s he should remain
in England. He had known but little of his uncle and nothing of his
cousin, before this visit was made. He had conceived them to be
unfriendly to him, having known them to be always unfriendly to his
father. He was, of course, aware,--very well aware now, since he had
himself suffered so grievously from his father's dishonesty,--that
the enmity which had reached them from Dunripple had been well
deserved. Colonel Marrable had, as a younger brother, never been
content with what he was able to extract from the head of the family,
who was, in his eyes, a milch cow that never ought to run dry. With
Walter Marrable there had remained a feeling adverse to his uncle and
cousin, even after he had been forced to admit to himself how many
and how grievous were the sins of his own father. He had believed
that the Dunripple people were stupid, and prejudiced, and selfish;
and it had only been at the instance of his uncle, the parson, that
he had consented to make the visit. He had gone there, and had been
treated, at any rate, with affectionate consideration. And he had
found the house to be not unpleasant, though very quiet. Living at
Dunripple there was a Mrs. Brownlow, a widowed sister of the late
Lady Marrable, with her daughter, Edith Brownlow. Previous to this
time Walter Marrable had never even heard of the Brownlows, so little
had he known about Dunripple; and when he arrived there it had been
necessary to explain to him who these people were.

He had found his uncle, Sir Gregory, to be much such a man as he had
expected in outward appearance and mode of life. The baronet was old
and disposed to regard himself as entitled to all the indulgences
of infirmity. He rose late, took but little exercise, was very
particular about what he ate, and got through his day with the
assistance of his steward, his novel, and occasionally of his doctor.
He slept a great deal, and was never tired of talking of himself.
Occupation in life he had none, but he was a charitable, honourable
man, who had high ideas of what was due to others. His son, however,
had astonished Walter considerably. Gregory Marrable the younger
was a man somewhat over forty, but he looked as though he were
sixty. He was very tall and thin, narrow in the chest, and so round
in the shoulders as to appear to be almost humpbacked. He was so
short-sighted as to be nearly blind, and was quite bald. He carried
his head so forward that it looked as though i