"Fit to be Squire and Madam Hazelwood's daughter, sir," replied she,—"an honour which all our village folk loyally desire me worthily to apprehend."
"Fit or not, I suppose we have to make the best of it now, young mistress," said her father, who sometimes scarcely seemed to think further improvement needful; "so you had better convince Mrs. Falconer that your education is not completed yet. She belongs to The Moat as much as the stateliest tree on the estate, and whether she gets her rights or not, I hope she will not reject our gratitude. She promised your mother that she make no change until Guy comes home, by which time the cottage will be dry and safe, and the garden in fine order,—a fitting present from us all, I trow."
Evelyn quite agreed, as she stood with him in view of the charming little residence which he and her mother had planned and caused to be erected on one of the beautiful green slopes in the park, in anticipation of the time when they might no longer be permitted to contest with her the point of a change of dwelling.
"Such a great rambling place as The Moat House," he remarked, "ought to shelter a colony instead of a family; it is a charity to help us keep the rooms aired; but of course she is his right to wish that Master Guy should come back to a home of his own. Those last pictures of his are sold at a price that has surprised her, it seems, and his own talents are likely to make the lad independent in time."
As the noun "lad" was not preceded by the offensive old adjective of former comments, Miss Hazelwood bore with it calmly, though it did strike her that possibly Guy might by this time have outgrown the extremely juvenile appellation.
"When are you going to advertise for information about the bureau, father?" she asked.
"As soon as I obtain proper advice on the value of the entries in the old book, and the safest way of proceeding, my lass. I hoped Mr. Herbert, who is going to London shortly, would make this inquiry for us, but he is strangely backward for once. I suppose he is afraid of the lawyers."
Evelyn had a different thought on the same subject, but she did not venture to expound it.
What if Mr. Herbert would rather that Maude Falconer remained portionless! She could understand the strange mingling of selfishness and generosity which might influence his heart, and deter him from instituting very active measures to restore her lost inheritance.
So Mr. Hazelwood himself went once again to pay his compliments to London in a fog, mentally expatiating on the dismal fact of candles and twinkling lamps at hours when the sun ought to have been shining, and probably was shining everywhere else.