It has been already said that while Gerald Eversley was at Helmsbury he spent a great part of his time with Lady Venniker and her daughter. When he was not with them, he was often in the library. He did not accompany Lord Venniker and Harry on their expeditions. But Lady Venniker’s delicacy of health made it impossible for her to leave the house in severe weather; and even in the summer she could not, at the best, walk beyond the garden, but was obliged, if she went out at all, to go for a short drive in the carriage. There were times, too, when she was so ill all day, or even for several days, that she could not see anyone except her husband or her daughter. Thus it happened that, if there was a walk to be taken into the village, Gerald became almost of necessity Miss Venniker’s companion, often with her little brother running at his side, but sometimes without him. It was with no sense of embarrassment that they took these walks; they were old friends, they had always Harry to talk about, they were the only persons to walk together, and so they walked together. But it was an unexpected pleasure to Gerald Eversley when it dawned upon him in the course of these walks that Miss Venniker had been led--whether by native generosity of character or, as is perhaps more probable, by inheritance of thought and principle from her mother--to enter into some degree of sympathy with some of his views which would be treated as heretical in the majority of country houses. For instance, Miss Venniker did not look upon an aristocracy as a divinely appointed institution deserving to be maintained at all costs. She thought that it was in the order of Providence that there should be different _strata_ or classes of society. She thought (and here, no doubt, she reflected her mother’s opinion) that the world was likely to be better off if the distinction of rich and poor continued--supposing the rich recognised their duty of generosity and the poor their corresponding duty of gratitude--than if all persons possessed the very moderate amount of property which would be theirs if wealth were equally distributed. But she admitted that privileges such as rank and riches were designed for the general good. She did not dissent from a remark which Gerald made only half-seriously, that ‘people upon the whole enjoyed as much respect as they deserved, some people rather more.’ ‘You don’t believe, then,’ she said, ‘that the lower classes--perhaps they are higher in God’s sight--that they are losing the sense of respect for their betters?’ ‘No,’ said Gerald, ‘not if their betters are really better. It always appears to me that the persons who complain most loudly about the loss of respect are the persons who least deserve to be respected.’ ‘I always find the poor so very respectful and so very grateful,’ said Miss Venniker. ‘It is so little that one can do for them, and they seem to value a kind word so much.’