"Not very far in miles; but this is an uncommon slow train--stops everywhere. Stops just now at Wendhurst Junction; the express runs through. I'm afraid you're very tired, Miss Cheffington." He could not see her at all distinctly, but her voice betrayed great weariness, he thought. "Not very--yes, rather. It does not matter now; we shall soon be there." "Yes," went on Mr. Bragg, "I've been attending the funeral." "Oh yes. Poor Lucius! I had forgotten that it was for to-day," said May, with a self-reproachful feeling. "He was very kind to me, although, at first, he seemed so dry and eccentric. I think he liked me. I know I liked him." "Yes; no doubt but what he liked you. _That_ can't be disputed. And it does him honour, in my opinion. I suppose I ought to congratulate you, Miss Cheffington--although congratulating may seem out of place with a crape band round your hat. And yet I don't know!" "Congratulate me! Do you mean because my father is the heir? I think there is more sorrow in Lord Castlecombe's heart than there can be satisfaction in any one else's?" answered May. She was surprised at this manifestation of coarseness of feeling in Mr. Bragg. It was the first she had ever observed in him. "Your father? Lord bless me, no! Nothing to do with your father. I was alluding to your cousin's last will and testament. I was present when it was read, by Lord Castlecombe's desire, although having no particular claim that I know of. Still, when we came back from the old churchyard, his lordship invited me into the library, and the will was read out then by Wagget, the lawyer, poor Martin Bransby's successor." "But what has all that to do with me?" asked May, sitting upright, and holding on by the elbows of the seat. As she did so, everything seemed to waver and swim before her eyes. The cushions on which she sat seemed to be sinking down through the earth. The long fast, her broken sleep on the previous night, the tears she had shed, and all the emotions of this journey, which to her was an adventure fraught with all kinds of anxieties, were telling upon her. But she made a desperate effort to listen--not to be ill, not to give trouble. The train was to stop shortly. She would hold up her courage until then. Had not the gloom caused by the lamp-shade baffled Mr. Bragg's observation, he would have been startled by her countenance. As it was, he merely answered, "Well, because your cousin has left you all the little property he inherited from his mother. It isn't a great fortune--a matter of four hundred and fifty, or five hundred pound a year, as well as I can make out. But it's all in sound investments--mostly Government securities--and it's settled on you every penny of it."