e many men of mature age, who are not fit persons to be in the
company of young girls--but they are either men who despise, or men who
admire, young girls. Benjulia belonged neither to the one nor to the
other of these two classes. Girls were objects of absolute indifference
to him--with the one exception of Zo, aged ten. Never yet, after meeting
him in society hundreds of times, had Mrs. Gallilee seen him talk to
young ladies or even notice young ladies. Ovid's alleged reason for
objecting to Benjulia stood palpably revealed as a clumsy excuse.

In the present posture of events, to arrive at that conclusion was
enough for Mrs. Gallilee. Without stopping to pursue the idea, she rang
the bell, and ordered her carriage to be ready that afternoon, at three
o'clock.

Doubtful, and more than doubtful, though it might be, the bare prospect
of finding herself possessed, before the day was out, of a means of
action capable of being used against Carmina, raised Mrs. Gallilee's
spirits. She was ready at last to attend to her correspondence.

One of the letters was from her sister in Scotland. Among other
subjects, it referred to Carmina.

"Why won't you let that sweet girl come and stay with us?" Lady
Northlake asked. "My daughters are longing for such a companion; and
both my sons are ready to envy Ovid the moment they see her. Tell my
nephew, when you next write, that I thoroughly understand his falling in
love with that gentle pretty creature at first sight."

Carmina's illness was the ready excuse which presented itself in Mrs.
Gallilee's reply. With or without an excuse, Lady Northlake was to be
resolutely prevented from taking a foremost place in her niece's heart,
and encouraging the idea of her niece's marriage. Mrs. Gallilee felt
almost pious enough to thank Heaven that her sister's palace in the
Highlands was at one end of Great Britain, and her own marine villa at
the other!

The marine villa reminded her of the family migration to the sea-side.

When would it be desirable to leave London? Not until her mind was
relieved of the heavier anxieties that now weighed on it. Not while
events might happen--in connection with the threatening creditors or the
contemplated marriage--which would baffle her latest calculations, and
make her presence in London a matter of serious importance to her own
interests. Miss Minerva, again, was a new obstacle in the way. To take
her to the Isle of Wight was not to be thought of for