“Not so,” she replied with a contemptuous curl on her lip, “they remain with me, and I remain here; there will be no difficulty in that.  Of course Miss Effingham must find shelter beneath your roof for some time at least, and as you are a single man, you will require some one to superintend your establishment until the future Lady Coleman shall appear on the scene, and ere that event takes place, other arrangements can be made.  Accept my conditions and you become one of the wealthiest men in the county.  Reject them, and I immediately place both documents in the hands of the late Baronet’s lawyer, who is now in the house.  I have merely to say that I gathered them from the floor of the study, on the morning of Sir Jasper’s death, and that, in the hurry and excitement of the moment, carried them to my own room, unconscious of their importance, until this morning.  This statement, true or otherwise, will suffice to account for their being in my possession”

Ralph Coleman would have still hesitated, but her’s being the stronger will of the two, he succumbed, took the required oath, and the compact between them was complete.  No sooner was this effected than both parties left the place of meeting in the same order as they entered.

Having carried her point and thus secured for herself a comfortable income, together with a handsome suite of apartments within the walls of Vellenaux, which she very naturally concluded would be a permanent home, at least during the life of Sir Ralph, he being completely in her power, as she could at any time, by the production of the late Baronet’s will, drive him ignominiously from his present luxurious abode.  It is true, in effecting this she would have to seek refuge in a foreign land, yet a vindictive spirit will often, as the old adage runs, cut off the nose to be revenged on the face.

Having gained the mastery of the position, she turned her thoughts in the direction of the new Baronet with a view of inducing him to submit to the matrimonial yoke and by that means establish herself as Vellenaux’s envied mistress with the prefix of Lady before her name.  However, she could afford to bide her time, feeling certain that in the long run Sir Ralph would yield, her stronger will working on his fears.

The funeral was over.  The family vault of the Coleman’s in the quaint old church, a little beyond the Park limits, had received the mortal remains of the worthy man, who for forty years had attended divine service within that sacred edifice where the last sad rite for the departed had just been performed.  It had been a solemn and imposing ceremony.  The cortege passed slowly and silently down the broad avenue of venerable elms, through the Park gate and up the road leading to the old church yard.  The superbly mounted coffin, borne on its funeral hearse, whose black plumes, undulated in the soft winds that sighed through the trees, was drawn by six velvet palled horses, and accompanied by mutes, pall bearers and others