tween them was over, and
thought that everything was as it should be.

"Do you know, I have an idea," she said in the pony carriage that
day, "that Lord Lufton will marry Griselda Grantly." Lucy could
not refrain from giving a little check at the reins which she was
holding, and she felt that the blood rushed quickly to her heart. But
she did not betray herself. "Perhaps he may," she said, and then gave
the pony a little touch with her whip.

"Oh, Lucy, I won't have Puck beaten. He was going very nicely."

"I beg Puck's pardon. But you see when one is trusted with a whip one
feels such a longing to use it."

"Oh, but you should keep it still. I feel almost certain that Lady
Lufton would like such a match."

"I dare say she might. Miss Grantly will have a large fortune, I
believe."

"It is not that altogether: but she is the sort of young lady that
Lady Lufton likes. She is ladylike and very beautiful--"

"Come, Fanny!"

"I really think she is; not what I should call lovely, you know, but
very beautiful. And then she is quiet and reserved; she does not
require excitement, and I am sure is conscientious in the performance
of her duties."

"Very conscientious, I have no doubt," said Lucy, with something like
a sneer in her tone. "But the question, I suppose, is, whether Lord
Lufton likes her."

"I think he does,--in a sort of way. He did not talk to her so much
as he did to you--"

"Ah! that was all Lady Lufton's fault, because she didn't have him
properly labelled."

"There does not seem to have been much harm done?"

"Oh! by God's mercy, very little. As for me, I shall get over it in
three or four years I don't doubt--that's if I can get ass's milk and
change of air."

"We'll take you to Barchester for that. But as I was saying, I really
do think Lord Lufton likes Griselda Grantly."

"Then I really do think that he has uncommon bad taste," said Lucy,
with a reality in her voice differing much from the tone of banter
she had hitherto used.

"What, Lucy!" said her sister-in-law, looking at her. "Then I fear we
shall really want the ass's milk."

"Perhaps, considering my position, I ought to know nothing of Lord
Lufton, for you say that it is very dangerous for young ladies to
know young gentlemen. But I do know enough of him to understand that
he ought not to like such a girl as Griselda Grantly. He ought to
know that she is a mere automaton, cold, lifeless, spiritless, and
even vapid. There is, I