osition. And then, to be _Lady_
Bertram! There were but few angels at this time in Littlebath, and
Miss Baker was not one of them: she had a taint of vanity in her
composition; but we doubt if such female vanity could exist in any
human breast in a more pardonable form than it did in hers.

And then, perhaps, this plan of marrying might have the wished-for
effect on Sir Lionel's way of living;--and how desirable was this!
Would it not be a splendid work for her to reclaim a lost colonel?
Might it not be her duty to marry him with this special object?

There certainly did appear to be some difficulty as to money. If, as
Miss Todd assured her, Sir Lionel were really in difficulties, her
own present annuity--all that she could absolutely call her own--her
one hundred and eighty-nine pounds, seventeen shillings and
threepence per annum--would not help them much. Sir Lionel was at any
rate disinterested in his offer; that at least was clear to her.

And then a sudden light broke in upon her meditations. Sir Lionel and
the old gentleman were at variance. We allude to the old gentleman
at Hadley: with the other old gentleman, of whom we wot, it may be
presumed that Sir Lionel was on tolerably favourable terms. Might not
she be the means of bringing the two brothers together? If she were
Lady Bertram, would not the old gentleman receive Sir Lionel back
to his bosom for her sake--to his bosom, and also to his purse? But
before she took any step in the dark, she resolved to ask the old
gentleman the question.

It is true that Sir Lionel had desired her to speak to no person on
the subject; but that injunction of course referred to strangers. It
could not but be expected that on such a matter she should consult
her best friends. Sir Lionel had also enjoined a speedy answer;
and in order that she might not disappoint him in this matter,
she resolved to put the question at once to Mr. Bertram. Great
measures require great means. She would herself go to Hadley on the
morrow--and so she wrote a letter that night, to beg that her uncle
would expect her.

"So; you got tired of Littlebath before the month was out?" said he.

"Oh! but I am going back again."

"Going back again! Then why the d---- have you come up now?" Alas!
it was too clear that the old gentleman was not in one of his more
pacific moods.

As these words were spoken, Miss Baker was still standing in the
passage, that she might see her box brought in from the fly