Then the vicar would go home to chat with Mrs. Vicar about the changes which were taking place, and wonder what Mr. Hammerton thought about the affair. Of course he knew nothing of it at present; there had scarcely been time for letters to reach him since the match had really been settled and made known. Everybody in the neighbourhood of Montem Castle and at Brazencrook had looked upon the Hon. Lionel Hammerton as certain of the earldom. Not only was his brother considerably his senior--old enough to be his father--but he had generally been an invalid, and looked much older than he really was. But his lordship was far stronger than they imagined. He had loved retirement and study, and frequently secured it by a pretence of not being well. He had a horror of “boredom”; he could not endure toadyism; he loved his books and his pictures, his old china, his statuary; and he preferred this to the best society in the district, though he and the vicar and occasional visitors dined luxuriously together, and sat genially over their wine until late in the night. It was generally agreed that his lordship was odd, and nobody doubted that some day he would be found dead in his bed, and that Lionel Hammerton would succeed and make up for the former Earl’s retirement by a liberal reign and a generous performance of the duties of his high station. But his lordship had opened their eyes of late, and turned the gossip into entirely new and unexpected channels. * * * * * Earl Verner’s intended wife had not misinterpreted Richard Tallant’s vague threat. The idea had only occurred to him suddenly as an available bit of sarcasm to hurl at his sister; but he had thought of it in the railway, lighted his cigar with it at the junction, and it had cropped up in his thoughts several times since. To be publicly reconciled to his sister, and be seen hand and glove with Lord Verner; to be recorded as giving away his sister to an Earl, would be of great advantage to him, just at that time when it was important he should keep up appearances. So he resolved to write to his sister upon the subject, and Amy was not at all surprised when she received the letter. Nevertheless, Amy’s first impulse was to explain the whole thing to Lord Verner, and entreat his advice and forgiveness; but her second thoughts were calmer and more worldly, and she wrote a brief acknowledgment of Mr. Tallant’s letter, drove to Avonworth, and posted it herself, that the servants might not know there was any correspondence between her brother and herself. She promised to give the subject her best consideration, and on the next opportunity that offered she again introduced the question to Earl Verner. That she might do so more easily, and with a better chance of success, Mr. Richard Tallant had forwarded a copy of the _Severntown Times_, in which the following paragraph was marked: