then he lifted up his hands in astonishment at the folly which had
been committed by a marriage under such circumstances--as wise men
will do in the decline of years, when young people in the heyday of
youth have not been wise. "If they had waited for a term of years,"
he said, "and if he then had not presented himself!" A term of
years, such as Jacob served for Rachel, seems so light an affair to
old bachelors looking back at the loves of their young friends.

And so he walked about in the dusk by no means a happy man, nor in
any way satisfied with the work which was still before him. How was
he to face Lady Fitzgerald, or tell her of her fate? In what words
must he describe to Herbert Fitzgerald the position which in future
he must fill? The past had been dreadful to him, and the future
would be no less so, in spite of his character as a hard, stern man.

When he returned to the house he met young Fitzgerald in the hall.
"Have you been to your father?" he asked immediately. Herbert, in a
low voice, and with a saddened face, said that he had just come from
his father's room, but Mr. Prendergast at once knew that nothing of
the truth had been told to him. "You found him very weak," said Mr.
Prendergast. "Oh, very weak," said Herbert. "More than weak, utterly
prostrate. He was lying on the sofa almost unable to speak. My
mother was with him, and is still there."

"And she?" He was painfully anxious to know whether Sir Thomas had
been weak enough--or strong enough--to tell his wife any of the
story which that morning had been told to him.

"She is doing what she can to comfort him," said Herbert; "but it is
very hard for her to be left so utterly in the dark."