McKay was no relation."
"He was my dear dead husband's devoted friend. Nursed him after his
wound--"
"I remember to have heard that, and indeed everything that is good, of
Mr. McKay. I feel sure he would have made an excellent Earl of
Essendine; more's the pity."
"I trust my son, if he inherits, will worthily maintain the credit of
the house."
"So do I, my dear madam," said old Mr. Burt, with a bow that made the
speech a less doubtful compliment.
"When will it be settled? Why do they hesitate? Why delay?" she said
to herself passionately, as she went homewards to Thistle Grove. Her
friend Mr. Hobson was there, waiting for her; and she repeated the
question with a fierce anxiety that proved how closely it concerned
her.
"How impatient you grow! Like every woman. Everything must be done at
once."
"I am not safe yet. I begin to doubt."
"Can't you trust me? I have assured you it will end as you wish. When
have I disappointed you, Lady Lydstone?"
She started at the sound of this name, once familiar, but surrounded
now by memories at once painful and terrible.
"It is the rule in your English peerage that when a son becomes a
great peer, and the mother is only a commoner, to give her one of the
titles. Your Queen does it by prerogative."
"I might have been Lady Lydstone by right, if I had waited," she said
slowly.
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