t hasn't been shaken, not a
wall that hasn't been examined for secret doors! Mr. Mutimer has died
intestate!'

The other lady was mute.

'And shall I tell you how it came about? Two days before his death, he
had his will from Mr. Yottle, saying he wanted to make change--probably
to execute a new will altogether. My dear, he destroyed it, and death
surprised him before he could make another.'

'He wished to make changes?'

'Ah!' Mrs. Mewling drew out the exclamation, shaking her raised finger,
pursing her lips. 'And of that, too, I can tell you the reason. Mr.
Mutimer was anything but pleased with young Eldon. That young man,
let me tell you, has been conducting himself--oh, shockingly! Now you
wouldn't dream of repeating this?'

'Certainly not.'

'It seems that news came not so very long ago of a certain actress,
singer,--something of the kind, you understand? Friends thought it their
duty--rightly, of course,--to inform Mr. Mutimer. I can't say exactly
who did it; but we know that Hubert Eldon is not regarded affectionately
by a good many people. My dear, he has been out of England for more than
a month, living--oh, such extravagance! And the moral question, too? You
know--those women! Someone, they say, of European reputation; of course
no names are breathed. For my part, I can't say I am surprised. Young
men, you know; and particularly young men of that kind! Well, it has
cost him a pretty penny; he'll remember it as long as he lives.

'Then the property will go--'

'Yes, to the working people in London; the roughest of the rough, they
say! What _will_ happen? It will be impossible for us to live here
if they come and settle at the Manor. The neighbourhood will be
intolerable. Think of the rag-tag-and-bobtail they will bring with
them!'

'But Hubert!' ejaculated Mrs. Waltham, whom this vision of barbaric
onset affected little in the crashing together of a great airy castle.

'Well, my dear, after all he still has more to depend upon than many we
could instance. Probably he will take to the law,--that is, if he ever
returns to England.'

'He is at the Manor,' said Mrs. Waltham, with none of the pleasure it
would ordinarily have given her to be first with an item of news. 'He
came this afternoon.'

'He did! Who has seen him?'

'Alfred and Adela passed him on the road. He was in a cab.'

'I feel for his poor mother. What a meeting it will be! But then we must
remember that they had no actual claim on