“Why not, if you don’t mean to use the house?  I might as well explain at once what it is that has been said to me.  John Courton, you know, is acting as guardian for the young earl, and they don’t want to keep up so large a place as the Castle.  Ongar Park would just suit Mrs. Courton”—­Mrs. Courton was the widowed mother of the young earl—­“and they would be very happy to buy your interest.”

“Would not such a proposition come best through a lawyer?” said Lady Ongar.

“The fact is this—­they think they have been a little hard on you.”

“I have never accused them.”

“But they feel it themselves, and they think that you might perhaps take it amiss if they were to send you a simple message through an attorney.  Courton told me that he would not have allowed any such proposition to be made, if you had seemed disposed to use the place.  They wish to be civil, and all that kind of thing.”

“Their civility or incivility is indifferent to me,” said Julia.

“But why shouldn’t you take the money?”

“The money is equally indifferent to me.”

“You mean then to say that you won’t listen to it?  Of course they can’t make you part with the place if you wish to keep it.”

“Not more than they can make you sell Clavering Park.  I do not, however, wish to be uncivil, and I will let you know through my lawyer what I think about it.  All such matters are best managed by lawyers.”

After that Sir Hugh said nothing, further about Ongar Park.  He was well aware, from the tone in which Lady Ongar answered him, that she was averse to talk to him on that subject; but he was not conscious that his presence was otherwise disagreeable to her, or that she would resent any interference from him on any subject because he had been cruel to her.  So, after a little while, he began again about Hermione.  As the world had determined upon acquitting Lady Ongar, it would be convenient to him that the two sisters should be again intimate, especially as Julia was a rich woman.  His wife did not like Clavering Park, and he certainly did not like Clavering Park himself.  If he could once get the house shut up, he might manage to keep it shut for some years to come.  His wife was now no more than a burden to him, and it would suit him well to put off the burden on to his sister-in-law’s shoulders.  It was not that he intended to have his wife altogether dependent on another person, but he thought that if they two were established together, in the first instance merely as a Summer arrangement, such establishment might be made to assume some permanence.  This would be very pleasant to him.  Of course he would pay a portion of the expense—­as small a portion as might be possible—­but such a portion as might enable him to live with credit before the world.

“I wish I could think that you and Hermy might be together while I am absent,” he said.

“I shall be very happy to have her, if she will come to me,” Julia replied.