The tears were not very far away from Eugenia's own eyes, as she lifted the excited little mortal in her arms, and kissed the eager, flushed face. "Dear little Floss," she said, "I am so glad to come back to you;" and even Beauchamp was struck by the little scene. "What an eccentric little creature it is," he said to his wife, when, Floss's rhapsodies having subsided, she said good-night and went off to bed "as good as gold." "Who would have thought that Gertrude's child could have hugged away as vehemently at anyone as Floss did just now." And the child's demonstrative affection put it into his head to make an unexpected proposal to Eugenia. "How would you like to take Floss with us?" he said. "I have no doubt Gertrude would be enchanted to let her come, and the child's maid is French, which would be an advantage. You see we shall not be moving about at any uncomfortable speed; you are not strong enough for it, and that sort of thing is not my idea of travelling for pleasure. When there is no need for hurry, much better take it leisurely." Eugenia was delighted; she knew, though she never told it to anyone, the indirect influence for good which Floss's innocent championship had had upon her life, and the idea of the child's happiness was pleasant to her. Mrs Eyrecourt was delighted; so delighted that she wrote back accepting her brother's offer, as if no shadow of anything disagreeable had ever disturbed the harmony of their intercourse. It suited her particularly well, to have Floss disposed of for the present, as she was anticipating a round of visits in which a child would have been rather an encumbrance, while yet, for the sake of appearances, she could not make up her mind to leave the little girl alone at Winsley for many weeks at a time. It looked well, too, to be able to tell her friends that her brother and his wife, "having no children of their own," had taken such a fancy to her little daughter that they had begged leave to take her abroad with them for the winter; for Gertrude had sense enough to know that "family jars" are, of all things, the most undignified and "vulgar," and she had endured some perturbation of spirit of late as to the probable nature of her future terms with her Halswood relatives. "I am so glad you are going abroad," she wrote; "it will be the very thing to set up Eugenia's health and spirits. By-the-bye, I must not forget to send all sorts of kind messages from Addie and Victoria and their mother. The girls were sorry not to see you at Halswood as was arranged, but of course they quite understand my explanation about Eugenia's not being well enough to receive them, and they hope to pay their visit some other time" etc, etc.