HALF A MILLION OF MONEY.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "BARBARA'S HISTORY."

CHAPTER XL. THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY.

HAD Saxon been suddenly plunged into a
cold bath, it could scarcely have brought him
to his senses more rapidly than did the
remembrance of his broken pledge, and the
thought of what his lawyer cousin would say
to him.

"It isn't as if he hadn't cautioned me, either,"
said he, half aloud, as he sat himself down,
"quite chopfallen," at the foot of a great oak,
in an unfrequented hollow of the park. And
then one unpleasant recollection evoked another,
and he remembered how William Trefalden had
joked with him about fetters of flowers, and
made him almost angry by so doing; and how
he had boasted of himself as more invulnerable
than Achilles. He also remembered that his
cousin had especially inquired whether he had
not yet been called upon to subscribe to the
Italian fund, and had given him much good
advice as to what his conduct should be when
that emergency might arise. To put his name
down for a moderate sum, and commit himself
to nothing further—those were William Trefalden's
instructions to him; but how had he
observed them? How had he observed that
other promise of signing no more large cheques
without consulting his cousin; and what reliance
would his cousin place upon his promises
in the future?

Saxon groaned in spirit as he thought of these
things; and the more he thought of them, the
more uncomfortable he became.

He did not care in the least about the money,
although he had, in truth, been mulcted of an
enormous sum; but he cared a great deal about
breaking his word, and he saw that it must be
broken on the one hand or the other. He also
saw on which hand it was to be.

He had given the cheque to Miss Colonna,
and Miss Colonna must have the money; there
was clearly no help for that. But then he
entertained misgivings as to the cheque itself,
and began to doubt whether he had anything
like balance enough at his banker's to meet it.
In this case, what was to be done? The money,
of course, must be got; but who was to get it,
and how was the getting of it to be achieved?
Would that mysterious process called "selling
out" have to be gone through?

Saxon puzzled his brains over those abstruse
financial questions till his head ached; but
could make nothing of them. At last he came
to the very disagreeable conclusion that William
Trefalden was alone capable of solving the difficulty,
and must be consulted without delay; but,
at the same time, he did not feel at all sure that
his cousin might not flatly refuse to help him in
the matter. This was a fearful supposition, and
almost drove the young fellow to despair. For
Saxon loved the lawyer in his simple honest way
—not so much, perhaps, for any lovable qualities
that he might imagine him to possess, as
for the mere fact that his cousin was his cousin,
and he trusted him. He had also a vague idea
that William Trefalden had done a great deal to
serve him, and that he owed him a profound
debt of gratitude. Anyhow, he would not
offend him for the universe—and yet he was
quite resolved that Miss Colonna should have
the full benefit of her cheque.

Thinking thus, he remembered that he had
authorised her to double the amount. What if
she should take him at his word?

"By Jove, then," said he, addressing a plump
rabbit that had been gravely watching him from
a convenient distance for some minutes past,
"I can't help it, if she does. The money's my
own, after all, and I have the right to give it
away, if I choose. Besides, I've given it in the
cause of liberty!"

But his heart told him that liberty had
played a very unimportant part in the
transaction.

CHAPTER XLI. A COUNCIL OF WAR.

IN the mean while, a general council was
being held in the octagon turret. The
councillors were Signor Colonna, Lord Castletowers,
and Major Vaughan, and the subjects under
discussion were Baldiserotti's despatch and
Saxon Trefalden's cheque.

The despatch was undoubtedly an important
one, and contained more stirring news than any
which had transpired from Italy since the
Napoleonic campaign; but that other document, with
its startling array of numerals, was certainly not
less momentous. In Major Vaughan's opinion
it was the more momentous of the two; and yet
his brow darkened over it, and it seemed to the