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CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR

A TALE OF THE GOLD FIELDS OF CALIFORNIA.

BY G. A. HENTY




CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.


[Illustration: CAPTAIN BAYLEY HEARS STARTLING NEWS.]




CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR:

A TALE OF THE GOLD FIELDS OF CALIFORNIA.

BY

G. A. HENTY,

Author of "With Clive in India;" "Facing Death;" "For Name and Fame;"
"True to the Old Flag;" "A Final Beckoning;" &c.

          _WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
                  BY H. M. PAGET._

[Illustration]

          NEW YORK
          SCRIBNER AND WELFORD
          743 & 745 BROADWAY.




CONTENTS.


    Chap.                              Page

        I. WESTMINSTER! WESTMINSTER!      9

       II. A COLD SWIM,                  25

      III. A <DW36> BOY,                42

       IV. AN ADOPTED CHILD,             58

        V. A TERRIBLE ACCUSATION,        75

       VI. AT NEW ORLEANS,               92

      VII. ON THE MISSISSIPPI,          107

     VIII. STARTING FOR THE WEST,       127

       IX. ON THE PLAINS,               154

        X. A BUFFALO STORY,             173

       XI. HOW DICK LOST HIS SCALP,     186

      XII. THE ATTACK ON THE CARAVAN,   206

     XIII. AT THE GOLD-FIELDS,          223

      XIV. CAPTAIN BAYLEY,              238

       XV. THE MISSING HEIR,            253

      XVI. JOHN HOLL, DUST CONTRACTOR,  268

     XVII. THE LONELY DIGGERS,          285

    XVIII. A DREAM VERIFIED,            306

      XIX. STRIKING IT RICH,            324

       XX. A MESSAGE FROM ABROAD,       341

      XXI. HAPPY MEETINGS,              360

     XXII. CLEARED AT LAST,             374




ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                 Page

  CAPTAIN BAYLEY HEARS STARTLING NEWS, _Frontis._   262

  THE RESCUE FROM THE SERPENTINE,                    32

  THE BREAK-UP OF THE CHARTIST MEETING,              72

  FRANK'S VISIT TO MR. HIRAM LITTLE'S OFFICE,       101

  A FLOOD ON THE MISSISSIPPI,                       125

  A DEER-HUNT ON THE PRAIRIE,                       162

  THE ESCAPE OF THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER,             195

  DICK AND FRANK ELUDE THE INDIANS,                 227

  THE SICK FRIEND IN THE MINING CAMP,               296

  GOLD-WASHING--A GOOD DAY'S WORK,                  329

  THE ATTACK ON THE GOLD ESCORT,                    338

  MEETING OF CAPTAIN BAYLEY AND MR. ADAMS,          352




[Illustration]

CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.




CHAPTER I.

WESTMINSTER! WESTMINSTER!


A <DW36> boy was sitting in a box on four low wheels, in a little room
in a small street in Westminster; his age was some fifteen or sixteen
years; his face was clear-cut and intelligent, and was altogether free
from the expression either of discontent or of shrinking sadness so
often seen in the face of those afflicted. Had he been sitting on a
chair at a table, indeed, he would have been remarked as a handsome and
well-grown young fellow; his shoulders were broad, his arms powerful,
and his head erect. He had not been born a <DW36>, but had been
disabled for life, when a tiny child, by a cart passing over his legs
above the knees. He was talking to a lad a year or so younger than
himself, while a strong, hearty-looking woman, somewhat past middle age,
stood at a wash-tub.

"What is all that noise about?" the <DW36> exclaimed, as an uproar was
heard in the street at some little distance from the house.

"Drink, as usual, I suppose," the woman said.

The younger lad ran to the door.

"No, mother; it's them scholars a-coming back from cricket. Ain't there
a fight jist!"

The <DW36> wheeled his box to the door, and then taking a pair of
crutches which rested in hooks at its side when not wanted, swung
himself from the box, and propped himself in the doorway so as to
command a view down the street.

It was indeed a serious fight. A party of Westminster boys, on their way
back from their cricket-ground in St. Vincent's Square, had been
attacked by the "skies." The quarrel was an old standing one, but had
broken out afresh from a thrashing which one of the older lads had
administered on the previous day to a young chimney-sweep about his own
age, who had taken possession of the cricket-ball when it had been
knocked into the roadway, and had, with much strong language, refused to
throw it back when requested.

