venly, he lost his appetite; at
night he either had bad dreams or he could not sleep. This change began
to tell upon his appearance; his hair grew thinner and whiter, he
stooped as he walked, there was very little apparent difference now
between him and John.

He could not bear the Harmans' house, for there he might meet Hinton. He
dreaded his office in the City, for there the other trustee might follow
him and publicly expose him. He liked his club best; but even there he
felt scarcely safe, some one might get an inkling of the tale, there was
no saying how soon such a story, so strange, so disgraceful, pertaining
to so well-known a house as that of Harman Brothers, might get bruited
about. Thus it came to pass that there was no place where this wretched
old man felt safe; it became more and more clear to him day by day that
England was too hot to hold him. All these growing feelings culminated
in a sudden accession of terror on the day that Charlotte, with her
strangely changed face, had asked him the truth with regard to her
father's case, when, with the persistence of almost despair, she had
insisted on knowing the very worst; then had quickly followed the
announcement that her marriage had been broken off by herself; that it
was postponed, her father thought, simply for the short remaining span
of his own life; but Charlotte had taken little pains to conceal from
Uncle Jasper that she now never meant to marry Hinton. What was the
reason of it all? Jasper Harman, too, as well as Hinton, was not
deceived by the reason given. There was something more behind. What was
that something more?

In his terror and perplexity, Jasper opened Hinton's letter. One
sentence in that letter, never meant for him, burnt into the unhappy man
as the very fire of hell.

"I went this morning to Somerset House, and I read your grandfather's
will."

Then Jasper's worst fears had come true; the discovery was made; the
hidden sin brought to the light, the sinners would be dragged any moment
to punishment.

Jasper must leave England that very night. Never again could he enter
his brother's house. He must fly; he must fly at once and in secret, for
it would never do to take any one into his confidence. Jasper Harman had
a hard and evil heart; he was naturally cold and unloving; but he had
one affection, he did care for his brother. In mortal terror as he was,
he could not leave that dying brother without bidding him good-bye.

John Harm