So, as the matter was to be kept as quiet as possible from the servants, it was decided they should wait until evening before they made the change, when it was accomplished without exciting suspicion. Adrian remained until the next morning, when, bidding them a kind farewell, and feeling much pleased with the result of his journey, he returned to London, taking with him Brownie’s trunks, a cordial invitation from Lady Ruxley to the bride to come and visit her, and also an elegant piece of Irish point lace, that would have made the eyes of half the London belles water with envy, as a bridal present. Lady Ruxley seemed to forget her own aches and pains in ministering to the comfort of her unfortunate grand-nephew; and she found him a most entertaining companion, for he had improved his time and was well read upon almost every subject. She was eager for the return of Lady Randal from Paris, and yet she was somewhat anxious as to what the result of this new development would be; while she could not help feeling a little bit of triumph as she thought how astonished and somewhat chagrined her amiable niece would be when she should discover that Mehetabel Douglas would be the Lady of Dunforth after all. “And Charles, how will he receive his brother, I wonder?” she often thought, with some anxiety. “If he is noble and manly, as I hope he will be, my fortune shall be divided between them; but if he should be unkind or ungenerous, then Herbert shall have every farthing!” Upon Adrian’s return to London, his young wife met him with the saddest face in the world, and threw herself into his arms with a heart-broken cry. The beautiful child, whom she had so tenderly taken to her heart in its desolation, and whom she had begun to love very dearly, was alarmingly ill—dying, she feared, from what the physician said—with that dread disease, membraneous croup! He had been taken very suddenly, almost immediately upon Adrian’s departure, and, despite their tenderest care, had rapidly grown worse, until now he was wholly unconscious, and seemed sinking fast. Adrian was extremely shocked by this distressing intelligence, and together they returned to Eddie’s bedside. The doctor was there holding the little pulse and watching the ebbing life. He shook his head very gravely at Adrian’s look of inquiry, and one glance into the little pale, distressed face, told more plainly still that there was no hope. An hour passed with scarce any change, and still those kind watchers hovered around his bed. But suddenly there came to them from the drawing-room sounds of confusion and eager questioning. Adrian passes out to inquire the cause, and Brownie hears a few hurried sentences, then a sharp cry of pain, which is followed by the sudden rush of garments, and a beautiful woman of about thirty rushes frantically to the bedside, and bends, sobbing and moaning, over the dying child.