e to be at the country seat of the great Earl of Ancester?--that
was what puzzled him.

Mrs. Solmes could not tell him everything, but she had a good deal to
tell. The old lady she had seen was very grey certainly, but had seemed
to her cousin Ruth Thrale, who had tea with her yesterday, quite in
possession of her faculties, and--oh dear yes!--able to get about, but
suffering from rheumatism. But then just think--nearly eighty! As for
how she came to be at the Towers, all that Mrs. Solmes knew was that it
was through a sort of fancy of her young ladyship, Lady Gwen Rivers,
reputed one of the most beautiful young ladies in England, who had
brought her from London after the accident already referred to, and who
had gone away by the night-train, leaving a request to her cousin Ruth
to take charge of her till her return. She could have repeated all she
had heard from Mrs. Thrale, but scarcely felt authorised to do so.

One untoward incident happened. The infant Seth, summoned to show
himself, stood in a corner and pouted, turned red, and became
_intransigeant_; finally, when peremptorily told to go and speak to the
gentleman, shrank from and glared at him; only allowed his hand to be
taken under compulsion, and rushed away when released, roaring with
anger or terror, or both, and wiping the touch of the stranger off his
offended hand. This was entirely unlike Seth, whose defects of
character, disobedience to Law and Order, and love of destruction for
its own sake, were qualified by an impassioned affection for the human
race, causing him to attach himself to that race, as a sort of
rock-limpet, and even to supersede kisses by licks. His aversion to this
man was a new departure.

He, for his part, expressed his surprise at Seth's attitude. He was
noted in his part of the world for his tenderness towards young
children. His circle of acquaintances suffered the little ones to come
unto him contrary to what you might have thought, he being but an ugly
customer to look at. But his heart was good--a rough diamond! When he
had expressed his gratitude and tramped away down the road, after
carefully writing down the address "Strides Cottage, Chorlton" and the
names of its occupants, old Stephen and Keziah looked each at the other,
as though seeking help towards a good opinion of this man, and seemed to
get none.

* * * * *

Old Granny Marrable always found a difficulty in getting away from her
gr