'Let us own that it is barbarous, but such glorious sport that one tries to forget the fox.' It required some effort for Althea to testify against her and Mr.Digby, but she felt so strongly on the subject of animals, foxes in particular, that her courage did not fail her.

'I think it is when we forget, that the dreadful things in life, the sins and cruelties, happen,' she said.
Gerald's gay eyes were cogitatingly fixed on her, and Helen continued to look out of the window; but she thought that they both liked her the better for her frankness, and she felt in the little ensuing silence that it had brought them nearer--bright, alien creatures that they were.
Her first view of Merriston House hardly confirmed her hopes of it, though she would not have owned to herself that this was so.

It was neither so beautiful nor so imposing as she had expected; it was even, perhaps, rather commonplace; but in a moment she was able to overcome this slight disloyalty and to love it the more for its unpretentiousness.

A short, winding avenue of limes led to it, and it stood high among lawns that fell away to lower shrubberies and woods.

It was a square stone house, covered with creepers, a white rose clustering over the doorway and a group of trees over-topping its chimneys.
Inside, where the housekeeper welcomed them and tea waited for them, was the same homely brightness.