‘Of course not, my dear sir—of course not; but you might have read about it in the papers. Great sensation!—son suspected!—dreadful affair—dreadful!’ Marston remembered his own share in the subsequent fate of George Heritage. Was this coming home to him too? ‘Well,’ continued the solicitor, the father didn’t recover from the shock. He got worse and worse, and at last he was quite childish. Poor old gentleman!—poor old gentleman!’ ‘I am very sorry, of course!’ exclaimed Marston; ‘but, upon my word, I can’t see what it all has to do with me.’ ‘It has everything to do with you, sir. You are very closely concerned in the old gentleman’s death.’ ‘What!’ Marston leapt from his chair as though he had been shot. The professional gentleman was astonished, but he didn’t show it. Professional gentlemen never do. ‘Yes, my dear sir, you are indeed concerned in his death, but pleasantly’ (rubbing his hands)—‘very pleasantly indeed. By a will dated some time previous to the painful affair the whole of his property is left to a lady, the daughter of Mr. John Adrian.’ Marston could hardly believe his ears. ‘Ruth an heiress!’ he exclaimed. ‘I really don’t understand. I never knew that she was even acquainted with Squire Heritage.’ ‘That, sir, I know nothing about. My visit this morning is simply to make your acquaintance and ask you to make an appointment with us, when we can have the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Marston and yourself at our office, where all the papers are, and where the whole matter can be laid properly before you.’ On the following day, at the office of Messrs. Doddle and Co., Ruth learned how she had inherited a fortune, and how there was an extraordinary proviso in the will that she and her husband would have to adopt the name of Heritage. When the first surprise was over, and Ruth recognised the fact that she was an heiress, she whispered to her husband: ‘Oh. Ned! You see I shan’t be Ruth Marston for long, after all.’ And he, without answering her, clasped her hand in his. His heart was too full for him to speak. Here, at last, was an escape from that he dreaded most. He need he Edward Marston no longer. Lord of a splendid estate, and taking his place as a prosperous country gentleman, he would be completely isolated from the bitter past. Who would recognize in Edward Heritage, Esq., of Heritage Hall, the penniless adventurer who met Dr. Birnie in Little Queer Street, started the eminent firm of Smith and Co., and was once the lending spirit in a desperate gang of rogues and vagabonds? ENTR’ACTE.