bleatings and considerable exercise of her
maternal energies.

And tidings had come to Mrs. Burton which had not as yet been allowed to
reach Florence's ears. In the office at the Adelphi was one Mr.
Walliker, who had a younger brother now occupying that desk in Mr.
Burton's office which had belonged to Harry Clavering. Through Bob
Walliker Mrs. Burton learned that Harry did not come to the office even
when it was known that he had returned to London from Clavering--and she
also learned at last that the young men in the office were connecting
Harry Clavering's name with that of a rich and noble widow, Lady Ongar.
Then Mrs. Burton wrote to her son Theodore, as Florence had written to
Theodore's wife.

Mrs. Burton, though she had loved Harry dearly, and had, perhaps, in
many respects liked him better than any of her sons-in-law, had,
nevertheless, felt some misgivings from the first. Florence was
brighter, better educated and cleverer than her elder sisters, and
therefore when it had come to pass that she was asked in marriage by a
man somewhat higher in rank and softer in manners than they who had
married her sisters, there had seemed to be some reason for the
change--but Mrs. Burton had felt that it was a ground for apprehension.
High rank and soft manners may not always belong to a true heart. At
first she was unwilling to hint this caution even to herself; but at
last, as her suspicions grew, she spoke the words very frequently, not
only to herself, but also to her husband. Why, oh why, had she let into
her house any man differing in mode of life from those whom she had
known to be honest and good? How would her gray hairs be made to go in
sorrow to the grave, if after all her old prudence and all her old
success, her last pet lamb should be returned to the mother's side,
ill-used, maimed, and blighted!

Theodore Burton, when he received his mother's letter, had not seen
Harry since his return from Clavering. He had been inclined to be very
angry with him for his long and unannounced absence from the office. "He
will do no good," he had said to his wile. "He does not know what real
work means." But his anger turned to disgust as regarded Harry, and
almost to despair as regarded his sister, when Harry had been a week in
town and yet had not shown himself at the Adelphi. But at this time
Theodore Burton had heard no word of Lady Ongar, though the clerks in
the office had that name daily in their mouths. "Cannot you g