there could be no criticism of Mr. Peter Ascott.

Now all was told, she talked freely of her excellent prospects.

"He had behaved handsomely--very much so. He makes a good settlement
on me, and says how happy he will be to help my family, so as to
enable you always to make a respectable appearance."

"We are exceedingly obliged to him."

"Don't be sharp, Hilary. He means well. And he must feel that this
marriage is a sort of--ahem! condescension on my part, which I never
should have dreamed of twenty years ago."

Selina sighed; could it be at the thought of that twenty years ago?
Perhaps, shallow as she seemed, this woman might once have had some
fancy, some ideal man whom she expected to meet and marry; possibly a
very different sort of man from Mr. Peter Ascott. However, the sigh
was but momentary; she plunged back again into all the arrangements
of her wedding, every one of which, down to the wedding-dress, she
had evidently decided.

"And therefore you see," she added, as it the unimportant, almost
forgotten item of discussion had suddenly occurred to her, "it's
quite impossible that my sister should keep a shop. I shall tell Mr.
Ascott, and you will see what he says to it."

But when Mr. Ascott appeared next day in solemn state as an accepted
lover he seemed to care very little about the matter. He thought it
was a good thing for every body to be independent; did not see why