Men who met him for the first time on
the banks of a Norwegian river, or at a regatta at Cowes, were more
impressed by his physical than his intellectual strength. They would
perhaps have suspected him of obstinacy, the obstinacy of the
inveterate prejudice of the country gentleman. They would not, unless
they knew him, have given him credit for being a man of wide reading,
and a judgment in literary matters as sound as his decisions in court.
Sir Gilbert had spent nearly a week in the Bournemouth villa which he
had taken for Lady Hawkesby. The place wearied him, and nothing but a
chivalrous sense of the duty he owed to his wife kept him there so
long. Lady Hawkesby was a little exacting in some ways; and though she
recognised that the judge had a right to go fishing, she disliked his
running away without spending a few days with her after the busy season
was over, and she was able to leave London. The day of the judge's
departure had arrived, and he sat with Lady Hawkesby after luncheon,
waiting for the carriage which was to take him to the station.
"You'll see Millicent, of course," said Lady Hawkesby. "Be sure to
keep her out of mischief if you can.
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