After all there is nothing on earth so difficult as to manage another man’s affairs for him, even if he be willing to let his neighbour attempt the almost impossible feat.
But about the end, Lord Ardmorne did not mean to trouble himself till John Riley’s return. When that event happened, he proposed to lay the whole difficulty of the position before the younger man, and warn him against attempting to drag an endless chain of debt through yet another generation. Meantime arrangements must be made for paying off the existing mortgage; and when he had done all he could in the matter—and with a solvent nobleman and in Ireland that all was considerable,—Lord Ardmorne found a pecuniary deficiency still existed that, although not large in itself, was still sufficiently great to cause perplexity and difficulty.
Up to this point he had decided not to permit Grace to moil or meddle in the matter, now he decided to leave her to say whether she would help or not.
“I will take care she is no loser,” he said to himself, “and also that she does not appear in the transaction. I certainly will buy the place if the father and son agree to sell; if not I must arrange differently, that is all. So now to see Miss Moffat, and ascertain whether she is still willing to assist in saving an old family from utter worldly ruin.”
Very straightforwardly he put the state of the case before “the woman of John Riley’s life,” told her what he had done, and the precise way in which she could best help, that help being kept a secret between herself, himself, and Mrs. Hartley; and if the subsequent conversation were rendered less connected by reason of the widow’s comments on the folly of Mrs. Riley and the childish weakness of her husband, her remarks tended at least to make it more exciting.
“I should like to be of use to the General or his son,” Grace said with a frankness which caused Mrs. Hartley to shake for the ultimate success of her project; “indeed, I should like to serve any of them. It would be a sad thing if for lack of a friendly hand Mrs. Riley and the girls had to leave Woodbrook.”
“It is clearly Lord Ardmorne’s opinion that the sooner they leave Woodbrook the better for all concerned,” observed Mrs. Hartley. “And in that opinion I entirely agree. If all the poor Irish gentry were compelled to sell their estates, and let people who have money and sense purchase them, it would be a grand thing for the country.”
“English people seem to think there is a necessary connection between money and sense. I must say I fail to see the link myself,” answered Grace.
“I am inclined, however, to think the English capacity to make and to keep money implies a considerable amount of sense,” interposed Lord Ardmorne.
“It is not a pleasant sort of sense,” persisted Grace.