At exactly two o'clock on the seventeenth, Rupert Sedilia, who had
just returned from India, was thoughtfully descending the hill
toward Sloperton manor. "If I can prove that my aunt Lady Selina
was married before my father died, I can establish my claim to
Sloperton Grange," he uttered, half aloud. He paused, for a sudden
trembling of the earth beneath his feet, and a terrific explosion,
as of a park of artillery, arrested his progress. At the same
moment he beheld a dense cloud of smoke envelop the churchyard of
Sloperton, and the western tower of the Grange seemed to be lifted
bodily from its foundation. The air seemed filled with falling
fragments, and two dark objects struck the earth close at his feet.
Rupert picked them up. One seemed to be a heavy volume bound in
brass.

A cry burst from his lips.

"The Parish Records." He opened the volume hastily. It contained
the marriage of Lady Selina to "Burke the Slogger."

The second object proved to be a piece of parchment. He tore it
open with trembling fingers. It was the missing will of Sir James
Sedilia!


CHAPTER IX.


When the bells again rang on the new parish church of Sloperton it
was for the marriage of Sir Rupert Sedilia and his cousin, the only
remaining members of the family.