. How miserable, how
humiliating, if all these dreams came to naught, and she found herself
bound to an unsuccessful man, with all her ambitions nipped in the bud!

Lilias's thoughts roamed back over the past, and a dull resentment
against her _fiance_ grew in her mind; for did it not seem that he had
always been unlucky, that the brief space of prosperity that had
preceded her engagement had been the exception, not the rule, in his
experiences? Old Mr Talbot had died while Ned was still at college,
and the necessity of looking after the business for the benefit of the
family had compelled the young fellow to sacrifice his own hopes of a
profession, and settle down to a commercial life. Mr Talbot had owned
"Works" of some kind; Lilias had the haziest idea of their purport. Ned
manufactured "engines and things," she told her friends vaguely, and
spent his days amidst clanking machinery, in an atmosphere impregnated
with steam and oil. A dozen years before, "the Works" had been a
profitable concern, but it had steadily declined in value, as more
powerful firms monopolised the trade. Ned had struggled hard against
the tide, but his term of management had been far from prosperous, and
when, a year ago, his most formidable rival had come forward with an
offer to take over the smaller firm, and instal him in the position of
manager over the united businesses, he had been thankful to accept, and
to believe that his anxieties were at an end. Six months--scarcely six
months--and already he was beginning to feel uneasy, to suspect trouble
ahead! Lilias tightened her lips, and her eyes gave out an impatient
flash. It requires a noble nature to preserve unswerving confidence in
a man through a period of reverse, and Lilias was not capable of the
effort. It seemed to her that such a want of success must surely be
Ned's own fault, and something startlingly like dislike sprang up in her
heart, as she realised how closely she herself would be involved in his
failure. Her mother had declared that it was her duty to encourage Ned
in his quixotic scruples; but surely, surely, it was also Ned's duty to
consider her interests, and to be ready to sacrifice his scruples, if
they threatened injury to the future which she had agreed to share!

Lilias was as angry as it was in her nature to be, but her love of
approval made her unwilling to exhibit herself in so unamiable a mood,
and she rushed upstairs to the porch room to recover he