"It is," acquiesced Miss Upton. "But I hope--I think--she will be found equal to it, and will prove a good stepmother. That she understands the responsibility she is undertaking, and has counted the cost, I am sure of, by what she said in a long letter I received from her this morning." "It is to be hoped she will have no children of her own," struck in Lady Acorn. "Many a woman makes a good stepmother until her own babies come. After that----" "After that--what?" asked Miss Upton, for Lady Acorn had stopped abruptly. "After that, she thinks of her own children and not of the first wife's. And sometimes the poor things get hardly dealt by." "And when is the wedding-day to be?" asked Adela. "The day after twelve months shall have elapsed since the death of the first Mrs. Cleveland; or in as short a time subsequent to that day as may be convenient to me and the milliners," laughed Lady Acorn. "That will make it some time in August, mamma?" "Yes, in August." "Adela, you must give them a substantial present--something worth having," said Mr. Grubb to his wife. "Is Damereau to furnish the wedding-dresses?" questioned Adela, ignoring her husband's remark rather too pointedly, and addressing her mother. "Damereau!" shrieked the countess. "Not if I know it. We have been to plain Mrs. Wilson. Damereau gets dearer every day. She is all very well for those who have a long purse: mine's a short one." At the close of the luncheon, Miss Upton said she must take her departure: she had commissions to do. A fly waited for her at the door. "You should use one of Adela's carriages," said Mr. Grubb, as he took her down to it. "Ah, thank you; I know you and she would lend it to me with hearty goodwill; but I like, you see, to be independent," was Miss Upton's answer. "I have employed the same fly and the same man for years. When I am coming to London, I write to him previously, and he holds himself at my service for the day." "Is there anything I can do for you?" asked Mr. Grubb, as he placed her comfortably in the closed fly. "Nothing. Unless you will get in and ride a little way with me. I am going first to a shop in the Strand. Perhaps you can't spare the time." "Indeed I can," he answered, stepping in and taking the seat facing her. "The Strand will be all in my way to Leadenhall Street." They had not seen much of one another, and yet they were intimate, for each liked the other. Mr. Grubb had paid one short visit to Court Netherleigh with his wife; it was in the first year of his marriage, and they stayed three days. Miss Upton called on them sometimes when she came to town, perhaps once or twice a-year; and that was all. "You were saying something to Adela about giving a present to her sister," began Miss Upton, as they ambled along. "I take it that you were sincere." "Indeed I was. I should like to give them something that will be useful--regardless of cost," he added, with a smile. "Can you suggest anything?"