Monckton raised his eyebrows. "But surely Miss Huntley doesn't think of parting with it, does she?" he asked. "I don't know; but I presume that she will after-well, after she is married. Monckton, old man, I am sure you know why Gilbert backed out of his engagement to poor little Kitty Greenwood; and you know too how I used to feel about Miss Huntley. I shall get over that by-and-by, I hope; I see now that she isn't what I thought she was, and I might have seen it before if I hadn't chosen to keep my eyes shut. In the meantime I don't want to talk about her. As for the Manor House, I don't see why they should wish to keep the place, and I have scarcely spent a shilling of the money that I received for it. You know, Monckton, I never did like parting with the old house." "Well, but assuming that Miss Huntley will be willing to sell, don't you think she may expect some return for what she has laid out on her property since she came into possession of it ?" Brian's face fell a little. "I didn't think of that," he confessed. "However, I suppose I might raise something on a mortgage, mightn't I?" Monckton smiled and shook his head. "Brian," said he, "however long you may live, and whatever experiences you may pass through, you will remain sublimely indifferent to expenditure to the end of your days. I don't admire you for it; you ought to know better by this time." "I don't think I'm as extravagant as I used to be," answered Brian meekly. "I have learnt all sorts of economical dodges, and I can live upon very little nowadays. Of course it sounds insane to invest all one's capital in the purchase of a place that one can't afford to inhabit, but surely you wouldn't advise me to look on quietly while Buswell grabs the Manor House and tears it to pieces.' "I am not convinced that Mr. Buswell will be allowed to grab the Manor House: my impression is that Miss Huntley is as little anxious as you are to hand it over to him. Your brother might perhaps; but even if he marries Miss Huntley the Manor House won't belong to him. There is such a thing as a Married Woman's Property Act, you must remember." "If she marries Gilbert she will dispose of her property in any way that may please him," Brian declared confidently. "After all the sacrifices that she has made for him it isn't likely that she will care to dispute with him about comparative trifles." "Oh, I didn't mean to apply to her directly," answered Brian; "I thought I would just see Gilbert and sound him upon the subject." 66 According to you, that will be rather a waste of breath. Your view is that he is about to marry a very rich woman, therefore it would hardly be for the sake of the purchase-money that he would urge her to sell a part of her property to Mr. Buswell. Would it make you very angry, Brian, if I were to say that I doubt very much whether your purpose in coming here was to open negotiations for the recovery of the Manor House?" "As if anything that you could say would make me angry, Monckton! But if you doubt my having come here for that, what in the world do you suppose that I have come for? It isn't over and above pleasant for me to be here just now, I can assure you." "Why, I think," answered Monckton, smiling, "that you are here because you don't in the least believe all the rumours that have reached you, and because you want to satisfy yourself that they are untrue. And, between you and me, I don't believe them either." "No wonder you don't!" sighed Brian. "I only wish I could disbelieve them, but unfortunately I can't. I heard from her own lips in London that- He broke off suddenly and, pointing to the window, exclaimed, "Mercy upon us, look there!" Monckton, who had risen just in time to catch a glimpse of Miss Huntley herself, advancing composedly towards the door, began to laugh at Brian's dismayed countenance. "Don't be so alarmed," said he; "she is not likely to come in, and if she does she won't eat you.' " But Brian had already clutched his hat, and was preparing for flight. "I can't meet her, Monckton," he said hurriedly; "I'll slip out by the back way. Good-bye for the present; we shall meet again before I leave, I hope." And without more ado he took to his heels. The smile had not quite faded from Monckton's face when Miss Huntley was announced. She looked a little embarrassed and also rather cross. "Am I violating etiquette ?" she asked. "I suppose I am; but it can't be helped. I went to church, hoping to catch you as you came out; but I found a tiresome little curate on duty, so, as I didn't want to have my walk for nothing, I proceeded here and demanded admission. Since you won't come and see me, I must come and see you." "Please sit down," said Monckton. "I can't often find time for paying visits; but I need not say that I am quite at your service whenever you want me." does not make a rule, and I shall always think that in this particular instance interference of any kind was justifiable. How you can say that Kitty would have had even a chance of being happy with that wretch passes my comprehension." "I shouldn't say it if I didn't think it. You see, Miss Huntley, in my trade it is necessary to study human nature, and after a time one gets to understand the meaning "I quite understand; that is a polite way of certain common symptoms. Now, I should of saying What is your business?' I won't never dream of classing this man Segrave keep you long, I only wish to ask you one among the hopeless cases-if indeed there or two questions. First of all, I should like be any hopeless cases. I