manner. Geoffrey was one of his chief nurses to the last,
and was a great comfort to them all; you may suppose how grateful they
were to him. Next time I saw him, he seemed quite to have buried his
youthful spirits in his studies: he was reading morning, noon, and
night, and looking ill and overworked."

"O, Uncle Geoffrey! dear good Uncle Geoffrey," cried Henrietta, in an
ecstasy; "you were as delightful as a knight of old, only as you could
not fight tournaments for her, you were obliged to read for her; and
pining away all the time and saying nothing about it."

"Nothing beyond a demure inquiry of me when we were alone together,
after the health of the General. Well, you know how well his reading
succeeded; he took a double first class, and very proud of him we were."

"And still he saw nothing of her," said Fred.

"Not till some time after he had been settled in his chambers at the
Temple. Now you must know that General St. Leger, though in most matters
a wise man, was not by any means so in money matters: and by some
unlucky speculation which was to have doubled his daughter's fortune,
managed to lose the whole of it, leaving little but his pay."

"Capital!" cried Frederick, "that brings her down to him."

"So it did," said his mother, smiling; "but the spectators did not
rejoice quite so heartily as you do. The general's health was failing,
and it was hard to think what would become of Beatrice; for Lord St.
Leger's family, though very kind, were not more congenial than they are
now. As soon as all this was pretty well known, Geoffrey spoke, and the
general, who was very fond of him, gave full consent. They meant to wait
until it was prudent, of course, and were well contented; but just after
it was all settled, the general had a sudden seizure, and died. Geoffrey
was with him, and he treated him like a son, saying it was his great
comfort to know that her happiness was in his hands. Poor Beatrice, she
went first to the St. Legers, stayed with them two or three months, then
I would have her to be my bridesmaid, though"--and Mrs. Langford tried
to smile, while again she strangled a sobbing sigh--"she warned me that
her mourning was a bad omen. Well, she stayed with my mother while we
went abroad, and on our return went with us to be introduced at Knight
Sutton. Everybody was charmed, Mrs. Langford and Aunt Roger had expected
a fine lady or a blue one, but they soon learnt to believe all her
gaiety and all her