he could turn upon him if goaded far enough, and rend him. He could
depend upon her for very much, because she loved him; but he was
afraid of her. "You didn't mean that, I know," she added, smiling.

"Of course I didn't."

"No; your cruelties don't lie in that line; do they, George?"

"I'm sure I never mean to be cruel to you, Lucy."

"I don't think you do. I hardly believe that you ever mean
anything,--except just to get along and live."

"A fellow must live, you know," said George.

In ordinary society George Hotspur could be bright, and he was proud
of being bright. With this woman he was always subdued, always made
to play second fiddle, always talked like a boy; and he knew it. He
had loved her once, if he was capable of loving anything; but her
mastery over him wearied him, even though he was, after a fashion,
proud of her cleverness, and he wished that she were,--well, dead, if
the reader choose that mode of expressing what probably were George's
wishes. But he had never told himself that he desired her death. He
could build pleasant castles in the air as to the murder of Captain
Stubber, but his thoughts did not travel that way in reference to
Mrs. Morton.

"She is not pretty, then,--this rich bride of yours?"

"Not particularly; she's well enough, you know."

"And well enough is good enough for you;--is it? Do you love her,
George?"

The woman's voice was very low and plaintive as she asked the
question. Though from moment to moment she could use her little skill
in pricking him with her satire, still she loved him; and she would
vary her tone, and as at one minute she would make him uneasy by her
raillery, so at the next she would quell him by her tenderness. She
looked into his face for a reply, when he hesitated. "Tell me that
you do not love her," she said, passionately.

"Not particularly," replied George.

"And yet you would marry her?"

"What's a fellow to do? You see how I am fixed about the title. These
are kinds of things to which a man situated as I am is obliged to
submit."

"Royal obligations, as one might call them."

"By George, yes," said George, altogether missing the satire. From
any other lips he would have been sharp enough to catch it. "One
can't see the whole thing go to the dogs after it has kept its head
up so long! And then you know, a man can't live altogether without an
income."

"You have done so, pretty well."

"I know that I owe you a lot of money, Lucy; and