r Cross in May, when he would be up in London. Where at that
moment, and after what fashion, would his mother and sisters be living?

The Dean showed his dismay at the marriage plainly enough.

"That's very bad, George," he said; "very bad indeed!"

"Of course we don't like her being a foreigner."

"Of course you don't like his marrying at all. Why should you? You all
know enough of him to be sure that he wouldn't marry the sort of woman
you would approve."

"I don't know why my brother should not have married any lady in
England."

"At any rate he hasn't. He has married some Italian widow, and it's a
misfortune. Poor Mary!"

"I don't think Mary feels it at all."

"She will some day. Girls of her age don't feel that kind of thing at
first. So he is going to come over at once. What will your mother do?"

"She has Cross Hall."

"That man Price is there. He will go out of course?"

"With notice he must go."

"He won't stand about that, if you don't interfere with his land and
farm-yard. I know Price. He's not a bad fellow."

"But Brotherton does not want them to go there," said Lord George,
almost in a whisper.

"Does not want your mother to live in her own house! Upon my word the
Marquis is considerate to you all! He has said that plainly, has he? If
I were Lady Brotherton I would not take the slightest heed of what he
says. She is not dependent on him. In order that he may be relieved
from the bore of being civil to his own family she is to be sent out
about the world to look for a home in her old age! You must tell her
not to listen for a minute to such a proposition."

Lord George, though he put great trust in his father-in-law, did not
quite like hearing his brother spoken of so very freely by a man who
was, after all, the son of a tradesman. It seemed to him as though the
Dean made himself almost too intimate with the affairs at Manor Cross,
and yet he was obliged to go on and tell the Dean everything.

"Even if Price went, there must be some delay in getting the house
ready."

"The Marquis surely won't turn your mother out before the spring?"

"Tradesmen will have to come in. And then I don't quite know what we
are to do as to the----expense of furnishing the new house. It will
cost a couple of thousand pounds, and none of us have ready money." The
Dean assumed a very serious face. "Every spoon and fork at Manor Cross,
every towel and every sheet belongs to my brother."

"Was not the Cross Ho