e
whole county declared that Lord George was about to marry Miss De
Baron. The county feared that they would be very poor; but the
recompence would come at last, as the present marquis was known not to
be a marrying man. Lady Sarah was mute with despair. Lady Alice had
declared that there was nothing for them but to make the best of it.
Lady Susanna, who had high ideas of aristocratic duty, thought that
George was forgetting himself. Lady Amelia, who had been snubbed by
Miss De Baron, shut herself up and wept. The Marchioness took to her
bed. Then, exactly at the same time, two things happened, both of which
were felt to be of vital importance at Manor Cross. Miss De Baron wrote
a most determined refusal to her lover, and old Mr. Tallowax died. Now
old Mr. Tallowax had been Dean Lovelace's father-in-law, and had never
had a child but she who had been the Dean's wife.

Lord George did in truth suffer dreadfully. There are men to whom such
a disappointment as this causes enduring physical pain,--as though they
had become suddenly affected with some acute and yet lasting disease.
And there are men, too, who suffer the more because they cannot conceal
the pain. Such a man was Lord George. He shut himself up for months at
Manor Cross, and would see no one. At first it was his intention to try
again, but very shortly after the letter to himself came one from Miss
De Baron to Lady Alice, declaring that she was about to be married
immediately to one Mr. Houghton; and that closed the matter. Mr.
Houghton's history was well known to the Manor Cross family. He was a
friend of Mr. De Baron, very rich, almost old enough to be the girl's
father, and a great gambler. But he had a house in Berkeley Square,
kept a stud of horses in Northamptonshire, and was much thought of at
Newmarket. Adelaide De Baron explained to Lady Alice that the marriage
had been made up by her father, whose advice she had thought it her
duty to take. The news was told to Lord George, and then it was found
expedient never to mention further the name of Miss De Baron within the
walls of Manor Cross.

But the death of Mr. Tallowax was also very important. Of late the Dean
of Brotherton had become very intimate at Manor Cross. For some years
the ladies had been a little afraid of him, as they were by no means
given to free opinions. But he made his way. They were decidedly high;
the bishop was notoriously low; and thus, in a mild manner, without
malignity on eith