.

" I not only understand, but I agree with you
from the bottom of my heart, Lord St. Bees.
And I can answer for my niece that she does the
same." Mrs. Courtenay rose from her chair as she
spoke. " I cannot wait another moment, I am so
impatient to introduce you both to poor dear old
Lady Jane and Lady Charlotte, the late Lord St.
Bees' aunts, still alive, though between seventy
and eighty. Never have they ceased to bemoan
the glories of the past, the days when they were to
be found at Redditch Castle as regularly as the
partridges in September, or the hollyberries at
Christmas. That was years ago; for the last
Lord St. Bees extended but few invitations, and
cared nothing whatever, as you know," to Dolly,
" for the claims of relationship."

" Dear me, ma'am, why, I never even heard of
them ! " Dolly rose also in the excitement of the
moment; whilst Henrietta and May simultane-

240 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

ously stood on their feet likewise, and looked as
though a grand discovery had been made.

" Why, this is splendid ! " continued the young
man ; " those are the very people I want to begin
upon. I do hope they are poor, and all that," he
added, earnestly.

"Not exactly poor." Mrs. Courtenay could
not repress a smile. " But very lonely, and lead-
ing a very dull, monotonous existence ; such a
contrast to their gay, bright youth even to the
comfortable dignity of their middle age. They
are now mere nobodies "

" That'll do," said Dolly, nodding. " We'll
make ' somebodies ' of them again. We'll give
them the best rooms, and a good time whenever
they come to the old place."

"The place they were born in," said Mrs.
Courtenay, softly. " The place round which all
happy memories linger. The home fraught with
all the associations of childhood. They will tell
you tales of every nook and corner. They will
find old people among the tenantry and cottagers
who remember them as little girls, perhaps some
who taught them to ride, or to skate

" They'll know old Hannah," struck in Dolly,
rubbing his hands. "And I daresay lots of

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 241

others. I see it all beginning. "Well, Mrs. Court-
enay, who next ? Who is to be second on the
list ? Do go on. You know some more, don't
you ? I do hope you know some more."

" I know of some more," replied the lady, smil-
ing afresh. " And I daresay that Lady Jane and
Lady Charlotte will be able to supply the full de-
mand. There are the Gayfords," she hesitated.
"To be sure they are only connections; Mrs.
Gayford was a second cousin. Perhaps you
might think that rather far off ? "

"I was only a second cousin myself," said
Dolly. " But though I was thought far off by
the late lord, and I daresay by all in the main
line, they seemed near enough to me from my
point of view. I daresay Mrs. Gayford still
thinks of herself as a St. Bees."

" Oh, she does. Very much as a St. Bees.
Poor thing, it is all she has to cling to ; a widow
with a large family

" Boys ? " demanded Dolly, eagerly.

" Boys in abundance. Some here, some there.
All over the world. And I am told doing very
well, in spite of the struggle it was to bring them
up. But really I hardly know enough of Mrs.
Gayford and her family to judge whether they

242 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

would be desirable people to produce as connec-
tions "

" "We'll risk it," Dolly looked cheerfully at his
wife. " We are willing to risk it, eh, May ? So
long as they are respectable," with an after-
thought.

" Absolutely respectable, I assure you ; and
Mrs. Gayford is a refined, delicate woman, with
an unmistakable air of breeding in spite of the
poverty of her surroundings. I know Lady Jane
and Lady Charlotte keep up with her, and have
always considered that she was to be recognised
as one of the family. Her husband is dead, but
whilst he lived he was a very hard-working and
much respected clergyman. He had a poor par-
ish in the west of England."

" In the west of England ? Oh ! " said Dolly.
" How are we to get at them ? Have you the ad-
dress ? "

" I was about to say that since his death, which
occurred about four years ago, his widow and
children have lived at Hampstead, in a small
semi-detached villa. I don't know exactly where,
because I only meet them at the old ladies' in
Montagu Square. But no doubt they will be able
to furnish you with all particulars."

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 243

" And we can go to them at once, can't we ? "
cried May, getting in her word at last. " That
will make quite a round of relations to do this
afternoon, won't it ? You know, Dolly, I told
you I was to be taken to see Lady Frensham any-
way. He knows who Lady Frensham is," turning
to the others. " Mr. Rathbone often spoke to us of
Lady Frensham ; because she used to come down
and entertain for her brother whenever he did
have people, though that wasn't very often. Mr.
Rathbone used to speak of Lady Frensham with
the greatest awe, and I believe she was the one
who who said that about us you know, Dol-
ly ?"

" I know, I know," said Dolly, a slight frown
contracting his open brow. " It wasn't very nice
what she said. And it wasn't true, either. My
father never did what she declared, but I daresay
she knew no better. Anyhow we've got to make
the peace now," he summed up, valiantly, " and
though I don't suppose she will come to Redditch,
she'll have to be asked."

"Why should you suppose she will not
come ? " Mrs. Courtenay's eyes twinkled.

" If we are the couple of vulgar upstarts she
holds us to be, ma'am, Lady Frensham would

244 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

scarcely care to visit at our house," said Lord St.
Bees with dignity.

Mrs. Courtenay looked him quietly in the
face.

" That is as it may be. I should prefer not to
offer an opinion. The world is a very odd world ;
and when you have seen as much of it as I have
you will not be surprised at anything it does.
But I gather that Lady Frensham, when she per-
mitted herself to make free with your names, in a
moment probably of supreme irritation (make
allowance, if you can, for the chagrin of a woman
who saw herself suddenly cut off from the main
stem of a great family tree, and reduced to a very
inferior position as regarded it) I understand
that she had never set eyes on the successor to the
title, or his wife ? Is not that so ? "

" "Not since I was a very little boy ," said
Dolly, reflecting. " And she couldn't bear me
then. Cyril was her favourite ; she petted him,
and used to take him out driving with her, and
make him presents. She didn't even like Tom,
who was the nicest, kindest-hearted fellow im-
aginable the only one who was ever good to me
and whom I should have thought no one could
have helped liking. But I fancy Lady Frensham

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 245

was always afraid of Cyril's dying, and Tom's
coming in for the peerage. As for me, I suppose
she never dreamed of my becoming anything to
anybody, and saw no reason why I should be
taken notice of at all. I am sure I never put
myself in her way ; for I used to fly if I heard
the rustle of her gown. Her gowns always

rustled "

"They do now," laughed Mrs. Courtenay.
" Lady Frensham never wears any but the very
richest silks; and is altogether far too grand a
personage for anyone to care very much for her
society. When she goes to see her poor old
aunts, they are all in a flutter till the call has
been made, and the carriage has rolled away from
the door. But all the same, Lady Frensham has
something in common with you," addressing
Lord St. Bees more particularly ; " she is very
great upon the claims of kinship, and would not
neglect her duty hi that respect for the world. I
believe one of the things she felt the most about
your succession (at least so much reached me
and from my knowledge of the speaker I am
inclined to believe it was the truth) one of her
chief grounds for lamentation, was that from
your being so distant by birth from the mam

246 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

stem of the family you would care nothing about
its various branches, and hardly recognise
they existed. After what has passed just now,
Lord St. Bees, I think, to cut short the matter,
you and your wife will not meet with a very flat
refusal should you invite Lady Frensham to join
your Christmas gathering at Redditch Castle."

