have acted in that chivalrous manner," was the feminine
verdict of Hampshire.

A wave of cheap sentiment overflowed the Bellairs family, in which
Colonel Bellairs floated complacently like a piece of loose seaweed, and
in which even Aunt Mary underwent a dignified undulation.

Bessie alone was unmoved.

"You said, 'Yes' too soon," she remarked to Magdalen in private. "I
should never have thought you would be so lacking in true dignity. He
goes away for fifteen years and I should not wonder a bit if he had
thought of someone else in the interim for all you know to the
contrary--men are like that--and then he just lounges in and says 'Marry
me,' and you agree in a second. You might at any rate have made him wait
for his answer till after tea. In my opinion you have made yourself
cheap by such precipitate action. He thinks he has only got to ask, and
he can have."

Magdalen did not answer.

"I don't understand you," continued the pained monitor. "I have always
had a certain respect for you, Magdalen, and when he came back I
supposed you would give in to him in time if he pressed you without
intermission, and was constant for a considerable period--say a couple
of years; but I never thought it possible you would collapse like this.
I fear you have not taken his character sufficiently into consideration.
If I were in your place I should be afraid that Everard would not allow
my nature free scope, or take an interest in my mental development, and
that the sacrifices which make domestic life tolerable might have to be
all on my side. He is absolutely unworthy of you, and his nose is quite
thick. I daresay you have not remarked it, but I did at once. And in my
opinion he ought for his own good to have been made to _realise_ it.
Even Aunt Mary, though she says she entirely approves of the marriage,
admits that you have shown too much eagerness."

Fortunately for Magdalen the interest of the neighbours, and even of her
own family, was speedily diverted to another channel by the return of
Wentworth and Michael to Barford. The enthusiastic welcome which Michael
received from all classes, and from distant families who had never
evinced much cordiality to his elder brother, astonished Wentworth,
touched him to the quick.

"I had no idea we had so many friends," he said repeatedly.

Michael smiled vaguely and took everything for granted. Wentworth was so
anxious to shield him from fatigue and excitement that at first he was