for ourselves, and Kate took a childish pleasure in turning over and over the sovereigns which she received at the bank for her slip of paper. Come what might, she and her father would at least never see the grim figure of want standing at their door, CHAPTER XVI.-THE UNANSWERED LETTER. It has been said that Reginald Tresham had hitherto sent no reply to Kate Margrave's letter. He had, however, written several replies, but each one had found its way into the fire. The revelation which Kate's letter conveyed was sudden and unexpected. It is true that there had been rumours of a threatened lawsuit in reference to the Grange property, and Lady Tresham had made allusion to them; but Margrave himself had kept silence on the subject, and the young baronet had allowed the stories to pass as a part of the idle gossip which is always afloat in the country. And now, without previous sign or warning, the house was left deserted, and he was told, in a few brief sentences, that it would be better both for Kate and himself that they should not meet again. What was a man to do who found himself unexpectedly placed in such a position? Perhaps the lover, who thought only of his love, would have answered the question by hastening without delay in pursuit of the fugitive; he would have declined to be set free quite so summarily, and been eloquent in protestations that changes of circumstances or of fortune were powerless to influence his affections. But it must be confessed that Reginald Tresham was not a lover of this description. He could not help feeling that the circumstances described by Kate were very serious, and there was much in them which he did not quite understand. Margrave's behaviour was, to say the least, very strange. Was there nothing more than his daughter had been suffered to know to explain the mystery of his course? The suspicions which Lady Tresham had once thrown out—were they wholly unfounded? Her son had thought so at the time, but he did not feel the same degree of certainty on the subject now. And then it appeared that there was to be a total loss of fortune. Sir Reginald was not by any means a rich man; not rich enough, as prudence whispered to him, to be able to afford the luxury of marrying a poor woman because he loved her. His mother had objected to the marriage even when no such disadvantage as this was in question. Could it be supposed that she would welcome Kate to Owlscote Manor as her son's wife with something very like a scandal hanging over her? For of course the departure of the Margraves from the Grange under such circumstances could not be entirely divested of scandal. Reginald Tresham was naturally a proud man, and he could not but entertain some painful doubts whether the conditions which now rounded his engagement were calculated to bring happiness into his home. He had told his mother that he hoped to make Kate his wife, and she had submitted, though not without allowing him to perceive that her own judgment and inclination were utterly opposed to his own. Surely his difficulties would be increased tenfold by the disaster which had sur now occurred. Lastly, there was Kate's own letter. She had, to use the common phrase, thrown him over without a single expression of regret. It was useless to conceal the fact that he had received a curt dismissal. Would any girl have written thus to a man whom she really loved? When all things were considered, had Kate left him any room to exercise his own will in the matter? The oftener he asked himself that question, the more he was obliged to admit that she had not. Thus day after day went by, and the letter remained unanswered; and as each day passed, the rejected lover knew still less than before what answer to send. What could he do but, for the present, submit to the decision which had been so abruptly communicated to him? Lady Tresham was particularly glad that at this critical time Lord Splint happened to be a visitor at her house. He was not perhaps one of the wisest men in the world, but he might very safely be depended upon to take the right view of such an affair as this. His influence over Reginald Tresham was not very potent, for Reginald was by far the abler man of the two; but it was quite strong enough for present purposes. Whatever might happen, Lord Splint was always sure to be found ranged on behalf of prudence and discretion. Lady Tresham took him aside the very day of his arrival, and told him everything. All her fears and anxieties were laid bare before him. She had known him from childhood, and had been kind to him at a time when Lord Splint himself had stood sorely in need of a friend; for even he had not always been prudent and rich. Once or twice he very nearly fell foul of the rocks which are concealed in the stream of the most sluggish life; and on one of those occasions Lady Tresham had been most useful to him, and he had not forgotten it. Moreover, he and Reginald had been at Oxford together, and they had always remained firm friends. It was not without some cause, therefore, that Lady Tresham reposed great confidence in her ally. "You can imagine," she said, "what grief such a marriage would occasion me. Here is a young girl, without connections and without any power whatever of helping Reginald in his future career. She would be a clog and an impediment to him all through life. And even that is not all. If there was nothing in her father's marriage of which he has reason to be ashamed, why all this mystery? why this hurried flight from the Grange?