while his strong arm was there to ward it off. She felt very much
as Mary Stuart may have done about Bothwell; when, moved to scornful
aversion by the silken boy-profligate Darnley, her heart acknowledged
its master in the dark freebooter who had slain him. There had been no
Darnley in Pamela Tempest's life; but this resolute, clear-brained
soldier was her Bothwell. She had the Mary Stuart temperament, the love
of compliments and fine dresses, dainty needlework and luxurious
living, without the Stuart craft. In Conrad Winstanley she had found
her master, and she was content to be so mastered; willing to lay down
her little sum of power at his feet, and live henceforward like a tame
falcon at the end of a string. Her position, as a widow, was an
excellent one. The Squire's will had been dictated in fullest
confidence in his wife's goodness and discretion; and doubtless also
with the soothing idea common to most hale and healthy men, that it
must be a long time before their testamentary arrangements can come
into effect. It was a holograph will, and the Squire's own composition
throughout. "He would have no lawyer's finger in that pie," he had
said. The disposal of his estate had cost him many hours of painful
thought before he rang the bell for his bailiff and his butler, and
executed it in their presence.

Mrs. Tempest was mistress of the Abbey House for her life; and at her
death it was to become Violet's property. Violet was not to come of age
until she was twenty-five, and in the meantime her mother was to be her
sole guardian, and absolute mistress of everything. There was no
question of an allowance for the maintenance of the heiress, no
question as to the accumulation of income. Everything was to belong to
Mrs. Tempest till Violet came of age. She had only to educate and
maintain her daughter in whatever manner she might think fit. At
Violet's majority the estate was to pass into her possession, charged
with an income of fifteen hundred a year, to be paid to the widow for
her lifetime. Until her twenty-fifth birthday, therefore, Violet was in
the position of a child, entirely dependent on her mother's liberality,
and bound to obey her mother as her natural and only guardian. There
was no court of appeal nearer than the Court of Chancery. There was no
one to whom the two women could make their complaints or refer their
differences.

Naturally, Captain Winstanley had long before this made himself
acquainted with