that time at least, to be the first and most prominent
figure in her little circle. But, alas! what chance could there be for a
mild, dove-coloured bride of forty beside a creature of half her age,
endued with all the natural bloom and natural interest of youth?

Miss Wodehouse could not quite make out her own feelings on the subject.
"Don't you think if you had waited a little it would have been wiser?"
she said, in her timid way; and then kissed her young sister, and said,
"I am so glad, my darling--I am sure dear papa would have been pleased,"
with a sob which brought back to Lucy the grief from which she had for
the moment escaped. Under all the circumstances, however, it may well be
supposed that it was rather hard upon Mr Wentworth to recollect that he
had engaged to return to luncheon with the Squire, and to prepare
himself after this momentous morning's work, to face all the
complications of the family, where still Skelmersdale and Wentworth were
hanging in the balance, and where the minds of his kith and kin were
already too full of excitement to leave much room for another event. He
went away reluctantly enough out of the momentary paradise where his
Perpetual Curacy was a matter of utter indifference, if not a tender
pleasantry, which rather increased than diminished the happiness of the
moment--into the ordinary daylight world, where it was a very serious
matter, and where what the young couple would have to live upon became
the real question to be considered. Mr Wentworth met Wodehouse as he
went out, which did not mend matters. The vagabond was loitering about
in the garden, attended by one of Elsworthy's errand-boys, with whom he
was in earnest conversation, and stopped in his talk to give a sulky nod
and "Good morning," to which the Curate had no desire to respond more
warmly than was necessary. Lucy was thinking of nothing but himself, and
perhaps a little of the "great work" at Wharfside, which her father's
illness and death had interrupted; but Mr Wentworth, who was only a man,
remembered that Tom Wodehouse would be his brother-in-law with a
distinct sensation of disgust, even in the moment of his triumph--which
is one instance of the perennial inequality between the two halves of
mankind. He had to brace himself up to the encounter of all his people,
while she had to meet nothing less delightful than her own dreams. This
was how matters came to an issue in respect of Frank Wentworth's
personal happin