and water for them.'

'And I suppose they cost--' said Theodora.

'The keep of half-a-dozen starving orphans,' said Mrs. Finch,
triumphantly. 'Ay, you may look, Theodora; but they are my trophies.'

'I wish you joy of them,' said Theodora.

'So you shall, when you see them; and that she may, off with you, Mark,
or the post will go.'

'My cousin is a despot,' said Mark, moving off, with a bow to Theodora;
Mrs. Finch, following, spoke a few words, and then shut him into the
other room.

'Poor Mark'' said Jane, in the interval. 'We have brought him home. He
has had a little property left him, and means to clear off his debts and
make a fresh beginning. His poor mother is so delighted!'

'The coast is clear,' said Mrs. Finch, returning. 'Now, Theodora, is it
true that you are going to be married?'

Point blank questions did not excite Theodora's blushes; and she
composedly answered,

'Some time or other.'

'There! I knew it could not be true,' cried Jane.

'What is not true?' said Theodora.

'Not that you are going to have the curate!' said Mrs. Finch. 'Jane,
Jane, that has brought the rouge! Oh! I hope and trust it is not the
curate.'

'Certainly not,' said Theodora, in a grave deliberate voice.

'That's a mercy!' said Mrs. Finch. 'I had not the slightest confidence
in you. I always reckoned on your making some wild choice. Oh! by the
bye, do tell me where Percy Fotheringham is to be found. I must have him
at our first party. What a charming book that is!'

'Even at Paris every one is full of it, already,' said Jane. 'I feel
quite jealous of you, Theodora, for knowing him so well, when we, his
cousins, never saw him at all.'

'Cousins in royal fashion,' said Theodora, glad that the blush had begun
for Mr. Wingfield. 'What is the exact connection?'

'You explain, Jane; it is past me. I am content to count kindred with
the royal beast.'

'Lady Fotheringham, his uncle's wife, is sister to Mark's mother, my
uncle's wife,' said Jane. 'There! I trust that is lucidly done.'

'That is all, is it?' said Theodora.

'Enough for the sending of a card. Tell me where, if you know.'

Theodora named the place.

'Does he show off well? Mark says he has claws--'

'I have known him too long to tell how he appears to strangers,' said
Theodora, as the colour mounted again.

'Do you see much of him?'

'He comes to Arthur's house.'

'You have ventured there?' said Jane. 'It was hard not to be able to
come for