l the while; but if some morning he 'd
get up with a dark frown on his face, and say, 'La Grange, get in your
bills here, and pay them; we must get away from this dog-hole,' I knew
well the banker's letter had come, and that whatever he might want, it
would not be money."

"And had my Lady--Madame, I mean--no influence over him?"

"None, sir, or next to none; he was all ceremony with her; took her
in to dinner every day with great state, showed her every attention at
table, left her at liberty to spend what money she liked. If she fancied
an equipage, it was ordered at once. If she liked a bracelet, it was
sent home. As to toilette, I believe there are queens have not as many
dresses to change. We had two fourgons of her luggage alone, when we
came to the Schloss, and she was always saying there was something she
was longing for."

"Did not this irritate my father?"

"No, sir; he would simply say, 'Don't wish, but write for it.' And I
verily believe this indifference piqued her,--she saw that no sacrifice
of money cost him anything, and this thought wounded her pride."

"So that there was not much happiness between them?"

"There was none, sir! Something there was that Sir Roger would never
consent to, but which she never ceased to insist on, and I often
wondered how she could go on, to press a man of his dangerous temper,
as she did, and at times she would do so to the very verge of a
provocation. Do you know, sir," said he, after a short silence,--"if I
was to be on my oath to-morrow, I 'd not say that he was not seeking his
death when he met it? I never saw a man so sick of life,--he was only
puzzled how to lay it down without dishonor."

I motioned him to leave me as he said this, and of my father I never
spoke to him more.

CHAPTER XXXII. THE END

Two telegrams came from my mother. They were little other than
repetitions. She had been ill, and was impatient to see me. In the last,
she added that she would shorten the distance between us by coming to
Dublin to meet me. I was to inquire for her at "Elridge's Hotel."

I was no less eager to be with her; but there were many matters of
detail which still delayed me. First of all, all my father's papers and
effects were at Schloss Hunyadi, and some of these were all-essential
to me. On arriving at the Castle, a sealed packet addressed Sir Digby
Norcott, Bart., in Madame Cleremont's hand, was given me. On opening, I
found it contained a bunch of keys, wi