"It is this house which has given her the cold," grumbled Lady Verner, who invariably laid faults and misfortunes upon something or somebody. "The servants are for ever opening that side-door, and then there comes a current of air throughout the passage. Lionel, I am not sure but I shall leave Deerham Court."
Lionel leaned against the mantel-piece, a smile upon his face. He had completely recovered his good looks, scared away though they had been for a time by his illness. He was in deep mourning for Mrs. Verner. Decima looked up, surprised at Lady Verner's last sentence.
"Leave Deerham Court, mamma! When you are so much attached to it!"
"I don't dislike it," acknowledged Lady Verner. "But it suited me better when we were living quietly, than it does now. If I could find a larger house with the same conveniences, and in an agreeable situation, I might leave this."
Decima did not reply. She felt sure that her mother was attached to the house, and would never quit it. Her eyes said as much as they encountered Lionel's.
"I wish my mother would leave Deerham Court!" he said aloud.
Lady Verner turned to him. "Why should you wish it, Lionel?"
"I wish you would leave it to come to me, mother. Verner's Pride wants a mistress."
"It will not find one in me," said Lady Verner. "Were you an old man, Lionel, I might then come. Not as it is."
"What difference can my age make?" asked he.