"And what made you break with him? Why did you quarrel? You don't answer. Is the letter right? Did you give him up for me? Did you let my position, my money, weigh more with you than his love and his heart? Did you do this?" "And suppose I did--what then?" said Marian, with flashing eyes--"are you here to plead his cause? Have I not been a dutiful and a proper wife to you? You yourself have just spoken of this vile slander with the scorn it deserves Of what then do you complain?" "Of nothing. I complain of nothing, save perhaps of your ignorance of me! Ah, good heavens did you know me so little as to think that your happiness was not my aim, not so much my own? Did you not know that my love for you was so little selfish, that if I had had the least dream of your engagement to this young man, I should have taken such delight in forwarding it and providing for you both? You would have been near me still, you would have been a daughter to me, and---- Lift me up the cordial--quick!" and he fell back in a faint. Dr. Osborne was sent for, and came at once, but it was plain to all that Mr. Creswell's end was at hand. He had two severe paroxysms of pain, and then lay perfectly still and tranquil. Marian was sitting by his bedside, and in the middle of the night she felt his hand plucking at the sleeve of her gown. She roused herself and looked at him. His eyes were open, and there was a bright, happy expression on his thin face. His mind was wandering far away, back to the early days of his poverty and his struggles, and she who had shared both was with him. He pulled Marian to him, and she leaned eagerly forward; but it was not of her he was thinking. "Jenny!" he said, and his tongue reverted to the old familiar dialect which it had not used for so many years--"Jenny! coom away, lass! Taim's oop!--that's t' mill bell ringin'! Thou'rt a brave lass, and we've had hard taim of it; but we're near t' end now! Kiss me, Jenny! Always good and brave, lass--always----" And so he died. CHAPTER XXXIV. FOR ONCE GERTRUDE TAKES THE LEAD.