severely.




II



Mr. Brookes went to London every day by the five minutes to ten; Willy
walked into Brighton. There he had been for some time striving to
found an agency for artificial manures, and in the twilight of a small
office he brooded over the different means of making money that were
open to him. The young ladies worked or played as it struck their
fancy. Sally admitted that she infinitely preferred walking round the
garden with a young man to doing wool-work in the drawing-room. Maggie
shared this taste, although she did not make bold profession of it.
Grace was the gentlest of the sisters, and had passed unnoticed until
she had fallen in love with a penniless officer, and tortured her
father with tears and haggard cheeks because he refused to supply her
with money to keep a husband. The doctor had ordered her iron; she had
been sent to London for a change, but neither remedy was of much
avail, and when she returned home pale and melancholy she had not
taken the keys from Maggie, but had allowed her to usurp her place
inthe house. Sally was supposed to look after the conservatories, but
beyond her own special flowers she left everything to the gardeners.

On Sundays Mr. Brookes walked through the long drawing-rooms
aimlessly. Sometimes he would stop before one of his pictures. "There,
that's a good picture, I paid a lot of money for it, I paid too much,