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Rh chains more lightly in middle age when companionable children grew up beside them—no one can tell; but during the few years in which they lived together, their unhappiness and their want of congeniality increased rather than diminished; and when John Derrick took an inflammatory fever and died after a short illness, after the shock was over, it was a sensation of relief rather than anything else that was felt by his widow.

The Earl of Darlington had died two years before his son-in-law, and Herbert reigned in his stead; and the two fortunes he had acquired by marriage and inheritance from more plebeian families made him a more wealthy and more useful Earl than had been among the Darlingtons for generations. All encumbrances were cleared off and contiguous estates purchased. Improvement were made and timber planted, and the Dowager-Countess was rather sorry that the breach had been so decided that she could never hope to see Darlington Castle again. She did not regret John Derrick's death, for he had never appreciated Lady Eveline, and after his marriage had been very discourteous to herself; she could now live with Eveline and the dear children. The handsome jointure settled on the younger widow would help the slender provision of the Dowager-