THE LAST OF THE MORTIMERS. A Story in Two Voices. BY MRS. OLIPHANT, AUTHOR OF “MADONNA MARY,” “FOR LOVE AND LIFE,” “SQUIRE ARDEN,” “MAY,” “THE HOUSE ON THE MOOR,” ETC., ETC. NEW EDITION. WARD, LOCK, AND CO., LONDON, NEW YORK, AND MELBOURNE. [_All rights reserved._] CONTENTS. PART I. PAGE THE LADIES AT THE HALL 1 PART II. THE LIEUTENANT’S WIFE 48 PART III. THE LADIES AT THE HALL--_continued_ 105 PART IV. THE LIEUTENANT’S WIFE--_continued_ 166 PART V. THE LADIES AT THE HALL--_continued_ 227 POSTSCRIPT 365 [Illustration: text decoration] THE LAST OF THE MORTIMERS. PART I. THE LADIES AT THE HALL. CHAPTER I. I thought I heard a slight rustle, as if Sarah had taken off her spectacles, but I was really so interested in the matter which I was then discussing with Mr. Cresswell, our solicitor, that I did not look round, as I certainly should have done in any other circumstances; but imagine my utter amazement and the start which Mr. Cresswell gave, nearly upsetting the ink on the drab table-cover, which never _could_ have got the better of it, when my sister Sarah, who never speaks except to me, and then only in a whisper, pronounced distinctly, loud out, the following words: “His Christian name was Richard Arkwright; he was called after the cotton-spinner; that was the chief thing against him in my father’s days.”