To-morrow you will receive
a houseful of company; more than Hartledon will hold."
Mirrable looked aghast. "It is one of your jokes, Mr. Val!"
"Indeed, it is the truth. My brother will be down with a trainful; and
desires that everything shall be ready for their reception."
"My patience!" gasped Mirrable. "And the servants, sir?"
"Most of them will be here to-night. The Countess-Dowager of Kirton is
coming as Hartledon's mistress for the time being."
"Oh!" said Mirrable, who had once had the honour of seeing the
Countess-Dowager of Kirton. And the monosyllable was so significant
that Val Elster drew down the corners of his mouth.
"I don't like the Countess-Dowager, sir," remarked Mirrable in her
freedom.
"I can't bear her," returned Val Elster.
CHAPTER II.
WILLY GUM.
Had Percival Elster lingered ever so short a time near the clerk's house
that morning he would have met that functionary himself; for in less than
a minute after he had passed out of sight Jabez Gum's door opened, and
Jabez Gum glided out of it.
It is a term chiefly applied to ghosts; but Mr. Gum was a great deal more
like a ghost than like a man. He was remarkably tall and thin; a very
shadow; with a white shadow of a face, and a nose that might have served
as a model for a mask in a carnival of guys. A sharp nose, twice the
length and half the breadth of any ordinary nose--a very ferret of a
nose; its sharp tip standing straight out into the air.
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