"I am yet to learn, sir," said Eleanor, "that there is any secret to be communicated." "Why, not much, I own," replied the doctor; "at least what has occurred is no secret in the house by this time. What do you think _has_ happened?" "It is impossible for me to conjecture. Nothing to Ranulph, I hope." "Nothing of consequence, I trust,--though he is part concerned with it." "What is it?" asked Eleanor. "Pray satisfy her curiosity, doctor," interposed Mrs. Mowbray. "Well, then," said Small, rather more gravely, "the fact of the matter stands thus:--Lady Rookwood, who, as you know, was not the meekest wife in the world, now turns out by no means the gentlest mother, and has within this hour found out that she has some objection to your union with her son." "You alarm me, doctor." "Don't alarm yourself at all. It will be got over without difficulty, and only requires a little management. Ranulph is with her now, and I doubt not will arrange all to her satisfaction." "What was her objection?" asked Eleanor; "was it any one founded upon my obligation to Luke--my oath?" "Tut, tut! dismiss that subject from your mind entirely," said the doctor. "That oath is no more binding on your conscience than would have been the ties of marriage had you been wedded by yon recusant Romish priest, Father Checkley, upon whose guilty head the Lord be merciful! Bestow not a thought upon it. My anxiety, together with that of your mother, is to see you now, as speedily as may be, wedded to Ranulph, and then that idle question is set at rest for ever; and therefore, even if such a thing were to occur as that Lady Rookwood should not yield her consent to your marriage, as that consent is totally unnecessary, we must go through the ceremonial without it." "The grounds of Lady Rookwood's objections----" said Mrs. Mowbray. "Ay, the grounds of her ladyship's objections," interposed Small, who, when he had once got the lead, liked nobody to talk but himself, "are simply these, and exactly the sort of objections one would expect her to raise. She cannot bear the idea of abandoning the control of the house and estates to other hands. She cannot, and will not relinquish her station, as head of the establishment, which Ranulph has insisted upon as your right. I thought, when I conversed with her on this subject, that she was changed, but Naturam expellas furcâ, tamen usque recurret. I beg your pardon. She is, and always will be, the same." "Why did not Ranulph concede the point to her? I wish not to dwell here. I care not for these domains--for this mansion. They have no charms for me. I could be happy with Ranulph anywhere--happier anywhere than here." The kind-hearted doctor squeezed her hand in reply, brushing a tear from his eyes.