. His friends
perceived he was at the parting of the roads, and many of them had no
difficulty in saying which one _they_ would take. Some observers thought
he ought to do nothing, to leave things as they were. Others took very
high ground and discoursed upon the sanctity of love and the wickedness
of really deceiving the girl, as that would be what it would amount to
(if he should lead her to the altar). Some held that it was too late to
escape, others maintained that it is never too late. Some thought Miss
Bernardstone very much to be pitied; some reserved their compassion for
Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished it upon Lady Vandeleur.

The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the
promptings of his heart--London cares so much for the heart! Or is it
that London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that
is more entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to
throw over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see
the poor girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman
arena. That is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public
opinion was on his side. I don't think he chattered about his quandary,
but people, knowing his situation, guessed what was going on in his
mind, and he on his side guessed what they said. London discussions
might as well go on in the whispering-gallery of St. Paul's. I could of
course do only one thing,--I could but reaffirm my conviction that the
Roman attitude, as I may call it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental.
This naturally did n't help him as he wished to be helped,--did n't
remove the obstacle to his marrying in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet
he continued to look to me for inspiration,--I must say it at the cost
of making him appear a very feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment
when I thought him capable of an oblique movement, of temporizing with a
view to escape. If he succeeded in postponing his marriage long enough,
the Bernardstones would throw _him_ over, and I suspect that for a day
he entertained the idea of fixing this responsibility on them. But he
was too honest and too generous to do so for longer, and his destiny was
staring him in the face when an accident gave him a momentary relief.
General Bernardstone died, after an illness as sudden and short as that
which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife and daughter were plunged
into mourning and immediately retired into the