"That is Miss Masters, my Lady."
"And who is Miss Masters,--and why does she come here at such a
time as this?"
"She is the daughter of Attorney Masters, my Lady. It was she as
was brought up here by Lady Ushant"
"Oh,--that young person."
"She's come here generally of a day now to see her ladyship."
"And is she taken up to my grandson?"
"Oh dear, no, my Lady. She sits with Lady Ushant for an hour or so
and then goes back with Mr. Reginald."
"Oh--that is it, is it? The house is made use of for such purposes
as that!"
"I don't think there is an purposes, my Lady," said Mrs. Hopkins,
almost roused to indignation, although she was talking to the
acknowledged mistress of the house whom she always called "my
lady."
Lady Ushant told the whole story to her young friend, bitterly
bewailing her position. "Reginald tells me not to go, but I do not
think that I can stand it. I should not mind the quarrel so much,--
only that he is so ill."
"She must be a very evil-minded person."
"She was always arrogant and always hard. I can remember her just
the same; but that was so many years ago. She left Bragton then
because she could not banish his mother from the house. But to bear
it all in her heart so long is not like a human being;--let alone a
woman. What did he say to you going home yesterday?"
"Nothing, Lady Ushant"
"Does he know that it will all be his if that poor young man should
die? He never speaks to me as if he thought of it"
"He would certainly not speak to me about it.
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