and the two sisters, and took a seat near them. Mr. Clare placed himself
apart on a chair by the window. The gray rainy light fell soft and sad
on the faces of Norah and Magdalen, who sat together opposite to him.
Miss Garth had placed herself a little behind them, in partial shadow;
and the lawyer's quiet face was seen in profile, close beside her. So
the four occupants of the room appeared to Mr. Clare, as he sat apart in
his corner; his long claw-like fingers interlaced on his knee; his dark
vigilant eyes fixed searchingly now on one face, now on another. The
dripping rustle of the rain among the leaves, and the clear, ceaseless
tick of the clock on the mantel-piece, made the minute of silence
which followed the settling of the persons present in their places
indescribably oppressive. It was a relief to every one when Mr. Pendril
spoke.

"Mr. Clare has told you already," he began, "that I am the bearer of bad
news. I am grieved to say, Miss Garth, that your doubts, when I last
saw you, were better founded than my hopes. What that heartless elder
brother was in his youth, he is still in his old age. In all my unhappy
experience of the worst side of human nature, I have never met with
a man so utterly dead to every consideration of mercy as Michael
Vanstone."

"Do you mean that he takes the whole of his brother's fortune, and makes
no provision whatever for his brother's children?" asked Miss Garth.

"He offers a sum of money for present emergencies," replied Mr. Pendril,
"so meanly and disgracefully insufficient that I am ashamed to mention
it."

"And nothing for the future?"

"Absolutely nothing."

As that answer was given, the same thought passed, at the same moment,
through Miss Garth's mind and through Norah's. The decision, which
deprived both the sisters alike of the resources of fortune, did not
end there for the younger of the two. Michael Vanstone's merciless
resolution had virtually pronounced the sentence which dismissed Frank
to China, and which destroyed all present hope of Magdalen's marriage.
As the words passed the lawyer's lips, Miss Garth and Norah looked at
Magdalen anxiously. Her face turned a shade paler--but not a feature of
it moved; not a word escaped her. Norah, who held her sister's hand in
her own, felt it tremble for a moment, and then turn cold--and that was
all.

"Let me mention plainly what I have done," resumed Mr. Pendril; "I am
very desirous you should not think that I have l