you mean?"

"Surely you have heard----"

"Nothing," exclaimed Mrs. Tempest. "I have corresponded with nobody but
my housekeeper while I have been away. I am a wretched correspondent at
the best of times, and, after dear Edward's death, I was too weary, too
depressed, to write letters. What is the matter with Lady Jane Vawdrey?"

"She died at Florence last November of bronchitis. She was very ill
last winter, and had to be taken to Cannes for the early part of the
year; but she came back in April quite well and strong, as everyone
supposed, and spent the summer at Briarwood. Her doctors told her,
however, that she was not to risk another winter in England, so in
September she went to Italy, taking Lady Mabel with her."

"And Roderick?" inquired Vixen, "He went with them of course."

"Naturally," replied Mr. Scobel. "Mr. Vawdrey was with his mother till
the last."

"Very nice of him," murmured Mrs. Tempest approvingly; "for, in a
general way, I don't think they got on too well together. Lady Jane was
rather dictatorial. And now, I suppose, Roderick will marry his cousin
as soon as he is out of mourning."

"Why should you suppose so, mamma?" exclaimed Violet. "It is quite a
mistake of yours about their being engaged. Roderick told me so
himself. He was not engaged to Lady Mabel. He had not the least idea of
marrying her."

"He has altered his mind since then, I conclude," said Mr. Scobel
cheerily--those binoculars of his could never have seen through a
stone-wall, and were not much good at seeing things under his
nose--"for it is quite a settled thing that Mr. Vawdrey and Lady Mabel
are to be married. It will be a splendid match for him, and will make
him the largest landowner in the Forest, for Ashbourne is settled on
Lady Mabel. The Duke bought it himself, you know, and it is not in the
entail," added the incumbent, explaining a fact that was as familiar as
the church catechism to Violet, who sat looking straight at the fire,
holding her head as high as Queen Guinevere after she had thrown the
diamonds out of window.

"I always knew that it would be so," said Mrs. Tempest, with the air of
a sage. "Lady Jane had set her heart upon it. Worldly greatness was her
idol, poor thing! It is sad to think of her being snatched away from
everything. What has become of the orchids?"

"Lady Jane left them to her niece. They are building houses to receive
them at Ashbourne."

"Rather a waste of money, isn't it?" suggeste