believe that a good you to tell me and I know you will answer | wife might have done much for him; for honestly-what you think of the way in he is still young, he is quite capable of which I have been turning things topsy- shame, and, from what I have seen, I doubt turvy this autumn." whether his efforts at humbugging himself have been very successful." "I am not sure that I am quite in a position to judge," replied Monckton, "but as far as I can understand your intentions, they have been good. I must confess that your way of carrying them out seems to me to have been both wrong and foolish." She drew a long breath. Well," she said, "I am glad that you give me credit for good intentions, at any rate. You are the first person who has had the common intelligence to see that much, and I dare say you will be the last. Naturally you wouldn't approve of my method, but really, if you will think of it, no other method was open to me, and it has at least the merit of having been completely successful." "Has it?" Well, hasn't it? I have saved Kitty Greenwood from binding herself for life to a man who is, upon the whole, the most despicable specimen of humanity that I have ever encountered." "Yes, that is your opinion of him, only it wouldn't have been hers if she had married him. Nobody likes and respects Miss Greenwood more than I do; but I don't think she possesses much insight into cha racter, and I fancy that her husband's faults would have to be very conspicuous indeed before she could be made to recognise them. I will admit that I am glad she is not going to marry him; nevertheless, I am not in the least sure that he would have made her unhappy. A nice nest of hornets the world would become if we all insisted upon choosing our friends' husbands and wives for them." "There is no danger of such a catastrophe. Most people are a great deal too selfish to lay themselves open to abuse and slander for the sake of their friends. Besides, once "See what comes of looking at things from a professional point of view! You speak quite cheerfully of sacrificing the good wife; you are like those doctors who don't mind torturing hundreds of animals upon the off chance of prolonging one or two, probably worthless, human lives. I don't know, I'm sure, whether your interesting patient is capable of repentance or not; but I do know and so do you that he is capable of defrauding his brother, breaking his promises to his father, pretending to hold political opinions which he doesn't really hold, and sneaking out of a marriage engagement in the hope of making a more profitable one. You may possibly understand how to deal with such cases better than I do; but it does seem to me that a good wholesome dose of punishment is the most promising thing to begin with. Meanwhile, I decline to be a party to any experiments in vivisection for his benefit." Monckton smiled, but made no reply. If his studies of human nature had taught him nothing else, they had most likely convinced him that argument with irate ladies is seldom profitable. Presently Beatrice went on, in a much more conciliatory tone, and even with a touch of timidity: "Mr. Monckton, I want you to do something for me, if you will; I want you to make peace between Kitty and me. I suppose she is very angry with me now-perhaps you know that she is?" "I don't think she is best pleased with ," answered Monckton; "it would be rather strange if she were, wouldn't it? you, "Yes; but I always thought that as soon as she knew the truth she would understand, and now I am afraid-Well I had better tell you that Mr. Segrave called upon me yesterday and did me the great honour to offer me his hand and heart. I made him the answer that you may imagine, and then, among other insolent and detestable things, he said that nobody would ever believe I had done all that I have done for Kitty's sake alone. I am afraid he is right; I am afraid it does sound a rather unlikely story." "I am afraid it does," agreed Monckton. "But you at least saw-for you said sothat my intentions were good, and if you were to explain that to Kitty, she would believe you." "Perhaps she would. I suppose I may tell her with truth that you had no other object than her welfare?" "You don't mean to imply that you doubt it, I hope?" "Well, you know, Miss Huntley, you said something about punishment just now." "Oh, I throw you in the punishment; far be it from me to deny that I thoroughly enjoyed punishing Mr. Segrave." "But what for? Not for an offence which he had not yet committed and which you were trying to make him commit, I presume? I wouldn't for the world suggest such a thing to Miss Greenwood; but it may occur to her that you were more anxious to avenge Brian upon his brother than to rescue her. It is so easy to misinterpret motives! I can even imagine her turning your own surgical illustration against you, and I don't see what rejoinder you could make, except the one which I didn't make to younamely, that it doesn't happen to apply. Such rejoinders are not very convincing." whom one would care to make a friend of. I sincerely hope that I shall not see him while he is here." "Perhaps you won't," observed Monckton quietly. "At all events, I can answer for it that he is not anxious to see you; for he was sitting with me just now, and the moment that he caught sight of you approaching he jumped up and fled through the back door. I don't know whether anything that he may hear from his brother will cause him to change his mind; but "It is a matter of complete indifference to me