A Girl of the Commune

had no idea whatever that Mr. Hartington was in any way out of health. Cuthbert had written only the day before to say that he should be down at the end of the week, for indeed

be at the house if po

ied off at any moment by heart disease, but that he had strictly forbidden the do

had not been so. I might have been down wit

r in his manner. I thought he was wrong, at first, but I came to the conclusion afterwards that his decision was not an unwise one. He spared you three months of unavailing pain; he had no fear of death, and was able to go about as before to meet his friends without his health being a subject of discussion, and in all ways to go on as usual until the call came. His death was evidently painless; he sat down in his eas

at the manager had disappeared, and reports got about that the losses of the bank had been enormous. The first investigation into its affairs more than confirmed the worst rumors. For years it had been engaged in propping up the firm not only of Mildra

r drove up to Fairclose. He looked excited and anxious when he went into

bad news to tell you,

, without any very grea

eard yesterday of the

he was driving past to tell me

worse than that, sir. Your fath

," Cuthbert said, his air of

me vague rumors afloat as to the credit of the bank, and your father, who did not believe them, took a few shares as a

wed him to invest in ba

investigating titles, and seeing to the purchase and sales of property here in the county; beyond that I knew nothing of their affairs. I was not consulted at all in the matter. Your father simply said to me, 'I see that

reat deal of his county, and I can quite understand his acting as he did. Well, t

ts of the bank to the full extent of his property, and although I earnestly hope that only the bank's capital has been lost, I

ly interested now. "Of course you have no idea

ng that Mr. Hislop, who was, as you know, the chairman of the bank, had shot himself,

t silent fo

and Fairclose and all the estate go, I shall be better off than many people. I shall

gh the accounts with you, to recommend you to instruct me to dispose of them at once, which I should have done in my capacity of executor with

life is not my vocation, and I have been wondering for the last fortnight what on earth I should do with myself. As it is, I shall, if it comes to the worst, be obliged to work. I never have worked because I never have

e was really speaking in earnest, and that his indifferen

ike so bad as that, and that, at worst, a call of only a few pounds a share will be sufficient to meet any deficiency that may exist, still I am

e not even begun to appreciate the pleasures of possession or to feel that they weigh in the slightest against the necessity of my being obliged to give up the life I have been leading for years. By the bye," he went on, c

s a great annoyance to her mother and me, but argument has been thrown away upon her, and as unfortunately the girls have each a couple of thousand, left under their ow

ink, it seemed to me that her ideas were somewhat fixed, and

from his chair. "I drove over directly I had finished my breakfast and must hurry back again to the office. Well,

after seeing him off returned to the room, where he reseated himself in his chair, filled a

ure as he liked. As owner of Fairclose he had duties to perform-he had his tenants' welfare to look after, there would be the bailiff to interview every morning and to go into all sorts of petty details as to hedges and ditches, fences and repairs, a

an end, even if it should not turn out to be as bad as that, the sum he would be called upon to pay might be sufficient to cripple the estate and to afford him a good and legitimate excuse for shutting

ought to paint decently, and anyhow to turn out as good things as some of those men. It is just what I have always been wanting, though I did not know it. I am afraid I shall have to cut all those dear old fellows, for I should never be able to give myself up to work among them. I should say it would b

ion, nor an idea of art; he has no eye for color, or effect. He can paint admirably what he sees, but then he sees nothing but bare facts. He is always hard up, poor fellow, and it would be a real boon to him to take me for three months and stick at it hard with me, and by the end of that time I ought to be able to take my place in some artist

then went for a twenty mile walk over the hills, and returned somewhat tired with the unaccustomed exertion, but with a feeling of buoyancy and light-heartedness such as he had not experienced for a long time past. For the next week he remained at

ould really be indifferent to losing a fine estate, and yet he could see no reason for Cuthbert's assu

atelle. The only possible explanation of his indifference that I can think of is that he must have made some low marriage in London, and does not care about introducing his wife to

