father, without his father's excuse. God knows,
I've been too busy with parish affairs to attend properly to my own,
whereas he--"

"He is young, John," pleaded the indulgent mother, "and ought to be in
receipt of a handsome allowance from his grandfather. He has only been
spending what really should be his."

"Sophistry, my darling, sophistry!"

"At any rate, I'm going up to my father to get money from him, by hook or
by crook. We must have it, or we are irretrievably ruined."

CHAPTER VI

A KINSHIP SOMETHING LESS THAN KIND

"Pull the blinds higher and raise my pillows, do you hear, woman? I want
to see what that lazy scamp of a husband of yours is about--loafing for a
certainty, if he thinks no one can see him."

Herresford addressed his housekeeper, the wife of Ripon, the
head-gardener. Mrs. Ripon bit her lip as she tugged at the blind cords
savagely, and gave her master a defiant look, which he was quick to see.
It apparently amused him, for he smiled grimly.

"Oh, yes, yes, I know what you want to say," he snarled: "that I grind
you all down, and treat you as slaves. That, my good woman, is where you
make a mistake. Yet, you are slaves--slaves, do you hear? And I intend to
see that you don't rob me, for to waste the time that I pay for is to rob
me."

"Well, sir, if we don't suit you, we can go."

"My good woman, you'd have gone long ago, if it hadn't suited my
convenience to retain you. Ripon is a good gardener; you are a good
housekeeper. You both know the value of money. We happen to suit each
other. Your husband has more sense than you. He does the work of two men,
and he's paid for it. If the positions were reversed, he would be quite
as hard a master as I; that's why I like him. He gets quite as much out
of those under his control as I get out of him--only he doesn't pay 'em
double."

The old man looked like a wizened monkey as he screwed up his eyes and
chuckled. He was in a good temper this morning--good for him--and he
looked well pleased as his eye traveled slowly over the wonderful expanse
of garden which lay spread out like a fairy panorama below his window.

"Give me those field-glasses," he commanded sharply, "and then you can
get about your business. Those maids downstairs will be wasting their
time while you're up here."

"What will you take for luncheon to-day, sir?"

"Woman, I left enough chicken yesterday to feed a family. The chicken
curried, and don't forget the chutne