d not dare--." Margaret paused.

"It is a bold stroke (supposing me right), but she would strike boldly
to make a quarrel between her brother and his friends in the
corner-house: and if the device should fail at last, she has the
intermediate satisfaction of making them uncomfortable."

"Horrid creature!" said Margaret, feeling, however, that she would
forgive all the horridness for the sake of finding that Mrs Rowland had
done this horrid thing.

"We must not forget," said Maria, "that there is another side to the
question. Young men have been known to engage themselves mysteriously,
and without sufficient respect to the confidence of intimate friends."

"This must be ascertained, Maria;" and again Margaret stopped short with
a blush of shame.

"By time, Margaret; in no other way. I cannot, of course, speak to Mr
Rowland, or any one, on so private an affair of the family; nor, under
the circumstances, can Mr Hope stir in it. We must wait; but it cannot
be for long. Some illumination must reach Deerbrook soon--either from
Mr Enderby's going to Rome, or coming here to see his mother."

"Mrs Rowland said he would come here, she hoped, for his wedding
journey."

"She did say so, I know. And she has told plenty of people that her
brother is delighted that Mrs Enderby is settled with her; whereas some
beautiful plants arrived this morning for Mrs Enderby's conservatory,
by his orders (the Rowlands have no conservatory you know). The
children were desired not to mention the arrival of these plants to
grandmamma; and Mrs Rowland wrote by return of post--I imagine to
inform him for the first time of his mother's removal."

Margaret thought these things were too bad to be true.

"I should have said so, too, some time ago: and as I cannot too
earnestly repeat, I may be wrong now. But I have done my duty in giving
you reason for suspending your judgment of Mr Enderby. This being
done, we will talk of something else.--Now, do not you think there may
be some difficulty in preserving my pupils from a habit of untruth?"

"Yes, indeed."

But the talking of something else did not operate so well as it sounded.
The pauses were long after what had passed. At length, when Margaret
detected herself in the midst of the speculation, "if he is not engaged
to Miss Bruce, it does not follow--," she roused herself, and
exclaimed--

"How very good it is of you, Maria, to have laid all this open to me!"

Maria hung her hea