unprecedented mess of it if you like,
the rest of you!"

It was a hard ride to the railroad, for we did not spare the beasts, and
when the instrument clicked out a message that the doctor was ready but
could not start before the next day's train Lyle wired back, "Come now in
a special. We guarantee expense."

Then he turned to me. "I think we were justified in what we said; but he
was our chief, and a good one for a long time. Now I'd give up the whole
scheme to set the thing straight again."

In due time we brought a skillful surgeon to Carrington Manor, and waited
very anxiously until he descended in search of us.

"It is by no means a common case," he said. "Mental aberration and partial
paralysis. Miss Carrington refers me to you for the possible cause of it.
I gather that Colonel Carrington was a headstrong man who could brook no
opposition to his will and was subjected to great excitement at a meeting
you held."

"Yes," replied Lyle. "Without going into unnecessary details, he
strenuously resisted a project we had decided on, and the defeat of his
wishes apparently came as a shock. He was speaking vehemently and
collapsed in the middle of it."

"What one might have anticipated," said the doctor. "I scarcely think the
result will be fatal, but Colonel Carrington will never be the same man
again. It is quite likely that he will not recover the use of his mental
faculties, though it is rather premature to speak definitely yet, and I
should not unduly alarm the two ladies." Then, perhaps noticing the
genuine distress in Lyle's face, he added, "I don't think you need
attribute too much to the incident you mentioned. It was only the last
straw, so to speak, for I fancy the patient had been under a severe
mental strain for a long time, and from what his sister tells me he was
predisposed to attack, while some other cause would probably have
precipitated the crisis."

I sent word asking whether Grace would see me, and receiving an answer
that she would see no one I rode moodily back to Fairmead. As Lyle had
said, we were sorry, and should have given much to undo what had been
done, but it was too late, and I felt that Colonel Carrington who could
never have accepted a public defeat had, unyielding to the last, made a
characteristic ending.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE NEW RULER OF CARRINGTON

A month slipped by, and though I rode over often to the Manor it was
seldom that I had speech with Grace, and never sa