there would be three or four, a couple of ladies he said, and
perhaps more. So I am getting the east bedroom, with the
dressing-room, and the blue room for her ladyship." People about
Bragton had been accustomed to call Mrs. Morton her ladyship.
"That's where she always used to be. Would you come in and see,
Mr. Reginald?"

"Certainly not, Mrs. Hopkins. If you were asking me into a house of
your own, I would go in and see all the rooms and chat with you for
an hour; but I don't suppose I shall ever go into this house again
unless things change very much indeed."

"Then I'm sure I hope they will change, Mr. Reginald." Mrs. Hopkins
had known Reginald Morton as a boy growing up into manhood, had
almost been present at his birth, and had renewed her friendship
while he was staying with Lady Ushant; but of the present squire,
as she called him, she had seen almost nothing, and what she had
once remembered of him had now been obliterated by an absence of
twenty years. Of course she was on Reginald's side in the family
quarrel, although she was the paid servant of the Foreign Office
paragon.

"And they are to be here next week. What day next week, Mrs.
Hopkins?" Mrs. Hopkins didn't know on what day she was to expect
the visitors, nor how long they intended to stay. Mr. John Morton
had said in his letter that he would send his own man down two days
before his arrival, and that was nearly all that he had said.

Then Morton started on his return walk to Dillsborough, again
taking the path across the bridge. "Ah!" he said to himself with a