Maidens' Lodge, and
Mrs Darcy returned the visit next day. She proved to be a short,
stout, little woman, with a face which, while undeniably and excessively
plain, was so beaming with good humour that it was difficult to remember
her uncomeliness after the first _coup d'oeil_. Mr Welles accompanied
her on the return visit. What had induced him to take up his quarters
at the Bear, at Tewkesbury, was an enigma to the inhabitants of
White-Ladies. Of course he could not live at the Maidens' Lodge, Madam
being rigidly particular with respect to the intrusion of what Betty
called "he creeturs" into that enchanted valley, and not tolerating the
habitual presence even of a servant of the obnoxious sex. According to
the representations of Mr Welles himself, he was fascinated by the
converse and character of Madam, and was also completely devoted to his
dear Aunt Eleanor. But Mr Welles had not favoured the Bear with very
much of his attention before it dawned upon one person at least that
neither Madam nor Mrs Eleanor had much to do with his frequent visits
to Cressingham. Mrs Dorothy Jennings quickly noticed that Mr Welles
was quite clever enough to discover what pleased different persons, and
to adapt himself accordingly with surprising facility; and she soon
perceived that the attraction was Rhoda, or rather Rhoda's prospects as
the understood heiress of White-Ladies. Mr Welles accommodated himself
skilfully to the prejudices of Madam; his manners assumed a graver and
more courtly air, his conversation a calm and sensible tone; and Madam
at length remarked to her grand-daughters, how very much that young man
had improved since his first arrival at Cressingham.

With Rhoda, in the absence of her grandmother, he was an entirely
different being. A great deal of apparent interest in herself, and
deference to her opinions; a very little skilful flattery, too
delicately administered for its hollowness to be perceived; a quick
apprehension of what pleased and amused her, and a ready adaptation to
her mood of the moment--these were Mr Welles' tactics with the heiress
for whom he was angling. As to Phoebe, he simply let her alone. He
soon saw that she was of no account in Rhoda's eyes, and was not her
chosen _confidante_, but simply the person to whom she talked for want
of any other listener. There was not, therefore, in his opinion, any
reason why he should trouble himself to propitiate Phoebe.

Ever since the visit of