Thus the murderer retained his place in society, and justice was not to be had in the account of Derek Graystone.
As Edward predicted, he was neither happy nor content. Perhaps his one act of contrition—though he would never have seen it as such—was that he neither married nor produced heirs as he had once threatened. The more correct assumption behind his decision was, no doubt, simply that Derek was entirely a self-centered man. He cared nothing for insuring the propagation of his existence after he was gone, especially when to do so involved the extremely dissatisfying prospect of marriage. Even for the sake of goading his brother he could not accept the idea of being tied hopelessly to one woman.
In fact, Derek was able to tolerate the life of a country squire for only one year before he applied for the reactivation of his commission and was sent abroad.
Edward did not resume his place at Aviemere even then, but left it in the hands of George Ellice, who ran the estate, if not with the love and expertise of Edward, at least with a fairer hand than the pseudo earl.
A sort of justice was ultimately laid at the doorstep of Derek Graystone five years later when certain wild Arab dervishes led by a holy man they called the Mahdi revolted against their Egyptian Khedive in the province of the Sudan. In Kordofan the so-called Mahdi’s forces annihilated an Egyptian force. Before reinforcements could arrive under General Gordon, thousands of Egyptians and their British officers were massacred—among them, Derek Graystone. His life, as he had lived it, tragically came to a violent, bitter and unhappy end.