"For her?" exclaimed Jenny, smiling still. "Why? Isn't this house big enough for the mite?" "Suppose you both marry--or either? You're both eminently marriageable young women." "Are we? Eminently marriageable? Well, I suppose so." She laughed. "Even if one doesn't marry, it's something to be marriageable, isn't it?" "A most valuable asset," said I. "Then you'd want two houses." "I suppose we should. But how far you look ahead, Austin!" "If that isn't Satan reproving sin--!" I cried. "What do you suspect me of now?" she asked, still mocking, but genuinely curious, I think, to fathom my thoughts. "No, no! You'll be off on another tack if you think you've been sighted." She laughed as she rose from the table. "Oh, come out and walk! At any rate, my getting Oxley would annoy Lady Sarah, wouldn't it?" "You can annoy her cheaper than that!" "There's plenty of money, Mr. Cartmell says," she answered, smiling over her shoulder as she led the way. I had a talk with Margaret, too, a little later on. Jenny sent us for a moonlight stroll together. Young as the child was, she was good company, independently of her place in Jenny's mind, which for me gave her an adventitious interest. But what a contrast to Jenny, no less than to Octon--and perhaps a more profound one! The fine new surroundings, the enlarged horizon which Jenny's friendship opened to her, were still a delightful bewilderment; she enjoyed actively, but she accepted passively; she applauded the entertainment, but never thought of arranging the bill of the play. Jenny could not have been like that--even at seventeen; she would have itched to write some lines in the book, to have a word to say to the scenes. Margaret's simplicity of grateful responsiveness was untouched by any calculation. "It's all just so wonderful!" she said to me, her arms waving over the park, her brown eyes wide with surprised admiration. She came to it only on an invitation. Jenny had come as owner. But Jenny had not been overwhelmed like this. Jenny had kept cool, had taken it all in--and been interested to survey, from Tor Hill, the next estate! "To happen to me--suddenly! Ah, but I wish father had lived. If he could have lived to marry Jenny! They were engaged when he--was killed, you know." "Yes," I said, "I know. But don't be sad to-night. Things smell sweet, and there's a moon in the sky." She laughed--merry in an instant. "Jenny says we're going to do such things! As soon as she's settled down again, you know." She paused for a moment. "Did she love my father very much?" "Yes, I think she did," I answered, "and I think she loves you." "To me she's just--everything." Her eyes grew mirthful and adventurous; she gave a little laugh as she added, "And she says she'll find me a fairy prince!" At once she was looking to see how I liked this, not with the anxiety which awaited Jenny's approval, but none the less with an evident desire for mine.