The tenant, however, had a lease, and refused to turn out until at last Daphne had frankly bribed him to go.

And now, after three years of married life, during which the young couple had rented various "places," besides their house in London and a villa at Tunis, Heston Park had been vacated, Daphne and Roger had descended upon it as Lady Barnes's tenants at a high rent, intent upon its restoration; and Roger's mother had been invited to their councils.
Hence, indeed, these tears.

When Daphne first stepped inside the ancestral mansion of the Trescoes--such had been Lady Barnes's maiden name--she had received a severe shock.

The outside, the shell of the house--delightful! But inside!--heavens! what taste, what decoration--what ruin of a beautiful thing! Half the old mantelpieces gone, the ceilings spoiled, the decorations "busy," pretentious, overdone, and nothing left to console her but an ugly row of bad Lelys and worse Highmores--the most despicable collection of family portraits she had ever set eyes upon! Roger had looked unhappy.

"It was father and mother did it," he admitted penitently.