ubt about Mr. Thynne, any way, my dear."

"I never said I was thinking of Mr. Thynne," said Minnie, with a violent
flush, as she broke off the conversation and hurried away. And, indeed,
it was not at all of Mr. Thynne that she was thinking, but rather of a
possible Mrs. Thynne, and what her advantages might be over other ladies
who did not possess that pretty and harmless affix. She decided that,
unquestionably, it was an advantage. Out of your own county it might
very well happen that nobody might know who you were: but an honourable
never could be mistaken. She came gradually to change her views about
the peerage in general, after that discovery, and made up her mind that
a title in the family was good in every way. There could never be any
doubt about that. There it was in Debrett, and everybody could satisfy
themselves about its genuineness and antiquity, and lay their finger
upon the descendants and relatives of the house. There were inconveniences
in that, especially in respect to age, but still it was an advantage;
and to be sure, for those who were added to a noble family by marriage
even that inconvenience did not exist.

Mr. Thynne declared himself in summer, after the year of mourning was
over, and when even Miss Warrender felt that it was permitted to be
lively, and wear white dresses, though with black ribbons, of course;
and as the family living fell vacant immediately, the wedding took place
almost at once. It made a great sensation in the parish, it need not be
said; and while the few people in Pierrepoint gave the curate a teapot,
in Underwood there was a great agitation in the Sunday school and much
collecting to buy a fine big Bible, with a great deal of gilding outside,
for Miss Warrender, which was given to her at a tea in the schoolroom,
with a speech from the rector, who was chary of public speaking, and had
to be egged up to it by many little moral pricks from his wife. It was
considered a very suitable present for a young lady who was going to
marry a clergyman, just as the teapot was most suitable for a young
clergyman about to be married. In those days there was not the rain of
marriage presents from everybody within reach which are the painful
fashion now. But Minnie had a very excellent, solid trousseau, as might
be expected, full of useful clothes; the silks very handsome, and
the dinner dresses, though serious, which she thought suitable to a
clergyman's wife, quite good enough to go _any