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LT mane a al na eget
Toe An wnat ii a Sees 8
39 WILD MARGARET.
own. I'm not ungrateful for all you have given me! No,
but—I can’t take any more from you.”
The earl’s lips came together tightly. He bowed.
‘‘Thave no right to combat your resolution,” he said,
‘or to prevent you ruining yourself in your own fashion.
After all, it matters very little whether the Jews have
Ketton now or later; they will get it one time or the other,
doubtless. ’’ . a .
“Tm afraid they will,’ said Lord Blair, with a short
sigh; then he rose. - ‘* Well, I’m off, sir’?
‘Stay!’ said the earl; “* our quarrel—if it can be called .
one—is over. You will oblige me by remaining for one night
at least. I do not wish it to be said all over the country. |
that we could not exist for twenty-four hours under one
roof, as it will be said if you go at once. Say, if you
lease.” , |
P ‘Tf you wish it, sir, certainly,’ said Lord Blair, not
very joyously. ‘‘But I’m afraid I shall bore you dread-
fully, you know.”’
‘The boring will be mutual, I have no doubt,” said the:
earl grimly. ‘‘Imay remind you that we need meet only
at dinner.”’ _ :
‘‘That’s true,’’ said Lord Blair frankly. ‘‘ Well, until
then, I’ll walk round the place.” -
Then earl inclined his head, and rang the bell which
- gtood at his elbow.
- “Lord Leyton will remain here to-night,’’ he said to
‘Larkhall, and that exemplary servant, holding the door
open for Lord Blair to pass out, hurried off to tell Mr.
Stibbings and Mrs. Hale the extraordinary news that the
future earl was to sleep at the house which would. some _
day be his own. 4
Lord Blair had spent a remarkably bad quarter of an
hour; but before he had got half way down the broad
staircase, with its carved balustrades and magnificent. -
cross panelling, he began to shake off the effects with
that wonderful good-humored carelessness which had lost
him nearly all his lands, and won him so many hearts.
He went down the stairs into the hall and looked round
him with a smile, as if his interview had been of the pleas-
antest description; then he lit a cigar and, with his hat on
the back of his head, went out into the warm sunshine.
He walked along the terrace and across the lawns, and
_then as if by instinct found his way to the stables. And
be it remarked, and it is worth noting, that he had not—
as many aman in his position would have done—given
one glance at the magnificent place with the thought that —
it would some day all be his.
Strange to say, for an heir, he didn’t wish the earl