"There has been no mystery made of it," Mrs. Vincent said, firmly. "I don't suppose father will take up the title, and, anyway, it needn't be spoken of while the one who has it lives. It seems like hurrying him into his grave."
But Hannah was not to be silenced. "I suppose this is why we never heard anything of his relations," she said. "Was he ashamed of us?"
"Such a thing never entered his head," Mrs. Vincent answered.
"And why did this brother, who has got a title, go hiding himself in Australia? Did he do something he oughtn't to have done?"
"He never did anything but spend his money too quickly," Mrs. Lakeman answered. "He made an unlucky marriage, of course—dear old Cyril; but heaps of men do that. We must be going, Mrs. Vincent. Some people are coming to tea—the Harfords from Bannock Chase; do you know them?"
"I see them in church, but we have not their acquaintance," Mrs. Vincent answered. Mrs. Lakeman told Dawson Farley afterwards that she said it with the air of a duchess who had refused to call upon them.
"When are you going to be married, dear?" she asked Margaret, as she got into the fly. "George Stringer and Tom told us about Mr. Garratt."
"It's all a mistake—" Margaret began, with passionate distress in her voice.
"Don't tease her," Lena cooed, "she doesn't like it."