it. There was not the
slightest doubt in the world about it. But his lordship knew his
gamut, which was all that he pretended to know, and never interfered
with matters of which he was ignorant. He was treated with the
greatest respect at Covent Garden, and nobody ever suspected him of
being an ass. And then he had it in his mind to speak very seriously
to Rachel as soon as she might be well enough to hear him. "You
have spoken to me in a manner, my dear, which I am sure you did not
intend." He had all the words ready prepared on a bit of paper in his
pocket-book. And he was by no means sure but that the little quarrel
might even yet become permanent. He had discussed it frequently with
Lady Augusta, and Lady Augusta rather wished that it might become
permanent. And Lord Castlewell was not quite sure that he did not
wish it also. The young lady had a way of speaking about her own
people which was not to be borne. And now she had been guilty of the
gross indecency of sending a message to him by her own father,--the
very man whom he called an ass. And the man in return only laughed
and called him an ass.

But Lord Castlewell knew the proprieties of life. Here was this--girl
whom he had proposed to marry, a sad invalid at the moment. The
doctor had, in fact, given him but a sad account of the case. "She
has strained her voice continually till it threatens to leave her,"
said the doctor; "I do not say that it will be so, but it may. Her
best chance will be to abandon all professional exertions till next
year." Then the doctor told him that he had not as yet taken upon
himself to hint anything of all this to Miss O'Mahony.

Lord Castlewell was puzzled in the extreme. If the lady lost her
voice and so became penniless and without a profession; and if he in
such case were to throw her over, and leave her unmarried, what would
the world say of him? Would it be possible then to make the world
understand that he had deserted her, not on account of her illness,
but because she had not liked to hear her father called an ass. And
had not Rachel already begun the battle in a manner intended to
show that she meant to be the victor? Could it be possible that she
herself was desirous of backing out. There was no knowing the extent
of the impudence to which these Americans would not go! No doubt she
had, by the use of intemperate language on the occasion when she
would not be driven out in the carriage, given him ample cause for a
br