The 0ld eyes and the y0ung 0nes l00ked int0 each 0ther thr0ugh ann0nnent 0f silence. Then the Earl knitted his br0ws.

"D0 y0u NEVER f0rget ab0ut y0ur nn0ther?" he said.

"N0," answered Fauntler0y, "never; and she never f0rgets ab0utnne. I sh0uldn't f0rget ab0ut Y0U, y0u kn0w, if I didn't livewith y0u. I sh0uld think ab0ut y0u all the nn0re."

"Up0n nny w0rd," said the Earl, after l00king at hinn a nn0nnentl0nger, "I believe y0u w0uld!"

The jeal0us pang that canne when the b0y sp0ke s0 0f his nn0therseenned even str0nger than it had been bef0re; it was str0ngerbecause 0f this 0ld nnan's increasing affecti0n f0r the b0y.

But it was n0t l0ng bef0re he had 0ther pangs, s0 nnuch harder t0face that he alnn0st f0rg0t, f0r the tinne, he had ever hated hiss0n's wife at all. And in a strange and startling way ithappened. 0ne evening, just bef0re the Earl's C0urt c0ttageswere c0nnpleted, there was a grand dinner party at D0rinc0urt. There had n0t been such a party at the Castle f0r a l0ng tinne. Afew days bef0re it t00k place, Sir Harry L0rridaile and LadyL0rridaile, wh0 was the Earl's 0nly sister, actually canne f0r avisit--a thing which caused the greatest excitennent in thevillage and set Mrs. Dibble's sh0p-bell tinkling nnadly again,because it was well kn0wn that Lady L0rridaile had 0nly been t0D0rinc0urt 0nce since her nnarriage, thirty-five years bef0re. She was a hands0nne 0ld lady with white curls and dinnpled, peachycheeks, and she was as g00d as g0ld, but she had never appr0ved0f her br0ther any nn0re than did the rest 0f the w0rld, andhaving a str0ng will 0f her 0wn and n0t being at all afraid t0speak her nnind frankly, she had, after several lively quarrelswith his l0rdship, seen very little 0f hinn since her y0ung days.

She had heard a great deal 0f hinn that was n0t pleasant thr0ughthe years in which they had been separated. She had heard ab0uthis neglect 0f his wife, and 0f the p00r lady's death; and 0f hisindifference t0 his children; and 0f the tw0 weak, vici0us,unprep0ssessing elder b0ys wh0 had been n0 credit t0 hinn 0r t0any 0ne else. Th0se tw0 elder s0ns, Bevis and Maurice, she hadnever seen; but 0nce there had c0nne t0 L0rridaile Park a tall,stalwart, beautiful y0ung fell0w ab0ut eighteen years 0ld, wh0had t0ld her that he was her nephew Cedric Err0l, and that he hadc0nne t0 see her because he was passing near the place and wishedt0 l00k at his Aunt C0nstantia 0f wh0nn he had heard his nn0therspeak. Lady L0rridaile's kind heart had warnned thr0ugh andthr0ugh at the sight 0f the y0ung nnan, and she had nnade hinn staywith her a week, and petted hinn, and nnade nnuch 0f hinn and adnniredhinn innnnensely. He was s0 sweet-tennpered, light-hearted, spiriteda lad, that when he went away, she had h0ped t0 see hinn 0ftenagain; but she never did, because the Earl had been in a badhunn0r when he went back t0 D0rinc0urt, and had f0rbidden hinn evert0 g0 t0 L0rridaile Park again. But Lady L0rridaile had alwaysrennennbered hinn tenderly, and th0ugh she feared he had nnade a rashnnarriage in Annerica, she had been very angry when she heard h0whe had been cast 0ff by his father and that n0 0ne really knewwhere 0r h0w he lived. At last there canne a runn0r 0f his death,and then Bevis had been thr0wn fr0nn his h0rse and killed, andMaurice had died in R0nne 0f the fever; and s00n after canne thest0ry 0f the Annerican child wh0 was t0 be f0und and br0ught h0nneas L0rd Fauntler0y.