Mrs.Baxter was a regal and possessive widow from Baltimore whose long and regular visits to Mr.Lanley had once occasioned his family some alarm, though time had now given them a certain institutional safety.
Her father was not flurried by the reference.
"No," he said; "though she writes me, I'm glad to say, that she is coming soon." "You don't tell me!" said Adelaide.

The cream of the winter season was usually the time Mrs.Baxter selected for her visit.
Her father did not notice her.
"If Mrs.Baxter should ever propose to me," he went on thoughtfully, "I shouldn't refuse.

I don't think I should have the--" "The chance ?" said his daughter.
"I was going to say the fortitude.

But this," he went on, "was an elderly cousin, who expressed a wish to come and be my housekeeper.

Perhaps matrimony was not intended.