in the very motion of her
limbs. "Good-evening, mother: good-evening to you, Rachel. I'm afraid
our visit has put you out. Had I guessed as much, we would not have
come."

"You know, Dolly, that I am always glad to see you,--only you come to
us so seldom," said Rachel. Then with a very cold bow to Miss Pucker,
with a very warm pressure of the hand from Mr. Prong, and with a
sisterly embrace for Dorothea, that was not cordial as it should have
been, she bade them good-bye. It was felt by all of them that the
visit had been a failure;--it was felt so, at least, by all the Ray
family. Mr. Prong had achieved a certain object in discussing his
marriage as a thing settled; and as regarded Miss Pucker, she also
had achieved a certain object in eating cake and drinking wine in
Mrs. Ray's parlour.

For some weeks after that but little had been seen of Mrs. Prime at
the cottage; and nothing had been said of her matrimonial prospects.
Rachel did not once go to her sister's lodgings; and, on the few
occasions of their meeting, asked no questions as to Mr. Prong.
Indeed, as the days and weeks went on, her heart became too heavy to
admit of her asking any questions about the love affairs of others.
She still went about her work, as I have before said. She was not
ill,--not ill so as to demand the care due to an invalid. But she
moved about the house slowly, as though her limbs were too heavy for
her. She spoke little, unless when her mother addressed her. She
would sit for hours on the sofa doing nothing, reading nothing, and
looking at nothing. But still, at the postman's morning hours, she
would keep her eye upon the road over which he came, and that dull
look of despair would come across her face when he passed on without
calling at the cottage.

But on a certain morning towards the end of the six weeks the postman
did call,--as indeed he had called on other days, though bringing
with him no letter from Luke Rowan. Neither now, on this occasion,
did he bring a letter from Luke Rowan. The letter was addressed to
Mrs. Ray; and, as Rachel well knew from the handwriting, it was from
the gentleman who managed her mother's little money matters,--the
gentleman who had succeeded to the business left by Mr. Ray when he
died. So Rachel took the letter up to her mother and left it, saying
that it was from Mr. Goodall.

Mrs. Ray's small income arose partly from certain cottages in
Baslehurst, which had been let in lump to a Baslehurst