"Didn’t quite catch----" replied Mr Cleave, putting his hand up to his ear. "I say she ought to write and accept him at once!" howled Miss Bird. Mr Cleave nodded rapidly. "Yes, an admirable offer. A most temperate young man. Yes--as you say--at once!" "I am sure, Mr Cleave, I can get on quite well without your advice!" snapped Dora. "My advice," said Mr Cleave, who only caught the last word of her sentence, "is to accept him. Yes, a good match. A most temperate young man." "It’s got nothing to do with temperance," roared Miss Bird. Mr Cleave heard this remark--the people in the next house probably did as well--and looked at Miss Bird reproachfully. "I hope you are not falling away from the Cause?" he said. "It’s got nothing to do with the Cause!" bellowed Miss Bird. "What I say is, a bad husband is better than no husband at all. Even a pretty girl doesn’t get too many offers nowadays. Mr Jefferson will make a very good husband, and if Dora doesn’t accept him she’ll be a fool!" "You hear what Miss Bird says!" observed Mrs Maybury, looking at Dora. "_Thank_ you," said Dora, in an icy voice, "I think I can manage my affairs without assistance from Miss _Bird_!" With which declaration she flung off to bed. Eventually, however, she accepted Mr Jefferson. The argument that weighed with her most was that by becoming engaged to Mr Jefferson she could not help but benefit her father. One of the first things Mr Jefferson would do (asseverated Mrs Maybury), after becoming engaged to Dora, would be to find some way of bettering Mr Maybury’s position at the office. It must be borne in mind, too, that Dora was by no means indifferent to Mr Jefferson. Had he suddenly ceased to pay her attentions she would have felt greatly hurt and annoyed, for she had become accustomed to his society, and always enjoyed herself very much whenever he took her out. "Oh, Miss, what a _lovely_ ring!" cried Mary, when she saw the trinket with which Jefferson had clinched the engagement; "oh! what gleamin’ jools! What a rich gentleman he must be, Miss! Dr Mortimer couldn’t give you a ring like that, Miss--he’s too poor!" Dora, who had been allowing the little servant to examine the ring (they were in her bedroom at the time, which was bedtime), drew her hand away sharply. "Don’t be so silly, Mary. You really are very stupid sometimes; you say such absurd things." "I didn’t mean anything, Miss," replied Mary, who had really spoken quite innocently; "it only came into my head, like." "Then you have a very silly head!" exclaimed Dora. Mary was going out of the room when Dora called her back. "I’m so tired, Mary. Would you mind brushing my hair for me?" "Of course I will, Miss," cried Mary (who had been pattering about since six in the morning); "I always _love_ to do things for you, Miss!" Dora sat down in front of the looking-glass, and Mary took her hair down and combed it and brushed it, "just like a grand lady’s," as she said.