On the arrival of Lady Verner, he had proposed to pay over to her yearly a certain sum out of the estate; but Lady Verner, smarting under disappointment, under the sense of injustice, had flung his proposal back to him.

Never, so long as he lived, she told Stephen Verner, passionately, would she be obliged to him for the worth of a sixpence in money or in kind.

And she had kept her word.
Her income was sadly limited.

It was very little besides her pay as a colonel's widow; and to Lady Verner it seemed less than it really was, for her habits were somewhat expensive.

She took this house, Deerham Court, then to be let without the land, had it embellished inside and out--which cost her more than she could afford, and had since resided in it.