"In that case," answered Mrs. Livingstone, "it behooves you, in his
presence, to be very careful how you demean yourself toward other
gentlemen."

"I haven't lived nineteen years for nothing," said Carrie, folding
her soft white hands complacently one over the other.

"Speaking of Nellie Douglass," continued Mrs. Livingstone, who had
long desired this interview with her daughter, "speaking of Nellie,
reminds me of your brother, who seems perfectly crazy about her."

"And what if he does ?" asked Carrie, her thoughts far more intent
upon Durward Bellmont than her brother. "Isn't Nellie good enough
for him?"

"Yes, good enough, I admit," returned her mother, "but I think I can
find a far more suitable match--Mabel Ross, for instance. Her
fortune is said to be immense, while Mr. Douglass is worth little or
nothing."

"When you bring about a union between John Livingstone Jr. and Mabel
Ross, I shall have full confidence in your powers to do anything,
even to the marrying of Anna and Grandfather Atherton," answered
Carrie, to whom her mother's schemes were no secret.

"And that, too, I'll effect, rather than see her thrown away upon a
low bred northerner, who shall never wed her--never;" and the haughty
woman paced up and down her room, devising numerous ways by which her
long cherished three-fold plan should be effected.