o give us whenever
we want it.'

'Emmeline says perhaps she knows the fairy's godmother, and is not a
fairy herself, because Berta is too tall for a real fairy.'

'She must be one; for when there was a notch burnt in the hem of my
pretty blue frock she said it should be gone in the morning if I would go
to bed and not cry; and in the morning it was gone, and all nice and
straight as new.'

Ethelberta was recalling to mind how she had sat up and repaired the
damage alluded to by cutting off half an inch of the skirt all round and
hemming it anew, when the breathing of the children became regular, and
they fell asleep. Here were bright little minds ready for a training,
which without money and influence she could never give them. The wisdom
which knowledge brings, and the power which wisdom may bring, she had
always assumed would be theirs in her dreams for their social elevation.
By what means were these things to be ensured to them if her skill in
bread-winning should fail her? Would not a well-contrived marriage be of
service? She covered and tucked in one more closely, lifted another upon
the pillow and straightened the soft limbs to an easy position; then sat
down by the window and looked out at the flashing stars. Thoughts of
Neigh's audacious statement returned again upon Ethelberta. He had said
that he meant to marry her. Of what standing was the man who had uttered
such an intention respecting one to whom a politic marriage had become
almost a necessity of existence?

She had often heard Neigh speak indefinitely of some estate--'my little
place' he had called it--which he had purchased no very long time ago.
All she knew was that its name was Farnfield, that it lay thirty or forty
miles out of London in a south-westerly direction, a railway station in
the district bearing the same name, so that there was probably a village
or small town adjoining. Whether the dignity of this landed property was
that of domain, farmstead, allotment, or garden-plot, Ethelberta had not
the slightest conception. She was almost certain that Neigh never lived
there, but that might signify nothing. The exact size and value of the
estate would, she mused, be curious, interesting, and almost necessary
information to her who must become mistress of it were she to allow him
to carry out his singularly cool and crude, if tender, intention.
Moreover, its importance would afford a very good random sample of his
worldly substance