"Two months ago I heard that Lord Thirsk was very much in love with her.
I saw him with her very often. I was very unhappy, but I could not
interfere, you know, could I?"

"So you went off to sea, and left mother and Harry and your business to
anybody's care. It wasn't like you, John."

"No, it was not. I wanted you, mother, a dozen times a day, and I was
half-afraid to come back to you, lest I should find Miss Jane married or
at least engaged."

"She is neither one nor the other, or I am much mistaken. Whatever are
you afraid of? Jane Harlow is only a woman beautiful and up to date, she
is not a 'goddess excellently fair' like the woman you are always
singing about, not she! I'm sure I often wonder where she got her
beauty and high spirit. Her father was just a proud hanger-on to his
rich relations; he lived and died fighting his wants and his debts. Her
mother is very near as badly off--a poor, wuttering, little creature,
always fearing and trembling for the day she never saw."

"Perhaps this poverty and dependence may make her marry Lord Thirsk. He
is rich enough to get the girl he wants."

"His money would not buy Jane, if she did not like him; and she doesn't
like him."

"How do you know that, mother?"

"I asked her. While we were drinking our tea, I asked her if she were