"Ibbetson at Glen Cottage! that red-headed fellow! My dear Miss Challoner, what sacrilege!--what desecration! What do you mean by forsaking us in this fashion? Are you all going to be married? Has Sir Francis died and left you a fortune? In the name of all that is mysterious, what is the meaning of this?" "If you will let a person speak, Percival," returned his wife, with dignity, "you shall have an answer:" and then she looked up in his handsome, good-natured face, and her manner softened insensibly. "Poor dear Mrs. Challoner has had losses! Some one has played her false, and they are obliged to leave Glen Cottage. But Hadleigh is a nice place," she went on, turning to Nan: "it is very select." "Where did you say, Evelyn?" inquired her husband, eagerly. "Hadleigh, in Sussex? Oh, that is a snug little place; no Toms and Harries go down there on a nine hours' trip. I was there myself once, with the Shannontons. Perhaps Lady Fitzroy and I may run down one day and have a look at you," he continued, with a friendly look at Phillis. It was only one of his good-natured speeches, but his wife took umbrage at it. "The sea never agrees with me. I thought you knew that, Percival!" rather reproachfully; "but I dare say we shall often see you here," she went on, fearing Nan would think her ungracious. "You and the Paines are so intimate that they are sure to have you for weeks together; it is so pleasant revisiting an old neighborhood, is it not? I know I always feel that with regard to Nuneaton." "Nuneaton never suits my constitution. I thought you would have remembered that, Evelyn," returned her husband, gravely; and then they both laughed. Lord Fitzroy was not without a sense of humor, and often restored amity by a joking word after this fashion, and then the conversation proceeded more smoothly. Nan and Phillis felt far more at their ease here than they had felt at the Paines'. There were no awkward questions asked: Lady Fitzroy was far too well bred for that. If she wondered at all how the Challoners were to live after they had lost their money, she kept such remarks for her husband's private ear. "Those girls ought to marry well," observed Lord Fitzroy, when he found himself alone again with his wife. "Miss Challoner is as pretty a creature as one need see, but Miss Phillis has the most in her." "How are they to meet people if they are going to bury themselves in a little sea-side place?" she returned, regretfully. "Shall I put on my habit now, Percy? do you think it will be cool enough for our ride?" "Yes, run along, my pet, and don't keep me too long waiting." Nevertheless, Lord Fitzroy did not object when his wife made room for him a moment beside her on the couch, while she made it up to him for her cross speeches, as she told him.