hining, how could they have availed
him? Neither of his neighbours had a portion of a heart left to call
her own.

But he was able to perceive that Caroline was not only beautiful. She
talked to him almost exclusively, for she had capriciously seated
herself away from her lover, and next to her aunt. "Adela," she had
whispered, going downstairs, "I shall look to you to talk to George
all the evening, for I mean to make a new conquest."

Bertram was delighted. It was hardly in him to be jealous, even had
there been a shadow of cause. As it was, his love was doing exactly
that which he wished her to do. She was vindicating his choice to the
man whose judgment on the matter was most vitally essential to him.

When the ladies left the dining-room, both Bertram and Harcourt
heartily wished that Miss Baker had not been so scrupulously
hospitable. They hardly knew what to do with Mr. Meek. Mr. Meek
remarked that Miss Baker was a very nice person, that Miss Waddington
was a charming person, that Miss Penelope Gauntlet was a very nice
person indeed, and that Miss Adela was a very sweet person; and
then it seemed that all conversation was at end. "Eh! what! none
especially; that is to say, the Middle Temple." Such had been
Harcourt's reply to Mr. Meek's inquiry as to what London congregation
he frequented; and then the three gentlemen seemed to be much
occupied with their wine and biscuits. This invitation to Mr. Meek
had certainly been a mistake on Miss Baker's part.

But the misery did not last long. Of the first occasion on which Mr.
Meek's glass was seen to be well empty, George took advantage. "If
you don't take any more wine, Mr. Meek, we may as well go upstairs;
eh, Harcourt?" and he looked suppliantly at his friend.

"Oh, I never take any more wine, you know. I'm an anchorite on such
occasions as these." And so they went into the drawing-room, long
before Miss Baker had her coffee ready for them.

"You see a good deal of Arthur now, I suppose?" said Bertram,
addressing Adela.

"Yes; that is, not a very great deal. He has been busy since he took
up the parish. But I see Mary frequently."

"Do you think Arthur likes it? He seemed to me to be hardly so much
gratified as I should have thought he would have been. The living is
a good one, and the marquis was certainly good-natured about it."

"Oh, yes, he was," said Adela.

"It will be a long time, I know, before I earn five hundred pounds a
year. Do you know, he