"Yes. That would be quite easy. The other places, you know, are let, but Beaminster has always been kept. The Duke has been there a good deal. It reminds me ... I was there for some years as a girl." Lizzie realized that Lady Adela was very near to tears; she had never before seen her, in any way, moved. She was distressed and uncomfortable. It was as though Lady Adela were, suddenly, after all these years, about to be driven from a position that had seemed, in its day, impregnable. "Oh! don't, please don't, now!" was Lizzie's silent cry. "It will spoil it all--all these years." Lady Adela didn't. Her voice became dry and hard, her eyes without expression. "We shall go down, I expect, on Monday if Dr. Christopher thinks that a good day." "I hope that the Duchess----" "My mother's very well to-day--quite her old self. I have just been up with her. It is odd, but for thirty years she has never expressed any interest in Beaminster. Now she is impatient to be there." "One often, I think, has a sudden longing for places." "Yes. I shall be glad myself to be there again." "This house?" "Oh! we shall shut it up--for the time Lord John will come down to Beaminster with us. I have spoken to Norris, but to-morrow morning, if you don't mind, we will go through things." "Certainly." "The house has not been shut for a great number of years--a very great number. During the last thirty years through the hottest weather my mother was here. "It will seem strange ..." Her voice trembled. "Is there anything more this afternoon?" Lizzie turned to the door. "No, I think not. Except--perhaps ..." Lady Adela was in great agitation. Her eyes sought Lizzie, beseeching her help. "Miss Rand--I think it only right to say. I'm afraid one cannot--in the nature of things--it's impossible, I fear, to expect--my mother to live very much longer." Her voice caught in a dry strangled cough. "Dr. Christopher has warned us. After my mother's death my life, of course, will be very different. I shall live very quietly--a good deal in the country and abroad, I expect. "I shall not, of course, have a secretary." "I quite understand," said Lizzie quietly. "I want you to know, Miss Rand," Lady Adela continued, "that although during all these years I have seemed very unappreciative.... It is not my way--I find it difficult to express--But I have, nevertheless, been very conscious--we have all been--of the things that you have done for me, indeed for the whole house. You have been admirable; quite admirable." "I have been very happy here," said Lizzie. "I am very glad of that. I must have seemed often very blind to all that you were doing. But I should like you to know that it is more--it is more--than simply your duty to the house--it is the many things that you have done personally for me. You have not yourself been, I dare say, aware of the effect that your company has had upon me. It has been very great."