uld do better for herself."

Strange to say, Mrs. Broderick differed from them. She had already
made Greta's acquaintance, and they had mutually taken to each other.
Greta had been charmed with Mrs. Broderick's cheerfulness and quaint
speeches, and Aunt Madge, in her turn, had declared herself fascinated
by Greta's gentleness. "She is exactly my idea of a young English
gentlewoman," she had said after her first visit. "I thought the
article had gone out of fashion. Oh," as Olivia looked shocked at
this, "I grant you there are hundreds and thousands of good, honest
girls, I'm thankful to say, but they are so terribly outspoken and up
to date. Of course, I am only an old-fashioned frump and sadly behind
the times, but though slang may not be sinful and a little outward
roughness is only the husk, and there is plenty of sweet, sound kernel
inside, yet I must own, Livy, I like gentleness as well."

Alwyn and Aunt Madge were already firm friends. She shared his
artistic tastes and could talk intelligently to him on the subjects he
liked best, and from the first she refused to see any defects in him.

"My dear Livy," she once said when Olivia had made a somewhat
disparaging remark about his want of steadiness, "you are far too
critical. You judge men by Marcus's standard, but you must remember
every one is not a moral son of Anak.

"Now Mr. Alwyn is a great favourite of mine, and I think highly of him.
Few young men would be so good-natured as to come two or three times a
week to chat with an elderly invalid. And yet that is what Mr. Alwyn
does, and he knows I enjoy his visits.

"Yesterday when he came in he found Miss Williams sitting with me, and
they both looked as pleased as though they had not met for years. And
it made me feel quite young to look at them. Oh!" in an exasperated
tone, as Olivia shook her head, "I know what that means,--that you and
Marcus forbid the banns,--but you might just as well try to stop an
express train with a penny whistle, so you may as well save your breath.

"Those two mean to take each other for better or worse. They don't
know it themselves yet, but it is written already in the book of fate."

"Oh, Aunt Madge, how can you say such things? You have not seen Greta
more than three or four times."

"All the same, the oracle has spoken," with a wise nod of her head.
"My dear, Greta Williams was born into this world to be someone's
crutch. A strong, healthy-minded man could