“But, Jane, setting this cousin out of the way, what do you think of William Dalzell?”

“I was just thinking of him when you spoke,” said Jane, resolutely.

“Uncle must have had him in his mind when he mentioned fortune-hunters in his will, for he never seemed to like him coming here so often; and just six weeks ago I had been going out riding with him every day.  You said you were not well, and would not accompany us.  I suppose I was giving him what people consider a great deal of encouragement.  If my uncle had said plainly that he disapproved of the intimacy, I wonder if I would have given it up?  Perhaps not—­one does not like to be dictated to.  It appeared to myself so strange that he should prefer me to you.  And now I recollect that my uncle must have paid his last visit to Edinburgh just before he made his will; and there he would see this young man filling his place in the world so well, while I was behaving so foolishly.  The contrast must have struck him, and he certainly has put an end to everything between Mr. Dalzell and myself.”

“Oh, Jane, he is no fortune-hunter; this will make no change.  If you marry him you must take me home with you, and tell him it is what I deserve for standing his friend so well.”

“My dearest Elsie, you have talked a great deal about Mr. Dalzell, and I have rather foolishly listened to it, but that must be stopped now.  I know he is poor; he thought to better himself by a wealthy marriage; and perhaps if I had been left now with 20,000 pounds, with nothing to do and nothing to think of, his agreeable qualities——­”

“Well, you own he has agreeable qualities.”

“Yes; I have always owned it—­they might have induced me to marry him; and you, as the possessor of other 20,000 pounds, would have been a most welcome inmate of our house until you chose for yourself your own home.  But now, Elsie, I know William Dalzell is not the man to encumber himself with a penniless wife and a penniless sister-in-law.”

“He is not mercenary—­I am sure he is not,” said Elsie with animation.

“Perhaps he is not positively mercenary; but after all am I worthy of the sacrifice?  Look at me, Elsie; even your sisterly partiality cannot make a beauty of me.  My turn of mind is not suited to his; I have always felt that; and, above all, I am not very fond of him.”

“Not very!”

“No; I have liked him a good deal; but now in this crisis, when we have to begin life in earnest—­when I am puzzling myself how to find food and clothing and shelter for you and me—­I feel as if Mr. Dalzell’s past attentions belonged to another world altogether, so I am putting them aside completely.”

“Ah! but Jane, only listen to me.  If he were to come now, and lay himself and all that he has at your feet, that would prove that he was no fortune-hunter, but a real true lover, as I always believed him to be.”

“He will not do it,” said Jane, quietly; and she now began to make some memoranda.