ultimate division of the great wealth with which she herself had
been endowed. She had never, she said, even tried to remember what
arrangements had been made by lawyers, but she hoped that Mary
might be so circumstanced, that if her happiness depended on
marrying a poor man, want of money need not prevent it. The Duke
suspecting nothing, believing this to be a not unnatural question
expression of maternal interest, had assured her that Mary's
fortune would be ample.

Mrs Finn made the proposition to Lady Mary in respect to Lady
Cantrip's invitation. Lady Mary was very like her mother,
especially in having exactly her mother's tone of voice, her quick
manner of speech, and her sharp intelligence. She had also her
mother's eyes, large and round, and almost blue, full of life and
full of courage, eyes which never seemed to quail, and her
mother's dark brown hair, never long but very copious in its
thickness. She was, however, taller than her mother, and very much
more graceful in her movement. And she could already assume a
personal dignity of manner which had never been within her
mother's reach. She had become aware of a certain brusqueness of
speech in her mother, a certain aptitude to say sharp things
without thinking whether the sharpness was becoming to the
position which she held, and taking advantage of the example, the
girl had already learned that she might gain more than she would
lose by controlling her words.

'Papa wants me to go to Lady Cantrip,' she said.

'I think he would like it,--just for the present, Lady Mary.'