Patsy jumped into the boat with alacrity, searched every cranny, and brought out Père Martin's clothes, which he deftly wrapped up in a little bundle. He was not hindered by the fish-like Jules Simon, who looked, saw, heard, and said nothing -constrained to be quiet by a sign from his captain. Then, when all was ready, Brownjohn put César and Père Martin arm-in-arm before him, as if they were going out for a walk, and he and Patsy followed after; and behind the little procession rose a grunt-half sigh, half perplexity-from the marine animal, Jules Simon, of "Bon soir, mon maître.” His rough dialect made the words sound like "bon baître!" and to this he added, with a dull sigh, "Shall I ever see thee more?"

CHAPTER XXXIV.

"AND, SINCE 'TIS HARD TO CONQUER, LEARNS TO FLY." A BACHELOR'S room is always indicative of the bachelor, and some are not pleasant chambers to enter; for the selfishness of man, very apparent in most things, is most so in his inconsiderateness to those who serve him. Waistcoats and coats thrown there, boots and slippers here; braces in one corner, cravats, towels, and shirts in another; in short, a general untidiness distinguishes the bedroom, and the sitting-room is equally untended.

Philip's sanctum was a model of careful cleanliness and neatness. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place.

"These great people," said Edgar to himself, "know how to take care of themselves, and to make their servants work."

Lord Chesterton drew a chair near the fire, and sat down, as if he were cold and needed comfort; and the barrister, carefully-and even somewhat ostentatiously-waiting to be asked, sat opposite to him.

"You see," said the Earl, "that I at once open my heart to you, and take you into my counsels. Fortune-or, it may be, Providence itself-has placed the secret of my life in your

hands; and, following this blow, has deprived me of him with whom I should take counsel. Do you know upon what evidence this crime has been traced to him!"

Thus adjured to be, as it were, a witness against his own brother, the barrister, with many apologies-and with, indeed, a distinct and repeated avowal that he held his own opinion in a state of solution-gave a very clear history of the case, which he had learnt from Mr Tom Forster and other sources.

At every point he paused, reviewed his ground, proceeded more cautiously, defended Philip, showed the improbability and the uselessness of the crime. But at the next stage he carried the evidence further on; and Tom Forster himself would have admired the clear summing-up of Mr Edgar Wade; and all the more because, in spite of every well-turned excuse, it told heavily against the accused.

The poor old Earl sighed heavily. The story tallied too well with his suspicions. He had already arrived at a foregone conclusion; and, when Edgar came to the end of his story, he merely looked up, and vacantly stared at the bright wax candles, which had burnt down low, and without a movement of their flames, hardly seeming the living things that flames

are.

"Well," sighed his lordship, "and what then?"

"That is all. I have it from the chief authority. It is for you to draw your own conclusions."

66

Logic is cruel, very cruel," said Lord Chesterton. "To what conclusion can I come?"

"I forbear to say any more," said the barrister, throwing down a folded letter which he had taken up-as barristers are wont to do-as much as to say, "That's my case, my lud and gentlemen of the jury. I leave myself in your hands."

"His wife is ready to swear-and who can disbelieve her? -that during the very hours the woman was stricken down". both of these gentlemen avoided the word murdered-" Philip was with her in her chamber."

"Wives will proverbially, my lord," said the barrister, "swear anything to excuse their guilty husbands. How long has his lordship been married?"

"Not very long-I hardly know, indeed," said his lordship,

confusedly. that".

"Events have followed each other so quickly

"Your lordship has forgotten?"

"Oh no!" here the Earl spoke with the ingenuousness of a simple-minded man. "My son did not see fit to tell me of his marriage."

"Umph!" said Edgar Wade, his face lowering; "then it was a secret match. Had your lordship given him any cause for this decep- this secrecy?"

"No-poor boy!" said the Earl, reflecting, and seeking for an excuse, but not finding one. "You know, he is of mature age; and perhaps it was his wife's secret, after all. Young ladies are very curious and very bashful."

"Not in the matter of publishing their marriage,” said Edgar, thoughtfully. "No, that must have been Philip's own doing. I should not have treated my honoured father so. But there, I never knew the comfort of one'; and so I am speaking of an ideal-a very different thing from the real."

