had thought about
their punts and their canoes, and had pleaded piteously for the Bath; so
the Bath was allowed to remain untouched, greatly to the relief of many
of the neighbours, who were proud of its traditions, and who, in the
general destruction that had been going on at Shadonake, had trembled for
its safety.

Where Mr. Miller had originally come from nobody exactly knew. It was
generally supposed that he had migrated early in life from northern and
manufacturing districts, where his father had amassed a large fortune.
In spite, however, of his wealth, it is doubtful whether he would ever
have achieved the difficult task of being returned for so exclusive and
aristocratic a county as Meadowshire had he not made a most prudent and
politic marriage. He had married one of the Miss Esterworths, of
Lutterton.

Now, everybody who has the slightest knowledge of Meadowshire and its
internal politics will see at once that Andrew Miller could not have done
better for himself. The Esterworths are the very oldest and best of the
old county families; there can be no sort of doubt whatever as to their
position and standing. Therefore, when Andrew Miller married Caroline
Esterworth, there was at once an end of all hesitation as to how he was
to be treated amongst them. Meadowshire might wonder at Miss Caroline's
taste, but it kept its wonder to itself, and held out the right hand of
fellowship to Andrew Miller then and ever after.

It is true that there were five Miss Esterworths, all grown up, and all
unmarried, at the time when Andrew came a-wooing to Lutterton Castle;
they were none of them remarkable for beauty, and Caroline, who was the
eldest of the five, less so than the others. Moreover, there were many
sons at Lutterton, and the daughters' portions were but small. Altogether
the love-making had been easy and prosperous, for Caroline, who was a
sensible young woman, had readily recognized the superior advantages
of marrying an excellent man of no birth or breeding, with twenty
thousand a year, to remaining Miss Esterworth to her dying day, in
dignified but impecunious spinsterhood. Time had proved the wisdom of her
choice. For some years the Millers had rented a small but pretty little
house within two miles of Lutterton, where, of course, everybody visited
them, and got used to Andrew's squat, burly figure, and agreed to
overlook his many little defects of speech and manner in consideration of
his many excellent qua