er sister, I
think."

"It's hard, sir, to make Miss Vanstone suffer for her sister's faults."

"_Faults_, do you call them? You have a mighty convenient memory,
George, when your own interests are concerned."

"Call them crimes if you like, sir--I say again, it's hard on Miss
Vanstone. Miss Vanstone's life is pure of all reproach. From first to
last she has borne her hard lot with such patience, and sweetness, and
courage as not one woman in a thousand would have shown in her place.
Ask Miss Garth, who has known her from childhood. Ask Mrs. Tyrrel, who
blesses the day when she came into the house--"

"Ask a fiddlestick's end! I beg your pardon, George, but you are enough
to try the patience of a saint. My good fellow, I don't deny Miss
Vanstone's virtues. I'll admit, if you like, she's the best woman that
ever put on a petticoat. That is not the question--"

"Excuse me, admiral--it _is_ the question, if she is to be my wife."

"Hear me out, George; look at it from my point of view, as well as your
own. What did your cousin Noel do? Your cousin Noel fell a victim, poor
fellow, to one of the vilest conspiracies I ever heard of, and the
prime mover of that conspiracy was Miss Vanstone's damnable sister. She
deceived him in the most infamous manner; and as soon as she was down
for a handsome legacy in his will, she had the poison ready to take his
life. This is the truth; we know it from Mrs. Lecount, who found the
bottle locked up in her own room. If you marry Miss Vanstone, you make
this wretch your sister-in-law. She becomes a member of our family. All
the disgrace of what she has done; all the disgrace of what she _may_
do--and the Devil, who possesses her, only knows what lengths she may go
to next--becomes _our_ disgrace. Good heavens, George, consider what a
position that is! Consider what pitch you touch, if you make this woman
your sister-in-law."

"You have put your side of the question, admiral," said George
resolutely; "now let me put mine. A certain impression is produced on me
by a young lady whom I meet with under very interesting circumstances.
I don't act headlong on that impression, as I might have done if I had
been some years younger; I wait, and put it to the trial. Every time I
see this young lady the impression strengthens; her beauty grows on me,
her character grows on me; when I am away from her, I am restless and
dissatisfied; when I am with her, I am the happiest man alive. All I
hear of h