t. Such knowledge as he had of his nephew's disposition
and affairs encouraged the belief that Grandcourt might consent to a
transaction by which he would get a good sum of ready money, as an
equivalent for his prospective interest in the domain of Diplow and the
moderate amount of land attached to it. If, after all, the unhoped-for
son should be born, the money would have been thrown away, and
Grandcourt would have been paid for giving up interests that had turned
out good for nothing; but Sir Hugo set down this risk as _nil_, and of
late years he had husbanded his fortune so well by the working of mines
and the sale of leases that he was prepared for an outlay.

Here was an object that made him careful to avoid any quarrel with
Grandcourt. Some years before, when he was making improvements at the
Abbey, and needed Grandcourt's concurrence in his felling an
obstructive mass of timber on the demesne, he had congratulated himself
on finding that there was no active spite against him in his nephew's
peculiar mind; and nothing had since occurred to make them hate each
other more than was compatible with perfect politeness, or with any
accommodation that could be strictly mutual.

Grandcourt, on his side, thought his uncle a superfluity and a bore,
and felt that the list of things in general would be improved whenever
Sir Hugo came to be expunged. But he had been made aware through Lush,
always a useful medium, of the baronet's inclinations concerning
Diplow, and he was gratified to have the alternative of the money in
his mind: even if he had not thought it in the least likely that he
would choose to accept it, his sense of power would have been flattered
by his being able to refuse what Sir Hugo desired. The hinted
transaction had told for something among the motives which had made him
ask for a year's tenancy of Diplow, which it had rather annoyed Sir
Hugo to grant, because the excellent hunting in the neighborhood might
decide Grandcourt not to part with his chance of future possession;--a
man who has two places, in one of which the hunting is less good,
naturally desiring a third where it is better. Also, Lush had thrown
out to Sir Hugo the probability that Grandcourt would woo and win Miss
Arrowpoint, and in that case ready money might be less of a temptation
to him. Hence, on this unexpected meeting at Leubronn, the baronet felt
much curiosity to know how things had been going on at Diplow, was bent
on being as civi