The friends of the sweep determined to retaliate upon the following day,
and gathered so threateningly round the gate that, instead of the boys
coming home in twos and threes, as was their wont, when playtime
expired, they returned in a body. They were some forty in number, and
varied in age from the little fags of the Under School, ten or twelve
years old, to brawny muscular young fellows of seventeen or eighteen,
senior Queen's Scholars, or Sixth Form town boys. The Queen's Scholars
were in their caps and gowns, the town boys were in ordinary attire, a
few only having flannel cricketing trousers.

On first leaving the field they were assailed only by volleys of abuse;
but as they made their way down the street their assailants grew bolder,
and from words proceeded to blows, and soon a desperate fight was
raging. In point of numbers the "skies" were vastly superior, and many
of them were grown men; but the knowledge of boxing which almost every
Westminster boy in those days possessed, and the activity and quickness
of hitting of the boys, went far to equalise the odds.

Pride in their school, too, would have rendered it impossible for any to
show the white feather on such an occasion as this, and with the younger
boys as far as possible in their centre, the seniors faced their
opponents manfully. Even the lads of but thirteen and fourteen years old
were not idle. Taking from the fags the bats which several of the latter
were carrying, they joined in the conflict, not striking at their
opponents' heads, but occasionally aiding their seniors, when attacked
by three or four at once, by swinging blows on their assailant's shins.

Man after man among the crowd had gone down before the blows straight
from the shoulder of the boys, and many had retired from the contest
with faces which would for many days bear marks of the fight; but their
places were speedily filled up, and the numbers of the assailants grew
stronger every minute.

"How well they fight!" the <DW36> exclaimed. "Splendid! isn't it,
mother? But there are too many against them. Run, Evan, quick, down to
Dean's Yard; you are sure to find some of them playing at racquets in
the Little Yard, tell them that the boys coming home from cricket have
been attacked, and that unless help comes they will be terribly knocked
about."

Evan dashed off at full speed. Dean's Yard was but a few minutes' run
distant. He dashed through the little archway into the yard, down the
side, and then in at another archway into Little Dean's Yard, where some
elder boys were playing at racquets. A fag was picking up the balls, and
two or three others were standing at the top of the steps of the two
boarding-houses.

"If you please, sir," Evan said, running up to one of the
racquet-players, "there is just a row going on; they are all pitching
into the scholars on their way back from Vincent Square, and if you
don't send help they will get it nicely, though they are all fighting
like bricks."

"Here, all of you," the lad he addressed shouted to the others; "our
fellows are attacked by the'skies' on their way back from fields. Run
up College, James; the fellows from the water have come back." Then he
turned to the boys on the steps, "Bring all the fellows out quick; the
'skies' are attacking us on the way back from the fields. Don't let them
wait a moment."

It was lucky that the boys who had been on the water in the two eights,
the six, and the fours, had returned, or at that hour there would have
been few in the boarding-houses or up College. Ere a minute had elapsed
these, with a few others who had been kept off field and water from
indisposition, or other causes, came pouring out at the summons--a body
some thirty strong, of whom fully half were big boys. They dashed out of
the gate in a body, and made their way to the scene of the conflict.
They were but just in time; the compact group of the boys had been
broken up, and every one now was fighting for himself.

They had made but little progress towards the school since Evan had
started, and the fight was now raging opposite his house. The <DW36>
was almost crying with excitement and at his own inability to join in
the fight going on. His sympathies were wholly with "the boys," towards
whose side he was attached by the disparity of their numbers compared to
those of their opponents, and by the coolness and resolution with which
they fought.

"Just look at those two, mother--those two fighting back to back. Isn't
it grand! There! there is another one down; that is the fifth I have
counted. Don't they fight cool and steady? and they almost look smiling,
though the odds against them are ten to one. O mother, if I could but go
to help them!"

Mrs. Holl herself was not without sharing his excitement. Several times
she made sorties from her doorstep, and seized more than one hulking
fellow in the act of pummelling a youngster half his size, and shook him
with a vigour which showed that constant exercise at the wash-tub had
strengthened her arms.

"Yer ought to be ashamed of yerselves, yer ought; a whole crowd of yer
pitching into a handful o' boys."

But her remonstrances were unheeded in the din,--which, however, was
raised entirely by the assailants, the boys fighting silently, save when
an occasional shout of "Hurrah, Westminster!" was raised. Presently Evan
dashed through the crowd up to the door.

