It was the conspicuous attention which Sir Peter had insisted on paying Mrs.Nevill Tyson.

Not that there was anything to be objected to in an old gentleman's frank admiration for a young (and remarkably pretty) married woman.

No doubt Sir Peter had been very indiscreet in his expression of it.

What with calling on her in private and paying her the most barefaced compliments in public, he had made her the talk of the county.

Mrs.Wilcox went further: she was firmly convinced that Sir Peter had fallen a hopeless victim to her daughter's attractions, and she had derived a great deal of gratification from the flattering thought.