eful Popenjoy up in London was sick and
ailing; and after all this might be the true Popenjoy who, in coming
days, would re-establish the glory of the family. But, at any rate, she
was his wife, and the bairn would be his bairn. He had been made a
happy man, and had determined to enjoy to the full the first blush of
his happiness. But when he was told that she was not to be fretted,
that she was to be made especially happy, and was so told by her
father, he did not quite clearly see his way for the future. Did this
mean that he was to give up everything, that he was to confess tacitly
that he had been wrong in even asking his wife to go with him to Cross
Hall, and that he was to be reconciled in all things to the Dean? He
was quite ready to take his wife back, to abstain from accusations
against her, to let her be one of the family, but he was as eager as
ever to repudiate the Dean. To the eyes of his mother the Dean was now
the most horrible of human beings, and her eldest born the dearest of
sons. After all that he had endured he was again going to let her live
at the old family house, and all those doubts about Popenjoy had, she
thought, been fully satisfied. The Marquis to her thinking was now
almost a model Marquis, and this dear son, this excellent head of the
family, had been nearly murdered by the truculent Dean. Of course the
Dean was spoken of at Cross Hall in very bitter terms, and of course
those terms made impression on Lord George. In the first moments of his
paternal anxiety he had been willing to encounter the Dean in order
that he might see his wife; but he did not like to be told by the Dean
that his wife ought to be made happy. "I don't know what there is to
make her unhappy," he said, "if she will do her duty."

"That she has always done," said the Dean, "both before her marriage
and since."

"I suppose she will come home now," said Lord George.

"I hardly know what home means. Your own home I take it is in Munster
Court."

"My own home is at Manor Cross," said Lord George, proudly.

"While that is the residence of Lord Brotherton it is absolutely
impossible that she should go there. Would you take her to the house of
a man who has scurrilously maligned her as he has done?"

"He is not there or likely to be there. Of course she would come to
Cross Hall first."

"Do you think that would be wise? You were speaking just now with
anxiety as to her condition."

"Of course I am anxious."

"You