relations became strained to a dangerous degree. It is said that the
brothers quarrelled fiercely whenever they met, and that Lord George,
whose temper was violent, frequently struck his brother, who was no
physical match for him. One day, so the story goes, their constant
squabbles reached a climax. After a fiercer quarrel than usual Lord
George struck his brother and rival repeatedly, until the latter, roused
to fury, struck back and landed a heavy blow on his brother's chest,
over the heart. Lord George's heart was diseased, and the blow proved
fatal.

This, then, is said to be the true explanation of the tragedy of that
September day in 1848; of that "spasm of the heart" which, according to
the verdict of the coroner's jury, was the cause of Lord George
Bentinck's death. If this story is true, much that has been so long
mysterious becomes clear. Lord George's sudden and tragic death is
explained; as also the fact that it was from this period that the Duke
of Portland's moroseness and shunning of the world became so marked as
to be scarcely distinguishable from insanity. If the death of a brother,
however provoked and accidental, had been on his conscience, what could
be more natural than that the fratricide should thus shut himself from
the world in sorrow and remorse?




CHAPTER XIII

THE WICKED BARON