Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

ARCHER'S PROPOSAL. 345
was not happy. He could not help thinking about Charles. He
knew he was dead and buried, of course; but still he could not
help wishing that he would come back, and that things might be
again as they had been before. It is not very easy to analyze
the processes of the mind of a man brought up as William was.
Let us suppose that, having been taught to love and admire
Charles above all earthly persons, his mind was not strong enough
to disabuse himself of the illusion. I suppose that your African
gets fond of his fetish. I take it that, if you stole his miserable.
old wooden idol in the night, though it might be badly carved,
and split all up the back by the sun, and put in its place an Old
Chelsea shepherdess, he would lament his graven image, and
probably break the fifty guineas' worth of China with his club.
I know this, however, that William would have given up his ten
thousand a year, and have trusted to his brother's generosity, if
he could have seen him back again. In barbarous, out-of-the-way
places, like the west of Devonshire, the feudal feeling between
foster-brothers is still absurdly strong. It is very ridiculous, of
course. Nothing can be more ridiculous or unnecessary than
the lightning coming down the dining-room chimney and sending
the fire-irons flying about the cat's ears But there it is, and you
must make th6 best of it.
We are now posted up well enough in the six weeks which
preceded the arrival of the mysterious Archer. He deferred his
arrival till his honeymoon was completed. His mysterious letter
to Mary partly alluded to his approaching marriage with Jane
Blockstrop, — daughter of Lieutenant Blockstrop of the coastguard, and niece of Rear-Admiral Blockstrop, who, as Captain
Blockstrop, had the Tartar on the Australian station, — and partly
to something else. We shall see what directly. For, when
Mary came down to see him in the drawing-room, there was with
him, besides his wife, whom he introduced at once, a very tall
and handsome young man, whom he presented to her as her
cousin, George Corby.
Did Charles turn in his pallet at Scutari? Did he turn over
and stare at the man in the next bed, who lay so deadly still, and
who was gone when he-woke on the weary morrow?
There was no mystery about George Corby's appearance.
When Mary's father, Captain Corby, had gone to India, his
younger brother, George's father, had gone to Australia. This
younger brother was a somewhat peevish, selfish man, and was
not on the best of terms with Captain Corby. He heard, of
course, of the wreck of the Warren Hastings, and the loss of his
brother. He also informed himself that his niece was saved, and
was the protected favorite of the Ravenshoes. He had then said
to himself, "I am needy. I have a rising family. She is better
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