that if I allow you three hundred a-year, you
may manage to live quietly down there. The
estate itself is not unproductive, and might be
improved if any one were resident upon it
who would undertake to study agriculture as
a science. So much is doing in that way
now, that extraordinary obstinacy and
stupidity may soon cease to be regarded as
necessary qualifications for a farmer."

This scheme had been maturing for some
time in Sir Edward's mind. The anxiety he
had endured during his son's illness, and
during his rather slow recovery, had
determined him to expedite a marriage which he
saw to be indispensable to his happiness. It
had been his purpose to communicate his
project to his wife, and to obtain her concurrence
before mentioning it to his son; but
coming unexpectedly on Frank just when he
had received intelligence of the removal of
the only obstacle that stood in his way, he
had yielded to the impulse of the moment,
and had spoken to him of a plan which
he knew would give him extreme pleasure,
and which, he hoped, would accelerate his
recovery.

When they had discussed the subject for a
little while, Sir Edward went in search of his
wife, while Frank retired to his chamber.
Lady Irwin sat by the fire, drawing. She
drew finely, and she loved the art. Sir
Edward stood over her for a while, and
admired the design, pointing out at the same
time some defects in the execution; then,
turning to the fire, he stood some time in
silence, and, taking up a book, seemed lost in
the perusal of it, till at last he suddenly said,
not without a slight tremor in his voice,

"By the way, Helen, did I tell you Martyn
was dead?"

Lady Irwin answered in the negative; but
she did not feel sufficient interest in the
intelligence to interrupt her occupation.

"Yes, poor fellow! he is gone at last,"
continued Sir Edward. "It is surprising that
he lasted so long, considering the rough usage
the French gave him in the last war. He
must have been nearly eighty. He was a bit
of true British oak, tough to the last chip.
Of course, Mrs. Martyn does not stay at
Elington. Her nephew writes me word that
she wishes to give it up at once, which is
fortunate, for I could not well have turned
her out."

"Do you think you are likely to get a
higher rent for the place, then?"

"O, no! the rent Martyn paid was well
enough. I have been thinking it would
do for Frank and Kitty. To be sure, the
house is small, and I dare say will want
something done to it; but it is a snug little
place, and Devonshire will probably suit
Frank, now that terrible fever has made him
delicate. You know it is, in a manner, his
native air. His mother was born and brought
up there."

Lady Irwin bent lower over her drawing.
Sir Edward continued speaking, fast, but with
a sense of growing uneasiness.

"I know that you are as anxious as I am
to promote his happiness; and it is very
fortunate that we are able to gratify him without
trenching materially on our income. For
my own part, I acknowledge that at first I
did not feel the necessity of a second
establishment. But I dare say you were right, and
I am sure you will share my satisfaction in
an arrangement which meets all the requirements
of the case."

"They cannot live there without an
income," said Lady Irwin, after a long pause.

"As to that, I should wish to consult you;
for you know so much better than I do what
would be necessary. I do not think they will
require more than two hundred and fifty, or
three hundred at first; for Frank must take
care of himself; and Kitty has no extravagant
notions. I suppose they can stay with
us when they come to town."

Lady Irwin made no reply. Her husband,
oppressed by the ominous silence, drew his
chair closer to the hearth, and stirred the
fire with an attempt to seem unconcerned.
There was something irresistibly overwhelming
in Lady Irwin's silence, and in the
continued but irregular movement of her pencil.
After some minutes, she gathered her drawing-
materials together, and was leaving the
room, when Sir Edward, taking her by the
hand, looked up into her face with an attempt
at a smile, saying,

"Come, sit down, Helen, and let us talk it
over."

"There can be no need to talk over what
you have already arranged," she returned,
coldly disengaging her hand; and without
another word, or a backward look, she left
the room.

"Here's a pretty storm," muttered Sir
Edward. "If Helen did but know how like
Tisiphone she looks in that angry mood of
hers, she would not be angry so often. Who
could have anticipated such a reception of a
plan which sets everything to rights? O,
woman, woman, incomprehensible, irrational,
contradictory!"

So saying, or rather so thinking, he turned
for consolation to his book, and contrived to
lose, for a while, the sense of domestic disquiet
in the brilliant and witty pleading of one of
his favourite essayists.

Not so, Lady Irwin. The burning indignation
which she had violently repressed, burst
out in fiery words as soon as she reached her
chamber, and stood face to face with Agnese,
busied there with duties of her office.

"Urge what you will now, Agnese, you
shall not find me flagging. I was a fool to
spurn your advice before; but his weakness
made me childish. Now, all that is past, and
you need not fear me; I am despised, and
counted as nothing by my husband and by the
boy I saved from the jaws of death. They
hold their consultations; they determine what