part they had played in breaking
off his engagement with Mary Vernon. Having once convinced themselves
that she was a frivolous girl, quite unsuited for the position of
mistress of Penfold Hall, they had regarded it as an absolute duty to
protect Herbert from the consequences of what they considered his
infatuation. Consequently, for years they were in the habit of
inviting for long visits young ladies whom they considered in every
way eligible as their successor, and had been much grieved at their
want of success, and at the absolute indifference with which Herbert
regarded the presence of these young women. When, four years after his
marriage to Mary Vernon, Mr. Conway had died suddenly they had been
seized with a vague disquiet; for they believed that the remembrance
of his first love was the real cause of Herbert's indifference to
others, and considered it probable he might still be sufficiently
infatuated with her to attempt to undo the past.

To their gratification Herbert never alluded to the subject, never, so
far as they knew, made the slightest effort to renew her acquaintance.
In fact, Herbert Penfold was a diffident as well as a weak man. Once
convinced that he had acted badly toward Mary Vernon, he was equally
convinced that she must despise him and that he was utterly unworthy
of her. Had it been otherwise he would have again entered the lists
and tried to recover the love he had thrown away.

Although he occasionally yielded to the entreaties of his sisters and
showed himself with them at county gatherings, gave stately
dinner-parties at regular intervals, and accepted the invitations of
his neighbors, he lived the life almost of a recluse.

His sole companion and friend was the rector of the parish, who had
been his tutor during his Continental tour, and whom he had presented
with the living which was in his gift, to the secret dissatisfaction
of his sisters, who had always considered that Herbert's tutor had
endeavored to set him against them. This had to some extent been the
case, in so far, at least, that Mr. Withers, who had left college only
a short time before starting with Herbert, had endeavored to give him
habits of self-reliance and independence of thought, and had quietly
striven against the influence that his sisters had upon his mind. It
was not until after the Mary Vernon episode that the living had fallen
vacant; had it been otherwise things might have turned out
differently, for Herber