"Are they coming, Evan?" the <DW36> asked eagerly.

"Yes, 'Arry; they will be 'ere in a jiffy."

A half-minute later, and with shouts of "Westminster! Westminster!" the
reinforcement came tearing up the street.

Their arrival in an instant changed the face of things. The "skies" for
a moment or two resisted; but the muscles of the eight--hardened by the
training which had lately given them victory over Eton in their annual
race--stood them in good stead, and the hard hitting of the "water" soon
beat back the lately triumphant assailants of "cricket." The united band
took the offensive, and in two or three minutes the "skies" were in full
flight.

"We were just in time, Norris," one of the new-comers said to the tall
lad in cricketing flannels whose straight hitting had particularly
attracted the admiration of Harry Holl.

"Only just," the other said, smiling; "it was a hot thing, and a pretty
sight we shall look up School to-morrow. I shall have two thundering
black eyes, and my mouth won't look pretty for a fortnight; and, by the
look of them, most of the others have fared worse. It's the biggest
fight we have had for years. But I don't think the'skies' will
interfere with us again for some time, for every mark we've got they've
got ten. Won't there be a row in School to-morrow when Litter sees that
half the Sixth can't see out of their eyes."

Not for many years had the lessons at Westminster been so badly prepared
as they were upon the following morning--indeed, with the exception of
the half and home-boarders, few of whom had shared in the fight, not a
single boy, from the Under School to the Sixth, had done an exercise or
prepared a lesson. Study indeed had been out of the question, for all
were too excited and too busy talking over the details of the battle to
be able to give the slightest attention to their work.

Many were the tales of feats of individual prowess; but all who had
taken part agreed that none had so distinguished themselves as Frank
Norris, a Sixth Form town boy, and captain of the eight--who, for a
wonder had for once been up at fields--and Fred Barkley, a senior in
the Sixth. But, grievous and general as was the breakdown in lessons
next day, no impositions were set; the boarding-house masters, Richards
and Sargent, had of course heard all about it at tea-time, as had Johns,
who did not himself keep a boarding-house, but resided at Carr's, the
boarding-house down by the great gate.

These, therefore, were prepared for the state of things, and contented
themselves by ordering the forms under their charge to set to work with
their dictionaries and write out the lessons they should have prepared.
The Sixth did not get off so easily. Dr. Litter, in his lofty solitude
as head-master, had heard nothing of what had passed; nor was it until
the Sixth took their places in the library and began to construe that
his attention was called to the fact that something unusual had
happened. But the sudden hesitation and blundering of the first "put
on," and the inability of those next to him to correct him, were too
marked to be passed over, and he raised his gold-rimmed eye-glasses to
his eyes and looked round.

Dr. Litter was a man standing some six feet two in height, stately in
manner, somewhat sarcastic in speech,--a very prodigy in classical
learning, and joint author of the great treatise _On the Uses of the
Greek Particle_. Searchingly he looked from face to face round the
library.

"I cannot," he said, with a curl of his upper lip, and the cold and
somewhat nasal tone which set every nerve in a boy's body twitching when
he heard it raised in reproof, "I really cannot congratulate you on your
appearance. I thought that the Sixth Form of Westminster was composed of
gentlemen, but it seems to me now as if it consisted of a number of
singularly disreputable-looking prize-fighters. What does all this
mean, Williams?" he asked, addressing the captain; "your face appears to
have met with better usage than some of the others."

"It means, sir," Williams said, "that as the party from fields were
coming back yesterday evening, they were attacked by the'skies,'--I
mean by the roughs--and got terribly knocked about. When the news came
to us I was up College, and the fellows had just come back from the
water, so of course we all sallied out to rescue them."

"Did it not occur to you, Williams, that there is a body called the
police, whose duty it is to interfere in disgraceful uproars of this
sort?"

"If we had waited for the police, sir," Williams said, "half the School
would not have been fit to take their places in form again before the
end of the term."

"It does not appear to me," Dr. Litter said, "that a great many of them
are fit to take their places at present. I can scarcely see Norris's
eyes; and I suppose that boy is Barkley, as he sits in the place that he
usually occupies, otherwise, I should not have recognised him; and
Smart, Robertson, and Barker and Barret are nearly as bad. I suppose you
feel satisfied with yourselves, boys, and consider that this sort of
thing is creditable to you; to my mind it is simply disgraceful. There!
I don't want to hear any more at present; I suppose the whole School is
in the same state. Those of you who can see had better go back to School
and prepare your Demosthenes; those who cannot had best go back to their
boarding-houses, or up College, and let the doctor be sent for to see if
anything can be done for you."

