But it is of no use to fret myself with a
thousand vain fancies. All will come right
in the end; I know I was not born to be
miserable. Once, Mary Jane Curling would
tell me my fortune by the cards, and she said
I should be one of the most lucky people in
the world, both as regards love and money.
It would be nonsense to say I believe her,
but I really was pleased, and very much
pleased too; I like to look forward to bright
things.

July tenth. Uncle Henry has been and is
gone again. He and I had one thorough
good battle. It seems some meddlesome
person had told him about Herbert Clay, and
he was so insulting on the matter that I said
to him, there were two or three points on
which I would bear no interference, and this
was the chief. I would marry where and
whom I chose. He insisted upon it that
mine was a mere girlish whim, and that
when I had seen a little more of the world I
should be ashamed of my first fancy. Evil
befal me if I am ashamed of Herbert!

July seventeenth. Mary Jane Curling
was married yesterday. Lady Deering, I
must call her henceforward, with becoming
respect. I went over the day before, all the
company, or nearly all, being assembled.
Anna Curling, the two Prices, and the two
Coopers and myself were bridesmaids. None
of Sir Simon's family were present; indeed,
it is a fact generally known, that this
marriage has given the greatest dissatisfaction.
He has a son five-and-forty years old, and
seven grandchildren, two of them as old, if
not older than Mary Jane. She was in the
most exuberant spirits, and bade us all
address her in private as Grandmama. It
would be affectation to try to think that she
loves Sir Simon. He is a very sour, ill-
tempered person from his face, and as jealous of
Mary Jane as he can be. It was very wrong,
I know, but I could not forbear smiling as
they stood together in church. It was a sun-
shiny morning which dragged every contrast
forcibly into light. She looked broad and
blooming—very blooming; her eyes rolled
more, and her teeth glittered more than
usual even. Then he trembled as if he had
an ague fit, and, by some unlucky accident,
the brown wig with which it has recently
pleased him to hide his bald pate, had got
pushed a little too high up on his head, and
showed the poor white hairs cut close to his
neck. One of Mary Jane's Scotch cousins
remarked to me that he wasna' a bonnie man
at a'. And she is right there.

After the ceremony there was a grand
breakfast and the usual amount of speechifying.
Sir Simon (it was very bad taste in
him) had chosen young Sir Edward Singleton
for his best man; and, whether his
tender recollections were too much for him,
or he is always so tongue-tied, a very
miserable oration he made for the bridesmaids.
He is much improved in appearance since he
came from abroad; he has lost his clownish
air and gait, and looks, what he never seemed
likely to do, a very fine gentleman indeed.
He has a little affected insouciante manner,
which would become him better if, instead of
being six feet two in height, he were a little
man; then he speaks with a lisp and a drawl,
and nervously twirls his bit of watch-chain,
or pushes up his tawny hair until he looks as
fierce as a lion. Mary Jane would have
found him a much more suitable mate than
her decrepit Sir Simon. I never saw her
countenance change but once, and that was
when in his speech he made an awkward
allusion to past events. She looked terrified and
Lady Singleton went ghastly white. Sir Simon
said, " Eh! What? what? " and there was
a little titter as Sir Edward recovered
himself, and stammered out a few more broken
phrases, and dropped into his chair like a
man exhausted with some tremendous
physical exertion. Everybody felt relieved; for
it was no secret why Lady Singleton was so
anxious to get her son away from Deerhill
two years ago. For my part I don't think it
would have been a bad match for him, all
things considered. She is a dashing, self-
possessed woman, and would have set the
estate to rights much better than Lady
Singleton is capable of doing. After the
breakfast we had to collect all the old white
satin shoes that could be found, and when the
happy couple drove off, a shower was pelted
after them with hearty good will. One
slipper was sent with such true aim, that it
knocked off the postilion's hat, and another
struck Mary Jane's maid. After they were
gone, Captain Curling would have some
games and races amongst the villagers who
had assembled in the paddock below the
house; and, as the day was fine, we got
through it well enough, and without weariness.
Lady Singleton joined me as I was
going up the wood with Anna Curling. Anna
was glad to return to the crowd, so Lady
Singleton and I took a walk together. She
is what people combine to call a very charming,
fascinating, worldly woman; and so I
think she is. She flatters with her tongue,
as if the practice were nothing new to her,
and also as if there were something to be
gained by it. She said some amiable things
to me that made me feel angry and ashamed,
yet I scarcely knew how to check her, there
is so much earnestness of manner mingled
with her plausibility and smoothness. She
clasps her hands enthusiastically and says,
"My dear, you must believe me; I always
speak the literal truth—sometimes the too
literal truth, and give offence; for you must
know I have a reputation for making the
harshest judgments "—a reputation I never
heard of before, though it may be a fact,
nevertheless. There is a snakiness about her
that I distrust. After she had catechised me
closely, and uttered as many graceful
compliments as I might be supposed capable of