adyship."

"I warrant it did not please her ladyship at all," said Mr. Laurence
Fairfax, laughing at the recital.

"No. She turned and went away in a rage; then came back to expound her
views with respect to Rosy's origin. I begged to inform her that from
time immemorial king's jesters had been of the Jocund family--an office
to the full as dignified as the office of public barber. And a barber
her ladyship's great-grandfather was, and shaved His Majesty's lieges
for a penny. Mr. Cecil Burleigh waited for her outside, and to him
immediately she of course repeated the tale. How does it come to be a
concern of his, I should be glad to know?" Nobody volunteered to gratify
her curiosity, but Mr. Laurence Fairfax could have done so, no doubt.

Mr. Cecil Burleigh had not visited Minster Court that day: was this the
reason? Bessie was not absolutely indifferent to the omission, but she
had other diversions. That night she went up stairs with the young
mother (so young that Elizabeth could not fashion to call her by her
title of kindred) to view the boys in their cots, and saw her so loving
and tender over them that she could not but reflect how dear a companion
she must be to her philosopher after his lost Xantippe. She was such a
sweet and gentle lady that, though he had chosen to marry her privately,
he could have no reluctance in producing her as his wife. He had kept
her to himself unspoilt, had much improved her in their retired life,
and as he had no intention of bringing her into rivalry with finer
ladies, the charm of her adoring simplicity was not likely to be
impaired. He had set his mind on his niece Elizabeth for her friend from
the first moment of their meeting, and except Elizabeth he did not
desire that she should find, at present, any intimate friend of her own
sex. And Elizabeth was perfectly ready to be her friend, and to care
nothing for the change in her own prospects.

"You know that my boys will make all the difference to you?" her uncle
said to her the next day, being a few minutes alone with her.

"Oh yes, I understand, and I shall be the happier in the end. Abbotsmead
will be quite another place when they come over," was her reply.

"There is my father to conciliate before they can come to Abbotsmead. He
is deeply aggrieved, and not without cause. You may help to smooth the
way to comfortable relations again, or at least to prevent a widening
breach. I count on that, because he has permitted you t