tach warmly to herself.

Over and above this she wanted someone to leave her money to; she was not
going to leave it to people about whom she knew very little, merely
because they happened to be sons and daughters of brothers and sisters
whom she had never liked. She knew the power and value of money
exceedingly well, and how many lovable people suffer and die yearly for
the want of it; she was little likely to leave it without being satisfied
that her legatees were square, lovable, and more or less hard up. She
wanted those to have it who would be most likely to use it genially and
sensibly, and whom it would thus be likely to make most happy; if she
could find one such among her nephews and nieces, so much the better; it
was worth taking a great deal of pains to see whether she could or could
not; but if she failed, she must find an heir who was not related to her
by blood.

"Of course," she had said to me, more than once, "I shall make a mess of
it. I shall choose some nice-looking, well-dressed screw, with
gentlemanly manners which will take me in, and he will go and paint
Academy pictures, or write for the _Times_, or do something just as
horrid the moment the breath is out of my body."

As yet, however, she had made no will at all, and this was one of the few
things that troubled her. I believe she would have left most of her
money to me if I had not stopped her. My father left me abundantly well
off, and my mode of life has been always simple, so that I have never
known uneasiness about money; moreover I was especially anxious that
there should be no occasion given for ill-natured talk; she knew well,
therefore, that her leaving her money to me would be of all things the
most likely to weaken the ties that existed between us, provided that I
was aware of it, but I did not mind her talking about whom she should
make her heir, so long as it was well understood that I was not to be the
person.

Ernest had satisfied her as having enough in him to tempt her strongly to
take him up, but it was not till after many days' reflection that she
gravitated towards actually doing so, with all the break in her daily
ways that this would entail. At least, she said it took her some days,
and certainly it appeared to do so, but from the moment she had begun to
broach the subject, I had guessed how things were going to end.

It was now arranged she should take a house at Roughborough, and go and
live there for a couple o