he--I mean it was suspected that you had meant it once. I found
this out--don't ask me how--shortly after I was married; and I
determined, as the only chance of avoiding it--and several other
things--never to write to you again; never to take the least means of
bringing myself--us--back to your memory."

"Why so?"

"I wished you to forget us, and all connected with us, and to choose
some one more worthy, more suitable, to inherit your property."

"But, Helen, that choice rested with myself alone," said the earl,
smiling. "Has not a man the right to do what he likes with his own?"

"Yes, but--oh," cried Helen, earnestly, "do not talk of this. It
caused me such misery once. Never let us speak of it again."

"I must speak of it," was the answer, equally earnest. "All my comfort
--I will not say happiness; we have both learned, Helen, not to count
too much upon happiness in this world--but all the peace of my future
life, be it short or long, depends upon my having my heart's desire in
this matter. It is my heart's desire, and no one shall forbid it. I
will carry out my intentions, whether you agree to them or not. I will
speak of them no more, if you do not wish it, but I shall certainly
perform them. And I think it would be far better if we could talk
matters out together, and arrange every thing plainly and openly before
you go home to the Manse, if you prefer the Manse, though I could have
wished it was to the Castle."

"To the Castle!"

"Yes. I intended to have brought you back from Edinburgh--all of
you," added the earl, with emphasis, "to the Castle for life!"

Helen was much affected. She made no attempt either to resist or to
reply.

"But now, my dear, you shall do exactly what you will about the home you
choose--exactly what makes you most content, and your father also.
Only listen to me just for five minutes, without interrupting me. I
never could bear to be interrupted, you know."

Helen faintly smiled, and Lord Cairnforth, in a brief, business-like
way, explained how, the day after his coming of age, he had
deliberately, and upon what he--and Mr. Menteith likewise--
considered just grounds, constituted her, Helen Cardross, as his sole
heiress; that he had never altered his will since, and therefore she now
was, and always would have been, and her children after her, rightful
successors to the Castle and broad acres of Cairnforth.

"The title lapses," he added: "there will be no more Ea