" As for their being a ' couple of vulgar up-
starts,' " she told herself indignantly, " it only
needs one meeting to dissipate that idea. Lady
Frensham will not commit herself, but she will
secretly be as much surprised as ever she was in
her life by the appearance and deportment of
these two dear people. Lord St. Bees is simply
charming so humble, natural, and unaffected
with that little touch of dignity, too, which sets so
well upon him ! And though little May has not
the same strain of blue blood to fall back upon,
and might possibly have developed into rather a
commonplace woman had she gone through life
in a commonplace groove, she has been caught
early, and the romance of her position, and the
lucky friendship of such a girl as Henrietta, have
done wonders for her already, and will do still
more. May is the sort of person to take the
colour of those with whom she associates. Pres-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 247

ently it will grow to be her own colour, and I
should not be at all surprised to see her develop
into all that Henrietta predicts. For the present
it will be quite enough for Lady Frensham that
she is pretty and pleasant ; and if the impressions
my sister received of her on first acquaintance
were true, her manners even during the few
months that have passed since her change of
fortune must have improved beyond recognition.
I may not be so particular as some folks, but /
can find nothing amiss."

CHAPTER XVIII.

A LADY was sitting at her desk in one of the
private rooms of a London hotel.

Lady Frensham never went to her own house
when up for a brief shopping expedition before
Christmas. She told people she was "on the
rush " from morning till night ; and nobody was
to come and see her, for positively she had not a
moment to spare even for her dearest friends.

Her ladyship was a person to be obeyed per-
haps obedience did not cost much in the present
instance but a certain little note which had
arrived a few days before had been an exception
to the rule. Lady Frensham had arched her eye-
brows over the note, and turned it round and
round several times between her fingers, before
taking up her pen to reply.

But in the end she had granted the request
therein contained ; had named a day and hour
when she would be at home to receive Mrs.

343

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 249

Courtenaj and Lady St. Bees; and, being a
woman - of energy, was utilising the moments
thus wrung from the clutches of dressmakers and
milliners, in despatching such business as could
be done by post.

Had curiosity not entered into the question
she would probably have excused herself even to
her expected visitors. But she was curious
undeniably curious to see what the girl was
like whom that wretched Dolly Feveril had
picked up, no one knew where, and set' over the
heads of all the feminine members of the St.
Bees family.

Albeit she herself had married a man of
sufficient rank to oblige her to merge her own
courtesy title in his actual one, Lady Frensham
still thought of herself as a St. Bees, and would
so think to her dying day. Moreover, she was
now a widow and a dowager ; she had no chil-
dren, and the reigning Frenshams were only one
degree nearer to her than the reigning heads of
the other house.

But at least as she was wont to say the
Frenshams were aU right whereas Dolly and
his wife were by no means " all right," as she
had been at the pains to discover by means of

250 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

more secret enquiries than she would have cared
to own.

Even Mr. Rathbone's subsequent modification
of his early impressions had failed to soften an
iota of their blackness, and the lady's lip had
curled contemptuously as she perceived that, as
time went on, he grew anxious, after a fashion,
to undo what he had said.

It was, she contended, a matter of course that
the old man would be won over; it would re-
quire but a modicum of civility a few hares
and pheasants and some respectable entries in
his subscription lists to reconcile the parson of
the place to any new lord of the manor but for
herself ? The proud Lady Frensham straight-
ened her back, and Mr. Rathbone might have
spared his endeavours.

" He told the truth at first, when he had noth-
ing to gain and nothing to lose by it. What he
says now is not worth the paper it is written
upon ! " was her dictum, based upon firm convic-
tion.

It was in this frame of mind that the Dowager
Lady Frensham awaited her expected callers.

"Really too bad to take you by storm, and
force an entrance ! " To May's surprise the Mrs.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 251

Courtenay, who preceded her into the hotel sit-
ting-room with these words on her lips was
another Mrs. Courtenay from her frank, natural
hostess in Portland Place. , Lady Frensham was
accosted as one woman of fashion greets another,
with that air of smiling indifference which passes
current in a certain set, and is the recognised
substitute for any warmth of feeling. It seemed
to suit Lady Frensham, and the two shook hands,
as they would have alleged, cordially.

" I should never have dared to break through
your well-known edict," proceeded Mrs. Courtenay,
gaily, "but here are my two apologies two, you
see for Lord St. Bees looked in upon us an hour
ago, and we really could not let him off making
one of our party," and she murmured herself on
to a sofa.

Now if only Dolly would follow her lead?
Look as though he thought the whole thing a
bore, and his coming a condescension. Give his
haughty relative to understand that he had con-
ceded the civility because recognising it to be her
due, but plainly exhibit the restiveness of the
masculine mind under control, in addition to the
independence of a personage conferring a favour
by his presence.

252 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

That was the sort of thing to go down with a
woman of Lady Frensham's stamp.

And having, as she considered, given a direct
hint as to the line best pursued, the excellent
creature was now prepared to efface herself and
see her proteges shine.

Shine they did but in a manner little antici-
pated. They had been prepared, and warned,
and coached until the two in private had come to
their own resolution.

"If she doesn't like us, we can't help it,"
Dolly had exclaimed at last, " but I am quite sure
of one thing, I shall forget every single one of
Mrs. Courtenay's cautions the moment I am face
to face with that hooked nose and those hawk-
eyes, and hear the rustle of that gown so I am
just going to worry through with it in my own
way."

And accordingly, in response to the formal
" It is a very long time since we met," into which
there insensibly slid some of the deference due to
his new position, as Lady Frensham seated her-
self and looked toward a chair near, which Dolly
felt he was thus invited to take in response, we
say, to this opening remark, he made what to
every one acquainted with the awe-inspiring dow-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 253

ager would have been a most unusual reply. He
paid her a compliment.

