of
business had tried to put this young lady--then a very young lady--down,
and he had not succeeded. It may be supposed that at her present age of
twenty-three, a wife, a mother, and with a modest consciousness of her
own place and position, she was not a less difficult antagonist. She was
still a little frightened, and grew somewhat pale, but she looked
steadfastly at Mr. Rushton with a nervous smile.

"I think you must not speak to me so," she said. "I am not a child, and
I know my father's will and what it meant. It is not nonsense, nor
folly--it may perhaps have been," she said with a little sigh--"not
wise."

"I beg your pardon, Lady Randolph," Mr. Rushton said precipitately,
with a blush upon his middle-aged countenance, for to be sure, when you
think of it, to tell a gracious young lady with a title, one of your
chief clients, that she is talking nonsense, even if you have known her
all her life, is going perhaps a little too far. "I am sure you will
understand _that_ is what I meant," he cried, "unwise--the very word I
meant. In the heat of the moment other words slip out, but no offence
was intended."

She made him a little bow; she was trembling, though she would not have
him see it. "We are not here," she said, "to criticise my father." Lucy
was scarcely half aware how much she had gained in composure and the art
of self-command. "I think he would have been more wise and more kind to
have done himself what he thought to be his duty; but what does that
matter? You must not try to convince me, please, but take the
directions, which are very simple. I have written them all down in this
paper. If you think you ought to make independent inquiries, you have
the right to do that; but you will spare the poor gentleman's feelings,
Mr. Rushton. It is all put down here."

Mr. Rushton took the paper from her hand. He smiled inwardly to himself,
subduing his fret of impatience. "You will not object to let me talk it
over," he said, "first with Sir Tom?"

Lucy coloured, and then she grew pale. "You will remember," she said,
"that it has nothing to do with my husband, Mr. Rushton."

"My dear lady," said the lawyer, "I never expected to hear you, who I
have always known as the best of wives, say of anything that it has
nothing to do with your husband. Surely that is not how ladies speak of
their lords?"

Lucy heard a sound behind her which seemed to imply to her quick ear
that Jock was losing patience. She had bro