Valleys looked at each
other with a dubious smile.

The little interview which she had interrupted, had arisen in this way.

Accustomed to retire to this quiet and homely room, which was not his
official study where he was always liable to the attacks of secretaries,
Lord Valleys had come up here after lunch to smoke and chew the cud of a
worry.

The matter was one in connection with his Pendridny estate, in Cornwall.
It had long agitated both his agent and himself, and had now come to him
for final decision. The question affected two villages to the north of
the property, whose inhabitants were solely dependent on the working of
a large quarry, which had for some time been losing money.

A kindly man, he was extremely averse to any measure which would plunge
his tenants into distress, and especially in cases where there had been
no question of opposition between himself and them. But, reduced to its
essentials, the matter stood thus: Apart from that particular quarry the
Pendridny estate was not only a going, but even a profitable concern,
supporting itself and supplying some of the sinews of war towards
Valleys House and the racing establishment at Newmarket and other
general expenses; with this quarry still running, allowing for the
upkeep of Pendridny, and the provision of pensions to superannuated
servants, it was rather the other way.

Sitting there, that afternoon, smoking his favourite pipe, he had at
last come to the conclusion that there was nothing for it but to
close down. He had not made this resolution lightly; though, to do him
justice, the knowledge that the decision would be bound to cause an
outcry in the local, and perhaps the National Press, had secretly rather
spurred him on to the resolve than deterred him from it. He felt as if
he were being dictated to in advance, and he did not like dictation.
To have to deprive these poor people of their immediate living was, he
knew, a good deal more irksome to him than to those who would certainly
make a fuss about it, his conscience was clear, and he could discount
that future outcry as mere Party spite. He had very honestly tried
to examine the thing all round; and had reasoned thus: If I keep this
quarry open, I am really admitting the principle of pauperization,
since I naturally look to each of my estates to support its own house,
grounds, shooting, and to contribute towards the support of this house,
and my family, and racing stable, and all the p