ly, having been,
doubtless, already prepared to think highly of my character by her
niece's too favourable report. I turned my best side out, of course, and
we got along marvellously well together. When my ambitious intentions
were made known to her, she took it more sensibly than I had ventured to
hope. Her only remark on the subject, in my hearing, was--

'And so, Mr. Markham, you are going to rob me of my niece, I understand.
Well! I hope God will prosper your union, and make my dear girl happy at
last. Could she have been contented to remain single, I own I should
have been better satisfied; but if she must marry again, I know of no
one, now living and of a suitable age, to whom I would more willingly
resign her than yourself, or who would be more likely to appreciate her
worth and make, her truly happy, as far as I can tell.'

Of course I was delighted with the compliment, and hoped to show her that
she was not mistaken in her favourable judgment.

'I have, however, one request to offer,' continued she. 'It seems I am
still to look on Staningley as my home: I wish you to make it yours
likewise, for Helen is attached to the place and to me--as I am to her.
There are painful associations connected with Grassdale, which she cannot
easily overcome; and I shall not molest you with my company or
interference here: I am a very quiet person, and shall keep my own
apartments, and attend to my own concerns, and only see you now and
then.'

Of course I most readily consented to this; and we lived in the greatest
harmony with our dear aunt until the day of her death, which melancholy
event took place a few years after--melancholy, not to herself (for it
came quietly upon her, and she was glad to reach her journey's end), but
only to the few loving friends and grateful dependents she left behind.

To return, however, to my own affairs: I was married in summer, on a
glorious August morning. It took the whole eight months, and all Helen's
kindness and goodness to boot, to overcome my mother's prejudices against
my bride-elect, and to reconcile her to the idea of my leaving Linden
Grange and living so far away. Yet she was gratified at her son's good
fortune after all, and proudly attributed it all to his own superior
merits and endowments. I bequeathed the farm to Fergus, with better
hopes of its prosperity than I should have had a year ago under similar
circumstances; for he had lately fallen in love with the Vicar