months when she ruled the household as though she were its legitimate
mistress; always heading the table when Sir Jasper entertained his
bachelor friends, and thus, we may say, for several years lived in
clover. Her chief duties consisted in educating Edith and Arthur, which,
for several years, was a task which did not require much mental
endowment or physical exertion. It was, in fact, more of a pastime than
otherwise, and as she always accompanied Edith when visiting the
neighboring families, there was but little monotony to complain of.

She had a double object in becoming an inmate of Vellenaux. First, that
of securing a comfortable home for several years. But her grand scheme
was that of making herself so necessary to the Baronet, that she could,
in time, undermine the defences, carry the Citadel by stratagem, and
finally become the envied mistress of Vellenaux. But a few months
residence under the same roof served to convince her of the fallacy of
the project; for there were two grand difficulties that she could not
overcome; his strong objection to matrimony, and his affection for his
niece. Therefore, the shrewd and cautious widow had to relinquish her
attack in that direction; and as Edith advanced towards womanhood, her
position became more precarious. There were two events to be dreaded,
and in either case she believed her occupation gone, and these were the
death of Sir Jasper or Edith's marriage. Her income during the years of
her residence with Sir Jasper had been a handsome one, and being at
little or no expense, she managed to accumulate a goodly sum at her
bankers; but the idea of losing her present abode was to her
disagreeable in the extreme, and her busy mind was continually at work
to devise how this could be averted, and this was the way matters stood
with her on the morning alluded to.

"He is coming home from College next month not again to return, and she