IV. MR. BROWN THE HAIRDRESSER 298 V. ABRAHAM HALL MARRIED 310 ALICE DUGDALE. I. THE DOCTOR’S FAMILY 323 II. MAJOR ROSSITER 333 III. LADY WANLESS 342 IV. THE BEETHAMITES 352 V. THE INVITATION 362 VI. THE ARCHERY MEETING 371 VII. AFTER THE PARTY 381 VIII. SIR WALTER UP IN LONDON 391 IX. LADY DEEPBELL 400 X. THE BIRD THAT PECKED AT THE WINDOW 409 WHY FRAU FROHMANN RAISED HER PRICES. CHAPTER I. THE BRUNNENTHAL PEACOCK. If ever there was a Tory upon earth, the Frau Frohmann was a Tory; for I hold that landed possessions, gentle blood, a gray-haired butler behind one’s chair, and adherence to the Church of England, are not necessarily the distinguishing marks of Toryism. The Frau Frohmann was a woman who loved power, but who loved to use it for the benefit of those around her,--or at any rate to think that she so used it. She believed in the principles of despotism and paternal government,--but always on the understanding that she was to be the despot. In her heart of hearts she disliked education, thinking that it unfitted the minds of her humbler brethren for the duties of their lives. She hated, indeed, all changes,--changes in costume, changes in hours, changes in cookery, and changes in furniture; but of all changes she perhaps hated changes in prices the most. Gradually there had come over her a melancholy conviction that the world cannot go on altogether unaltered. There was, she felt, a fate in things,--a necessity which, in some dark way within her own mind, she connected with the fall of Adam and the general imperfection of humanity,--which demanded changes, but they were always changes for the worse; and therefore, though to those around her she was mostly silent on this matter, she was afflicted by a general idea that the world was going on towards ruin. That all things throve with herself was not sufficient for her comfort; for, being a good woman with a large heart, she was anxious for the welfare not only of herself and of her children, but for that of all who might come after her, at any rate in her own locality. Thus, when she found that there was a tendency to dine at one instead of twelve, to wear the same clothes on week days as on Sundays, to desire easy chairs, and linen that should be bleached absolutely white, thoughts as to the failing condition of the world would get the better of her and make her melancholy.