disinterested friendship I had reposed so much confidence, even though a
shadow of late had been thrown over our intercourse by my engagement
with Claude Bainrothe, a shadow of which I thought I saw the substance
in the bitter jealousy and rancorous, unreasonable love and hatred of
the morbid George Gaston.

Later I found by the merest accident, through one note of his that had
been left in a drawer of a desk long disused, that Mr. Gerald Stanbury
and Evelyn had maintained a rather fierce correspondence on the subject
of her refusal to accept his services at my father's pillow; founded, as
she alleged, on the recent unexplained but deep-rooted aversion Mr.
Monfort seemed to have imbibed for his neighbor and friend, and which
his physicians said must be regarded.

Allusion was made, not unmixed with bitterness, in Mr. Stanbury's note,
to this assertion of hers, which he pronounced, if true, to rest on the
misrepresentations of villains who had interposed between the too
confiding Mr. Monfort and himself for no good purpose. No names were
given, but it was easy to see to whom his reference was made, and I had
every reason to suppose that Evelyn had communicated these opinions to
those most interested in knowing them long before this record
accidentally fell into my hands.

On the day of the funeral, however, Mr. and Mrs. Stanbury were present,
with Laura and George. All seemed deeply affected, and one by one came
to me in my shadowed chamber with a few words of tender sympathy or
kindly condolence, for I could not bear to go down into that crowded
parlor and see _him_ dead amid all that tide of life, who had so lately
stood there powerful and beloved--Monfort the master!