o the world, and show her life?
With her fortune and with _you_ to take her about, she would soon forget
this egregiously foolish romance.'

'And me to have her snapped up by some whipper-snapper that calls himself
a lord? Not me, Mr. Graham,' said Mrs. Nicholson. 'The money that her
uncle made by the Panmedicon is not going to be spent on horses, and
worse, if I can help it.'

'Then,' said Merton, 'all I can do for you is by our ordinary method--to
throw some young man of worth and education in the way of your ward, and
attempt to--divert her affections.'

'And have _him_ carry her off under my very nose? Not much, Mr. Graham.
Why where do _I_ come in, in this pretty plan?'

'Do not suppose me to suggest anything so--detrimental to your interests,
Mrs. Nicholson. Is your ward beautiful?'

'A toad!' said Mrs. Nicholson with emphasis.

'Very well. There is no danger. The gentleman of whom I speak is
betrothed to one of the most beautiful girls in England. They are deeply
attached, and their marriage is only deferred for prudential reasons.'

'I don't trust one of them,' said Mrs. Nicholson.

'Very well, madam,' answered Merton severely; 'I have done all that
experience can suggest. The gentleman of whom I speak has paid especial
attention to the mental delusions under which your ward is labouring, and
has been successful in removing them in some cases. But as you reject my
suggestion'--he rose, so did Mrs. Nicholson--'I have the honour of
wishing you a pleasant journey back to Derbyshire.'

'A bullet may hit him,' said Mrs. Nicholson with much acerbity. 'That's
my best hope.'

Then Merton bowed her out.

'The old woman will never let the girl marry anybody, except some
adventurer, who squares her by giving her the full value of her allowance
out of the estate,' thought Merton, adding 'I wonder how much it is! Six
figures is anything between a hundred thousand and a million!'

The man he had thought of sending down to divert Miss Monypenny's
affections from the young doctor was Jephson, the History coach, at that
hour waiting for a professorship to enable him to marry Miss Willoughby.

However, he dismissed Mrs. Nicholson and her ward from his mind. About a
fortnight later Merton received a letter directed in an uneducated hand.
'Another of the agricultural classes,' he thought, but, looking at the
close of the epistle, he saw the name of Eliza Nicholson. She wrote:

'Sir,--Barbara has been