d
Chittle.

Two years had made very little change in Miss. Chittle's appearance. She
was still colourless and abnormally shy, still had the look of one who
sheds secret tears, and her repugnance to Society had, if possible,
increased. Horace thought her pretty, was impressed by her extreme
gentleness and refinement, but she obtained no power over his emotions
such as that formerly exercised by Fanny French. It struck him, too, as
a very strange thing, that a young lady with a large fortune should be
willing to marry a man of his social insignificance. 'My dear,' said
Mrs. Damerel, 'it was a case of love at first sight.' But Horace, who
had gained some experience of life, could not believe this. He wooed,
and won; yet even when Winifred accepted him, he felt that she did it
under some constraint. Her pale face declared no happiness.

Had she chosen, Mrs. Damerel could have explained the mystery. She knew
that, several years ago, Winifred's name had been blighted by a scandal,
and that the girl's shrinking from every proposal of marriage was due,
in part perhaps, to the memory of love betrayed, in part to a sense of
honour, and to the suspicion that men, knowing her disgrace, condoned
it for the sake of her wealth. Interest made Mrs. Damerel generous;
she admitted every excuse for Winifred, and persuaded herself that in
procuring Horace such a wife she was doing him only a nominal wrong. The
young people could live apart from that corner of Society in which Miss.
Chittle's name gave occasion to smiles or looks of perfunctory censure.
If Winifred, after marriage, chose to make confession, why, that was her
own affair, and Horace would be wise enough, all advantages considered,
to take the matter philosophically.

That was the view of a practical-minded observer. To read Winifred
perfectly, there needed a much more subtle and sympathetic intelligence.
The girl had, in truth, conceived a liking for Horace Lord, and it grew
stronger when she learnt that neither by birth nor present circumstances
did he belong to her own world. To please her mother she was willing to
take a husband, but the husband must be of her own choice. She wished to
enter upon a wholly new life, remote from the social conditions which
of late years had crushed her spirit. From the men who had hitherto
approached her, she shrank in fear. Horace Lord, good-looking and not
uneducated, yet so far from formidable, suggested a new hope; even
though he might