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It was now strange that she should have been told nothing of the family and condition of Miss Ellis; there must be some reason for silence; and the reason could not be a good one.
Yet, was it possible that Mrs. Maple could have been negligent upon such a subject? Mrs. Maple who, far from being dangerously facile, in forming any connexion, was proud, was even censorious about every person that she knew or saw?
Mrs. Howel now examined the behaviour of Mrs. Maple herself to Ellis; and this scrutiny soon shewed her its entire constraint; the distance which she observed when not forced to notice her; the unwilling civility, where any attention was indispensable.
Something must certainly be wrong; and she determined, in the course of the evening, to find an opportunity for minutely, nay rigorously, questioning Mrs. Maple. Ellis, meanwhile, fearing no one but Elinor, and watching no one but Lady Aurora, found sufficient occupa-
