The divine Amelia had not then been living with her, and the nature of the statement which she was making by no means compelled her to inform Mrs Eames that the young lady would probably return home in the following winter.

A Mr and Mrs Lupex had also joined the family lately, and Mrs Roper's house was now supposed to be full.
And it must be acknowledged that Johnny Eames had, in certain unguarded moments, confided to Cradell the secret of a second weaker passion for Amelia.

"She is a fine girl,--a deuced fine girl!" Johnny Eames had said, using a style of language which he had learned since he left Guestwick and Allington.

Mr Cradell, also, was an admirer of the fair sex; and, alas! that I should say so, Mrs Lupex, at the present moment, was the object of his admiration.

Not that he entertained the slightest idea of wronging Mr Lupex,--a man who was a scene-painter, and knew the world.