The doctor had indeed already been sent for, for some seven or eight of
the younger boys had been so seriously knocked about and kicked that
they were unable to leave their beds. For the rest a doctor could do
nothing. Fights were not uncommon at Westminster in those days, but the
number of orders for beef-steaks which the nearest butcher had received
on the previous evening had fairly astonished him. Indeed, had it not
been for the prompt application of these to their faces, very few of the
party from the fields would have been able to find their way up School
unless they had been led by their comrades.

At Westminster there was an hour's school before breakfast, and when
nine o'clock struck, and the boys poured out, Dr. Litter and his
under-masters held council together.

"This is a disgraceful business!" Dr. Litter said, looking, as was his
wont, at some distant object far over the heads of the others.

There was a general murmur of assent.

"The boys do not seem to have been much to blame," Mr. Richards
suggested in the cheerful tone habitual to him. "From what I can hear it
seems to have been a planned thing; the people gathered round the gates
before they left the fields and attacked them without any provocation."

"There must have been some provocation somewhere, Mr. Richards, if not
yesterday, then the day before, or the day before that," Dr. Litter
said, twirling his eye-glass by the ribbon. "A whole host of people do
not gather to assault forty or fifty boys without provocation. This sort
of thing must not occur again. I do not see that I can punish one boy
without punishing the whole School; but, at any rate, for the next week
fields must be stopped. I shall write to the Commissioner of Police,
asking that when they again go to Vincent Square some policemen may be
put on duty, not of course to accompany them, but to interfere at once
if they see any signs of a repetition of this business. I shall request
that, should there be any fighting, those not belonging to the School
who commit an assault may be taken before a magistrate; my own boys I
can punish myself. Are any of the boys seriously injured, do you think?"

"I hope not, sir," Mr. Richards said; "there are three or four in my
house, and there are ten at Mr. Sargent's, and two at Carr's, who have
gone on the sick list. I sent for the doctor, and he may have seen them
by this time; they all seemed to have been knocked down and kicked."

"There are four of the juniors at College in the infirmary," Mr. Wire,
who was in special charge of the Queen's Scholars, put in. "I had not
heard about it last night, and was in ignorance of what had taken place
until the list of those who had gone into the infirmary was put into my
hands, and then I heard from Williams what had taken place."

"It is very unpleasant," Dr. Litter said, in a weary tone of voice--as
if boys were a problem far more difficult to be mastered than any that
the Greek authors afforded him--"that one cannot trust boys to keep out
of mischief for an hour. Of course with small boys this sort of thing is
to be expected; but that young fellows like Williams and the other
seniors, and the Sixth town boys, who are on the eve of going up to the
Universities, should so far forget themselves is very surprising."

"But even at the University, Doctor Litter," Mr. Richards said, with a
passing thought of his own experience, "town and gown rows take place."

"All the worse," Dr. Litter replied, "all the worse. Of course there are
wild young men at the Universities." Dr. Litter himself, it is scarcely
necessary to say, had never been wild, the study of the Greek particles
had absorbed all his thoughts. "Why," he continued, "young men should
condescend to take part in disgraceful affrays of this kind passes my
understanding. Mr. Wire, you will inform Williams that for the rest of
the week no boy is to go to fields."

So saying, he strode off in the direction of his own door, next to the
archway, for the conversation had taken place at the foot of the steps
leading into School from Little Dean's Yard. There was some grumbling
when the head-master's decision was known; but it was, nevertheless,
felt that it was a wise one, and that it was better to allow the
feelings to calm down before again going through Westminster between
Dean's Yard and the field, for not even the most daring would have cared
for a repetition of the struggle.

Several inquiries were made as to the lad who had brought the news of
the fight, and so enabled the reinforcements to arrive in time; and had
he been discovered a handsome subscription would have been got up to
reward his timely service, but no one knew anything about him.

