in London?"

"It will only be for a few months," said Lady Sarah.

"Of course she must have a carriage, and then George will find himself
altogether in the hands of the Dean. That is what I fear. The Dean has
done very well with himself, but he is not a man whom I like to trust
altogether."

"He is at any rate generous with his money."

"He is bound to be that, or he could not hold up his head at all. He
has nothing else to depend on. Did you hear what Dr. Pountner said
about him the other day? Since that affair with the newspaper, he has
gone down very much in the Chapter. I am sure of that."

"I think you are a little hard upon him, Susanna."

"You must feel that he is very wrong about this house in London. Why is
a man, because he's married, to be taken away from all his own
pursuits? If she could not accommodate herself to his tastes, she
should not have accepted him."

"Let us be just," said Lady Sarah.

"Certainly, let us be just," said Lady Amelia, who in these
conversations seldom took much part, unless when called upon to support
her eldest sister.

"Of course we should be just," said Lady Susanna.

"She did not accept him," said Lady Sarah, "till he had agreed to
comply with the Dean's wish that they should spend part of their time
in London."

"He was very weak," said Lady Susanna.

"I wish it could have been otherwise," continued Lady Sarah; "but we
can hardly suppose that the tastes of a young girl from Brotherton
should be the same as ours. I can understand that Mary should find
Manor Cross dull."

"Dull!" exclaimed Lady Susanna.

"Dull!" ejaculated Lady Amelia, constrained on this occasion to differ
even from her eldest sister. "I can't understand that she should find
Manor Cross dull, particularly while she has her husband with her."

"The bargain, at any rate, was made," said Lady Sarah, "before the
engagement was settled; and as the money is hers, I do not think we
have a right to complain. I am very sorry that it should be so. Her
character is very far from being formed, and his tastes are so
completely fixed that nothing will change them."

"And then there's that Mrs. Houghton!" said Lady Susanna. Mrs. Houghton
had of course left Manor Cross long since; but she had left a most
unsatisfactory feeling behind her in the minds of all the Manor Cross
ladies. This arose not only from their personal dislike, but from a
suspicion, a most agonising suspicion, that their brother was more f