THE SON OF HIS FATHER. VOL. III. THE SON OF HIS FATHER BY MRS. OLIPHANT AUTHOR OF “IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS,” “AGNES,” “THE LAIRD OF NORLAW,” ETC., ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1887. _All rights reserved._ CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE GREAT SCHEME 1 II. MR. SANDFORD’S SECRETARY 18 III. JOHN ON HIS TRIAL 34 IV. DEFEATED AND WRONGED 51 V. THE CULPRIT 67 VI. A CRISIS 80 VII. MRS. SANDFORD’S VIEW 96 VIII. THE CONVICT 113 IX. THE FIRST SHOCK 129 X. MOTHER AND SON 147 XI. SUSIE AND HER LOVERS 165 XII. JOHN’S LETTER 183 XIII. THE DARKNESS THAT COULD BE FELT 203 XIV. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION 220 XV. THE FATHER AND CHILDREN 242 XVI. THE GREAT SCHEME 260 XVII. ELLY’S PLEDGE 277 XVIII. A SUSPENDED SOLUTION 295 THE SON OF HIS FATHER. CHAPTER I. THE GREAT SCHEME. John’s imagination, though it was so full of other matters, was affected more than he could understand by his strange visitor. He felt himself going back a hundred times in the course of the evening to this man, and those curious sophistries which he produced, always with that half smile in his eyes, as if he himself saw the absurdity in them, and as if morals and reason were something outside of himself to be treated with entire impartiality.