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Osborn had meant to strengthen the dyke, but had put it off because of the expense. A little later Hayes came up the steps. Osborn did not ask him to sit down, although there was room on the stone bench, and the agent leaned against the terrace wall. His face was inscrutable but he remarked his employer's rudeness. "I have seen Fisher and he is willing to take a mortgage on Ryecote," he said.
Then, although it was a shock to hear you had mortgaged Ryecote, the money is so badly needed that it must not be risked." She paused and resumed with some color in her face, "It is hard to own, but perhaps Gerald is not altogether to be trusted." Osborn moved abruptly. His wife had touched the doubt that made him hesitate; in fact, this was a matter upon which he wanted her advice.
Shortly after the death of her mother she withdrew the light of her presence from Ryecote Farm, finding it impossible any longer to endure the rough manners and unsophisticated habits of her honest brother Robert and his worthy wife, or the idea of being identified with such vulgar people in the eyes of the world, and took lodgings in — the county town, where she lived, and still lives, I suppose, in a kind of close-fisted, cold, uncomfortable gentility, doing no good to others, and but little to herself; spending her days in fancy-work and scandal; referring frequently to her ‘brother the vicar,’ and her ‘sister, the vicar’s lady,’ but never to her brother the farmer and her sister the farmer’s wife; seeing as much company as she can without too much expense, but loving no one and beloved by none—a cold-hearted, supercilious, keenly, insidiously censorious old maid.
We parted—somewhat coldly again: but still we did not cease to be friends; and my well-meant warning, though it might have been more judiciously delivered, as well as more thankfully received, was not wholly unproductive of the desired effect: his visit to the Wilsons was not repeated, and though, in our subsequent interviews, he never mentioned her name to me, nor I to him,—I have reason to believe he pondered my words in his mind, eagerly though covertly sought information respecting the fair lady from other quarters, secretly compared my character of her with what he had himself observed and what he heard from others, and finally came to the conclusion that, all things considered, she had much better remain Miss Wilson of Ryecote Farm than be transmuted into Mrs.
Thus resolving, with a kind of sullen resignation, if such a term may be allowed, I wended my way to Ryecote Farm, scarcely expecting to find its owner within at this time of day, but hoping to learn in what part of the premises he was most likely to be found. Absent he was, but expected home in a few minutes; and I was desired to step into the parlour and wait. Mrs.
"As a matter of fact, I have some. You see, I borrowed a sum not long since on Ryecote." "Oh!" said Mrs. Osborn, with a resigned gesture, and then braced herself. "But if you have got the money, it ought not to be used for speculation. There is much that needs to be done on the estate." "That is so; it was my reason for borrowing.
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