I conclude Faversham was taking him to see the
collections--_his_ collections!"
"It looks ugly I grant. But I believe he'll provide for the girl as soon
as he can."
"And I hope she'll refuse it!" cried Tatham. "And I believe she will.
She's a girl of spirit. She talks of going on the stage. My mother has
found out that she's got a voice, and she dances divinely. My mother's
actually got a teacher for her from London, whom we put up in the
village."
"A lovely little girl!" said Undershaw. "And she's getting over her
hardships. But the mother--" He shook his head.
"You think she's in a bad way?"
"Send her back to Italy as soon as you can. She's pining for her own
people. Life's been a bit too hard for her, and she never was but a poor
thing. Well, I must go."
Tatham stayed his horse. Undershaw, added as though by an afterthought:
"I was at Green Cottage this morning. Mrs. Penfold's rather knocked up
with nursing her sister. She chattered to me about Faversham. He used to
be a good deal there but they've broken with him too; apparently, because
of Mainstairs. Miss Lydia couldn't stand it. She was _so_ devoted to the
people."
The man on horseback made some inaudible reply, and they began to talk of
a couple of sworn inquiries about to be held on the Threlfall estate by
the officials of the Local Government Board, into the housing and
sanitation of three of the chief villages on Melrose's property. The
department had been induced to move by a committee of local gentlemen, in
which Tatham had taken a leading part.
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