e those of Julia, on whom her
mother's hopes and pride were now all staked. Alfred was taken from her
and put under guardians; Mrs. Powle did not build anything on him; he
was a boy, and when he was a man he would be only Alfred Powle. Julia
promised to be a beauty; on her making a fine match rested all Mrs.
Powle's expectations from this world; and she was determined to spare
no pains, expense, nor precautions. Therefore she resolved that the
sisters should not be together, cost what it might. Good bye to all her
cares or hopes on Julia's behalf, looking to a great establishment, if
Julia became a Methodist! She might go on a farm like her aunt and sell
cheeses. The thought of those cheeses froze the blood in Mrs. Powle's
veins; that was a characteristic of good blood, she firmly believed.
Therefore on every account, for every reason, nothing better could
happen than that Eleanor should go to the South Seas. She would escape
the shame of coming home; Julia would be out of danger of religious
contamination; and she herself would be saved from the necessary odium
of keeping one daughter in banishment and the other in seclusion; which
odium she must incur if both of them remained in England and neither of
them ever saw the other. All this would be cleverly saved. Then also,
if Eleanor married a missionary and went to the other end of the world,
her case could be very well dismissed as one of a religious
enthusiasm--a visionary, fanatical excitement. Nay, there could be made
even a little _eclat_ about it. There would be no mortification, at any
rate, comparable to that which must attend supposed overthrown schemes
and disappointed ambition. Eleanor had chosen her own course, backed by
her wealthy relation, Mrs. Caxton, who had adopted her; and whose views
were entirely not of this world. Mrs. Powle deplored it, of course, but
was unable to help it. Besides, Mrs. Caxton had answered, on her own
knowledge, for the excellent character and superior qualities of the
gentleman Eleanor was to marry; there was no fault to be found with him
at all, except that he was a fanatic; and as Eleanor was a fanatic
herself, that was only a one-sided objection.

Yes, Mrs. Caxton had answered for all that, on her own knowledge, of
many years' standing; and she had said something more, which also
weighed with Mrs. Powle and which Mrs. Powle could also mention among
the good features of the case, without stating that it had had the
force of an