I must be decent to the beast in my own house, and if you go I shall have to have him alone jawing at me till all hours of the night in the smoking-room." Hugh was easily persuaded, and so it came about that the morning congregation at Warpington had the advantage of furtively watching Hugh and Mr.Tristram as they sat together in the carved Wilderleigh pew, with Sybell and Rachel at one end of it, and Doll at the other.

No one looked at Rachel.

Her hat attracted a momentary attention, but her face none.
The Miss Pratts, on the contrary, well caparisoned by their man milliner, well groomed, well curled, were a marked feature of the sparse congregation.

The spectator of so many points, all made the most of, unconsciously felt with a sense of oppression that everything that could be done had been done.

No stone had been left unturned.
Their brother, Captain Algernon Pratt, sitting behind them, looked critically at them, and owned that they were smart women.