he Duke isn't to be
there, except for the Christmas week." An invitation for the ceremony
at Matching had been sent from Mr Palliser to Mr Vavasor, and another
from Lady Glencora to Kate, "whom I long to know," said her ladyship,
"and with whom I should like to pick a crow, if I dared, as I'm sure
she did all the mischief."

CHAPTER LXXVIII

Mr Cheesacre's Fate

It must be acknowledged that Mrs Greenow was a woman of great
resources, and that she would be very prudent for others, though I
fear the verdict of those who know her must go against her in regard
to prudence in herself. Her marriage with Captain Bellfield was a
rash act,--certainly a rash act, although she did take so much care
in securing the payment of her own income into her own hands; but the
manner in which she made him live discreetly for some months previous
to his marriage, the tact with which she renewed the friendship which
had existed between him and Mr Cheesacre, and the skill she used in
at last providing Mr Cheesacre with a wife, oblige us all to admit
that, as a general, she had great powers.

When Alice reached Vavasor Hall she found Charlie Fairstairs
established there on a long visit. Charlie and Kate were to be
the two bridesmaids, and, as Kate told her cousin in their first
confidential intercourse on the evening of Alice's arrival, there
were already great hopes in the household that the master of
Oileymead might be brought to surrender. It was true that Charlie had
not a shilling, and that Mr Cheesacre had set his heart on marrying
an heiress. It was true that Miss Fairstairs had always stood low in
the gentleman's estimation, as being connected with people who were
as much without rank and fashion as they were without money, and that
the gentleman loved rank and fashion dearly. It was true that Charlie
was no beauty, and that Cheesacre had an eye for feminine charms. It
was true that he had despised Charlie, and had spoken his contempt
openly;--that he had seen the girl on the sands at Yarmouth every
summer for the last ten years, and about the streets of Norwich every
winter, and had learned to regard her as a thing poor and despicable,
because she was common in his eyes. It is thus that the Cheesacres
judge of people. But in spite of all these difficulties Mrs Greenow
had taken up poor Charlie's case, and Kate Vavasor expressed a strong
opinion that her aunt would win.

"What has she done to the man?" Alice asked.

"Co