Such a state of affairs could
not but be gratifying to any man, however unworldly, and the Squire
was not altogether unworldly. That is, he had a keen sense of the
dignity of his social position and his family, and it had all his life
been his chief and laudable desire to be sufficiently provided with
the goods of this world to raise the de la Molles to the position
which they had occupied in former centuries. Hitherto, however, the
tendency of events had been all the other way--the house was a sinking
one, and but the other day its ancient roof had nearly fallen about
their ears. But now the prospect changed as though by magic. On Ida's
marriage all the mortgages, those heavy accumulations of years of
growing expenditure and narrowing means, would roll off the back of
the estate, and the de la Molles of Honham Castle would once more take
the place in the county to which they were undoubtedly entitled.
It is not wonderful that the prospect proved a pleasing one to him, or
that his head was filled with visions of splendours to come.
As it chanced, on that very morning it was necessary for Mr. Quest to
pay the old gentleman a visit in order to obtain his signature to a
lease of a bakery in Boisingham, which, together with two or three
other houses, belonged to the estate.
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