the only whitewash against such dirt was to be found
in the aggrandisement of his daughter and the nobility of her children.
He had, perhaps, been happier than he deserved. He might have sold her
to some lord who would have scorned her after a while and despised
himself. As it was, the Marquis, who was his son-in-law, was a man whom
upon the whole he could well trust. Lord George had indeed made one
little error in regard to Mrs. Houghton; but that had passed away and
would not probably be repeated.

Of all those closely concerned in the coming of Popenjoy the father
seemed to bear the greatness of the occasion with the most modesty.
When the Dean congratulated him he simply smiled and expressed a hope
that Mary would do well in her troubles. Poor Mary's welfare had
hitherto been almost lost in the solicitude for her son. "She can't but
do well now," said the Dean, who of all men was the most sanguine. "She
is thoroughly healthy, and nothing has been amiss."

"We must be very careful--that's all," said the Marquis. Hitherto he
had not brought his tongue to speak of his son as Popenjoy, and did not
do so for many a day to come. That an heir had been born was very well;
but of late the name of Popenjoy had not been sweet to his ears.

Nothing had gone amiss, and nothing did go amiss. When it was decided
that the young Marchioness was to nurse her own baby,--a matter which
Mary took into her own hands with a very high tone,--the old
Marchioness became again a little troublesome. She had her memories
about it all in her own time; how she had not been able to do as Mary
was doing. She remembered all that, and how unhappy it had made her;
but she remembered also that, had she done so for Popenjoy, Sir Henry
would have insisted on three pints of porter. Then Mary rebelled
altogether, and talked of drinking nothing but tea,--and would not be
brought to consent even to bitter beer without a great deal of trouble.
But, through it all, the mother throve and the baby throve; and when
the bonfires had been all burned and the bells had been all rung, and
the child had been shown to such tenants and adherents and workmen as
desired to see him, the family settled down to a feeling of permanent
satisfaction.

And then came the christening. Now in spite of the permanent
satisfaction there were troubles,--troubles of which the Marquis became
conscious very soon, and which he was bound to communicate to his
sister,--troubles of which