though it could hardly be said of her that she was under her husband's
rule, certainly was not entitled to boast that she had made him under
hers. She then made her first grand attack as to the furniture in
Portman Square; and was then for the first time specially informed that
the furniture there was not matter of much importance, as she would not
in future be required to move her family to that residence during the
London seasons. The sort of conversation which grew from such a
commencement may be imagined. Had Lady Arabella worried her lord less,
he might perhaps have considered with more coolness the folly of
encountering so prodigious an increase to the expense of his
establishment; had he not spent so much money in a pursuit which his
wife did not enjoy, she might perhaps have been more sparing in her
rebukes as to his indifference to her London pleasures. As it was, the
hounds came to Greshamsbury, and Lady Arabella did go to London for
some period in each year, and the family expenses were by no means
lessened.

The kennels, however, were now again empty. Two years previous to the
time at which our story begins, the hounds had been carried off to the
seat of some richer sportsman. This was more felt by Mr Gresham than
any other misfortune which he had yet incurred. He had been master of
hounds for ten years, and that work he had at any rate done well. The
popularity among his neighbours which he had lost as a politician he
had regained as a sportsman, and he would fain have remained autocratic
in the hunt, had it been possible. But he so remained much longer than
he should have done, and at last they went away, not without signs and
sounds of visible joy on the part of Lady Arabella.

But we have kept the Greshamsbury tenancy waiting under the oak-trees
by far too long. Yes; when young Frank came of age there was still