hemselves," said Peter. "And how can
they have foreseen? I had no idea myself of _this_ happening. But they
would be perfectly happy in the Dower House; it is close by, and I
could see them very often. It wouldn't be like leaving Barracombe."

"Yes, I think they could be happy there," said Lady Mary. She felt
that the moment had come at last. Her heart beat thickly, and her
colour came and went. "But if _they_ were happily settled at the Dower
House," she said slowly, for her agitation was making her breathless,
and she did not want Peter to notice it,"--I would willingly give it
up to them altogether. It could not matter whether _I_ were there
or not. Though they are old, they are perfectly able to look after
themselves--and other people; and if they were not, they would not
like _me_ to take care of them. They have their own servants and
Mrs. Ash. And they have never liked me, Peter, though we have lived
together so many years."

"That is nonsense," said Peter, very calmly; "and if _they_ don't want
you there, mother, _I_ do. Of course you must live at the Dower House;
my father left it to you. And I shall want you more than ever now."

"I don't see how," said Lady Mary.

"Why, _we_--Sarah and I," said Peter, lingering fondly over the words
which linked that beloved name with his own, "if we ever--if _it_ ever
came off--we shall naturally be away from home a good deal. I couldn't
ask Sarah to tie herself down to this dull old place, could I?"

"I suppose not," said Lady Mary.

"She's accustomed to going about the world a good deal," said Peter.

"No doubt."

"Even _I_," said Peter, turning a flushed face towards his mother--"I
am too young, as Sarah says--and I feel it myself since I have seen
something of the life she lives--to become a complete fixture, like my
father was. It's--it's, as Sarah says--it's narrowing. I can see the
effects of it upon you all," said Peter, calmly, "when I come back
here."

He could not fathom the wistfulness which clouded the blue eyes she
lifted to his face.

"It is very narrowing," she said humbly.

"One may devote one's self to one's duties as a landed proprietor,"
said Peter, with another recurrence of pomposity, "and yet see
something of one's fellow-men."

He replaced the eyeglass, and walked up and down the room for a few
moments, as though he were pacing a quarter-deck. He looked very tall,
and very, very slight and thin; older than his years, tanned and dried
by