At luncheon that day both Hugh Mainwaring and a number of his guests seemed rather preoccupied, and the meal passed in unusual silence.  Mrs. LaGrange exerted herself to be particularly entertaining to Mr. Whitney, but he, though courteously responding to her overtures, made no effort to continue the conversation.  Even the genial Mr. Thornton was in so abstracted a mood that his daughter at last rallied him on his appearance, whereupon he turned somewhat abruptly to his host with the inquiry,-

“Are you personally acquainted with Richard Hobson?”

For an instant, Hugh Mainwaring seemed confused, and Mr. Whitney, always on the alert, noted a peculiar expression flash across the face of Mrs. LaGrange, and was also conscious of an almost imperceptible start on the part of the young secretary seated near him.

Mr. Mainwaring quickly recovered himself and replied, deliberately, “Richard Hobson, the attorney?  I believe I met him once or twice, years ago, in London, but I cannot claim any acquaintance with him.”

“Dick Hobson does not deserve the name of attorney,” remarked Ralph Mainwaring; “he is a shyster and a scoundrel.”

“He certainly bears a hard reputation,” rejoined Mr. Thornton; “and I would not have mentioned his name, only that I met him here about half an hour since, and that caused me to make the inquiry I did.”

Hugh Mainwaring paled visibly, though he remained calm.  “Met him here, in my house?  Impossible!” he exclaimed, at the same time glancing towards the butler, but the face of that functionary was as immobile as rock.  “I did not suppose the man was in this country!”

“Oh, yes,” replied Ralph Mainwaring; “he left England about two years ago; he played one too many of his dirty games there and took the first steamer for America, hoping, I suppose, to find a wider sphere of action in this country.”

“Possibly I may have been mistaken,” remarked Mr. Thornton, quietly, realizing that he had unconsciously touched an unpleasant chord, “but the resemblance was certainly striking.”

An awkward silence followed, broken by young Scott, who excused himself on the plea of important work and returned to Mr. Mainwaring’s library, where he was soon joined by all the gentlemen excepting young Mainwaring.  In the hall, Hugh Mainwaring paused for a few words with the butler, and the attorney, passing at that moment, caught the man’s reply, given in a low tone,-

“No, sir; Mrs. LaGrange.”

A little later, the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring was signed by the testator, and duly attested by Ralph Mainwaring, William Mainwaring Thornton, and William H. Whitney.  As the last signature was completed, Hugh Mainwaring drew a heavy sigh, saying in a low tone,-

“That is as I wished, my namesake is my heir;” then taking the document, he placed it in the hands of his secretary, adding, “Lay this for the present on my desk.  To-morrow I wish it to be read in the presence of all the members of the family, after which, Mr. Whitney, I desire to have it put in your possession for safe keeping until it is needed; when that will be, no one can say; — it may be sooner than we think.”