At home. I feel quite pleased at having so successfully introduced you
into good society."

"Thank you," said Christian, half amused, half--well, it is not worth
while being annoyed at such a small thing. She only looked across at
her husband to see how he felt on the matter.

"I think," said the master with a comical twinkling in his eye, "that no
society is half so good or so pleasant as our own."

Christian looked puzzled a minute, but afterward smiled gratefully.

"We may decline it, then?"

"Should you like it best?"

"I should, indeed." For, somehow, though she did not shrink from her
new life--that strange, perplexing life for which her sense of duty was
making her every day more strong--she did shrink from the outward
shows of it. To be stared at by cold, sharp, Avonsbridge eyes, or
pointed at as "the governess" whom Dr. Grey had married--worse,
perhaps, as Edward Oakley's daughter, the Edward Oakley whose
failings every body knew--"Yes," she added, quickly, "I would much
rather decline."

"Decline! when I have taken so much trouble--bought a new dress
expressly for these parties! They are bridal parties, Mrs. Grey, given
for you, meant to welcome you into Society. Society always does it,
except when the marriage is one to be ashamed of?"