Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled languidly.  She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, gray eyes.  “You seem to ignore the fact,” she said, “that our cousin is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many years to come.”

“You mercenary wretch!” retorted Miss Carleton; “are you already counting the years before Mr. Mainwaring’s death?”

“Isabel, I am shocked!” exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring.

“I don’t know why,” replied that young lady, coolly.  “I was only thinking, mamma; and one is not always accountable for one’s thoughts, you know.”

“But,” said Miss Thornton, wonderingly, raising her large eyes, full of inquiry, to Mrs. Mainwaring, “after our cousin has announced his intention of making Hugh his heir, don’t you think he will be likely to extend other invitations to visit Fair Oaks?”

“Undoubtedly, my dear,” replied Mrs. Mainwaring, “there will probably be an exchange of courtesies between the two branches of the family from this time.  Though I must say,” she added, in a lower tone, and turning to Mrs. Hogarth, “I do not know that I, for one, will be particularly anxious to repeat my visit when this celebration is once over.  So far as I can judge, there seems to be no society here.  Wilson has learned from the servants that Mr. Mainwaring lives very quietly, in fact, receives no company whatever; and, I may be mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that this Mrs. LaGrange occupies rather an anomalous position.  She is here as his housekeeper, a servant, yet she entertains his guests, and her manners are anything but those of a servant.”

“Why shouldn’t she, mamma?” inquired Isabel, rather abruptly.  “Cousin Hugh has never married, — which is a very good thing for us, by the way, — and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?”

“It is not her position to which I object so much,” remarked Mrs. Hogarth, quietly, “though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there is something about her own personality that impresses me very unfavorably.”

“In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person,” said Mrs. Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; “well, I quite agree with you.”

“No,” said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, “I have not yet formed so decided an opinion as that.  I am not prepared to say that she is a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman.”

“Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies to the winds!” exclaimed Miss Thornton; “until this moment I admired Mrs. LaGrange very much.”

“I did not,” said Miss Carleton, quickly; “from my first glimpse of her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!”

“Well,” said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, “I see no reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be.  I don’t suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring estate into our own branch of the family.”