elation was to him a disagreeable subject
of contemplation, and he possessed the faculty, in an eminent degree, of
dismissing it altogether from his mind. Having care enough on his mind
at that time, poor man, he deliberately cast the confusion of the two
boys out of his thoughts, and gave himself up to matters more
interesting and personal.

We may add here that Mrs Willders was faithful to her promise, and
never more addressed her brother-in-law by word or letter. When Willie
afterwards told her and Frank of the absurdity of his interview, and of
the violent manner in which Mr Auberly had dismissed him when he was
going to explain about the "other" boy, his mother thought it best to
let things rest as they stood, yet she often wondered in her own quiet
way what Mr Auberly would think of her and of the non-appearance of the
"other" boy; and she felt convinced that if he only put things together
he _must_ come to understand that Willie and Frank were her sons. But
Mrs Willders did not know of the before-mentioned happy facility which
her kinsman possessed of forgetting poor relations; so, after wondering
on for a time, she ceased to wonder or to think about it at all.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THOUGHTS IN REGARD TO MEN.

Miss Emelina Tippet was a maiden lady of pleasing countenance and
exceedingly uncertain age.

She was a poor member of a poor branch of an aristocratic family, and
feeling an unconquerable desire to breathe, if not the pure
unadulterated atmosphere of Beverly Square, at least as much of it as
was compatible with a very moderate income, she rented a small house in
a very dark and dismal lane leading out of that great centre of
refinement.

It is true that Beverly Square was not exactly the "West End," but there
are many degrees of West-endiness, so to speak, in the western
neighbourhood of London, and this square was, in the opinion of Miss
Tippet, the West-endiest place she knew, because there dwelt in it, not
only a very genteel and uncommonly rich portion of the community, but
several of her own aristocratic, though distant, relations, among whom
was Mr Auberly.

The precise distance of the relationship between them had never been
defined, and all records bearing on it having been lost in the mists of
antiquity, it could not now be ascertained; but Miss Tippet laid claim
to the relationship, and as she was an obliging, good-humoured, chatty,
and musical lady, Mr Auberly admitted the claim.

M