 I am sure it is nothing else,« said Mrs.
Plymdale, who had never before given all her confidence to »Harriet« on this
subject. »No young man in Middlemarch was good enough for her: I have heard her
mother say as much. That is not a Christian spirit, I think. But now, from all I
hear, she has found a man as proud as herself.«
    »You don't mean that there is anything between Rosamond and Mr. Lydgate?«
said Mrs. Bulstrode, rather mortified at finding out her own ignorance.
    »Is it possible you don't know, Harriet?«
    »Oh, I go about so little; and I am not fond of gossip; I really never hear
any. You see so many people that I don't see. Your circle is rather different
from ours.«
    »Well, but your own niece and Mr. Bulstrode's great favourite - and yours
too, I am sure, Harriet! I thought, at one time, you meant him for Kate, when
she is a little older.«
    »I don't believe there can be anything serious at present,« said Mrs.
Bulstrode. »My brother would certainly have told me.«
    »Well, people have different ways, but I understand that nobody can see Miss
Vincy and Mr. Lydgate together without taking them to be engaged. However, it is
not my business. Shall I put up the pattern of mittens?«
    After this Mrs. Bulstrode drove to her niece with a mind newly weighted. She
was herself handsomely dressed, but she noticed with a little more regret than
usual that Rosamond, who was just come in and met her in walking-dress, was
almost as expensively equipped. Mrs. Bulstrode was a feminine, smaller edition
of her brother, and had none of her husband's low-toned pallor. She had a good
honest glance and used no circumlocution.
    »You are alone, I see, my dear,« she said, as they entered the drawing-room
together, looking round gravely. Rosamond felt sure that her aunt had something
particular to say, and they sat down near each other. Nevertheless, the quilling
inside Rosamond's bonnet was so charming that it was impossible not to desire
the same kind of thing for Kate, and Mrs. Bulstrode's eyes, which were rather
fine, rolled round that ample quilled circuit, while she spoke.
    »I have just heard something about you that has surprised me very much,
Rosamond.«
