"Oh," grunted her husband, annoyed at what he deemed her sulky manner, when he himself was so graciously inclined to be conciliatory, and also displeased to find his news anticipated, "you've been buying an evening paper, have you? You must have more money than you know what to do with, it seems to me." Harry was thankfully accepting this imputation in silence, when Mrs. Basil's soft voice was heard. "No, Sir; it was I who told your good lady. I had a letter from Crompton by the afternoon's post." "The devil you did!" cried Solomon, turning sharply upon her. "How came that about?" "I was housekeeper at Crompton, Sir, in old Mrs. Carew's time, for some years, and one of the servants wrote to let me know of the accident." "Housekeeper, were you?" said Solomon, with interest. "That must have been a good place, with deuced good pickings, eh?" "Solomon, Solomon," remonstrated his wife, in a low voice, "Mrs. Basil is quite a lady. Don't you see that you offend her?" It is more than probable that, under ordinary circumstances, Mr. Coe would have resented this rebuke with choleric vehemence; but he had his reasons for being good-humored in the present instance. "You must excuse my country manners, Mrs. Basil," said he. "As my wife will tell you, I must always have my joke; but I mean no offense. So you were housekeeper at Crompton, were you? Well, now, that's curious, for Mrs. Coe's father and I myself, as you heard me saying, have had a great deal to do with Carew. You knew him well, of course?" "Yes, Sir; I did." "And the place too, of course. It was a very fine one, was it not? Plenty of pictures, and looking-glasses, and things?" "It was very richly furnished." It was curious to mark the difference of manner between questioner and respondent. Solomon, usually so reticent and reserved, was grown quite voluble. Mrs. Basil, on the other hand, naturally so apt in speech, seemed to reply with difficulty. She was weighing every word. "The estate, I suppose, was out of your beat; you did not have much to do with that?" "I used to walk in the park, Sir, most days." "Ay; but the property generally? The friend who writes you to-day don't say any thing about _that_, I suppose--whether any of it is to be sold or not, for instance?" "The report--of course, being a servant, she can only speak from report--is that Mr. Carew's affairs are in a sad state. Every thing, I believe, is to be sold at once. The whole estate is said to be--I don't know if I use the right term--mortgaged." "Just so," replied Solomon; "yes, yes. That is so, no doubt." There was a slight pause; Mrs. Basil courtesied, and was about to leave the room. "Stop a bit, ma'am," said Solomon. "My wife tells me that you are a lone woman--a widow. Perhaps you'd like to take a bit of dinner with us to-day?"