"Of all the unpleasantness that has attended your engagement with Miss
Channing--"

"I beg your pardon, Lady Augusta," was the interruption of Mr. Yorke.
"No unpleasantness whatever has attended my engagement with Miss
Channing."

"I think so, for I consider her beneath you; and, therefore, that it is
nothing but unpleasant from beginning to end. The Channings are very
well in their way, but they are not equal to the Yorkes. You might make
this a pretext for giving her up."

Mr. Yorke laughed. "I think her all the more worthy of me. The only
question that is apt to arise within me is, whether I am worthy of her.
As we shall never agree upon this point, Lady Augusta, it may not be
worth while to discuss it. About the other thing? I believe she would
make an admirable governess for Caroline and Fanny, if you could obtain
her."

"Oh, I dare say she would do _that_. She is a lady, and has been well
educated. Would she want a large salary?"

"Forty guineas a year, to begin with."

Lady Augusta interrupted him with a scream. "I never could give half of
it! I am sure I never could. What with housekeeping expenses, and
milliners' bills, and visiting, and the boys everlastingly dragging
money out of me, I have scarcely anything to spare for education."

"Yet it is more essential than all the rest. Your income, properly