Presently,  little  by  little,  there  began  to  leak  out  uncomfortable  reports  that  all
was  not  as  it  should  be  with  the  estate.  For  first  he  heard  of  a  charge  of  £350  a
year  in  favor  of  Will  Forster's  widow — a  monstrous  and  most  greedy  jointure,  truly,
when  one  considers  that  on  many  estates  as  large  a  poor  ^^40  a  year  is  all  that  a
younger  son  or  daughter  may  look  for.  Next  he  heard  of  a  rent-charge  of  ;i{r5oo  a
year  created  by  the  late  Sir  William  Forster  to  pay  for  some  of  his  profuse  expend-
iture. This  was  bought  up  by  Lord  Crewe,  no  doubt  at  her  ladyship's  expressed
desire,  for  7"io,ooo.  But  the  bishop  was  one  of  the  most  wealthy  men  in  the  king-
dom, and  could  well  aftord  even  so  great  a  sum.  Kere,  however,  was  a  goodly
cantle  cut  out  of  the  estate.  Half  the  annual  rent  gone  at  once.  Tom.  for  his  part,
showed  little  or  no  concern  about  it.  "There  remains,"  he  said,  "another  ;i^Soo  a
year,  beside  the  houses.  There  is  a  good  deal  to  be  done  with  the  half  of  ^f  Soo  a
year.  And  I  am  the  heir  of  Etherston  as  well."  He  looked  on  his  heritage  of
Bamborough  as  a  means  for  living  as  he  wished  until  the  Etherston  property  fell  in.
Yet  he  ought  to  have  felt  that  there  is  a  sad  falling-ofi  from  the  ;/"i,6oo  or  so  of
revenue  enjoyed  by  Sir  William  to  the  enjoyment  of  only  a  moiety  of  ;^Soo  a  year.
There  were  other  creditors  and  claims  upon  the  estate  also,  of  which  we  knew  noth-
ing and.  happily  as  yet.  suspected  nothing  for  some  time.
