Chapter XL—Continued.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1486, 9 May 1873, Page 4

Chapter XL— Continued.

The big prodigal had found his way to his heart ! and he Joyed him better now, far better, than he had ever loved him as a boy. Dick said a few words ; and then Mr Heathcote filled his glass with an air of business, and looked at his wife, who pulled out her handkerchief. They knew what was coming. But Mr Mortiboy astonished them all. " Letuie," he said, " say a few words.' He turned to Grace. "Grace, my dear, we are going to drink your health, and many happy returns of the day. For twenty-one years, I think, I've dined here on every birthday of yours, and drunk a glass of port to you every year. Lydia, your children are good girls, Had things been different with me — I should — But there is no telling what might or would have been done." Here Mrs Heathcote buried her face in her handkerchief. " And now, my dear, I wish you a long and happy life, and a careful husband, and" — here he hesitated a little, and pulled his pocket-book — " here, my dear" — he took out a crisp and new bank note, and looked at it admiringly for a moment ; then he put it from him, as if the action cost him something — " here, my dear, is a present for you." It was a hundred pound bank note. Grace read the amount with a sort of stupefaction- and gave it to her father. Mr Heathcote took it gravely, and gave it back to his daughter. And then it went round, and there was a simultaneous cry of gratitude and surprise. They were shocked at the old man's nnlikeness to himself. " But what in the world will you do with it, Grace ?" said her mother. " You will have to put it in Uncle Mortiboy's bank." JlYes — do, Grace," said the donor: " and lirßeeTrTrocwx-v-gt^^^Li^te^^ for it." Five minutes after she had received her present, Grace handed it back to her uncle to " take care of " for her ; and he received it with a gasp, and returned it to his pocket-book hastily. It was at once the cheapest and the handsomest present he could give ; and he knew he should get it back again "to take care of," when he decided upon what form his present should take. Poor Grace! It did seem rather hard to her to be tantalized by the sight of such a splendid sum of money, and then to have it suddenly ravished from her sight, and consigned to the dark dungeons of the bank — a prisoner not to be released. In the evening, Mr Mortiboy sat in the easiest chair by the fire,' and : j next him Mrs Heathcote. And he conversed with her about his son Dick, telling her over and over again how great a comfort to him the boy already was : laying out his schemes for an easier life, and planning the happiness that was to be his, now, Dick was come home again. Dick, for his part, was listening to the girls as they sang hymns. " Your nose, my lady," said Mr Heathcote that night, laying his manly head upon the pillow, " appears to me to be put out of join!;." "Don't be coarse, John," returned his partrer. " Anyhow, Ready-money has broken out in a new place. That hundred pounds of his is all our girls will get. But the old man is improved by it, and I'm glad Diok has turned up again." " Poor boy !" said his wife, with feeling. "So am I. John, mark lny words — though you must have seen it — Dick'ssettinghiscapat i> race already." John was coarse enough to laugh at this remark, and to continue silently shaking till slumber smoothed out his limbs, and composed them for rest. As for Mr Mortiboy, he went home well satisfied, and not the less pleased because the the morrow would bring his brother-in-law, for the first time in his life, for assistance and forbearance. For he knew well enough that it was quite beyond the power of Francis Melliship to meet his liabilities. It would be something like a new pleasure to see his proud brother-in-law open his case, and admit that he wanted time. It would be a real new pleasure to have him, like all the rest of Mai'ket Basing, secretly under his own thumb. Mr Mortiboy rubbed his hands when he thought of it. He would not ruin Melliship: he would even help him. But he would help him at a price, and that price should be his own aggrandisement. To have both the banks at his command would be almost to rule the county as well as the town. To make of Mr Melliship a superior Ghrimes would be an ample return for those slights he had endured at his hands so long ago. And it fell out so well for Dick, too. He could go back, arrange his affairs abroad, and return in a year or two to leave Market Basing no more, and to succeed him in all his wealth — and even Mr Mortiboy himself did not know how much that wealth amounted to by this time. So he went to sleep ; and all Market Basing slumbered — except one man,