ul meanings.

'A reason . . . !' She kept down her breath. A longdrawn sigh followed,
through parted lips. She had a sensation of horror. 'And I cannot propose
to nurse him--Emma will not hear of it,' she said. 'I dare not. Hypocrite
to that extreme? Oh, no! But I must hear nothing. As it is, I am haunted.
Now let this pass. Tony me no Tonies; I am stony to such whimpering
business now we are in the van of the struggle. All round us it sounds
like war. Last night I had Mr. Tonans dining here;--he wished to meet
you; and you must have a private meeting with Mr. Whitmonby: he will be
useful; others as well. You are wrong in affecting contempt of the Press.
It perches you on a rock; but the swimmer in politics knows what draws
the tides. Your own people, your set, your class, are a drag to you, like
inherited superstitions to the wakening brain. The greater the glory! For
you see the lead you take? You are saving your class. They should lead,
and will, if they prove worthy in the crisis. Their curious error is to
believe in the stability of a monumental position.'

'Perfectly true!' cried Dacier; and the next minute, heated by
approbation, was begging for her hand earnestly. She refused it.

'But you say things that catch me!' he pleaded. 'Remember, it was nearly
mine. It soon will be mine. I heard yesterday from Lady Wathin . . .
well, if it pains you!'

'Speak on,' said Diana, resigned to her thirsty ears.

'He is not expected to last through the autumn.'

'The calculation is hers?'

'Not exactly:--judging from the symptoms.'

Diana flashed a fiery eye into Dacier's, and rose. She was past danger of
melting, with her imagination darkened by the funeral image; but she
craved solitude, and had to act the callous, to dismiss him.

'Good. Enough for the day. Now leave me, if you please. When we meet
again, stifle that raven's croak. I am not a "Sister of Charity," but
neither am I a vulture hovering for the horse in the desert to die. A
poor simile!--when it is my own and not another's breath that I want.
Nothing in nature, only gruesome German stories will fetch comparisons
for the yoke of this Law of yours. It seems the nightmare dream following
an ogre's supper.'

She was not acting the shiver of her frame.

To-morrow was open to him, and prospect of better fortune, so he
departed, after squeezing the hand she ceremoniously extended.

But her woman's intuition warned her that she had not maintained the
sover