TRIBULATION We must now return for a short while to Surbiton Cottage.

It was not so gay a place as it once had been; merry laughter was not so often heard among the shrubbery walks, nor was a boat to be seen so often glancing in and out between the lawn and the adjacent island.

The Cottage had become a demure, staid abode, of which Captain Cuttwater was in general the most vivacious inmate; and yet there was soon to be marrying, and giving in marriage.
Linda's wedding-day had twice been fixed.

That first-named had been postponed in consequence of the serious illness of Norman's elder brother.

The life of that brother had been very different in its course from Harry's; it had been dissipated at college in riotous living, and had since been stained with debauchery during the career of his early manhood in London.