On reaching the house, I saw all my connexions, and thanked them in person for this proof of their respect for the deceased.  This little duty performed, all but John Wallingford took their leave, and I was soon left in the place alone with my bachelor cousin.  What a house it was! and what a house it continued to be as long as I remained at Clawbonny!  The servants moved about it stealthily; the merry laugh was no longer heard in the kitchen; even the heavy-footed seemed to tread on air, and all around me appeared to be afraid of disturbing the slumbers of the dead.  Never before, nor since, have I had occasion to feel how completely a negative may assume an affirmative character, and become as positive as if it had a real existence.  I thought I could see as well as feel my sister’s absence from the scene in which she had once been so conspicuous an actor.

As none of the Hardinges returned to dinner, the good divine writing a note to say he would see me in the evening after my connexions had withdrawn, John Wallingford and myself took that meal tete a tete.  My cousin, with the apparent motive of diverting my thoughts from dwelling on the recent scene, began to converse on subjects that he was right in supposing might interest me.  Instead of flying off to some topic so foreign to my feelings as constantly to recall the reason, he judiciously connected the theme with my loss.

“I suppose you will go to sea again, as soon as your ship can be got ready, cousin Miles,” he commenced, after we were left with the fruit and wine.  “These are stirring times in commerce, and the idle man misses golden opportunities.”

“Gold has no longer any charm for me, cousin John,” I answered gloomily.  “I am richer now than is necessary for my wants, and, as I shall probably never marry, I see no great use in toiling for more.  Still, I shall go out in my own ship, and that as soon as possible. Here I would not pass the summer for the place, and I love the sea.  Yes, yes; I must make a voyage to some part of Europe without delay.  It is the wisest thing I can do.”

“That is hearty, and like a man!  There is none of your mopes about the Wallingfords, and I believe you to be of the true stock.  But why never marry, Miles?  Your father was a sailor, and he married, and a very good time I’ve always understood he had of it.”

“My father was happy as a husband, and, did I imitate his example, I should certainly marry, too.  Nevertheless, I feel I am to be a bachelor.”

“In that case, what will become of Clawbonny?” demanded Jack Wallingford, bluntly.

I could not avoid smiling at the question, as I deemed him my heir, though the law would give it to nearer relatives, who were not of the name; but it is probable that John, knowing himself to be so much my senior, had never thought of himself as one likely to outlive me.

“I shall make a new will, the instant I get to town, and leave Clawbonny to you,” I answered steadily, and truly, for such a thought had come into my mind the instant I saw him.  “You are the person best entitled to inherit it, and should you survive me, yours it shall be.”