Chapter 15

SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES.

When Mr. Francis Barold called to pay his respects to Lady Theobald,
after partaking of her hospitality, Mr. Burmistone accompanied him; and,
upon almost every other occasion of his presenting himself to her
ladyship, Mr. Burmistone was his companion.

It may as well be explained at the outset, that the mill-owner of
Burmistone Mills was a man of decided determination of character, and
that, upon the evening of Lady Theobald's tea, he had arrived at the
conclusion that he would spare no effort to gain a certain end he felt it
would add to his happiness to accomplish.

"I stand rather in awe of Lady Theobald, as any ordinary man would," he
had said dryly to Barold, on their return to his house. "But my awe of
her is not so great yet that I shall allow it to interfere with any of
my plans."

"Have you any especial plan?" inquired Barold carelessly, after a pause.

"Yes," answered Mr. Burmistone,--"several. I should like to go to
Oldclough rather often."

"I feel it the civil thing to go to Oldclough oftener than I like. Go
with me."

"I should like to be included in all the invitations to tea for the next
six months."

"I shall be included in all the invitations so long as I remain here; and
it is not likely you will be left out in the cold. After you have gone
the rounds once, you won't be dropped."

"Upon the whole, it appears so," said Mr. Burmistone. "Thanks."

So, at each of the tea-parties following Lady Theobald's, the two men
appeared together. The small end of the wedge being inserted into the
social stratum, the rest was not so difficult. Mrs. Burnham was at once
surprised and overjoyed by her discoveries of the many excellences of the
man they had so hastily determined to ignore. Mrs. Abercrombie found Mr.
Burmistone's manner all that could be desired. Miss Pilcher expressed the
highest appreciation of his views upon feminine education and "our duty
to the young in our charge." Indeed, after Mrs. Egerton's evening, the
tide of public opinion turned suddenly in his favor.

Public opinion did not change, however, as far as Octavia was concerned.
Having had her anxiety set at rest by several encouraging paternal
letters from Nevada, she began to make up her mind to enjoy herself, and
was, it is to be regretted, betrayed by her youthful high spirits into
the committing of numerous indiscretions. Upon each festal occasion she
appeared in a new and elaborate costume: she accepted the attentions of
Mr. Francis Barold, as if it were the most natural thing in the world
that they should be offered; she joked--in what Mrs. Burnham