"Now tell me how things are with you--somewhat I have heard reported of my
friend the dean's affairs--tell me all."

Helen told all as briefly as possible; she hurried on through her uncle's
affairs with a tremulous voice, and before she could come to a conclusion
Lady Davenant exclaimed,

"I foresaw it long since: with all my friend's virtues, all his
talents--but we will not go back upon the painful past. You, my dear Helen,
have done just what I should have expected from you,--right;--right, too,
the condition Mr. Collingwood has made--very right. And now to the next
point:--where are you to live, Helen? or rather with whom?"

Helen was not quite sure yet, she said she had not quite determined.

"Am I to understand that your doubt lies between the Collingwoods and my
daughter?"

"Yes; Cecilia most kindly invited me, but I do not know General Clarendon
yet, and he does not know me yet. Cecilia might wish most sincerely that I
should live with her, and I am convinced she does; but her husband must be
considered."

"True," said Lady Davenant--"true; a husband is certainly a thing _to be
cared for_--in Scottish phrase, and General Clarendon is no doubt a person
to be considered,--but it seems that I am not a person to be considered in
your arrangements."

Even the altered, dry, and almost acrid tone in which Lady Davenant spoke,