age;--but
she could not keep the blood out of her cheeks as her eyes met
his, nor could she summon to her support that hard persistency of
outward demeanour with which she had intended to arm herself for the
occasion. "So you have come to see me, Mr. Thwaite?" she said.

"I have come, Lady Lovel, to shake hands with you, if it may be so,
before my marriage with your daughter. It is her wish that we should
be friends,--and mine also." So saying, he put out his hand, and the
Countess slowly gave him hers. "I hope the time may come, Lady Lovel,
when all animosity may be forgotten between you and me, and nothing
be borne in mind but the old friendship of former years."

"I do not know that that can be," she said.

"I hope it may be so. Time cures all things,--and I hope it may be
so."

"There are sorrows, Mr. Thwaite, which no time can cure. You have
triumphed, and can look forward to the pleasures of success. I have
been foiled, and beaten, and broken to pieces. With me the last is
worse even than the first. I do not know that I can ever have another
friend. Your father was my friend."

"And I would be so also."

"You have been my enemy. All that he did to help me,--all that
others have done since to forward me on my way, has been brought
to nothing--by you! My joys have been turned to grief, my rank has
been made a disgrace, my wealth has become like ashes between my
teeth;--and it has been your doing. They tell me that you will be my
daughter's husband. I know that it must be so. But I do not see that
you can be my friend."

"I had hoped to find you softer, Lady Lovel."

"It is not my nature to be soft. All this has not tended to make me
soft. If my daughter will let me know from time to time that she is
alive, that is all that I shall require of her. As to her future
career, I cannot interest myself in it as I had hoped to do.
Good-bye, Mr. Thwaite. You need fear no further interference from
me."

So the interview was over, and not a word had been said about the
attempt at murder.

CHAPTER XLVI.

HARD LINES.

At the time that the murder was attempted Lord Lovel was in
London,--and had seen Daniel Thwaite on that morning; but before any
confirmed rumour had reached his ears he had left London again on his
road to Yoxham. He knew now that he would be endowed with something
like ten thousand a year out of the wealth of the late Earl, but
that he would not have the hand of his fair cousin, the late