Later on the same day,
Arthur called with an offering of fruit and flowers for Mrs. Carbury,
and with instructions to ask if she was well enough to receive
Lord and Lady Montbarry and Miss Lockwood on the morrow.
In a week's time, the two households were on the friendliest terms.
Mrs. Carbury, confined to the sofa by a spinal malady, had been
hitherto dependent on her niece for one of the few pleasures she
could enjoy, the pleasure of having the best new novels read
to her as they came out. Discovering this, Arthur volunteered
to relieve Miss Haldane, at intervals, in the office of reader.
He was clever at mechanical contrivances of all sorts,
and he introduced improvements in Mrs. Carbury's couch, and in
the means of conveying her from the bedchamber to the drawing-room,
which alleviated the poor lady's sufferings and brightened her
gloomy life. With these claims on the gratitude of the aunt,
aided by the personal advantages which he unquestionably possessed,
Arthur advanced rapidly in the favour of the charming niece.
She was, it is needless to say, perfectly well aware that he was in love
with her, while he was himself modestly reticent on the subject--
so far as words went.
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