.
Presently the widow, among other commonplaces, began to discuss the
young ladies at The Brook.

"By the by, Sarah," she said, "I don't see that your girls are doing
much this season: I really must say you do not seem to manage well at
all. You may be playing a very deep game, but I can discover no signs of
it, and there is little that escapes me in such matters."

"Oh, Jane!" panted Mrs. F., "if you only knew the trouble of having two
daughters 'out' at once!"

"As if I didn't know!" snuffed Mrs. Stunner.

"True, true," replied Sarah in a conciliatory tone. "But you seemed to
have so little anxiety."

"Seemed!" echoed the Stunner contemptuously. "Of course I _seemed_,
and the difficulty it required to _seem_! Do you think I was so
witless as to let my manoeuvres be seen? I wonder at you, Sarah!"

"Well, well," said the other, yielding the point, "I know you have a
talent for such things, and can manage well, but _I_ don't know
what to do."

"I--should--think--you--did--not," replied her sister, tapping the
ground slowly with her foot.

"What have I done that you should speak like that, Jane?" asked the meek
Sarah, bridling up.

"Tell me," answered Jane after an ominous silence that was quite
thrilling, "where is Eva at this moment?"

"Oh,", replied Sarah with a sigh of relief, "she is walking with Mr.
Hardcash. You introduced him at the last ball."

"I introduced him to dance with, not to walk with," said Jane severely.

"Goodness me, sister! what's the difference?"

"She asks me 'What's the difference?' Are you a child? Why, just the
difference between dancing and walking."

From the pause that followed I knew that Mrs. F. was looking with both
her round eyes, intent on seeing it. I suppose she did not succeed, as
her sister continued, emphasizing each word clearly, "Mr. Hardcash has
not a penny," as if that at once explained the knotty question.

"Why did you introduce him if you don't approve of him?" asked Mrs.
Fluffy, with a feeble attempt to throw the blame on her sister.

"Have I not told you? In a ball-room girls need plenty of
partners--plenty of men about them. It makes them look popular and
fascinating, and if the gentlemen are handsome and stylish-looking, so
much the better. Mr. Hardcash is just the size to waltz well with
Eva--he shows her off to advantage--but he is not a man to encourage
afterward. She should not be seen walking or talking intimately with a
gentleman who has less t