n, and tried to
treat the subject with contemptuous forgetfulness; but his was a
brooding and tenacious mind, and he often thought of the epistle, and
the menaces it implied, against his own will. Nor could he or any one
connected with him long remain unattentive or ignorant of the matter,
for in a few weeks the first steps were taken in a suit against him,
and, spreading from attorneys' offices in every direction, the news of
such proceedings travelled far and wide, till the great Hastings case
became the talk of the whole country round.

In the mean time, Sir Philip's reply was very speedily shown to Mrs.
Hazleton, and that lady triumphed a good deal. Sir Philip was now in the
same position with John Ayliffe, she thought, that she had been in some
time before with Mr. Marlow; and already he began to show, in her
opinion, a disposition to treat the case very differently in his own
instance and in hers.

There he had strongly supported private negotiation; here he rejected it
altogether; and she chose to forget that circumstances, though broadly
the same, were in detail very different.

"We shall see," she said to herself, "we shall see whether, when the
proofs are brought forward, he will act with that rigid sense of
justice, which he assumed here."

When the first processes had been issued, however, and common rumor
justified a knowledge of the transaction, without private information,
Mrs. Hazleton set out at once to visit "poor dear Lady Hastings," and
condole with her on the probable loss of fortune. How pleasant it is to
condole with friends on such occasions. What an accession of importance
we get in our own eyes, especially if the poor people we comfort have
been a little bit above us in the world.

But Mrs. Hazleton had higher objects in view; she wanted no accession of
importance. She was quite satisfied with her own position in society.
She sought to see and prompt Lady Hastings--to sow dissension where she
knew there must already be trouble; and she found Sir Philip's wife just
in the fit frame of mind for her purpose. Sir Philip himself and Emily
had ridden out together; and though Mrs. Hazleton would willingly have
found an opportunity of giving Sir Philip a sly friendly kick, and of
just reminding him of his doctrines announced in the case between
herself and Mr. Marlow, she was not sorry to have Lady Hastings alone
for an hour or two. They remained long in conference, and I need not
detail all that