ng in the tone of all this which thoroughly
confirmed her in her purpose. There should come an end to him of his
thraldom. This should not be, by many, the last of his visits to
Goodwood. He should never again have to complain of the trouble given
to him by her company. She sat silent, turning it all over in her
mind, and struggling to think how she might best get her mother
out of the room. She must do it instantly;--now at once. She was
perfectly resolved that he should not leave that house an engaged
man. But she did not see her direct way to the commencement of the
difficult conversation. "Mrs. Holt," said Sir Francis, "don't you
think a little absence will be best for both of us, before we begin
the perilous voyage of matrimony together?"

"I am sure I don't know," said poor Mrs. Holt.

"There can't be a doubt about it," continued the lover. "I have
become so stupid, that I hardly know how to put one foot before the
other, and Cecilia is so majestical that her dignity is growing to be
almost tedious."

"Mamma," said Cecilia after a pause, "as Sir Francis is going
to-morrow, would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes? There
is something which I have to say to him."

"Oh, certainly, my dear," said Mrs. Holt, as she got up and left the
room.

Now had come the moment, the difficult moment in which Cecilia Holt
had to remodel for herself the course of her future life. For the
last month or two she had been the affianced bride of a baronet, and
of a man of fashion. All Exeter had known her as the future Lady
Geraldine. And, more than that, she had learned to regard herself as
the owner of the man, and of his future home. Her imagination had
been active in drawing pictures for herself of the life she was to
live,--pictures which for a time had been rosy-hued. But whatever the
tints may have been, and how far the bright colours may have become
dimmed, it had been as Lady Geraldine, and not as Cecilia Holt that
she had looked in the glass which had shown to herself her future
career. Now, within the last four-and-twenty hours,--for the last
crowning purpose of her resolution was hardly of longer date,--she
had determined to alter it all. But he as yet did not know it. He
still regarded her as his affianced bride. Now had come the moment in
which the truth must be told to him.

As soon as her mother left the room, she got up from her seat, as
did also her lover. He, as soon as the door was closed, at once
att