The old kid-glove days, as between men and women,
are over."
"Even between mothers and sons?" said Marion, dubiously.
"I repeat--she began it! Monstrous, that that man should have made such a
will, and that a mother should have taken advantage of it!"
"Suppose she had been a Liberal," said Marion, slyly.
Atherstone shrugged his shoulders--too honest to reply.
He ruminated over his pipe. Presently his eyes flashed.
"I hear Coryston's very servants--his man and wife--were evicted from their
cottage for political reasons."
"Yes, by that Radical miller who lives at Martover," said Marion.
Atherstone stared.
"My dear!--"
"The wife told me," said Marion, calmly, rolling up her socks.
"I say, I must look into that," said Atherstone, with discomposure. "It
doesn't do to have such stories going round--on our side. I wonder why
Coryston chose them."
"I should think--because he hates that kind of thing on both sides." The
slightest twinge of red might have been noticed on Miss Atherstone's cheek
as she spoke. But her father did not notice it. He lifted his head to
listen.
"I think I hear the motor."
"You look tired," said Marion to her guest.
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