nderstand each other!"

Three days later, Green Cottage was in the occupation of a Manchester
solicitor, who was paying a rent for it, which put Mrs. Penfold in
high spirits; especially when coupled with the astonishing fact that
Lydia had sold all her three drawings which had been sent to a London
exhibition--also, apparently, to a solicitor. Mrs. Penfold expressed her
surprise to her daughter that the practice of the law should lead both to
a love of scenery and the patronage of the arts; she had been brought up
to think of it as a deadening profession.

Lydia had gone south; Mrs. Penfold and Susy were paying visits to
relations; and Duddon was closed till the end of September. It was known
that Mr. Melrose had gone off on one of his curio-hunting tours; and the
new agent ruled. A whole countryside, or what was left of it in August,
settled down to watch.

* * * * *

High on the moors of Ross-shire, Lady Tatham too watched. The lodge
filled up with guests, and one charming girl succeeded another, by
Victoria's careful contrivance. None of your painted and powdered
campaigners with minds torn between the desire to "best" a rival, and
the terror of their dressmakers' bills; but the freshest, sweetest,
best-bred young women she could discover among the daughters of her
friends. Tatham was delightful with them all, patiently played golf with
them, taught them to fish, and tramped with them over the moors. And when
they said good-bye, and the motor took them to the station, Victoria
believed that he remembered them just about as much, or as little, as the
"bag" of the last shoot.

Her own feeling was curiously mixed. There were many days when she would
have liked to beat Lydia Penfold, and at all times her pride lay wounded,
bitterly wounded, at the girl's soft hands. When Harry had first confided
in her, she had been certain that no nice girl could long resist him, if
only she, Harry's mother, gave opportunities and held the lists. It would
not be necessary for her to take any active steps. Mere propinquity would
do it. Then, when Tatham stumbled prematurely into his proposal, Victoria
might have intervened to help, but for Lydia's handling of the situation.
She had refused the natural place offered her in Harry's life--the place
of lover and wife. But she had claimed and was now holding a place only
less intimate, only less important; and Victoria felt herself disarmed
and powerless. T