hed or bewildered by
the luxuries of Duddon, as Netta clearly was. Rather, she seemed to seize
greedily and by a natural instinct upon all that came her way--motors,
pretty frocks, warm baths in luxurious bathrooms, and the attentions of
Victoria's maid. Victoria believed that she had grasped the whole
situation with regard to Threlfall. She was quite aware, it seemed, of
the magnitude of her father's wealth; of all that hung upon her own
chances of inheritance; and of the value, to her cause and her mother's,
of the support of Duddon. Her likeness to her father came out hour by
hour, and there were moments when the tiny creature carried herself like
a Melrose in miniature.

Victoria's advent was awaited at Green Cottage, she having telephoned to
Mrs. Penfold in the morning, with something of a flutter. Her visits
there had not been frequent; and this was the first time she had called
since Tatham's proposal to Lydia. That event had never been avowed by
Lydia, as we have seen, even to her mother; Lydia and Victoria had never
exchanged a word on the subject. But Lydia was aware of the shrewd
guessing of her family, and she did not suppose for one moment that Lady
Tatham was ignorant of anything that had happened.

Mrs. Penfold, scarcely kept in order by Susy, was in much agitation. She
felt terribly guilty. Lady Tatham must think them all monsters of
ingratitude, and she wondered how she could be so kind as to come and see
them at all. She became at last so incoherent and tearful that Lydia
prepared for the worst, while Susy, the professed psychologist, revelled
in the prospect of new "notes."

But when Victoria arrived, entering the cottage drawing-room with her
fine mannish face, her stately bearing, and her shabby clothes, the news
she brought seized at once on Mrs. Penfold's wandering wits, and for the
moment held them fast. For Victoria, whose secret object was to discover,
if she could, any facts about Lydia's doings and feelings during the
interval of separation, that might throw light upon her Harry's
predicament, made it cunningly appear that she had come expressly to tell
her neighbours of the startling event which was now agitating Duddon, as
it would soon be agitating the countryside.

Mrs. Penfold--steeped in long years of three-decker fiction--sat
entranced. The cast-off and ill-treated wife returning to the scene of
her misery--with the heiress!--grown up--and beautiful: she saw it all;
she threw it al