whether he changes his mind or not," interrupted Beatrice; "but it might be a kindness on your part to warn him that anything which his brother says is pretty sure to be false. I must not take up your time any longer now." "Have I offended you by what you call my insinuation ?" "Oh, no, not at all. I think it was rather rude; but never mind; I don't mean to quarrel with you, Mr. Monckton, whatever you may say to me. Perhaps you will look in upon me some evening-after you have seen the Greenwoods." "I will not fail to do so," answered Monckton. And after he had seen her to the door, he sat down in his arm-chair and laughed softly. "So I am to tell Brian that there is no sort of hope for him," thought he. "That was what she came here for, I suppose; because she does not really need my intervention to set matters straight between her and Miss Kitty. Well, I shall not deliver her message, though it would serve her right if "I am glad that you have said that, Mr. I did. She really has behaved in a most Monckton," cried Beatrice, rising and turn- inexcusable manner; and yet she was pering a face of calm fury upon her interlocutor; fectly sincere, I am sure. There is a deter"I am very glad that you have said it, be- mined self-reliance about her, too, which is cause it gives me an opportunity of telling rather fine in its way and only wants directyou that I perfectly understand your insinua- ing. What a time she must have had of it tion (though I must own that you are the during the last three months, with everylast person in the world from whom I should body against her and her conscience not have expected to hear it), and that it is as quite at ease, and probably with a strong devoid of any shadow of excuse as any insi- suspicion that her own happiness was at nuation can possibly be. Mr. Segrave was stake! Mr. Segrave was stake! Yes; all things considered, Brian is pleased to give utterance to it yesterday, and a fortunate fellow." it would be just like him to repeat it to his brother, who, I am told, has suddenly made his appearance here. Not for any man living would I go through one-tenth of the annoyance and humiliation that I have submitted to since the summer, and most certainly not for Mr. Brian Segrave, whom I used rather to like at one time, but whom I have since found to be not at all the sort of person CHAPTER XLV.-THE LAST STRAW. FROM the earliest times even until now a man who has received a blow without avenging it has been held to be a man deserving, perhaps, of pity, but certainly of contempt. Under the somewhat anomalous social code which prevails in our own country at the present day it may be safely asserted that there is one course, and only one for those who have he had come by that ugly mark upon his brow. Any man may tumble down-stairs or hit his head against a tree; these are accidents to which the best and soberest of us are liable; but unfortunately a censorious world is slow to believe in them. "Shall I be taken ill, or shall I brazen it out?" thought Gilbert. "After all, it is best not to show the white feather, and I can't possibly remain in seclusion for the next ten days. Anyhow, I won't see a soul to-day, unless Brian comes." He rose from his chair, intending to give instructions to that effect. But he was just a minute too late; for while his hand was still on the bell the door was opened and Mr. Buswell was announced. Buswell entered the room slowly, mopping his forehead with his handkerchief as he advanced, although the day was not a warm one. "Good morning, Mr. Segrave-how do you do, sir?" said he. He was perhaps the very last man in Kingscliff whom Gilbert would have chosen to receive at that particular juncture. There, however, he was, and there was nothing for it but to make the best of him. Gilbert assumed as cordial a manner as he could, placed a chair for his unwelcome visitor, seated himself with his back to the light, and said cheerfully "Well, Mr. Buswell, what is the news?" "The noos, sir," replied Mr. Buswell, "is not what I could wish it to be. Some of it's no noos to you and bad noos for me; some of it's t'other way on; none of it's just what you could call pleasant for either of us. To begin with, it's known all over the town that you've broke off your marriage, sir." His reflections, as he proceeded with his toilet, were of a most unenviable character. With all the will in the world to chastise Mitchell, he did not see how the thing was to be accomplished. He dreaded scandal; he dreaded ridicule; he saw plainly enough that the utmost that he could hope for was to extort some expression of penitence for an act of unprovoked aggression. Mitchell, if brought to book, would probably have to admit that his attack was in no way justified "It is quite true that the marriage which by the circumstances; but would it be ad- was to have taken place between me and visable to bring Mitchell to book? That Miss Greenwood will not now take place," was the question, and it was rather an awk-answered Gilbert; "but that is a private ward one. Gilbert had not been able to make an affirmative reply to it when he went down-stairs, uncomfortably conscious of his bruised forehead. If the servants did not exchange significant grins as he passed them, he thought they did. After breakfast he shut himself up in his study and was very miserable. During the past twenty-four hours Fate had treated him so cruelly that it seemed as if things could hardly be worse with him; and yet of course they might be worse. The meeting of electors which he had promised to address on the morrow might hoot him, for instance, and some of them would assuredly want to know how matter and has nothing to do with the election. Of course, when I asked you what the news was, it was to the election prospects that I referred." "Nothing to do with the election!" echoed Buswell. "Bless your 'eart, it has everything to do with it! Why, if you heard the things said that I heard yesterday-but you'll hear 'em soon enough. