her have taken his hand and bidden him God-speed with
his wooing. If I had been Uncle Brian I would have welcomed him heartily
as a suitor for Jill. True, she was absurdly young,--only sixteen,--but I
would have said to him, 'If you are in earnest, if you really love this
girl, and are willing to wait for her, go about your business for three
years, and then come and try your chance with her. If she likes you she
shall have you. I am quite aware you are poor,--that you are a curate on
a hundred and fifty a year; but you are well connected and a gentleman,
and as guileless as a young Nathaniel. I could not desire a better
husband for my daughter.'

But it was not likely that Uncle Brian would be so quixotic. And I
knew that Aunt Philippa was rather ambitious for her children, and it
had been a great disappointment to her that Sara had refused a young
baronet. So it was with the guilty feelings of a culprit that I entered
the morning-room the next morning and asked Aunt Philippa if I might
have a few minutes' conversation with her.

To my relief, she treated the whole matter very coolly, and with a
mixture of shrewdness and common sense that quite surprised me.

She assured me that it was not of the least consequence. Young creatures
like Jocelyn must pass through this sort of experiences. She was
certainly rather young for such an experiment, but it would do her no
harm. On the contrary, a little stimulus of gratified vanity might be
extremely beneficial in its after-effects. She was somewhat backward and
childish for her age. She would have more self-respect at finding herself
the object of masculine admiration.

'Depend upon it, it will do her a great deal of good,' went on Aunt
Philippa placidly. 'She will try now in earnest to break herself off her
little _gaucheries_. As for Mr. Tudor, do not distress yourself about
him. He is young enough to have half-a-dozen butterfly fancies before he
settles down seriously.'

'I remember,' she continued, 'that during Sara's first season we had
rather a trouble about a young barrister. He was a handsome fellow, but
terribly poor, and your uncle told me privately that he must not be
encouraged. Well, Sara got it into her head that she was in love with
him, and, in spite of all I could say to her by way of warning, she
would promise him dances, and, in fact, they did a good bit of flirting
together. So I told your uncle that we had better leave town earlier that
year. We went