The young lord told her that she should have the use of the house as long as she pleased,—for her lifetime if it suited her to live there so long. As for rent,—of course he could take none after all that had been done for him. But the place should be leased to her so that she need not fear to be disturbed. When the spring time came, after the sailing of the vessel which took the tailor and his wife off to the Antipodes, Lady Lovel travelled down with her maid to Cumberland, leaving London without a friend to whom she could say adieu. And at Lovel Grange she took up her abode, amidst the old furniture and the old pictures, with everything to remind her of the black tragedy of her youth, when her husband had come to her and had told her, with a smile upon his lips and scorn in his eye, that she was not his wife, and that the child which she bore would be a bastard. Over his wicked word she had at any rate triumphed. Now she was living there in his house the unquestioned and undoubted Countess Lovel, the mistress of much of his wealth, while still were living around her those who had known her when she was banished from her home. There, too often with ill-directed generosity, she gave away her money, and became loved of the poor around her. But in the way of society she saw no human being, and rarely went beyond the valley in which stood the lonely house to which she had been brought as a bride.
Of the further doings of Mr. Daniel Thwaite and his wife Lady Anna,—of how they travelled and saw many things; and how he became perhaps a wiser man,—the present writer may, he hopes, live to tell.
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Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Specific changes in wording of the text are listed below.
Volume I, Chapter XIX, paragraph 43. The word "Lady" was changed to "Aunt" in the sentence: Mrs. Lovel accompanied them, but AUNT Julia made her farewells in the rectory drawing-room.
Volume II, Chapter XXXVII, paragraph 1. The word "was" was changed to "were" in the sentence: The Countess had assented;—but when the moment came, there WERE reasons against her sudden departure.