The silence, now, was more than uncomfortable; to Amabel it was suffocating. She could guess too well that some latent enmity was expressed in Augustine's assumed unconsciousness. That Sir Hugh was surprised, displeased, was evident; but, when he spoke again, after a little pause, it was still pleasantly:--"Not with business, but with talk you will interfere. I'm afraid I must ask you.--I don't often have a chance to talk with your mother.--I'll see you later, eh?" Augustine made no reply. He rose and walked out of the room. Sir Hugh still stood before the fire, lifting first the sole of one boot and then the other to the blaze. "Hasn't always quite nice manners, has he, the boy"; he observed. "I didn't want to have to send him out, you know." "He didn't realize that you wanted to talk to me alone." Amabel felt herself offering the excuse from a heart turned to stone. "Didn't he, do you think? Perhaps not. We always do talk alone, you know. He's just a trifle tactless, shows a bit of temper sometimes. I've noticed it. I hope he doesn't bother you with it." "No. I never saw him like that, before," said Amabel, looking down as she sat in her chair. "Well, that's all that matters," said Sir Hugh, as if satisfied. His boots were quite hot now and he went to the writing-desk drawing a case of papers from his breast-pocket. "Here are some of your securities, Amabel," he said: "I want a few more signatures. Things haven't been going very well with me lately. I'd be awfully obliged if you'd help me out." "Oh--gladly--" she murmured. She rose and came to the desk. She hardly saw the papers through a blur of miserable tears while she wrote her name here and there. She was shut out in the mist and dark; he wasn't thinking of her at all; he was chill, preoccupied; something was displeasing him; decisively, almost sharply, he told her where to write. "You mustn't be worried, you know," he observed as he pointed out the last place; "I'm arranging here, you see, to pass Charlock House over to you for good. That is a little return for all you've done. It's not a valueless property. And then Bertram tied up a good sum for the child, you know." His speaking of "the child," made her heart stop beating, it brought the past so near.--And was Charlock House to be her very own? "Oh," she murmured, "that is too good of you.--You mustn't do that.--Apart from Augustine's share, all that I have is yours; I want no return." "Ah, but I want you to have it"; said Sir Hugh; "it will ease my conscience a little. And you really do care for the grim old place, don't you." "I love it." "Well, sign here, and here, and it's yours. There. Now you are mistress in your own home. You don't know how good you've been to me, Amabel."