buildings--I am ruined in buildings--our poor dear father
thought he left me Marney without an incumbrance; why, there
was not a barn on the whole estate that was weather-proof; not
a farm-house that was not half in ruins. What I have spent in
buildings! And draining! Though I make my own tiles,
draining, my dear fellow, is a something of which you have not
the least idea!"

"Well," said Egremont, anxious to bring his brother back to
the point, "you think, then, I had better write to them and
say--"

"Ah! now for your business," said Lord Marney. "Now, I will
tell you what I can do for you. I was speaking to Arabella
about it last night; she quite approves my idea. You remember
the De Mowbrays? Well, we are going to stay at Mowbray
Castle, and you are to go with us. It is the first time they
have received company since their great loss. Ah! you were
abroad at the time, and so you are behind hand. Lord
Mowbray's only son, Fitz-Warene, you remember him, a deuced
clever fellow, he died about a year ago, in Greece, of a
fever. Never was such a blow! His two sisters, Lady Joan and
Lady Maud, are looked upon as the greatest heiresses in the
kingdom; but I know Mowbray well; he will make an eldest son
of his eldest daughter. She will have it all; she is one of
Arabella's dearest friends; and you are to marry her."

Egremont stared at his brother, who patted him on the back
with an expression of unusual kindness, and adding, "You have
no idea what a load this has taken off my mind, my dear