. You have met Lady Penryn,
I suppose?"

"I have seen her three or four times in the hunting field. She rides
horses no one else would mount. She does everything at the danger point.
Lord Thirsk said she had been disappointed in love and wanted to kill
herself."

"Did you think her handsome?"

"Oh, dear, no! Far from it! She is blowsy and fat, has far too much
color, and carries too much flesh in spite of the rough way she uses
herself."

"Harry, eight years ago I was as madly in love with Lady Penryn as you
are now with Lucy Lugur. All that you are suffering I have suffered.
Eight years ago we parted with tears and embraces and the most solemn
promises of faithful love. In four months she was married to Lord
Penryn."

"Oh, John, what did you do?"

"I forgot her."

"How could you?"

"As soon as I knew she was another man's wife, I did not dare to think
of her, and finding how much _thought_ had to do with this sin, I filled
my thoughts with complex and fatiguing business; in a word, I refused to
think of her in any way.

"Six years afterwards I met her at a garden party; she was with a crowd
of men and women. She had lost all her power over me. My pulses beat at
their ordinary calm pace and my heart was unmoved."

"And how did she bear the ordeal?"

"She said, 'Good afternoon, Mr. Hatton. I think we may have met
before.' A few days ago, we passed each other on the highway between
Hatton and Overton. I lifted my hat, and she pretended not to see me."

"Oh, John, how could the woman treat you so!"

"She acted wisely. I thank her for her discretion. Now, Harry, give
yourself and Lucy time to draw back, if either of you find out you have
been mistaken. There are many engagements in life that can be broken and
no great harm done; but a marriage engagement, if once fulfilled, opens
to you the gates of all Futurity, and if there are children it is
irrevocable by any law. No divorce undoes it. You may likely unroll a
long line of posterity who will live when you are forgotten, but whose
actions, for good or evil, will be traced back to you."

"Well, then, John, if I am to go away and give myself an opportunity to
draw back, I want to go immediately. Lucy's father takes her to an aunt
in Bradford tomorrow. I think when people grow old, they find a perfect
joy in separating lovers."

"It is not only your love affairs that want pause and consideration,
Harry. You appear to hate your business as much as you oug