"He hasn't gone down, then?"

"Who;--Captain Aylmer? No;--he hasn't gone down, certainly. He is in
Yorkshire."

"I'm glad of that!"

"He won't hurry himself. He never does, I fancy. I had a letter from
him this morning about Miss Amedroz."

"And what did he say?"

"He desired me to send her seventy-five pounds,--the interest of her
aunt's money."

"Seventy-five pounds!" said Will Belton, contemptuously.

"He thought she might want money at once; and I sent her the cheque
to-day. It will go down by the same train that carries you."

"Seventy-five pounds! And you are sure that he has not gone himself?"

"It isn't likely that he should have written to me, and passed
through London himself, at the same time;--but it is possible, no
doubt. I don't think he even knew the old squire; and there is no
reason why he should go to the funeral."

"No reason at all," said Belton,--who felt that Captain Aylmer's
presence at the Castle would be an insult to himself. "I don't know
what on earth he should do there,--except that I think him just the
fellow to intrude where he is not wanted." And yet Will was in his
heart despising Captain Aylmer because he had not already hurried
down to the assistance of the girl whom he professed to love.

"He is engaged to her, you know," said the lawyer, in a low voice.

"What difference does that make with such a fellow as he is, a
cold-blooded fish of a man, who thinks of nothing in the world but
being respectable? Engaged to her! Oh, damn him!"

"I've not the slightest objection. I don't think, however, that
you'll find him at Belton before you. No doubt she will have heard
from him; and it strikes me as very possible that she may go to
Aylmer Park."

"What should she go there for?"

"Would it not be the best place for her?"

"No. My house would be the best place for her. I am her nearest
relative. Why should she not come to us?"

Mr. Green turned round his chair and poked the fire, and fidgeted
about for some moments before he answered. "My dear fellow, you must
know that that wouldn't do." He then said, "You ought to feel that it
wouldn't do;--you ought indeed."

"Why shouldn't my sister receive Miss Amedroz as well as that old
woman down in Yorkshire?"

"If I may tell you, I will."

"Of course you may tell me."

"Because Miss Amedroz is engaged to be married to that old woman's
son, and is not engaged to be married to your sister's brother. The
thing is done, and