Chapter 30: Preparing the Ground

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌‌​⁠Lady Audley went from the garden to the library, a pleasant, oak-paneled, homely apartment in which Sir Michael liked to sit reading or writing, or arranging the business of his estate with his steward, a stalwart countryman, half agriculturalist, half lawyer, who rented a small farm a few miles from the Court.

The baronet was seated in a capacious easy-chair near the hearth. The bright blaze of th