taken from the College books, the squire was not so well pleased; but
even then he found some delight in the stories which reached him of his
son's vagaries; and when the young man commenced Bohemian life in
London, his father did nothing to restrain him. Then there came the old
story debts, endless debts; and lies, endless lies. During the two
years before his death, his father paid for him, or undertook to pay,
nearly ten thousand pounds, sacrificing the life assurances which were
to have made provision for his daughter; sacrificing, to a great
extent, his own life income sacrificing everything, so that the
property might not be utterly ruined at his death. That Charles Amedroz
should be a brighter, greater man than any other Amedroz, had still
been the father's pride. At the last visit which Charles had paid to
Belton his father had called upon him to pledge himself solemnly that
his sister should not be made to suffer by what had been done for him.
Within a month of that time he had blown his brains out in his London
lodgings, thus making over the entire property to Will Belton at his
father's death. At that last pretended settlement with his father and
his father's lawyer, he had kept back the mention of debts as heavy
nearly as those to which he had owned; and there were debts of honour,
too, of which he had not spoken, trusting to the next event at
Newmarket to set him right. The next event at Newmarket had set him
more wrong than ever, and so there had come an end to everything with
Charles Amedroz.

This had happened in the spring, and the afflicted father afflicted
with the double sorrow of his son's terrible death and his daughter's
ruin had declared that he would turn his face to the wall and die. But
the old squire's health, though far from strong, was stronger than he
had deemed it, and his feelings, sharp enough, were less sharp than he
thought them; and when a month had passed by, he had discovered that it