This was not the one which had been occupied by
Edith. Edith's chamber had been left undisturbed and locked up by Mrs.
Waugh, and was kept ever after sacred to her memory.
The sojourn of Mrs. L'Oiseau and Jacquelina at Luckenough was an
experiment on the part of the commodore. He did not mean to commit
himself hastily, as in the case of his sudden choice of Edith as his
heiress. He intended to take a good, long time for what he called
"mature deliberation"--often one of the greatest enemies to upright,
generous, and disinterested action--to hope, faith, and charity, that I
know of, by the way. Commodore Waugh also determined to have his own
will in all things, this time at least. He had the vantage ground now,
and was resolved to keep it. He had caught Sans Souci young, before she
could possibly have formed even a childish predilection for one of the
opposite sex, and he was determined to raise and educate a wife for his
beloved Grim.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BLIGHTED HEART.
In February the deepest snow storm fell that had fallen during the whole
winter. The roads were considered quite impassable by carriages, and the
family at Luckenough were blocked up in their old house. Yet one day, in
the midst of this "tremendous state of affairs," as the commodore called
it, a messenger from Benedict arrived at Luckenough, the bearer of a
letter to Mrs.
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