Chapter VII

[A letter from the Rev. Arthur Warrington of Beldon, Suffolk, to Mrs. Arthur Warrington at Porchester Terrace, Bayswater.]

My Dear Martha,--I will not say thank God; but, are we responsible for this unhappy young man’s folly? Should it have pleased the Almighty to call him I will see Sands and Collier about the estate at Ingershall immediately. Please let me have telegrams as the evening papers come in. To think that this should be the end of Henry Gastonard’s fortune, his son a debauché in Paris, shot down in a vulgar duel about a married woman, and, I doubt not, precious gold lavished upon her. But we, dear wife, shall know how to spend that fortune to God’s good ends.

I shall, of course, buy a motor-car at once should the worst follow.--Your devoted husband,

Arthur.