She owned it. 'But--'
And that _but_ meant the effects of the three years that she had
spent as the companion of her mother's mournful widowhood, and of the
cares of life on her elder brother and sister.
It was true, as Mr. Audley said, that the associations of the rooms
were not good for her spirits in her many lonely hours and confined
life; and this reconciled Felix more than anything else to the
proposed change. He was keeping his promise to Wilmet of not seeking
a house till her return, when Mr. and Mrs. Froggatt, whose minds had
been much relieved by hearing that the lodger would consult the
proprieties, communicated to him their own scheme of taking up their
residence at a village named Marshlands, about two miles from Bexley,
where they already spent great part of the summer in a pleasant
cottage and garden which they had bought and adorned. Mr. Froggatt
would drive in to attend to the business every day, but the charge of
the house was the difficulty, as they did not wish to let the rooms;
and they now proposed that the young Underwoods should inhabit them
rent-free, merely keeping a bedroom and little parlour behind the
shop for Mr.
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