t about Puddock--what has he done?' asked the general, with
round eyes still, and closing his book on his finger.

'What has he done! Why, he's at your daughter's feet,' cried Aunt Becky,
with scarlet cheeks, and flashing eyes; 'and she--artful gipsy, has
brought him there by positively making love to him.'

'Sweet upon Toodie (the general's old pet name for Gertrude); why, half
the young fellows are--you know--pooh, pooh,' and the general stood up
with his back to the fire--looking uneasy; for, like many other men, he
thought a woman's eyes saw further in such a case than his.

'Do you wish the young hussy--do you--to marry Lieutenant Puddock? I
should not wonder! Why, of course, her fortune you and she may give away
to whom you like; but remember, she's young, and has been much admired,
brother; and may make a great match; and in our day, young ladies were
under direction, and did not marry without apprising their parents or
natural guardians. Here's Mr. Dangerfield, who proposes great
settlements. Why won't she have him? For my part, I think we're little
better than cheats; and I mean to write to-morrow morning and tell the
poor gentleman that you and I have been bamboozling him to a purpose,
and meant all along to marry the vixen to a poor lieutenant in your
corps. Speak truth, and shame the devil, brother; for my part, I'm sick
of the affair; I'm sick of deception, ingratitude, and odious fools.

Aunt Becky had vanished in a little whirlwind, leaving the general with
his back to the fire, looking blank and uncomfortable. And from his
little silver tankard he poured out a glassful of his mulled claret, not
thinking, and smelled to it deliberately, as he used to do when he was
tasting a new wine, and looked through it, and set the glass down,
forgetting he was to drink it, for his thoughts were elsewhere.

On reaching her bed-room, which she did with impetuous haste, Aunt
Becky shut the door with a passionate slam, and said, with a sort of
choke and a sob, 'There's nought but ingratitude on earth--the odious,
odious, _odious_ person!'

And when, ten minutes after, her maid came in, she found Aunt Rebecca
but little advanced in her preparations for bed; and her summons at the
door was answered by a fierce and shrilly nose-trumpeting, and a stern
'Come in, hussy--are you deaf, child?' And when she came in, Aunt Becky
was grim, and fussy, and her eyes red.

Miss Gertrude was that night arrived just on that dim and