Lady Ongar was at Tenby when she received Mrs. Clavering’s letter, and had not heard of the fate of her brother-in-law till the news reached her in that way.  She had gone down to a lodging at Tenby with no attendant but one maid, and was preparing herself for the great surrender of her property which she meditated.  Hitherto she had heard nothing from the Courtons or their lawyer as to the offer she had made about Ongar Park; but the time had been short, and lawyer’s work, as she knew, was never done in a hurry.  She had gone to Tenby, flying, in truth, from the loneliness of London to the loneliness of the sea-shore, but expecting she knew not what comfort from the change.  She would take with her no carriage, and there would, as she thought, be excitement even in that.  She would take long walks by herself—­she would read—­nay, if possible, she would study, and bring herself to some habits of industry.  Hitherto she had failed in everything, but now she would try if some mode of success might not be open to her.  She would ascertain, too, on what smallest sum she could live respectably and without penury, and would keep only so much out of Lord Ongar’s wealth.

But hitherto her life at Tenby had not been successful.  Solitary days were longer there even than they had been in London.  People stared at her more; and, though she did not own it to herself, she missed greatly the comforts of her London house.  As for reading, I doubt whether she did much better by the sea-side than she had done in the town.  Men and women say that they will read, and think so—­those, I mean, who have acquired no habit of reading—­believing the work to be, of all works, the easiest.  It may be work, they think, but of all works it must be the easiest of achievement.  Given the absolute faculty of reading, the task of going through the pages of a book must be, of all tasks, the most certainly within the grasp of the man or woman who attempts it.  Alas! no; if the habit be not there, of all tasks it is the most difficult.  If a man have not acquired the habit of reading till he be old, he shall sooner in his old age learn to make shoes than learn the adequate use of a book.  And worse again—­under such circumstances the making of shoes shall be more pleasant to him than the reading of a book.  Let those who are not old, who are still young, ponder this well.  Lady Ongar, indeed, was not old, by no means too old to clothe herself in new habits; but even she was old enough to find that the doing so was a matter of much difficulty.  She had her books around her; but, in spite of her books, she was sadly in want of some excitement when the letter from Clavering came so her relief.