science and her better instinct in that moment
when the necessity for deciding had come upon her? Why had she
allowed him to understand that he was master of her heart? Did she
not know that there was everything against such a marriage as that
which he proposed? Had she not done wrong, very wrong, even to think
of it? Had she not sinned deeply, against Mr Gresham, who had ever
been so kind to her? Could she hope, was it possible, that a boy like
Frank should be true to his first love? And, if he were true, if he
were ready to go to the altar with her to-morrow, ought she to allow
him to degrade himself by such a marriage?

There was, alas! some truth about the London lady. Frank had taken
his degree, as arranged, and had then gone abroad for the winter,
doing the fashionable things, going up the Nile, crossing over to
Mount Sinai, thence over the long desert to Jerusalem, and home by
Damascus, Beyrout, and Constantinople, bringing back a long beard, a
red cap, and a chibook, just as our fathers used to go through Italy
and Switzerland, and our grandfathers to spend a season in Paris. He
had then remained for a couple of months in London, going through
all the society which the de Courcys were able to open to him. And
it was true that a certain belle of the season, of that season and
some others, had been captivated--for the tenth time--by the silken
sheen of his long beard. Frank had probably been more demonstrative,
perhaps even more susceptible, than he should have been; and
hence the rumour, which had all too willingly been forwarded to
Greshamsbury.

But young Gresham had also met another lady in London, namely Miss
Dunstable. Mary would indeed have been grateful to Miss Dunstable,
could she have known all that lady did for her. Frank's love was
never allowed to flag. When he spoke of the difficulties in his way,
she twitted him by being overcome by straws; and told him that no
one was worth having who was afraid of every lion that he met in his
path. When he spoke of money, she bade him earn it; and always ended
by offering to smooth for him any real difficulty which want of means
might put in his way.

"No," Frank used to say to himself, when these offers were made, "I
never intended to take her and her money together; and, therefore, I
certainly will never take the money alone."

A day or two after Miss Oriel's visit, Mary received the following
note from Beatrice.

DEAREST, DEAREST MARY,

I shal