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Segrave, that you've played your cards uncommon badly. From the very beginning I told you, 'Get 'old of the Manor 'Ouse and you'll win 'and over 'and;' but you wouldn't listen to me, and what was the consequence ? Why, that you lost a couple o' 'undred votes straight off. I can't put it at no less. Now, with a man like Giles against you, it was no joke to lose that number of votes; but to quarrel on the very eve of the election with a young lady who has done more for you by canvassing in certain quarters of the town than ever I could have done-well, all I can say is it looks to me like the act of a loonatic! I make no observation of my own, but the pop'lar opinion is that your beyaviour to that young lady has been atrocious, sir." "Mr. Buswell," said Gilbert, with some dignity, "please to understand, once for all, that I cannot allow my private affairs to be made the subject of public discussion." "Ah! but you can't help it, you see," returned Buswell. "A public man, Mr. Segrave, has no private affairs." And as if to illustrate his dictum, Mr. Buswell, who had been staring fixedly at his entertainer during the last few minutes, went on, "You've got a nasty bump right in the middle of your forehead, I see. What have you been doing to yourself? Not been running up against anybody's fist, I 'ope." Gilbert ground his teeth, but did not lose his temper. "I met with a slight accident yesterday," he said, "and I am afraid I shall hardly be fit to show myself upon a platform for a day or two. In fact, I was thinking of asking you whether our meeting for to-morrow might not be postponed." "I dare say we can manage to get you excused from attending the meeting," replied Mr. Buswell, with a short laugh. "So you met with an accident, did you? Well, well, accidents will 'appen in the best reg'lated families. Your brother arrived yesterday, I'm told. Now, if there's been anything in the natur' of a fracas between you and 'im "There has been nothing of the kind," interrupted Gilbert, "and you must excuse my adding that that is a very impertinent suggestion." "No offence, sir; we're all of us liable to have turbulent relatives, and a cousin of my own was in the county gaol not so many years ago. But I'm glad I was mistaken in my little conjectur', because any such episode at a time like this would perdooce a painful impression. Not, to be sure, that you could stand much lower in the public estimation than you do already. As I was saying just now, pop'lar opinion is very adverse to you, sir; and then it's openly asserted-mind, I don't make myself responsible for the truth of the assertion that you've been making up to our friend Miss 'Untley ever since she bought the Manor 'Ouse property from your brother. I suppose if that has been said to me once, it has been said a 'undred times; and what's the good of my answering that you're incapable of the action? Bless you! they only laugh at me, and say they know better." "Perhaps I shall find out presently what you are driving at," remarked Gilbert. "In the meantime, allow me to tell you that this assumption of innocent probity on your part has a somewhat grotesque effect. I think you must be forgetting that there is nobody in the room but ourselves. Whether I have or have not been 'making up' to Miss Huntley, as you elegantly phrase it, there is something rather comical in your professing to think me incapable of the very action which you have been urging me to commit from the first day when you undertook to support my candidature." "Not me, Mr. Segrave," returned Buswell emphatically. "I grant you that when you was a free man I advised you to marry Miss 'Untley, and very sound advice it was too; but you wouldn't be guided by me, and you went and engaged yourself to Miss Greenwood instead. Well and good; you were free to choose; and the only remark I made to you on the subject was, that if Kingscliff didn't get the Manor 'Ouse estate through you, a fairish number of Kingscliff voters might think you wasn't the right man to represent 'em. Just what they are thought! Well, you might 'ave persuaded Miss 'Untley to sell, and if you had dropped a thousand or two over the transaction, that'd have been the price you'd have had to pay for your fancy; but "Do you mean to tell me that that was what you advised?" interrupted Gilbert. "Just so, sir; that and nothing else. Now look 'ere, Mr. Segrave; I'm a peaceable citizen, and as such I make it a rule to keep a civil tongue in my 'ead; but if any man accuses me of 'aving advised him to play a dirty trick, why, I don't see what I'm to do in justice to myself except give him the lie direct." This only was wanting. After having been scornfully rejected by Beatrice, knocked down by Mitchell, and magnanimously preserved from a thrashing by Brian, to be called a liar by Mr. Buswell was no more than might have been expected. For one moment Gilbert thought of doing as he had been done by and reverting to the use of those simple weapons with which Nature has supplied us for our protection, but this was |