"Do not allow yourself to think of any one but yourself in this case, Georgiana, for there is no occasion. If by a great marriage you could have helped all your sisters, I will not say it would have been an error; but now that we are so much better off than we were, it would be cruel to yourself, and not kind to us. I had a thousand times rather go on as we do to the end of my days, than see you pining under the load of life which no grandeur could enliven, no power or splendour could sweeten."
"But Isabella married a husband far older than herself, and she is happy."
"She married the man she dearly loved and preferred to every human being, yet she is not as happy as Louisa, I am confident; and it must be the disparity between them which gave that anxious look to her countenance. Now, you do not love the marquis?"
"Certainly not!"
"And you do love somebody else, Georgiana?"
"I fear I do indeed; but you are older than me, dear Helen, and may assist to cure me."
Helen shook her head despairingly. They were a little—and but a little—behind their time, but their mother would have severely reprimanded them if she had not feared to discompose the complacency of her own features, and make the eyes of her youngest daughter red. As things turned out, she "kept up appearances" most happily. Georgiana, apprehensive
