ELLEN NEVILLE. 165 
was given him that not one of the family was then 
left alive upon the face of the earth ; nor did he know 
that such a person as Ellen Neville ever existed in the 
world, for she had been educated in a remote part of 
the country; neither was it long before the eve of her 
brother’s death that she had, since her youthful days, 
dwelt under the ancient roof of her forefathers. Thus, 
when General Marchmont took possession of the 
splendid old mansion, as a gift from those who then 
ruled the nation, and a reward for his unimpeaclied 
valor, he was led to believe that he had only accepted 
a gift which would have fallen to the nation, or, at 
best, slumbered for long years in the Court of Chan¬ 
cery, until some unknown and undreamed-of claimant 
had risen up, and groped his way toward it, through 
the dark and uncertain avenues of the law. So he 
entered those walls with no other feelings than those 
of sorrow for the ancient possessors who were dead. 
Care had been taken to remove all the old domestics, 
and, with the exception of a parliamentary agent, who 
k 
had been sent down to take an inventory of the prop¬ 
erty, no one beside knew that the young lady in deep 
mourning was the Lady Neville, for she had never ac¬ 
costed one of them before her departure, nor quitted 
