cing on
me, "in my selfishness I am rendering you unhappy. We will speak no
more of this matter till my fate is certain; should it be that which
I expect, let us forget that this conversation ever passed; if, on the
contrary, Lawless should meet with a refusal--but that is an alternative
I dare not contemplate.--And now, farewell."

So saying, he wrung my hand with a pressure that vouched for his
returning strength, and left me. In spite of my walk, I had not much
appetite for my breakfast that morning.~360~~

CHAPTER XLV -- HELPING A LAME DOG OVER A STILE

"Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme;
I have tried.... No, I was not born under a rhyming planet;
Nor I cannot woo in festival terms."
--_Much Ado About Nothing_.

"Now, let the verses be bad or good, it plainly amounts to a
regular offer. I don't believe any of the lines are an inch
too long or too short; but if they were, it would be wicked
to alter them, for they are really genuine."
--_Thinks I to Myself_.

"We shall have a rare letter from him."
--_Twelfth Night_.

IT was usually my custom of an afternoon to read law for a couple of
hours, a course of training preparatory to committing myself to the
tender mercies of a special pleader; and as Sir John's well-stored
library afforded me every facility for so doing, that was the _venue_ I
generally selected for my interviews with Messrs. Blackstone, Coke
upon Lyttelton, and other legal luminaries. Accordingly, on the day
in question, after having nearly quarrelled with my mother for
congratulating me warmly on the attainment of my wishes, when I
mentioned to her Lawless's proposal, found fault with Fanny's Italian
pronunciation so harshly as to bring tears into her eyes, and grievously
offended our old female domestic by disdainfully rejecting some pet
abomination upon which she had decreed that I should lunch, I sallied
forth, and, not wishing to encounter any of the family, entered the hall
by a side door, and reached the library unobserved. To my surprise I
discovered Lawless (whom I did not recollect ever to have seen there
before, he being not much given to literary pursuits) seated, pen in
hand, at the table, apparently absorbed in the mysteries of composition.

"I shall not disturb you, Lawless," said I, taking down a book. "I am
only going to read law for an hour or two."

"Eh! disturb me?" was the reply; "I'm uncommon glad to be disturbed