The Pit Town Coronet, Volume III (of 3)

r first arrival years ago by old Lord Pit Town. Haggard looked pale and weary, and well he might, for he had gone straight to Monte Carlo and had come straight back, stoppi

d Lucius had declined to look on the face of the dead woman. Haggard had a long interview with Fanchette, and then he called upon the Commissary of Police. The night before his mother

sh clergyman, of more than doubtful reputation, gabbled through the service for the burial of the dead. The stones and bits of rock rattled up

ly in the last year," said young Lucius t

let her rest," was a

he boy put down to grief for the departed. He was a hard-hearted you

said, sat in Georgie's boudoir. T

e a nice mess of it," said Hag

ter, Reginald; she could have

wo months ago. And that woman Fanchette, who is a very bad lot indeed, or I'm

n she first came into her property. I saw them quite by chance last summer, for the first time; and when I adm

deemed them after a lot of bother. And that's all that remains. She had spent or gambled away every f

aps her careless heartless husband had, from a wish to shield her cousin's honour, silently and deliberately allowed poor Lucy's basta

is-she poisoned herself, th

often the ghastly details, he brutally told

octor too-a hungry fellow that. Of course I had to bribe the pair of them. Lucy Warrender poisoned herself, Georgie. She did it artfully enough, with chloral. Why, they showed me the bottle; she had swallowed enough to kill half-a-dozen

ly and more truly, Reginald Haggard. What a thoughtless wicked fool she had been; she

uld have spoken, after a silence of twenty years; but his last words had checked the impulse, and Georgie merel

g, she felt that the least she could do for the dead

mile runs from the principal entrance of the park to the big hall door of Walls End Castle. Lucius had mu

fast. By Jove! George," continued the young fellow, "he's so fond of them that I believe if mother, or even I, were to die to-morrow, the governor would order ortolans for breakfast if he could get t

, which his father's heir produced from his waistcoat pocket. "I'll take it as a loan

the Mediterranean. How he had retired early, on the plea of fatigue; how he had escaped undiscovered to the Rooms; how he had backed his luck and won his money. "Eighty pounds wasn't bad f

n his hand, and the boy twisted the notes nervous

e said; "I think I'd rather no

, holding out his hand willingly enough

me, Lucius-i

d to his ecstatic description of the scene in the Halls of Dazzling Delight; but I don't think the ot

d you have two human beings

hand you five-and-twenty pounds, which you decline with thanks. I don't understand you, George. You neglect your oppor

'm afraid I find more pleasure in walking up and down this big avenue and s

go in for being a poet, George? It's the only real business that I kn

e I'm not a hu

hyming dictionary, you know; parti

d the green leaves, and those black chaps who hop about from branch to branch, and who

Sooner or later it'll be mine, and all the rest of the pomps and vanities too, I suppose-the plate and the p

Lucius," was all

Lord Pit Town sat in his study and held a momentous conversation with Georgie's

aggard. Was there any informality

at makes your lordship

ly I stand in the position of a father to you. Anything you may say to me will of course be between ourselves. Can

sort ever occurred. Of course like most young fellows I have made a fool of myself with dozens of women, or rather perhaps they made a fool of me. I sighed and dangled, perhap

omfortable for a day or two, and now that my mind is at rest,

ded to prevent any attempt at identification, he had thoroughly succeeded. The precaution he had taken was simple, but sufficiently ingenious. Your ordinary anonymous letter writer is content to slope his writing the wrong way, or if very acute he uses his left hand; but the expert, if placed up

ack as night, but when he had ended it, he tos

he letter

LO

OUR LORDSHIP THE FIRST OFFER, SIMPLY BECAUSE I THINK THAT YOU WILL AT ONCE SEE THE WISDOM OF ACCEPTING IT. SHOULD YOU DECIDE NOT TO DO SO, I SHALL STILL GET MY PRICE, THOUGH I MAY HAVE TO WAIT TILL YOUR LORDSHIP'S DEATH. LITIGATION WILL, OF COURSE, ENSUE, AND A DISGRACEFUL SCANDAL WILL BECOME COMMON PR

d the old lord. "Can Hetton hav

y a mere vulgar trick to obtain money

nt to see the man in town. I will write to him, and if the secret he alludes to be genuine it is cheap at the money, if it

a certain day at the old lord's house in Grosvenor Square. Reginald Haggard sat for a whole hour waiting in vain. Nobody came to him with a mys

he old lord's promise to let him have the sum he demanded. For Mr. Capt well knew that it is possible to provide even against extraordinary contingencies; he knew that there were such things as family treaties, and he knew that his threat, if he could only get Lord Pit Town to believe in its genuineness, would be only terrible to the old man by its rendering him practically incapable of disposing of his property, and leaving the very succession to his title in doubt. Mr. Capt was sharp enough to know that if once he had the old lord's promise, the five thousand pounds was as good as paid. But Mr. Capt had a holy horror of two things. The one, which he dreaded with a natural terror of the unknown, was the criminal law of England; the other was a desperate fear of the wr

the direct heir to an earldom and the property of a man of enormous wealth, while as for Lucius, he would become but the nameless byblow of old Warrender's niece. But there were several disturbing influences to Mr. Capt's calculations. To neither of the young men could he sell his secret for money down. This was a very serious consid

ow in one of his solitary rambles in the park, and seeing that t

g upon the landscape, when he was roused by a slight cough behi

uth good-naturedly; "enjoyi

n't well help it in such

e ought. That, as my brother tells me, requires culture. He would doubtle

rdinary course of things, you see, sir, he must come into it some day or othe

are lots of responsibilities, you see," and the y

r, one of these days, who knows?"

tared at Mr. Capt, who seemed to hi

that have happened, si

ship-would both have to go to the wall first, it doesn't seem a likely conting

t was not to

man. "Many a man has sold his soul for less than that," he continued, as he gazed adm

d astonishment. "Fellow's been drinking," he thought;

nd share alike there. My father, sir, had seven sons, and we each of

comes a republic. But I don't think that it'll happen in my time,

continue the conversation, the valet touche

om being able to dispose of it at a reasonable figure, he was unable to obtain even an offer for his secret, and it was a valuable secret; but then, though a white elephant is a valuable animal, it is not an investment that most people would care to hold,

atherland with the results of a life of industry, and this was the dream of Mr. Capt's life. Like a wise man, finding he could not get a cash purchaser, he determined, though very much against his own inclination, to make a bargain with young Lucius