at his
submitting to this sort of tutelage, knowing nothing of its motive; I was
also disgusted by Cousin Monica's tyranny.

So soon as he had left the room, Lady Knollys, not minding me, said briskly
to papa, 'Never let that young man into your house again. I found him
making speeches, this morning, to little Maud here; and he really has not
two pence in the world--it is amazing impudence--and you know such absurd
things do happen.'

'Come, Maud, what compliments did he pay you?' asked my father.

I was vexed, and therefore spoke courageously. 'His compliments were not to
me; they were all to the house,' I said, drily.

'Quite as it should be--the house, of course; it is that he's in love
with,' said Cousin Knollys.

''Twas on a widow's jointure land,
The archer, Cupid, took his stand.'

'Hey! I don't quite understand,' said my father, slily.

'Tut! Austin; you forget Charlie is my nephew.'

'So I did,' said my father.

'Therefore the literal widow in this case _can_ have no interest in view
but one, and that is yours and Maud's. I wish him well, but he shan't put
my little cousin and her expectations into his empty pocket--_not_ a bit of
it. And _there's_ another reason, Austin, why you should marry--you have no
eye for these things, whereas a clever _woman_ would see at a glance and
prevent mischief.'

'So she would,' acquiesced my father, in his gloomy, amused way. 'Maud, you
must try to be a clever woman.'

'So she will in her time, but that is not come yet; and I tell you, Austin
Ruthyn, if you won't look about and marry somebody, somebody may possibly
marry you.'

'You were always an oracle, Monica; but _here_ I am lost in total
perplexity,' said my father.

'Yes; sharks sailing round you, with keen eyes and large throats; and you
have come to the age precisely when men _are_ swallowed up alive like
Jonah.'

'Thank you for the parallel, but you know that was not a happy union, even
for the fish, and there was a separation in a few days; not that I mean to
trust to that; but there's no one to throw me into the jaws of the monster,
and I've no notion of jumping there; and the fact is, Monica, there's no
monster at all.'

'I'm not so sure.'

'But I'm quite sure,' said my father, a little drily. 'You forget how old
I am, and how long I've lived alone--I and little Maud;' and he smiled and
smoothed my hair, and, I thought, sighed.

'No one is ever too old to do a foolish thing,' began Lady K