A trim parlor maid, bright as a new pin, received the lord of Strathfieldsaye. The smart and shining creature was in harmony with her surroundings. Everything in the spacious and lofty entrance hall shone with paint and polish, with new curtains, new carpets, new fittings, new furniture. Mr. Munt handed his hat to the parlor maid rather roughly. "Tea's in the drawing-room, sir," she said, calmly and modestly. It was the air of a very superior servant. Josiah went into the drawing-room and found two ladies drinking tea and consuming cake, strawberries and cream and bread and butter. One was a depressed lady in puce silk to whom her lord paid little attention; the other was much more sprightly, although by no means in the first blush of youth. She had the air of a visitor. Before heralding his arrival by any remark, Mr. Munt gazed with an air of genuine satisfaction round the large cool room smelling of paint and general newness, and then he said in a tone of rather grim heartiness to the more sprightly of the two ladies, "Well, Gert, what do you think on us?" There was a careful marshaling of manner on the part of the lady addressed as Gert. "Almost _too_ grand, Josiah--since you ask my opinion. Still I've been telling Maria that she must show Spirit." The nod of Josiah might be said to express approval. Miss Gertrude Preston was a half-sister of his wife, and she was perhaps the only woman among his strictly limited acquaintance who was able to sustain a claim to his respect. She had character and great common sense and having acted for many years as resident companion to no less a person than Lawyer Mossop's aunt, the late Miss Selina Gregg, she had seen something of the world. Upon all subjects her views were well considered and uncommonly shrewd; therefore they were not to be passed over lightly. Aunt Gerty was a favorite of Josiah, not merely for the reason that "she knew a bit more than most," but also because she was clever enough to play up to his rising fortunes and growing renown. "Maria shown you round?" said Josiah, accepting a cup of tea from the graceful hands of his sister-in-law. The depressed lady in puce silk sighed a limp yes. "Eggshell china tea service," Gerty fixed a purposeful eye upon Josiah's cup. "Out of old Nickerson's sale," Josiah performed an audible act of deglutition. "Four pun ten the set. Slop basin's cracked though." "I see it is, but you have a bargain, Josiah. You always seem to have a bargain, no matter what you buy." Josiah purred under the subtle flattery. "Seen that chayney vawse?" He pointed across the room to a pedestal upon which was a blue china bowl. "Looks like genuine Ming," Gertrude opened a pair of long-handled tortoiseshell glasses. There was less than a score of ladies in the whole of Blackhampton who sported glasses of that ultra-fashionable kind, but Miss Preston was one of them. "That young feller Parish said it was genuine and he ought to know."