'The study of Shelley is the fashion of the day. You know, I suppose,
the little piece entitled _Love's Philosophy_--"_The fountains mingle
with the river; the river with the ocean_." You know "_Nothing in the
world is single: all things, by a law divine, in one another's being
mingle. Why not I with thine?"'_

'Oh yes, and the _Sensitive Plant_. Is it not lovely?'

'There is your book, my dear; you must run away now. I have to talk with
Milord about important business.'

Milord looked disappointed at being thus interrupted in his quotations;
but he allowed himself to be led back to the sofa. 'I beg your pardon
for a moment,' said Mrs. Barton, whom a sudden thought had struck, and
she followed her daughter out of the room.

'Instead of wasting your time reading all this love-poetry, Alice, it
would be much better if you would devote a little of your time to your
sister; she is left all alone, and you know I don't care that she should
be always in Barnes' society.'

'But what am I to do, mamma? I have often asked Olive to come out with
me, but she says I don't amuse her.'

'I want you to win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs.
Barton; 'she is grieving her heart out and will be a wreck before we go
to Dublin. Tell her you heard at Dungory Castle that he was flirting
with other girls, that he is not worth thinking about, and that the
Marquis is in love with her.'

'But that would be scarcely the truth, mamma,' Alice replied
hesitatingly.

Mrs. Barton gave her daughter one quick look, bit her lips, and, without
another word, returned to Milord. Everything was decidedly going wrong;
and to be annoyed by that gawk of a girl in a time like the present was
unbearable. But Mrs. Barton never allowed her temper to master her, and
in two minutes all memory of Alice had passed out of her mind, and she
was talking business with Lord Dungory. Many important questions had to
be decided. It was known that mortgages, jointures, legacies, and debts
of all kinds had reduced the Marquis's income to a minimum, and that he
stood in urgent need of a little ready money. It was known that his
relations looked to an heiress to rehabilitate the family fortune. Mrs.
Barton hoped to dazzle him with Olive's beauty, but it was
characteristic of her to wish to bait the hook on every side, and she
hoped that a little gilding of it would silence the chorus of scorn and
dissent that she knew would be raised against her when once