Hartledon did not wish to mar that day by an unpleasant word.  The little child was christened; the names given him being Edward Kirton:  the countess-dowager, who was in a chronic state of dissatisfaction with everything and every one, angrily exclaimed at the last moment, that she thought at least her family name might have been given to the child; and Lord Hartledon interposed, and said, give it.  Lord and Lady Hartledon, and Mr. Carr, were the sponsors:  and it would afford food for weeks of grumbling to the old dowager.  Hilarity reigned, and toasts were given to the new heir of Hartledon; and the only one who seemed not to enter into the spirit of the thing, but on the contrary to be subdued, absent, nervous, was the heir’s father.

And so it went on to the Sunday morning.  A cold, bleak, bitter morning, the wind howling, the snow flying in drifts.  Mr. Carr went to church, and he was the only one of the party in the house who did go.  The countess-dowager the previous night had proclaimed the fact that she meant to go—­as a sort of reproach to any who meant to keep away.  However, when the church-bells began, she was turning round in her warm bed for another nap.

Maude did not go down early; had not yet taken to doing so.  She breakfasted in her room, remained toying with her baby for some time, and then went into her own sitting-room; a small cosy apartment on the drawing-room floor, into which visitors did not intrude.  It looked on to Hyde Park, and a very white and dreary park it was on that particular day.

Drawing a chair to the window, she sat looking out.  That is, her eyes were given to the outer world, but she was so deep in thought as to see nothing of it.  For two nights and a day, burning with curiosity, she had been putting this and that together in her own mind, and drawing conclusions according to her own light.  First, there was the advent of the visitor; secondly, there was the letter she had dipped into.  She connected the two with each other and wondered WHAT the secret care could be that had such telling effect upon her husband.

Gorton.  The name had struck upon her memory, even whilst she read it, as one associated with that terrible time—­the late Lord Hartledon’s death.  Gradually the floodgates of recollection opened, and she knew him for the witness at the inquest about whom some speculation had arisen as to who he was, and what his business at Calne might have been with Lord Hartledon and his brother, Val Elster.

Why should her husband be afraid of this man?—­as it seemed he was afraid, by Mr. Carr’s letter.  What power had he of injuring Lord Hartledon?—­what secret did he possess of his, that might be used against him?  Turning it about in her mind, and turning it again, searching her imagination for a solution, Lady Hartledon at length arrived at one, in default of others.  She thought this man must know some untoward fact by which the present Lord Hartledon’s