rs perhaps.'

'You do not mean to wait for years?'

'We must.'

'Then what's the use of having thirty thousand pounds?'

'No, Bertha, it would not be like him to be content with owing all to my
fortune, and beginning life in idleness. It would be just enough to live
on, with none of the duties of property, and that would never do! I
could not wish it for him, and he has his brothers to provide for.'

'Well, let him work for them, and have your money to make capital!
Really, Phoebe, I would not lose such a chance of going out and seeing
those glorious Lakes!'

'I have Maria to consider.'

'Maria! And why are you to be saddled with Maria?'

'Because I promised my mother--I promised myself--I promised Mervyn, that
she should be my care. I have told him of that promise, and he accepts
it most kindly.'

'You cannot leave her to me? Oh! Phoebe, do you still think me as
hateful as I used to be?'

'Dear, dear Bertha, I have full trust in your affection for her; but I
undertook the charge, and I cannot thrust it on to another, who might--'

'Don't say that, Phoebe,' cried Bertha, impetuously; 'I am the one to
have her! I who certainly never can, never shall, marry--I who am good
for nothing but to look after her. Say you do not think me unworthy of
her, Phoebe.'

'I say no such thing,' said Phoebe, affectionately, 'but there is no use
in discussing the matter. Dear Bertha, leave me, and compose yourself.'

Truly, during that evening Bertha was the agitated one, her speech much
affected, and her gestures restless, while Phoebe sat over her work, her
needle going swiftly and evenly, and her eyes beaming with her quiet
depth of thankful bliss.

In the morning, again, it was Bertha who betrayed an uneasy restlessness,
and irrepressible desire to banish Miss Fennimore and Maria from the
drawing-room, till the governess, in perplexity, began to think of
consulting Phoebe whether a Jack Hastings affair could be coming over
again.

Phoebe simply trusted to the promise, and went about her morning's
avocations with a heart at rest, and when at last Humfrey Randolf did
hurry in for a few moments, before he must rush back to the Holt, her
greeting was so full of reliance and composure that Miss Fennimore
perceived nothing. Bertha, however, rested not. As well as she could,
under a fearful access of stammering, she insisted that Mr. Randolf
should come into the dining-room to look at a--a--a--a--a--'

'Ah, well