"The town's a golden, but a fatal, circle,

Upon whose magic skirts a thousand devils,

In crystal forms, sit tempting Innocence,

And beckoning Virtue from its centre."

The trusting, generous letter which Joris had written to his son-in-law

arrived a few days before Hyde's departure for London. With every decent

show of pleasure and gratitude, he said, "It is an unexpected piece of

good fortune, Katherine, and the interest of five thousand pounds will

keep Hyde Manor up in a fine style. As for the principal, we will leave

it at Secor's until it can be invested in land. What say you?"

Katherine was quite satisfied; for, though naturally careful of all put

under her own hands, she was at heart very far from being either selfish

or mercenary. In fact, the silver cup was at that hour of more real

interest to her. It would be a part of her old home in her new home. It

was connected with her life memories, and it made a portion of her

future hopes and dreams. There was also something more tangible about it

than about the bit of paper certifying to five thousand pounds in her

name at Secor's Bank.

But Hyde knew well the importance of Katherine's fortune. It enabled him

to face his relatives and friends on a very much better footing than he

had anticipated. He was quite aware, too, that the simple fact was all

that society needed. He expected to hear in a few days that the five

thousand pounds had become fifty thousand pounds; for he knew that

rumour, when on the boast, would magnify any kind of gossip, favourable

or unfavourable. So he was no longer averse to meeting his former

companions: even to them, a rich wife would excuse matrimony. And,

besides, Hyde was one of those men who regard money in the bank as a

kind of good conscience: he really felt morally five thousand pounds the

better. Full of hope and happiness, he would have gone at a pace to suit

his mood; but English roads at that date were left very much to nature

and to weather, and the Norfolk clay in springtime was so deep and heavy

that it was not until the third day after leaving that he was able to

report for duty.

His first social visit was paid to his maternal grandmother, the dowager

Lady Capel. She was not a nice old woman; in fact, she was a very

spiteful, ill-hearted, ill-tempered old woman, and Hyde had always had a

certain fear of her. When he landed in London with his wife, Lady Capel

had fortunately been at Bath; and he had then escaped the duty of

presenting Katherine to her. But she was now at her mansion in Berkeley

Square, and her claims upon his attention could not be postponed; and,

as she had neither eyes nor ears in the evenings for any thing but loo

or whist, Hyde knew that a conciliatory visit would have to be made in

the early part of the day.




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