her my pearl necklace, given her a gown I never wore but once, and contrived that she should be talked of for her charity, her industry, humility, and all that; in fact, I know her to be admirably calculated for the wife of an old nobleman, and I hope you will assist me in looking out for her."
"I must own I had rather see her suitably married in point of age, though to a private gentleman."
"You are unworthy of your own good fortune, or else you meanly determine to be as superior in rank, as you are in age; but, remember this, you can't compete even with your youngest sister, in point of fortune."
There was a working of the mouth in poor Lady Allerton's face, which was literally between laughing and crying; her eye had been glancing from sister to sister, after their long, long, absence, with ever new delight; now resting on the blooming, happy countenance of Louisa, and remembering the painful way in which she had been driven from the maternal home, in the most material period of her existence; now glancing at the girlish figure and glowing cheek of Georgiana, anticipating the triumphs and the fears of her future life; and now looking at the quiet demeanour, the beautiful but subdued expression of Helen, whose pale but perfect features indicated more of thought than she
