impatient
laugh. 'You are quite a Mephistopheles, Will--I say it to my sorrow!'

'Would that I were in your place.'

'Would that you were! Fifteen years ago I might have called the chance a
magnificent one.'

'But you are a young man still, and you look younger than you are.
Nobody knows our relationship, and I am not such a fool as to divulge
it. Of course, if through me you reclaim this splendid possession, I
should leave it to your feelings what you would do for me.'

Sir William had by this time cleared out of the churchyard, and the pair
emerged from the vestry and departed. Proceeding towards Markton by the
same bypath, they presently came to an eminence covered with bushes of
blackthorn, and tufts of yellowing fern. From this point a good view of
the woods and glades about Stancy Castle could be obtained. Dare
stood still on the top and stretched out his finger; the captain's eye
followed the direction, and he saw above the many-hued foliage in the
middle distance the towering keep of Paula's castle.

'That's the goal of your ambition, captain--ambition do I say?--most
righteous and dutiful endeavour! How the hoary shape catches the
sunlight--it is the raison d'etre of the landscape, and its possession
is coveted by a thousand hearts. Surely it is an hereditary desire of
yours? You must make a point of returning to it, and appearing in the
map of the future as in that of the past. I delight in this work of
encouraging you, and pushing you forward towards your own. You are
really very clever, you know, but--I say it with respect--how comes it
that you want so much waking up?'

'Because I know the day is not so bright as it seems, my boy. However,
you make a little mistake. If I care for anything on earth, I do care
for that old fortress of my forefathers. I respect so little among the
living that all my reverence is for my own dead. But manoeuvring, even
for my own, as you call it, is not in my line. It is distasteful--it is
positively hateful to me.'

'Well, well, let it stand thus for the present. But will you refuse me
one little request--merely to see her? I'll contrive it so that she may
not see you. Don't refuse me, it is the one thing I ask, and I shall
think it hard if you deny me.'

'O Will!' said the captain wearily. 'Why will you plead so? No--even
though your mind is particularly set upon it, I cannot see her, or
bestow a thought upon her, much as I should like to gratify you.'

VI.

W