ow very well what he meant,
and I quite appreciate his motives. I have endeavoured to act up to
them, and shall continue to do so. I had thought that I had made the
house as comfortable to you as any young man could wish."

"And so you have."

"And yet you want to turn me out of it--out of my own house!"

"Not to turn you out, mother. If it suits you to remain here for
another year--"

"It will suit me to remain here for another ten years, if I am spared
so long. Little viper! I suppose this comes from her. After warming
her in my bosom when her father died!"

"It can hardly have come from her, seeing that there has never yet
been a word spoken between us on the subject. I fear that you greatly
mistake the footing on which we stand together. I have no reasonable
ground for hoping for a favourable answer."

"Psha! viper!" exclaimed Mrs. Wilkinson, in dire wrath. Mothers are
so angry when other girls, not their own, will get offers; so doubly
angry when their own sons make them.

"You will make me very unhappy if you speak ill of her," said Arthur.

"Has it ever come into your head to think where your mother and
sisters are to live when you turn them out?" said she.

"Littlebath," suggested Arthur.

"Littlebath!" said Mrs. Wilkinson, with all the scorn that she could
muster to the service. "Littlebath! I am to put up with the aunt, I
suppose, when you take the niece. But I shall not go to Littlebath at
your bidding, sir." And so saying, she gathered up her spectacles,
and stalked out of the room.

Arthur was by no means satisfied with the interview, and yet had he
been wise he might have been. The subject had been broached, and that
in itself was a great deal. And the victory had by no means been
with Mrs. Wilkinson. She had threatened, indeed, to appeal to Lord
Stapledean; but that very threat showed how conscious she was that
she had no power of her own to hold her place where she was. He ought
to have been satisfied; but he was not so.

And now he had to wait for his answer from Adela. Gentlemen who make
offers by letter must have a weary time of it, waiting for the return
of post, or for the return of two posts, as was the case in this
instance. And Arthur had a weary time of it. Two evenings he had
to pass, after the conversation above recounted, before he got his
letter; and dreadful evenings they were. His mother was majestic,
glum, and cross; his sisters were silent and dignified. It was clear
to h