e as much to _him_ as to any body else. It was the
keystone of his property. It was the one thing needful to render
Lexley Park the most perfect seat in the county. But I was not slow in
learning (for every thing transpires in a small country neighbourhood)
that whatever _my_ surprise on finding that the old Hall had changed
its master, that of Sparks was far more overwhelming; that he was
literally frantic on finding himself frustrated in expectations which
formed the leading interest of his declining years. For the progress
of time which had made _me_ a man and a landed proprietor, had
converted the stout active squire into an infirm old man; and it was
his absorbing wish to die sole owner of the whole property to which
the baronets of the Altham family were born.

He even indulged in expressions of irritation, which nearly proved the
means of commencing this new neighbourship by a duel; accusing General
Stanley of having possessed himself by unfair means of Sir Laurence's
confidence, and employed agents, underhand, to effect the purchase. In
consequence of these groundless representations, it transpired in the
country that the decayed baronet had actually volunteered the offer of
the estate to the veteran proprietor of Stanley Manor; that he had
_solicited_ him to become the proprietor, and even accommodated him
with peculiar facilities of payment, on condition of his inserting in
the title-deeds an express undertaking, never to dispose of the old
Hall, or any portion of the property, to Jonas Sparks of Lexley Park,
or his heirs for ever. The solicitor by whom, under Sir Laurence's
direction, the deeds had been prepared, saw fit to divulge this
singular specification, rather than that a hostile encounter should
run the risk of embruing in blood the hands of two grey haired men.

Excepting as regarded the disappointment of our wealthy neighbour, all
was now established on the happiest footing at Lexley. The reparation
instantly commenced by the General, gave employment throughout the
winter to our workmen; and the evils arising from an absentee landlord
began gradually to disappear. It was a great joy to me to perceive
that the new proprietor of the Hall had the good taste to preserve the
antique character of the place in the minutest portion of his
alterations; and though the old gardens were no longer a wilderness,
not a shrub was displaced--not a mutilated statue removed. The
furniture had been sold off at the tim