give a message, so I must go now."

"Sorry to lose you."

"Yes; good-bye!"

Hearing the door shut behind her, Lord and Lady Valleys looked at each
other with a dubious smile.

The little interview which she had interrupted, had arisen in this way.

Accustomed to retire to this quiet and homely room, which was not his
official study where he was always liable to the attacks of secretaries,
Lord Valleys had come up here after lunch to smoke and chew the cud of a
worry.

The matter was one in connection with his Pendridny estate, in Cornwall.
It had long agitated both his agent and himself, and had now come to him
for final decision. The question affected two villages to the north of
the property, whose inhabitants were solely dependent on the working of a
large quarry, which had for some time been losing money.

A kindly man, he was extremely averse to any measure which would plunge
his tenants into distress, and especially in cases where there had been
no question of opposition between himself and them. But, reduced to its
essentials, the matter stood thus: Apart from that particular quarry the
Pendridny estate was not only a going, but even a profitable concern,
supporting itself and supplying some of the sinews of war towards Valleys
House and the racing establishment at Newmarket and other general
expenses; with this quarry still running, allowing for the upkeep of
Pendridny, and the provision of pensions to superannuated servants, it
was rather the other way.

Sitting there, that afternoon, smoking his favourite pipe, he had at last
come to the conclusion that there was nothing for it but to close down.
He had not made this resolution lightly; though, to do him justice, the
knowledge that the decision would be bound to cause an outcry in the
local, and perhaps the National Press, had secretly rather spurred him on
to the resolve than deterred him from it. He felt as if he were being
dictated to in advance, and he did not like dictation. To have to
deprive these poor people of their immediate living was, he knew, a good
deal more irksome to him than to those who would certainly make a fuss
about it, his conscience was clear, and he could discount that future
outcry as mere Party spite. He had very honestly tried to examine the
thing all round; and had reasoned thus: If I keep this quarry open, I am
really admitting the principle of pauperization, since I naturally look
to each of my estates to support it