orator. But as he had no such ambition, perhaps the
interruptions only served him. But Miss Thoroughbung's witticism did
throw a certain damp over the wedding-breakfast. It was perhaps to have
been expected that the lady should take her revenge for the injury done
to her. It was the only revenge that she did take. She had been
ill-used, she thought, and yet she had not put Mr. Prosper to a shilling
of expense. And there was present to her a feeling that the uncle had at
the last moment been debarred from complying with her small requests in
favor of Miss Tickle and the ponies on behalf of the young man who was
now sitting opposite to her, and that the good things coming from Buston
Hall were to be made to flow in the way of the Annesleys generally
rather than in her way. She did not regret them very much, and it was
not in her nature to be bitter; but still all those little touches about
Mr. Prosper were pleasant to her, and were, of course, unpleasant to the
Annesleys. Then, it will be said, she should not have come to partake of
a breakfast in Mr. Annesley's dining-room. That is a matter of taste,
and perhaps Miss Thoroughbung's taste was not altogether refined.

Joe's speech came to an end, and with it his aunt's remarks. But as she
left the room she said a few words to Mr. Annesley. "Don't suppose that
I am angry,--not in the least; certainly not with you or Harry. I'd do
him a good turn to-morrow if I could; and so, for the matter of that, I
would to his uncle. But you can't expect but what a woman should have
her feelings and express them." Mr. Annesley, on the other hand, thought
it strange that a woman in such a position should express her feelings.

Then at last came the departure. Molly was taken up into her mother's
room and cried over for the last time. "I know that I'm an old fool!"

"Oh, mamma! now, dearest mamma!"

"A good husband is the greatest blessing that God can send a girl, and I
do think that he is good and sterling."

"He is, mamma,--he is. I know he is."

"And when that woman talks about brewery chimneys, I know what a comfort
it is that there should be chimneys, and that they should be near.
Brewery chimneys are better than a do-nothing scamp that can't earn a
meal for himself or his children. And when I see Joe with his pink coat
on going to the meet, I thank God that my Molly has got a lad that can
work hard, and ride his own horses, and go out hunting with the best of
them."

"Oh, ma