Nathan Gomer conducted the whole proceedings, and displayed an influence over Wilton, the more extraordinary as it was evidently not obtained at the price of pecuniary obligations. The preliminaries were all arranged, Mr. Grahame consenting to terms which gave him the enjoyment of half the property and surplus funds in trust, until the claim of Wilton was fully substantiated, when Mr. Grahame was to resign his half, and enter upon arrangements by which he would gradually restore to the estate the sums he had received from it. The arrangement was far from being a satisfactory one to Grahame, but his position was that of a drowning man, and, therefore, he was only too glad to seize anything that floated within his reach, by which he might support himself for a time, if not save himself altogether. A memorandum was drawn up by Nathan, who grinned as he composed it, grinned as Grahame signed it, and grinned yet more when he appended his name as a witness to it. He even laughed a fat, chuckling laugh as he drew Grahame’s attention to the fact, that the sheet of paper, upon which the memorandum was executed, bore the proper stamp. It was Grahame’s turn to smile when, throwing a cold doubt upon the realisation of the estates to be thus divided, Gomer laconically requested him to furnish him with a list of his most pressing engagements, and he would at once liquidate them. “I have some thousands lying idle at my bankers,” he said. “I may as well realize a slightly better percentage from you.” “And the security?” questioned Grahame, doubtfully. “I require nothing more than your acknowledgment of the amounts advanced, and your copy of this memorandum,” replied Gomer. Grahame assented delightedly, and would have taken the most affectionate farewell of both Wilton and Nathan Gomer, but that the former coldly repelled him, and the latter grinned in his face in a manner so strangely impish that he involuntarily shuddered, and hastened away. As he descended the stairs, he encountered Flora Wilton, just as she was entering her favourite sitting-room, a small one overlooking the garden. He started as he caught sight of her upturned face, and turning to Nathan Gomer, who was following him, he said-- “Miss Wilton, I presume.” Nathan nodded. “How strikingly beautiful!” he ejaculated. “Pray introduce me,” he added. Gomer did so briefly, saying-- “You will soon have the opportunity of knowing each other better.” “In truth, Mr. Gomer,” exclaimed Mr. Grahame, in his grandest manner, “I shall look forward with impatience for that honour, I need not add, and high gratification.” Flora could only look timidly from one to the other, and feel extremely relieved by the absence of both.