We offer our congratulations to Mrs.
Robert, and our sincere wishes for his happiness." To Lady Northlake's astonishment, Mrs.Gallilee adopted this indulgent point of view, without a word of protest.

She had her reasons--but they were not producible to a relative whose husband had forty thousand a year.

Robert had paid her debts.
An income of three thousand pounds, even in these days, represents a handsome competence--provided you don't "owe a duty to society." In Mrs.Gallilee's position, an income of three thousand pounds represented genteel poverty.

She was getting into debt again; and she was meditating future designs on her brother's purse.

A charming letter to Robert was the result.