" I can scarcely believe how long it is when I
look at you."

The words were uttered with such evident sin-
cerity were so obviously the outcome of genuine
conviction on the speaker's part that no courtier
could have hit upon a phrase more certain to
score a point.

Lady Frensham would have alleged that she
was absolutely indifferent as to whether she
looked, or felt, or was regarded as old. The pos-
session of a fine person and excellent health did
actually go far toward making such a matter of
slight importance in her estimation. She had no
struggle either to look well or to feel so, and her
attention was free to fasten itself on other points.

But she would have been less than a woman
had she not liked to meet Dolly's straightforward
gaze, and hear the words which burst, as it were
involuntarily, from his lips.

Dolly spoke as though he were speaking to
himself, gazing into the past, even while his eyes
were fixed upon the stately form and face before
him. A blush that had not found its way to

Lady Frensham' s cheek for years suffused it now.
17

254 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" Ay ? really ? Upon my word, you are very
gallant, Lord St. Bees." Then the elder lady re-
covered herself, and continued with unwonted
graciousness, " You were such a very little boy
when you used to come to Redditch, that I dare-
say you forget all about it and me, too. You
are very good to think me unaltered, but "

" But I am sure of it," persisted Dolly, still
gazing steadfastly. " I recollect you perfectly.
I have never forgotten you for a moment. And
it is like yesterday that I saw you stepping
through the garden door, and walking among the
flower-beds, with a pink satin dress on, and jewels
that flashed in the sun. You were dressed for
dinner, and there was a splendid sunset, and
you had come out to gather flowers to wear in
your hair. And I was sitting on the steps of the
old stone dial you didn't see me, but I watched
you all the time. And if you were to put on a
pink satin dress now " here a happy thought oc-
curred to the speaker " and come to Redditch,
and gather flowers upon the terrace when the sun
is setting ! Won't you come, Lady Frensham ? "
exclaimed Dolly with sudden earnestness. " I
wish you would ! That is what we came for to-
day. We came to say this, May and I."

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 255

He had not meant to say it so soon. It had
been agreed that the invitation should not be
issued until the conclusion of the call, when, if all
had gone well, and something of a pleasant under-
standing had been arrived at between the parties,
the hope that Lady Frensham would visit again
the home of her childhood could be properly ex-
pressed by husband and wife alike, and might be
graciously received.

But the sight of Lady Frensham herself had,
as Dolly had foreseen, been too much for his
newly acquired composure. He could not re-
member what had been arranged for him to say
or do ; he could only act spontaneously, in ac-
cordance with the promptings of his own honest
heart.

But whilst Mrs. Courtenay sat breathless, and
May, beneath her furs, shrank into herself, lest
the impulsive outburst should be coldly met, and
lest Dolly, who was sensitive and easily repulsed,
should draw back into his shell and feel, as he
had felt before, that this awe-inspiring dame,
whose dread presence had kindled at once his
childish admiration and fear, had for him, as ever,
no emotions of interest or of kindliness whilst
these two, as we say, were trembling on Dolly's

256 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

behalf, lie had in reality achieved a feat only once
or twice before attempted in Lady Frensham's
lifetime. He had touched her ladyship's heart.

" Well, we have had the most amusing, not to
say the most extraordinary experiences ! " cried
Mrs. Courtenay, on re-entering her carriage for
the last time, and giving the order " Home " to
the footman, just two hours later. " "We have done
the best afternoon's work I, at anyrate, can ever
remember doing. I am but an idle sort of busy-
body, and it gives me quite a ridiculous amount
of pleasure to poke my finger into my neighbours'
affairs."

" If you always poke like this," the little lady
by her side gave an enthusiastic squeeze to the
arm next her, " I should think everyone you
know wants to have a stir of that finger."

"Yes, indeed," said Dolly, gratefully, from
the opposite seat. " Upon my word, Mrs. Courte-
nay, May and I are ever so much obliged to
you. You have done for us what no one else
could "

"My dears, you did it for your own two
selves." But Mrs. Courtenay bent over her muff
still more radiant than before. " I only acted as

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 957

a sort of sign-post ' This way, Lord and Lady St.
Bees this way to the relations.' Directly you
were brought into touch with the relations, noth-
ing more was needed. Like Julius Caesar, you
went you saw you conquered. Now let me
confess the truth; I was terribly nervous about
this interview with Lady Frensham. Lady Fren-
sham is a person with whom I have not a senti-
ment, scarcely an idea, in common. She is but
no, there is no need to tell you what she is.
Enough that I have known her as well as most
people as well as is possible to know anyone in
London with whom one has no sympathy, no de-
sire for intercourse or intimacy for twenty
years or more, and I have never seen her emit
a single spark of human feeling until to-day !
My expectation was that, with the worldly wis-
dom for which your relative is proverbial, she
would perceive at a glance that it was for her
advantage to meet any overtures on your part
with sufficient alacrity to ensure a mutual good
understanding for the future. That I foresaw,
as anyone with the very slightest insight into
Lady Frensham's character could have foreseen.
It needed no perspicuity on my part to promise
you an easy time so far as it went. But what I

258 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

was not prepared for and what you, Lord St.
Bees, effected by a coup de main of the most
unparalleled may we call it audacity ? was the
dive below the surface which we all took head-
long (for I, too, came in for my share of the
plunge) within five minutes of our sitting down !
My dear Lord St. Bees, it was masterly, that
opening charge of yours ! That picture you drew
of the terrace and the sunset and the pink
satin gown ! I vow I saw the whole scene before
my eyes ! And as for the poor lady, she was
quite overcome ! If there is a soft spot anywhere
in that callous world-battered heart of hers, it is
for her old home, and the old days she spent
there. But how you ever came to suspect this,
and to touch the spring "

" I am sure I had no notion of touching any-
thing," confessed Dolly, frankly. " I only said
what came uppermost. I had not any particu-
larly kind recollections of Lady Frensham she
never was kind to me and when I made up my
mind that we ought to call upon her, all I wished
for was to have it well over, and have done my
duty."

