e punishment was deserved.

Her first step after writing her note to Harry was to send for Mr.
Turnbull, her lawyer. She had expected to see Harry on the evening of
the day on which she had written, but instead of that she received a
note from him in which he said that he would come to her before long.
Mr. Turnbull was more instant in obeying her commands, and was with her
on the morning after he received her injunction. He was almost a perfect
stranger to her, having only seen her once, and that for a few moments
after her return to England. Her marriage settlements had been prepared
for her by Sir Hugh's attorney; but during her sojourn in Florence it
had become necessary that she should have some one in London to look
after her own affairs, and Mr. Turnbull had been recommended to her by
lawyers employed by her husband. He was a prudent, sensible man, who
recognized it to be his imperative interest to look after his client's
interest. And he had done his duty by Lady Ongar in that trying time
immediately after her return. An offer had then been made by the Courton
family to give Julia her income without opposition if she would
surrender Ongar Park. To this she had made objections with indignation,
and Mr. Turnbull, though he had at first thought that she would be wise
to comply with the terms proposed, had done her work for her with
satisfactory expedition. Since those days she had not seen him, but now
she had summoned him, and he was with her in Bolton Street.

"I want to speak to you, Mr. Turnbull," she said, "about that place down
in Surrey. I don't like it."

"Not like Ongar Park?" he said, "I have always heard that it is so
charming."

"It is not charming to me. It is a sort of property that I don't want,
and I mean to give it up."

"Lord Ongar's uncles would buy your interest in it, I have no doubt."

"Exactly. They have sent to me, offering to do so. My brother-in-law,
Sir Hugh Clavering, called on me with a message from them saying so. I
thought that he was very foolish to come, and so I told him. Such things
should be done by one's lawyers. Don't you think so, Mr. Turnbull?" Mr.
Turnbull smiled as he declared that, of course, he, being a lawyer, was
of that opinion. "I am afraid they will have thought me uncivil,"
continued Julia, "as I spoke rather brusquely to Sir Hugh Clavering. I
am not inclined to take any steps through Sir Hugh Clavering, but I do
not know that I have any reason to be angry with