Evidently the question of why Hetton didn't marry perplexed the Justice; he paused in his attentions to the pig; the animal, who was black but comely, missing the accustomed caress, gave a little snort of impatience. "Bother Hetton!" said the Justice, administering a sudden and unexpected prod to that tender but irritable skin. The injured and indignant animal gave vent to a succession of eldritch screams. The callous Justice passed on to the next stye, immersed in thought. Great were the preparations at Walls End Castle, and greater still the astonishment of the old housekeeper when she heard that the winter house party was to be graced with the presence of ladies. Not that what were termed the state apartments were in any way disturbed. The old show rooms were left to the mice and ghosts, but the more modern suites were all to be occupied. My lady's own rooms had been allotted to Haggard and his wife. The rather Spartan simplicity of the late Lady Pit Town had made her own rooms sombre, if not grim. It had been a labour of love with the old lord to change all this. The æsthetic gentleman Messrs. Spick and Span, the great upholsterers, had sent down, had been severely snubbed by Dr. Wolff; the upholsterer had submitted elaborate coloured pictures of his idea, his firm's idea, of what a suite of rooms should be. Part of that idea was sham _bric-à-brac_, the rest was _carte blanche_ to Messrs. Spick and Span. "We should like," said that well-dressed and self-satisfied individual, "to turn out a job worthy of our house's reputation and that of his lordship. We should suggest that the boudoir be hung with Japanese embroideries; of course, there would be an Aubusson carpet, and we should cover the whole flooring"--which Mr. Veneer contemptuously indicated with his umbrella--"with our patent _parquet_; probably a mediæval pattern would be the most suitable. We should restore the ceiling and liven up the mouldings with a free use of gold; in fact, my advice in the matter is, that his lordship should place himself entirely in our hands. Of course, money's no object. His lordship cannot do better than to rely upon the taste of our Mr. Spick." "I do not think it shall be so, my friend," Wolff had replied. "You will put fresh and pretty papers on the walls. Your hangings must be of chintz, of pretty chintz, and you will put a cheerful carpet on the floor. As for furniture, there is plenty of that here, but the chairs and the sofas you shall provide; one thing only you shall remember--they shall be comfortable. His lordship will sit in every chair; if it is not comfortable it will go back. As for the ceiling you shall not touch him."