, "Poor Fairfax will not die of this
bout, but he has got his first warning."

Mrs. Chiverton was sorry, but she did not refrain from speculating on
how Miss Fairfax would be influenced in her fortunes by the triple
catastrophe of her uncle Laurence's marriage, her uncle Frederick's
death, and her grandfather's impending demise. "I suppose if Mr.
Laurence were unmarried, as all the world believed him to be, she would
stand now as the greatest prospective heiress in this part of the
county. If it was her fortune Mr. Cecil Burleigh wanted, he has had a
deliverance."

"I am far from sure that Burleigh thinks so," returned Mr. Chiverton
significantly.

"Oh, I imagined that projected marriage was one of convenience, a family
compact."

"In the first instance so it was. But the young lady's rosy simplicity
caught Burleigh's fancy, and it is still in the power of Mr. Fairfax to
make his granddaughter rich."

Whether Mr. Fairfax would make his granddaughter rich was debated in
circles where it was not a personal interest, but of course it was
discussed with much livelier vivacity where it was. Lady Angleby
expressed a confident expectation that as Miss Fairfax had been latterly
brought up in anticipation of heiress-ship, her grandfather would endow
her with a noble fortune, and Miss Burleigh, with ulterior views for her
brother, ventured to hope the same. But Mr. Fairfax was in no haste to
set his house in order. He saw his son Laurence for a few minutes twice,
but gave him no encouragement to linger at Abbotsmead, and his reply to
Mr. John Short on the only occasion when he openly approached the
subject of will-making was, "There is time enough yet."

The household was put into mourning, but as there was no bringing home
of the dead and no funeral, the event of the eldest son's death passed
with little outward mark. Elizabeth was her grandfather's chief
companion in-doors, and she was cheerful for his sake under
circumstances that were tryingly oppressive. To keep up to her duty she
rode daily, rain or fair, and towards the month's end there were many
soft, wet days when all the wolds were wrapt in mist. People watched her
go by often, with Joss at Janey's heels, and Ranby following behind, and
said they were sorry for Miss Fairfax; it was very sad for so young a
girl to have to bear, unsupported, the burden of her grandfather's
declining old age. For the squire was still consistent in his obstinacy
in refusing to be g