“And you got it, at least most of it.�

“Patience, my friend, you had your share, you know,� returned the other with his damnable composure.

“I don’t know but I’d give it back to have poor old Geoff with us once again,� retorted Luftdon with some heat.

“That is a perfectly foolish statement, my buck,� returned the other, philosophically taking snuff. “Somebody was bound to get it; Wilberforce has been going the pace for years; we happened to be in at the death, that’s all.�

“Well, how does it relieve you, then? Do you think Wilberforce would have attempted to get you to support him?�

The drawler laughed.

“Of course not, this�—he pointed to the dead body—“is proof enough of the spirit that was in him; but of course, I cannot marry the girl now.�

“You can’t?�

“Certainly not. Her father a bankrupt and a suicide—�

“But the castle and this park?