The next morning Mr Allynne Markworth took a solitary walk citywards. After passing through Temple Bar and the then--undesolated--Fleet Street, he ascended the hill of Ludgate; and turning into a thin row of straggling and seedy old buildings, found himself within the precincts of Doctor's Commons, sacred to the archives of marriage--one cannot always say love--and death! Here, having previously invested the sum of one shilling in current coin of the realm, he received permission to examine the "Last will and testament of one Roger Hartshorne, deceased, of the county of Sussex, gentleman," the perusal of which document appeared to give him much internal satisfaction. His task did not take him long, and he was soon retracing his steps. On the day after he went down to Sussex, as agreed, with Tom Hartshorne. Volume 1, Chapter II. THE SUSSEX DOWAGER. Only a simple, and yet special name and appellation-- "Mrs Hartshorne, The Poplars." That is all. Nothing much in the name certainly, at first sight, nor yet such a very extraordinary address, either in the nomenclature of the mansion, or in its surroundings; but the two taken together were something entirely out of the common. Mrs Hartshorne by herself, or the Poplars, considered merely as a residence, were neither of them grand or startling phenomena; but one could not well do without the other, and the dual in unity formed a complete and unique integrity. In other words, "Mrs Hartshorne, of the Poplars," was an "institution" in the land, to quote an Americanism, although neither a thing of beauty nor a joy for ever. She was a _rara avis in terris_, a millionaire Hecate, a rich and slightly-over-middle-aged eccentric, a Xantipical Croesus--no less a personage, in fact, than the "Sussex Dowager." Far and wide throughout this county--over a considerable portion of which she owned manorial rights of vassalage, and ruled with sovereign sway in the matter of leases and titheholds and rackrents--amongst the lesser farmers and villagers she was known by this title; although, it must be confessed, her more intimate dependents and rustic neighbours dubbed her by far less elegant sobriquets.