Mr. Peyton, however, took her words very good-humouredly, and went away with the laughing remark, "Whoever may be the means of bringing an enemy to besiege your citadel, the blame shall not rest on my head."
So far, so good. The mother dreamed golden dreams for her gifted Katie, and for Elsie, with that lovely face and tender nature. She could hardly think who would be good enough for either, and with the goodness which must, after all, be the chief qualification in a candidate, there must be abundant means, so that no breath of adversity might blight her darlings.
The mother was not worldly enough to make wealth and position the first things.
The man who should ask for one of her girls must be good. But the refined gold of religious and moral excellence must be gilded by the baser metal which the world calls wealth, and generally values at the highest price.
It was three months before our story begins when Mrs. Manning, thus indulging in a daydream, had her vision rudely disturbed by the sound of voices. She lifted her eyes, and there, sauntering along the path, came a group, the first glimpse of which filled her with dismay. The two grey-headed men, with linked arms, and deep in friendly talk, were Uncle Edward and their own clergyman, whose visits were eagerly welcomed by young and old at the Priory, Mrs. Manning's present home.
They were deep in parish matters and plans for the benefit of their neighbours, and all unconscious of the trio behind, made up of Mrs. Manning's fair daughters, and, in her eyes, the most objectionable curate that ever wore the cloth.
Objectionable, not because the cut of the aforesaid cloth indicated any extreme party, but because, as the mother instantly decided, he was one of the handsomest, and externally the most taking individuals that had ever donned it.
The mother groaned in spirit. She had beaten back the enemy in one direction, with the certainty of no second advance from that quarter, and here was Uncle Edward calmly leading on a new attacking party.
"Why did you bring Mr. Gilmour here?" she asked, after an evening during which the gentleman alluded to had made himself exceptionally agreeable.
Uncle Edward opened his kindly eyes to their utmost width.