tly, "the least in the world. Think
of it, and you will find that I am right; and then, when next I come,
then, perhaps, you will not refuse to kiss me." And so he went.

Oh, how she loved him! How sweet would it be to submit her pride,
her independence, her maiden reticences to such a man as that! How
worthy was he of all worship, of all confidence, of all service! How
definitely better was he than any other being that had ever crossed
her path! But yet she was quite sure that she would not marry him.

CHAPTER XIII

The _Carmarthen Herald_

There was a great deal said at Carmarthen about the old Squire's
will. Such scenes as that which had taken place in the house, first
when the will was produced, then when the search was made, and
afterwards when the will was read, do not pass without comment.
There had been many present, and some of them had been much moved by
the circumstances. The feeling that the Squire had executed a will
subsequent to that which had now been proved was very strong, and
the idea suggested by Mr Apjohn that the Squire himself had, in the
weakness of his latter moments, destroyed this document, was not
generally accepted. Had he done so, something of it would have been
known. The ashes of the paper or the tattered fragments would have
been seen. Whether Mr Apjohn himself did or did not believe that it
had been so, others would not think it. Among the tenants and the
servants at Llanfeare there was a general feeling that something
wrong had been done. They who were most inclined to be charitable
in their judgment, such as John Griffith of Coed, thought that the
document was still hidden, and that it might not improbably be
brought to light at last. Others were convinced that it had fallen
into the hands of the present possessor of the property, and that it
had been feloniously but successfully destroyed. No guess at the real
truth was made by any one. How should a man have guessed that the
false heir should have sat there with the will, as it were, before
his eyes, close at his hand, and neither have destroyed it nor
revealed its existence?

Among those who believed the worst as to Cousin Henry were the two
Cantors. When a man has seen a thing done himself he is prone to
believe in it,--and the more so when he has had a hand in the doing.
They had been selected for the important operation of witnessing
the will, and did not in the least doubt that the will had been in
existence when