"Cousin Hugh has never married,--which is a very good thing for us, by the way,--and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not ?" "It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs.
Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there is something about her own personality that impresses me very unfavorably." "In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs.
Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite agree with you." "No," said Mrs.Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so decided an opinion as that.

I am not prepared to say that she is a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman." "Dear Mrs.Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired Mrs.LaGrange very much." "I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!" "Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no reason for any concern regarding Mrs.LaGrange, whatever she may be.
I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring estate into our own branch of the family." "That is just what your father intends to have done whenever the property comes into Hugh's possession," replied Mrs.Mainwaring, and was about to say something further, when a musical whistle attracted the attention of the ladies, and, looking over the balcony railing, they saw Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., approaching the house, on his return from a day's fishing, accompanied by Walter LaGrange, a young sophomore, home on his vacation.
The former was a typical young Englishman, with a frank, pleasant countenance.

The latter, while inheriting his mother's beauty and resembling her in a marked degree, yet betrayed in his face a weakness which indicated that, lacking ability to plan and execute for himself, he would become a ready tool to aid in carrying out the designs of others.
The ladies, having discovered the hour to be much later than they supposed, and knowing that the gentlemen would soon return from the city, speedily adjourned to their dressing-rooms to prepare for dinner..