SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1870.

VERONICA.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "AUNT MARGARET'S TROUBLE."

IN FIVE BOOKS.

BOOK V.
CHAPTER XIII. ZILLAH'S RESOLUTION.

"MOTHER!" cried Hugh Lockwood, coming
hastily into the little parlour in Gower
Street and taking his mother in his arms,
" good news, mother! Let me see your
dear face a little brighter than it has been
this long time. There is good news for
you, little mother, do you hear?"

"Good news for me? That can only
mean good news for you, my son!"
replied Zillah, unconsciously epitomising all
her widowed life in the sentence.

"Of course, good for me, good for you,
good for Maud. Darling Maud! Kiss me,
mother."

Then he told her that Mr. Frost had that
day informed him by letter that the sum
of money borrowed from his late father
— so the note was worded— plus the
interest on the capital during the last
twenty-five years, was lying at his disposal
at Mr. Lovegrove's office in Bedford Square,
and that on his personal application it
would be handed over to him.

"Why, mother, it is more than I hoped
to get out of the fire. Five per cent for
twenty-five years! It will more than
double the original sum!"

"Oh, thank God! My Hugh, my Hugh,
what a weight of remorse is taken from my
heart!  And he has done well, after all,
poor Sidney!"

"Done well? Not at all," said Hugh,
whose sense of justice was not obfuscated
by his joy as his mother's was. " Five per
cent on the capital every year is the very
least that could pretend to approach fair
dealing— and, in fact, nothing can make his
conduct out to be fair. But he has done
better than I expected; and I am very glad
and thankful, and mean to think of nothing
but the bright side of things, I assure you."

When Hugh went to receive his money,
he perceived that the brass plate on the
outer door, which usually stood open
during office hours, had been removed, and
a man was painting out the black letters
on a drab ground on the door-post, which
formed the words, " Messrs. Frost and
Lovegrove, Solicitors." Hugh was shown
into Mr. Lovegrove's office, and received
by that gentleman in person.

"The last time we met in this office,
Mr. Lockwood," said the lawyer, "your
errand here was to repudiate a fortune.
Now you come to receive— well, not a
fortune, perhaps, but a sum of money that
in my young days would have been looked
upon as affording a very pretty start in
life. I am glad of it, and wish you every
success."

"Thank you heartily."

"You have— ahem!—you have Mr.
Frost's acknowledgment for the money
lent by your father, Mr. Lockwood?"

Hugh took from his pocket-book a
yellow bit of paper with some words in
Sidney Frost's bold, clear writing upon it.
  At one corner of the paper there was a
green stain, and near it the impression of a
thumb in red paint.

"Here it is, Mr. Lovegrove. My poor
father must have been at work in his studio
when that paper was written. It is marked
with the traces of his calling."

"H'm!" said Mr. Lovegrove, examining
the paper gravely. " A sadly informal
document. Ha! well, here is the money,
Mr. Lockwood. Will you be kind enough
to count the notes in the presence of my