Her husband had spent his latter years in
a vain search for a faultless property, and his wealth was waiting
for Lorimer's settling down. She had always regretted the having no
vassals rightfully her own, and had felt the disadvantages of being
Lady Bountiful only by tenant right. To save an old estate from
entirely passing out of a family, and relieve 'a noble old wreck,'
like Sir Harry, seemed to her so grand a prospect that she could not
but cast a little glamour over the manner of the shipwreck. Still,
to do her justice, her primary consideration was the blessing such a
woman as Lenore might be to her son.
She had not fathomed Lady Tyrrell. No woman could do so without
knowing her antecedents, but she understood enough to perceive that
Eleonora was not happy with her, and this she attributed to the
girl's deep nature and religious aspirations. Rockpier was an
ecclesiastical paradise to Lady Susan, and a close bond with Lenore,
to whom in London she had given all the facilities that lay in her
power for persevering in the observances that were alien to the gay
household at home.
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