a she had also expressed her
unwillingness to leave her husband. Her heart had been greatly
softened towards him, and she had declared that where he remained,
there would she remain,--as near to him as circumstances would admit.
It might be that at last her care would be necessary for his comfort.
He supplied her with means of living, and she would use these means
as well as she might be able in his service.

Then there had arisen the question of Nora's future residence. And
there had come troubles and storms in the family. Nora had said that
she would not go back to the Mandarins, but had not at first been
able to say where or how she would live. She had suggested that
she might stay with her sister, but her father had insisted that
she could not live on the income supplied by Trevelyan. Then, when
pressed hard, she had declared that she intended to live on Hugh
Stanbury's income. She would marry him at once,--with her father's
leave, if she could get it, but without it if it needs must be so.
Her mother told her that Hugh Stanbury was not himself ready for her;
he had not even proposed so hasty a marriage, nor had he any home
fitted for her. Lady Rowley, in arguing this, had expressed no assent
to the marriage, even as a distant arrangement, but had thought
thus to vanquish her daughter by suggesting small but insuperable
difficulties. On a sudden, however, Lady Rowley found that all
this was turned against her, by an offer that came direct from Mr.
Glascock. His Caroline, he said, was very anxious that Nora should
come to them at Monkhams as soon as they had returned home from
Switzerland. They intended to be there by the middle of August, and
would hurry there sooner, if there was any intermediate difficulty
about finding a home for Nora. Mr. Glascock said nothing about Hugh
Stanbury; but, of course, Lady Rowley understood that Nora had told
all her troubles and hopes to Caroline, and that Caroline had told
them to her future husband. Lady Rowley, in answer to this, could
only say that she would consult her husband.

There was something very grievous in the proposition to Lady Rowley.
If Nora had not been self-willed and stiff-necked beyond the usual
self-willedness and stiff-neckedness of young women she might have
been herself the mistress of Monkhams. It was proposed now that she
should go there to wait till a poor man should have got together
shillings enough to buy a few chairs and tables, and a bed to lie
u