The rent-roll of Halowell Park was fifty thousand pounds or more per annum; then there was a fine residence in London, and a sea-side resort at Cowes. It was, indeed, a fortune, coming just at that time of need, calculated to turn one’s head, so to speak. “It is too good to be true,” Mr. Richards said, with a doubtful shake of the head. “Ellen, we don’t _deserve_ any such good fortune,” he added, remorsefully, as his mind went back to their treatment of Mr. Rosevelt and Star. “Nonsense, George!” she retorted, scornfully. “We deserve whatever we can get, and I mean to enjoy this windfall to the utmost. I reckon that jade will find it hard work to outshine us after this, and Uncle Jacob’s grand airs won’t trouble me in the least in the future. I shall go down to Halowell Park this week, see for myself what kind of a place it is, and what repairs and improvements are needed on the estate,” she concluded, ready to spend money with her accustomed energy and lavishness. Accordingly, in a few days they repaired thither, and were charmed with the grand old place. On their return to London they visited the late Sir Charles’ town house, and found that in keeping with the estate in Devonshire, and surely their prospects appeared to be as bright as they or any one could wish. One evening Mr. Compton, the lawyer, who was one of the first among his profession in the city, invited them to his mansion to meet some of his friends, and they were introduced to a number of people who frequented the highest circles in the great city. Among others, they met Lady Sherbrooke and her charming daughter, Vivien, and who, they were not long in discovering, greatly to their joy, were the mother and sister of Lord Carrol. Mrs. Richards was exultant over this piece of good luck, as she deemed it, and tried to make herself very agreeable to her ladyship, while Josephine sought to ingratiate herself with the younger lady. “I had the pleasure of meeting your son, Lord Carrol, when he was in America,” Mrs. Richards remarked, during her conversation with the young lord’s mother. “Indeed!” she said, looking interested at once, for her children were an all-absorbing topic at any time with her. “Yes; we first met him at Long Branch, a fashionable watering-place, and he afterward favored us with a visit of a few days at our country-seat, in Yonkers.” Mrs. Richards was determined to make the most out of the advantages she had enjoyed. “Ah, yes, I believe he has told me something about it,” the lady responded, while she thought that if such was the case she must arrange in some way to return the compliment thus paid to her idolized son. If they were successors to Sir Charles Thornton, they would occupy no mean position in the social world, she reasoned, and it would be no more than right to cultivate their acquaintance, while she could but acknowledge that Mrs. Richards was quite a superior appearing woman, and Josephine possessed beauty of a very brilliant type.