was not legitimate. Mr. Scarborough himself had not been well known in
early life. He had been the only son of a squire in Staffordshire over
whose grounds a town had been built and pottery-works established. In
this way a property which had not originally been extensive had been
greatly increased in value, and Mr. Scarborough, when he came into
possession, had found himself to be a rich man. He had then gone abroad,
and had there married an English lady. After the lapse of some years he
had returned to Tretton Park, as his place was named, and there had lost
his wife. He had come back with two sons, Mountjoy and Augustus, and
there, at Tretton, he had lived, spending, however, a considerable
portion of each year in chambers in the Albany. He was a man who,
through many years, had had his own circle of friends, but, as I have
said before, he was not much known in the world. He was luxurious and
self-indulgent, and altogether indifferent to the opinion of those
around him. But he was affectionate to his children, and anxious above
all things for their welfare, or rather happiness. Some marvellous
stories were told as to his income, which arose chiefly from the
Tretton delf-works and from the town of Tretton, which had been built
chiefly on his very park, in consequence of the nature of the clay and
the quality of the water. As a fact, the original four thousand a year,
to which his father had been born, had grown to twenty thousand by
nature of the operations which had taken place. But the whole of this,
whether four thousand or twenty thousand, was strictly entailed, and Mr.
Scarborough had been very anxious, since his second son was born, to
create for him also something which might amount to opulence. But they
who knew him best knew that of all things he hated most the entail.

The boys were both educated at Eton, and the elder went into the Guards,
having been allowed an intermediate year in order to learn languages on
the Continent. He had then become a cornet in the Coldstreams, and had,