" He told me upstairs that he would be thank-
ful when we were well out of her presence

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 259

again," chimed in May. " I thought I should
have to do all the talking, and that Dolly would
just sit by, looking at his boots "

"Whereas it was you you and I who had
to sit looking at each other ! " Mrs. Courtenay
nodded merrily. " You did very well, my dear ;
very well indeed ; and Lady Frensham was won-
derfully gracious and benign towards you; she
patted you on the shoulder when we came away,
did she not ? But you will never be the favour-
ite your husband will in that quarter take my
word for it. ~Not that it matters oh, dear, no
you would prefer him to be number one with his
own people," anticipating the eager protestation.
"Of course. It is as it should be. Aunts in-
variably prefer nephews ; ami uncles give the
palm to nieces, as we all know. And when I
heard Lady Frensham avowing herself Lord St.
Bee's aunt (having coined the relationship on the
spur of the moment) I, or any one, could have
told that his victory was complete."

" She was really awfully nice," said Dolly, in
a satisfied voice. " I daresay I was too hard
upon her in old times. Boys are often nuisances
to older people ; and I fancy my father was not
not exactly popular with the rest of the family.

260 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

At anyrate, Lady Frensham means to be friendly
with us now," he added, hastily, " and and I am
very glad you took us to call, ma'am ; and we've
broken the ice now and for altogether."

" You have certainly done that, and broken it
in all directions." Mrs. Courtenay was not un-
willing to change the subject. " The ice was very
nearly dripping beneath the sun at the next
house we went to," continued she, brightly.
"My poor old Lady Jane and Lady Charlotte!
This will be one of the whitest of white days in
their lives ! I daresay they are sitting now cac-
kling together as fast as tongues can go, over the
wonderful transformation scene in prospect. Did
you see how they looked at each other in a kind
of ecstasy when you first spoke of their visiting
Redditch again ? Their eyes said : ' Can it really
be true ? Is this not a dream ? ' And to be
going there for a real country Christmas! Oh,
they won't mind the long journey, or the cold
weather. Keither snow nor frost, rain nor hail,
will stop them. They will appear on the day
appointed, and by the train you said."

" Oh, but I didn't name any train." Dolly
laughed genially. " We can send to meet
any train they like. And I only mentioned a

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 261

particular day to show the visit was a fix-
ture."

" That was what delighted them ; it clinched
the matter; left no uncertainty, no vagueness
about it. And then, how pleased they were to
give us Mrs. Gayford's address ! If any of the
Gayfords should be able to accept your kind hos-
pitality likewise, it would be a great thing for the
old ladies to have some fellow guests with whom
they were already familiar, and could be quite at
home. I wish we could have seen the Gayfords "
(the Gayfords had been out) "but still we
left cards," continued Mrs. Courtenay, cheerfully,
"and to have driven all that long way out to
Hampstead merely to leave cards was in itself a
civility to be thoroughly appreciated by poor
Fanny Gayford. Yes, although we have only
been to three houses, and only been admitted into
two which sounds little enough to usurp a
whole London afternoon I think, I do think we
may flap our wings and crow over a most de-
lightful, eventful, successful expedition."

" And now to tell Henrietta ! " exclaimed the
same speaker, having prattled gaily all the way
home. " Now to recount our adventures." And
she stepped briskly up her own doorsteps, and

262 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

paused in the hall to examine the usual array of
cards and notes upon the table, before going
further.

The butler murmured something in her ear.

" ' A gentleman upstairs,' did you say ? What
gentleman ? To see Miss Milner ? Does Miss
Milner know ? "

"Miss Milner is in the drawing-room,
ma'am."

" Have you taken tea upstairs, Maxton ? "

" Tea went up half-an-hour ago, ma'am."

But if tea had gone up so long before our
party returned, it seemed curious that it should
not have been touched, and that there was ap-
parently no intention of touching it on the part
of the two for whose presumable benefit the cosy
meal had been prepared.

Lord Ingatestone and Miss Milner were not
even sitting down when surprised, if the word be
not out of place, by the return of the driving
party.

CHAPTER XIX.

WHEN people who have been out of doors
out upon an interesting excursion, fraught with
momentous issues to some, and in which all are
more or less concerned come back to tell tire
tale, brimming over with excitement, and eager
for sympathy, it is a little " flat " to be met by
the necessity for postponing the recital to a more
convenient season, and to recognise that the
auditor whose attention had been reckoned upon
has no ear to bestow at the moment.

That the marplot who had thus unwittingly
interfered with this supreme moment on the pres-
ent occasion, was one whom all would have wel-
comed willingly enough at another time, was
indeed some slight consolation but still, pretty
little May St. Bees, looking as fresh as a daisy
with the rosy colour in her cheeks and the light
dancing in her blue eyes, felt provoked with
Henrietta's visitor.

203

264 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

It was not only that he was there, and that
before him nothing could be said it was that
Henrietta did not look as if she were impatient to
have everything said ; did not step aside, as she
might have done, to murmur enquiries, and
receive confidences. She could have heard half
the events of the expedition whilst Mrs. Court-
enay was interchanging greetings with Lord In-
gatestone, and allowing him to undo the fasten-
ings of her cloak, and relieve her of her muff and
boa. They were old friends, and were soon in
easy conversation.

The large room with its shaded lamps just lit,
and its blazing fire reflected in a thousand glitter-
ing knick-knacks, was probably a tempting place
for a man to linger in but Lord Ingatestone, if
May had heard aright, had been there a long time
already, and might very well now take his de-
parture if, as was to be presumed from the
neglect of- the tea-table, he had a soul above such
frivolities.

Yet here was the tiresome man sitting down
again ; sitting beside his hostess, and conversing
placidly with her and also with Dolly, who stood
upon the hearth-rug. Apparently neither Mrs.
Courtenay nor Lord St. Bees were on the fidget.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 265

Both seemed content to wait. While Henrietta ?
Henrietta was really exasperating.

" I do wish we could have been alone," May
whispered in her ear. And in return received
such a blank, bewildered gaze as was a positive
shock to the system. For the look said as plainly
as look could say : " Why should we be alone ?
What is to take place when we are alone ? Ts
there anything I have forgotten and ought to
have remembered ? At this moment my mind is
in a haze, and you and your affairs are hidden
behind that haze."

Yet this was the same Henrietta who two
hours before had fluttered round the little band of
explorers, all participation in their hopes and
fears, who had sent them forth with a thousand
encouragements and prognostications of success !

It was too bad of Henrietta or else ? And
then as by a lightning flash, misapprehension
flew to the winds, and the case was clear as day-
light.

Something had happened. Something not in-
deed altogether unexpected but oh, that it should
have taken place so soon ! now ! here ! on this
very spot ! That the air should be still quivering
with electricity, and Henrietta, her dear, dearest

266 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Henrietta, still unable to look around her, or feel
the ground whereon she trod !

