t was she
who had given him his dismissal. She called him by his name, "Augustus,"
in a kindly tone, remarking, that Lady Charlotte had persecuted him
dreadfully. "Poor Augustus! his entire reputation for evil is owing
to her black paint-brush. There is no man so easily 'hooked,' as Mrs.
Bayruffle would say, as he, though he has but eight hundred a year:
barely enough to live on. It would have been cruel of me to keep him,
for if he is in love, it's with Emilia."

Wilfrid here took upon himself to reproach her for a certain
negligence of worldly interests. She laughed and blushed with humorous
satisfaction; and, on second thoughts, he changed his opinion, telling
her that he wished he could win his freedom as she had done.

"Wilfrid," she said suddenly, "will you persuade Cornelia not to wear
black?"

"Yes, if you wish it," he replied.

"You will, positively? Then listen, dear. I don't like the prospect of
your alliance with Lady Charlotte."

Wilfrid could not repress a despondent shrug.

"But you can get released," she cried; and ultimately counselled him:
"Mention the name of Lord Eltham before her once, when you are alone.
Watch the result. Only, don't be clumsy. But I need not tell you that."

For hours he cudgelled his brains to know why she desired Cornelia not
to wear black, and when the light broke in on him he laughed like a
jolly youth for an instant. The reason why was in a web so complicated,
that, to have divined what hung on Cornelia's wearing of black, showed a
rare sagacity and perception of character on the little lady's part. As
thus:--Sir Twickenham Pryme is the most sensitive of men to ridicule and
vulgar tattle: he has continued to visit the house, learning by
degrees to prefer me, but still too chivalrous to withdraw his claim to
Cornelia, notwithstanding that he has seen indications of her not too
absolute devotion towards him:--I have let him become aware that I
have broken with Captain Gambier (whose income is eight hundred a
year merely), for the sake of a higher attachment: now, since the
catastrophe, he can with ease make it appear to the world that I was
his choice from the first, seeing that Cornelia will assuredly make no
manner of objection:--but, if she, with foolish sentimental persistence,
assumes the garb of sorrow, then Sir Twickenham's ears will tingle; he
will retire altogether; he will not dare to place himself in a position
which will lend a colour to the gossip, that jil