One of the 28th | Page 7

by the knowledge that even after his death his hopes
of insuring the comfort of the one woman on earth he cared for are to
be disappointed.
"I should like to know your son. Would it be too much to ask you to
spare him for a while from time to time so long as I live? I have a
double motive, I say frankly, in thus asking him to come here. I wish
him and my little pet, Mabel Withers, to come to like each other. I wish
to divide my property between them, and yet I should be glad if the
whole estate could remain intact.
"I should not be so foolish as to make a proviso that two persons who
are as yet so young, and who may not in any way be suitable to each
other, should marry, but nothing would please me so much as that they
should take a fancy to each other; and thrown together as they would be
here, for Mabel is constantly at the house, it is just possible that one of
those boy and girl affections, which do sometimes, although perhaps
rarely, culminate in marriage, might spring up between them. Whether
that may be so in the present case I must leave to fate, but I should at
any rate like to pave the way for such an arrangement by bringing the
young people together. I need not say that it will be best that neither of
them should have the slightest idea of what is in my mind, for this
would be almost certain to defeat my object.
"If the proposal is agreeable to you, I hope that you will let Ralph come
to me at the beginning of his holidays; which must, I fancy, be now
near at hand. I think it will be as well that he should not know of my
intention as to the disposal of my property, for it is better he should
think that he will have to work for his living; but at the same time there
would be no harm in his knowing that it is probable I shall help him on
in life. This will make him bear better what would otherwise be a dull
visit. But I leave this matter entirely in your hands. You know the boy
and I do not, and you can therefore better judge what will be best for
him to know. And now, dear Mary, if you will pardon my once again
calling you so,
"I remain,

"Your affectionate friend,
"HERBERT PENFOLD."
It was characteristic of Mrs. Conway that at the first reading of this
letter she thought rather of the writer than of the bright prospects which
his offer opened to her son. She thought rather of Herbert Penfold, her
first love, now ill, if not dying, of the days of their engagement and its
rupture, than of the fact that her son was to inherit half the Penfold
estates. She had been sorely hurt at the time; and even after all these
years it was a pleasure to her to know that the quarrel was not as she
had often thought at the time, a mere pretext for breaking off the
engagement, but that Herbert had really loved her, had cared for her all
these years, and had been the mysterious friend whose kindness had so
lightened her cares.
"I did not throw away my love after all," she said to herself, as with her
eyes full of tears she stood at the window and looked out towards the
sea. "He cared for me enough to be faithful all this time and to think of
me constantly, while I had almost forgotten the past. I ought to have
known all the time that he was acting under the influence of
others--those sisters of his, of course. I was always certain they hated
me--hated the thought of my becoming mistress of Penfold Hall. I
knew the influence they had over him. Herbert had no will of his
own--it was the only fault I ever saw in him--and they could twist him
round their little fingers. And now he is going to make Ralph his heir,
or at least his heir with the girl he speaks of. It is a grand thing for
Ralph; for the estates were worth, he told papa, eight thousand a year,
and if Herbert's little romance comes off Ralph will have all."
Then she thought over the years he had been befriending her, and
wondered what she should do about that. Finally, being a sensible
woman, she decided to do nothing. Had she known it before, or learned
the truth by other means, she would have refused absolutely to touch
Herbert Penfold's money; but it would be indeed a poor