to complain. No one did complain; the expression of
opinion was extremely guarded.

Bessie was informed of the terms of her grandfather's will in the first
shock of surprise; afterward her uncle Laurence reflected that it would
have been wise to keep them from her, but the deed was done. She
received the news without emotion: she blushed, put up her eyebrows, and
smiled as she said, "Then I am a poor young woman again." She saw at
once what was absurd, pathetic, vexatious in her descent from the
dignity of riches, but she was not angry. She never uttered a word of
blame or reproach against her grandfather, and when it was indignantly
recalled to her that Mr. Cecil Burleigh was put into possession of what
ought to have been hers, she answered, "There is no ought in the matter.
Grandpapa had a lively interest in Mr. Cecil Burleigh's career, for the
sake of the country as well as for his own sake, and if you ask me my
sentiments I must confess that I feel the money grandpapa has left him
is well bestowed. It would be a shame that such a man should be hampered
by mean cares and insufficient fortune."

"Oh, if you are satisfied that is enough," was the significant
rejoinder, and Lady Angleby's hopes had a wider echo.

To Mr. Cecil Burleigh his old friend's bequest was a boon to be thankful
for, and he was profoundly thankful. It set him above troublesome
anxieties and lifted his private life into the sphere of comfort. But
his first visit to Abbotsmead and first meeting with Miss Fairfax after
it was communicated to him tried his courage not a little. The intimacy
that had been kept up, and even improved during Mr. Fairfax's decline,
had given him no grounds for hoping better success with Elizabeth as a
lover than before, and yet he was convinced that in leaving him this
fine fortune the squire had continued to indulge his expectations of
their ultimate union. That Elizabeth would be inclined towards him in
the slightest degree by the fact of his gaining the inheritance that she
had forfeited, he never for one moment dreamed; the contrary might be
possible, but not that. Amongst the many and important duties and
interests that engaged him now he had neither leisure nor desire for
sentimental philandering. He was a very busy man of the world, and
wished for the rest of a home. Insensibly his best thoughts reverted to
his dear Julia, never married, still his very good friend. He approved
the sweet rosy face of Elizabeth Fai