—the servants all paid off at a moment's notice, and the property handed over without a struggle to those wretched people the Tiltoffs? Surely you would not approve of such a marriage?" "My dear Lady Tresham," replied the discreet young man, "it is not a question of my approval, as you very well know. The question is, what has Reginald made up his mind to do? He is not easily turned aside from any purpose: we both are aware of that. Is he much in love with this young lady?" "I think it possible that he imagines he is, though since her disappearance I have observed a change in him. It cannot but be that what has happened will shock him very much; for my son is a man of right principle, and will never do anything to disgrace himself-of that I am very sure. he could only be brought to see this matter in its proper light! He is not a rash-brained, love-sick boy, and I am in hopes that you will find him in a mood to take sensible advice." If "But I cannot offer any advice till he asks me for it. These are delicate subjects for even the truest friends to meddle with. It would be only too easy to do more harm than good." "Oh, but I have the greatest confidence in your tact. Depend upon it, the opportunity will arise quite naturally. Reginald will speak to you, I feel certain, before you have been alone with him many hours. Then you must frankly and boldly declare your opinion. I need not ask you, for I feel confident beforehand, that you will be upon my side, will you not?" "I can promise you that without hesitation, for I believe you to be entirely in the right. But it may not be so easy to get Reginald to think so too." "Well, we will do our best. I declare I never shall be sufficiently grateful to you if you remove this heavy load from my mind. Would that I could see my son marry as you have done!" Now, although Lord Splint had married a great heiress, prizes of that kind are not sufficiently numerous to go round among all the eligible young men in England. Some such thought as that passed through Lord Splint's mind, and it made him all the more contented with his own good luck in the lottery. Lord Splint had been fortunate in more ways than one. He had, as Lady Tresham had said, never made a mistake. He had played every card in the game to win, and thus far he had won everything. His first speeches in the House of Lords had marked him out as a man who was sure to rise in the political world, and no one was surprised when it was announced that he had joined Mr Spinner's Ministry. He stood high in that great statesman's confidence, and had done much to deserve the disVOL. CXXXIV,-NO. DCCCXIII. tinct and flattering recognition which he received. He was a clever man, though not so clever as he fancied. Whether he had ten talents, or whether he had but one, it could not but be admitted that he had made the most of his share. He could deliver a very fair speech, if he had time enough given him for its preparation. His jokes were rather elaborately studied, and were delivered with an air which savoured a little too much of the conventicle; but, upon the whole, they were generally well received. He diligently read most of the celebrated speeches of the statesmen of former times, and came to the conclusion that they had been greatly overpraised. They were certainly not equal to Mr Spinner's. In his most sacred moments of confidence, he told himself that they were not equal to speeches which a man at present less famous than Mr Spinner had delivered on one or two memorable occasions. He fancied he most resembled Fox in his style of oratory, though not in person; for Lord Splint was very tall and thin, with light hair and pale complexionwhat ladies generally called an interesting-looking man. At a very opportune moment there had happened the event which placed him beyond all thought or care for this world's goods. Some people said that this also was owing to his luck, and not to his merit; but, at any rate, it was one of the stakes for which Lord Splint had played very carefully, and, as usual, he won it. Such was the man whom Lady Tresham summoned to her aid in the great emergency which had overtaken her. He had no great inclination to undertake the task assigned to him; for what was it to him whether this marriage took place or not? His own feelings, and what were of still greater mo C ment, his own interests, were not in any way concerned. He had seen a good many of his friends marry, and most of them seemed to be acting under the impulse of a blind caprice. Sometimes it all turned out moderately well; more frequently it was quite the contrary. One fact seemed to be well established, and it was, that no one was willing to accept advice when he had made up his mind that a particular woman was essential to his happiness in life. Such a man always persisted in taking his own road, and he had ample leisure afterwards to wish that he had taken any road but that. These had been the results of Lord Splint's observations of mankind; and they did not inspire him with any extravagant eagerness to rush into the campaign which Lady Tresham had prepared for him. Three days went by, and as yet no opportunity had been found of making even an approach to the subject. The young baronet seemed determined to avoid it; and Lord Splint remained fixed in his belief that it would be unwise to run the risk of appearing as an intermeddler on the scene. Soon it would be necessary for both the Under Secretaries to return