ject. In the
meantime Mr. Egremont was presented to the family living, and on his
return moved to Bridgefield Egremont. And you came here?'

'Of course I could not part with my poor Alice again. Mr. and Mrs.
Fordyce, whose daughter I had long ago educated, had always kept up a
correspondence with me, and, knowing all the story, proposed to me to
come here. He was then rector of the old church, and by their help and
recommendation, with such capital as I had, we were able to begin a
little school; and though that has had to give way to the High School,
what with boarders, and with Alice's employment as daily governess, we
have, I am thankful to say, gone on very well and comfortably, and my
dear child has recovered her cheerfulness, though she can never be
quite what--I think she was meant to be,' said the old lady, with a sad
smile, 'though perhaps she is something better.'

'Do you think she was absolutely convinced of his death?'

'Do you mean that he is alive?' exclaimed Miss Headworth in dismay.
'Oh! he is a wickeder man than even I supposed, to have forsaken her
all these years. Is my poor child in his power? Must her peace, now
she has attained it, be disturbed?'

'There is a great deal to take into consideration,' said Lady Kirkaldy.
'I had better tell you how this visit of mine came about, and explain
some matters about the Egremont family.'

She then told how Captain Egremont, after a brief service in the Life
Guards, had been made to retire, that the old General, whose heir he
was, might keep him in attendance on him. Already self-indulgent and
extravagant, the idleness of the life he led with the worn-out old roue
had deadened his better feelings, and habituated him to dissipation,
while his debts, his expensive habits, and his dread of losing the
inheritance, had bound him over to the General. Both had been saved
from the fire in the Ninon, whence they were picked up by a Chilian
vessel, and they had been long in communicating with home. The General
hated England, and was in broken health. He had spent the remaining
years of his life at various continental resorts, where he could enjoy
a warm climate, combined with facilities for high play.

When at length, he died, Captain Egremont had continued the life to
which he had become accustomed, and had of late manifested an
expectation that his nephew Mark should play the same part by him as he
had done by the General, but the youth, bred in a very