s to be
done! A stranger will be worse than no one to both the invalids;
Lieschen has neither head nor nerve; and though I do not believe Phoebe
will ever give way, Bertha behaves very ill to her, and the strain of
anxiety may be too much for such a mere girl, barely twenty! She may
suffer for it afterwards, if not at the time.'

'I feel it all,' sighed Miss Fennimore; 'but it would not justify me in
letting myself be thrust on a family whose confidence in me has been
deceived. Nobody could go with them but you, Miss Charlecote.'

'Me! how much obliged Mervyn would be,' laughed Honora.

'It was a wild wish, such as crosses the mind in moments of perplexity
and distress; but no one else could be so welcome to my poor Bertha, nor
be the motherly friend they all require. Forgive me, Miss Charlecote;
but I have seen what you made of Phoebe, in spite of me and my system.'

So Honor returned to announce the ill-success of her mission.

'There!' said Mervyn; 'goodness knows what will become of us! Bertha
would go into fits at the sight of any stranger; and such a hideous old
catamaran as Juliana will be sure to have in pickle, will be the death of
her outright. I think Miss Charlecote had better take pity on us!'

'Oh, Mervyn, impossible!' cried Phoebe, shocked at his audacity.

'I protest,' said Mervyn, 'nothing else can save you from some nasty,
half-bred companion! Faugh! Now, Miss Charlecote would enjoy the trip,
put Maria and Bertha to bed, and take you to operas, and pictures, and
churches, and you would all be off my hands!'

'For shame, Mervyn,' cried Phoebe, crimson at his cavalier manner.

'It is the second such compliment I have received, Phoebe,' said Honor.
'Miss Fennimore does me the honour to tell me to be her substitute.'

'Then if she says so,' said Mervyn, 'it is our only rescue!'

If Honor laughed it was not that she did not think. As she crossed the
park, she felt that each bud of spring beauty, each promised crop, each
lamb, each village child, made the proposal the more unwelcome; yet that
the sense of being rooted, and hating to move, ought to be combated. It
might hardly be treating Humfrey's 'goodly heritage' aright, to make it
an excuse for abstaining from an act of love; and since Brooks attended
to her so little when at home, he could very well go on without her. Not
that she believed that she should be called on to decide. She did not
think Mervyn in earnest, nor suppose that