"It leads to the park and the Hall," answered Mrs. Ambrose.
"Oh--" Mrs. Goddard's tone changed. "But nobody lives there?" she asked suddenly.
"What--what is that, exactly?" asked Mrs. Goddard, timidly. "Is there a young heir waiting to grow up--I mean waiting to take possession?"
"No. There is a suit about it. It has been going on for forty years my husband says, and they cannot decide to whom it belongs."
"I see," answered Mrs. Goddard. "I suppose they will never decide now."
"It must be a very pretty place. Can one go in, do you think? I am so fond of trees--what a beautiful garden you have yourself, Mrs. Ambrose."
"Would you like to see it?" asked the vicar's wife, anxious to bring the visit to a conclusion.
"Oh, thank you--of all things!" exclaimed Mrs. Goddard. "Would not you like to run about the garden, Nellie?"
The little girl nodded slowly and stared at Mrs. Ambrose.
"My husband is a very good gardener," said the latter, leading the way out to the hall. "And so was John Short, but he has left us, you know."
"Who was John Short?" asked Mrs. Goddard rather absently, as she watched Mrs. Ambrose who was wrapping herself in a huge blue waterproof cloak and tying a sort of worsted hood over her head.
"He was one of the boys Mr. Ambrose prepared for college--such a good fellow. You may have seen him when you came last June, Mrs. Goddard?"
"Had he very bright blue eyes--a nice face?"
"Yes--that is, it might have been Mr. Angleside--Lord Scatterbeigh's son--he was here, too."
"Oh," said Mrs. Goddard, "perhaps it was."
"Mamma," asked little Nellie, "what is Laws Catterbay?"
"Like the one at Brighton, mamma, with a band?"
"No, child," answered the mother laughing. "P, double E, R, peer--a rich gentleman."
"Like poor papa then?" inquired the irrepressible Eleanor.
Mrs. Goddard turned pale and pressed the little girl close to her side, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
"You must not ask foolish questions, darling--I will tell you by and by."
"Papa was a rich gentleman," objected the child.
Mrs. Goddard looked at Mrs. Ambrose, and the ready tears came into her eyes. The vicar's wife smiled kindly and took little Nellie by the hand.
"Come, dear," she said in the motherly tone that was natural to her when she was not receiving visitors. "Come and see the garden and you can play with Carlo."