Though, therefore, the whole party assembled near the house, they were
not allowed to enter it. Herbert insisted upon remaining with the
father, despite Mrs Hardman's repeated strictures on the impropriety
of his doing so.


Scarcely a week had elapsed, after the accident already recorded, ere
it became a matter of gossiping notoriety that the young squire of
Coote-down had fallen in love with the lawyer's daughter. In truth, he
had not stirred from the vicinity of the cottage in which Catherine
lay, that he might get the earliest information from the medical
attendants concerning her condition. Prom day to day, and sometimes
from hour to hour, he watched with intense anxiety. The symptoms
improved daily; the anguish caused by the fractures having subsided,
the patient was in progress of slow, but to all appearance, certain
recovery.

Mrs Hardman now had sufficient cause to ground a strong opposition to
the match her son was endeavouring to make. She spoke to her husband;
but he, good easy man, could not, he said, see any objection to the
alliance. She was of their kindred, and although poor, would doubtless
make an excellent wife. The imperious and disappointed lady next
applied to Dodbury. She placed before him the inequality in the
position of Herbert and his daughter, and was very vehement in her
arguments against the marriage.

'Your fears, madam,' said Dodbury calmly, 'are at least premature.
However passionately your son may express himself in reference to my
daughter, she, I know, feels what is due to herself, as well as to Mr
and Mrs Hardman. She would never consent to become a member of a