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"I do hope," she was saying, "that Iris won't be tiresome about Birdskitchen."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid she will. She's full of notions about the price she could get for it—all the nonsense that her London friends have stuffed her up with about the sale of houses. And maybe if she looked around she could get a bit more than the Vines are offering. The point is that they can't afford to pay more than the place is worth."

"Will she see that point?"

"I doubt it. She hasn't any of what I call the Squire feeling. Tom's father once told me that he felt as if his tenants were his children."

"I don't believe Iris knows who her tenants are."

"Oh, yes, she does. Don't make any mistake. She knows a great deal more about everything than she'd like us to think. That's what makes her so hard to manage."

"Poor Nick! Why should you have to manage Iris as well as the estate?"

"Because if I didn't she'd most likely sell it all—all except the part she's got to pass on. I can't imagine why Tom left it to her absolutely like that."