and out clear above a tangle of others, all blurred
and muddled, in his brain, was that these troubles--the attack on the
Black Tor, and the hundred times more terrible one upon Cliff Castle--
were caused by him. Certainty Ralph Darley had something to do with it,
but he was badly wounded and out of the question now, so that he, Mark
Eden, must take all the blame.

Then, too, he could not understand his own acts. It all seemed so
absurd, just such a confused sequence of events as would take place in a
dream, for him to be listening to Ralph's appeal for help, and to begin
pitying him, his natural enemy, feeling toward him as if he were his
dearest friend; and then, with his heart burning with rage against those
who had injured him and his, to follow his father, panting to get ready
an expedition whose object was to drive Captain Purlrose and his
murderous, thieving crew off the face of the earth.

That was not the greatest puzzle which helped to confuse Mark Eden, for
there was his father's conduct, so directly opposed to everything which
had gone before; but at last, after fighting with his confusion for some
time, his head grew clearer, and he drew a long deep breath.

"I know how it is," he said to himself, with a curious smile, mingled of
pleasure and pain; "the old trouble's dead. This business has killed
it, and I'm jolly glad."

"Mark, boy," said his father just then, and it seemed to the lad that
his father must have been thinking and feeling in a similar way, "I
daresay you think my conduct strange, after all the teachings of the
past, but nature is sometimes stronger than education, and after what
has taken place we must, as English gentlemen, forget all old enmity,
and behave toward the Darleys as--as--as--"

"I'm sure Ralph and his father would have behaved towards us, if we had
been in such a terrible state."

"Yes, my boy--thank you--exactly," cried Sir Edward, with a sigh of
relief. "I was afraid you would think it half mad and strange of me to
be doing this, when--when you see we could go over and take possession
of the Darley's place, and hold it for our own."

"But we couldn't now, father," cried Mark. "If it had been a challenge,
and we had gone and attacked them, and conquered, it would have been
grand, but the Edens couldn't go and fight wounded men--hit people when
they are down."

"No, my boy," said Sir Edward firmly; "the Edens could not do that."

A busy day followed, with the men