character had impressed that lady; such respect was not lightly to be
won, and he came to regard it as the most precious thing that life had
left him.

But the man was not perfect, and his latest practical undertaking
curiously enough illustrated the failing which he seemed most completely
to have outgrown. It was of course a deplorable error to think of mining
in the beautiful valley which had once been the Eldons' estate. Richard
Mutimer could not perceive that. He was a very old man, and possibly the
instincts of his youth revived as his mind grew feebler; he imagined it
the greatest kindness to Mrs. Eldon and her son to increase as much as
possible the value of the property he would leave at his death. They,
of course, could not even hint to him the pain with which they viewed so
barbarous a scheme; he did not as much as suspect a possible objection.
Intensely happy in his discovery and the activity to which it led, he
would have gone to his grave rich in all manner of content but for that
fatal news which reached him from London, where Hubert Eldon was sup
posed to be engaged in sober study in an interval of University work.
Doubtless it was this disappointment that caused his sudden death, and
so brought about a state of things which could he have foreseen it,
would have occasioned him the bitterest grief.

He had never lost sight of his relatives in London, and had made for
them such modest provision as suited his view of the fitness of things.
To leave wealth to young men of the working class would have seemed to
him the most inexcusable of follies; if such were to rise at all, it
must be by their own efforts and in consequence of their native merits;
otherwise, let them toil on and support themselves honestly. From secret
sources he received information of the capabilities and prospects of
Joseph Mutimer's children, and the items of his will were regulated
accordingly.

So we return to the family in Wilton Square. Let us, before proceeding
with the story, enumerate the younger Mutimers. The first-born, now aged
five-and-twenty, had his great-uncle's name; Joseph Mutimer, married,
and no better off in worldly possessions than when he had only himself
to support, came to regret the coldness with which he had received the
advances of his uncle the capitalist, and christened his son Richard,
with half a hope that some day the name might stand the boy in stead.
Richard was a mechanical engineer, employed in certai