am justified in a breach of confidence to him, in order to answer your
question. He is the man who has assumed all the liabilities of the
Sierran Land and Timber Company to enable the Bank to resume payment.
But he did it on the condition that you were never to know it. For the
rest, he was a blacksmith who made a fortune, as Lady Canterbridge will
tell you."

"How very odd--how kind, I mean. I should like to have been civil to him
on Frank's account alone."

"I should see him on business and be civil to him afterwards." Sir
Robert received the American's levity with his usual seriousness.

"No, they must come here for Christmas. His daughter is--?"

"Araminta Eulalie Sharpe," said Bradley, in defiant memory of Lady
Canterbridge.

Sir Robert winced audibly. "I shall rely on you, my dear boy, to help me
make it pleasant for them," he said.

Christmas came, but not Minty. It drew a large contingent from
Oldenhurst to the quaint old church, who came to view the green-wreathed
monuments, and walls spotted with crimson berries, as if with the blood
of former Oldenhurst warriors, and to impress the wondering villagers
with the ineffable goodness and bounty of the Creator towards the Lords
of Oldenhurst and their friends. Sir Robert, a little gouty, kept the
house, and Bradley, somewhat uneasy at the Sharpes' absence, but more
distrait with other thoughts, wandered listlessly in the long library.
At the lower angle it was embayed into the octagon space of a former