y him," said Miss Marrable.

"Then he must be paid, that's all. My brother Gregory is wrapped up
in that girl, and he would do anything for her welfare. I'm told that
she and Walter have taken very kindly to each other already."

It would be better for Mary Lowther that Walter Marrable should marry
Edith Brownlow. Such, at least, was Miss Marrable's belief. She could
see that Mary, though she bore herself bravely, still did so as one
who had received a wound for which there was no remedy;--as a man
who has lost a leg and who nevertheless intends to enjoy life though
he knows that he never can walk again. But in this case, the real
bar to walking was the hope in Mary's breast,--a hope that was
still present, though it was not nourished,--that the leg was not
irremediably lost. If Captain Marrable would finish all that by
marrying Edith, then,--so thought Miss Marrable,--in process of time
the cure would be made good, and there might be another leg. She did
not believe much in the Captain's constancy, and was quite ready to
listen to the story about another love. And so from day to day words
were dropped into Mary's ear which had their effect.

"I must say that I am glad that he is not to go to India," said Miss
Marrable to her niece.

"So, indeed, am I," answered Mary.

"In the first place it is such an excellent thing that he should be
on good terms at Dunripple. He must inherit the property some day,
and the title too."

To this Mary made no reply. It seemed to her to have been hard that
the real state of things should not have been explained to her before
she gave up her lover. She had then regarded any hope of relief
from Dunripple as being beyond measure distant. There had been a
possibility, and that was all,--a chance to which no prudent man or
woman would have looked in making their preparations for the life
before them. That had been her idea as to the Dunripple prospects;
and now it seemed that on a sudden Walter was to be regarded as
almost the immediate heir. She did not blame him; but it did appear
to be hard upon her.

"I don't see the slightest reason why he shouldn't live at
Dunripple," continued Miss Marrable.

"Only that he would be dependent. I suppose he does not mean to sell
out of the army altogether."

"At any rate, he may be backwards and forwards. You see, there is no
chance of Sir Gregory's own son marrying."

"So they say."

"And his position would be really that of a younger bro