ng a fresh whirlwind of temper, if the gates were mentioned;
and nothing else was interesting. The meal was short and spare, and
the Squire noticed for the first time that while meat was offered to
him, the others fed on fish and vegetables. All to put him in the
wrong, of course!

After dinner he went back to the library. Work was impossible. He
hung over the fire smoking, or turning over the pages of a fresh
section of the catalogue which Elizabeth had placed--complete--on
his desk that morning.

It seemed to him that all the powers of mischief had risen against
him. The recent investigation of his affairs made by Elizabeth at
his express wish, slight and preliminary though it was, had shown
him what he had long and obstinately refused to see--that the estate
had seriously gone down in value during the preceding five years;
that he had a dozen scraps and disputes on his hands, more than
enough to rasp the nerves of any ordinary man--and as far as nerves
were concerned, he knew very well that he was not an ordinary man;
that, in short, he was impoverished and embarrassed; his agent was a
scandal and must be dismissed, and his new lawyers, a grasping,
incompetent crew. For a moment, indeed, he had had a glimpse of a
clear sky. A woman, who seemed to have the same kind of business
faculty that many Frenchwomen possess, had laid hands on his skein
of troubles, and might have unravelled them. But she had thrown him
over. In a little while he would have to let Mannering--for who
would buy an estate in such a pickle?--sell his collections, and go
and live in a flat in West Kensington. Then he hoped his
enemies--Chicksands in particular--would be satisfied.

But these, to do him justice, were not the chief thoughts, not the
considerations in his mind that smarted most. Another woman
secretary or woman accountant--for, after all, clever women with
business training are now as thick as blackberries--might have
helped him to put his affairs straight; but she would not have been
a Miss Bremerton, with her scholarship, her taste, her love of the
beautiful things that he loved. He seemed to see her fair skin
flushing with pleasure as they went through a Greek chorus together,
or to watch her tenderly handling a bronze, or holding a Tanagra
figure to the light.

Of course some stupid creatures might think he was falling in love
with her--wanting to marry her. He laughed the charge to scorn. No!
but he confessed her comradeship