The boy whom Mrs. Wilders had hesitated to surrender to old Lord Essendine, from greed rather than maternal instinct, was not neglected by the old peer.  After the mother had passed out of sight, the son was brought up decently, given a good education, and eventually started in life.  He adopted the military profession, and was not denied the support and encouragement of Stanislas McKay.

Our hero was able to help his uncle, too, the much-aggrieved functionary of the Military Munition Department, and secured for him the decoration he had so long coveted in vain.

Uncle Barto, the worthy captain of the Burlington Castle, made a snug fortune by his commercial ventures during the war, and paid regular visits to his nephew, Stanny.  Mrs. McKay, or Countess of Essendine as she became, could never forget what she owed for his generous hospitality on board the Burlington.

THE END.

* * * * *

BLUE BLOOD.

CHAPTER I.

“The idea is simply preposterous.  I decline to entertain it.  I cannot listen to it—­not for one moment.  Never!”

The speaker was Mrs. Purling, “heiress of the Purlings”; imperious, emphatic, self-opinionated, as women become who have had their own way all their lives through.

“But, mother,” went on Harold, her only son—­like herself, large and broadly built; but, unlike her, quiet and rather submissive in manner, as one who had been habitually kept under—­“I am really in earnest.  I am absolutely sick of doing nothing.”

“Because you won’t do what you might.  There is plenty for you to do.  Has not the Duchess asked you to Scotland?  You refuse—­and such a splendid invitation!  I have offered you a yacht.  I say you may share a river in Norway with dear Lord Faro.  I implore you to drive a coach, to keep racehorses, to take your place in the best society, as the representative of the Purling—­”

“Pills?” put in Harold, with a queer smile.

His mother’s face grew black instantly.

“Harold, do not dare to speak in that way.  My father’s memory should be respected by my only son.”

Old Purling had made all his money by a certain chemical compound which had been adopted by the world at large as a panacea for every ill.  But the heiress of the Purlings hated any reference to the Primeval Pills, although she owed to them her wealth.

“I want a profession,” Harold said, returning to his point.  “I want regular employment.”

“Well, I say go into the Guards.”

“I am too old.  Besides, peace-soldiering, and in London, would never suit me, I know.”

“Read law; it is a gentlemanly occupation.”

“But most uninteresting.  Now medicine—­”

“Do not let me hear the word; the mere idea is intolerable.  My son, the heir of the Purlings must not condescend so low.”