May's own heart gave a great bound, whilst
she gasped beneath the new excitement, and but
that no one had notice to bestow upon her at the
moment, would have betrayed to all her glorious
discovery. As it was, she looked so meaningly
from one to another, and subsided so swiftly into
a subordinate position, that it was well she had
taken a seat somewhat beyond the pale of obser-
vation.

And although unaware to what such timely
subservience was due, Henrietta was vaguely con-
scious of an improvement in affairs. It was diffi-
cult enough to proceed filling her tea-cups with
the regulation propriety of demeanour, when but
a few minutes before she had allowed herself to
confess that which would affect all her future life.
But it would have been still harder to maintain
this outward composure, had not little May for
once held her tongue.

And it mattered not what lay at the bottom of
such consideration. It signified nothing now
whether anyone were on the alert or no. Mrs.
Courtenay might ask Lord Ingatestone to dine
with them that same evening and he might ac-

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 267

cept; why should he not? The die was cast;
the fateful words had been pronounced ; and all
would be known ere he returned to fulfil the en-
gagement. He was going now ; going with a
happy look and lingering step going, as it ap-
peared, in utter oblivion of a little arrangement
which had been entered into earlier in the visit,
and which had actually to be recalled to his recol-
lection by the lady of his heart, as he bade " Fare-
well " for the time being.

" You thought of taking Lord St. Bees with
you," murmured Henrietta, as he approached the
spot where she was standing a little apart from
the rest.

" Oh ? ah ! yes ! To be sure ! " Appar-
ently Lord St. Bees and his affairs had been as
completely banished from the lover's thoughts as,
until this moment, they had been from those of
his Mentor. The break-up of the party was to
her the necessary fillip and at her instigation he
turned promptly round.

" There is still a couple of hours before din-
ner time. Will you walk with me to my club ? "
said he, addressing Dolly, still upon the hearth-
rug. " That is, if you have nothing else to
do?"

268 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

The invitation was accepted with readiness,
and the two set forth.

The door shut behind them. May's arms
were round her friend's neck in a moment. Mrs.
Courtenay was exclaiming " My dearest Henri-
etta ! " in accents of unfeigned delight, and
but the scene is familiar to all, why attempt to
depict it ?

" And you sent them away together, that we
might have it out by ourselves, didn't you ? " cried
the sympathetic young wife, at last. " Just we
three, and no one else ! And I was simply dying
for Lord Ingatestone to go! And wondering
how we should get rid of Dolly for I knew you
wouldn't speak out when Dolly was here. But
poor Dolly wouldn't have liked to have been sent
off by himself for though he is so busy at home,
he has nothing to do in London though of course
he could have gone and smoked in the library
but still it was nice of Lord Ingatestone to ask
him to go to his club- "

" Now, you little chatterbox," and Henrietta,
who had been laughing and blushing, and quite
unlike herself for the last twenty minutes, here
made an endeavour to be serious, and took firm

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 269

hold of the little fondling hand within her own.
" Now, May, you are going to listen to me for a
few minutes, and, aunt Laura, I want you to lis-
ten too, because this is rather an important matter
in its way ; though after all it is nothing for any-
one to mind ; and I think as we are all so happy,
and everything is going so well, we had better be
quite open with each other and "

" It is something about me about us ! " said
May, quickly. " I am sure of it. Something I
shan't like to hear. And you think you ought to
tell me. And it's worrying you a little just in
the midst of your own happiness. Oh, but never
mind, dear Henrietta," laying her cheek lovingly
on the other's ; " say whatever you please, even if
it should vex me, though I don't believe it will.
Nothing would vex me to-night."

"That is what I thought," said Henrietta,
steadily. " It is really a very small annoyance,
only it would be better you should know about it.
I am to speak out before aunt Laura, am I not ?
Aunt Laura knows about " She hesitated.

" About Captain Hazard ? " said May, simply,
"About my being so silly and punished for it?
Henrietta," in rather a lower tone, "is it is it

about him ? "
18

270 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

" I was sitting quietly reading this afternoon,"
said Henrietta, who perceived that she had now
her audience in a proper state of expectancy,
" when Lord Ingatestone was announced. I did
not know he was in town, and he did not know I
was until a few hours ago, when by chance he
met Captain Hazard in the hall of his club. I
must tell you, May, that it was Lord Ingatestone
who warned me against Captain Hazard. He
was the person whose name I never would give
you. Somehow, I didn't wish to bring him into
it. But the two have known each other slightly
for a long while, and when they met this after-
noon Lord Ingatestone, remembering where he
had last seen Captain Hazard, with a little curi-
osity to know how his visit had terminated, and
and perhaps a wish to have some news of us all,"
colouring and smiling, "began to talk to him.
Lord Ingatestone must have been rather artful
(he can be, you know ; he is a great deal cleverer
than people think, and he has a quiet way of
drawing out all that's in you without your having
the least idea of what he is about) well, he had
no difficulty with Captain Hazard, who at once,
and in a loud voice which several standing near
could hear distinctly, began to talk the most

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 271

outrageous nonsense about you and Lord St.
Bees."

May started.

" We knew it was very likely he would, you
know," said Henrietta lightly, " and it was really
very fortunate wonderfully fortunate that
Lord Ingatestone should be the person to whom
the absurd story was first told. As far as we can
judge, this preposterous man has not had a chance
of telling it to anyone else, because he caught
such a cold the same day he left Eedditch, that
he had to go to bed at a country inn, and only
reached London this afternoon. In fact, he only
walked into the club as Lord Ingatestone saw
him, and was so hoarse and so muffled up that
Lord Ingatestone really thought he was for once
speaking the truth when he described his illness."

" But what did he say about us ? "

"Said that your husband was a brute, my
dear, and that you would be separated from him
before another year was out with all the usual
variations. Lord Ingatestone did not enter into
full particulars, and I did not press for them ; but
you may fill in anything you like."

"Well?"

" The fortunate thing was," proceeded Henri-

272 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

etta, " that in the course of his remarks your late
guest chanced to observe that you and I were in
town together, whilst Lord St. Bees had started
off in another direction. He made great capital
out of this, alleging that he had himself seen the
parting, and that it was uncommonly cool."

" How could he say so ? What a disgraceful
falsehood ! " May's cheeks were flaming.

