"Speak not to me, Sir Frederick," he said impatiently; "you are no father—she was my child, an ungrateful one, I fear, but still my child—my only child. Where is Miss Ilderton? she must know some thing of this. It corresponds with what I was informed of her schemes. Go, Dixon, call Ratcliffe here—Let him come without a minute's delay."
The person he had named at this moment entered the room.
"I say, Dixon," continued Mr Vere in an altered tone, "let Mr Ratcliffe know, I beg the favour of his company on particular business.—Ah! my dear sir," he continued, as if noticing him for the first time, "you are the very man whose advice can be of the utmost service in this cruel extremity."
"What has happened, Mr Vere, to discompose you?" said Mr Ratcliffe gravely; and while the Laird of Ellieslaw details to him, with the most animated gestures of grief and indignation, the singular adven-
