the literary Yule has a daughter, and by her
being invited here I should think she's the favourite niece. No, no;
depend upon it they won't get anything at all.'

Having finished his breakfast, he leaned back and began to unfold the
London paper that had come by post.

'Had Mr Reardon any hopes of that kind at the time of his marriage, do
you think?' inquired Mrs Milvain.

'Reardon? Good heavens, no! Would he were capable of such forethought!'

In a few minutes Jasper was left alone in the room. When the servant
came to clear the table he strolled slowly away, humming a tune.

The house was pleasantly situated by the roadside in a little village
named Finden. Opposite stood the church, a plain, low, square-towered
building. As it was cattle-market to-day in the town of Wattleborough,
droves of beasts and sheep occasionally went by, or the rattle of a
grazier's cart sounded for a moment. On ordinary days the road saw few
vehicles, and pedestrians were rare.

Mrs Milvain and her daughters had lived here for the last seven years,
since the death of the father, who was a veterinary surgeon. The widow
enjoyed an annuity of two hundred and forty pounds, terminable with her
life; the children had nothing of their own. Maud acted irregularly as
a teacher of music; Dora had an engagement as visiting governess in a
Wattleborough family. Twice a year, as a rule, Jasper came down from
London to spend a fortnight with them; to-day marked the middle of his
autumn visit, and the strained relations between him and his sisters
which invariably made the second week rather trying for all in the house
had already become noticeable.

In the course of the morning Jasper had half an hour's private talk
with his mother, after which he set off to roam in the sunshine. Shortly
after he had left the house, Maud, her domestic duties dismissed for the
time, came into the parlour where Mrs Milvain was reclining on the sofa.

'Jasper wants more money,' said the mother, when Maud had sat in
meditation for a few minutes.

'Of course. I knew that. I hope you told him he couldn't have it.'

'I really didn't know what to say,' returned Mrs Milvain, in a feeble
tone of worry.

'Then you must leave the matter to me, that's all. There's no money for
him, and there's an end of it.'

Maud set her features in sullen determination. There was a brief
silence.

'What's he to do, Maud?'

'To do? How do other people do? What do Dora and I do?'

'