and were walking about in the courtyard when they heard the sound of a
carriage approaching. It was Lord Glenarvan; and, almost immediately,
Lady Helena and the Major came out to meet him.

Lady Helena flew toward her husband the moment he alighted;
but he embraced her silently, and looked gloomy and disappointed--
indeed, even furious.

"Well, Edward?" she said; "tell me."

"Well, Helena, dear; those people have no heart!"

"They have refused?"

"Yes. They have refused me a ship! They talked of the millions that
had been wasted in search for Franklin, and declared the document was
obscure and unintelligible. And, then, they said it was two years now
since they were cast away, and there was little chance of finding them.
Besides, they would have it that the Indians, who made them prisoners,
would have dragged them into the interior, and it was impossible,
they said, to hunt all through Patagonia for three men--three Scotchmen;
that the search would be vain and perilous, and cost more lives than
it saved. In short, they assigned all the reasons that people invent
who have made up their minds to refuse. The truth is, they remembered
Captain Grant's projects, and that is the secret of the whole affair.
So the poor fellow is lost for ever."

"My father! my poor father!" cried Mary Grant, throwing herself
on her knees before Lord Glenarvan, who exclaimed in amazement: