me between her and the sense, she decided that she was too tired to
read, and put herself to bed. But there the sense of wrong towards Maria
filled her with remorse that she had accepted her rights of seniority,
and let the maids place her in the prettiest room, with the best bay
window, and most snug fireplace; nor could she rest till she had pacified
her self-reproach, by deciding that all her own goods should move next
day into the chamber that did not look at the Holt firs, but only at the
wall of the back yard.

'Yes,' said Phoebe, stoutly in her honest dealing with herself in her
fresh, untried morning senses. 'I do love Humfrey Charlecote Randolf,
and I think he loves me! Whether anything more may come of it, will be
ordered for me; but whether it do so or not, it is a blessing to have
known one like him, and now that I am warned, and can try to get back
self-control, I will begin to be the better for it. Even if I am not
quite so happy, this is something more beautiful than I ever knew before.
I will be content!'

And when Bertha and Maria arrived, brimful of importance at having come
home with no escort but a man and maid, and voluble with histories of
Sutton, and wedding schemes, they did not find an absent nor inattentive
listener. Yet the keen Bertha made the remark, 'Something has come over
you, Phoebe. You have more countenance than ever you had before.'

Whereat Phoebe's colour rushed into her cheeks, but she demanded the
meaning of countenance, and embarked Bertha in a dissertation.

When Phoebe was gone, Robert found it less difficult to force Lucilla to
the extremity of a _tete-a-tete_. Young Randolf was less in the house,
and, when there, more with Owen than before, and Lucilla was necessarily
sometimes to be caught alone in the drawing-room.

'Lucy,' said Robert, the first time this occurred, 'I have a question to
ask you.'

'Well!'--she turned round half defiant.

'A correspondent of Mervyn, on the Spanish coast, has written to ask him
to find a chaplain for the place, guaranteeing a handsome stipend.'

'Well,' said Lucilla, in a cold voice this time.

'I wished to ask whether you thought it would be acceptable to Mr.
Prendergast.'

'I neither know nor care.'

'I beg your pardon,' said Robert, after a pause; 'but though I believe I
learnt it sooner than I ought, I was sincerely glad to hear--'

'Then unhear!' said Lucilla, pettishly. 'You, at least, ought to be glad
of that.'