yes and thoughts were always watching her. "The dodges of women beat
all comprehension; and I am sure she wouldn't let the lad off so easily,
if she had not some other scheme on hand."

It will have been perceived that Miss Fotheringay, though silent in
general, and by no means brilliant as a conversationist, where poetry,
literature, or the fine arts were concerned, could talk freely, and with
good sense, too, in her own family circle. She cannot justly be called
a romantic person: nor were her literary acquirement great: she never
opened a Shakspeare from the day she left the stage, nor, indeed,
understood it during all the time she adorned the boards: but about a
pudding, a piece of needle-work, or her own domestic affairs, she was
as good a judge as could be found; and not being misled by a strong
imagination or a passionate temper, was better enabled to keep her
judgment cool. When, over their dinner, Costigan tried to convince
himself and the company, that the Major's statement regarding
Pen's finances was unworthy of credit, and a mere ruse upon the old
hypocrite's part so as to induce them, on their side, to break off the
match, Miss Milly would not, for a moment, admit the possibility of
deceit on the side of the adversary: and pointed out clearly that it
was her father who had deceived himself, and not poor little Pen who
had tried to take them in. As for that poor lad, she said she pitied
him with all her heart. And she ate an exceedingly good dinner; to the
admiration of Mr. Bows, who had a remarkable regard and contempt for
this woman, during and after which repast, the party devised upon the
best means of bringing this love-matter to a close. As for Costigan,
his idea of tweaking the Major's nose vanished with his supply of
after-dinner whisky-and-water; and he was submissive to his daughter,
and ready for any plan on which she might decide, in order to meet the
crisis which she saw was at hand.

The Captain, who, as long as he had a notion that he was wronged, was
eager to face and demolish both Pen and his uncle, perhaps shrank from
the idea of meeting the former, and asked "what the juice they were to
say to the lad if he remained steady to his engagement, and they broke
from theirs?" "What? don't you know how to throw a man over?" said Bows;
"ask a woman to tell you?" and Miss Fotheringay showed how this feat was
to be done simply enough--nothing was more easy. "Papa writes to Arthur
to know what sett