ng to
cause trouble."

"Oh, no!" Mr. Mulready said lightly, "he will not cause trouble; I have
no doubt we shall get on well together. Boys will be boys, you know;
I have been one myself, and of course they look upon stepfathers as
natural enemies; but in this case, you see, we shall not have to put up
with each other long, as he will be getting his commission in a year or
so. Don't trouble yourself about it, love; in your state of health you
ought really not to worry yourself, and worry, you know, spoils the eyes
and the complexion, and I cannot allow that, for you will soon be my
property now."

The wedding was fixed for March. It was to be perfectly quiet, as Mrs.
Sankey would, up to the day, be still in mourning. A month before the
time Ned noticed that his mother was more uncertain in her temper than
usual, and Abijah confided to him in secret that she thought things were
not going on smoothly between the engaged couple.

Nor were they. Mr. Mulready had discovered, to his surprise, that,
indolent and silly as Mrs. Sankey was in many respects, she was not
altogether a fool, and was keen enough where her own interests were
concerned. He had suggested something about settlements, hoping that
she would at once say that these were wholly unnecessary; but to his
surprise she replied in a manner which showed that she had already
thought the matter over, and had very fixed ideas on the subject.

"Of course," she said, "that will be necessary. I know nothing about
business, but it was done before, and my poor husband insisted that
my little fortune should be settled so as to be entirely at my own
disposal."

But this by no means suited Mr. Mulready's views. Hitherto want of
capital had prevented his introducing the new machinery into his mills,
and the competition with the firms which had already adopted it was
injuring him seriously, and he had reckoned confidently upon the use
of Mrs. Sankey's four thousand pounds. Although he kept his temper
admirably under the circumstances, he gave her distinctly to understand,
in the pleasantest way, that an arrangement which was most admirably
suitable in every respect in the case of a lady marrying an officer in
the army, to whom her capital could be of no possible advantage, was
altogether unsuitable in the case of a manufacturer.

"You see, my love," he argued, "that it is for your benefit as well as
mine that the business should grow and flourish by the addition of the
ne