"If she had not given way to the child!" he bitterly aspirated in the
first moments of sorrow.
That the countess-dowager should come down post-haste and invade
Hartledon, was of course only natural; and Lord Hartledon strove not to
rebel against it. But she made herself so intensely and disagreeably
officious that his patience was sorely tried. Her first act was to insist
on a stately funeral. He had given orders for one plain and quiet in
every way; but she would have her wish carried out, and raved about the
house, abusing him for his meanness and want of respect to his dead wife.
For peace' sake, he was fain to give her her way; and the funeral was
made as costly as she pleased. Thomas Carr came down to it; and the
countess-dowager was barely civil to him.
Her next care was to assume the entire management of the two children,
putting Lord Hartledon's authority over them at virtual, if not actual,
defiance. The death of her daughter was in truth a severe blow to the
dowager; not from love, for she really possessed no natural affection at
all, but from fear that she should lose her footing in the house which
was so desirable a refuge. As a preliminary step against this, she began
to endeavour to make it more firm and secure. Altogether she was
rendering Hartledon unbearable; and Val would often escape from it,
his boy in his hand, and take refuge with Mrs.
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