to do all in my power to oblige them. You can
say that I have arranged that other matter satisfactorily."

"That other matter?"

"They'll understand. The mother will at least, and you'd better say that
to her. You'll go early."

"I'll start at seven if you like."

"Eight or nine will do. Thank you, Simpkinson. I'm so much obliged to
you. I hope I shall see you over in England some day when things are a
little settled." With this Simpkinson was delighted,--as he was also
with the commission entrusted to him.

And so Fred Neville was the Earl of Scroope. Not that he owned even to
himself that the title and all belonging to it were as yet in his own
possession. Till the body of the old man should be placed in the family
vault he would still be simply Fred Neville, a lieutenant in Her
Majesty's 20th Hussars. As he travelled home to Scroope, to the old
gloomy mansion which was now in truth not only his home, but his own
house, to do just as he pleased with it, he had much to fill his mind.
He was himself astonished to find with how great a weight his new
dignities sat upon his shoulders, now that they were his own. But a
few months since he had thought and even spoken of shifting them from
himself to another, so that he might lightly enjoy a portion of the
wealth which would belong to him without burdening himself with the
duties of his position. He would take his yacht, and the girl he loved,
and live abroad, with no present record of the coronet which would have
descended to him, and with no assumption of the title. But already that
feeling had died away within him. A few words spoken to him by the
priest and a few serious thoughts within his own bosom had sufficed to
explain to him that he must be the Earl of Scroope. The family honours
had come to him, and he must support them,--either well or ill as his
strength and principles might govern him. And he did understand that it
was much to be a peer, an hereditary legislator, one who by the chance
of his birth had a right to look for deferential respect even from his
elders. It was much to be the lord of wide acres, the ruler of a large
domain, the landlord of many tenants who would at any rate regard
themselves as dependent on his goodness. It was much to be so placed
that no consideration of money need be a bar to any wish,--that the
considerations which should bar his pleasures need be only those of
dignity, character, and propriety. His uncle had told him more tha