"Everything has come upon me so quickly and confusingly, that I cannot decide all at once.

Give me a little while to consider." She leaned back wearily, and Mr.Strafford, taking a book, went and sat down at the further end of the room.

So they remained till Mrs.Bellairs and Mrs.Morton came in together.
When they did so, Mrs.Costello looked up with a half smile, "I am something like the old man in the fable," she said, "every new piece of advice I receive alters my plans." "How ?" asked Mrs.Bellairs.

"Who has been advising you now ?" "No new adviser, at any rate.

My old and tried friend there, who, I believe, gives quite as much thought to my affairs as if they were his own." Mr.Strafford came forward.
"I have been trying to persuade Mrs.Costello," he said, "that a secret which half-a-dozen people know may yet be a secret." "Even when half the half-dozen are women?
I am sure, Mr.Strafford, we are indebted to you, if I guess truly what you mean." A look, grave enough, passed between the two, though they spoke lightly.
"I have been thinking over all you say," Mrs.Costello went on, addressing Mr.Strafford, "and I have decided to follow your advice.