g ladies said,
that she was well content to forego the society of the county people for
a less interrupted enjoyment of that of her husband. "What she could see
in him" to interest or amuse her so, that for his sake she was willing
to be "buried alive in that lonely place," the same critics were
perpetually wondering.

A year and more passed thus; for the young wife, happily--_very_ happily
indeed, had it not been for one topic on which she and her husband could
not agree. This was Philip Feltram; and an odd quarrel it was.

CHAPTER XXII

Sir Bale is Frightened

To Feltram she had conceived, at first sight, a horror. It was not a
mere antipathy; fear mingled largely in it. Although she did not see him
often, this restless dread grew upon her so, that she urged his
dismissal upon Sir Bale, offering to provide, herself, for him a
handsome annuity, charged on that part of her property which, by her
marriage settlement, had remained in her power. There was a time when
Sir Bale was only too anxious to get rid of him. But that was changed
now. Nothing could now induce the Baronet to part with him. He at first
evaded and resisted quietly. But, urged with a perseverance to which he
was unused, he at last broke into fury that appalled her, and swore that
if he was worried more upon the subject, he would leave her and the
country, and see neither again. This exhibition of violence affrighted
her all the more by reason of the contrast; for up to this he had been
an uxorious husband. Lady Mardykes was in hysterics, and thoroughly
frightened, and remained in her room for two or three days. Sir Bale
went up to London about business, and was not home for more than a week.
This was the first little squall that disturbed the serenity of their
sky.

This point, therefore, was settled; but soon there came other things to
sadden Lady Mardykes. There occurred a little incident, soon after Sir
Bale's return from London, which recalled the topic on which they had so
nearly quarrelled.

Sir Bale had a dressing-room, remote from the bedrooms, in which he sat
and read and sometimes smoked. One night, after the house was all quiet,
the Baronet being still up, the bell of this dressing-room rang long and
furiously. It was such a peal as a person in extreme terror might ring.
Lady Mardykes, with her maid in her room, heard it; and in great alarm
she ran in her dressing-gown down the gallery to Sir Bale's room.
Mallard the butler had