some people were absolutely deluded. She was very much wrinkled;--
but as there are wrinkles which seem to come from the decay of
those muscles which should uphold the skin, so are there others
which seem to denote that the owner has simply got rid of the
watery weaknesses of juvenility. Mrs. Morton's wrinkles were strong
wrinkles. She was thin, but always carried herself bolt upright,
and would never even lean back in her chair. She had a great idea
of her duty, and hated everybody who differed from her with her
whole heart. She was the daughter of a Viscount, a fact which she
never forgot for a single moment, and which she thought gave her
positive superiority to all women who were not the daughters of
Dukes or Marquises, or of Earls. Therefore, as she did not live
much in the fashionable world, she rarely met any one above
herself. Her own fortune on her marriage had been small, but now
she was a rich woman. Her husband had been dead nearly half a
century and during the whole of that time she had been saving
money. To two charities she gave annually five pounds per annum
each. Duty demanded it, and the money was given. Beyond that she
had never been known to spend a penny in charity. Duty, she had
said more than once, required of her that she do something to
repair the ravages made on the Morton property by the preposterous
extravagance of the old squire in regard to the younger son, and
that son's--child. In her anger she had not hesitated on different
occasions to call the present Reginald a bastard, though the
expression was a wicked calumny for which there was no excuse.
Without any aid of hers the Morton property had repaired itself.
There had been a minority of thirteen or fourteen years, and since
that time the present owner had not spent his income. But John
Morton was not himself averse to money, and had always been careful
to maintain good relations with his grandmother. She had now been