turns with her. Sir Percival may fill the house from floor to
ceiling, if he likes, on condition that his wife and I inhabit it
together.

Meanwhile, here I am, established at Blackwater Park, "the ancient and
interesting seat" (as the county history obligingly informs me) "of Sir
Percival Glyde, Bart.," and the future abiding-place (as I may now
venture to add on my account) of plain Marian Halcombe, spinster, now
settled in a snug little sitting-room, with a cup of tea by her side,
and all her earthly possessions ranged round her in three boxes and a
bag.

I left Limmeridge yesterday, having received Laura's delightful letter
from Paris the day before. I had been previously uncertain whether I
was to meet them in London or in Hampshire, but this last letter
informed me that Sir Percival proposed to land at Southampton, and to
travel straight on to his country-house. He has spent so much money
abroad that he has none left to defray the expenses of living in London
for the remainder of the season, and he is economically resolved to
pass the summer and autumn quietly at Blackwater. Laura has had more
than enough of excitement and change of scene, and is pleased at the
prospect of country tranquillity and retirement which her husband's
prudence provides for her. As for me, I am ready to be happy anywhere
in her society. We are all, therefore, well contented in our various
ways, to begin with.

Last night I slept in London, and was delayed there so long to-day by
various calls and commissions, that I did not reach Blackwater this
evening till after dusk.

Judging by my vague impressions of the place thus far, it is the exact
opposite of Limmeridge.

The house is situated on a dead flat, and seems to be shut in--almost
suffocated, to my north-country notions, by trees. I have seen nobody
but the man-servant who opened the door to me, and the housekeeper, a
very civil person, who showed me the way to my own room, and got me my
tea. I have a nice little boudoir and bedroom, at the end of a long
passage on the first floor. The servants and some of the spare rooms
are on the second floor, and all the living rooms are on the ground
floor. I have not seen one of them yet, and I know nothing about the
house, except that one wing of it is said to be five hundred years old,
that it had a moat round it once, and that it gets its name of
Blackwater from a lake in the park.

Eleven o'clock has just struck, in a ghostl