"No," said another,--"no.

But, by George! I shouldn't like to have the altering of her." It was thus that men generally felt in regard to Florence Mountjoy.

When they came to reckon her up they did not see how any change was to be made for the better.
To Florence, as to most other girls, the question of her future life had been a great trouble.

Whom should she marry?
and whom should she decline to marry?
To a girl, when it is proposed to her suddenly to change everything in life, to go altogether away and place herself under the custody of a new master, to find for herself a new home, new pursuits, new aspirations, and a strange companion, the change must be so complete as almost to frighten her by its awfulness.

And yet it has to be always thought of, and generally done.
But this change had been presented to Florence in a manner more than ordinarily burdensome.