Lady Tyrrell heard a little rustle, but could not see that it was the clasping of two hands over a throbbing heart.  “I am very glad you are reasonable enough to keep him at a distance.  Poor boy, it was all very well to be friendly with him when we met him in a place like Rockpier, and you were both children; but you are quite right not to let it go on.  It would be mere madness.”

“For him, yes,” murmured the girl.

“And even more so for you.  Why, if he had any property worth speaking of, it would be a wretched thing to marry into that family!  I am sure I pity those three poor girls!  Miles’s wife looks perfectly miserable, poor thing, and the other two can’t conceal the state of things.  She is just the sort of woman who cannot endure a daughter-in-law.”

“I thought I heard Lady Rosamond talking very affectionately of her.”

“Very excitedly, as one who felt it her duty to stand up for her out-of-doors, whatever she may do indoors.  I saw victory in those plump white shoulders, which must have cost a battle; but whatever Lady Rosamond gains, will make it all the worse for the others.  No, Eleonora, I have known Mrs. Poynsett’s rancour for many years, and I would wish no one a worse lot than to be her son’s fiancee, except to be his wife.”

“She did not seem to object to these marriages.”

“The sons took her by surprise.  Besides, Raymond’s was the very parti mothers seek out for their sons.  Depend upon it, she sent him off with her blessing to court the unexceptionable cousin with the family property.  Poor Raymond, he is a dutiful son, and he has done the deed; but, if I am not much mistaken the little lady is made of something neither mother nor son is prepared for, and he has not love enough to tame her with.”

“That may be seen at a glance.  He can’t help it, poor fellow; he would have had it if he could, like anything else that is proper.”

There was a moment’s silence; then the exclamation, “Just look there!”

One of the hats was nodding on the box in a perilous manner.

“It is only James,” said Lady Tyrrell; “as long as it is not the coachman, it matters the less.  There’s no danger.”

“You will not keep him, though!”

“I don’t know.  He is much the best looking and handiest of the men; and your page, Master Joshua, is no great acquisition yet.”

“I wish you would not call him mine; I wish you would send him back to his grandmother.  I can’t bear his being among those men.”

“Very complimentary to my household!  They are not a bit worse than the company he came from!  You don’t believe in rural simplicity, eh?”

“I believe that taking that boy from his home makes us responsible.”

“And do I hinder you from catechizing him to your heart’s content? or sending him to the school of design?”