er who had suddenly died in the Ardennes. The poor woman
under his protection had to become his guardian. He was brought to the
house at Woolwich, and there for several months lay between life and
death. A partial recovery followed, and he was taken to the Isle of
Wight, where, in a short time, a second attack killed him.

His child, Cecily, was twelve years old. For the last five years she
had been living in the care of Mrs. Elgar at Manchester. This lady was
an intimate friend of Mrs. Doran's family, and in entrusting his child
to her, Doran had given a strong illustration of one of the
singularities of his character. Though by no means the debauchee that
Sowerby Bridge declared him, he was not a man of conventional morality;
yet, in the case of people who were in any way entrusted to his care,
he showed a curious severity of practice. Ross Mallard, for instance;
no provincial Puritan could have instructed the lad more strenuously in
the accepted moral code than did Mr. Doran on taking him from home to
live in Manchester. In choosing a wife, he went to a family of
conventional Dissenters; and he desired his daughter to pass the years
of her childhood with people who he knew would guide her in the very
straitest way of Puritan doctrine. What his theory was in this matter
(if he had one) he told nobody. Dying, he left it to the discretion of
the two trustees to appoint a residence for Cecily, if for any reason
she could not remain with Mrs. Elgar. This occasion soon presented
itself, and Cecily passed into the care of Doran's sister, Mrs.
Lessingham, who was just entered upon a happy widowhood. Mallard, most
unexpectedly left sole trustee, had no choice but to assent to this
arrangement; the only other home possible for the girl was with Miriam
at Redbeck House, but Mr. Baske did not look with favour on that
proposal. Hitherto, Mr. Trench, the elder trustee, who lived in
Manchester, had alone been in personal relations with Mrs. Elgar and
little Cecily; even now Mallard did not make the personal acquaintance
of Mrs. Elgar (otherwise he would doubtless have met Miriam), but saw
Mrs. Lessingham in London, and for the first time met Cecily when she
came to the south in her aunt's care. He knew what an extreme change
would be made in the manner of the girl's education, and it caused him
some mental trouble; but it was clear that Cecily might benefit greatly
in health by travel, and, as for the moral question, Mrs. Lessingham