fashionable milliner; and in the last two branches Elsie's taste had
made her excel her sister even more than in French and Italian.

At the time of their uncle's death, Jane was twenty-three years old,
and Elsie two years younger. They had but very recently given up
regular study, for their uncle thought girls were far too soon
"finished", as it is called, and turned out in a very incomplete state
of mental and moral development. He would not let them think themselves
educated till they had seen more of the world than could be done in
Edinburgh, which was a city he had rather a contempt for, as a
mere provincial capital, too superstitious and narrow-minded for his
taste. Paris and London were the schools for men, and therefore,
according to his notions, for women also; but when the time arrived for
the tour on the Continent and the winter in London, which had been
promised to the girls, he felt his health had given way, though he had
no positive illness, and delayed leaving home till the following year,
when he hoped to be able to enjoy it, and to show all he meant to show
to the girls without fatigue or indifference. If he had been able to go
with them on the previous year, as had been arranged, he would probably
have left his fortune otherwise, for Mr. Dalzell's attentions had only
been of recent date.

As the news of the will spread, every one said they really ought to
call on the Melvilles, poor things; but no one was in a hurry to
perform so disagreeable a duty. Mrs. Dalzell was so astounded by the
change that was made in her son's prospects, and so embarrassed lest
she should be looked to for assistance in the present urgent
necessities of the girls, that though she had been by far the most
intimate and cordial of their friends, she was not the first to visit
them. Three or four matrons had come and gone, who had made but short