ighbour whispered to him, 'Montbarry's brother--Henry Westwick!'

The new-comer looked round him slowly, with a bitter smile.

'You are all talking of my brother,' he said. 'Don't mind me. Not one
of you can despise him more heartily than I do. Go on, gentlemen--go
on!'

But one man present took the speaker at his word. That man was the
lawyer who had already undertaken the defence of the Countess.

'I stand alone in my opinion,' he said, 'and I am not ashamed of
repeating it in anybody's hearing. I consider the Countess Narona to
be a cruelly-treated woman. Why shouldn't she be Lord Montbarry's
wife? Who can say she has a mercenary motive in marrying him?'

Montbarry's brother turned sharply on the speaker. 'I say it!' he
answered.

The reply might have shaken some men. The lawyer stood on his ground
as firmly as ever.

'I believe I am right,' he rejoined, 'in stating that his lordship's
income is not more than sufficient to support his station in life; also
that it is an income derived almost entirely from landed property in
Ireland, every acre of which is entailed.'

Montbarry's brother made a sign, admitting that he had no objection to
offer so far.

'If his lordship dies first,' the lawyer proceeded, 'I have been
informed that the only provision he can make for his widow consists in
a rent-charge on the property of no more than four hundred a year. His
retiring pension and allowances, it is well known, die with him. Four
hundred a year is therefore all that he can leave to the Countess, if
he leaves her a widow.'

'Four hundred a year is not all,' was the reply to this. 'My brother
has insured his life for ten thousand pounds; and he has settled the
whole of it on the Countess, in the event of his death.'

This announcement produced a strong sensation. Men looked at each
other, and repeated the three startling words, 'Ten thousand pounds!'
Driven fairly to the wall, the lawyer made a last effort to defend his
position.

'May I ask who made that settlement a condition of the marriage?' he
said. 'Surely it was not the Countess herself?.'

Henry Westwick answered, 'it was the Countess's brother'; and added,
'which comes to the same thing.'

After that, there was no more to be said--so long, at least, as
Montbarry's brother was present. The talk flowed into other channels;
and the Doctor went home.

But his morbid curiosity about the Countess was not set at rest yet.
In his leisure moments he found