She wore a velvet diadem, Honiton lace lappets, and a variety of chains, beads, and bangles bestrewn about her that made a tinkling as she moved.

Fixing her neighbor with a bland majesty of eye, she inquired of him if he were 'any relation of Sir Mowbray Elsmere ?' Robert replied that Sir Mowbray Elsmere was his 'father's cousin, and the patron of the living to which he had just been, appointed.

Mrs.Seaton then graciously informed him that long ago-'when I was a girl in my native Hampshire'-- her family and Sir Mowbray Elsmere had been on intimate terms.

Her father had been devoted to Sir Mowbray.

'And I,' she added with an evident though lofty desire to please, 'retain an inherited respect, sir, for your name.' Robert bowed, but it was not clear from his look that the rector's wife had made an impression.