he esteemed himself no less remarkable a person than
he appeared in the eyes of his sisters, and his vanity
had been encouraged by Mr. Lord’s favour.
Of his qualities as a man of business there was no
doubt; in one direction or another, he would have
struck the road to fortune; why Nancy should regard
him with condescension, and make him feel at once
that his suit was hopeless, puzzled him for many a
day. He tried flattery, affecting to regard her
as his superior in things of the intellect, but only
with the mortifying result that Miss. Lord accepted
his humility as quite natural. Then he held apart
in dignified reserve, and found no difficulty in maintaining
this attitude until after Mr. Lord’s death.
Of course he did not let his relatives know of the
repulse he had suffered, but, when speaking to them
of what had happened on Jubilee night, he made it
appear that his estimate of Miss. Lord was undergoing
modification. ’She has lost him, all through
her flightiness,’ said the sisters to each other.
They were not sorry, and felt free again to criticise
Nancy’s ideas of maidenly modesty.
The provisions of Mr. Lord’s will could not
but trouble the intercourse between Grove Lane and
Dagmar Road. Mr. Barmby, senior, undertook with
characteristic seriousness the guardianship conferred
upon him. He had long interviews with Horace and
Nancy, in which he acquitted himself greatly to his
own satisfaction. Samuel, equally a trustee,
showed his delicacy by holding aloof save when civility
dictated a call upon the young people. But his
hopes had revived; he was quite willing to wait three
years for Nancy, and it seemed to him more than probable
that this period of reflection would bring the young
lady to a sense of his merits. In the meantime,
he would pursue with energy the business now at his
sole direction, and make it far more lucrative than
when managed on Mr. Lord’s old-fashioned principles.
As the weeks went on, it seemed more clear than at
first that Nancy resented the authority held by Samuel
and his father. They were not welcome at the
house in Grove Lane; the Miss. Barmbys called
several times without being admitted, though they
felt sure that Nancy was at home. Under these
circumstances, it became desirable to discover some
intermediary who would keep them acquainted with the
details of Nancy’s life and of her brother’s.
Such intermediary was at hand, in the person of Miss.
Jessica Morgan.
CHAPTER 2
Until of late there had existed a bare acquaintance
between Jessica and the Barmby family. The two
or three hours which she perforce spent in Samuel’s
company on Jubilee night caused Jessica no little
embarrassment; as a natural result, their meetings
after that had a colour of intimacy, and it was not
long before Miss. Morgan and the Miss. Barmbys
began to see more of each other. Nancy, on a motive
correspondent with that which actuated her guardians,
