"Not more than that! I thought she was ninety at least." "I was saying to-day," put in Lydia, "that those old people ought to give up their estates to the heir. It is unreasonable to keep Major Raynor so long out of his own." Frank smiled. "He would be very glad if she did give it up, I dare say; but I don't know about the justice of it. Elderly people, as a rule, cling to their homes. I once knew an old lady who was unexpectedly called upon to give up the home in which she had lived for very many years, and it killed her. Before the day for turning out came, she was dead." "At any rate, Mr. Raynor, _you_ will not be kept out of it so long when it comes to your turn," remarked Mrs. St. Clare: "for I suppose the major is very nearly as old as Mrs. Atkinson." Frank's honest blue eyes went straight into those of the speaker with a questioning glance. "I beg your pardon: kept out of what?" "Of Eagles' Nest." His whole face lighted up with amusement at the mistake she was making. "I shall never come into Eagles' Nest, Mrs. St. Clare." "Never come into Eagles' Nest! But the major comes into it." "The major does. But----" "And you are his eldest son." Frank laughed outright. Freely and candidly he answered--with never a thought of reserve. "My dear lady, I am not Major Raynor's son at all. His eldest son is my cousin Charley. It is he who will succeed to Eagles' Nest." Mrs. St. Clare stared at Frank. "Good Heavens!" she murmured under her breath. "You are not the son of Major Raynor?" "No, I am his nephew. My father was the clergyman." "I--I have heard Major Raynor call you his son!" she debated, hardly believing her own ears. "He has called you so to my face." "He often does call me so," laughed Frank. "I fear--he is--proud of me--dear, fond old uncle!" "Well, I never was so deceived in all my life!" ejaculated Mrs. St. Clare. CHAPTER IX. PLANNING OUT THE FUTURE. It has been already said that there were originally three of the brothers Raynor: Francis, who was an officer in her Majesty's service; Henry the clergyman; and Hugh the doctor. The youngest of these, Hugh, was the first to marry by several years; the next to marry was Henry. Henry might have married earlier, but could not afford it: he waited until a living was given to him. In the pretty country rectory attached to his church, he and his wife lived for one brief year of their married life: and then she died, leaving him a little boy-baby, who was named Francis after the clergyman's eldest brother. Some ten years later the Reverend Henry Raynor himself died; and the little boy was an orphan, possessed of just sufficient means to educate him and give him a start in life in some not too costly profession. When the time came, he chose that of medicine, as his Uncle Hugh had done before him.