to their official duties. Public affairs were in a state which did not seem to be satisfactory to anybody in the country, not even to Mr Spinner himself. It is true that the younger members of the Administration could not do much to make the crooked straight; but it was necessary that they should be at their posts. Lord Splint needed no spur: he had found so great a pleasure in the daily routine of office work, that he wished himself back again under the shadow of the Victoria clock tower before he had been out of London twenty-four hours. It is a great thought that one is serving one's country, even if it be only in a subordinate capacity. Few men who have experienced the joys and cares of office, ever relinquish them voluntarily. As for Sir Reginald, he was not now filled with the same ardour; but it must be considered that he had engrossing affairs of his own to occupy his mind. The face of Kate Margrave was before him a hundred times a-day, -sometimes with that winning smile upon it which Reginald remembered only too well, sometimes with a half-reproachful expression, which caused him to ask himself whether he had done right in keeping a silence which might be deemed harsh, and even cruel. Yet he was not even quite sure where she was somewhere in London, so he had gathered from her letter; no doubt he could ascertain where by writing to Delvar. But if Kate had wished him to know, would she have left him to adopt any such expedient as that? Might it not well be that the sentence pronounced in her letter was the right one, and that, whatever might be the pain to him or to her, it was better that they should not meet again? On the afternoon of this third day the two friends went out for a long stroll,-through deep lanes, where primroses gleamed like stars; and over hills, where the gorse was spreading a carpet of gold on either side of the narrow pathway. Spring, for once, had deigned to visit England in the guise with which the poets of older days invested her; everything in nature was rejoicing beneath the unclouded rays of the sun. Reginald remembered Kate's passionate love for wild flowers; it was with a recollection of her that he plucked some primroses and violets as he walked along; but he had no sooner gathered them than he flung them from him with a sigh. "My dear fellow," said Lord Splint, unable longer to maintain. his reserve, "it is quite evident that you are ill at ease. You are thinking, of course, of that strange affair down at the Grange yonder -is it not so?" "You have heard all about it?" "Oh yes; so has everybody else. Recollect, too, that I know the young lady well, and esteem her as highly as you do. But in such a position as this you are powerless. You cannot restore the lost fortune." "I cannot do that; but I am not willing to have it even seen that I deserted my betrothed the moment trouble fell upon her. Come what may, I should prefer to stand by her, if she would let me." "There, as I understand it, is the difficulty. I only know the general facts from your mother; but is it not true that Miss Margrave has almost closed the door even to correspondence of any kind?" "I daresay that would be the interpretation which her letter would bear; but I have been most unwilling to take it in that light. She was considerate for me, and was not thinking of herself when she wrote that letter. I honour her all the more for her high feeling and pride; but have I a right to take advantage of the spirit she has shown? I can tell you frankly that I am not at all disposed to do so." "It is entirely a question for you to decide," said Lord Splint, after a moment's pause. "I certainly think that a marriage under such circumstances as these would be a very grave experiment." "Well, well, marriage is always that at least so people who have tried it tell you." "Not always: the risks may at least be greatly diminished. At any rate, I do not think that any one would counsel you to act precipitately in such a matter as this. Will there be any great harm in your waiting a little while, and "Without seeing Miss Margrave again?" interrupted Sir Reginald, impatiently. "No; I was not going to suggest that. See her again, by all means, if you can do so without wounding her delicacy. But, remember, her father's circumstances are greatly altered, and neither of them might wish you to suddenly present yourself at their lodgings." "Lodgings?" The word seemed to disclose to Reginald's startled view the greatness and significance of the change which had happened. "So I understood from Delvar before I left town. I did not hear precisely where somewhere in the north of London. Delvar had been to see them, and Miss Margrave was endeavouring to gain some employment by her pencil. She is very clever." A deep flush suffused the lover's face. If he had been as rich as Lord Splint at that moment, there would have been no longer any uncertainty in his mind as to the proper course for him to pursue. "Ought there," he said over and over again to himself, "to be a doubt even now?" "And she will succeed," continued the young man with the old head; "and in the meantime they are not in necessitous circumstances. I am morally certain that she would rather make the most modest independence by her own exertions than be a burden to a man whom she knows to be almost as poor as herself. This is not the romantic or heroic view of the affair; but it is the sensible one." "It seems to me the cold-blooded one. Were you ever in love, Splint?" |