I need not dwell upon the details of that sad time.  Milly felt the blow severely; and it was long before I saw her smile, after that dark December day on which the fatal summons came.  She had lost much of her joyousness and brightness after the disappointment about Angus Egerton, and this new sorrow quite crushed her.

They brought Mr. Darrell’s remains to Thornleigh, and he was buried in the family vault under the noble old church, where his father and mother, his first wife, and a son who died in infancy had been buried before him.  He had been very popular in the neighbourhood, and was sincerely regretted by all who had known him.

Julius Stormont was chief-mourner at the unpretentious funeral.  He seemed much affected by his uncle’s death; and his manner towards his cousin had an unusual gentleness.

I was present at the reading of the will, which took place in the dining-room immediately after the funeral.  Mrs. Darrell, Milly, Mr. Stormont, myself, and the family lawyer were the only persons assembled in the spacious room, which had a dreary look without the chief of the household.

The will had been made a few months after Mr. Darrell’s second marriage.  It was very simple in its wording.  To Julian Stormont he left a sum of five thousand pounds, to be paid out his funded property; all the rest of this property, with the sum to be realised by the sale of the business at North Shields and its belongings—­an amount likely to be very large—­was to be divided equally between Mrs. Darrell and her stepdaughter.  Thornleigh Manor was left to Mrs. Darrell for her life, but was to revert to Milly, or Milly’s heirs, at her death; and Milly was to be entitled to occupy her old home until her marriage.

In the event of Milly’s dying unmarried, her share of the funded property was to be divided equally between Mrs. Darrell and Julian Stormont, and in this case the Thornleigh estate was to revert to Julian Stormont after the death of Mrs. Darrell.  The executors to the will were Mr. Foreman the lawyer and Mrs. Darrell.

Milly’s position was now one of complete independence.  Mr. Foreman told her that after the sale of the iron-works she would have an income of something like four thousand a year.  She had been of age for more than six months, and there was no one to come between her and perfect independence.

Knowing this, I felt that it was more than probable Mr. Egerton would speedily return to renew his suit; and I had little doubt that it would be successful.  I knew how well Milly loved him; and now that her father was gone she could have no motive for refusing him.

‘You will stay with me, won’t you, Mary?’ she said to me as we sat by the fire in mournful silence that afternoon.  ’You are my only comfort now, dear.  I suppose I shall remain here—­for some time, at any rate.  Augusta spoke to me very graciously, and begged that I would make this my home, according to my father’s wish.  We should not interfere with each other in any way, she said, and it was indeed more than probable she would go on the Continent with her maid early in the spring, and leave me sole mistress of Thornleigh.  She doubted if she could ever endure the place now, she said.  She is not like me, Mary.  I shall always have a melancholy love for the house in which I have lived so happily with my father.’