I wonder?'

She opened the envelope, and began to glance hurriedly over the sheet of
paper. Then her face changed.

'What do you think? Mr Yule is dead!'

Dora uttered an exclamation; Jasper displayed the keenest interest.

'He died yesterday--no, it would be the day before yesterday. He had a
fit of some kind at a public meeting, was taken to the hospital because
it was nearest, and died in a few hours. So that has come, at last! Now
what'll be the result of it, I wonder?'

'When shall you be seeing Marian?' asked her brother.

'She might come to-morrow evening.'

'But won't she go to the funeral?' suggested Dora.

'Perhaps; there's no saying. I suppose her father will, at all events.
The day before yesterday? Then the funeral will be on Saturday, I should
think.'

'Ought I to write to Marian?' asked Dora.

'No; I wouldn't,' was Jasper's reply. 'Better wait till she lets you
hear. That's sure to be soon. She may have gone to Wattleborough this
afternoon, or be going to-morrow morning.'

The letter from Mrs Haynes was passed from hand to hand. 'Everybody
feels sure,' it said, 'that a great deal of his money will be left for
public purposes. The ground for the park being already purchased, he is
sure to have made provision for carrying out his plans connected with
it. But I hope your friends in London may benefit.'

It was some time before Jasper could put an end to the speculative
conversation and betake himself homewards. And even on getting back to
his lodgings he was little disposed to go to bed. This event of John
Yule's death had been constantly in his mind, but there was always a
fear that it might not happen for long enough; the sudden announcement
excited him almost as much as if he were a relative of the deceased.

'Confound his public purposes!' was the thought upon which he at length
slept.

CHAPTER XXI. MR YULE LEAVES TOWN

Since the domestic incidents connected with that unpleasant review in
The Current, the relations between Alfred Yule and his daughter had
suffered a permanent change, though not in a degree noticeable by any
one but the two concerned. To all appearances, they worked together and
conversed very much as they had been wont to do; but Marian was made
to feel in many subtle ways that her father no longer had complete
confidence in her, no longer took the same pleasure as formerly in the
skill and conscientiousness of her work, and Yule on his side perceived
too clearly