I ain't liked; that's the truth of it, Mr
Griffith."

"Who'll come in your place, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

"Miss Brodrick shall,--if she will. It was not I who asked my uncle
to bring me here."

"But she is not to have the property?"

"Not the property;--at least I suppose not. But she shall have the
house and the grounds, and the land adjacent. And she shall manage it
all, dividing the rents with me, or something of that kind. I have
offered it to her, but I do not say that she will agree. In the
meantime, if you will come up and see me sometimes, I will take it
as a kindness. I do not know that I have done any harm, so as to be
shunned."

Then Farmer Griffith readily said that he would go up occasionally
and see his landlord.

CHAPTER XI

Isabel at Hereford

Isabel had not been many hours at home at Hereford before, as was
natural, her father discussed with her the affairs of the property
and her own peculiar interest in the will which had at last been
accepted. It has to be acknowledged that Isabel was received somewhat
as an interloper in the house. She was not wanted there, at any
rate by her stepmother,--hardly by her brothers and sisters,--and
was, perhaps, not cordially desired even by her father. She and her
stepmother had never been warm friends. Isabel herself was clever and
high-minded; but high-spirited also, imperious, and sometimes hard.
It may be said of her that she was at all points a gentlewoman. So
much could hardly be boasted of the present Mrs Brodrick; and, as
was the mother, so were that mother's children. The father was a
gentleman, born and bred as such; but in his second marriage he
had fallen a little below his station, and, having done so, had
accommodated himself to his position. Then there had come many
children, and the family had increased quicker than the income. So it
had come to pass that the attorney was not a wealthy man. This was
the home which Isabel had been invited to leave when, now many years
since, she had gone to Llanfeare to become her uncle's darling. There
her life had been very different from that of the family at Hereford.
She had seen but little of society, but had been made much of, and
almost worshipped, by those who were around her. She was to be,--was
to have been,--the Lady of Llanfeare. By every tenant about the
place she had been loved and esteemed. With the servants she had
been supreme. Even at Carmarthen, when she was seen there, s