, and Luxmore next tried
to win him over by offering the lease of some important cloth-mills he
owned; but these he would not take on credit, and he had no money to pay
for them.

At this juncture, Ursula told Luxmore about the behaviour of his kinsman
Brithwood, with the result that his lordship went to Brithwood and made
him turn over the money to her. When John now purchased the lease of the
mills, his lordship thought that he had secured him firmly, and that
Halifax would use his great and growing influence with the people of the
district to further Luxmore's political schemes.

While all this was going on, young Lord Ravenel, the son and heir of
Luxmore, had been a constant visitor at the Halifax home, and delighted
in the company of John's daughter. Halifax had now three children: two
boys, named Guy and Edmund, and Muriel, who, alas! had been born blind.
Perhaps on account of her infirmity she had been the pet of her parents;
but she was of a gentle nature, and was beautiful to look upon, even
with her sightless eyes.

The time for the election of the member for Kingswell had come round,
and as Luxmore had failed to induce John Halifax to stand, he put up a
pliable nominee. But he was greatly mistaken in supposing that John
would use his influence to make the handful of voters, most of whom were
employed in his mills, vote for Luxmore's man. Instead of that, Halifax
advised them to be honest, and vote as they thought right; with the
result that Luxmore promptly evicted them from their homes. But John
found new homes for them.

As his riches increased, he bought a stately country mansion, named
Beechwood, not far from Rose Cottage, ever dear in memory to him.
Another son, Walter, was born there, and everything seemed to smile on
him in his beautiful country home. Luxmore now sought to injure him by
diverting the water from his cloth-mills, and leaving his great wheels
idle. Halifax could have taken him to law; but, instead of that, he set
up a strange, new-fangled thing, called a steam-engine; and his mills
did better than ever.

Finding it useless to fight against the resourceful Halifax, Luxmore
went abroad, and left his son, Lord Ravenel, alone at Luxmore Hall. The
young man, despite his father's unfriendly conduct, was still a frequent
visitor at Beechwood, and when poor Muriel died, his grief at her loss
was only less than that of her parents.

The years passed by, and happiness still reigned at Beechw