but now I have failed,
I don't like to let Uncle Frank spend all that money on me, when I might
be earning eighty pounds for myself.'

'Well, you are a strange girl, with no proper pride for your family,'
said her mother.

And Ida chimed in: 'Yes. Do you think any one will be likely to marry
you? or if you don't care about yourself, you might at least think of
me!'

Mrs. Morton shed her ready tears when talking it over with Lady
Northmoor.

'You see,' said Mary gently, 'I should like nothing better than to have
dear little Conny to live with me like a daughter, but, for one thing, it
would not be fair towards Ida, and besides, it would not be good for her
in case she did not marry to have wasted these years.'

Mrs. Morton by no means appreciated the argument. However, Lord
Northmoor put off the matter by deciding to send Constance to St. Hugh's
Hall, thinking she really deserved such a reward to her diligence.

CHAPTER XXVIII
TWO BUNDLES OF HAY

Ida was, as all agreed, much improved in looks, style, and manners by her
travels. Her illness had begun the work of fining her down from the
bouncing heartiness of her girlhood, and she really was a handsome
creature, with dark glowing colouring; her figure had improved, whether
because or in spite of her efforts in that way might be doubtful; and she
had learnt how to dress herself in fairly good taste.

Though neither Mademoiselle Gattoni nor the boarding-house society she
had frequented was even second-rate in style, still there was an advance
over her former Westhaven circle, with a good deal more restraint, so
that she had almost insensibly acquired a much more ladylike air and
deportment.

Moreover, the two years' absence had made some changes. The young men
who had been in the habit of exchanging noisy jests with Ida had mostly
drifted away in different directions or sobered down; girl companions had
married off; and a new terrace had been completed with inhabitants and
sojourners of a somewhat higher grade, who accepted Mrs. and Miss Morton
as well connected.

Mr. Rollstone's lodgings were let to Mr. Deyncourt, a young clergyman who
had come full of zeal to work up the growing district. He had been for a
short time in the Northmoor neighbourhood, and had taken the duty there
for a few weeks, so that he heard the name of Morton as prominent in good
works, and had often seen Lady Adela and Constance with the
Sunday-school. As Mr. Rollstone was