nformation on which he could rely, he learned that Mr. Marrable was
in real danger, but that Sir Gregory's ailment was no more than his
usual infirmity heightened by anxiety on behalf of his son. "Your
uncle may live for the next ten years," said the doctor; "but I do
not know what to say about Mr. Marrable." All this time the care
and time of the two ladies were divided between the invalids.
Mrs. Brownlow tended her nephew, and Edith, as usual, waited
upon Sir Gregory. In such circumstances it was not extraordinary
that Edith Brownlow and Walter Marrable should be thrown much
together,--especially as it was the desire of all concerned with them
that they should become man and wife. Poor Edith was subject to a
feeling that everybody knew that she was expected to fall in love
with the man. She thought it probable, too, that the man himself had
been instructed to fall in love with her. This no doubt created a
great difficulty for her, a difficulty which she felt to be heavy and
inconvenient;--but it was lessened by the present condition of the
household. When there is illness in a house, the feminine genius and
spirit predominates the male. If the illness be so severe as to cause
a sense of danger, this is so strongly the case that the natural
position of the two is changed. Edith, quite unconscious of the
reason, was much less afraid of her proposed lover than she would
have been had there been no going about on tiptoe, no questions asked
with bated breath, no great need for womanly aid.

Walter had been there four days, and was sitting with Edith one
evening out on the lawn among the rhododendrons. When he had found
what was the condition of the household, he had offered to go back at
once to his regiment at Birmingham. But Sir Gregory would not hear of
it. Sir Gregory hated the regiment, and had got an idea in his head
that his nephew ought not to be there at all. He was too weak and
diffident to do it himself; but if any one would have arranged it for
him, he would have been glad to fix an income for Walter Marrable
on condition that Walter should live at home, and look after the
property, and be unto him as a son. But nothing had been fixed,
nothing had been said, and on the day but one following, the captain
was to return to Birmingham. Mrs. Brownlow was with her nephew, and
Walter was sitting with Edith among the rhododendrons, the two having
come out of the house together after such a dinner as is served in a
hou