Colouring deeply, and with earnest thanks, Fitzjocelyn stated the injury both to labourers and employers, caused by their distance from their work; he explained where he thought the buildings ought to stand, and was even guarded enough to show that the rents would justify the outlay.  He had considered the matter so much, that he could even have encountered Richardson; and his father was only afraid that what was so plausible must be insecure.  Caution contended with a real desire to gratify his son, and to find him in the right.  He must know the wishes of the farmer, be sure of the cost, and be certain of the spot intended.  His crippled means had estranged him from duties that he could not fulfil according to his wishes, and, though not a hard landlord, he had no intercourse with his tenants, took little interest in his estate, and was such a stranger to the localities, that Louis could not make him understand the nook selected for the buildings.  He had seen the arable field called ‘Great Courtiers,’ and the farm called ‘Small Profits,’ on the map, but did not know their ups and downs much better than the coast of China.

‘Mary knows them!’ said Louis.  ’She made all my measurements there, before I planned the gardens.’

‘Mary seems to be a good friend to your designs,’ said the Earl, looking kindly at her.

‘The best!’ said Louis.  ’I begin to have some hope of my doings when I see her take them in hand.’

Lord Ormersfield thanked Mary, and asked whether it would be trespassing too much on her kindness to ask her to show him the place in question.  She was delighted, and they set out at once, the Earl almost overpowering her by his exceeding graciousness, so that she was nearly ready to laugh when he complimented her on knowing her way through the bye-paths of his own park so much better than he did.  ’It is a great pleasure to me that you can feel it something like home,’ he said.

‘I was so happy here as a child,’ said Mary, heartily, ’that it must seem to me more of a home than any other place.’

‘I hope it may always be so, my dear.’

He checked himself, as if he had been about to speak even more warmly; and Mary did the honours of the proposed site for the cottages, a waste strip fronting a parish lane, open to the south, and looking full of capabilities, all of which she pointed out after Louis’s well-learned lesson, as eagerly as if it had been her own affair.

Lord Ormersfield gave due force to all, but still was prudent.  ’I must find out,’ he said, ’whether this place be in my hands, or included in Morris’s lease.  You see, Mary, this is an encumbered property, with every disadvantage, so that I cannot always act as you and Louis would wish; but we so far see our way out of our difficulties, that, if guided by good sense, he will be able to effect far more than I have ever done.’

‘I believe,’ was Mary’s answer, ’this green is in the farmer’s hands, but that he has no use for it.’