n.

In the middle of the last century the proprietor of Coote-down was
Charles James Hardman, to whom the estate lineally descended from a
long line of ancestors. He was from his youth a person of an easy
disposition, who minded very little, so that he could follow his
ordinary amusements, and could see everybody around him contented;
though his habits were too indolent to improve the condition of his
dependants by any efforts of his own. At the age of twenty-five, he
married the heiress of a baronet belonging to the northern side of
the county. She was a beauty and a belle--a lady full of
determination and spirit; consequently the very opposite to himself.
She was, moreover, two years his senior. As was predicted by those
who knew the couple intimately, the match was not productive of
happiness, and they had been married scarcely a year and a half when
they separated. It appeared that this unpleasant step was solely the
fault of the wife; and her father was so incensed at her rash
conduct, that he altered his will, and left the whole of his
property to Hardman. Meanwhile, it was given out that the lady had
brought her lord a son, and it was hoped that this event would prove
a means of reconciling the differences which existed between them.
Despite all entreaties, however, Mrs Hardman refused to return to
her husband's roof.

Ten years passed, and she lived so completely in retirement, that
she deprived herself even of the society of her child; for when the
period of nursing was over, she sent him to Coote-down Hall, where
he was educated. At the end of that period her father died; and, to
her great disappointment, instead of finding herself uncontrolled
mistress of a large fortune, she discovered it was so left, that
unless she returned to her husband, she would be unable to benefit
by it in the smallest degree. Mutual friends again interfered, and,
after some difficulty, persuaded her to meet Hardman at her father's
funeral, which she appeared to have no objection to attend. The
happy result was that a reconciliation took place, and she resumed
her proper station as the lady of Coote-down Hall. It was, however,
observed that before she returned, the little son was sent away to
continue his education in a foreign seminary.

Privy to all these arrangements, and in fact the chief mover in
them, was Hardman's attorney. Such was the squire's indolence of
disposition, that to this individual he confided everything; not