s. Aylmer,
quite the proudest in her life. It is true that Florence had said very
little to her mother, that Florence had scarcely responded to Mrs.
Aylmer when she had flung her arms round her neck, and pressed up close
to her, and looked into her eyes, and said, "My darling! oh, my
darling, my sweet, precious daughter, how proud your Mummy is of you!"

Florence had turned away just then, and Mrs. Aylmer had felt that her
daughter's hand trembled as it lay for a moment in hers.

But Mrs. Aylmer the great was even more remarkable in her conduct than
Mrs. Aylmer the less. She had called Florence to her, and before all
the assembled guests had kissed her solemnly.

"You are my daughter henceforth," she said, "my adopted daughter. Not
a word, Mabel; this girl belongs to me in the future."

And just then the queerest pang of jealousy had rushed through the
heart of Mrs. Aylmer the less, for was it possible that Susan really
meant to take her child from her altogether? Was Florence henceforward
to be considered by the world as the daughter of Mrs. Aylmer the great?
Was she, her real mother, the mother who had nursed her as a baby, who
had put up with her childish troubles, to have nothing whatever to do
with her in the future? Notwithstanding that crown of glory which
seemed to quiver over the forehead of the little widow, she did not
like this aspect of the question. She felt she could scarcely stand
it. If Susan meant to have the child, then indeed the Scholarship
would present a very serious drawback to the mind of Mrs. Aylmer.

Mrs. Aylmer the great, however, now pushed herself quite into the
forefront of the county society. It was impossible to suppress her;
she was past suppressing. Sir John himself took her into the great
hall where supper was laid. She sat by his side during that auspicious
meal, and when he talked of Florence she boldly told him that a golden
future lay before the girl.

"It is a pity," was his reply, "that being the case, that Miss Aylmer
should have got the Scholarship, for whether she got it or not, being
your niece, she would of course have been well educated. The
Scholarship money would have done more good to a poorer girl"--and here
Sir John had quickly to suppress a sigh, for was he not thinking of
Kitty--Kitty, who had never looked sweeter than during this evening of
defeat, who had never, never been nearer to his heart?

Mrs. Aylmer the great looked at him in some astonish