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not quite aware—Oh, dear, it is so very difficult to explain it to you!’
    All trace of laughter had vanished from his eyes. They became suddenly intent, searching her face. He sat down again beside her, and took one of her hands in a reassuring clasp. ‘I know. I find myself unable to explain to you the feeling I’ve had—oh, for a long time now!—that something is amiss. But what it may be I’ve never discovered, which has made me think it could be nothing of a serious nature.’
    ‘Oh, no!’ she said quickly. ‘But he’s so restless, Kit, and so wild! No, that’s not the word. He calls it being always ripe for a spree, but it has sometimes seemed to me that he commits extravagant follies because he is bored, and can find nothing else to do. And when Henry spoke of his becoming settled, and responsible, I suddenly knew that he was perfectly right. I mean, if he were suitably married, and had the estates to manage, besides setting up his nursery—and however disagreeable the thought of being a grandmother may be I am determined to bear it—he would be more—more content. He would have things to occupy him, and you know what he is, Kit!—he can never be happy unless he is doing something! And, situated as he is, he has nothing to do but get into mischief, which I shouldn’t care a straw for, if only it amused him! But I don’t think it does, except for a very little while, do you, Kit?’
    ‘No. That is, I don’t know, but I understand what you mean!’
    She squeezed his hand gratefully. ‘I knew you must! And you will understand that when Harry said that, about marriage being the making of Evelyn, I began instantly to cast about in my mind, and naturally hit upon Cressy.’
    ‘Cressy?’
    ‘Cressida—Miss Stavely! In every respect what one would wish for, Kit! A young woman of the first consideration—not a schoolroom chit, full of romantic notions! She has what Henry calls a well-regulated mind, though she is not, I assure you, a blue-stocking. I don’t say she is a beauty ,but I think her very pretty, and with a good deal of countenance, besides having a well-formed figure, and truly exquisite taste! She will fill her position to admiration— better by far than I ever did!—for she conducts herself with perfect propriety, and will never give Evelyn cause to blush for her!’
    ‘And how comes it about that this highly finished piece of nature is on the shelf?’ he asked sceptically.
    ‘She is not on the shelf! To be sure, she is twenty, which might lead you to suppose that she had never received any eligible offers, but that is not the case at all! She received several offers when her grandmama brought her out, but she refused them all, because she thought it her duty to remain with her papa. She said she had met no one she liked better than Stavely, but the fact is that she is his only child, and she has kept house for him since she was sixteen. He was used to dote on her, too.’
    ‘What caused him to stop doting on her?’
    ‘Oh, I daresay he still does so, but he would be afraid for his life to betray it! What must he do, when one would have supposed him to be past the age of such folly, but form an attachment for a female not very much older than Cressy, and marry her! Well, I never had a very high idea of his understanding—he formed a passion for me, you know, when I was first out, and behaved like a perfect moonling—but I thought he had grown to be quite rational! But to have allowed himself to be caught by Albinia Gillifoot—! He must be about in his head! She keeps him dancing attendance on her, which will very soon make him regret his imprudence; and she’s as jealous as a cat, particularly of poor Cressy.’
    ‘Oh, so that’s why poor Cressy is willing to accept Evelyn, is it?’
    ‘Of course it is! Really, nothing could have been more providential!’
    ‘I hope she thinks so!’
    ‘No, but I do, and so does your uncle! When I mentioned Cressy to him he almost approved