much, no doubt, to her benefit; but
she actually fought the battles.

Chapter XXXVII

Florence Burton's Return

Though nobody had expressed to Florence at Stratton any fear of Harry
Clavering's perfidy, that young lady was not altogether easy in her
mind. Weeks and weeks had passed, and she had not heard from him. Her
mother was manifestly uneasy, and had announced some days before
Florence's departure, her surprise and annoyance in not having heard
from her eldest son. When Florence inquired as to the subject of the
expected letter, her mother put the question aside, saying, with a
little assumed irritability, that of course she liked to get an answer
to her letters when she took the trouble to write them. And when the day
for Florence's journey drew nigh, the old lady became more and more
uneasy--showing plainly that she wished her daughter was not going to
London. But Florence, as she was quite determined to go, said nothing to
all this. Her father also was uneasy, and neither of them had for some
days named her lover in her hearing. She knew that there was something
wrong, and felt that it was better that she should go to London and
learn the truth.

No female heart was ever less prone to suspicion than the heart of
Florence Burton. Among those with whom she had been most intimate
nothing had occurred to teach her that men could be false, or women
either. When she had heard from Harry Clavering the story of Julia
Brabazon, she had, not making much accusation against the sinner in
speech, put Julia down in the books of her mind as a bold, bad woman,
who could forget her sex, and sell her beauty and her womanhood for
money. There might be such a woman here and there, or such a man. There
were murderers in the world--but the bulk of mankind is not made subject
to murderers. Florence had never considered the possibility that she
herself could become liable to such a misfortune. And then, when the day
came that she was engaged, her confidence in the man chosen by her was
unlimited. Such love as hers rarely suspects. He with whom she had to do
was Harry Clavering, and therefore she could not be deceived. Moreover,
she was supported by a self-respect and a self-confidence which did not
at first allow her to dream that a man who had once loved her would ever
wish to leave her. It was to her as though a sacrament as holy as that
of the church had passed between them, and she could not easily bring
herself to t