“It is hard,” he thought to himself; “here have I for years and years been striving and toiling, labouring to become a respectable and respected member of society, but always this old folly haunts my steps and drags me down, and by heaven I believe that it will destroy me after all.” With a sigh he lifted his head, and taking a sheet of paper wrote on it, “I have received your letter, and will come and see you to-morrow or the next day.” This note he placed in an envelope, which he directed to the high-sounding name of Mrs. d’Aubigne, Rupert St., Pimlico—and put it in his pocket. Then with another sigh he took up the Squire’s letter, and glanced through it. Its length was considerable, but in substance it announced his acceptance of the arrangement proposed by Mr. Edward Cossey, and requested that he would prepare the necessary deeds to be submitted to his lawyers. Mr. Quest read the letter absently enough, and threw it down with a little laugh. “What a queer world it is,” he said to himself, “and what a ludicrous side there is to it all. Here is Cossey advancing money to get a hold over Ida de la Molle, whom he means to marry if he can, and who is probably playing her own hand. Here is Belle madly in love with Cossey, who will break her heart. Here am I loving Belle, who hates me, and playing everybody’s game in order to advance my own, and become a respected member of a society I am superior to. Here is the Squire blundering about like a walrus in a horse-pond, and fancying everything is being conducted for his sole advantage, and that all the world revolves round Honham Castle. And there at the end of the chain is this female harpy, Edith Jones, otherwise d’Aubigne, alias the Tiger, gnawing at my vitals and holding my fortunes in her hand. “Bah! it’s a queer world and full of combinations, but the worst of it is that plot as we will the solution of them does not rest with us, no —not with us.” CHAPTER XV. THE HAPPY DAYS