mother, with wondering comments on a compact so coolly arranged, and was
rather surprised to find that Mrs. Costello completely approved of it.

"I dare say," she said, "it may be a very happy marriage. Doctor Morton
is a sensible man, and Bella too honest a girl to marry him if she did
not mean to behave as he would like her."

And this, then, was her mother's idea of a happy marriage. Lucia
wondered still more, yet less than she would have done if she had known
how gladly Mrs. Costello would have seen her, also, safely bestowed in
the keeping of "a sensible man."




CHAPTER V.


At the time when Bella informed Lucia of her engagement, her
newly-accepted lover was having a long conversation with her
brother-in-law and guardian. There was no reason why the marriage once
arranged should be delayed; on the contrary, everybody was happily
agreed in the opinion that it might take place almost immediately. The
conference of the two gentlemen, therefore, passed readily into the
region of business, and chiefly concerned dollars and cents.

Mr. Latour, the father of Mrs. Bellairs and Bella, had died rich; all
his property in hind, houses, and money was carefully divided between
the sisters; and as he had been dead less than two years, very slight
changes had taken place during Mr. Bellairs' guardianship. Bella spoke