to Mrs. Mansell, who administered them according to her
own goodnatured, gossiping humour, and sided with whichever was
speaking to her. There was in Lady Conway much kindness and
good-humour, always ready to find satisfaction in what was inevitable,
and willing to see all at ease and happy around her--a quality which
she shared with Louis, and which rendered her as warm and even
caressing to 'our dear James' as if he had been the most welcome suitor
in the world; and she often sincerely congratulated herself on the
acquisition of a sensible gentleman to consult on business, and so
excellent a brother for Walter. It was not falsehood, it was real
amiability; and it was an infinite comfort in the courtship, especially
the courtship of a Pendragon. As to the two young sisters, their
ecstasy was beyond description, only alloyed by the grief of losing
Isabel, and this greatly mitigated by schemes of visits to Northwold.

The marriage was fixed for the end of November, so as to give time for
a little tranquillity before the commencement of James's new duties.
As soon as this intelligence arrived, Mrs. Frost removed herself, Mary,
and her goods into the House Beautiful, that No. 5 might undergo the
renovations which, poor thing! had been planned twenty years since,
when poor Henry's increasing family and growing difficulties had
decided her that she could 'do without them' one year more.

'Even should Miss Conway not like to keep house with the old woman,'
said she, by way of persuading herself she had no such expectation, 'it
was her duty to keep the place in repair.'

That question was soon at rest: Isabel would be but too happy to be
allowed to share her home, and truly James would hardly have attached
himself to a woman who could not regard it as a privilege to be with
the noble old lady. Clara was likewise to be taken home; Isabel
undertook to complete her education, and school and tuition were both
to be removed from the contemplation of the happy girl, whose letters
had become an unintelligible rhapsody of joy and affection.

Isabel had three thousand pounds of her own, which, with that valuable
freehold, Dynevor Terrace, James resolved should be settled on herself,
speaking of it with such solemn importance as to provoke the gravity of
those accustomed to deal with larger sums. With the interest of her
fortune he meant to insure his life, that, as he told Louis, with
gratified prudence, there might be no repet