belonged to their situation; and, although the early disappointment of their eldest, and, perhaps, best beloved, together with those opinions and fears of Lady Anne, too freely expressed, led them all to think more on the subjects of love and marriage than a wiser and worthier mother would have deemed desirable, the very circumstance only bound them more closely to each other. "Mamma desired to get rid of them, but they could never desire to part with each other," and each felt that the man who would really win her heart and secure her gratitude must do it by being good to her sisters. It, therefore, followed that Mr. Glentworth was the idolized of both Georgiana and Helen; his conduct was the standard by which they were prepared to measure all other men; and, since it would have been difficult to find a higher, to a certain point the wishes of the mother were answered, although from different motives and with different views to her own.
When Lady Anne ceased "to nurse her wrath and keep it warm," she began to congratulate herself on her situation; her family was lessened more than half—her two eldest and her youngest daughter (the one she had always concluded to be so plain that she would remain as a kind of perpetual blister) were actually gone, since it was hardly to be expected that Mary would be returned on her hands by a brother-in-law so likely to derive benefit in her councils to his young wife as Mr. Glentworth. No; three were actually
