tter
away his best days there at Garafield's, never amounting to any thing!
Father had better have put him in the business."

"Jack Darcy is master at Hope Mills. He was once quite a _bete noir_ of
yours, I believe. He and Fred have floated together again, an
exemplification of the power of early attraction."

"He will not be master of Hope Mills long, if what I hear is true," said
Agatha in a vengeful tone, as if she would be glad to bring about such a
greatly-to-be-desired downfall. "Fred always did have low tastes. But
about yourself: you had better come to Long Branch, and recruit for two
months, or so, and then go out to join Gertrude. Of course, Irene, you
know your best time has gone by here. I intend that _my_ daughters shall
be married before they are twenty. I will not have them wasting their
best years."

There was a long pause. Agatha studied Irene's apathetical face, and
wondered how she could have changed into such a fright.

"Irene!" in a commanding tone.

"Agatha, I may as well tell you,"--the voice was slow and incisive, as
if every word was measured,--"that I shall _not_ go to Long Branch nor
abroad. No one shall be troubled by my failing looks and possibly poor
health. I will live my own secluded life, asking nothing of the world
but to be let alone."

"You are a fool, Irene!" Mrs. Minor scanned her with her pitiless black
eyes, and raised her own tall figure to its most impressive height. "You
are a deliberate, wilful fool! You will maunder and groan and sigh
through the next few years, and become one of those wretched bundles of
nerves and whims and conceits, a miserable old maid, whom the world
holds up to ridicule, and rightly too; a faded, insipid, querulous,
worn-out belle, whose past triumphs are remembered only to her disfavor.
We can forgive a woman of mother's age, who has had her day; but the
other shallow creatures are fit only to be bundled into a convent, out
of sight."

A dull scarlet had slowly mounted Irene's face. She did not raise her
eyes. In an emotionless tone she merely said, "Thank you. I wish there
were convents without the fuss of religion. I should go into one now."

"The best place for you certainly."

Then Mrs. Minor gave Fred a piece of her mind, and washed her hands of
Yerbury.

The result of sundry after-discussions was that Dr. Maverick found a
pretty seaside place not many miles distant, with just enough interest
to keep one entertained, and no fashionabl