Sir Patrick had left behind him a moderate fortune, though by no means great wealth.  To his son, who was now Sir Felix Carbury, he had left L1,000 a year; and to his widow as much, with a provision that after her death the latter sum should be divided between his son and daughter.  It therefore came to pass that the young man, who had already entered the army when his father died, and upon whom devolved no necessity of keeping a house, and who in fact not unfrequently lived in his mother’s house, had an income equal to that with which his mother and sister were obliged to maintain a roof over their head.  Now Lady Carbury, when she was released from her thraldom at the age of forty, had no idea at all of passing her future life amidst the ordinary...