ll
through Mr. Hans knowing Rex, and then my having the pleasure of
knowing you," Anna ended, looking at Mrs. Meyrick with a shy grace.

"The pleasure is on our side too; but the wonder would have been, if
you had come to this house without hearing of Mr. Deronda--wouldn't it,
Mirah?" said Mrs. Meyrick.

Mirah smiled acquiescently, but had nothing to say. A confused
discontent took possession of her at the mingling of names and images
to which she had been listening.

"My son calls Mrs. Grandcourt the Vandyke duchess," continued Mrs.
Meyrick, turning again to Anna; "he thinks her so striking and
picturesque."

"Yes," said Anna. "Gwendolen was always so beautiful--people fell
dreadfully in love with her. I thought it a pity, because it made them
unhappy."

"And how do you like Mr. Grandcourt, the happy lover?" said Mrs.
Meyrick, who, in her way, was as much interested as Mab in the hints
she had been hearing of vicissitude in in the life of a widow with
daughters.

"Papa approved of Gwendolen's accepting him, and my aunt says he is
very generous," said Anna, beginning with a virtuous intention of
repressing her own sentiments; but then, unable to resist a rare
occasion for speaking them freely, she went on--"else I should have
thought he was not very nice--rather proud, and not at all lively, like
Gwendolen. I should have thought some one younger and more lively would
have suited her better. But, perhaps, having a brother who seems to us
better than any one makes us think worse of others."

"Wait till you see Mr. Deronda," said Mab, nodding significantly.
"Nobody's brother will do after him."

"Our brothers _must_ do for people's husbands," said Kate, curtly,
"because they will not get Mr. Deronda. No woman will do for him to
marry."

"No woman ought to want him to marry him," said Mab, with indignation.
"_I_ never should. Fancy finding out that he had a tailor's bill, and
used boot-hooks, like Hans. Who ever thought of his marrying?"

"I have," said Kate. "When I drew a wedding for a frontispiece to
'Hearts and Diamonds,' I made a sort of likeness to him for the
bridegroom, and I went about looking for a grand woman who would do for
his countess, but I saw none that would not be poor creatures by the
side of him."

"You should have seen this Mrs. Grandcourt then," said Mrs. Meyrick.
"Hans says that she and Mr. Deronda set each other off when they are
side by side. She is tall and fair. But you know her,