“Is there anything else, ma’am?”

“Well, Denis, I should be very much obliged if you will take a note from me to a gentleman named Tallboys, whom you will find at the Hotel de L’Europe.  Give it to him yourself if you can.  He will be glad to hear from you about my son, how he is going on and so on.”

For the next few days Ralph’s arm was exceedingly painful, attended by a certain amount of fever.  At the end of that time he began to improve, and his wound made steady progress toward recovery.  After staying for four days at Brussels, Mr. Tallboys had returned home.  Mrs. Conway and Denis divided the nursing between them, sitting up on alternate nights.

A fortnight after Mrs. Conway’s arrival Ralph said, “Now, mother, I shall be up to-morrow and can therefore be considered as fairly convalescent, so there can be no reason now why you should not tell the story about the finding of the will.  You told me in one of your letters before Christmas that Mr. Tallboys had failed altogether.  So how did it come to be found?”

Mrs. Conway thereupon told the story.  When she came to the point where she had gone as a servant to the Hall, Ralph interrupted her with a loud protest.  “I don’t like that, mother; I don’t like the idea of your having gone as a servant, whatever the stake was.  If I had been at home and had known it, I certainly would not have let you go, not if there had been ten fortunes to be gained by it.  The idea of your having to go and live as a servant, and work for people like that is horrid!”

“There was nothing very unpleasant about it, Ralph.  I had plenty to do and to think about, and the time passed a great deal more rapidly than it would have done if I had been staying at home all by myself.  It would have been very lonely and dull then; and I can assure you that I considered it no hardship at all being at the Hall.  But you must not interrupt me in my story.  If you do I shall tell you nothing more about it until you get home to England.”

This threat effectually sealed Ralph’s lips, and beyond occasional exclamations he said nothing until the story was ended.

“Well, it’s all very wonderful, mother,” he said; “and I should never have thought for a moment that you were so brave, and could have put things together like that, and could have carried out such a scheme.  But I am awfully glad you have succeeded; because you had set your mind on it, and the money will I hope make you quite comfortable.  How much was it after all mother?  You never told me that.”

“It is half of Mr. Penfold’s estates, and of the money he had invested, which is a very large sum, Ralph; although I do not know how much.”

“Half the estate!  Why, it will make me quite a rich man.  I never dreamed it was anything like that.  I thought most likely it was enough to continue the allowance that he said he should make me.  Why, mother, it is tremendous!  And what becomes of the other half?”