The next day Aunt Nesbit received Johnnie by giving him five sovereigns
to take to Cousin Hugh for the Irish, desiring him to say it was his own
gift; and while Johnnie scrupulously explained that he should say that
she gave it to him to give, she began to instruct him that he would be a
rich man by and by, and must make a handsome and yet careful use of
his money. 'Shall I?' said Johnnie, looking up, puzzled, at his younger
aunt.

'Yes, that you will,' replied Mrs. Nesbit. 'What shall you do then?'

'Oh! then I shall buy mamma and my sisters everything they want, and
mamma shall go out in the carriage every day.

'She can do that now,' said Theodora, who had expected less commonplace
visions from her nephew.

'No,' said Johnnie, 'we have not got the carriage now. I mean, we have
no horses that will draw it.'

It was another of those revelations that made Theodora uneasy; one of
those indications that Arthur allowed his wife to pinch herself, while
he pursued a course of self-indulgence. She never went out in the
evening, it appeared, and he was hardly ever at home; her dress, though
graceful and suitable, had lost that air of research and choiceness that
it had when everything was his gift, or worn to please his eye; and as
day after day passed on without bringing him, Theodora perceived that
the delay was no such extraordinary event as to alarm her; she was
evidently grieved, but it was nothing new. It was too plain that Arthur
gave her little of his company, and his children none of his attention,
and that her calmness was the serenity of patience, not of happiness.

This was all by chance betrayed; she spoke not of herself, and the
nightly talks between the two sisters were chiefly of the children. Not
till more than a week had passed to renew their intimacy, did Theodora
advert to any subject connected with the events of her memorable stay in
London, and then she began by asking, 'What did I overhear you telling
papa about Lord St. Erme?'

'I was speaking of his doings at Wrangerton.'

'Tell me.'

'Oh! they are admirable. You know he went there with that good little
Lady Lucy, and they set to work at once, doing everything for the
parish--'

'Do your sisters know Lady Lucy?'

'Very little; it is only formal visiting now and then. She leads a very
retired life, and they know her best from meeting her at the schools and
cottages.'

'Good little girl! I knew there was something in her!'

'She is al