-room. This is entirely too
dark."

The two servants, one of whom was our old friend, Peggy, actually
stopped short in their duties at this remark; and as for Mr Brandon,
his appetite immediately left him, to return no more during that meal.

He was obliged to make some answer to this speech, and so he briefly
remarked that he had no desire to alter the appearance of his
dining-room, and then hastened to change the conversation by making
some inquiries about that interesting young woman, her niece, who, he
had been informed, was not a married lady, as he had supposed her to
be.

At this intelligence, Peggy dropped two spoons and a fork; she had
never heard it before.

"The late Mrs Null," said Mrs Keswick, "is a young woman who likes to
cut her clothes after her own patterns. They may be becoming to her
when they are made up, or they may not be. But I am inclined to think
she has got a pretty good head on her shoulders, and perhaps she
knows what suits her as well as any of us. I can't say it was easy to
forgive the trick she played on me, her own aunt, and just the same,
in fact, as her mother. But Robert," and as she said this the old lady
laid down her knife and fork, and looked tenderly at Mr Brandon, "I
have determined to forgive everybody, and to overlook everything,
and I do this as much for your sake, dear Robert, as for my own. It
wouldn't do for a couple of our age to be keeping up grudges against
the young people for their ways of getting out of marriages or getting
into them. We will have my niece and her husband here sometimes, won't
we, Robert?"

Mr Brandon straightened himself and remarked: "Mr Croft, whom I have
heard your niece is to marry, will be quite welcome here, with his
wife." Then, putting his napkin on the table, and pushing back his
chair, he said: "Now, madam, you must excuse me, for I have orders to
give to some of my people which I had forgotten until this moment. But
do not let me interfere with your dinner. Pray continue your meal."

Never before had Mr Brandon been known to leave his dinner until he
had finished it, and he was not at all accustomed to give such a poor
reason for his actions as the one he gave now, but it was simply
impossible for him to sit any longer at table, and have that old woman
talk in that shocking manner before the servants.

"Robert," cried Mrs Keswick, as he left the room, "I'll save some
dessert for you, and we'll eat it together."

Mr Brandon's fi