ood
fellow."

"You shall be repaid, mamma, in more ways than one, if I live," Beth
vowed.

Uncle James Patten doled out a five-pound-note to Beth by way of a
wedding present from the long rent-roll her mother should have
inherited.

"This is to help with your trousseau, but do not be extravagant," he
said in his pleasant way. "As the wife of a professional man, you
will descend from my class to the class below, the middle class, and
you should dress according to your station. But you are doing as well
as we could expect you to do, considering your character and conduct.
Some doubted if you would ever receive an offer of marriage, or have
the sense to accept it if one were made you; but I always said you
would have the doctor if he would have you."

Beth's impulse was to throw the note at him, but she restrained
herself on her brother Jim's account. It was suspected that Uncle
James was only waiting for a plausible excuse to disinherit Jim; and
he found it the next time Jim stayed at Fairholm. They were in the
drawing-room together one day, and a maid was mending the fire. Uncle
James was sitting at a writing-table with a mirror in front of him,
and he declared that in that mirror he distinctly saw his nephew chuck
the maid-servant under the chin, which was conduct such as Mr. James
Patten could not be expected to tolerate in his heir; so he altered
his will, and after that all communication ceased between the two
families, except such as Aunt Grace Mary managed to keep up
surreptitiously.

Aunt Grace Mary was very generous to Beth, and so also was old Lady
Benyon. Had it not been for these two, Beth would have left home
ill-provided for. Thanks to them, however, she was spared that
humiliation, and went with an ample outfit.

In the days preceding her marriage, Beth sometimes thought of
Charlotte, and of the long fiction of that wonderful time when they
were friends. Her busy brain had created many another story since
then, but none that had the fascination of that first sustained
effort. Hector's mysterious establishment on the other side of the
headland, the troubles in Spain, the wicked machinations of their
enemies, the Secret Service of Humanity, the horses, yacht, and useful
doctor--who had not held a high place in their estimation, being
merely looked upon as a trustworthy tool of Hector's; yet it was he
whom Beth was to marry. She wondered what Charlotte would think of her
when she heard it, and of Hec