Mr. Elthorne and his daughter Mary, and Mr. Merivale,

"We came off at once unknown to each other," cried both the gentlemen at once, "and we met at Preston Station, and here we are!"

There they were indeed, and perhaps there never was such a shaking of hands as that which ensued. Such indeed was the excitement of the moment, that Mary Elthorne was kissed by the Lieutenant, and the same operation was performed by the Rector and Mr. Merivale upon Evelyn. In these greetings these good folks were all very happy, and if

"Kissing and crying kept company,"

the kissing, pace Lady Lavinia, was very innocent, and the tears that were shed were tears of joy. In fact, the prophecy of old Biddy Maguire-which, truth to tell, had in the course of his wanderings more than once occurred to Wilfred's mind-was fulfilled to the letter. It was long after twelve when the three men retired, the Lieutenant to the Barracks, where he found several of his old comrades sitting up to cheer him on his return, and the two other gentlemen to the Mitre, where they had already secured beds, and for that night Mary Elthorne shared the couch of her old friend Evelyn.

Next morning, before the men were dismissed from parade, Colonel Hawkins informed them of the elevation of their Sergeant and former comrade. Upon this arose a loud shout of joy, and Messrs. Elthorne and Merivale, coming in at the gate, beheld Wilfred seized by the men and carried in triumph round the barrack yard. Fresh shouts arose when it transpired that Lieutenant Grimwood had resigned, on nomination to a staff appointment, and that Lieutenant Wilfred Manwaring would take his place, and remain among them.

Wilfred accompanied his two friends to lunch with his sister, and after that social meal a great confabulation ensued upon matters of business. Mr. Merivale informed Wilfred that, immediately he had received the news of his discovery, he had telegraphed to all the tenants to pay their rents in future to him instead of to Mr. Potts; and he told him that, as he was the undoubted owner of Holmcastle, it would probably be unnecessary for him to serve a notice to quit upon his cousin, who would most likely be glad enough to evacuate the place quietly, and that the more so, since the neighbouring gentry had so entirely ignored the existence of himself and family that they were thoroughly disgusted with the place. Mr. Tresham Potts had not

executed his threat to make a grand clearance amongst the trees at Holmcastle, for the eminent landscape-gardener, whose services he had called in, had refused to have anything to do with the affair if that was insisted on. Potts had, indeed, done one good thing for the property. It had been discovered that coal of fine quality underlay the outlying farms near Ormskirk, in the farther part of the county, and negotiations were even then in progress to lease the mineral wealth of the soil to a company on advantageous terms. Mr. Merivale had already written to the company to stay the execution of the lease until the real owner's pleasure was known, and he ended his narrative by congratulating Wilfred on the prospect of his becoming a very rich man, and by proposing to write a cheque for any sum which, under his altered circumstances, he might require for present and future use.

SPITE

the contrary, Mr. Merivale thought it well to serve a formal notice to quit Holmcastle upon Mr. Tresham Potts, and he accompanied it with an offer to produce any evidence which might seem necessary as to the identity of Wilfred as the son of the late Squire. Potts was far too shrewd a lawyer to think even of disputing the matter, and prepared accordingly, with the idea of avoiding further expense, to evacuate the property from which he had obtained but little enjoyment; although, by Wilfred's especial desire, he was entreated not to inconvenience himself by hurrying his departure, but to remain, should he so desire it, for three months upon the estate. Truth to tell, he was not

surprised in his inmost soul at the turn matters had taken. Deep down in his coarse, sensual, and overbearing nature there was a vein of superstition, and though over and over again he had chased the idea from his mind as ridiculous and impossible, he had never forgotten the conviction of Evelyn, that she had seen her brother's name in that place in the Family Tree of the Manwarings from which it had been erased by her father. When, shortly after his arrival at Holmcastle, his wife had been brought to bed of a son-when any new instance occurred of the contempt or dislike in which he was held by even his poorer neighbours-in fits of depression, after a bout of unusually hard drinking, the lawyer had been wont to unlock, examine, and re-examine the pedigree, and each time it was a positive relief to him to find the space which erewhile had contained the poor boy's name white and blank. He knew it could not be there, and yet he was relieved to find that it was not. His pride had been deeply mortified by the studied neglect of the surrounding gentry, who were justly incensed at his treatment of Evelyn, to call upon himself and his wife, and by their avoidance of him upon all public occasions; and he was enraged at the independence of manner and plain speaking of the