he ancient automaton who had preceded him, it was not in
his nature to take things easily. He came of a vigorous stock. The
clear, thin air of the Wiltshire downland that his ancestors had
breathed makes for energy of temperament. At Roscarna he had given
vent to this in the education of Gabrielle, the acquisition of his
doctor's degree, and the management of his father-in-law's estate. His
capacity for management, of which he had shown evidence in his
winding-up of the Roscarna affairs, appealed to Lord Halberton, and it
was not long before he proposed a series of improvements to the Lapton
property that took his patron's fancy. In Considine's ideas there was
not only imagination, but money, and Halberton was getting rather tired
of his own expensive agricultural experiments.

The big house of the parish, Lapton Manor, had lain for several years
unoccupied, for no other reason apparently but that it was isolated and
out of date. To Lord Halberton it represented at least a thousand
pounds a year in waste. When Considine had been at Lapton Huish for a
little more than six months this deserted mansion suggested itself to
him as an outlet for his energies. He told Gabrielle nothing of
this--he was not in the habit of discussing business matters with
Gabrielle--but he rode over to Halberton House one day with an
elaborate and practical paper scheme. He proposed, in effect, to
vacate the Rectory, and take over Lapton Manor as it stood.

The idea had been suggested to him at first by one of the consequences
of Gabrielle's social success. The wife of a neighbouring baronet had
fallen in love with her--the fact that her husband had followed suit
made things easier. This woman was the mother of two sons, of whom the
elder, the heir to the title, was delicate. She did not wish to
separate the boys, and realising that it was impossible to send them
together to an ordinary preparatory school, the notion had come to her
of asking the Considines if they would take them into their house at
Lapton. Doctor Considine, no doubt, would find time to equip them with
a good classical education, while Gabrielle could supply the feminine
influence which was so essential to real refinement. She was not only
tired of tutors--their equivocal social status was so tiresome!--but
sufficiently Spartan to feel that her sons would be better away from
home for a little while. Away, but not too far away. Gabrielle had
thought it would be