mrs. ellsworthy had by no means forgotten the girls—they had all three taken her fancy, and, as she said to her husband, she could not get them out of her head. arthur noel, who was a sort of adopted son of the house, often now brought her information about her favorites, but the good little lady was impatient to see the girls herself, and felt much annoyed at not being able to induce arthur to give her their address.
"i don't want them to succeed," she said, talking one day to the young man. "i have plenty of money, more than i really know what to do with, and i particularly want to spend some of it on these girls. if they succeed in what they are about they won't want my money, and of course that is the last thing i wish. if i cannot adopt all three, why at least can i not have jasmine?—jasmine is my favorite, although i love that little pet daisy too. arthur, you may talk to me from morning to night, but you will never persuade me but that jasmine is the sort of girl who would shine better in prosperity than in adversity."
"you cannot take her from her sisters," said noel; "i do not believe you would get her to leave them—but if you were to try and were to succeed, you would certainly lower her character, and having done this, you could not say she would be a better girl in prosperity than in adversity."
"you are so particular, arthur," half grumbled mrs. ellsworthy; "you must have forgotten your own very poor days, or you would not speak so warmly for adversity."
"i don't quite forget them," said arthur, a cloud coming over his face, which was a particularly bright one. "i have a dim memory about them, and a very, very dim memory about a mother and an old nurse, who loved me very much. i can just recall crying night after night for my mother, and being beaten, and silenced, and half starved. then i suppose i was ill, for i know there is a blank which i never can fill up; but i shall always remember that day when i stood in the snowy street, and cried so bitterly, and tried to ask for pennies, and how my hat blew off, and i ran to catch it, and then—"
"oh, it was horrible!" said mrs. ellsworthy, covering her face with her hands. "i shudder at it even now—the coachman could not keep the horses in, and they went over you, and we thought you were killed. you were lifted into the carriage—such a ragged, thin little figure, with such a lovely face. you came to—you were not so badly hurt—it was nothing short of a miracle, for you ought to have been almost killed. my brother arthur was with me, and when you opened your eyes you stretched out your arms to him. he just took you to his heart on the spot, and you were his son from that day forward. well, arthur, i don't think, prosperity has done you any harm."
"i had no choice," said noel. "prosperity came to me as god's gift. it so happens that i am now a rich man and i suppose even rich people can find their mission. the girls at present are poor; our cases are in no way parallel. oh! how gladly i would help them, but believe me, i would help them to keep their independence."
mrs. ellsworthy frowned.
"if you are going to thwart me, arthur, i am done," she said.
"can you not help them without adopting them?" asked arthur.
"oh! my dear boy, what am i to do? i know lots of influential people, but i can't go to them and say, 'i know three charming girls; they are all as ignorant as possible; they don't know any of our manners and customs; they are not educated up to the required standard; they are fearfully independent. will you, my dear friend, take the eldest into your family, and give her a governess's salary, although she cannot teach? and will you, my other beloved friend, speak to the editor of the magazine you most admire, and ask him to accept poems which do not scan, and stories which are the feeble productions of an ambitious child? and will you, my last friend, come to the rescue by employing a certain sweet little girl to look after your kittens?' arthur, how can those girls be independent unless they are taught?"
"still i believe the girls can be helped; and that it is the right and only thing to do," said noel. "i propose to talk to miss egerton about them. i will ask her to go into figures with me, and to state what sum she thinks ought to be expended on their education. she probably knows something about what talents they have by this time. after she and i have talked our plans over together we will ask you whether you are inclined to advance the necessary money. if you say 'yes,' miss egerton will speak to the girls, and tell them quite openly what you are doing, and appeal to their common sense not to reject their only real chance of obtaining an independence bye-and-bye. they can, if they think right, arrange to pay you back within a certain term of years. i believe you will do best for them by making such an arrangement."
mrs. ellsworthy both frowned and smiled, but finally agreed to allow arthur noel to have his own way.
that very afternoon the energetic young man went to see miss egerton. they discussed the subject in an its bearings, and miss egerton arranged to speak to primrose at the first opportunity.
