CHAPTER XI.

GREAT NEWS FOR RODHAM.

"His life was gentle, and the elements

So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world,—

This was a Man!"

SHAKSPEARE.

AND at last Rodham rang with the news-the great news -that Rockdeane was to have another master; that the member for the Eastern Division of the county would never take his seat in the House, where such grand things had been expected of him; that he had been in possession, for sixteen months, of a title and estates to which he had no right; and that the grandson of the old Sir Jasper had appeared to claim his own. It seems needless to rehearse here all the wonder and surprise and all the remarks and gossip which followed as a matter of We all know, too well, how the love of talk, for talking's sake, is stirred in a town or city by a less event than this. From the good old Bishop, to the Warden of Hildyard's Almshouses-from Sir Wilton St. John, to the smallest tenant-farmer of the neighbourhood-from Mrs. Tillett, the banker's wife, to the sister of the humblest clerk in the office of the National Provincial Bank-from the magnificent tradesman who had furnished that gor

course.

geous funeral for the late baronet, to the small linendraper who was proud to count Mrs. Mason amongst his regular customers, a thrill of wonder and surprise ran with electric power.

It was, indeed, so extraordinary; and how uncomfortable for Mrs. Dennistoun; and how disappointing for the pretty girl who had been so admired! They had all been so pleased with their new position, and had made it so evident, it was really most trying for them. But how strange that Sir Philip (it was difficult to call him Mr. Dennistoun) had never discovered the papers till the others had been produced from New Zealand. It was really more than extraordinary that Mr. Williamson knew nothing of them, and that they should turn up so soon after the original documents were produced. It was quite evident, too, that Sir Philip was determined to make no stand against the claim or dispute it. It showed how thoroughly convinced he was that the claimant had a strong case.

Then followed the story of the claimant himself: his low origin on one side-hardly atoned for by the ancient name he bore. Nevertheless, Rodham knew that he must be accepted, and prepared to leave an unlimited amount of cardboard at Rockdeane when the right time arrived. When would it arrive? and how soon would the Dennistouns leave Rockdeane? It must be so exceedingly unpleasant for them to remain there in a false position. Sir Philip looked very ill-so those said. who had seen him-and Mrs. Dennistoun had been in Dr. Simpson's hands ever since the night of that great entertainment. What a pity it had been given; for on that very evening the blow had fallen.

And so the little world of Rodham conjectured and

R

apostrophised, and pitied, and deprecated, and wondered, as all the little worlds in which we cast in our lot will continue to do, in like circumstances, to the end of time.

It was with a strange feeling of the change which was at hand, that Philip Dennistoun rode at a leisurely pace through the High Street of Rodham, two days after that on which the papers had been discovered, and the copies of the registers had been brought to him by Forster Williamson. If he did not look as ill as Rodham reported he did, he looked very grave, as he stopped before the door of the Mitre, and giving his horse into the care of the ostler, who hastened to meet it, he asked of the waiter if he could see Sir Jasper Dennistoun.

"I beg your pardon, Sir Philip," was the man's puzzled answer; but the master of the hotel, with significant haste, interposed.

"Of course; No. 21. Will you please follow me, Sir Philip ?"

He preceded Philip to the end of a long passage, and the door of one of the small sitting-rooms was thrown open, and Philip heard himself announced in the hotelkeeper's grandest manner.

Crouching over the fire, in an idle, despondent fashion, sat the rightful heir to the Dennistoun title and estates. He rose, when Philip went up to him, and bowed in a confused, shy way.

Philip held out his hand, and said,

"I am afraid you are still very much of an invalid." "Yes; I feel very ill, and miserable."

It came out with all the petulance of a child.

Philip took the big arm chair on the opposite side of the fire, and said,

"You will have heard from Mr. Williamson that the documents are found; and the copies of the marriage and baptismal registers at Loughborough are in our possession. I have come to-day to ask what your wishes are about Rockdeane, and when you will desire to take possession there."

“I don't know; I must leave it to you to decide."

"I should have thought it was the other way," said Philip, with a smile. "You know you are now the head of the family, and the single fact that you have been called all your life, and your father before you, Cleveland instead of Dennistoun is the only possible difficulty, in a legal point of view, to your succession to the title and estates of your grandfather. I shall not raise the objection, and I don't suppose there is any one else who is likely to do it; so you are as secure in your position as you can desire. It was my intention to go to London in the first week of February, and I still propose to do so; you can then quietly take possession there. And as all the improvements and the modern furniture and decorations were paid for out of the estate, which was never mine, you need have no difficulty about it. The house in Grosvenor Crescent you may not be disposed to take just yet; it can be let. But all these business arrangements may be better carried out by my friend, Mr. Williamson. There are just two or three things which I should like to see finished: the restoration of the chapel at Hildyard's Almshouses, and provision made for a chaplain; and the building of the little church for the hamlet of Rockdeane, to provide the tenantry with what they have much needed, a church within easy reach of their homes."

"Yes, I am sure I will do it, and anything else you

wish, except give great parties and swell dinners-I shan't be fit for that; but I should like some farming to do, it will be more in my way. It is an awful thing to be alone in the world, in a strange country, and not a soul to care for me; only some to wish perhaps I had never come in the way at all. How you must hate me !"

Sir Philip had risen, and now stood by the boy's chair. What a contrast they were,-the one so puny and feeble, and undecided; the other the very personification of firm, well-knit manhood, and resolute will and strength, both of body and mind. Hate that poor boy! No; Philip Dennistoun could never hate any thing so poor and dependent; especially when any appeal was made to him for help and protection.

"Jasper Dennistoun," he said, calling him emphatically by his name, "let no unkindly thoughts rise between us. You cannot help the sin of concealment for which your grandfather is alone answerable; and he is gone before a Judge who sees not as we see. You cannot help the position in which you are placed, coming, after sixteen months' security, to dispossess me of what was never really mine. I took possession in the fullest faith of the justice of my claim; you come to show me my mistake, in obedience to the wishes of the dead, and you do well to assert yourself. Let there be no thought of antagonism or dislike between us. Why should there be? Let us be friends."

I have no words to tell how Sir Philip's overture was received. Surprise and pleasure and gratitude struggled with a sort of desolate pride and sense of isolation which, in a weak and futile way, the poor boy seemed to think it was dignified to show. But it would not do. The power of the great kingly soul, with all its generous impulses