dly surveying the whole situation.

'Everything,' affirmed Adela.

'But what an extraordinary, what an unheard-of thing! Such injustice
I never knew! Oh, but Mr. Eldon is a gentleman--he can never exact his
legal rights to the full extent. He has too much delicacy of feeling for
that.' Adela glanced at her mother with a curious openness of look--the
expression which by apparent negation of feeling reveals feeling of
special significance. Mrs. Waltham caught the glance and checked her
flow of speech.

'Oh, he could never do that!' she murmured the next moment, in a
lower key, clasping her hands together upon her knees. 'I am sure he
wouldn't.'

'You must remember, mother,' remarked Adela with reserve, 'that Mr.
Eldon's disposition cannot affect us.'

'My dear child, what I meant was this: it is impossible for him to go to
law with your husband to recover the uttermost farthing. How are you to
restore money that is long since spent? and it isn't as if it had been
spent in the ordinary way--it has been devoted to public purposes.
Mr. Eldon will of course take all these things into consideration. And
really one must say that it is very strange for a wealthy man to leave
his property entirely to strangers.'

'Not entirely,' put in Adela rather absently.

'A hundred and seven pounds a year!' exclaimed her mother protestingly.
'My dear love, what _can_ be done with such a paltry sum as that!'

'We must do a good deal with it, dear mother. It will be all we have to
depend upon until Richard finds--finds some position.'

'But you are not going to leave the Manor at once?'

'As soon as ever we can. I don't know what arrangement my husband is
making. We shall see Mr. Yottle again to-morrow.'

'Adela, this is positively shocking! It seems incredible I never thought
such things could happen. No wonder you looked white when you went out
of church. How little I imagined! But you know you can come here at any
moment. You can sleep with me, or we'll have another bed put up in the
room. Oh, dear; oh, dear! It will take me a long time to understand it.
Your husband could not possibly object to your living here till he found
you a suitable home. What _will_ Alfred say? Oh, you must certainly come
here. I shan't have a moment's' rest if you go away somewhere whilst
things are in this dreadful state.'

'I don't think that will be necessary,' Adela replied with a reassuring
smile. 'It might very well have happened that we had no