ference to
Caroline's fortune."

"I am sure he had not."

"Oh, no, never. What Sir Henry's views may be, I don't pretend to
know. People here do say that he has been ingratiating himself with
my brother for some time past. He has my leave, Miss Gauntlet. I am
an old man, old enough to be your father"--the well-preserved old
beau might have said grandfather--"and my experience of life is this,
that money is never worth the trouble that men take to get it. They
say my brother is fond of it; if so, I think he has made a mistake in
life--a great mistake."

All this sounded very nice, but even to Adela's inexperienced ears
it was not like the ring of genuine silver. After all, mock virtue
imposes on but few people. The man of the world is personally known
for such; as also are known the cruel, the griping, the avaricious,
the unjust. That which enables the avaricious and the unjust to pass
scatheless through the world is not the ignorance of the world as to
their sins, but the indifference of the world whether they be sinful
or no.

"And now, Sir Lionel, you may just put us into the fly, and then we
won't keep you any longer," said Miss Todd, as she re-entered the
room with her bonnet and shawl.

Mrs. Leake, who lived at Rissbury, was a deaf old lady, not very
popular among other old ladies at Littlebath. All the world, of
course, knows that the village of Rissbury is hardly more than a
suburb of Littlebath, being distant from the High Street not above a
mile and a half. It will be remembered that the second milestone on
Hinchcombe Road is altogether beyond the village, just as you begin
to ascend the hill near the turnpike.

Mrs. Leake was not very popular, seeing that though her ear was
excessively dull, her tongue was peculiarly acute. She had the repute
of saying the most biting things of any lady in Littlebath--and many
of the ladies of Littlebath were apt to say biting things. Then Mrs.
Leake did not play cards, nor did she give suppers, nor add much in
any way to the happiness of the other ladies, her compatriots. But
she lived in rather a grand house of her own, whereas others lived in
lodgings; she kept a carriage with a pair of horses, whereas others
kept flies; and she had some mysterious acquaintance with the
countyocracy which went a long way with the ladies of Littlebath;
though what good it even did to Mrs. Leake herself was never very
apparent.

It is a terrible bore to have to talk to people who u