gan instantly to do. "So you
are going to marry, and to go into Parliament in place of that
good-for-nothing Sir Francis Clavering. I wanted him to give my grandson
his seat--why did he not give my grandson his seat? I hope you are to
have a great deal of money with Miss Amory. I wouldn't take her without
a great deal."

"Sir Francis Clavering is tired of Parliament," Pen said, wincing,
"and--and I rather wish to attempt that career. The rest of the story is
at least premature."

"I wonder, when you had Laura at home, you could take up with such an
affected little creature as that," the old lady continued.

"I am very sorry Miss Amory does not please your ladyship," said Pen,
smiling.

"You mean--that it is no affair of mine, and that I am not going to
marry her. Well, I'm not, and I'm very glad I am not--a little odious
thing--when I think that a man could prefer her to my Laura, I've no
patience with him, and so I tell you, Mr. Arthur Pendennis."

"I am very glad you see Laura with such favourable eyes," Pen said.

"You are very glad, and you are very sorry. What does it matter, sir,
whether you are very glad or very sorry? A young man who prefers Miss
Amory to Miss Bell has no business to be sorry or glad. A young man
who takes up with such a crooked lump of affectation as that little
Amory,--for she is crooked, I tell you she is,--after seeing my Laura,
has no right to hold up his head again. Where is your friend Bluebeard?
The tall young man, I mean,--Warrington, isn't his name? Why does he not
come down, and marry Laura? What do the young men mean by not marrying
such a girl as that? They all marry for money now. You are all selfish
and cowards. We ran away with each other, and made foolish matches in my
time. I have no patience with the young men! When I was at Paris in the
winter, I asked all the three attaches at the Embassy why they did not
fall in love with Miss Bell? They laughed--they said they wanted money.
You are all selfish--you are all cowards."

"I hope before you offered Miss Bell to the attaches," said Pen, with
some heat, "you did her the favour to consult her?"

"Miss Bell has only a little money. Miss Bell must marry soon. Somebody
must make a match for her, sir; and a girl can't offer herself," said
the old dowager, with great state. "Laura, my dear, I've been telling
your cousin that all the young men are selfish; and that there is not a
pennyworth of romance left among them. He is as