owned to a tender longing for the _Heimath_, and declared herself
ready to retire from her post whenever her ladyship pleased.

'I shall go back to Germany directly I leave you, and I shall live and
die there, unless I am wanted by one of my old pupils. But should Lady
Lesbia or Lady Mary need my services for their daughters, in days to
come, they can command me. For no one else will I abandon the
Fatherland.'

The Fraeulein thus easily disposed of, Lady Mary felt that matrimony
would verily mean independence. And yet she was prepared to regard her
husband as her master. She meant to obey him in all meekness and
reverence of spirit.

She spent the rest of the afternoon and the whole of the evening in her
grandmother's sitting-room, dining _tete-a-tete_ with the invalid for
the first time since her illness. Lady Maulevrier talked much of Mary's
future, and of Lesbia's; but it was evident that she was full of
uneasiness upon the latter subject.

'I don't know what Lesbia is going to do with her life,' she said, with
a sigh. 'Her letters tell me of nothing but gowns and parties; and
Georgina Kirkbank can only expatiate upon Mr. Smithson's wealth, and the
grand position he is going to occupy by-and-by. I should like to see
both my granddaughters married before I die--yes, I should like to see
Lesbia's fate secure, if she were to be only Lady Lesbia Smithson.'

'She cannot fail to make a good match, grandmother,' said Mary.

'I am beginning to lose faith in her future,' answered Lady Maulevrier.
'There seems to be a fatality about the career of particularly
attractive girls. They are too confident of their power to succeed in
life. They trifle with fortune, fascinate the wrong people, and keep the
right people at arm's length. I think if I had been Lesbia's guide in
society her first season would have counted for more than it is likely
to count for under Lady Kirkbank's management. I should have awakened
Lesbia from the dream of dress and dancing--the mere butterfly life of a
girl who never looks beyond the present moment. But now go and give
orders about your packing, Mary. It is past ten, and Clara had better
pack your trunks early to-morrow morning.'

Clara was a modest Easedale damsel, who had been promoted to be Lady
Mary's personal attendant, when the more mature Kibble had gone away
with Lady Lesbia. Mary required very little waiting upon, but she was
not the less glad to have a neat little smiling maiden devo