thoughts, which were all of the early days,
when, two miserable little orphans, they were
received at Woolgreaves, at once put into
the position of daughters of the house, and
where their every wish was studied and
gratified. Gertrude's grief was especially
violent, and she raved against the hard
fate which had separated them from their
uncle at a time when they would have so
much wished to have been near him to
minister to and nurse him. Evidence soon
came that Mr. Creswell's sense of what
was honourable and right had prevented
him from allowing any recent events to
influence his intentions towards his nieces.
In his will they were mentioned as "my
dearly loved Maud and Gertrude, daughters
of my deceased brother Thomas, who
have been to me as my own daughters
during the greater part of their lives;"
and to each of them was left the sum of
ten thousand pounds on their coming of
age or marriage. There were a few legacies
to old servants and local charities,
five hundred pounds each to Dr. Osborne
and Mr. Teesdale, his two executors, and
"all the rest of my property, real and
personal, of every kind whatsoever, to my
beloved wife Marian."

"And my beloved wife Marian will have
about fifteen thousand a-year, as near as I
can fix it," said Mr. Teesdale, as he left
Woolgreaves, after the reading of the will;
"and if the railway people take that
twenty acres off that infernal Jack Ramsay's
farm, about a couple of thou' more!"

It was not to be supposed that Mr.
Benthall professed himself indifferent to
the splendid legacy which Gertrude had
inherited. As he had been willing and
anxious to take her for herself, and to
share what he had with her, so he was
very much pleased to find that their
future would be rendered considerably less
anxious, and more comfortable than they
had anticipated, and in his honest open-
hearted way he did not scruple to say so.
The death of their uncle did not make
any difference in the course of the girls'
lives. They still remained with Lady
Caroline, whose regard for them seemed to
increase daily, and it was understood that
they would continue to inhabit Chesterfield-
street until Gertrude was married, and
that after that event Maud would
frequently return there, making it her
London home, and visiting it whenever she
was not staying with her sister. So at
least Lady Caroline proposed, and begged
Mr. Benthall to make the suggestion to
Maud at the first convenient opportunity.
The opportunity occurred very shortly, and
arose from Maud's saying, when they were
sitting together one morning,

"I saw Mr. Joyce yesterday, George,
and took occasion to ask his advice on that
matter."

"And what might that matter be, Maud?
There are so many matters of importance
on just now, that you must be more definite."

"It is well Gertrude is not here to hear
you! In your present condition there
should be only one matter of any
importance to you, and that of course is –"

"Our marriage – to be sure! Well, you
asked Joyce – what a wonderful fellow he
is, by the way; his parliamentary business
does not seem the least to have interfered
with his writing, and with it all he seems
to find time to come up here two or three
times a week."

"He has the highest regard for Lady
Caroline, and the greatest respect for her
judgment," said Maud.

"Naturally, so have we all;" said Mr.
Benthall, with a gradually spreading smile.

"Yes, but Mr. Joyce consults her in –
how ridiculous you are, George! You're
always saying stupid things and forgetting
your subject. What were we talking
about?"

"I like that; and you talk about
forgetfulness! You were saying that you had
spoken to Mr. Joyce about my marriage,
though why you should have—-"

"Don't be tiresome, you know what I
mean! He perfectly agrees with you in
thinking there is no necessity for
postponing the marriage any further. Poor
uncle has now been dead three months,
and you have no necessity to consider
whether Mrs. Creswell might think it too soon
after that event or not!"

"We have no reason to be bound by what
she would say, but I think it would be
only right in Gertrude to write and tell her
that the wedding is about to take place."

"That you and Gertrude must settle
between you. For my part, I should not
think of –. However, I confess my
judgment is not to be relied on when that person
is in question." Then she added in a low
voice, and more as if speaking to herself,
"How strange it will seem to be away from
Gerty!"

Benthall heard the remark, and he took
Maud's hand as he said, "But you won't
be away from her, dear Maud! We have
all of us talked over your future, and