he does not speak of her health.'

He looked pertinaciously in the direction of the letter, and it was not
rightly mannered. That letter, of all others, was covert and sacred to
the friend. It contained the weightiest of secrets.

'I have not written to her,' said Redworth.

He was astonishing: 'To whom? To Diana? You could very well have done so,
only I fancy she knows nothing, has never given a thought to railway
stocks and shares; she has a loathing for speculation.'

'And speculators too, I dare say!'

'It is extremely probable.' Lady Dunstane spoke with an emphasis, for the
man liked Diana, and would be moved by the idea of forfeiting her esteem.

'She might blame me if I did anything dishonourable!'

'She certainly would.'

'She will have no cause.'

Lady Dunstane began to look, as at a cloud charged with remote
explosions: and still for the moment she was unsuspecting. But it was a
flitting moment. When he went on, and very singularly droning to her ear:
'The more a man loves a woman, the more he should be positive, before
asking her, that she will not have to consent to a loss of position, and
I would rather lose her than fail to give her all--not be sure, as far as
a man can be sure, of giving her all I think she's worthy of': then the
cloud shot a lightning flash, and the doors of her understanding swung
wide to the entry of a great wonderment. A shock of pain succeeded it.
Her sympathy was roused so acutely that she slipped over the reflective
rebuke she would have addressed to her silly delusion concerning his
purpose in speaking of his affairs to a woman. Though he did not mention
Diana by name, Diana was clearly the person. And why had he delayed to
speak to her?--Because of this venture of his money to make him a
fortune, for the assurance of her future comfort! Here was the best of
men for the girl, not displeasing to her; a good, strong, trustworthy
man, pleasant to hear and to see, only erring in being a trifle too
scrupulous in love: and a fortnight back she would have imagined he had
no chance; and now she knew that the chance was excellent in those days,
with this revelation in Diana's letter, which said that all chance was
over.

'The courtship of a woman,' he droned away, 'is in my mind not fair to
her until a man has to the full enough to sanction his asking her to
marry him. And if he throws all he possesses on a stake . . . to win
her--give her what she has a right to claim, he ought