"Bravo, Mariquita! Score for you! I hide my diminished head. Look here, though, I've got an idea which I present as a peace-offering. If you don't succeed in getting a house near town, what do you say to Yew Hedge, in our neighbourhood? It's to be sold, and you used to admire it in the old days, I remember. It's a quaint, old-fashioned place, with a drawing-room out of which you could make great things; six acres of land, and some fine trees. Altogether you might do worse, and although it is further in the country than you wish, there are several human creatures in the neighbourhood who would be delighted to welcome you!" "Rob, you admirable person! You have the most delightful ideas! Yew Hedge! I have never been inside the house itself, but I remember peeping over the hedge and admiring the grounds, and it would be just scrumptious to be near you all. I'll speak to father about it at once, and it will be a comfort to have something in the background, to keep up our spirits if our search continues to be as unsuccessful as it is at present." Another week's house-hunting proved the truth of Peggy's words, for if it had not been for the thought of Yew Hedge, the wanderers would have begun to think that there was no resting-place for them within their native land. House after house was visited, and house after house proved unsuitable or, in those rare instances when all requirements were fulfilled, so far beyond Colonel Saville's purse as to transform perfection into aggravation, pure and simple. It seemed as though Fate were shutting every avenue in order to advocate the claim of Yew Hedge; but, though Peggy secretly rejoiced over the fact, she could not induce Arthur to share her feelings. "It's a charming old place, I grant you," he said, on one of the precious, too rare occasions when brother and sister found an opportunity for a confidential chat, "and, personally, I think nothing of the distance. When you are once settled in the train, you might as well have an hour and a half's journey as forty or fifty minutes', but there are other considerations. For my own sake I wish the house had been situated anywhere in the kingdom but just where it is--within half a mile's distance of the Darcys'." Peggy looked up quickly, for this was the nearest approach to a confidence which Arthur had made, and though she did not wish to force him into speech, she was equally anxious not to miss an opportunity. "You mean, Arthur, you mean because of--" Arthur rose from his seat, and paced restlessly up and down the room.