, but honest and sensible
flowers."

BOOK VI.

SUCCESS.

"May I reach
That purest heaven, be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused
And in diffusion ever more intense.
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose gladness is the music of the world."

GEORGE ELIOT.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

AT THE PRISON GATE.

Months had passed since Lettice had written a page of her story. The
arrival of the Daltons at Florence had interrupted her at a critical
point. She had not yet acquired the mechanic art of stopping and going
on again as at the turn of a handle, in obedience to a law of demand and
supply; and she would probably have been unable to gather up her threads
and continue the old woof, even if she had made the effort. But she had
not made the effort, and now that she was back in London again it seemed
less possible than ever that she should sit down and make it.

This was a serious matter, for the book was to have been done to order.
She had undertaken to furnish the whole of the manuscript by the middle
of November, and now the time had come when she was obliged to admit
that this was quite impracticable. She had hoped to put such a
constraint upon herself at Birchmead as would have enabled her to fulfil
her promise in the spirit, and to ask a fortnight's grace for the
completion of the manuscript. But circumstances had prevented her from
writing a single line, and she gave up the idea as hopeless.

So when she came up to London, three days before the end of October, she
called upon the publisher with whom she had made her agreement, and
confessed her inability to keep her word. Mr. MacAlpine was polite, but
at the same time evidently vexed. If Miss Campion had been ill he was
very sorry to hear it, but he liked to be able to rely on the
engagements which he made.

"Pray don't let it trouble you," he said, seeing that her face had begun
to fall. "When do you think you can be ready? I must have your next
story, at any rate. Take another three months."

"That is very good of you," said Lettice. "I think I can promise it
before the end of January."

So it was settled, and Lettice went away contented.

The discovery which she had made in regard to Sydney and Emily
Harrington had destroyed her former scru