, and ride to Bowstead, spending two
nights there the next week; and to Aurelia's greater amazement, she
was next requested to write a billet to the Mistresses Treforth in Mr.
Belamour's name, asking them to bestow their company on him for the
second evening of Dr. Godfrey's visit.

"You, my kind friend, will do the honours," he said, "and we will ask
Mrs. Aylward to provide the entertainment."

"They will be quite propitiated by being asked to meet Dr. Godfrey,"
said Aurelia. "Shall you admit them, sir?"

"Certainly. You do not seem to find them very engaging company, but they
can scarce be worse than I should find in such an asylum as my charming
sister-in-law seems to have in preparation for me."

"Oh! I wish I had said nothing about that. It is too shocking!"

"Forewarned, forearmed, as the proverb says. Do you not see, my amiable
friend, that we are providing a body of witnesses to the sanity of the
recluse, even though he may 'in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell'?"

The visit took place; Dr. Godfrey greeted Miss Delavie as an old
friend, and the next day pronounced Mr. Belamour to be so wonderfully
invigorated and animated, that he thought my Lady's malignant plan was
really likely to prove the best possible stimulus and cure.

Then the Canon gratified the two old ladies by a morning call, dined
with Aurelia and her pupils, who behaved very well, and with whom he
afterwards played for a whole hour so kindly that they placed him second
in esteem to their big and beautiful brother. Mrs. Phoebe and Mrs. Delia
came dressed in the faded splendours of the Louis XIV. period, just at
twilight, and were regaled with coffee and pound cake. They were a good
deal subdued, though as Aurelia listened to the conversation, it was
plain enough what Mr. Belamour meant when he said that his cousin Delia
was something of the coquette.

Still they asked with evident awe if it were true that their unfortunate
cousin really intended to admit them, and they evidently became more and
more nervous while waiting for Jumbo's summons. Dr. Godfrey gave his arm
to Mrs. Phoebe, and Mrs. Delia gripped hold of Aurelia's, trembling all
over, declaring she felt ready to swoon, and marvelling how Miss Delavie
could ever have ventured, all alone too!

After all, things had been made much less formidable than at Aurelia's
first introduction. The sitting-room was arranged as it was when Mr.
Greaves read prayers, with a very faint light from a s