ed every Sunday afternoon. She was not a whit more
regular in her attendance at church and school than she had been before,
whereas giddy girls like the doctor's daughter and the lawyer's bevy of
fair damsels, and even the members of a neighboring Squire's large
family of girls, had all taken to attending Mr. Evandale's services and
schools with unexampled regularity. Flossy, who seldom went to church
herself, but always inquired diligently after the worshippers, and
exacted an account of their names and number from her young kinswoman,
used to utter sarcastic little jibs anent these young women's
clearly-manifested preference for Mr. Evandale, and was heard to say
rather sharply that, if Enid followed their example, it would be worth
while to have the horses out on a Sunday and drive over to the cathedral
of Whitminster, six miles away. But Enid never gave any sign of liking
the new Rector any better than she had liked Mr. Rumbold; and, as to
take the General away from the church in which he had knelt almost every
Sunday since he came home from active service in India, after his old
father's death, would have been to uproot one of the most deeply-rooted
instincts in his life. Florence was wise enough to let the matter pass,
and to content herself with wishing that the patron of the living had
given it to an older man--or at least to a married man. There was always
danger when a bachelor of eight-and-twenty, good-looking--indeed very
handsome--and with a comfortable income, came into close contact with
young and romantic girls. And Florence did not intend Enid to marry Mr.
Evandale--she had other views for her.

It was strange to see how this white, silent, languid woman, whose only
occupations in life seemed to be eating, sleeping, driving, and
dressing, was able to mould the natures and ambitions of others to her
liking. Behind the mask of Flossy's pensive beauty lay a brain as
subtle, a will as inflexible, a heart as cold as ever daring criminal
possessed. Nothing daunted or repelled her, and in other circumstances
and other times her genius might have made her a mark for the execration
of all succeeding ages. But her sphere was not large; she had but
indifferent material to work upon in the seclusion of a country home and
the company of an old country gentleman and his niece; and she could but
do her best to gain her ends, even though the path of them lay across
bleeding hearts and lives laid waste by her cruelty.