Early in their marriage, Lord and Lady Hallendale had reached an agreement as unusual as it was practical; namely, that Lady Hallendale should cease her employment at her father’s business and resume a somewhat similar occupation at the home of her husband, for the mutually beneficial purpose of emending the management of her husband’s estates. Indeed, Lady Hallendale was genuinely grateful that she had talents which might, in some measure, balance the increase in her comforts and consequence attendant upon her marriage and would, she sincerely hoped, be regarded by her husband—even if condemned by society—as atonement for any disparity in her birth and fortune to that of her lord. Her habits of careful attention and intelligent application to matters of business were as necessary and as valued by her husband as they had been by her own father. Happily she applied herself to the oversight and improvement of the Hallendale estates with a diligence and care that had not been seen for many generations.

Appearing down-stairs, several hours before Lord Hallendale arose in the morning, she would use the quietness of the early hours to review the receipts and reports of the house-steward, and answer letters of business, as well as attend to the lot of domestic details that normally fall to the mistress of a large estate. Every fine morning, she would drive in her small Phaeton to inspect some distant part of the estate; in inclement weather, she would walk through the home farms, speaking with the servants, and viewing the order and industry of the dairy, game-larder, still-room, &c. Lord Hallendale would later attend his Lady in the offices, where she would present, for his signature, the various letters and petitions. Lord Hallendale would approve these solemnly as though he had some knowledge of their content, and, when the house-steward appeared, his Lady would give instructions to him, all invariably prefaced by, “His Lordship desires…” Apart from this daily charade, Lord Hallendale might return to his rocks, his mind and conscience relieved of the obtrusions of every-day life, his house kept, his estates productive, and his hearth-side shared with his fond wife in the mutual pursuit of ever-more interesting articles for his cabinets.