id Mrs. Cameron ever reside in C-----?"

"To be sure; but she was then called Mrs. Butler--just as pretty a name
to my fancy."

"You must make a mistake: my uncle married this lady in Devonshire."

"Very possibly," quoth the brewer, doggedly. "Mrs. Butler left the town
with her little girl some time before Mr. Templeton married."

"Well, you are wiser than I am," said Lumley, forcing a smile. "But how
can you be sure that Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Cameron are one and the same
person? You did not go into the house, you could not have seen Lady
Vargrave" (and here Lumley shrewdly guessed--if the tale were true--at
the cause of his uncle's exclusion of his old acquaintance).

"No! but I saw her ladyship on the lawn," said Mr. Winsley, with another
sardonic smile; "and I asked the porter at the lodge as I went out if
that was Lady Vargrave, and he said, 'yes.' However, my lord, bygones
are bygones,--I bear no malice; your uncle was a good man: and if he had
but said to me, 'Winsley, don't say a word about Mrs. Butler,' he might
have reckoned on me just as much as when in his elections he used to put
five thousand pounds in my hands, and say, 'Winsley, no bribery,--it is
wicked; let this be given in charity.' Did any one ever know how that
money went? Was your uncle ever accused of corruption? But, my lord,
surely you will take some refreshment?"

"No, indeed; but if you will let me dine with you tomorrow, you'll
oblige me much; and, whatever my uncle's faults (and latterly, poor man,
he was hardly in his senses; what a will he made!) let not the nephew
suffer for them. Come, Mr. Winsley," and Lumley held out his hand with
enchanting frankness, "you know my motives are disinterested; I have
no parliamentary interest to serve, we have no constituents for our
Hospital of Incurables; and--oh! that's right,--we're friends, I see!
Now I must go and look after my ward's houses. Let me see, the agent's
name is--is--"

"Perkins, I think, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, thoroughly softened by
the charm of Vargrave's words and manner. "Let me put on my hat, and
show you his house."

"Will you? That's very kind; give me all the election news by the
way--you know I was once within an ace of being your member."

Vargrave learned from his new friend some further particulars relative
to Mrs. Butler's humble habits and homely mode of life at C-----, which
served completely to explain to him why his proud and worldly uncle
had so carefully