The following week, when cricket was resumed, no molestation was
offered. The better part of the working-classes who inhabited the
neighbourhood were indeed strongly in favour of the "boys," and liked to
see their bright young faces as they passed home from their cricket;
the pluck too with which they had fought was highly appreciated, and so
strong a feeling was expressed against the attack made upon them, that
the rough element deemed it better to abstain from further interruption,
especially as there were three or four extra police put upon the beat at
the hours when the "boys" went to and from Vincent Square.

It was, however, some time before the "great fight" ceased to be a
subject of conversation among the boys. At five minutes to ten on the
morning when Dr. Litter had put a stop to fields, two of the younger
boys--who were as usual, just before school-time, standing in the
archway leading into Little Dean's Yard to warn the School of the
issuing out of the head-master--were talking of the fight of the evening
before; both had been present, having been fagging out at cricket for
their masters.

"I wonder which would lick, Norris or Barkley. What a splendid fight it
would be!"

"You will never see that, Fairlie, for they are cousins and great
friends. It would be a big fight, and I expect it would be a draw. I
know who I should shout for."

"Oh, of course, we should all be for Norris, he is such a jolly fellow;
there is no one in the School I would so readily fag for. Instead of
saying, 'Here, you fellow, come and pick up balls,' or, 'Take my bat up
to fields,' he says, 'I say, young Fairlie, I wish you would come and
pick up balls for a bit, and in a quarter of an hour you can call some
other Under School boy to take your place,' just as if it were a favour,
instead of his having the right to put one on if he pleased. I should
like to be his fag: and he never allows any bullying up at Richards'. I
wish we had him at Sargent's."

"Yes, and Barkley is quite a different sort of fellow. I don't know that
he is a bully, but somehow he seems to have a disagreeable way with him,
a cold, nasty, hard sort of way; he walks along as if he never noticed
the existence of an Under School boy, while Norris always has a pleasant
nod for a fellow."

"Here's Litter."

At this moment a door in the wall under the archway opened, and the
head-master appeared. As he came out the five or six small boys standing
round raised a tremendous shout of "Litter's coming." A shout so loud
that it was heard not only in College and the boarding-houses in Little
Dean's Yard, but at Carr's across by the archway, and even at
Sutcliffe's shop outside the Yard, where some of the boys were
purchasing sweets for consumption in school. A fag at the door of each
of the boarding-houses took up the cry, and the boys at once came
pouring out.

The Doctor, as if unconscious of the din raised round him, walked slowly
along half-way to the door of the School; here he was joined by the
other masters, and they stood chatting in a group for about two minutes,
giving ample time for the boys to go up School, though those from
Carr's, having much further to go, had to run for it, and not
unfrequently had to rush past the masters as the latter mounted the wide
stone steps leading up to the School.

The School was a great hall, which gave one the idea that it was almost
coeval with the abbey to which it was attached, although it was not
built until some hundreds of years later. The walls were massive, and of
great height, and were covered from top to bottom with the painted names
of old boys, some of which had been there, as was shown by the dates
under them, close upon a hundred years. The roof was supported on great
beams, and both in its proportions and style the School was a copy in
small of the great hall of Westminster.

At the furthermost end from the door was a semicircular alcove, known as
the "Shell," which gave its name to the form sitting there. On both
sides ran rows of benches and narrow desks, three deep, raised one above
the other. On the left hand on entering was the Under School, and,
standing on the floor in front of it, was the arm-chair of Mr. Wire.
Next came the monitor's desk, at which the captain and two monitors sat.
In an open drawer in front of the table were laid the rods, which were
not unfrequently called into requisition. Extending up to the end were
the seats of the Sixth. The "Upper Shell" occupied the alcove; the
"Under Shell" were next to them, on the further benches on the
right-hand side. Mr. Richards presided over the "Shell." Mr. Sargent
took the Upper and Under Fifth, who came next to them, and "Johnny," as
Mr. Johns was called, looked after the two Fourths, who occupied benches
on the right hand of the door.

By the time the masters entered the School all the boys were in their
places. The doors were at once shut, then the masters knelt on one knee
in a line, one behind the other, in order of seniority, and the Junior
Queen's Scholar whose turn it was knelt in front of them, and in a loud
tone read the Lord's Prayer in Latin. Then the masters proceeded to
their places, and school began, the names of all who came in late being
taken down to be punished with impositions.

So large and lofty was the hall, that the voices were lost in its
space, and the forms were able to work without disturbing each other any
more than if they had been in separate rooms. The Sixth only were heard
apart, retiring into the library with the Doctor. His seat, when in
school, was at a table in the centre of the hall, near the upper end.

