s. He got out of me then as I
thought it were dirt cheap at eight thousand."

"But I don't want to move," pleaded Mrs. Prockter.

"I'm asking ye why ye didn't tell me afore?" James repeated.

Mrs. Prockter looked at him. "Men are trying creatures!" she said. "So
it seems you can't tell a tarradiddle for me?" And she sighed.

"I don't know as I object to that. What I object to is contradicting
mysen."

"Why did you bring Helen?" Mrs. Prockter demanded.

"I didna'. She come hersen."

They exchanged glances.

"And now she and Emanuel have run off."

"It looks to me," said James, "as if your plan for knocking their two
heads together wasna' turning out as you meant it, missis."

"And what's more," said she, "I do believe that Emanuel wants me to buy
this place so that when I'm gone he can make a big splash here with your
niece and your money, Mr. Ollerenshaw! What do you think of that?"

"He may make as much splash as he's a mind to, wi' my niece," James
answered. "But he won't make much of a splash with my money, I can
promise ye." His orbs twinkled. "I can promise ye," he repeated.

"To whom do you mean to leave it, then?"

"Not to _his_ wife."

"H'm! Well, as we're here, I suppose we may as well see what there is to
be seen. And those two dreadful young people must be found."

They mounted the stairs.

"Will you give me your arm, Mr. Ollerenshaw?"

To such gifts he was not used. Already he had given twenty-six pounds
that day. The spectacle of Jimmy ascending the state staircase of
Wilbraham Hall with all the abounding figure of Mrs. Prockter on his arm
would have drawn crowds had it been offered to the public at sixpence a
head.

They inspected the great drawing-room, the great dining-room, the great
bedroom, and all the lesser rooms; the galleries, the balconies, the
panellings, the embrasures, the suites and suites and suites of Georgian
and Victorian decaying furniture; the ceilings and the cornices; the
pictures and engravings (of which some hundreds remained); the
ornaments, the clocks, the screens, and the microscopic knick-knacks.
Both of them lost count of everything, except that before they reached
the attics they had passed through forty-five separate apartments, not
including linen closets. It was in one of the attics, as empty as
Emanuel's head, that they discovered Emanuel and Helen, gazing at a
magnificent prospect over the moorlands, with the gardens, the paddock,
and Wilbraham Wate