He could not speak; he did not seem to understand.

Who knows what passes in those dread moments of silence, when the light of eternity shows so clearly all that we have done in the past?
It may be that while he lay there, hovering as it were between two worlds, the remembrance of his son struck him like a two-edged sword--his son, his only child given to him to train, not only for earth but for heaven--the boy he had loved and idolized, then cast off, and allowed to become a wanderer on the face of the earth.
It may be that his stern, sullen pride, his imperious self-will, his resolute trampling upon the voice of nature and duty, confronted him in the new light shining upon him.

Perhaps his own words returned to him, that until he lay dead Ronald should never see Earlescourt again; for suddenly the voice they thought hushed forever sounded strangely in the silence of that death chamber.
"My son!" cried the dying man, clasping his hands--"my son!" Those who saw it never forgot the blank, awful terror that came upon the dying face as he uttered his last words.
They bore the weeping wife from the room.

Lady Earle, strong, and resolute though she was, could not drive that scene from her mind.

She was ill for many days, and so it happened that the lord of Earlescourt was laid in the family vault long ere the family at the Elms knew of the change awaiting them.
Ronald was summoned home in all haste; but months passed ere letters reached him, and many more before he returned to England.
Lord Earle's will was brief, there was no mention of his son's name.
There was a handsome provision for Lady Earle, the pretty little estate of Roslyn was settled upon her; the servants received numerous legacies; Sir Harry Laurence and Sir Hugh Charteris were each to receive a magnificent mourning ring; but there was no mention of the once-loved son and heir.
As the heir at law, everything was Ronald's--the large amount of money the late lord had saved, title, estates, everything reverted to him.
But Ronald would have exchanged all for one line of forgiveness, one word of pardon from the father he had never ceased to love.
It was arranged that until Ronald's return his mother should continue to reside at Earlescourt, and the management of the estates was intrusted to Mr.Burt, the family solicitor.
Lady Earle resolved to go to the Elms herself; great changes must be made there.