for a couple of thousand a year, to enable him to support the title; but
finding that his name did not appear in the will, he felt both
disappointed and annoyed beyond measure, and quite ready to acquiesce in
the proposal made him by the intriguing ex-governess.

It was not his wish or intention from the first that the will should be
destroyed, and he had certain scruples of conscience which now
prevented his so doing. During his journey by train he argued the
subject mentally. "They are both young," he thought, his mind reverting
to Miss Effingham and Arthur Carlton, "and will, in all probability,
survive me many years; let them buffet the waves of fortune in their
youth, as I have done, they will then better appreciate their accession
to fortune than they probably would have done, had they come into it at
an earlier stage of their life; besides, who has a better right, during
his lifetime, to enjoy the estate, than the heir to the title. The will
must, of necessity, be found among my papers after my decease, so all
will come right in the end," and with this consoling plea he settled
himself snugly among the cushions of the first-class carriage of the
train that was now leaving Southampton far behind, on its upward course
to London, and soon fell into a doze.

In another carriage were seated two gentlemen conversing in a very
lively and animated strain, and were apparently much interested with
scenery, farm houses, and well trimmed hedges, as the train whirled
past. They were not foreigners by any means, decidedly English in every
look and action; about eight and twenty and thirty, respectively, and
very good looking; the tallest was decidedly handsome; he was dressed in
grey tweed of fine texture. They had entered the carriage at
Southampton. A man of the world would have pat them down, from their
general appearance and the well-bronzed hue of their features, as either