“I inclose with this letter the certificates of our marriage and of Margery’s birth. My lawyers have in their possession a small box, which after my death they will hand to you. It contains the jewelry that belonged to my wife. Give it to Margery. And now, Stuart, I have finished. Pray befriend and guard my child as far as lies in your power. My heart is full of gratitude when I think of the good, kind women who took her, a weak, helpless babe, and tended her so well. I have written to Lady Coningham words of gratitude that sound empty compared with the feelings that prompt them; would that I could have done so to the others--Mrs. Graham and Mary Morris! But death has garnered them, and the power is taken from me. One thing more, Stuart--lay me beside Gladys in the little country churchyard where kind, strange hands laid her; though in life we were separated so ruthlessly, let us in death be together.” Stuart had sat long after he had read the letter, his heart aching with pity for his dead cousin. The tale of sorrow was so heavy that for a time it banished his own grief; but, as he rose and paced the room, the memory of his duty brought all back clearly, and he saw the bitterness of the task before him. A faint wave of gladness for her sake was checked by the reflection that they were parted forever. Still he would be firm; he was pledged to the dead; and, even were the pain deadly, he would keep his word, seek out Margery, and give her her rights as his cousin, and heiress to Beecham Park. The news that caused Mrs. Crosbie such wrath and annoyance brought alarm and fear unspeakable to Vane Charteris’ breast. This unexpected blow following on her unexpected success almost crushed her by its suddenness. Stuart would meet Margery, learn the truth, and she would be humiliated and disgraced. Moved by her anxiety, she added her voice to his mother’s, and endeavored to shake his determination to sail for Australia. She did not betray herself by word or look; she only spoke prettily of her loneliness, and of how it would be a wiser course to send out an agent to the antipodes in search of his new cousin, and not to go himself. She stored her speech with references to Margery’s faithlessness, hoping they would take effect; but it was all to no purpose. Stuart was firm, and refused to be turned from his determination. Had his father added his voice to the others, he might have yielded; but the squire was eager that Stuart should fulfill his promise, and declared truthfully that his health was so much stronger that his son might leave him without any hesitation. So, instead of the clear sky which Vane had pictured to herself, clouds were gathering on all sides, and fear planted thorns at every step in her path, making her faint with apprehension and dread of exposure and disgrace. CHAPTER XXV.