‘And upon twaddle,’ said Lady Maulevrier.  ’Well you told Mr. Hammond about Steadman’s old uncle.  What did he say?’

’He thoroughly approved Steadman’s conduct in forbidding me to go and see him,’ answered Mary.  ’I couldn’t help thinking it rather unkind of him; but, of course, I feel that he must be right,’ concluded Mary, as much as to say that her lover was necessarily infallible.

’I always thought Mr. Hammond a sensible young man, and I am glad to find that his conduct does not belie my good opinion,’ said Lady Maulevrier.  ’And now, my dear, you had better go and make yourself decent before dinner.  I am very weary this afternoon, and even our little talk has exhausted me.’

’Yes, dear grandmother, I am going this instant.  But let me ask one question:  What is the poor old man’s name?’

‘His name!’ said her ladyship, looking at Mary with a puzzled air, like a person whose thoughts are far away.  ’His name—­oh, Steadman, I suppose, like his nephew’s; but if I ever heard the name I have forgotten it, and I don’t know whether the kinship is on the father’s or the mother’s side.  Steadman asked my permission to give shelter to a helpless old relative, and I gave it.  That is really all I remember.’

‘Only one other question,’ pleaded Mary, who was brimful of curiosity upon this particular subject.  ‘Has he been at Fellside very long?’

’Oh, I really don’t know; a year, or two, or three, perhaps.  Life in this house is all of a piece.  I hardly keep count of time.’

‘There is one thing that puzzles me very much,’ said Mary, still lingering near her grandmother’s couch, the balmy evening air caressing her as she leaned against the embrasure of the wide Tudor window, the sun drawing nearer to the edge of the hills, an orb of yellow flame, soon to change to a gigantic disk of lurid fire.  ’I thought from the old man’s talk that he, too, must be an old servant in our family.  He talked of Maulevrier Castle, and said that I reminded him of a picture by Lely, a portrait of a Lady Maulevrier.

’It is quite possible that he may have been in service there, though I do not remember to have heard anything about it,’ answered her ladyship, carelessly.  ’The Steadmans come from that part of the country, and theirs is a hereditary service.  Good-night, Mary, I am utterly weary.  Look at that glorious light yonder, that mighty world of fire and flame, without which our little world would be dark and dreary.  I often think of that speech of Macbeth’s, “I ’gin to be aweary of the sun.”  There comes a time, Mary, when even the sun is a burden.’

‘Only for such a man as Macbeth,’ said Mary, ’a man steeped in crime.  Who can wonder that he wanted to hide himself from the sun?  But, dear grandmother, there ought to be plenty of happiness left for you, even if your recovery is slow to come.  You are so clever, you have such resources in your own mind and memory, and you have your grandchildren, who love you dearly,’ added Mary, tenderly.