and she pointed to the nearest hovel, whereof the
walls were tottering outwards, the thatch was falling to pieces, and the
windows were mended with anything that came handy--rags, paper, or the
crown of an old hat.

'No, you would be ill advised,' said Robert, looking with a bitter
little smile at the sleek dachshund that sat blinking beside its
mistress.

'But what is the agent about?'

Then Robert told her the story, not mincing his words. Since the
epidemic had begun, all that sense of imaginative attraction which had
been reviving in him towards the squire had been simply blotted out by a
fierce heat of indignation. When he thought of Mr. Wendover now, he
thought of him as the man to whom in strict truth it was owing that
helpless children died in choking torture. All that agony of wrath and
pity he had gone through in the last ten days sprang to his lips now as
he talked to Lady Helen, and poured itself into his words.

'Old Meyrick and I have taken things into our own hands now,' he said at
last briefly. 'We have already made two cottages fairly habitable.
To-morrow the inspector comes. I told the people yesterday I wouldn't be
bound by my promise a day longer. He must put the screw on Henslowe, and
if Henslowe dawdles, why we shall just drain and repair and sink for a
well ourselves. I can find the money somehow. At present we get all our
water from one of the farms on the brow.'

'Money!' said Lady Helen impulsively, her looks warm with sympathy for
the pale harassed young rector. 'Sir Harry shall send you as much as you
want. And anything else--blankets--coals?'

Out came her note-book, and Robert was drawn into a list. Then, full of
joyfulness at being allowed to help, she gathered up her reins, she
nodded her pretty little head at him, and was just starting off her
ponies at full speed, equally eager 'to tell Harry' and to ransack
Churton for the stores required, when it occurred to her to pull up
again.

'Oh, Mr. Elsmere, my aunt, Lady Charlotte, does nothing but talk about
your sister-in-law. _Why_ did you keep her all to yourself? Is it kind,
is it neighbourly, to have such a wonder to stay with you and let nobody
share?'

'A wonder?' said Robert, amused. 'Rose plays the violin very well,
but----'

'As if relations ever saw one in proper perspective!' exclaimed Lady
Helen. 'My aunt wants to be allowed to have her in town next season if
you will all let her. I think she would find it fun. Aunt