it up to the best, at least in appearance, that he might
part with his share in it to the better advantage?

She turned, and, walking back to the town, sought Beenie.

The old woman being naturally a gossip, Mary was hardly seated before
she began to pour out the talk of the town, in which came presently
certain rumors concerning Mr. Turnbull--mainly hints at speculation and
loss.

The result was that Mary went from Beenie to the lawyer in whose care
her father had left his affairs. Ho was an old man, and had been ill;
had no suspicion of anything being wrong, but would look into the
matter at once. She went home, and troubled herself no more.

She had been at Durnmelling but a few days, when Mr. Redmain, wishing
to see how things were on his estate in Cornwall, and making up his
mind to run down, carelessly asked his wife if she would accompany him:
it would be only for a few days, he said; but a breeze or two from the
Atlantic would improve her complexion. This was gracious; but he was
always more polite in the company of Lady Margaret, who continued to
show him the kindness no one else dared or was inclined to do. For some
years he had suffered increasingly from recurrent attacks of the
disease to which I have already referred; and, whatever might be the
motive of his mother-in-law's behavior, certainly, in those attacks, it
was a comfort to him to be near her. On such occasions in London, his
sole attendant was his man Mewks.

Mary was delighted to see more of her country. She had traveled very
little, but was capable of gathering ten times more from a journey to
Cornwall than most travelers from one through Switzerland itself. The
place to which they went was lonely and lovely, and Mary, for the first
few days, enjoyed it unspeakably.

But then, suddenly, as was not unusual, Mr. Redmain was taken ill. For
some reason or other, he had sent his man to London, and the only other
they had with them, besides the coachman, was useless in such a need,
while the housekeeper who lived at the place was nearly decrepit; so
that of the household Mary alone was capable of fit attendance in the
sickroom. Hesper shrunk, almost with horror, certainly with disgust,
from the idea of having anything to do with her husband as an invalid.
When she had the choice of her company, she said, she would not choose
his. Mewks was sent for at once, but did not arrive before the patient
had had some experience of Mary's tendance; nor, af