“I am very glad to hear it,” said Mr Brandon, finishing his buttermilk—­“very glad indeed.  And, feeling as you do, I am certain that nothing your aunt can say will make any impression on you in regard to seeking a divorce.”

“I should think not!” said Mrs Null, sitting up very straight.  “Divorce indeed!”

“I fully uphold you in the stand you have taken,” said Mr Brandon.  “But I beg you will not mention this conversation to your aunt.  It would only annoy her.  Is your cousin expected here shortly?”

“I believe so,” she said.  “To be sure, my aunt left the house the last time he came, but she has his address, and has written for him.  I think she wants us to get acquainted as soon as possible, so that no time will be lost in marrying us after poor Mr Null is disposed of.”

“Very good, very good,” said Mr Brandon with a laugh.  “And now, my dear young friend, I want to give you a piece of advice.  Stay here as long as you can.  Your aunt will soon perceive the absurdity of her ideas in regard to your husband, and will cease to annoy you.  Make a friend of your cousin Junius, whom I know and respect highly; and he certainly will be of advantage to you.  Above all things, endeavor to thoroughly reconcile him and Mrs Keswick, so that she will cease to oppose his wishes, and to interfere with his future fortune.  If you can bring back good feeling between these two, you will be the angel of the family.”

“Thank you,” said Mrs Null, as they rose from the table.

The next morning, after Mr Brandon and Mrs Null had breakfasted together, the mistress of the house, having apparently finished the performance of the duties which had kept her from the breakfast-table, had some conversation with her visitor.  In this he repeated very little of what he had said to the younger lady the night before, but he assured Mrs Keswick that he had discovered that it would be a very delicate thing to propose to her niece a divorce from her husband, a thing to which she was not at all inclined, as he had found.

“Of course not! of course not!” exclaimed Mrs Keswick.  “She can’t be expected to see what a wretched plight she has got herself into by marrying this straggler from nobody knows where.”

“But, madam,” said Mr Brandon, “if you worry her about it, she will leave you, and then all will be at an end.  Now, let me advise you as your lawyer.  Keep her here as long as you can.  Do everything possible to foster friendship and good feeling between her and Junius; and to do this you must forget as far as possible all that has gone by, and be friendly with both of them yourself.”

“Humph!” said the widow Keswick.  “I didn’t ask you for advice of that sort.”

“It is all a part of the successful working of the case, madam,” said Mr Brandon.  “A thorough good feeling must be established before anything else can be done.”

“I suppose so,” said the old lady.  “She must learn to like us before she begins to hate him.  And how about your niece?  Are you going to send her down here to help on in the good feeling?”