"It's perhaps hardly to be expected," he said, "that any degree of intimacy should exist between your family and mine, Lord Tristram, but I venture to hope that the part which it has been my privilege to play to-day may do something to obliterate the memories of the past. We don't perhaps know all the rights of it. I am loyal to my brother, but I knew the late Lady Tristram, and I can appreciate all that her friends valued and prized in her." "Very good, Edge, very good," murmured emotional old Mr Neeld. "Very proper, most proper." "And I hope that old quarrels need not be eternal?" "I'm very much in your debt, and I'm sincerely grateful, Colonel Edge. As for the past--There are graves; let it lie in them." "Thank you, Lord Tristram, thank you," and the Colonel gave Harry his hand. "Excellent, excellent!" muttered Mr Neeld as he folded up the leaves of Josiah Cholderton's diary. "You can call on me for proofs whenever you wish to proceed. After what has occurred, I presume they will be necessary." "Yes, yes--for his seat," assented Neeld. "And to satisfy public opinion," added Edge. There was a pause. Neeld broke it by saying timidly: "And--er--there is, of course, the--the lady. The lady who now holds the title and estates." "Of course!" agreed Edge, with a nod that apologized for forgetfulness. Of course there was! Harry smiled. He had been wondering how long they would take to think of the lady who now held the title and estates. Well, they had come to her at last--after providing for the requirements of the House of Lords and the demands of public opinion--after satisfying the girl in the restaurant, in fact. Yes, of course, there was the lady too. Though he smiled, he was vexed and suffered a vague disappointment. It is to be wished that things would happen in a manner harmonious with their true nature--the tragic tragically, the comic so that laughter roars out, the melodramatic with the proper limelight effects. To do the Tristrams justice, this was generally achieved where they were concerned; Harry could have relied on his mother and on Cecily; he could rely on himself if he were given a suitable environment, one that appealed to him and afforded responsive feelings. The family was not in the habit of wasting its opportunities for emotion. But who could be emotional now--in face of these two elderly gentlemen? Neeld's example made such a thing ridiculous, Colonel Edge would obviously consider it unsoldier-like. The chance had been frittered away; life was at its old game of neglecting its own possibilities. There was nothing but to acquiesce; fine melodrama had been degraded into a business interview with two elderly and conscientious gentlemen. The scene in the Long Gallery had at least been different from this! Harry bowed his head; he must be thankful for small blessings; it was something that they had remembered the lady at last. At a glance from Edge, Neeld rose to go.