in order that he might be suitably brought up, she was a
desirable match also. She did not mean the boy to cost her much for
several years to come, and till he came of age (if he lived) she had
that handsome old house to live in. Old Augustus Mortimer, on the other
hand, was very rich, she knew; he was a banker and his only son was his
partner. Sure to inherit his banking business and probably heir to his
land.

Mrs. Peter Melcombe had some handsome and becoming raiment made, and
waited with impatience; for in addition to Mr. John Mortimer's worldly
advantages she found him attractive.

So did some other people. John Mortimer's troubles on that head began
very soon after the sending of his first invitation to Mrs. Melcombe,
when the excellent elderly lady who taught the little Mortimers (and in
a great measure kept his house) let him know that she could no longer do
justice to them. They got on so fast, they had such spirits, they were
so active and so big, that she felt she could not cope with them.
Moreover, the three eldest were exceptionally clever, and the noise made
by the whole tribe fatigued her.

John sent his eldest boy to school, promised her masters to help her,
and an assistant governess, but she would not stay, and with her went
for a time much of the comfort of that house.

Mr. Mortimer easily got another governess--a very pretty young lady who
did not, after a little while, take much interest in the children, but
certainly did take an interest in him. She was always contriving to
meet him--in the hall, on the stairs, in the garden. Then she looked at
him at church, and put him so out of countenance and enraged him, and
made him feel so ridiculous, that one day he took himself off to the
Continent, and kept away till she was gone.

Having managed that business, he got another governess, and she let him
alone, and the children too, for they completely got the better of her;
used to make her romp with them, and sometimes went so far as to lock
her into the schoolroom. It was not till this lady had taken her leave
and another had been found that Mr. John Mortimer repeated his
invitation to little Peter Melcombe. His mother brought him, and
according to the programme she had laid down, got herself invited to
stay a few days.

She had no trouble about it. Mr. John Mortimer no sooner saw Mrs.
Melcombe than he expressed a hospitable, almost a fervent hope, that she
could stay a week with him.

Of course