or if she
could come here and go poking into cottages and schools, she would want
nothing more.'

'Then she is very good?'

'You and she will be devoted to each other. And you'll stand up for her,
I know, and then a fig for their two ladyships. You and I can be a match
for Juliana, if she tries to bully my mother. Not that it matters. I am
my own man now; but Cecily is crotchety, and must not be distressed.'

'Then I am sure she would not like to turn mamma out,' said Phoebe,
stoutly.

'Don't you see that is the reason I want to have it settled beforehand.
If she were a party to it, she would never consent; she would be
confoundedly scrupulous, and we should be all worried to death. Come,
you just sound my mother; you can do anything with her, and it will be
better for you all. You will be bored to death here, seeing no one.'

'I do not know whether it be a right proposal to make.'

'Right? If the place had been my father's, it would be a matter of
course.'

'That makes the whole difference. And even so, would not this be very
soon?'

'Of course you know I am proposing nothing at once. It would not be
decent, I suppose, to marry within the half-year; but, poor little thing,
I can't leave her in suspense any longer. You should not have played
that thing.'

'Then you know that she cares for you?'

He laughed consciously at this home question.

'It must be a long time since you were at Mr. Raymond's.'

'Eight years; but I have made flying visits there since, and met her at
her uncle's. Poor little thing, she was horribly gone off last time, and
very ungracious, but we will find a remedy!'

'Then you could not gain consent to it?'

'It never came to that. I never committed myself.'

'But why not? If she was so good, and you liked her, and they all wanted
you to marry, I can't see why you waited, if you knew, too, that she
liked you--I don't think it was kind, Mervyn.'

'Ah! women always hang by one another. See here, Phoebe, it began when I
was as green as yourself, a mere urchin, and she a little unconscious
thing of the same age. Well, when I got away, I saw what a folly it
was--a mere throwing myself away! I might have gone in for rank or
fortune, as I liked; and how did I know that I was such a fool that I
could not forget her? If Charles Charteris had not monopolized the
Jewess, I should have been done for long ago! And apart from that, I
wasn't ready for domestic joys, especially