"What do you say now, Lionel?" he said to his cousin, when the three young men had left the dining-hall, and were seated at luncheon in a smaller chamber. "You did not think my respected aunt a clever actress when she fainted before the doors of the mausoleum. You will at least acknowledge that the piece of acting she favoured us with just now was superb." "What do you mean by 'a piece of acting'?" "That outburst of grief which my lady indulged in, when she found herself mistress of Raynham." "I believe that it was genuine," answered Mr. Dale, gravely. "Oh, you think the inheritance a fitting subject for lamentation?" "No, Reginald. I think a woman who had wronged her husband, and had been the indirect cause of his death, might well feel sorrow when she discovered how deeply she had been loved, and how fully she had been trusted by that generous husband." "Bah!" cried Reginald, contemptuously. "I tell you, man, Lady Eversleigh is a consummate actress, though she never acted before a better audience than the clodhoppers at a country fair. Do you know who my lady was when Sir Oswald picked her out of the gutter? If you don't, I'll enlighten you. She was a street ballad-singer, whom the baronet found one night starving in the market-place of a country town. He picked her up--out of charity; and because the creature happened to have a pretty face, he was weak enough to marry her." "Respect the follies of the dead," replied Lionel. "My uncle's love was generous. I only regret that the object of it was so unworthy." "Oh!" exclaimed Reginald, "I thought just now that you sympathized with my lady." "I sympathize with every remorseful sinner," said Lionel. "Ah, that's your _shop_!" cried Reginald, who could not conceal his bitter feelings. "You sympathize with Lady Eversleigh because she is a wealthy sinner, and mistress of Raynham Castle. Perhaps you'll stop here and try to step into Sir Oswald's shoes. I don't know whether there's any law against a man marrying his uncle's widow." "You insult me, and you insult the dead, Sir Reginald, by the tone in which you discuss these things," answered Lionel Dale. "I shall leave Raynham by this evening's coach, and there is little likelihood that Lady Eversleigh and I shall ever meet again. It is not for me to judge her sins, or penetrate the secrets of her heart. I believe that her grief to-day was thoroughly genuine. It is not because a woman has sinned that she must needs be incapable of any womanly feeling." "You are in a very charitable humour, Lionel," said Sir Reginald, with a sneer; "but you can afford to be charitable." Mr. Dale did not reply to this insolent speech. Sir Reginald Eversleigh and his two cousins left the village of Raynham by the same coach. The evening was finer than the day had been, and a full moon steeped the landscape in her soft light, as the travellers looked their last on the grand old castle. The baronet contemplated the scene with unmitigated rage.