k of it, or we must not be together; and
indeed it is very precious to me.' She rested her head on Phoebe's
shoulder, and put an arm round her waist. 'Only one thing I must ask,'
she said, presently; 'is he well?'

'Quite well,' said Phoebe. 'He has been getting better ever since we
left home. Then you did not know he was with us?'

'No. It is not right for me to dwell on those things, and they never
mention any of you to me.'

'But you will write to us now? You will not desert Bertha? You do not
know how much you are doing for her.'

'Dear child! She is so like what he was when first he came.'

'If you could guess what she has suffered, and how fond he is of her, you
would not turn away from her. You will let her be your friend?'

'If it be right,' said Cecily, with tearful eyes, but her mouth set into
a steadfast expression, as resolute as sweetly sad.

'You know better what is right than I do,' said Phoebe; 'I who feel for
him and Bertha. But if you have not heard from him for so long, I think
there are things you ought to know.'

'At home, at home,' said Cecily; 'there it may be right to listen. Here
I am trusted alone, and I have only to keep my promise. Tell me when I
am at home, and it will make me happy. Though, nonsense! my wizened old
face is enough to cure him,' and she tried to laugh. Phoebe regretted
what she had said of Bertha's impression, and believed that the gentle,
worn face ought to be far more touching than the most radiant charms, but
when she strove to say that it was not beauty that Mervyn loved, she was
hushed at once, and by the same mild authority turned out of the room.

Well for her that she could tell her story to Miss Charlecote without
breach of confidence! Honor's first impulse was displeasure with the
aunt, who she was sure had let her speak _of_, though not _to_, Miss
Holmby without correcting her, and must purposely have kept the whole
Raymond connection out of sight. 'Depend upon it, Phoebe,' she said,
'she will keep her niece here.'

'Poor Cecily, what will she do? I wish they would go, for I feel sure
that she will think it her duty to hold out against him, till she has her
father's sanction; she will seem hard, and he--'

'Do not reckon too much on him, Phoebe. Yes, it is a hard saying, but
men care so much for youth and beauty, that he may find her less
attractive. He may not understand how superior she must have become to
what she was when he first