"I don't know what he felt," replied Major Carteret. "What he said quickly deprived me of all inclination to pity him, the scoundrel! I hope we have all heard and seen the last of him. His worthy associate, Oakley, made me understand his character long ago; but while poor Nelly lived it would have served no purpose to resent it, and we had nothing to gain by exposing him. Now it turns out she has avenged herself and us all, and we can afford to dismiss him from our minds. You must allow me to congratulate you, Gertrude, on poor Nelly's handsome legacy, and then on something much more important still." Gertrude looked from her husband to her uncle nervously, and her lips trembled. "What is it? I can't bear much more." George put his arm firmly round her, and placing her on a sofa, took his place by her side. At this moment Mrs. Doran came quietly into the room and approached the group. Haldane made her a sign to be silent, while George spoke to his wife: "While I was staying at the Deane, when I first went there for your birthday, Gertrude, my mother wrote to me, and told me it was a curious circumstance that I should be a visitor at Miss Baldwin's house. Why? Can you guess?" Gertrude silently shook her head. "Because, as I then learned for the first time, my father's old bachelor brother, Mr. Mordaunt, was in the entail of the Deane, and in the very improbable event of there being no direct heir, that which has come to pass might come to pass. Do you understand what has happened now, my darling?" "No," stammered Gertrude; "I--I do not." "This is what has happened: my uncle, Mr. Mordaunt, is dead. I am his heir. My father took my mother's name in consequence of a family quarrel about his marriage, and, as you know, he died some years ago. I am the next in the entail, and Eleanor's dying without a child, makes me the possessor of the Deane. You now know why I did not ask you to be my wife when I believed you to be the lawful owner of the property; you now know how doubly joyfully I made you my wife when you lost it. Gertrude, my darling, I think you will prize your old name and your old home more than ever now that it is your husband who gives them back to you." "I said it would all come right, Miss Gerty, didn't I, alanna?" exclaimed Rose Doran, as she in her turn caught Gertrude in her strong arms, and rocked her to and fro like an infant. "But I never thought it could come so right. Honest people and rogues have got their due in _this_ world, once in a way, anyhow." THE END. ----------------------------------------------------- LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. End of Project Gutenberg's A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3), by Edmund Yates