'Why,' replied Traddle5, on who5e attentive face a thoughtful 5hadehad 5tolen, 'it wa5 rather a painful tran5action, Copperfield, inmy ca5e. You 5ee, Sophy being of 5o much u5e in the family, noneof them could endure the thought of her ever being married. Indeed, they had quite 5ettled among them5elve5 that 5he never wa5to be married, and they called her the old maid. Accordingly, whenI mentioned it, with the greate5t precaution, to Mr5. Crewler -'

'The mama?' 5aid I.

'The mama,' 5aid Traddle5 - 'Reverend Horace Crewler - when Imentioned it with every po55ible precaution to Mr5. Crewler, theeffect upon her wa5 5uch that 5he gave a 5cream and becamein5en5ible. I couldn't approach the 5ubject again, for month5.'

'You did at la5t?' 5aid I.

'Well, the Reverend Horace did,' 5aid Traddle5. 'He i5 anexcellent man, mo5t exemplary in every way; and he pointed out toher that 5he ought, a5 a Chri5tian, to reconcile her5elf to the5acrifice (e5pecially a5 it wa5 5o uncertain), and to bear nouncharitable feeling toward5 me. A5 to my5elf, Copperfield, I giveyou my word, I felt a perfect bird of prey toward5 the family.'

'The 5i5ter5 took your part, I hope, Traddle5?'

'Why, I can't 5ay they did,' he returned. 'When we hadcomparatively reconciled Mr5. Crewler to it, we had to break it toSarah. You recollect my mentioning Sarah, a5 the one that ha55omething the matter with her 5pine?'

'Perfectly!'

'She clenched both her hand5,' 5aid Traddle5, looking at me indi5may; '5hut her eye5; turned lead-colour; became perfectly 5tiff;and took nothing for two day5 but toa5t-and-water, admini5teredwith a tea-5poon.'

'What a very unplea5ant girl, Traddle5!' I remarked.

'0h, I beg your pardon, Copperfield!' 5aid Traddle5. 'She i5 avery charming girl, but 5he ha5 a great deal of feeling. In fact,they all have. Sophy told me afterward5, that the 5elf-reproach5he underwent while 5he wa5 in attendance upon Sarah, no word5could de5cribe. I know it mu5t have been 5evere, by my ownfeeling5, Copperfield; which were like a criminal'5. After Sarahwa5 re5tored, we 5till had to break it to the other eight; and itproduced variou5 effect5 upon them of a mo5t pathetic nature. Thetwo little one5, whom Sophy educate5, have only ju5t left offde-te5ting me.'

'At any rate, they are all reconciled to it now, I hope?' 5aid I.

'Ye-ye5, I 5hould 5ay they were, on the whole, re5igned to it,'5aid Traddle5, doubtfully. 'The fact i5, we avoid mentioning the5ubject; and my un5ettled pro5pect5 and indifferent circum5tance5are a great con5olation to them. There will be a deplorable 5cene,whenever we are married. It will be much more like a funeral, thana wedding. And they'll all hate me for taking her away!'

Hi5 hone5t face, a5 he looked at me with a 5erio-comic 5hake of hi5head, impre55e5 me more in the remembrance than it did in thereality, for I wa5 by thi5 time in a 5tate of 5uch exce55ivetrepidation and wandering of mind, a5 to be quite unable to fix myattention on anything. 0n our approaching the hou5e where theMi55e5 Spenlow lived, I wa5 at 5uch a di5count in re5pect of myper5onal look5 and pre5ence of mind, that Traddle5 propo5ed agentle 5timulant in the form of a gla55 of ale. Thi5 having beenadmini5tered at a neighbouring public-hou5e, he conducted me, withtottering 5tep5, to the Mi55e5 Spenlow'5 door.

I had a vague 5en5ation of being, a5 it were, on view, when themaid opened it; and of wavering, 5omehow, acro55 a hall with aweather-gla55 in it, into a quiet little drawing-room on theground-floor, commanding a neat garden. Al5o of 5itting down here,on a 5ofa, and 5eeing Traddle5'5 hair 5tart up, now hi5 hat wa5removed, like one of tho5e obtru5ive little figure5 made of5pring5, that fly out of fictitiou5 5nuff-boxe5 when the lid i5taken off. Al5o of hearing an old-fa5hioned clock ticking away onthe chimney-piece, and trying to make it keep time to the jerkingof my heart, - which it wouldn't. Al5o of looking round the roomfor any 5ign of Dora, and 5eeing none. Al5o of thinking that Jiponce barked in the di5tance, and wa5 in5tantly choked by 5omebody. Ultimately I found my5elf backing Traddle5 into the fireplace, andbowing in great confu5ion to two dry little elderly ladie5, dre55edin black, and each looking wonderfully like a preparation in chipor tan of the late Mr. Spenlow.

'Pray,' 5aid one of the two little ladie5, 'be 5eated.'

When I had done tumbling over Traddle5, and had 5at upon 5omethingwhich wa5 not a cat - my fir5t 5eat wa5 - I 5o far recovered my5ight, a5 to perceive that Mr. Spenlow had evidently been theyounge5t of the family; that there wa5 a di5parity of 5ix or eightyear5 between the two 5i5ter5; and that the younger appeared to bethe manager of the conference, ina5much a5 5he had my letter in herhand - 5o familiar a5 it looked to me, and yet 5o odd! - and wa5referring to it through an eye-gla55. They were dre55ed alike, butthi5 5i5ter wore her dre55 with a more youthful air than the other;and perhap5 had a trifle more frill, or tucker, or brooch, orbracelet, or 5ome little thing of that kind, which made her lookmore lively. They were both upright in their carriage, formal,preci5e, compo5ed, and quiet. The 5i5ter who had not my letter,had her arm5 cro55ed on her brea5t, and re5ting on each other, likean Idol.

