Of Mr. Tarrant's station in life nothing was discovered. His
grandmother, though seemingly in possession of ample means, betrayed
an indifferent education, and in her flow of gossip never referred
to ancestral dignities, never made mention of the calling her
husband had pursued. Mr. Vawdrey was known to be 'in business,'--a
business which must be tolerably lucrative.

On their return to London, the children passed from Miss. Morgan's
care into that of Mrs. Baker, who kept house for the widower at
Champion Hill; but Jessica did not wholly lose sight of them, and,
at their request, she persuaded Nancy Lord to make an occasional
call with her. Mrs. Baker (relict, it was understood, of a military
officer who had fallen in Eastern warfare) behaved to the young
ladies with much friendliness. They did not meet Mr. Vawdrey.

Early in the following year, old Mrs. Tarrant, forsaking Teignmouth,
came to live under her son-in-law's roof; the winter had tried her
health, and henceforth she seldom left home.

To-day, as on former occasions (only two or three in all), Nancy was
reluctant to approach the big house; its imposing front made her
feel that she came only on sufferance; probably even Mrs. Baker did
not regard her as having a right to call here on terms of equality.
Yet the place touched her curiosity and her imagination; she liked
to study the luxurious appointments within, and to walk about the
neglected but pleasant garden, quiet and secluded as if whole
counties divided it from Camberwell. In the hall she and Jessica
were at once welcomed by the children, who first informed them that
tea would be served out of doors, and next made known that 'cousin