Delicate Hints Lady Lufton had been greatly rejoiced at that good deed which her son did in giving up his Leicestershire hunting, and coming to reside for the winter at Framley.

It was proper, and becoming, and comfortable in the extreme.

An English nobleman ought to hunt in the county where he himself owns the fields over which he rides; he ought to receive the respect and honour due to him from his own tenants; he ought to sleep under a roof of his own, and he ought also--so Lady Lufton thought--to fall in love with a young embryo bride of his own mother's choosing.

And then it was so pleasant to have him there in the house.

Lady Lufton was not a woman who allowed her life to be what people in common parlance call dull.