Of course it was quite impossible that Florence should herself arrange and superintend the preparations necessary for her bridal. Matronly aid was here indispensable; and in order to give that aid efficiently, Mrs. Frederick Bushby, otherwise Aunt Jane, abandoned the care of her household to a useful maiden sister, and established herself _en permanence_ at the Fountains. At her bidding came two estimable young persons in the dress-making line, and an estimable elderly person renowned for plain needlework; and the scrooping and snipping of these worthy people's scissors set William Crawford's teeth on edge whenever he passed the open door of the apartment in which their labours were carried on. At Mrs. Bushby's bidding came also, at all seasonable and unseasonable hours, gentlemanly-looking individuals carrying pasteboard-boxes, who were generally announced as "the young man from Regent Street," or "the young man from Wigmore Street," or a "young person with some lace from South-Audley Street, if you please," or "the white-satin boots from Oxford Street, Ma'am." Poor William Crawford lifted his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders in utter despair when such announcements broke, time after time, upon the quiet of his meditative evening hours. "Is there any social law which forbids a woman buying clothes after she is married?" asked the painter; "or how is it that a bride finds it necessary to stock her trunks with garments that might serve for a lifetime? Don't imagine I wince at the amount of the cheques, my dear. You may have as much money as you like, Flo; but all this business about white-satin boots and old point-lace seems such unnecessary frivolity." Of course, on this Mrs. Bushby swooped down upon her brother-in-law, and annihilated him with feminine argumentation. "When _I_ was married, Madame Devy had _carte blanche_," said the matron, "though I was not an only daughter, and though I was going to marry a hard-working solicitor. Such a marriage as Florence is about to make is an event in society, and her _trousseau_ will be a subject of conversation. The Wigmore-Street people have already asked permission to exhibit the cambric and Valenciennes _peignoirs_ they are making for her; and the Oxford-Street people are going to introduce quite a new style for the Wellington boots we have ordered for riding." William Crawford groaned aloud. "And my daughter rides in Wellington boots!" he exclaimed. "Don't tell me any thing more about the _trousseau_ if you please, Aunt Jane. Ask me to sign as many cheques as you like, but don't let me know the particulars. Isn't it Owen Meredith who says, 'There are some things hard to understand?' surely a young lady's _corbeille de mariage_ is one of them."