at rest Lady Mason would have been prudent to look for another home. The fact that Orley Farm was his house and not hers occurred almost too frequently to Lucius Mason; and I am not certain that it would have been altogether comfortable as a permanent residence for his mother after he should have brought home to it some such bride as her he now proposed to himself.
It was necessary that he should write an answer to his mother, which he did at once.
'Orley Farm, — January.
'Dear Mother,
'It is I fear too late for me to offer any counsel on the subject of your letter. I cannot say that I think you are right.
'Your affectionate son,
'Lucius Mason.'
And then, having finished this, he again walked the room. 'It is all up between me and her,' he said, 'as real friends in life and heart. She shall still have the respect of a son, and I shall have the regard of a mother. But how can I trim my course to suit the welfare of the wife of Sir Peregrine Orme?' And then he lashed himself into anger at the idea that his mother should have looked for other solace than that which he could have given.
Nothing more from The Cleeve reached him that day; but early on the following morning he had a visitor whom he certainly had not expected. Before he sat down to his breakfast he heard the sound of a horse's feet before the door, and immediately afterwards Peregrine Orme entered the sitting-room. He was duly shown in by the servant, and in his ordinary way came forward quickly and shook hands. Then he waited till the door was closed, and at once began upon the subject which had brought him there.
'Mason, he said, 'you have heard of this that is being done at The Cleeve?'
Lucius immediately fell back a step or two, and considered for a moment how he should answer. He had pressed very heavily on his mother in his own thoughts, but he was not prepared to hear her harshly spoken of by another.
'Yes,' said he, 'I have heard.'
'And I understand from your mother that you do not approve of it.'
'Approve of it! No; I do not approve of it.'
'Nor by heavens do I!'
'I do not approve of it,' said Mason, speaking with deliberation; 'but I do not know that I can take any steps towards preventing it.'
'Cannot you see her, and talk to her, and tell her how wrong it is?'
'Wrong! I do not know that she is wrong in that sense. I do
