A letter arrived from Messrs.

Kedge and Reck, addressed to Edward Earl of Hartledon.

By it Percival found--there was no one else to open it now--that his brother had written to them early on the Tuesday morning, taking the debt upon himself; and they now wrote to say they accepted his responsibility, and had withdrawn the officer from Calne.

Alas! Val Elster could have dismissed him himself now.
He sat with bent head and drooping eyelids.

None, save himself, knew how bitter were the feelings within him, or the remorse that was his portion for having behaved unkindly to his brother within the last few hours of life.