The son spent the former, on the strength of the latter married an earl's daughter, and thereupon began to embody in his own behavior his ideas of how a nobleman ought to carry himself; whence, from being only a small, he became an objectionable man, and failed of being amusing by making himself offensive.

He had never manifested the least approach to neighborliness with Godfrey, although their houses were almost within a stone's throw of each other.

Had Wardour been an ordinary farmer, of whose presuming on the acquaintance there could have been no danger, Mortimer would doubtless have behaved differently; but as Wardour had some pretensions--namely, old family, a small, though indeed _very_ small, property of his own, a university education, good horses, and the habits and manners of a gentleman--the men scarcely even saluted when they met.

The Mortimer ladies, indeed, had more than once remarked--but it was in solemn silence, each to herself only--how well the man sat, and how easily he handled the hunter he always rode; but not once until now had so much as a greeting passed between them and Mrs.Wardour.It was not therefore wonderful that Godfrey should not choose to accept their invitation.

Finding, however, that his mother was distressed at having to go to the gathering without him, and far more exercised in her mind than was needful as to what would be thought of his absence, and what excuse it would be becoming to make, he resolved to go to London a day or two before the event, and pay a long-promised visit to a clerical friend.
The relative situation of the houses--I mean the stone-and-lime houses--of Durnmelling and Thornwick, was curious; and that they had at one time formed part of the same property might have suggested itself to any beholder.