They were interested in the same property;--but, as on that subject there had been something approaching to a quarrel, and as neither looked for assistance from the other, they were now silent on the matter.

The father believed himself to be a poorer man than his son, and was very sore on the subject; but he had nothing beyond a life interest in his property, and there remained to him a certain amount of prudence which induced him to abstain from eating more of his pudding,--lest absolute starvation and the poorhouse should befall him.

There still remained to him the power of spending some five or six hundred a year, and upon this practice had taught him to live with a very considerable amount of self-indulgence.

He dined out a great deal, and was known everywhere as Mr.Maule of Maule Abbey.
He was a slight, bright-eyed, grey-haired, good-looking man, who had once been very handsome.

He had married, let us say for love;--probably very much by chance.