her, and credited her with witticisms and bon-mots which she had
never uttered, when talking of her to the young rector.

"If only I could give Alice the benefit of my past career," the
Baroness would say to herself at times. "I know so well how to
manage men; but what use is my knowledge to me now that I am old?
Alice is young, and even without beauty she could do so much, if she
only understood the art of masculine seduction. But then it is a
gift, not an acquired art, and Alice was not born with the gift."

While Mabel and Alice had been centring their thoughts and attentions
on the rector, the Baroness had not forgotten the rector's mother.
She knew the very strong affection which existed between the two, and
she had discovered that the leading desire of the young man's heart
was to make his mother happy. With her wide knowledge of human
nature, she had not been long in discerning the fact that it was not
because of his own religious convictions that the rector had chosen
his calling, but to carry out the lifelong wishes of his beloved
mother.

Therefore she reasoned wisely that Arthur would be greatly influenced
by his mother in his choice of a wife; and the Baroness brought all
her vast battery of fascination to bear on Mrs Stuart, and succeeded
in making that lady her devoted friend.

The widow of Judge Lawrence was still an imposing and impressive
figure wherever she went. Though no longer a woman who appealed to
the desires of men, she exhaled that peculiar mental aroma which
hangs ever about a woman who has dealt deeply and widely in affairs
of the heart. It is to the spiritual senses what musk is to the