He loved both Harry
and his mother. Nevertheless, as soon as he arrived, both felt him the
gadfly in the house. His mind was nothing if not critical. And
undoubtedly the sight of easy wealth was an irritation to him. He
struggled against it; but sometimes it would out.
As he sat this evening crouched over the fire, his hands spread to
the blaze, he looked more frail than usual; a fact which perhaps,
half-consciously, affected Victoria and drew out her confidence. His
dress suit, primevally old, would scarcely, she reflected, hold together
another winter. But how it was to be replaced had already cost her and
Harry much thought. There was nobody more personally, fanatically proud
than Boden toward his well-to-do friends. His clothes indeed were a
matter of tender anxiety in the Duddon household, and Tatham's valet
and Victoria's maids did him many small services, some of which he repaid
with a smile and a word--priceless to the recipient; and some he was
never aware of. When his visits to Duddon first began, the contents of
his Gladstone bag used to provide merriment in the servants' hall, and
legend said that a young footman had once dared to be insolent to him.
Had any one ventured the same conduct now he would have been sent to
Coventry by every servant in the house.
It was to this austere, incalculable, yet always attractive listener,
that Victoria told the story of Harry and Lydia, of the Faversham
adventure, and the Melrose inheritance.
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