ly numerous to make an auctioneer's
mouth water. But the great charm of Ongar Park lay in the grounds
immediately round the house, which sloped down from the terrace before
the windows to a fast-running stream which was almost hidden--but was
not hidden--by the shrubs on its bank. Though the domain itself was
small, the shrubberies and walks were extensive. It was a place costly
to maintain in its present perfect condition, but when that was said
against it, all was said against it which its bitterest enemies could
allege.

But Lady Ongar, with her large jointure, and with no external expenses
whatever, could afford this delight without imprudence. Everything in
and about the place was her own, and she might live there happily, even
in the face of the world's frowns, if she could teach herself to find
happiness in rural luxuries. On her immediate return to England, her
lawyer had told her that he found there would be opposition to her
claim, and that an attempt would be made to keep the house out of her
hands. Lord Ongar's people would, he said, bribe her to submit to this
by immediate acquiescence, as to her income. But she had declared that
she would not submit--that she would have house and income and all; and
she had been successful. "Why should I surrender what is my own?" she
said, looking the lawyer full in the face. The lawyer had not dared to
tell her that her opponents--Lord Ongar's heirs--had calculated on her
anxiety to avoid exposure; but she knew that that was meant. "I have
nothing to fear from them," she said, "and mean to claim what is my own
by my settlement." There had, in truth, been no ground for disputing her
right, and the place was given up before she had been three months in
England. She at once went down and took possession, and there she was,
alone, when her sister was communicating to Harry Clavering her plan
about Captain Archie.

She had never seen the place till she reached it on this occasion; nor
had she ever seen, nor would she now probably ever see, Lord Ongar's
larger house, Courton Castle. She had gone abroad with him immediately
on their marriage, and now she had returned a widow to take possession
of his house. There she was, in possession of it all. The furniture in
the rooms, the books in the cases, the gilded clocks and grand mirrors
about the house, all the implements of wealthy care about the gardens,
the corn in the granaries and the ricks in the hay-yard, the horses in
the