Published by Good Press, 2019

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      EAN 4057664654564

Table of Contents

       CHAPTER I—STEPHEN

       CHAPTER II—THE HEART OF A CHILD

       CHAPTER III—HAROLD

       CHAPTER IV—HAROLD AT NORMANSTAND

       CHAPTER V—THE CRYPT

       CHAPTER VI—A VISIT TO OXFORD

       CHAPTER VII—THE NEED OF KNOWING

       CHAPTER VIII—THE T-CART

       CHAPTER IX—IN THE SPRING

       CHAPTER X—THE RESOLVE

       CHAPTER XI—THE MEETING

       CHAPTER XII—ON THE ROAD HOME

       CHAPTER XIII—HAROLD’S RESOLVE

       CHAPTER XIV—THE BEECH GROVE

       CHAPTER XV—THE END OF THE MEETING

       CHAPTER XVI—A PRIVATE CONVERSATION

       CHAPTER XVII—A BUSINESS TRANSACTION

       CHAPTER XVIII—MORE BUSINESS

       CHAPTER XIX—A LETTER

       CHAPTER XX—CONFIDENCES

       CHAPTER XXI—THE DUTY OF COURTESY

       CHAPTER XXII—FIXING THE BOUNDS

       CHAPTER XXIII—THE MAN

       CHAPTER XXIV—FROM THE DEEPS

       CHAPTER XXV—A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD

       CHAPTER XXVI—A NOBLE OFFER

       CHAPTER XXVII—AGE’S WISDOM

       CHAPTER XXVIII—DE LANNOY

       CHAPTER XXIX—THE SILVER LADY

       CHAPTER XXX—THE LESSON OF THE WILDERNESS

       CHAPTER XXXI—THE LIFE-LINE

       CHAPTER XXXII—‘TO BE GOD AND ABLE TO DO THINGS’

       CHAPTER XXXIII—THE QUEEN’S ROOM

       CHAPTER XXXIV—WAITING

       CHAPTER XXXV—A CRY

       CHAPTER XXXVI—LIGHT

       CHAPTER XXXVII—GOLDEN SILENCE

CHAPTER I—STEPHEN

       Table of Contents

      Stephen Norman of Normanstand had remained a bachelor until close on middle age, when the fact took hold of him that there was no immediate heir to his great estate. Whereupon, with his wonted decision, he set about looking for a wife.

      He had been a close friend of his next neighbour, Squire Rowly, ever since their college days. They had, of course, been often in each other’s houses, and Rowly’s young sister—almost a generation younger than himself, and the sole fruit of his father’s second marriage—had been like a little sister to him too. She had, in the twenty years which had elapsed, grown to be a sweet and beautiful young woman. In all the past years, with the constant opportunity which friendship gave of close companionship, the feeling never altered. Squire Norman would have been surprised had he been asked to describe Margaret Rowly and found himself compelled to present the picture of a woman, not a child.

      Now, however, when his thoughts went womanward and wifeward, he awoke to the fact that Margaret came within the category of those he sought. His usual decision ran its course. Semi-brotherly feeling gave place to a stronger and perhaps more selfish feeling. Before he even knew it, he was head over ears in love with his pretty neighbour.

      Norman was a fine man, stalwart and handsome; his forty years sat so lightly on him that his age never seemed to come into question in a woman’s mind. Margaret had always liked him and trusted him; he was the big brother who had no duty in the way of scolding to do. His presence had always been a gladness; and the sex of the girl, first unconsciously then consciously, answered to the man’s overtures, and her consent was soon obtained.

      When in the fulness of time it was known that an heir was expected, Squire Norman took for granted that the child would be a boy, and held the idea so tenaciously that his wife, who loved him deeply, gave up warning and remonstrance after she had once tried to caution him against too fond a hope. She saw how bitterly