kind to her, and hoped she would soften towards us; but
she did not. I could see her eyes glitter with their keen, searching
glance under her crape veil, as if she were measuring Alured all over
when the child walked into church with me; and, indeed, when he went to
the Zoological Gardens some time later, and saw the cobra di capello,
he said--

"Ursa, why does that snake look at me just like Lady Hester?"

There must have been fascination in the eager mystery of the gaze, for,
strangely enough, he was not afraid of her. She always made much of
him if he came in her way, and he was so fond of Trevor Lea that
nothing made him so eager or happy as the thought of seeing him.

The one idea that her boy was ousted by Alured, and the longing to see
him the heir, seemed to drive out everything else from Hester--almost
feeling for her husband.

Fulk had written to Francis Dayman, and he intended to come and see
after his sister as soon as he could leave his business; but this
rather precipitated matters. Hester was persuaded that Alured could
not live through that eighth year of his life at the utmost, and
Perrault somehow persuaded her, that only as her husband could he
protect her interests and Trevor's, though what machinations she could
have expected from us, I cannot guess; or how, in the case of a minor,
we could have interfered with her rights. But the man had gained such
an ascendancy over her, that she did not even perceive that the
connection was not good for that great object of hers, her son's
position in society. In fact, he persuaded her that he was of a noble
old French family, and ought to be a count. How we laughed when we
heard of it! She did preserve wisdom enough to insist upon having her
fortune conveyed to trustees for her son, so that Perrault could only
touch the income, and not the principal; and as she told everyone that
he had been determined upon this being done, I suppose he saw that any
demur would excite her suspicion.

They went to London, and were married there, while we were still
scouting poor Miss Prior's rumours. We were very sorry when we thought
of poor Joel's charge; and, besides, "the count" had an uncomfortable
slippery look about him. I can't describe it otherwise. He was a
slim, trim, well-dressed man, only given to elaborate jewellery and
waistcoats, with polished black hair and boots, and keen French-looking
eyes, well-mannered, and so versatile and polite, that he s