"Before you admit such men as that into the most sacred chamber the house
at present contains, you will ask my permission, Hedges."
Hedges attempted to excuse himself. "He was so very earnest, my lord; he
declared to me he had a good motive in wanting to come in. At these
times, when one's heart is almost broken with a sudden blow, one is apt
to be soft and yielding. What with that feeling upon me, and what with
the fright he gave me--"
"What fright did he give you?" interrupted Val.
"Well, my lord, he--he asked me whether his lordship had come fairly by
his death."
"How dare you repeat the insinuation?" broke forth Lord Hartledon, with
more temper than Hedges had ever seen him display. "The very idea is
absurd; it is wicked; it is unpardonable. My brother had not an enemy in
the world. Take care not to repeat it again. Do you hear?"
He turned away from the astonished man, went into the room he had called
sacred, and closed the door. Hedges wondered whether the hitherto
sweet-tempered, easy-mannered younger brother had changed his nature
with his inheritance.
As the days went on, few, if any, further particulars were elicited as to
the cause of accident. That the unfortunate Lord Hartledon had become
partly, if not wholly, disabled, so as to be incapable of managing even
the little skiff, had been drifted by the current towards the mills, and
there upset, was assumed by all to have been the true history of the
case.
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