" But to that very disgraceful falsehood I owe
Lord Ingatestone's coming here, and perhaps you
may owe the stamping out of this silly scandal be-
fore its wings are fledged," retorted Henrietta,
gaily. "The moment Lord Ingatestone heard
that I was here with you, that was enough. Cap-
tain Hazard, to show his knowledge of your
movements, and give an air of truth to his story,
let fall my aunt's name, and Lord Ingatestone,
who did not know what to believe and what to
disbelieve, and who was not in a position to give
the lie to anything, however improbable it
seemed, thought he could do no less than come
straight off here, and and you know the rest."

" Indeed we don't ! " May pressed closer.
" We want to know a great deal more. Oh, don't
be so demure and shake your head. Now you
have got so far you must tell us how he came in

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 273

and how he looked and what he said. He
didn't really come one bit because of that trump-
ery story of Captain Hazard's, I know."

Henrietta looked at her in amazement.

"It is very disagreeable to have such things
said, and it was wicked and horrid of that detest-
able man to go and say them but, after all, what
does it matter to us ? " said the young Lady St.
Bees, valiantly. " We can afford to disregard the
sting of such a a reptile. Don't let us speak of
him," hastily. " I care far more now to hear
about what took place in here this afternoon," her
face again brightening into sunshine. " How de-
lighted he must have been when he found you
alone, and we out for the whole afternoon ! Just
think, dear Mrs. Courtenay," bending across to-
ward the elder lady, " just think if we had looked
in to fetch Henrietta before we went on to
Hampstead! How dreadful that would have
been ! And we nearly did it ; for it would have
been about the very time would it not have been
about the very time that Lord Ingatestone ar-
rived ? It was four o'clock, don't you remem-
ber ? You looked at your watch, Mrs. Courtenay,
as we turned out of Montagu Square ; and then
you thought that Henrietta would be sure to have

274 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

gone out, as the afternoon was so fine, and that
we really had not any time to waste, now that the
days are so short. Oh, Henrietta," hi parenthesis,
"it was so delightful driving home through the
lighted streets just now! The air was quite
warm, and driving in an open carriage through
London in the dusk is such fun! I think we
must come to London sometimes for a little bit in
the winter, when we feel ourselves inclined to
stagnate at Eedditch. "Well, but, Henrietta," re-
turning to the point, "when Lord Ingatestone
came in, what did you say to him ? "What did
you tell him ? And what made him take it into
his head all at once to "

" No, no, my dear May," at last Mrs. Courte-
nay had a chance of inserting her voice. " Hen-
rietta, love, we are a couple of inquisitives, but we
must not be too merciless. It is not fair to insist
upon knowing everything. May is so taken up
with your happiness "

" And I love her for it." A warm embrace.
Then Henrietta proceeded :

" I really don't know how it all came about,
May. I hardly had a moment to think. But I
suppose the truth is I think I knew he cared
forme and and I suppose I cared for him

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 275

and then we grew excited talking over your
affairs, something dropped out something I said,
and Lord Ingatestone caught at it and before I
knew before I had time to "

" Why, we did it then," cried May, with the
wildest exultation." "It was owing to us that
Lord Ingatestone came to-day ! Oh, how splen-
did ! How glorious ! Was it really and truly
that about Dolly and me which brought him ? "

" Really and truly it was. Yes indeed, dear
May," kissing her. " It was that and nothing
else. And now he has walked off Lord St. Bees
to his club, where he knows Captain Hazard has
an appointment to play billiards at this hour.
And he means to work it so, that after this meet-
ing Captain Hazard will be very careful very
careful indeed how he talks any further nonsense
about Lord and Lady St. Bees. Captain Hazard
will feel rather a fool, won't he, when just after
telling everybody that you two are flying in dif-
ferent directions, he finds that you have flown
together, and that no two people are less likely to
give the world anything to talk about ! He will
see, too, that there is an alliance formed which is
not to be trifled with. I think, my dear May, I
think you have heard the last of Captain Hazard

276 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

and his fabrications. When Lord Ingatestone

takes a matter in hand " A proud light shone

in the speaker's eyes, and the rest of the sentence
was left to her hearer's imagination.

And then of course the whole thing had to
begin over again. But it all ended in the same
conclusion a conclusion which was amply con-
firmed when the two gentlemen severally gave in
their reports. Both had played their part to
admiration ; the slanderer had been discomfitted ;
his assertions disproved ; and he himself made
ridiculous and contemptible ; and though perhaps
this was hardly a novel experience in his career,
it would certainly have one effect, that of shut-
ting his mouth for the future as regarded two
people of his acquaintance, the only two with
which this little tale has any concern namely,
the Earl and Countess of St. Bees.

Two years have passed since the successors to
that ancient title first drove along the great
avenue to Kedditch Castle years which have had
their ups and downs, their blunders, perplexities,
and disappointments also their joys, their pleas-
ures, and their triumphs.

Although no after period was marked by

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 277

any such striking revolution in the feelings and
habits of the young pair as characterised the
six months recorded here, they had yet many
curious experiences to pass through, lessons to
learn, and pitfalls to avoid. Moreover, they were
not always so successful in disentangling them-
selves from unfortunate complications, in sur-
mounting difficulties, and in shaking off the con-
sequences of heedlessness and ignorance, as we
have seen them in these pages.

But gradually the rough way became smooth,
and much that was troublesome and mysterious in
the new life was unravelled ; and as they adapted
themselves to its requirements and fearlessly
grappled with its duties and obligations, its pleas-
ant lines became more obvious, and the good
fortune which had erst seemed almost a mirage
grew to be felt a real and actual thing.

Lord and Lady St. Bees desired to live not
only happily, but worthily. They were not above
being taught. When they made mistakes they
were ready to avow the same. Did either one or
other commit an involuntary injury or neglect,
he or she knew no rest until it was repaired.
Who then cared to recall the misdemeanours of
the past ?

278 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Kay, did not Mr. Rathbone himself come to
allege that it would be well for all well for Old
England and its people if every lord of the soil
were as truly in accord with those among whom
he lived the farmers who ploughed his fields
and the labourers who trimmed his hedgerows as
the Lord St. Bees who had erewhile been looked
upon as an intruder and usurper ?

Did not the vicar's daughter tell with joyful
pride how one and another from humble homes
around found a second home in the household of
the stately castle until even good Mrs. Grimm,
while pleased to execute her ladyship's will, and
not reluctant to enjoy the popularity such
patronage brought herself, was forced to cry
" Enough," when housemaids and kitchenmaids
multiplied beyond all reasonable measure ?

