nature to the codicil might be
his or might not. If his, it had been obtained by fraud. What could
be easier than to cheat an old doting fool? Many men agreed with
Joseph Mason, thinking that Usbech the attorney had perpetrated this
villainy on behalf of his daughter; but Joseph Mason would believe,
or say that he believed--a belief in which none but his sisters
joined him,--that Lady Mason herself had been the villain. He was
minded to press the case on to a Court of Appeal, up even to the
House of Lords; but he was advised that in doing so he would spend
more money than Orley Farm was worth, and that he would, almost to a
certainty, spend it in vain. Under this advice he cursed the laws of
his country, and withdrew to Groby Park.

Lady Mason had earned the respect of all those around her by the way
in which she bore herself in the painful days of the trial, and also
in those of her success,--especially also by the manner in which she
gave her evidence. And thus, though she had not been much noticed
by her neighbours during the short period of her married life, she
was visited as a widow by many of the more respectable people round
Hamworth. In all this she showed no feeling of triumph; she never
abused her husband's relatives, or spoke much of the harsh manner
in which she had been used. Indeed, she was not given to talk about
her own personal affairs; and although, as I have said, many of her
neighbours visited her, she did not lay herself out for society. She
accepted and returned their attention, but for the most part seemed
to be willing that the matter should so rest. The people around by
degrees came to know her ways, they spoke to her when they met her,
and occasionally went through the ceremony of a morning call; but did
not ask her to their tea-parties, and did not expect to see her at
picnic and archery meetings.

Among those who took her by the hand in the time of her great trouble
was Sir Peregrine Orme of The Cleeve,--for such was the name which
had belonged time out of mind to his old mansion and park. Sir
Peregrine was a gentleman now over seventy years of age, whose family
consisted of the widow of his only son, and the only son of that
widow, who was of course the heir to his estate and title. Sir
Peregrine was an excellent old man, as I trust may hereafter be
acknowledged; but his regard for Lady Mason was perhaps in the first
instance fostered by his extreme dislike to her stepson, Joseph Mason
o