tom were surprised that the Baronet
should have allowed himself to be so easily caught. And then the
aristocracy expressed its opinion which it must be acknowledged was
for the most part hostile to Miss Altifiorla. It was well known
through the city that the Dean had declared that he would never again
see his brother-in-law at the deanery. And it was whispered that the
Reverend Dr. Pigrum, one of the canons, had stated "that no one in
the least knew where Miss Altifiorla had come from." This hit Miss
Altifiorla very hard,--so much so, that she felt herself obliged to
write an indignant letter to Dr. Pigrum, giving at length her entire
pedigree. To this Dr. Pigrum made a reply as follows: "Dr. Pigrum's
compliments to Miss Altifiorla, and is happy to learn the name of
her great grandmother." Dr. Pigrum was supposed to be a wag, and the
letter soon became the joint property of all the ladies in the Close.

This interfered much with Miss Altifiorla's happiness. She even went
across to Cecilia, complaining of the great injustice done to her by
the Cathedral clergymen generally. "Men from whom one should expect
charity instead of scandal, but that their provincial ignorance is so
narrow!" Then she went on to remind Cecilia how much older was the
Roman branch of her family than even the blood of the Geraldines.
"You oughtn't to have talked about it," said Cecilia, who in her
present state of joy did not much mind Miss Altifiorla and her
husband. "Do you suppose that I intend to be married under a bushel?"
said Miss Altifiorla grandly. But this little episode only tended to
renew the feeling of enmity between the ladies.

But there appeared a paragraph in the "Western Telegraph" which
drove Miss Altifiorla nearly mad: "It is understood that one of the
aristocracy in this county is soon about to be married to a lady who
has long lived among us in Exeter. Sir Francis Geraldine is the happy
man, and Miss Altifiorla is the lady about to become Lady Geraldine.
Miss Altifiorla is descended from an Italian family of considerable
note in its own country. Her great grandmother was a Fiasco, and her
great great grandmother a Disgrazia. We are delighted to find that
Sir Francis is to ally himself to a lady of such high birth." Now
Miss Altifiorla was well aware that there was an old feud between Sir
Francis and the "Western Telegraph," and she observed also that the
paper made allusion to the very same relatives whom she had named in
he