ing," Mrs. Brander said, "and it may be he

he will have is that five thousand that came to him from his mother, and I should say he is li

er permitted his father to do such a

that. You have been wanting me for a very long time to give up

aimed, with an excitement very unu

se comes into the market, more unlikely things than that may

nk it will come into t

at was enough to show us that the directors ought all to be shut up in a lunatic asylum. The affa

d, that you did not hol

county gentlemen, but who knew no more of business than babies, and who would be mere tools in the hands of their manager; and I had the excellent ex

mile on his lips, and h

r you are,

, my dear, until we are established at Fairclose. All I ask is that you won't ask any questions or allude to the

hbert Hartington after all," she said, a

he does not take it to heart in the slightest

ke a fancy to one of our girls, and I might see one of them mistress at Fairclose; but I never drea

he plum when it falls into your mouth, and don't worry yourself

losses. One or two letters from Mr. Brander had already prepared Cuthbert for the final result of the investigation, and he had already begun to carry out the plan he had marked out for himself. He had, as soon as he had returned, astonished his friends by inf

to keep my head above water, and, I dare say you fellows

ho were smoking in Wilson's studio, he hav

h you would do with yourself now you have come into your money. I often thought it was the worst thing in the world for you that you had not got to work, a

ll disposed to fancy myself a martyr, I can assure you. I mean to go over to Paris and

neral chorus o

er about for nine months in the year, and work f

rt Hartington rebuking us for laziness is rich indeed," and a ro

ay you men loaf, and call it working, that has so far kept me from setting to. Now I am going to burst the bonds of

, it is the best thing you can do to go abroad. I do

, has undertaken to teach me the rudiments, and for the next three mon

u how to use the brush and put on color no one can. Gentlemen, we will drink the health of the new boy. H

an to that of his instructor, he found the hours none too long for him. Dur

be made, and that you wished the matter to be arranged as speedily as possible as you were shortly going abroad. The necessary deeds will in a few days be prepared. You will doubtless be surprised to hear that I have arranged wit

estate in the county were public property, Cuthbert was not surprised, but at the same time he was not altogether pleased. He had ne

hink of Mary being at the old place than a man of that sort. He would have been more likely than Brander to be hard on the tenants, and to have sold off all the things and have turned the place inside out. I don't say that under ordinary circumstances I should choose Brander as a landlord, but he will know well enough th

rchased the house and estate of Fairclose, which has come into the market owing to the failure of the Abchester Bank, in which the late Mr. Hartington was most unfortunately a shareholder, and which has involved hundreds of families in ruin. The

nd I am sure that he never lived beyond his income. He paid me a handsome allowance, but, thank God, I never exceeded it. What in the world can this mean! I will write to Brander

uthbert received th

us. Everything was in proper order. Mr. Brander's bank-book showed that he drew out ￡15,000 on the date of the mortgage, and the books of the bank confirm his book. Notice had been given to them a week previously that he would require that sum in notes and gold, a

e purpose for which it had been raised, or what his father could possibly have done with the money. He, therefore, wrote to Mr. Brander, saying that though it w

, and he never let drop a word as to the mortgage or as to any difficulty in which he had involved himself, or any investment h

answer came i

r. It suffices that I want ￡15,000.' 'Of course there is no difficulty about that, sir,' I said, 'the estate is unencumbered, and as there is no entail you are free to do with it as you like. 'But I want it done quietly,' he said, 'I don't want it talked about that I have mortgaged Fairclose. The best plan by far would be for you to do it yourself, which I have no doubt you can do easily enough if you like.' I said that I would much rather have nothing to do with it, as I have always considered it a mistake for lawyers to become principals in money transactions with their clients, and had always refused to do anything of the sort. However, he put the matter so strongly that he

ome time with the

e intended to tell me some day, and would have done so if he hadn't been carried off so suddenly. Anyhow, he knew me well enough to be sure that when I heard of this mortgage, and learned how it had been done that my love and respect for him would be sufficient to prevent my