t to speak about the news to him when he appeared, but
somehow, the moment she saw him, her heart hardened, and she could not
bring herself to utter a word on the subject. The position was awkward
for him; but he got out of it adroitly by pretending he had seen an
announcement of the death in the paper.

"I suppose I ought to go to the funeral," he said. "There is doubtless
a will."

"Doubtless," said Beth, "but you will not benefit by it, if that is
what you are thinking of. Mamma considered that I was provided for,
and therefore she left the little she had to Bernadine. She told me
herself, because she wanted me to understand her reason for making
such a difference between us; and I think she was quite right. She may
have left me two or three hundred pounds, but it will not be more than
that."

"But even that will be something towards the bills," said Dan, his
countenance, which had dropped considerably, clearing again.

Beth looked at him with a set countenance, but said no more. She had
begun to observe that the bills only became pressing when her
allowance was due.

CHAPTER XLII

Some one in Slane gave Sir George Galbraith a hint of Dan's coarse
jealousy, and he had judged it better for Beth that he should not call
again; but his interest in her and his desire to help her increased if
anything. He had read her manuscript carefully himself, and obtained
Ideala's opinion of it also; but Beth had not done her best by any
means in the one she had given him. She had written it for the
purpose, for one thing, which was fatal, for her style had stiffened
with anxiety to do her best, and her ideas, instead of flowing
spontaneously, had been forced and formal, as her manner was when she
was shy. It is one thing to have a fine theory of art and high
principles (and an excellent thing, too), but it is quite another to
put them into effect, especially when you're in a hurry to arrive.
Hurry misplaced is hindrance. If Beth had given Sir George some one of
the little things which she had written in sheer exuberance of thought
and feeling, without hampering hopes of doing anything with them, he
would have been very differently impressed; but, even as it was, what
she had given him was as full of promise as it was full of faults, and
he was convinced that he had not been mistaken in her, especially when
he found that Ideala thought even better of her prospects than he did.
Ideala, who was an impulsive and generous