ded over nearly a week,
he resolved to speak his mind to Mrs. Orme. If it were to be done it
should be done at once. The incredulous unromantic readers of this
age would hardly believe me if I said that his main object was to
render assistance to Lady Mason in her difficulty; but so he assured
himself, and so he believed. This assistance to be of true service
must be given at once;--and having so resolved he sent for Mrs. Orme
into the library.

"Edith, my darling," he said, taking her hand and pressing it between
both his own as was often the wont with him in his more affectionate
moods. "I want to speak to you--on business that concerns me nearly;
may perhaps concern us all nearly. Can you give me half an hour?"

"Of course I can--what is it, sir? I am a bad hand at business; but
you know that."

"Sit down, dear; there; sit there, and I will sit here. As to this
business, no one can counsel me as well as you."

"Dearest father, I should be a poor councillor in anything."

"Not in this, Edith. It is about Lady Mason that I would speak to
you. We both love her dearly; do we not?"

"I do."

"And are glad to have her here?"

"Oh, so glad. When this trial is only over, it will be so sweet, to
have her for a neighbour. We really know her now. And it will be so
pleasant to see much of her."

There was nothing discouraging in this, but still the words in some
slight degree grated against Sir Peregrine's feelings. At the present
moment he did not wish to think of Lady Mason as living at Orley
Farm, and would have preferred that his daughter-in-law should have
spoken of her as being there, at The Cleeve.

"Yes; we know her now," he said. "And believe me in this, Edith; no
knowledge obtained of a friend in happiness is at all equal to that
which is obtained in sorrow. Had Lady Mason been prosperous, had she
never become subject to the malice and avarice of wicked people, I
should never have loved her as I do love her."

"Nor should I, father."

"She is a cruelly ill-used woman, and a woman worthy of the kindest
usage. I am an old man now, but it has never before been my lot to
be so anxious for a fellow-creature as I am for her. It is dreadful
to think that innocence in this country should be subject to such
attacks."

"Indeed it is; but you do not think that there is any danger?"

This was all very well, and showed that Mrs. Orme's mind was well
disposed towards the woman whom he loved. But he had known that