"My name is Lorton," said the dear lady, as if she had picked him up and brought him in and given him brandy; "but I am a Wolfer." He looked at her as if he thought she were mad, and Mrs. Lorton hastened to explain. "I am a near relative of Lord Wolfer." "Oh, yes, yes; I beg your pardon," he said, with a touch of relief. "I didn't understand for a moment." "Perhaps you know Lord Wolfer?" she asked sweetly. He shook his head. "I've heard of him." "Of course," she assented blandly. "He is sufficiently well known, not to say famous. And your name--if I may ask?" He frowned, and was silent for an instant. "Vernon," he said reluctantly, "Drake Vernon." "Indeed! The name seems familiar to me. Of the Northumberland Vernons, I suppose?" "No," he replied, rather shortly. "No? There are some Vernons in Warwickshire, I remember," she suggested. He shook his head. "I'm not connected with any of the Vernons," he said with a grim courtesy. Mrs. Lorton looked rather disappointed, but only for a moment; for, foolish as she was, she knew a gentleman when she saw one, and this Mr. Vernon, though not one of the Vernons, was evidently a gentleman and a man of position. She smiled at him graciously. "Sometimes one scarcely knows with whom one is connected," she said. "If you will excuse me, I will go and see if your room is prepared. We have only one servant--now," she sighed plaintively, "and my daughter is young and thoughtless." "She is not the latter, at any rate," he said, but coldly enough. "Your daughter displayed extraordinary presence of mind----" "My stepdaughter, I ought to explain," broke in Mrs. Lorton, who could not endure the praise of any other than herself. "My late husband--I am a widow, Mr. Vernon--left me his two children as a trust, a sacred trust, which I hope I have discharged to the best of my ability. I will rejoin you presently." He rose and bowed, and then leaned back and closed his eyes, and swore gently but thoroughly. Mrs. Lorton returned in a few minutes with Molly. "If you will come now? We have sent for the doctor." "Thank you, thank you!" he said, and he went upstairs with them; but he would not permit them to assist him to take off his coat, and sat on the edge of the bed waiting with a kind of impatient patience for the doctor. By sheer good luck it was just about the time old Doctor Spence made his daily appearance in Shorne Mills, and Nell, running up to the crossway, caught him as he was ambling along on his old gray cob. "Eh? what is it, my dear? That monkey of a brother got into mischief again?" he said, laying his hand on her shoulder. "What? Stranger? Broke his arm? Come, come; you're frightened and upset. No need, no need! What's a broken arm! If it had been his neck, now!" "I'm not frightened, and I'm not upset!" said Nell indignantly, but with a smile. "I'm out of breath with running." "And out of color, too, Nell. No need to run back, my dear. I'll hurry up and see what's wrong."