“So far as I am concerned, Eliza, I would prefer to stay away from the county—if your father is to continue to treat me in the way he does. Remember what it was in the summer. I think we are very well here.”
“Now, Philip, I have said. I do not intend to release our hold on Peacock’s Range. My father will be reconciled to you in time as he is to me.”
“I wonder what Harry Carradyne can want it for?” mused Philip Hamlyn, bowing to the imperative decision of his better half.
“To live in it, I should say. He would like to show his resentment to papa by turning his back on Leet Hall. It can’t be for anything else.”
“What cause for resentment has he? He sent for him home and made him his heir.”
“That is the cause. Papa has come to his senses and changed his mind. It is our darling little Walter who is to be the heir of Leet Hall, Philip—and papa has so informed Harry Carradyne.”
Philip Hamlyn gazed at his wife in doubt. He had never heard a word of this; instinct had kept her silent.
“I hope not,” he emphatically said, breaking the silence.
“You hope not?”
“Walter shall never inherit Leet Hall with my consent, Eliza. Harry Carradyne is the right and proper heir, and no child of mine, as I hope, must or shall displace him.”