eldest of the said flock interposed sternly.

"No, no," she cried, "pray, papa, not yet. Connie is quite contented
and reasonable--I believe she is out shopping just now, too. And while
you are in this state of indecision yourself, it would be the greatest
mistake for you to see her. It would only disturb and upset
her--wouldn't it, Alicia?"

And the lady thus appealed to assented. It is true that when she
arrived at the great house in Albert Gate that morning she had found
little Lady Constance with her pretty, baby face sadly marred by tears.
But she had put that down to the exigencies of the situation. All young
ladies of refined mind cried under kindred circumstances. Had she not
herself wept copiously, for the better part of a week, before finally
deciding to accept George Winterbotham? Moreover, a point of jealousy
undoubtedly pricked Lady Alicia in this connection. She was far from
being a cruel woman, but, comparing her own modest material advantages
in marriage with the surprisingly handsome ones offered to her little
sister, she could not be wholly sorry that the latter's rose was not
entirely without thorns. That the flower in question should have been
thornless, as well as so very fine and large, would surely have
trenched on injustice to herself. This thought had, perhaps
unconsciously, influenced her when enlarging on the becomingness of a
refined indifference to Sir Richard Calmady's deformity. In her heart
of hearts she was disposed, perhaps unconsciously, to hail rather than
deplore the fact of that same deformity. For did it not tend
subjectively to equalise her lot and that of her little sister, and
modify the otherwise humiliating disparity of their respective
fortunes? Therefore she capped Lady Louisa's speech, by saying
immediately:--

"Yes, indeed, papa, it would only be an unkindness to run any risk of
upsetting Connie. No really nice girl ever really quite likes the idea
of marriage----"

"Doesn't she, though?" commented Lord Fallowfeild, with an air of
receiving curious, scientific information.

"Oh, of course not! How could she? And then, papa, you know how you
have always indulged Connie"--Lady Alicia's voice was slightly peevish
in tone. She was not in very good health at the present time, with the
consequence that her face showed thin and bird-like. While,
notwithstanding the genial heat of the summer's day, she presented a
starved and chilly appearance.--"Always indulged Connie," she