FATHEK  STAFFORD.

CHAPTER I.

EUGENE  LANE AND  HI8  GUESTS.

The world considered Eugene Lane a very
fortunate young man; and if youth, health,
social reputation, a seat in Parliament, a large
income, and finally the promised hand of an
acknowledged beauty can make a man happy,
thQ world was right. It is true that Sir Roderick
Ayre had been heard to pity the poor chap on
the ground that his father had begun life in
the workhouse; but everybody knew that Sir
Roderick was bound to exalt the claims of
birth, inasmuch as he had to rely solely upon
them for a reputation, and discounted the
value of his opinion accordingly. After all, it
was not as if the late Mr. Lane had ended life
in the undesirable shelter in question. On the
contrary, his latter days had been spent in the
handsome mansion of Millstead Manor; and,
as he lay on his deathbed, listening to the
Rector's gentle homily on the vanity of riches,
his eyes could wander to the window and
survey a wide tract of land that he called his