He had always had a house in town--a moderate house in Berkeley Square, which belonged to him, and had belonged to his father before him.

Lady Clavering had usually lived there during the season; or, as had latterly been the case, during only a part of the season.

And now it had come to pass, in this year, that Lady Clavering was not to come to London at all, and that Sir Hugh was meditating whether the house in Berkeley Square might not be let.

The arrangement would make the difference of considerably more than a thousand a year to him.

For himself, he would take lodgings.