And the owner of Wenderholme walked alone across the park, and dined alone in the great dining-room. During dinner (an extravagance very rare at all times with him, and in solitude unprecedented), he ordered a bottle of champagne. Meanwhile young Jacob lunched with the two ladies at the Cottage. Mrs. Stanburne saw that there was something wrong, some cause of trouble and anxiety, so she did her best to remove the burden which seemed to oppress the minds of the young people. Old Mrs. Stanburne had great powers of conversation, and _made_ young Jacob talk. She made him talk about Oxford, and then she made him talk about his present occupations, and of the transition from one to the other. Finally she asked him how he liked the life of a cotton-manufacturer. "Not much, Mrs. Stanburne. But it signifies very little whether I liked it or not, for I have left it." "Left it! Well, but is not that very imprudent? When gentlemen have a great deal of property in factories, they ought to know all about it, and I have always heard that the only way to do that is to pass a year or two in the trade." "Very true. But then I shall never have any property in factories, so there is no occasion for me to learn the trade." Mrs. Stanburne was much astonished, but her good-breeding struggled against curiosity. Edith did not seem to be paying any attention to what was going forward; she looked out of the window, and it was evident that she was mentally absent. "Edith," Mrs. Stanburne said at last, "do you hear what Jacob says? He says he has left business. I think it is very imprudent; and when I say so, he tells me that he will never have any factories." Edith lent the most languid attention to her grandmother's piece of information. Her whole conduct was just the reverse of her usual way of behaving. Formerly she had taken the liveliest interest in every thing that concerned her lover, so, to _make_ her listen, he blurted out the truth suddenly in one sentence. "My uncle has disinherited me. I am going to be a doctor. I am going to learn the profession with Mr. Bardly in Shayton." Mrs. Stanburne was more surprised by this news than Edith was. "But _why_?" she asked, emphatically; "_why_ has he disinherited you? I thought you were on the best possible terms. He spoke to you to-day as he was going out of church." Young Jacob was silent for a minute. Mrs. Stanburne came back to the charge. "But _why_, I say--_why_?" "My uncle wants me to marry a girl of his own choosing, called Sally Smethurst."