dare say it will not ruin us."

"Not exactly," said Mrs. Langford, smiling, "but gentlemen consider it
a disgrace not to make a good bargain, and Uncle Geoffrey must be
allowed to have his own way."

"O but, mamma, suppose some one else should take it."

"A village house is not like these summer lodgings, which are snapped
up before you can look at them," said Mrs. Langford; "I have no fears
but that it is to be had." But Henrietta could not help fancying that
her mother would regard it somewhat as a reprieve, if the bargain was
to go off independently of any determination of hers.

Still she had made up her mind to look cheerfully at the scheme, and
often talked of it with pleasure, to which the cordial and affectionate
letters of her father-in-law and the rest of the family, conduced not a
little. She now fully perceived that it had only been from
forbearance, that they had not before urged her return, and as she saw
how earnestly it was desired by Mr. and Mrs. Langford, reproached
herself as for a weakness for not having sooner resolved upon her
present step. Henrietta's work was rather to keep up her spirits at
the prospect, than to prevent her from changing her purpose, which
never altered, respecting a return to the neighbourhood of Knight
Sutton, though whether to the house of the tempting name, was a
question which remained in agitation during the rest of the autumn, for
as surely as Rome was not built in a day, so surely cannot a house be
bought or sold in a day, especially when a clever and cautious lawyer
acts for one party.