r situation, and I would do
as well as any one else.

She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous.
Nevertheless, nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering
whether she had sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London
house whose appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been
thought very handsome in 1850) could be "done up" without being made
aesthetic. I forget what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I
was asking myself how I could work round in the manner prescribed by
Joscelind's intended. At the last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady
Vandeleur herself relieved me of this effort.

"I think you know Mr. Tester rather well," she remarked, abruptly,
irrelevantly, and with a face' more conscious of the bearings of
things than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a
few days--perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n't come back
for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was
she reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be
protected against herself,--applauded for such efforts as she had
already made? I didn't rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt
that now, surely, I should be able at my convenience to execute my
commission. What concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur's
marrying Mr. Tester, but to prevent Mr. Tester's marrying her. In a few
moments--with the same irrelevance--she announced to me that he wished
to, and asked whether I didn't know it I saw that this was my chance,
and instantly, with extreme energy, I exclaimed,--

"Ah, for Heaven's sake don't listen to him! It would kill Miss
Bernardstone!"

The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, "Miss
Bernardstone?"

"The girl he is engaged to,--or has been,--don't you know? Excuse me, I
thought every one knew."

"Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted
down." Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a
strange smile, "Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!"

"Fancy!" I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling
me her secrets that for the mom