Mr Gresham owed a large sum of money, and he had, moreover, already sold a portion of his property.

Unfortunately it had been the pride of the Greshams that their acres had descended from one to another without an entail, so that each possessor of Greshamsbury had had the full power to dispose of the property as he pleased.

Any doubt as to its going to the male heir had never hitherto been felt.

It had occasionally been encumbered by charges for younger children; but these charges had been liquidated, and the property had come down without any burden to the present squire.

Now a portion of this had been sold, and it had been sold to a certain degree through the agency of Dr Thorne.
This made the squire an unhappy man.