George was always ready to take alarm. He grew a little more depressed as he looked at her. “Is it anything about the property?” he said. “I never thought to deceive you,” she cried, losing command of herself. “I did not know. I thought it would be all simple, George--oh, if you will hear me to the end! and let us all consult together and see what will be best.” George did not make her any reply. He looked across at his wife, and said, “I told you there would be something,” with lips that quivered a little. Mrs. George got up instantly and came and stood beside him, all her full-blown softness reddening over with quick passion. “What is it? Have I spoke too fast? Is there some scheme against us after all?” she cried. “George,” said Winifred, “you know I am in no scheme against you. I want to give you your rights--but it seems I cannot. I want you to know everything, to help me to think. Tom will not hear me, he will not believe me; but you, George!” “Tom?” George cried. The news seemed so unexpected that his astonishment and dismay were undisguised. “Is Tom here?” “I sent for you both on the same day,” said Winifred, bowing her head as if it were a confession of guilt. “Oh,” he said; he did not show excitement in its usual form, he grew quieter and more subdued, standing in a sort of grey insignificance against the flushed fulness of his astonished wife. “If it is Tom,” he said, “you might as well have let us stay where we were. He never held up a finger for me when my father sent me away. You did your best, Winnie; oh, I am not unjust to you. Whatever it is, it’s not your fault. But Tom--if Tom has got it! though I thought he had been sent about his business too.” “But, George, George!” cried his wife, almost inarticulate with eagerness to speak. “George, you’re the eldest son. I want to know if you’re the eldest son, yes or no? And after that, who--who has any right? I’m in my own house and I’ll stay. It’s my own house, and nobody shall put me out,” she cried, with a hysterical laugh, followed by a burst of tears. “Stop that,” said George, with dull quiet, but authoritatively. “I don’t mean to say it isn’t an awful disappointment, Winnie; but if it’s Tom, why did you go and send for me?”