such occasions," he
says, with some hesitation, laying his hand on Shadwell's shoulder.
"But I must tell you how I regret, for your sake, all that has taken
place."

"Thank you, Stafford. You are one of the very few whose sympathy is
never oppressive. But do not be uneasy about me," with a short laugh.
"I dare say I shall manage to exist. I have five hundred a year of my
own, and my grandfather's thoughtfulness has made it a thousand. No
doubt I shall keep body and soul together, though there is no
disguising the fact that I feel keenly the difference between one
thousand and twenty."

"My dear fellow, I am glad to see you take it so well. I don't believe
there are a dozen men of my acquaintance who would be capable of
showing such pluck as you have done."

"I have always had a fancy for exploring. I shall go abroad and see
some life; the sooner the better. I thank you with all my heart,
Stafford, for your kindness. I thank you--and"--with a slight break in
his voice--"good-bye!"

He presses Stafford's hand warmly, and, before the other can reply, is
gone.

Half an hour later, Marcia, sweeping into her room in a torrent of
passion impossible to quell, summons her maid by a violent attack on
her bell.

"Take off this detested mourning," she says to the astonished girl.
"Remove it from my sight. And get me a colored gown and a Bradshaw."

The maid, half frightened, obeys, and that night Marcia Amherst quits
her English home forever.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

"Fare thee well! and if forever,
Still forever, fare thee well!"

--Byron.

"Oh, Cecil! now I can marry Tedcastle," says Molly, at the end of a
long and exhaustive conversation that has taken place in her own room.
She blushes a little as she says it; but it is honestly her first
thought, and she gives utterance to it. "Letitia, too, and the
children,--I can provide for them. I shall buy back dear old Brooklyn,
and give it to them, and they shall be happy once more."

"I agree with Lord Byron," says Cecil, laughing. "'Money makes the man;
the want of it, his fellow.' You ought to feel like some princess out
of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments."

"I feel much more like an intruder. What right have I to Herst? What
shall I do with so much money?"

"Spend it. There is nothing simpler. Believe me, no one was ever in
reality embarrassed by her riches, notwithstanding all they say. The
whole thing is marvelous. Who could have antic