in Keppel
Street. After some delay and much consideration, the Countess sent
the attorney's letter to her daughter, and Lady Anna herself wrote
a reply. She perfectly understood the purport of Mr. Goffe's letter,
and would thank Mr. Goffe to call upon her on the 10th of May, when
the matter might, she hoped, be settled.

CHAPTER XLI.

NEARER AND NEARER.

So they went on living in utter misery till the month of May had come
round, and Lady Anna was at last pronounced to be convalescent.

Late one night, long after midnight, the Countess crept into her
daughter's room and sat down by the bedside. Lady Anna was asleep,
and the Countess sat there and watched. At this time the girl had
passed her birthday, and was of age. Mr. Goffe had been closeted
with her and with her mother for two mornings running, Sir William
Patterson had also been with them, and instructions had been given as
to the property, upon which action was to be at once taken. Of that
proportion of the estate which fell to Lady Anna, one entire moiety
was to be made over to the Earl. While this was being arranged no
word was said as to Daniel Thwaite, or as to the marriage with
the lord. The settlement was made as though it were a thing of
itself; and they all had been much surprised,--the mother, the
Solicitor-General, and the attorney,--at the determination of purpose
and full comprehension of the whole affair which Lady Anna displayed.
When it came to the absolute doing of the matter,--the abandonment
of all this money,--the Countess became uneasy and discontented.
She also had wished that Lord Lovel should have the property,--but
her wish had been founded on a certain object to be attained, which
object was now farther from her than ever. But the property in
question was not hers, but her daughter's, and she made no loud
objection to the proceeding. The instructions were given, and the
deeds were to be forthcoming some time before the end of the month.

It was on the night of the 11th of May that the Countess sat at her
child's bedside. She had brought up a taper with her, and there she
sat watching the sleeping girl. Thoughts wondrously at variance with
each other, and feelings thoroughly antagonistic, ran through her
brain and heart. This was her only child,--the one thing that there
was for her to love,--the only tie to the world that she possessed.
But for her girl, it would be good that she should be dead. And if
her girl should do thi