her, but more than twenty years his junior. It sufficed for him that she
was noble, and as he believed good. Good to him she was,--with a duty
that was almost excessive. Religious she was, and self-denying; giving
much and demanding little; keeping herself in the background, but
possessing wonderful energy in the service of others. Whether she could
in truth be called good the reader may say when he has finished this
story.

Then, when the Earl had been married some three years to his second
wife, the heir died. He died, and as far as Scroope Manor was concerned
there was an end of him and of the creature he had called his wife.
An annuity was purchased for her. That she should be entitled to call
herself Lady Neville while she lived, was the sad necessity of the
condition. It was understood by all who came near the Earl that no one
was to mention her within his hearing. He was thankful that no heir had
come from that most horrid union. The woman was never mentioned to him
again, nor need she trouble us further in the telling of our chronicle.

But when Lord Neville died, it was necessary that the old man should
think of his new heir. Alas; in that family, though there was much that
was good and noble, there had ever been intestine feuds,--causes of
quarrel in which each party would be sure that he was right. They were
a people who thought much of the church, who were good to the poor, who
strove to be noble;--but they could not forgive injuries. They could
not forgive even when there were no injuries. The present Earl had
quarrelled with his brother in early life;--and had therefore quarrelled
with all that had belonged to the brother. The brother was now gone,
leaving two sons behind him,--two young Nevilles, Fred and Jack, of whom
Fred, the eldest, was now the heir. It was at last settled that Fred
should be sent for to Scroope Manor. Fred came, being at that time a