"Poor young woman. She has lost her husband, and, I am afraid, now has lost her friends also. I am told that she is not well off;—and from what I see and hear, I fancy that here in England a young lady without a dowry cannot easily replace a lover. I suppose, too, Miss Trefoil is not quite in her first youth."
"If you have done, Caroline," said Lady Penwether to Miss Penge, "I think we'll go into the other room."
That afternoon Sir George asked the Senator to accompany him for a walk. Sir George was held to be responsible for the Senator's presence, and was told by the ladies that he must do something with him. The next day, which was Friday, would be occupied by the affairs of Scrobby and Goarly, and on the Saturday he was to return to town. The two started about three with the object of walking round the park and the home farm—the Senator intent on his duty of examining the ways of English life to the very bottom. "I hope I did not say anything amiss about Miss Trefoil," he remarked, as they passed through a shrubbery gate into the park.
"No; I think not."
"I thought your good lady looked as though she did not like the subject."
"I am not sure that Miss Trefoil is very popular with the ladies up there."
"She's a handsome young woman and clever, though, as I said before, given to melancholy, and sometimes fastidious. When we were all here I thought that Lord Rufford admired her, and that poor Mr. Morton was a little jealous."
"I wasn't at Rufford then. Here we get out of the park on to the home farm. Rufford does it very well,—very well indeed."
"Looks after it altogether himself?"
"I cannot quite say that. He has a land-bailiff who lives in the house there."