ad ventured to make any other arrangement till the heir and owner
should be there. He was received with solemn respect by the old servants
who, as he observed, abstained from calling him by any name. They knew
that it did not become them to transfer the former lord's title to the
heir till all that remained of the former lord should be hidden from the
world in the family vault; but they could not bring themselves to
address a real Earl as Mr. Neville. His aunt was broken down by sorrow,
but nevertheless, she treated him with a courtly deference. To her he
was now the reigning sovereign among the Nevilles, and all Scroope and
everything there was at his disposal. When he held her by the hand and
spoke of her future life she only shook her head. "I am an old woman,
though not in years old as was my lord. But my life is done, and it
matters not where I go."

"Dear aunt, do not speak of going. Where can you be so well as here?"
But she only shook her head again and wept afresh. Of course it would
not be fitting that she should remain in the house of the young Earl who
was only her nephew by marriage. Scroope Manor would now become a house
of joy, would be filled with the young and light of heart; there would
be feasting there and dancing; horses neighing before the doors, throngs
of carriages, new furniture, bright draperies, and perhaps, alas, loud
revellings. It would not be fit that such a one as she should be at
Scroope now that her lord had left her.

The funeral was an affair not of pomp but of great moment in those
parts. Two or three Nevilles from other counties came to the house, as
did also sundry relatives bearing other names. Mr. Mellerby was there,
and one or two of the late Earl's oldest friends; but the great
gathering was made up of the Scroope tenants, not one of whom failed to
see his late landlord laid in his grave. "My Lord," said an old man to
Fred, one who was himself a peer and was the young lord's cousin though
they two had never met before, "My Lord," said the old man, as soon as
they had returned from the grave, "you are called upon to succeed as
good a man as ever it has been my lot to know. I loved him as a brother.
I hope you will not lightly turn away from his example." Fred made some
promise which at the moment he certainly intended to perform.

On the next morning the will was read. There was nothing in it, nor
could there have been anything in it, which might materially affect the
interest