Did not the neighbours who, night after night,
beheld smoke rising from innumerable chimneys,
and lights glowing from innumerable windows,
say to each other that the old days had surely
come back to Redditch, the fame of whose hos-
pitality had once spread far and wide ?

And beneath the escutcheons on the wall of
the little parish church might be seen on
Sunday mornings familiar faces in the St. Bees'

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 379

great square pew ; the faces of those whose
ancestors lay within the family vault with their
names engraven on the stone and brass above.
And some who had not worshipped there since
childhood had their own allotted corner now.

Even the less congenial assoicates of their own
youth were in course of tune welcomed " for old
sake's sake " to May and Dolly's splendid home.
The aunt who had brought up the former did not
live indeed to profit by her niece's advancement,
but Mrs. Macinroy and her daughters paid an
annual visit, and whilst professing themselves still
unable to account for the unparalleled good
fortune which had overtaken one in nowise
better than themselves, and still disposed to
throw up their hands and exclaim : " Only little
May Duncan that was ! That's what we can't get
over " (as Georgina did when first the news was
brought) they were wont to proclaim on all oc-
casions, that they enjoyed themselves at Redditch
Castle as much as anybody and always made a
point of calling " the countess " by her Christian
name.

Whenever the Ingatestones came to Monks-
wood, it was an understood thing that they should
reserve a portion of their stay in the neighbour-

280 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

hood for Lord and Lady St. Bees ; and no guests
were more warmly welcomed, nor had the day of
their departure more bewailed, when it could be
deferred no longer.

Lady Milner never could quite see what at-
traction Henrietta found in little May, nor why
she could not have enough of Lady St. Bees' com-
pany at Monkswood without thinking it necessary
to pay her a visit in her own home. Henrietta
did not attempt to enlighten her mother. She
was content to let it be supposed she sought her
own pleasure in cultivating this intercourse ; and
only one person in the world her husband had
his private suspicions as to the real motive which
prompted his high-minded and accomplished wife
to bestow so much of her time and thoughts upon
a friend so undeniably her inferior. " It is more
blessed to give than to receive," said he to him-
self. And he fancied that as regularly as there
was any new meeting between the two he was
sure to hear the remark, " How immensely Lady
St. Bees is improved ! " on every side. But then
Ingatestone was a husband, and perhaps he was
prejudiced.

" If she only had a child ! " sighed Henrietta
one day.

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 281

All the little motherly instincts which made the
youthful lady of the castle adored by every village
toddler seemed wasted when only brought into
play on extraneous occasions. It was all very well
for the stout dames of gardeners and gamekeepers
to point to her ladyship's special pets among their
own healthy, plentiful flocks, and recount her
ladyship's doings and sayings, the while Tommy
or Sukey stood by, finger in mouth, shyly elevated
by the recital one may lavish caresses and
bonbons on the chubby darlings of others, and
yet oh ! Henrietta knew how it felt. She had
brought her own tiny Henrietta to Redditch
Castle on the last occasion of her stay there.

And do what she might, May's employments
could not wholly occupy her time. She was not
intellectual ; she had no turn for art. Every
resource she possessed was now, it is true, turned
to account; and possibly the very fact of her
having but few pursuits either without or within
doors to absorb her attention might have its
value for those to whom her energy and activity
brought many a benefit.

Yet there was a void somewhere; a void
which betrayed itself in the plenitude of prepara-
tion when the nurseries the pleasant, sunny

282 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

nurseries of the castle were to be put in order for
the occupation of a small visitor ; and in the wist-
ful eyes which rested so tenderly upon that little
one's face, as by-and-by it lay slumbering in its
godmother's arms.

Henrietta, looking on, felt that she had never
before known what a child would be to May.

Another twelve months, and behold !

Forth through the garden door opening on
the flowery terrace the door described by Dolly
on the memorable occasion of his first visit to
Lady Frensham there steps a portly figure, clad
in the orthodox white dress and cap of a nurse
and with tenfold the importance of any ordinary
nurse !

"Look at me!" she seems to say. "Envy
me, ye who minister to the wants of humbler
infants! Mine is heir of all this splendid
domain ! The first-born of this great lord and
lady ! The greatest treasure they possess ! "
And she struts along in the sun.

Presently she meets Lord and Lady St. Bees,
the wife hanging on her husband's arm.

They have seen her from afar, and made an
excuse even to each other for an instantaneous

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 283

movement towards the terrace. " I ought not to
dawdle here any longer," says Dolly. " Soames
is waiting for me in the house." " And I have
walked enough," acquiesces May. "I shall get
Nurse to place me a chair by the fountain."
" We had better go towards Nurse, then," Dolly
rejoins on the instant. And they go.

They generally do go if Nurse by any chance
shows herself on their horizon.

Already May begins to wonder how she ever
got along at all without these delicious little nur-
sery ceremonials over which she presides with
such unflagging interest, which are, indeed, as so
many events in her day ! How she contrived to
while away her time without those entrancing
moments when she is allowed to carry her pre-
cious jewel down to the drawing-room (Nurse
following solemnly behind), and present him to
admiring groups! And how she cared to drive
out at all until she learned to look forward to
the present joyous parade of setting forth, when
my lord takes an airing in the open carriage
back to the horses of course so that the moth-
er's eyes can devour the little soft, sleeping coun-
tenance, and fall into raptures over every fresh
attitude.

284 SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE.

Already she is familiar with the little indig-
nant voice which rings through the corridor,
when the small autocrat's demands are not at-
tended to on the instant !

And every small advance is noted as though
it were an historic event ; while, as for the mys-
terious process of " short-coating " and the days
to come when the little pair of chubby legs
will stand upon their own feet and the first
tiny pearl will show itself above the surface
within that rosebud of a mouth these are so
many rose-coloured visions which pervade May's
dreams at night, and cast fresh glamour o er her
waking hours.

~No fear of any monotony in the smooth days
which glide along so swiftly now. She has
really her hands almost too full ; since it would
be a shame to allow other occupations to lapse,
or to neglect any of the kindly deeds and duties
which have gradually woven themselves into the
thread of her daily life, just because God has
been so good to her, and given at last the one
desire of her heart.

And though, in years to come, other fair sons
and daughters may come to gladden the beaute-
ous home, and fill to overflowing its inmates'

SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. 285

cup of happiness, perhaps no other child will
ever be quite what this one is to May and
Dolly ; who, as we leave them now, in the
height of their prosperity, with their wedded
bliss complete, and with every joyful omen for
the future, merit we may hope, not only the
kindly sympathy and approbation, but the hearty
" God bless you " of all who have followed
their fortunes, from first to last, throughout the
pages of this little history.

