mean. I would devote myself to
her,--leave everything else on one side. We purpose being back in
England in October; but I would remain here if I thought it better
for her comfort."

"I cannot tell, Duke."

"Neither can I. But you are a woman and might know better than I do.
It is so hard that a man should be left with a charge of which from
its very nature he cannot understand the duties." Then he paused, but
she could find no words which would suit at the moment. It was almost
incredible to her that after what had passed he should speak to her
at all as to the condition of his daughter. "I cannot, you know," he
said very seriously, "encourage a hope that she should be allowed to
marry that man."

"I do not know."

"You yourself, Mrs. Finn, felt that when she told you about it at
Matching."

"I felt that you would disapprove of it."

"Disapprove of it! How could it be otherwise? Of course you felt
that. There are ranks in life in which the first comer that suits a
maiden's eye may be accepted as a fitting lover. I will not say but
that they who are born to such a life may be the happier. They are, I
am sure, free from troubles to which they are incident whom fate has
called to a different sphere. But duty is--duty;--and whatever pang
it may cost, duty should be performed."

"Certainly."

"Certainly;--certainly; certainly," he said, re-echoing her word.

"But then, Duke, one has to be so sure what duty requires. In many
matters this is easy enough, and the only difficulty comes from
temptation. There are cases in which it is so hard to know."

"Is this one of them?"

"I think so."

"Then the maiden should--in any class of life--be allowed to take the
man--that just suits her eye?" As he said this his mind was intent on
his Glencora and on Burgo Fitzgerald.

"I have not said so. A man may be bad, vicious, a spendthrift,--eaten
up by bad habits." Then he frowned, thinking that she also had her
mind intent on his Glencora and on that Burgo Fitzgerald, and being
most unwilling to have the difference between Burgo and Frank Tregear
pointed out to him. "Nor have I said," she continued, "that even were
none of these faults apparent in the character of a suitor, the lady
should in all cases be advised to accept a young man because he has
made himself agreeable to her. There may be discrepancies."

"There are," said he, still with a low voice, but with infinite
energy,--"insurmountable discrepancies."

"I o