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1 AUGUST THE SEVENTEENTH The time of day was four o'clock in the afternoon The place was the lady's study or boudoir, Knapwater House The person was Miss Aldclyffe sitting there alone, clothed in deep

The funeral of the old Captain had taken place, and his will had been read It was very concise, and had been executed about five years previous to his death It was attested by his solicitors, Messrs Nyttleton and Tayling, of Lincoln's Inn Fields The whole of his estate, real and personal, was bequeathed to his daughter Cytherea, for her sole and absolute use, subject only to the payacy to the rector, their relative, and a few small amounts to the servants

Miss Aldclyffe had not chosen the easiest chair of her boudoir to sit in, or even a chair of ordinary coh, narrow-backed, oak framed and seated chair, which was allowed to re a companion in artistic quaintness to an old coffer beside it, and was never used except to stand in to reach for a book frohest row of shelves But she had sat erect in this chair for more than an hour, for the reason that she was utterly unconscious of what her actions and bodily feelings were The chair had stood nearest her path on entering the rooone to it in a drea, intense, concentrated thought--as if she were cast in bronze Her feet were together, her body bent a little forward, and quite unsupported by the back of the chair; her hands on her knees, her eyes fixed intently on the corner of a footstool

At last she ers upon the table at her side

Her pent-up ideas had finally found some channel to advance in

Motions became more and more frequent as she laboured to carry further and further the proble breath: she sat sideways and leant her forehead upon her hand Later still she arose, walked up and down the room--at first abstractedly, with her features as firrees her brow relaxed, her footsteps becaracefully and was no longer bowed She plumed herself like a swan after exertion

'Yes,' she said aloud 'To get _hi hi a useful man --that's the difficulty--and that I think I canfor the new rey hairs