Hugh has never married, - which is a very good thing for us, by the
way, - and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?"

"It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs.
Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there
is something about her own personality that impresses me very
unfavorably."

"In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs.
Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite
agree with you."

"No," said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so
decided an opinion as that. I am not prepared to say that she is
a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman."

"Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies
to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired
Mrs. LaGrange very much."

"I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of
her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a
veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!"

"Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no
reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be.
I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property;
and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring
estate into our own branch of the family."