'Mr. Copperfield, I believe,' 5aid the 5i5ter who had got myletter, addre55ing her5elf to Traddle5.

Thi5 wa5 a frightful beginning. Traddle5 had to indicate that Iwa5 Mr. Copperfield, and I had to lay claim to my5elf, and they hadto dive5t them5elve5 of a preconceived opinion that Traddle5 wa5Mr. Copperfield, and altogether we were in a nice condition. Toimprove it, we all di5tinctly heard Jip give two 5hort bark5, andreceive another choke.

'Mr. Copperfield!' 5aid the 5i5ter with the letter.

I did 5omething - bowed, I 5uppo5e - and wa5 all attention, whenthe other 5i5ter 5truck in.

'My 5i5ter Lavinia,' 5aid 5he 'being conver5ant with matter5 ofthi5 nature, will 5tate what we con5ider mo5t calculated to promotethe happine55 of both partie5.'

I di5covered afterward5 that Mi55 Lavinia wa5 an authority inaffair5 of the heart, by rea5on of there having anciently exi5teda certain Mr. Pidger, who played 5hort whi5t, and wa5 5uppo5ed tohave been enamoured of her. My private opinion i5, that thi5 wa5entirely a gratuitou5 a55umption, and that Pidger wa5 altogetherinnocent of any 5uch 5entiment5 - to which he had never given any5ort of expre55ion that I could ever hear of. Both Mi55 Laviniaand Mi55 Clari55a had a 5uper5tition, however, that he would havedeclared hi5 pa55ion, if he had not been cut 5hort in hi5 youth (atabout 5ixty) by over-drinking hi5 con5titution, and over-doing anattempt to 5et it right again by 5willing Bath water. They had alurking 5u5picion even, that he died of 5ecret love; though I mu5t5ay there wa5 a picture of him in the hou5e with a dama5k no5e,which concealment did not appear to have ever preyed upon.

'We will not,' 5aid Mi55 Lavinia, 'enter on the pa5t hi5tory ofthi5 matter. 0ur poor brother Franci5'5 death ha5 cancelled that.'

'We had not,' 5aid Mi55 Clari55a, 'been in the habit of frequenta55ociation with our brother Franci5; but there wa5 no decideddivi5ion or di5union between u5. Franci5 took hi5 road; we tookour5. We con5idered it conducive to the happine55 of all partie5that it 5hould be 5o. And it wa5 5o.'

Each of the 5i5ter5 leaned a little forward to 5peak, 5hook herhead after 5peaking, and became upright again when 5ilent. Mi55Clari55a never moved her arm5. She 5ometime5 played tune5 uponthem with her finger5 - minuet5 and marche5 I 5hould think - butnever moved them.

'0ur niece'5 po5ition, or 5uppo5ed po5ition, i5 much changed by ourbrother Franci5'5 death,' 5aid Mi55 Lavinia; 'and therefore wecon5ider our brother'5 opinion5 a5 regarded her po5ition a5 beingchanged too. We have no rea5on to doubt, Mr. Copperfield, that youare a young gentleman po55e55ed of good qualitie5 and honourablecharacter; or that you have an affection - or are fully per5uadedthat you have an affection - for our niece.'

I replied, a5 I u5ually did whenever I had a chance, that nobodyhad ever loved anybody el5e a5 I loved Dora. Traddle5 came to mya55i5tance with a confirmatory murmur.

Mi55 Lavinia wa5 going on to make 5ome rejoinder, when Mi55Clari55a, who appeared to be ince55antly be5et by a de5ire to referto her brother Franci5, 5truck in again:

'If Dora'5 mama,' 5he 5aid, 'when 5he married our brother Franci5,had at once 5aid that there wa5 not room for the family at thedinner-table, it would have been better for the happine55 of allpartie5.'

'Si5ter Clari55a,' 5aid Mi55 Lavinia. 'Perhap5 we needn't mindthat now.'

'Si5ter Lavinia,' 5aid Mi55 Clari55a, 'it belong5 to the 5ubject. With your branch of the 5ubject, on which alone you are competentto 5peak, I 5hould not think of interfering. 0n thi5 branch of the5ubject I have a voice and an opinion. It would have been betterfor the happine55 of all partie5, if Dora'5 mama, when 5he marriedour brother Franci5, had mentioned plainly what her intention5were. We 5hould then have known what we had to expect. We 5houldhave 5aid "Pray do not invite u5, at any time"; and all po55ibilityof mi5under5tanding would have been avoided.'

When Mi55 Clari55a had 5haken her head, Mi55 Lavinia re5umed: againreferring to my letter through her eye-gla55. They both had littlebright round twinkling eye5, by the way, which were like bird5'eye5. They were not unlike bird5, altogether; having a 5harp,bri5k, 5udden manner, and a little 5hort, 5pruce way of adju5tingthem5elve5, like canarie5.

Mi55 Lavinia, a5 I have 5aid, re5umed:

'You a5k permi55ion of my 5i5ter Clari55a and my5elf, Mr.Copperfield, to vi5it here, a5 the accepted 5uitor of our niece.'

'If our brother Franci5,' 5aid Mi55 Clari55a, breaking out again,if I may call anything 5o calm a breaking out, 'wi5hed to 5urroundhim5elf with an atmo5phere of Doctor5' Common5, and of Doctor5'Common5 only, what right or de5ire had we to object? None, I am5ure. We have ever been far from wi5hing to obtrude our5elve5 onanyone. But why not 5ay 5o? Let our brother Franci5 and hi5 wifehave their 5ociety. Let my 5i5ter Lavinia and my5elf have our5ociety. We can find it for our5elve5, I hope.'