think about it,' returned the other, with dignity, sitting
upright, and gathering his broad beard into his hand.

'Why, there now!' cried his wife, struck with a sudden thought. 'If
that doesn't explain something! Depend upon it--_depend_ upon
it--that's how Grail got Thyrza Trent to engage herself to him. He'll
a' known it for some time, Grail will a' done. He's a mean fellow, or
he'd never a' gone and set her against Mr. Ackroyd, as it's easy to see
he did. He'll a' told her about the 'ouse and the salary, of course he
will! If I didn't think there was something queer in that job!'

Mr. Bower saw at once how highly probable this was.

'And that is why they've put on such hairs, her an' Lydia,' Mrs. Bower
pursued. 'It's all very well for Mary to pretend as there's nothing
altered. It's my belief Mary's got to know more than she'll tell, and
Lydia's quarrelled with her about it. It's easy enough to see as they
_have_ fell out. Lydia ain't been to chapel since Christmas, an' you
know yourself it was just before Christmas as Egremont went to the
'ouse to see Mr. Grail. If she'd been a bit sharper, she'd never a'
told Mary that. I ain't surprised at Thyrza doin' of under-handed
things; I've never liked her over-much. But I thought better of Lydia.'

'I've not quarrelled with _them_,' said Mr. Bower, magnanimously. 'And
girls must look out for themselves, and do the best for themselves they
can. But that soft-spoken, sneaking Hegremont! You should a' seen him
when he had the cheek to tell me about it; you'd a' thought he was
going to give me a five-pound note.'

'Now, you'll see,' said Mrs. Bower, 'they'll take off old Boddy to live
with them.'

'So much the better. He can't earn his living much longer, and who was
to pay us for his lodging and keep, I'd like to know?'

Thus did the worthy pair link together conjectural cause and effect, on
principles which their habit of mind dictated.

On one point Mrs. Bower was right. Mary and Lydia had not come together
since the former's triumph over her friend. Lydia still visited the
shop to see Mr. Boddy, but generally at the times when Mary was away at
prayer-meetings.

There was no sign that she suffered at all, the good Lyddy; the trouble
of those days before Christmas was lost in the anticipation of the
great change that was soon to come upon her sister's life. To that she
had resolved to look forward cheerfully; the better she came to know
Gilbert, the warmer grew h