hich robbed his life of all its sweetness. He
must go back to the grandeur of his wife and reject the tenderness
of his daughter. During these days at Trafford he made himself very
unpleasant to the devoted friend who had always been so true to his
interests.

When the battle about the correspondence was explained to him by
his wife, it, of course, became necessary to him to give his orders
to his daughter. Such a matter could hardly be passed over in
silence,--though he probably might have done so had he not been
instigated to action by the Marchioness.

"Fanny," he said, "I have been shocked by these letters."

"I only wrote one, papa."

"Well, one. But two came."

"I only had one, papa."

"That made two. But there should have been no letter at all. Do you
think it proper that a young lady should correspond with,--with,--a
gentleman in opposition to the wishes of her father and mother?"

"I don't know, papa."

This seemed to him so weak that the Marquis took heart of grace, and
made the oration which he felt that he as a father was bound to utter
upon the entire question. For, after all, it was not the letters
which were of importance, but the resolute feeling which had given
birth to the letters. "My dear, this is a most unfortunate affair."
He paused for a reply; but Lady Frances felt that the assertion was
one to which at the present moment she could make no reply. "It is,
you know, quite out of the question that you should marry a young man
so altogether unfitted for you in point of station as this young
man."

"But I shall, papa."

"Fanny, you can do no such thing."

"I certainly shall. It may be a very long time first; but I certainly
shall,--unless I die."

"It is wicked of you, my dear, to talk of dying in that way."

"What I mean is, that however long I may live I shall consider myself
engaged to Mr. Roden."

"He has behaved very, very badly. He has made his way into my house
under a false pretence."

"He came as Hampstead's friend."

"It was very foolish of Hampstead to bring him,--very foolish,--a
Post Office clerk."

"Mr. Vivian is a clerk in the Foreign Office. Why shouldn't one
office be the same as another?"

"They are very different;--but Mr. Vivian wouldn't think of such
a thing. He understands the nature of things, and knows his own
position. There is a conceit about the other man."

"A man should be conceited, papa. Nobody will think well of him
unless he thinks well of h