"I must expect it," she said to herself; "I ought to have been prepared. How can I be so selfish--so dog in the manger like; I cannot be his wife myself, and ought I to object to his choosing any one else? But ah! it is very painful to think of," and then as she sunk into a chair the restrained tears burst forth unchecked. In a few minutes she remembered the visitors; the tears had relieved her, and hastily preparing for an early dinner she bathed her eyes, controlled her feelings, and joined the rest in the drawing-room. So like herself did she seem that no stranger would have discovered the traces of tears, but the keen anxious eyes of the mother and cousin Sarah were not to be deceived. Mrs. Armstrong, however, knew too well what had happened to distress her patient and much loved daughter, and for her sake made no remark on her looks. CHAPTER XXVI. AT THE STATION. The three years of Mr. Armstrong's residence at Kilburn had produced great changes in this suburb which bid fair after a time to destroy its rural aspect. The London and North-Western Company had opened a station, and around it a town of bricks and mortar had risen with almost as much rapidity as at Bayswater. Lime Grove and Englefield Grange, however, were at least a mile from the station, and for the present, therefore, safe from the invasion of the pickaxe and the hod. A few days after the arrival of cousin Sarah and her son at Kilburn, Mr. Armstrong proposed that they should accompany him to town to make the necessary arrangements for leaving Jack in London. Inquiries had been made, and interviews had taken place with the head of the firm, who had offered a situation to the youth, and his friends were as anxious to place him in such a respectable house as the firm were to receive him. "Mary, my dear," said her father while at breakfast one morning, "you can drive us to the station in the pony carriage if you like." "I should like to do so, papa;" she replied, and glancing at her mother she added, "the ponies will not be too tired for mamma's drive when they return, I suppose." Mr. Armstrong laughed. "Certainly not," he said, "after a mile to the station and back, unless you intend to take them a twenty miles' journey." "Twenty miles, papa! no, indeed, not more than four," she replied. "Six miles altogether; well, the sturdy little animals will manage that I daresay without very great fatigue or inconvenience; so ring at once, and order the pony carriage to be ready in half an hour." "I have not yet seen this pony carriage, Mary," said cousin Sarah. "No," she replied, "you have been such business people since you arrived in London, going off in the morning by the omnibus, and returning with papa in the evening, so I have had no opportunity to offer to drive you; and even this morning you are going on matters of business." "I shall enjoy the drive all the same," said cousin Sarah, "and so, I am sure, will Jack."