bestow charity of meat and fuel, to haul ice in winter to the ice-house
from the lake. But beyond all this there was little going or coming at
Brockhurst. The magnates of the countryside called at decent intervals,
and at decent intervals Lady Calmady returned their civilities. But
having ceased to entertain, she refused to receive entertainment. She
shut herself away in somewhat jealous seclusion, defiant of possibly
curious glances and pitying tongues. Before long her neighbours,
therefore, came to raise their eyebrows a little in speaking of her,
and to utter discreet regrets that Lady Calmady, though handsome and
charming when you saw her, was so very eccentric, adding--"Of course
every one knows there is something very uncomfortable about the little
boy!" Then would follow confidences as to the disastrous results of
popish influences and Romanising tendencies; and an openly expressed
conviction--more especially on the part of ladies blessed with
daughters of marriageable age--that it would have been so very much
better for many people if the late Sir Richard Calmady had looked
nearer home for a bride.

But these comments did not affect Katherine. In point of fact they
rarely reached her ears. Alone among her neighbours, Mary Cathcart, of
the crisp, black hair and gipsy-like complexion, was still admitted to
some intimacy of intercourse. And the girl was far too loyal either to
bring in gossip or to carry it out. Brockhurst held the romance of her
heart. And, notwithstanding the earnest wooing--as the years went
on--of more than one very eligible gentleman, Brockhurst continued to
hold it.

Meanwhile the somewhat quaint fixed star around which this whole system
of planets, large and small, very really revolved, shone forth upon
them all with a cheerful enough light. For Dickie by no means belied
the promise of his babyhood. He was a beautiful and healthy little boy,
with a charming brilliance of colouring, warm and solid in tone. He had
his mother's changeful eyes, though the blue of them was brighter than
hers had now come to be. He had her dark eyebrows and eyelashes too,
and her finely curved lips. While he bore likeness to his father in the
straight, square-tipped nose and the close-fitting cap of bright, brown
hair with golden stains in it, growing low in short curling locks on
the broad forehead and the nape of the neck--expressing the shape of
the head very definitely, and giving it something of antique nobi