illness. Mrs. Mallow was a fretful hypochondriac, who always
imagined herself worse than she really was. Cuthbert had
often been summoned to her dying bed, only to find that she
was alive and well. He expected that this summons would be
another false alarm, but being a dutiful son, he tore himself
away from town and took the mid-day express to Exeter. As he
expected, Mrs. Mallow was by no means so bad as she hinted in
her wire, and Cuthbert was vexed that she should have called
him down, but she insisted that he should remain, and,
unwilling to cause her pain, he did so. It was four days
before he returned to London. But his visit to Exeter was not
without results, for he asked his mother about Caranby's
romance. Mrs. Mallow knew all about it, and highly
disapproved of her brother-in-law.

"He's crazy," she said vigorously, when the subject was
brought up one evening. "All his life he has been queer.
Your father should have had the title, Cuthbert!"

"Well, I shall have it some day," said her son soothingly.
"Caranby is not likely to marry."

"Yes, but I'll never be Lady Caranby," lamented Mrs. Mallow,
who was intensely selfish and egotistical. "And I should have
adorned the title. Such an old one as it is, too. But I'm
glad that horrid Selina Loach never became his wife. Even
that Saul girl would have been better."

"Don't speak evil of the dead, mother."