, but they are mostly elderly men, and gentlemen, and know
how to behave themselves to her. Indeed, her cousin Blanche, who was
here in the winter, gave us to understand that Ursula knows how to take
care of herself, and gets laughed at as rather an old maidish model of
propriety, if you can believe it of your little Nuttie.'

'I could quite believe in her on the defensive, unprotected as she is.'

'What did that young lady--Miss Blanche--tell us about that gentleman,
Mary?' asked Miss Headworth, hearing and uttering what Miss Nugent
hoped had passed unnoticed.

'Oh, I think that was all gossip!' returned Mary, 'and so I am sure did
the Mark Egremonts. She said there was one of Mr. Egremont's friends,
Mr. Clarence Fane, I think she called him, rather younger than the
others, who, she was pleased to say, seemed smitten with Nuttie, but I
have heard nothing more about it, and Mrs. Mark scouted the idea,' she
added in haste, as she saw his expression vary in spite of himself.

'Do you see much of your neighbours?'

'We are both too busy to see much of one another, but we have our
little talks over the wall. What a buoyant creature she is. It seems
as if playfulness was really a sustaining power in her, helping her to
get diversion out of much that others might stumble at. You know
perhaps that when she arrived the work-people had got up a beautiful
parasol for her, white, with a deep fringe and spray of rowan. Little
Susie Gunner presented her with it, and she was very gracious and nice
about it. But then what must Mr. Goodenough do but dub it the
Annabella sunshade, and blazon it, considerably vulgarised, in all the
railway stations, and magazines.'

'I know! I had the misfortune to see it in the station at Melbourne;
and my mind misgave me from that hour.'

'Her husband was prepared to be very angry, but she fairly laughed him
out of it, made all sorts of fun out of the affair, declared it her
only opening to fame, and turned it into a regular joke; so that indeed
the Greenleafs, who were vexed at the matter, and tried to apologise,
were quite perplexed in their turn, and not at all sure that the whole
concern was not being turned into ridicule.'

'I wonder it did not make him cut the connection,' said Mr. Dutton,
muttering 'I only wish it had.'

'Mrs. Greenleaf is very funny about her, 'added Mary, 'proud of the
Honourable Mrs. Egremont, as they insist on calling her, yet not quite
pleased that she shou