Chapter 4 - Page 2

misery dwelt as a common thing, where men were coarse and
cruel, where women were tyrannised over and treated roughly, and where
children were unloved and neglected. Into this world he had previously
obtained no glimpse; but, once having realised its existence, he could
not easily forget it. Often as time passed he found himself haunted by
thoughts of the poor injured lady and her children, and being a
creature of strong imagination, there would rise before him mental
pictures of what a household might be whose master was a coarse rioter
before whom his wife and children cowered in fear.

So it happened in his conversing with Mistress Halsell he broached the
subject of the Gloucestershire baronet, and the good woman, seeing that
his speech did not arise from idle curiosity, told him what she knew of
this most unhappy family.

'Twas an old family and a good one in the matter of lineage, but
through the debaucheries of the last baronets its estates had become
impoverished and its reputation of an ill savour. It had ever been
known as a family noted for the great physical strength and beauty of
its men and women. For centuries the men of the house of Wildairs had
been the biggest and the handsomest in England. They had massive
frames, black eyes, thick hair and beards, and feared neither man nor
devil, but openly defied both. They were men who lived wildly, ate and
drank hugely, pursued women, were great at all deeds of prowess, and
bursting with rough health and lawless high spirits. 'Twas a saying of
their house that "a Wildairs who could not kill an ox with a blow and
eat half of him when he was roasted, was a poor wight indeed." The
present baronet, Sir Jeoffry, was of somewhat worse reputation than any
Sir Jeoffry before him. He lived a wild life in the country, rarely
going up to town, as he was not fond of town manners and town customs,
but liked better hunting, coursing, cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and
engaging in intrigues with dairy maids and the poppy-cheeked daughters
of his cottagers. He had married a sweet creature of fifteen, whom
after their brief honeymoon he had neglected as such men neglect a
woman, leaving her to break her heart and lose her bloom and beauty in
her helpless mourning for his past passion for her. He was at drawn
swords with his next of kin, who despised him and his evil, rough
living, and he had set his mind upon leaving sons enough to make sure
his title should be borne only by his own offspring. He being of this
mind, 'twas not to be wondered at that he had no welcome for the
daughters who should have pleased him by being sons. When the first was
born he flouted its mother bitterly, the poor young lady, who was but
sixteen and a delicate creature, falling