Harmer would shortly aspire to the hand of her daughter, and she
was not sure but that her husband would be weak enough to let the
foolish girl please herself in the matter, and throw away what
chance she had of marrying out of the city, and rising a step in
life.

Madam pinned her main hopes of a social rise for herself in the
marriages of her children. She fondly believed that Frederick, with
his good looks and his wealth, could take his pick even amongst
high-born ladies, and not all the good-natured ridicule of her
husband served to weaken this conviction. She was not a great
admirer of her daughter's charms, but she knew that the girl was
admired, and had been noticed more than once by the fine ladies who
had come to look at her furniture and hangings. She had a plan of
her own for getting Gertrude into the train of some fine Court
dame, and once secured in such a position, her fair face and ample
dowry might do the rest. If her son and daughter were well married,
she would have two houses where she could make a home for herself
more to her liking. No end of ambitious dreams were constantly
floating in her shallow brain, and as all these were more or less
bound up with the future of her son and daughter, it was natural
that she should desire to put down with a strong hand the smallest
indication of a love affair between Gertrude and Reuben. She had
even persuaded her husband that Gertrude ought to make a good
marriage; and as he was able to give her an ample dowry, and was
proud of her good looks, he himself was of opinion that she might
do something rather brilliant, even if she did not realize her
mother's fond dreams.

All this was very well known to poor Gertrude by this time, and it