they were even betrothed to one another, though the betrothal was kept a
secret, the Colonel then being a comparatively penniless young lieutenant,
and as such by no means a desirable son-in-law from the parental point of
view. An elopement was contemplated so soon as the young lady should be of
age; and it would be difficult to explain the occasion of the trumpery
quarrel between the lovers, which ended in the lady taunting the
gentleman with caring only about her money, and resulted in the rupture of
the engagement. Doubtless it might have been renewed; but at this
juncture the lieutenant was ordered away on active service to the American
Colonies, where he remained for some years. Later, he was stationed in
India; and the next time he met his old love, in London, he was twenty
years older than when she had last seen him, and a major, and with ribbons
on his breast, and a wife on his arm. Miss Tremount never betrayed any
grief or disappointment, except in so far as she remained single all her
life, and latterly waxed religious and became a convert to the Jesuits.
But when the Colonel was dead, and she heard that his daughter was about
to be married, she resolved to make a journey to Malmaison; and who can
tell whether in the bottom of her heart, hidden even from her father
confessor, she may not have cherished a secret purpose of making Mistress
Kate her heir? It is certain at all events that she brought her will with
her in her trunk.

This romance, I say, was known to but few, and as Miss Battledown did not
happen to be among the number, she was less cordial in her behavior to the
old lady than she might otherwise have been. Kate was not constitutionally
a lover of old women, and not herself old enough to be aware that no truly
charitable person should ever be inattentive to seventy thousand pounds,
no matter to how unprepossessing a human being the money might be
attached. Her manner, therefore, was tolerant and patronizing rather than
flattering; and honest Lady Malmaison, though she liked Kate very much,