When the succeeding Earl came to the house which was now his own, she refused to admit him into her presence, and declined even a renewed visit from Miss Mellerby who at that time had returned to her father's roof.

At last the clergyman of Scroope prevailed, and to him she unburdened her soul,--acknowledging, with an energy that went perhaps beyond the truth, the sin of her own conduct in producing the catastrophe which had occurred.

"I knew that he had wronged her, and yet I bade him not to make her his wife." That was the gist of her confession and she declared that the young man's blood would be on her hands till she died.

A small cottage was prepared for her on the estate, and there she lived in absolute seclusion till death relieved her from her sorrows.
And she lived not only in seclusion, but in solitude almost to her death.

It was not till four years after the occurrences which have been here related that John fourteenth Earl of Scroope brought a bride home to Scroope Manor.