These sentences cut Lord Chesterton to the quick, in more ways than one. He had himself felt Philip's reticence, and had sought to excuse it to himself; Edgar, therefore, only freshly pointed the Earl's own arrows. The reproach, which was well deserved, of Edgar Wade's fatherless state he also deeply felt. "But, after all," said Lord Chesterton, "I don't think, in Philip's present condition, that we will discuss that matter.” "Quite right; you are quite right," returned the barrister, in his frank, open way; "and I can appreciate your lordship's great goodness and great delicacy to my brother; but, as we are about to defend him, we should be armed at all points. I want to know what can be urged against him. What there is to be said in his favour-trust me, my lord-I can say at the proper time and place."

This was uttered with so much true dignity and feeling, that the Earl felt convinced that all that had been said was for the best.

"I must own," continued the Earl, speaking slowly, "that this secret marriage seems to argue that there might be other things that Philip kept from me. But that is the only one thing which he has, to my knowledge, thought proper not to tell his father."

R

"You have said enough, my lord. We will not discuss my brother's character: it is full of noble qualities, I am sure. We will let matters rest there. I have every faith not only in his goodness, but-from his bearing with me on a certain memorable occasion-in his chivalry, his nobleness, his disregard of self. But this marriage, instead of simplifying, complicates matters there are other interests than his involved, He takes counsel of his wife, he

"You don't mean to say, sir," cried the nobleman, angrily rising, and looking at his son with flashing eyes, "that you would make that innocent girl, Winifred, an accessory to".

"Pardon me, my lord, I am shocked at what you say. You put a meaning upon my words that they really do not bear. All that I want you to consider and remember is, that everything said here is between ourselves."

Here the barrister walked gently to the door and listened, looking out into the corridor.

"Your precautions are needless, sir. My people are honour. able, and do not pry into their master's business."

Every

"I could expect no less; but caution is necessary. thing here, then, being a secret between our two selves, and to be divulged to no third party, we debate the best way to save my dear brother Philip. Thus debating, we come upon a very vital point. Is this story of his absence from what do you call the place?"

"Kensal-Green," said the Earl.

use.

"From Kensal-Green-is that to be believed? There is a credible witness whose oath, according to English law, is of no Yet I think we might produce an affidavit of hers to that effect, which would carry weight with the jury, who are sometimes more influenced by side-blows than by direct appeals. "Good!" said the Earl. "I see that.”

"But then my learned brother comes and tears this to shreds, by showing that Philip has married secretly-that Miss Winifred Vaughan has deceived her guardian-Lady Stark, is not that her name?—and the irresistible conclusion is summed up in a line from 'Othello'

'She has deceived her father, and may thee!' The Earl nodded a sorrowful acquiescence.

"I don't think we should take the case into court that way," continued the barrister, speaking professionally. "No-I really think there would be by far too great a risk."

Here he rose, and commenced walking about the room. "My suggestion, which you turned in so cruel a way against poor Philip's wife," he continued-and he said this with such pointed severity, that the Earl felt quite ashamed of himself"was this: not that Philip's wife had consciously, even in the remotest way, anything to do with the affair we are so troubled with; but that he, full of love for her, strengthened by her belief in his case-a belief very strong, because based upon entire ignorance

You are a deep philosopher, sir," said the admiring Earl, who was watching his son closely and curiously.

"As deep as neglect and misfortune can make me," retorted Edgar, again touching the Earl as if with caustic. "But be that as it may, a wife has a thousand ways of influencing her husband that the outside world knows nothing of; and a man truly and strongly in love does not debate the crime, but goes forward, and, having stricken the blow-as a knight in a tournament-crowns the brows of her whom he loves with glory, not with guilt. Do you see my position now, my lord?"

The form of the barrister seemed taller and dilated. His brow flushed, and his eyes flashed fire, as he talked of love. The Earl was convinced. He rose and clasped Edgar to his breast.

“I see,” he said, "that you are wiser than I am. If you young ones have lost something of the direct ways of former times, you are more acute in this world's doings."

"Possibly," returned Edgar, in a dry tone. "But, again, to return to our business in hand. Following out the line of thought which I have rather indicated than fully sketched, do you think that Miss Winifred Vaughan-Philip's wife, I mean -is to be believed? That is," concluded the barrister, ingeniously correcting himself, "do you think that a jury would believe her evidence, even if we could get the judge to accept it?" The Earl waved his hands backwards and forwards, as if there were a hopeless and unpleasant fog of the mind settling down upon him. Men who jump to conclusions and embrace