blemish; and her figure which had shot up to
woman's height, seemed to bend like a reed as Mervyn supported her to the
sofa in the school-room. With nervous fright she retained his hand,
speaking with such long, helpless hesitation that Robert caught only the
words 'Juliana--never--'

'Never, never,' answered Mervyn; 'don't fear! We'll prevent that,
Robert; tell her that she shall not fall into Juliana's hands--no, nor do
anything against her will.'

Only after repeated assurances from both brothers that Augusta should not
carry her off in her present state, did she rest tranquilly on the sofa,
while Mervyn after waiting on her assiduously, with touching tenderness,
as if constantly imploring her to be pleased, applied himself to playing
with the dog, watching her face for some vestige of interest, and with so
much gratification at the slightest sign of amusement as to show how
melancholy must have been the state compared with which this was
improvement.

After slowly attaining her present amount of convalescence, she had there
stopped short, without progress in strength or spirits, and alarms
constantly varying for her head, spine, and lungs, as if the slightest
accidental cause might fix permanent disease in either quarter; and to
those who daily watched her, and knew the miserable effects produced by
the merest trifles, it was terrible to think that her destination was in
the hands of a comparative stranger, urged on by the dull Augusta and the
acid Juliana. Mervyn needed no severer penalty for having forfeited his
right to protect his sisters; attached to them and devoted to Bertha as
the anxieties of the spring had rendered him. The sight of Bertha had so
far modified Lady Bannerman's scheme, that she proposed herself to
conduct the three to Brighton, and there remain till the London season,
when the two younger could be disposed of in some boarding-school, and
Phoebe conducted to Albury-street. Mr. Crabbe did not appear averse to
this offer, and there was a correctness about it which rendered it
appalling to those who had not Phoebe's quiet trust that no part of it
would be allowed to happen unless it were good for them. And she found
her eldest brother so much subdued and less vituperative, that she
thought him quite obliged by her experienced counsel on his housekeeping
and cookery, breaking up his present establishment and letting the house
for a year, during which she promised him all facilities for m