Cheers burst forth from all parts of the room, and the walls rang with applause, which was only checked by a sudden, simultaneous movement of several men towards the contestant.  With the announcement of the verdict, Ralph Mainwaring had risen to his feet, as though in protest.  For an instant he stood gasping helplessly, but unable to utter a word; then, with a loud groan, he sank backward and would have fallen to the floor but for his attorneys, who had rushed to the assistance of the stricken man.

A few moments later the lifeless remains of Hugh Mainwaring were carried from the court-room, while, in another direction, the unconscious form of Ralph Mainwaring was borne by tender, pitying hands, among them those of the victor himself, and the contest of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring was ended.

* * * * * * * * *

The bright sunlight of a December afternoon, ten days after the close of the trial, crowned with a shining halo the heads of Harold Scott Mainwaring and his wife as they stood together in the tower-room at Fair Oaks.  But a few hours had elapsed since they had repeated the words of the beautiful marriage service which had made them husband and wife.  Their wedding had been, of necessity, a quiet one, only their own party and a few of their American friends being present, for the ocean-liner, then lying in the harbor, but which in a few hours was to bear them homeward, would carry also the bodies of the Mainwaring brothers and of Ralph Mainwaring to their last resting place.

Here, amid the very surroundings where it was written, Harold Mainwaring had just read to his wife his father’s letter, penned a few hours before his death.  For a few moments neither spoke, then Winifred said brokenly, through fast falling tears,-

“How he loved you, Harold!”

“Yes,” he replied, sadly; “and what would I not give for one hour in which to assure him of my love!  I would gladly have endured any suffering for his sake, but in the few moments that we stood face to face we met as strangers, and I have had no opportunity to show him my appreciation of his love or my love for him in return.”

“Don’t think he does not know it,” she said, earnestly.  “I believe that he now knows your love for him far more perfectly than you know his.”

He kissed her tenderly, then drawing from his pocket a memorandum-book, took therefrom a piece of blotter having upon it the impress of some writing.  Placing it upon the desk beside the letter, he held a small mirror against it, and Winifred, looking in the mirror, read,
                    “Your affectionate father,
                                     “Harold Scott Mainwaring.”

Then glancing at the signature to the letter, she saw they were identical.  In answer to her look of inquiry, Harold said,-