Your weakness in this affair from first to last has been positively deplorable." "I am sorry you disapprove of my conduct, Belle; but as it is not a very pleasant subject, don't you think we may as well avoid it now and henceforward ?" "O, very well, Gilbert," the lady exclaimed, with an offended air; "of course, if you choose to exclude me from your confidence, I must submit; but I do think it rather hard that your only sister should not he allowed to speak of a business that concerns you so nearly." "What good can arise out of any discussion of this subject, Belle?
You think me weak and foolish; granted that I am both, you cannot cure me of my weakness or my folly." "And am I never to hope that you will find some one else, better worthy of your regard than Marian Nowell ?" "I fear not, Belle.

For me there is no one else." Mrs.Lister breathed a profound sigh, and resumed the counting of her stitches.

Yet perhaps, after all, it was better that her brother should cherish the memory of this unlucky attachment.

It would preserve him from the hazard of any imprudent alliance in the future, and leave his fortune free, to descend by-and-by to the juvenile Listers.

Isabella was not a particularly mercenary person, but she was a woman of the world, and had an eye to the future aggrandisement of her children.
She was very kind and considerate to Gilbert after this, carefully avoiding any farther allusions to his lost love, and taking all possible pains to make his visit pleasant to him.