the sentiment he would express. "Yes, charming
Princess," said he, perusing the lines before him, "I've once more to
throw myself at your feet, and reiterate the assurances of a devotion
which has formed the happiness of my existence." ("That does not sound
quite French, after all," muttered he; "better perhaps: 'has formed the
religion of my heart.'") "I know you will reproach my precipitancy; I
feel how your judgment, unerring as it ever is, will condemn what may
seem a sudden ebullition of temper; but, I ask, is this amongst the
catalogue of my weaknesses? Am I of that clay which is always fissured
when heated? No. _You_ know me better,--_you_ alone of all the world
have the clew to a heart whose affections are all your own. The few
explanations of all that has happened must be reserved for our meeting.
Of course, neither the newspapers nor the reviews have any conception
of the truth. Four words will set your heart at ease, and these you
must have: 'I have done wisely;' with that assurance you have no more
to fear. I mean to leave this in all secrecy by the end of the week. I
shall go over to Brussels, where you can address me under the name of
Richard Bingham. I shall only remain there to watch events for a day or
two, and thence on to Geneva.

"I am quite charmed with your account of poor Lady G------, though, as
I read, I can detect how all the fascinations you tell of were but
reflected glories. Your view of her situation is admirable, and, by your
skilful tactique, it is she herself that ostracizes the society that
would only have accepted her on sufferance. How true is your remark as
to the great question at issue,--not her guilt or innocence, but what
danger might accrue to others from infractions that invite publicity.
The cabinet were discussing t' other day a measure by which sales of
estated property could be legalized without those tiresome and costly
researches into title which, in a country where confiscations were
frequent, became at last endless labor. Don't you think that some such
measure might be beneficially adopted as regards female character? Could
there not be invented a species of social guarantee which, rejecting all
investigation into bygones after a certain limit, would confer a valid
title that none might dispute?

"Lawyers tell us that no man's property would stand the test of a search
for title. Are we quite certain how far the other sex are our betters in
this respect; and might it n