lly every
descendant and every branch of the family, for we thought it best not to
communicate with you till your right of inheritance was beyond dispute.
We arrived independently at the same result as Messrs. Collinbrae and
Jackson. There is absolutely no doubt whatever of your claim. You will
petition the Crown, and on reference to the House of Lords the Committee
for Privileges will admit your right. May I offer my congratulations,
Lady de Lannoy on your acquisition? By the way, I may say that all the
estates of the Earldom, which have been from the first kept in strict
entail, go with the title de Lannoy.'

During the recital Stephen was conscious of a sort of bitter comment on
the tendencies of good fortune.

'Too late! too late!' something seemed to whisper, 'what delight it would
have been had Father inherited . . . If Harold had not gone . . . !' All
the natural joy seemed to vanish, as bubbles break into empty air.

To Aunt Laetitia the new title was a source of pride and joy, far greater
than would have been the case had it come to herself. She had for so
many years longed for new honours for Stephen that she had almost come to
regard them as a right whose coming should not be too long delayed. Miss
Rowly had never been to Lannoy; and, indeed, she knew personally nothing
of the county Angleshire in which it was situated. She was naturally
anxious to see the new domain; but kept her feeling concealed during the
months that elapsed until Stephen's right had been conceded by the
Committee for Privileges. But after that her impatience became manifest
to Stephen, who said one day in a teasing, caressing way, as was
sometimes her wont:

'Why, Auntie, what a hurry you are in! Lannoy will keep, won't it?'

'Oh, my dear,' she replied, shaking her head, 'I can understand your own
reticence, for you don't want to seem greedy and in a hurry about your
new possessions. But when people come to my age there's no time to
waste. I feel I would not have complete material for happiness in the
World-to-come, if there were not a remembrance of my darling in her new
home!'

Stephen was much touched; she said impulsively:

'We shall go to-morrow, Auntie. No! Let us go to-day. You shall not
wait an hour that I can help!' She ran to the bell; but before her hand
was on the cord the other said:

'Not yet! Stephen dear. It would flurry me to start all at once; to-
morrow will be time enough. And that will giv