But all this did not suit the high and independent spirit of Henry Bannerworth.  He was one who would rather have eaten the dust that he procured for himself by some meritorious exertion, than have feasted on the most delicate viands placed before him from the resources of another.

But now that he knew this small estate, the title deeds of which had been so singularly obtained, had once really belonged to the family, but had been risked and lost at the gaming-table, he had no earthly scruple in calling such property again his own.

As to the large sum of money which Sir Francis Varney in his confessions had declared to have found its way into the possession of Marmaduke Bannerworth, Henry did not expect, and scarcely wished to become possessed of wealth through so tainted a source.

“No,” he said to himself frequently; “no—­I care not if that wealth be never forthcoming, which was so badly got possession of.  Let it sink into the earth, if, indeed, it be buried there; or let it rot in some unknown corner of the old mansion.  I care not for it.”

In this view of the case he was not alone, for a family more unselfish, or who cared so little for money, could scarcely have been found; but Admiral Bell and Charles Holland argued now that they had a right to the amount of money which Marmaduke Bannerworth had hidden somewhere, and the old admiral reasoned upon it rather ingeniously, for he said,—­

“I suppose you don’t mean to dispute that the money belongs to somebody, and in that case I should like to know who else it belonged to, if not to you?  How do you get over that, master Henry?”

“I don’t attempt to get over it at all,” said Henry; “all I say is, that I do dislike the whole circumstances connected with it, and the manner in which it was come by; and, now that we have a small independence, I hope it will not be found.  But, admiral, we are going to hold a family consultation as to what we shall do, and what is to become of Varney.  He has convinced me of his relationship to our family, and, although his conduct has certainly been extremely equivocal, he has made all the amends in his power; and now, as he is getting old, I do not like to throw him upon the wide world for a subsistence.”

“You don’t contemplate,” said the admiral, “letting him remain with you, do you?”

“No; that would be objectionable for a variety of reasons; and I could not think of it for a moment.”

“I should think not.  The idea of sitting down to breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper with a vampyre, and taking your grog with a fellow that sucks other people’s blood!”

“Really, admiral, you do not really still cling to the idea that Sir Francis Varney is a vampyre.”

“I really don’t know; he clings to it himself, that’s all I can say; and I think, under those circumstances, I might as well give him the benefit of his own proposition, and suppose that he is a vampyre.”