hat should she do? Where should
she turn for advice or counsel? She had nothing more to say to the
doctor; and he, perceiving that this was the case, took his leave.
This little attempt to achieve candour had not succeeded.

Dr Thorne had answered Lady Arabella as had seemed best to him on the
spur of the moment; but he was by no means satisfied with himself.
As he walked away through the gardens, he bethought himself whether
it would be better for all parties if he could bring himself to be
really candid. Would it not be better for him at once to tell the
squire what were the future prospects of his niece, and let the
father agree to the marriage, or not agree to it, as he might think
fit. But then, if so, if he did do this, would he not in fact say,
"There is my niece, there is this girl of whom you have been talking
for the last twelvemonth, indifferent to what agony of mind you may
have occasioned to her; there she is, a probable heiress! It may be
worth your son's while to wait a little time, and not cast her off
till he shall know whether she be an heiress or no. If it shall turn
out that she is rich, let him take her; if not, why, he can desert
her then as well as now." He could not bring himself to put his niece
into such a position as this. He was anxious enough that she should
be Frank Gresham's wife, for he loved Frank Gresham; he was anxious
enough, also, that she should give to her husband the means of saving
the property of his family. But Frank, though he might find her rich,
was bound to take her while she was poor.

Then, also, he doubted whether he would be justified in speaking
of this will at all. He almost hated the will for the trouble and
vexation it had given him, and the constant stress it had laid on his
conscience. He had spoken of it as yet to no one, and he thought that
he was resolved not to do so while Sir Louis should yet be in the
land of the living.

On reaching home, he found a note from Lady Scatcherd, informing him
that Dr Fillgrave had once more been at Boxall Hill, and that, on
this occasion, he had left the house without anger.

"I don't know what he has said about Louis," she added, "for, to
tell the truth, doctor, I was afraid to see him. But he comes again
to-morrow, and then I shall be braver. But I fear that my poor boy is
in a bad way."

CHAPTER XLI

Doctor Thorne Won't Interfere

At this period there was, as it were, a truce to the ordinary little
skirmish