ust heard from little
George Rowland, that Mrs Rowland had said at home, that the young
ladies at Mr Grey's, who had been made so much fuss about, were not
_young_ ladies, after all: she had seen the face of one, as they passed
her in the chaise, and she was sure the person could not be less than
fifty.

"She saw Morris, no doubt," said Hester, amidst the general laugh.

"I hope she will come to-morrow, and see some people who are very little
like fifty," said Mrs Grey. "She will be surprised, I think," she
added, looking at Hester, with a very meaning manner of admiration. "I
really hope, for her own sake, she will come, though you need not mind
if she does not. You will have no great loss. Mr Grey, I suppose you
think she will call?"

"No doubt, my dear. Mrs Rowland never omits calling on our friends;
and why should she now?" And Mr Grey applied himself to conversation
with his cousins, while the rest of the family enjoyed further merriment
about Mrs Rowland having mistaken Morris for one of the Miss Ibbotsons.

Mr Grey showed a sympathy with the sisters, which made them more at
home than they had felt since they entered the house. He knew some of
their Birmingham friends, and could speak of the institutions and
interests of the town. For a whole hour he engaged them in brisk
conversation, without having once alluded to their private affairs or
his own, or said one word about Deerbrook society. At the end of that
time, just as Mary and Fanny had received orders to go to bed, and were
putting their dolls into the cradle in preparation, the scrambling of a
horse's feet was heard on the gravel before the front door, and the
house-bell rang.

"Who can be coming at this time of night?" said Mrs Grey.

"It is Hope, I have no doubt," replied her husband. "As I passed his
door, I asked him to go out to old Mr Smithson, who seems to me to be
rather worse than better, and to let me know whether anything can be
done for the old gentleman. Hope has come to report of him, no doubt."

"Oh, mamma, don't send us to bed if it is Mr Hope!" cried the little
girls. "Let us sit up a little longer if it is Mr Hope."

"Mr Hope is a great favourite with the children,--with us all,"
observed Mrs Grey to the sisters. "We have the greatest confidence in
him as our medical man; as indeed every one has who employs him. Mr
Grey brought him here, and we consider him the greatest acquisition our
society ever had."

The siste