‘Yes; he broke his mother’s heart.’

‘In what manner?’

’He fell in love with a girl of low birth, whom he met in the course of a pedestrian tour in the West of England, and was going to marry her, I believe, when Mrs. Egerton got wind of the affair.  She was a very proud woman—­one of the most resolute masculine-minded women I ever knew.  She went down into Devonshire where the girl lived immediately, and by some means or other prevented the marriage.  How it was done I never heard; but it was not until a year afterwards that Angus Egerton discovered his mother’s part in the business.  He came down to the Priory suddenly and unexpectedly at a late hour one night, and walked straight to his mother’s room.  I have heard that old woman who has been showing us the house describe his ghastly face—­she was Mrs. Egerton’s maid in those days—­as he pushed her aside and went into the room where his mother was sitting.  There was a dreadful scene between them, and at the end of it Angus Egerton walked out of the house, swearing never again to enter it while his mother lived.  He has kept his word.  Mrs. Egerton never crossed the threshold after that night, and refused to see anybody except her servants and her doctor.  She lived this lonely kind of life for nearly three years, and then died of some slow wasting disease, for which the doctor could find no name.’

‘And where did Mr. Egerton go after leaving her that night?’

’He slept at a little inn at Cumber, and went back to London next morning.  He left England soon after that, and has lived abroad ever since.’

‘And you think him a very bad man?’

’I consider his conduct to his mother a sufficient evidence of that.’

‘He may have believed himself deeply wronged.’

’He must have known that she had acted in his interests when she prevented his committing the folly of a low marriage.  She was his mother, and had been a most devoted and indulgent mother.’

’And in the end contrived to break his heart—­to say nothing of the girl who loved him, who was of course a piece of common clay, not worth consideration.’

‘I did not think you had so much romance, Augusta,’ said Mr. Darrell, laughing; ’I suppose it is natural for a woman to take the part of unfortunate lovers, however foolish the affair may be.  But I believe this Devonshire girl was quite unworthy of an honourable attachment on the part of any man.  You see I knew and liked Mrs. Egerton, and I know how she loved her son.  I cannot forgive him his conduct to her; nor have the reports of his life abroad been by any means favourable to his character.  His career seems to have been a very wild and dissipated one.’

‘And he has never married?’

‘No, he has never married.’

‘He has been true, at least,’ Mrs. Darrell said in a low thoughtful tone.

We had lingered in the little study while her husband had told his story.  We went back to the hall now, and found Milly and Mr. Stormont looking rather listlessly at the old portraits of the Egerton race.  I was anxious to see a picture of the last Mrs. Egerton, after what I had heard about her, and, at my request, the housekeeper showed me one in the drawing-room.