, in the cottage formerly occupied by Lady Betty
Morehurst, were also seated three ladies at tea. Presiding at the
table, in mourning dress, sat our old friend Phoebe. There was an
expression of placid content upon her lips, and a peaceful light in her
eyes, which showed that whatever else she might be, she was not unhappy.
On her left sat Mrs Jane Talbot, a little older looking, a little more
sharp and angular; and on the right, apparently unchanged beyond a
slight increase of infirmity, little Mrs Dorothy Jennings.

"What a pure snug [nice] room have you here!" said Mrs Jane, looking
round.

"'Tis very pleasant," said Phoebe, "and just what I like."

"Now, my dear, do you really mean to say you like this--better than
White-Ladies?"

"Indeed I do, Mrs Jane. It may seem a strange thing to you, but I
could never feel at home at the Abbey. It all seemed too big and grand
for a little thing like me."

"Well! I don't know," responded Mrs Jane, in that tone which people
use when they make that assertion as the prelude to the declaration of a
very decisive opinion,--"_I_ don't know, but I reckon there's a pretty
deal about you that's big and grand, my dear; and I'm mightily mistaken
if Mr Derwent and Mrs Rhoda don't think the same."

"My dear Jane!" said Mrs Dorothy, with a twinkle of fun in her eyes.
"Mr and Madam Derwent Furnival, if you please."

"Oh, deary me!" ejaculated Mrs Jane. "Leave that stuff to you. She
can call herself Madam Peveril-Plantagenet, if she likes. Make no
difference to me. Mrs Rhoda she was, and Mrs Rhoda I shall call her
to the end of the chapter. Don't mean any disrespect, you know--quite
the contrary. Well, I'm sure I'm very glad to see her at White-Ladies;
but, Mrs Phoebe, if it could have been managed, I should have liked you
too."

"Thank you, Mrs Jane, but you see it couldn't."

"Well, I don't know. There was no need for you to come down to the
Maidens' Lodge, without you liked. Couldn't you have kept rooms in the
Abbey for yourself, and still have given all to your cousin?"

"I'd rather have this," said Phoebe, with a smile. "I am more
independent, you see; and I have kept what my grandmother meant me to
have, so that, please God, I trust I shall never want, and can still
help my friends when they need it. I can walk in the park, and enjoy
the gardens, just as well as ever; and Rhoda will be glad to see me, I
know, any time when I want a chat with her."

"I should