The same coach which a few months before had brought Harry Tryon southward, had now among its passengers no less a person than Mr. Silas Sleech. He was in deep mourning--a proper respect to the memory of his late uncle, Colonel Everard. Yet his countenance bore no signs of grief. On the contrary, some pleasant thoughts seemed to occupy his mind, as he frequently rubbed his hands together and smiled complacently. He was received with cordiality by his respected parent, the elder Mr. Sleech, though the rest of the family, consisting of several brothers and four fair sisters, welcomed him apparently with less affection. Silas had brought but little luggage, but he held a tin case of considerable size which he had never allowed to quit his hand. The family greetings over, he and his father retired to the inner office. With intense interest they examined the contents of the case. "It's all right, father, I tell you," exclaimed Silas. "Stanmore is ours, as sure as fate. My mother was the elder sister next to the colonel, and the captain's father never had any marriage lines to show. I tell you the captain has no more right to the name of Everard than old Pike the mace-bearer. If the captain has a certificate, where is it? Let him show it; but he has not; and that little jade Mabel, who looks so proudly down upon me especially, must now be brought down a peg or two herself. She will be humble enough before long, or I am mistaken." "Silas, you ought to be Lord Chancellor," exclaimed his father; "you have managed this affair with wonderful acuteness and judgment. I always thought there was a screw loose about Tom Everard's foreign marriage, his wife dying suddenly, and he coming home with a small baby and a strange nurse, who could not speak a word of English or tell anybody what had happened. However, now we have got the law on our side, the sooner we take possession of our rights the better. You and I will see to that to-morrow. We will behave handsomely to Madam Everard. Indeed, I rather suspect that she won't be so badly off, and whatever she has will go to Mabel, so there's no use falling out too much with them. However, if your mother's husband and children ought to be at Stanmore, why to Stanmore we will go, so that is settled." "Don't tell the rest of them, though, father," said Silas. "They will be blabbing it out, and Madam Everard will be getting wind of it, and we shan't have the pleasure of giving them the little surprise I long for; come, you must not baulk me in that, daddy. A Lord Chancellor knows what's what, and if I don't kick up a pretty shindy in Stanmore Park before long, my name's not Silas Sleech."