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lar than the old one. Do you know why ? Because you have taken it
under your hand and made it yours. Because you have breathed the breath
of life into these amiable brethren of wood and field. Because, by a stroke
here and a touch there, you have conveyed into their quaint antics the illu-
mination of your own inimitable humor, which is as true to our sun and
soil as it is to the spirit and essence of the matter set forth."

" The idea of preserving and publishing these legends in the form in which the old
plantation negroes actually tell them is altogether one of the happiest literary concep-

" Mr. Harris's book may be looked on in a double light either as a pleasant vol-
ume recounting the stories told by a typical old colored man to a child, or as a valuable
contribution to our somewhat meager folklore. To Northern readers the story of Brer
(brother, brudder) Rabbit may be novel. To those familiar with plantation life, who
have listened to these quaint old stories, who have still tender reminiscences of some
good old mauma who told these wondrous adventures to them when they were children,
Brer Rabbit, the Tar Baby, and Brer Fox come back again with all the past pleasures
of younger days." New York Times.

"Mr. Joel Chandler Harris is a welcome visitor in the small world of American let-
ters. There is a charm about him which we meet in no other American humorist for
he is a humorist, and of the rarest type and which is so much a part of his individ-
uality that we no more try to analyze it than the happiness of a child or the tenderness
of a woman." New York Mail and Express.

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BY A. CONAN DOYLE.

STARK MUNRO LETTERS. Being a
Series of Twelve Letters written by J. STARK MUNRO, M. B.,
to his friend and former fellow-student, Herbert Swanborough,
of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the years 1881-1884. Illus-
trated. I2mo. Buckram, $1.50.

This original and dramatic story presents fresh types, extraordinary sit-
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ive, Sherlock Holmes, figures as the very personification of detective logic applied to
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out of everything all there is in it." 'Philadelphia Item.

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envy." Albany Times-Union,

SEVENTH EDITION.
OUND THE RED LAMP. i 2 mo. Cloth, $1.50.

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OUISA MUHLBACH'S HISTORICAL

NOVELS. New edition, 18 vols. Illustrated. I2mo. Cloth,
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In offering to the public our new and illustrated izmo edition of
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attention to the continued and increasing popularity of these books for
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and America as in the author's native country, Germany, and it has
been the unanimous verdict that no other romances reproduce so
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tinctness of the characters portrayed, these books offer exceptional
entertainment, while at the same time they familiarize the reader with
the events and personages of great historical epochs.

The titles are as follows :

Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia.

The Empress Josephine.

Napoleon and Blucher.

Queen Hortense.

Marie Antoinette and her Son.

Prince Eugene and his Times.

The Daughter of an Empress.

Joseph II and his Court.

Frederick the Great and his Court.

Frederick the Great and his Family.

Berlin and Sans-Souci.

Goethe and Schiller.

The Merchant of Berlin, and Maria Theresa and

her Fireman.

Louisa of Prussia and her Times.
Old Fritz and the New Era.
Andreas Hofer.

Mohammed AH and his House.
Henry VIII and Catherine Parr.

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/IN AIDE-DE-CAMP OF NAPOLEON. Mem-
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1800-1812. Revised by his Grandson, COUNT Louis DE SEGUR.
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" The Count's personal story of adventure is so thrilling, and his oppor-
tunities of watching .Napoleon were so constant and so ably utilized, that
his work deserves honorable mention among works which show us history
in the making, and the realities as well as the romance of war." London
Daily Telegraph.

" We thank the publishers for this translation of a most absorbing book.
The story of Austerlitz is one involving so much genius that it must be read
as a whole all the good things with which the book abounds." London
Daily Chronicle.

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Napoleon's plans for the invasion of England is very interesting." London
Times.

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original monographs on his famous battles, is likely to interest a larger class
of intelligent readers than ' An Aide-de-Camp of Napoleon.'" New York
Mail and Express.

' ' ' An Aide-de-Camp of Napoleon ' is the title of one of the most interest-
ing of the many works which have been published concerning the career of
the great warrior." New York Press.

" The memoirs of Count de Segur are distinguished by all the light graces
that can polish a recital and impart delicacy to a narrative without depriving
it of its strength. It is a pleasure to peruse this well-written memorial of
one who was a general of division, peer of France, and Academician, and
who lived for the greater part of a century a brilliant figure in war, politics,
and letters." Philadelphia Public Ledger.

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and, as the style is easy and admirable, neither conceited nor tedious, it is
needless to say that the result is exceedingly interesting." Boston Commer-
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historical interest, but for the entire absence of anything approaching bom-
bast or straining for effect. . . . This is one of the most interesting publica-
tions that the Napoleonic revival has given us." Cleveland World.

" Next to the memoirs of the private secretary, the Baron de Meneyal,
issued by the Appletons a year ago, this volume of Segur's is of greatest in-
terest." Rochester Herald.

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HE FARMER'S BOY. By CLIFTON JOHNSON,

author of " The Country School in New England," etc. With
64 Illustrations by the Author. 8vo. Cloth, $2.50.

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Philadelphia Item.

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sensation of having read a poem and that saddest of all longings, the longing for
vanished youth." Boston Commercial Bulletin.

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most praiseworthy book, and the more such that are published the better." A'em York
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"One of the finest books of the kind that have ever been put out." Cleveland
World.

" A book on whose pages many a gray-haired man would dwell with retrospective
enjoyment." St. Paul Pioneer Press.

" The illustrations are admirable, and the book will appeal to every one who has
had a taste of life on a New England farm." Boston Transcript.

'HE COUNTRY SCHOOL IN NEW ENG-
LAND. By CLIFTON JOHNSON. With 60 Illustrations from
Photographs and Drawings made by the Author. Square 8vo.
Cloth, gilt edges, $2.50.

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reproduced. . . . The definitions at the close of this volume are very, very funny, and
yet they are not stupid ; they are usually the result of deficient logic." Boston Beacon.

" A charmingly written account of the rural schools in this section of the country.
It speaks of the old-fashioned school days of the early quarter of this century, of the
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interesting from its pretty cover to its very last page." Boston Saturday Evening
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the memory is pretty sure to be a pleasant one." Chicago Times.

" A superbly prepared volume, which by its reading matter and its beautiful illustra-
tions, so natural and finished, pleasantly and profitably recalls memories and associations
connected with the very foundations of our national greatness." N. Y. Observer.

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