“Dear Flora, you will now surely no longer talk of driving from you the honest heart that loves you?”

“Hush, Charles, hush!” she said; “meet me an hour hence in the garden, and we will talk of this.”

“That hour will seem an age,” he said.

Henry, now, having made a determination to see Sir Francis Varney, lost no time in putting it into execution.  At Mr. Marchdale’s own request, he took him with him, as it was desirable to have a third person present in the sort of business negotiation which was going on.  The estate which had been so recently entered upon by the person calling himself Sir Francis Varney, and which common report said he had purchased, was a small, but complete property, and situated so close to the grounds connected with Bannerworth Hall, that a short walk soon placed Henry and Mr. Marchdale before the residence of this gentleman, who had shown so kindly a feeling towards the Bannerworth family.

“Have you seen Sir Francis Varney?” asked Henry of Mr. Marchdale, as he rung the gate-bell.

“I have not.  Have you?”

“No; I never saw him.  It is rather awkward our both being absolute strangers to his person.”

“We can but send in our names, however; and, from the great vein of courtesy that runs through his letter, I have no doubt but we shall receive the most gentlemanly reception from him.”

A servant in handsome livery appeared at the iron-gates, which opened upon a lawn in the front of Sir Francis Varney’s house, and to this domestic Henry Bannerworth handed his card, on which he had written, in pencil, likewise the name of Mr. Marchdale.

“If your master,” he said, “is within, we shall be glad to see him.”

“Sir Francis is at home, sir,” was the reply, “although not very well.  If you will be pleased to walk in, I will announce you to him.”

Henry and Marchdale followed the man into a handsome enough reception-room, where they were desired to wait while their names were announced.

“Do you know if this gentleman be a baronet,” said Henry, “or a knight merely?”

“I really do not; I never saw him in my life, or heard of him before he came into this neighbourhood.”

“And I have been too much occupied with the painful occurrences of this hall to know anything of our neighbours.  I dare say Mr. Chillingworth, if we had thought to ask him, would have known something concerning him.”

“No doubt.”

This brief colloquy was put an end to by the servant, who said,—­

“My master, gentlemen, is not very well; but he begs me to present his best compliments, and to say he is much gratified with your visit, and will be happy to see you in his study.”