Thus Westminster differed widely from the great modern schools, with
their separate class-rooms and lecture-rooms. Discipline was not very
strict. When a master was hearing one of the forms under him the other
was supposed to be preparing its next lessons, but a buzz of quiet talk
went on steadily. Occasionally, once or twice a week perhaps, a boy
would be seen to go up from one of the lower forms with a note in his
hand to the head-master; then there was an instant pause in the talking.

Dr. Litter would rise from his seat, and a monitor at once brought him a
rod. These instruments of punishment were about three feet six inches
long; they were formed of birch twigs, very tightly bound together, and
about the thickness of the handle of a bat; beyond this handle some ten
or twelve twigs extended for about eighteen inches. The Doctor seldom
made any remark beyond giving the order, "Hold out your hand."

The unfortunate to be punished held out his arm at a level with his
shoulder, back uppermost. Raising his arm so that the rod fell almost
straight behind his back, Dr. Litter would bring it down, stroke after
stroke, with a passionless and mechanical air, but with a sweeping force
which did its work thoroughly. Four cuts was the normal number, but if
it was the third time a boy had been sent up during the term he would
get six. But four sufficed to swell the back of the hand, and cover it
with narrow weals and bruises. It was of course a point of honour that
no sound should be uttered during punishment. When it was over the
Doctor would throw the broken rod scornfully upon the ground and return
to his seat. The Junior then carried it away and placed a fresh one upon
the desk.

The rods were treated with a sort of reverence, for no Junior Queen's
Scholar ever went up or down school for any purpose without first going
over to the monitor's table and lightly touching the rod as he passed.

Such was school at Westminster forty years since, and it has but little
changed to the present day.




[Illustration]

CHAPTER II.

A COLD SWIM.


IT is winter. Christmas is close at hand, and promises to be a bitterly
cold one. The ice has formed smooth and black across the Serpentine, and
a number of people are walking along by its banks, looking forward to
some grand skating if the frost does but hold two days longer. The sky
is blue, and the sun shining brightly; the wind is fresh and keen; it is
just the day when people well-clad, well-fed, and in strong health, feel
their blood dancing more freely than usual through their veins, and
experience an unusual exhilaration of spirits. Merry laughter often
rises from the groups on the bank, and the air rings with the sharp
sound made by pieces of ice sent skimming by mischievous boys over the
glassy surface, to the disgust of skaters, who foresee future falls as
the result of these fragments should a slight thaw freeze them to the
surface.

Among those walking by the edge of the ice were Frank Norris and Fred
Barkley; with them was a bright-faced girl of some fourteen years old.
Alice Hardy was cousin to both the young fellows, and was a ward of
their uncle, Captain Bayley, an old and very wealthy retired officer of
the East India Company's Service. His fortune had not been acquired in
India, but had descended to him from his father, of whom he had been the
youngest son. His elder brothers had died off one by one, all unmarried
or childless, and soon after he obtained his commission he was recalled
home to take his place as the next heir to his father's estates; then he
had married.

Soon after he succeeded to the property his wife died, leaving him a
little girl, who was called Ella after her. Captain Bayley was hot and
passionate. His daughter grew up fiery and proud. Her father was
passionately fond of her; but just when she reached the age of twenty,
and had taken her place as one of the leading belles of Worcestershire,
she disappeared suddenly from the circle of her acquaintances. What had
happened no one ever knew. That there had been some terrible quarrel was
certain. It was understood that Captain Bayley wished no questions to be
asked. Her disappearance was a nine days' wonder in Worcestershire. Some
said she had turned Roman Catholic and gone into a convent; others that
she must have eloped, although with whom no one could guess. But at last
the subject died out, until two years later Captain Bayley and his
household appeared in mourning, and it was briefly announced that his
daughter was dead.

Captain Bayley went about as before, peppery, kind-hearted, perhaps a
little harder and more cynical than before, but a very popular personage
in Worcestershire. Those who knew him best thought him the most altered,
and said that although he appeared to bear the blow lightly he felt
deeply at heart the death of his daughter. His nearest heirs now were
his two nephews, Frank Norris and Barkley, sons of his married sisters.
Alice Hardy bore no relation to him. For some years speculation had
been rife as to which of his two nephews he would select as his heir.

Two years before this story begins