Roger Carbury, of Carbury Hall, the owner of a small property in Suffolk, was the head of the Carbury family.

The Carburys had been in Suffolk a great many years,--certainly from the time of the War of the Roses,--and had always held up their heads.

But they had never held them very high.

It was not known that any had risen ever to the honour of knighthood before Sir Patrick, going higher than that, had been made a baronet.

They had, however, been true to their acres and their acres true to them through the perils of civil wars, Reformation, Commonwealth, and Revolution, and the head Carbury of the day had always owned, and had always lived at, Carbury Hall.