immediate removal to Harlow House. She said Lord Harlow, as her nearest
relative and the head of their house, had been written to that morning,
being informed of her intended marriage, and she thought no fresh step
ought to be taken until they heard from him.

But this or that, Martha Hatton spent more than two hours with the
Harlow ladies, and she left them full of hope and enthusiasm. And oh,
how good, how charming, how strengthening is a new hope in life! The two
ladies were ten or twelve degrees higher in moral atmosphere when Mrs.
Hatton left them than they had been before her call. And she went away
laughing and saying pleasant things and the last flirt of her white
kerchief as her victoria turned up the hill was like the flutter of some
glad bird's wing.

In four days there was a letter of great interest and kindness from Lord
Harlow. He said that he was well acquainted with Mr. John Hatton from
many favorable sources and that the marriage arranged between him and
his niece Jane Harlow was satisfactory in all respects. Further she was
informed that Lady Harlow requested her company during the present
season in London. It would, she said, be her duty and her pleasure to
assist in getting ready her niece's wedding outfit, but she left her to
fix the day on which she would come to London.

This letter was a little thunderbolt in the Harlow villa, and Jane said
she could not go away until her mother was settled at Harlow House. John
was much troubled at this early break in his love dream, but Mrs. Harlow
would not listen to any refusal of Lord and Lady Harlow's invitation.
She said Jane had never seen anything of life, and it was only right she
should do so before settling down at Hatton. Besides, her uncle and
aunt's gifts would be very necessary for her wedding outfit. In the