He found his mother and sister at the small house,--the house at which Farmer Price was living only a month or two since. No doubt it was the recognised dower house, but nevertheless there was still about it a flavour of Farmer Price. A considerable sum of money had been spent upon it, which had come from a sacrifice of a small part of the capital belonging to the three sisters, with an understanding that it should be repaid out of the old lady's income. But no one, except the old lady herself, anticipated such repayment. All this had created trouble and grief, and the family, which was never gay, was now more sombre than ever. When the further news was told to Lady Sarah it almost crushed her. "A child!" she said in a horror-stricken whisper, turning quite pale, and looking as though the crack of doom were coming at once. "Do you believe it?" Then her brother explained the grounds he had for believing it. "And that it was born in wedlock twelve months before the fact was announced to us." "It has never been announced to us," said Lord George. "What are we to do? is my mother to be told? She ought to know at once; and yet how can we tell her? What shall you do about the Dean?" "He knows." "You told him?" "Yes; I thought it best." "Well,--perhaps. And yet it is terrible that any man so distant from us should have our secrets in his keeping." "As Mary's father, I thought it right that he should know." "I have always liked the Dean personally," said Lady Sarah. "There is a manliness about him which has recommended him, and having a full hand he knows how to open it. But he isn't----; he isn't quite----" "No; he isn't quite----," said Lord George, also hesitating to pronounce the word which was understood by both of them. "You must tell my mother, or I must. It will be wrong to withhold it. If you like, I will tell Susanna and Amelia."