thing of any moment was spoken between them
till he took her hand for the last time. "Adela," he then whispered
to her, "I shall think much of what you have said to me, very much.
I do so wish you were not leaving us. I wonder whether you would be
surprised if I were to write to you?" But the train was gone before
she had time to answer.

Two days afterwards, Bertram also left them. "Arthur," he said, as
he took leave of the vicar, "if I, who have made such a mess of it
myself, may give advice on such a subject, I would not leave Adela
Gauntlet long at Littlebath if I were you."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL IN LOVE.

Caroline Waddington was at Hadley when she received and accepted the
proposal made to her by Sir Henry Harcourt. It may be conceived that
the affair was arranged without any very great amount of romance. Sir
Henry indeed was willing, in a hurried manner, to throw himself at
the lady's feet, to swear by her fair hand that he loved her as man
never yet had loved, and to go to work in the fashion usually most
approved by young ladies. In a hurried manner, I say; for just at
this moment he was being made solicitor-general, and had almost
too many irons in the fire to permit of a prolonged dallying. But
Caroline would have none of it, either hurried or not hurried.
Whatever might be the case with Sir Henry, she had gone through that
phase of life, and now declared to herself that she did not want any
more of it.

Sir Henry did not find the task of gaining his bride very difficult.
He had succeeded in establishing a sort of intimacy with old Mr.
Bertram, and it appeared that permission to run down to Hadley and
run back again had already been accorded to him before Miss Baker and
Caroline arrived there. He never slept, though he sometimes dined in
the house; but he had always something to talk about when an excuse
for going to Hadley was required. Mr. Bertram had asked him something
about some investment, and he had found out this something; or
he wanted to ask Mr. Bertram's advice on some question as to his
political career. At this period he was, or professed to be, very
much guided in his public life by Mr. Bertram's opinion.

And thus he fell in with Caroline. On the first occasion of his doing
so, he contrived to whisper to her his deep sympathy with her sorrow;
on his second visit, he spoke more of himself and less of Bertram;
on his third, he alluded only to her own virtues; on his