Fallen Fortunes

for the treasures of wood-cuts and the strange stories they possessed-and illuminated missals, where, amid a mass of gilding and wonderful colours, the story of

pt the empty shelves with quick, indignant glances. A motion of hi

on of the frame and claw-like hands, seemed either to indicate some wasting disease, or else a miser-like habit of life which denied its owner the common necessaries of existence. Grey fancied that perhaps this latter surmise might be the right one; for he himself would have fared ill at breakfast that morning, had it not been for the fish which Dicon had caught and cooked for the pair, ere he presented himself at the me

ing gesture with his hand, and

u will hear the same tale from all. He spent money like water. Never did he trouble his head where it was to come from. I have papers; I can show them if you have knowledge of the law enough to understand. I advanced him sum after sum, on such poor security as this tumble-down house and impoverished estate has to offer. I beggared myself for his sake. He was the only kinsman left me. I could deny him nothing. And when my funds were gone, I must needs squeeze all that could be squeezed out of the house and land. The books went; the timber was felled; the pictures wer

ut of the corners of his ferret-like eyes. Grey's glance was

ake up my burden. I will learn whether

aresq quickly; "and p

etrieving the past. Even if I toil with my own hands, I shal

king to mask the sneer by a smile; "and

hat I have the right to live in my own house, and to

rs to do with as you will. But till that time come, I, and not you, am master here. The revenues are mine; the house I have the right to occupy, to the exc

I would know from you what it all means. It is you, not I, to whom

mortgage upon it-first on the house, then on the land. I came to live in the house, and paid him rent for it once. Then I supplied him with money and took up the mortgages. He and I had been boys together. The tie between us was strong. I verily believe he was glad to have me here, and when he was sick and smitten with mortal disease he came hither to die, and I was with him to the last. He was

e saw how impossible it would be to attempt to live here himself, even if he could establish a legal right to do so. He was not certain if his father could have done anything which should actually hinder him from claiming possession of the house which was his, but to find money to pay off the mortgages-he might as well have sought for money to buy the moon! And even then, how could he live in a house without money, without servants, without friends? No; he must seek to carve out a fortune for himself. His fair dream of a peaceful life in England as a country squire was shattered into a thousand pieces. Some day perhaps-some day in the dim and distant future, when fortune and fame were his-he might come back to take possession o

him by the lynx-eyed kinsman, who seemed half afraid to trust them out of his own claw-like clutches. But Grey perused them w

et, I can take over Hartsbourne, house and lands and all,

something slightly uneasy in his shifty glance. "Right gladly would I receive mine own, and m

erlocutor. "The Dumaresqs have not ranked as a wealthy family since the days of the Civil War,

's fancy that he did so? The young man could not be sure, thou

ossess. I followed in his footsteps until, for your father's sake, I elected to prop the falling fortunes of the house rather than live in selfish affluence on my own revenues. Well, I did what seemed right; and my

e of his kinsman with a cloud on

father's sake? Tush! A man with that face sacrifice himself for another! Nay; but he is hoarding up gold for himself, or I greatly mistake me. Truly do I believe that he is playing some deep game of his own. Well, I can but wait and see what time will bring forth. It is a shame that the old house should be left to go to ruin like this, with its revenues falling regularly into the hands of a Dumaresq! Why doth he not spend them upon t

ront was the eastern portion of the house, with its great entrance doors, led up to by a fine double stairway, beneath which a coach could stand, and its occupants in wet weather enter by a lower door. But the stone work was chipped and broken; the balustrade had lost many of its balls, whic

depths. He wandered through the tangled garden, and out towards the fish-ponds beyond and then by

e. "You loved the place, and you taught me to love it. For that alone I would seek to call it one day mi

man was to him, and bitterly as he resented his conduct and distrusted his motives, it was not in the young man's nature to be churlish. Every hour of daylight he spent wandering about the pl

nd guard it, and let none see it till Sir Grey should claim it himself? For years he had thought him a friend; but I trow he knew him for a false one at the last. Y

ds cautioned Grey to be careful of the hoard, and let no one know of its existence-"no one" plainly meaning his kinsman. It also contained a few faintly traced words of farewell, and just a plea for forgiveness-evidently wri

stigations far; and all that he carried away with him were saddened memories, and one little mouldering volume of poems, with his mother's name on the fly leaf, which he had found lying in a corner of the little room with the sunny oriel, where she had passed the greater part of her time. He thought he even remembered the book in her hands; and he slip

added. "I think I shall remain in England. I have been a wanderer something too long. A homely saying tells us that the rolling stone gathers no

of the spoils of a vanquished foe," spoke Mr. Dumaresq, looking at him in a peering, crafty fashion. "Surely a gallant you

on had boasted to old Jock, neither cared to have aught to do with the deaf and cross-grained serving-man who waited upon the master within doors. A moment more and Grey had found the clue, and realized that his own death would make Bartholomew Dumare

of war, but a career of peace has more attractions for me;" and he smiled to see

re were strange creakings and groanings of the furniture, and the owls without hooted and hissed in the ivy wreaths. More than one bat flew in and out, circling over his head in uncanny flight; and had it not been that the previous night had been an almost sleepless one, Grey would scarce have closed an eye. As it was, he grew drowsy gradually, and f

Its radiance was sufficient to light every corner of the room, and Grey found himself lying still as a stone, yet sweepi

for a few awful seconds he lay gazing a

gleaming silver of the blade. Its haft was grasped by a hand

ftly downwards. With a motion as swift, the young man threw himself sidewise out o

great moonlit room. The curtains behind the

ssed his hand over and over the woodwork, but could find nothing to give a clue. Old memories of secret sliding panels, unknown passages to hiding-places, and ghostly visitants to sleeping guests, rose in succession before

e to assert that his kinsman had ridden off in the early hours of the morning, he knew not whither? Did he drug the wine? Was this in his head all the while? Or was the idea suggested only by my refusal to place my neck in peril at the wars? O Barty, Barty Dumaresq, a pretty villain art thou! Before this I migh