emember that others were not treated with so
much open candour. The reader knows much more of Lizzie Eustace than
did her cousin Frank. He, indeed, was not quite in love with Lizzie;
but to him she was a pretty, graceful young woman, to whom he was
bound by many ties, and who had been cruelly injured. Dangerous she
was doubtless, and perhaps a little artificial. To have had her
married to Lord Fawn would have been a good thing,--and would still
be a good thing. According to all the rules known in such matters
Lord Fawn was bound to marry her. He had become engaged to her,
and Lizzie had done nothing to forfeit her engagement. As to the
necklace,--the plea made for jilting her on that ground was a
disgraceful pretext. Everybody was beginning to perceive that Mr.
Camperdown would never have succeeded in getting the diamonds from
her, even if they had not been stolen. It was "preposterous," as
Frank said over and over again to his friend Herriot, that a man
when he was engaged to a lady, should take upon himself to judge her
conduct as Lord Fawn had done,--and then ride out of his engagement
on a verdict found by himself. Frank had therefore willingly
displayed alacrity in persecuting his lordship, and had not been
altogether without hope that he might drive the two into a marriage
yet,--in spite of the protestations made by Lizzie at Portray.

Lord Fawn had certainly not spent a happy winter. Between Mrs.
Hittaway on one side and Frank Greystock on the other, his life had
been a burthen to him. It had been suggested to him by various people
that he was behaving badly to the lady,--who was represented as
having been cruelly misused by fortune and by himself. On the other
hand it had been hinted to him, that nothing was too bad to believe
of Lizzie Eustace, and that no calamity could be so great as that by
which he would be overwhelmed were he still to allow himself to be
forced into that marriage. "It would be better," Mrs. Hittaway had
said, "to retire to Ireland at once, and cultivate your demesne in
Tipperary." This was a grievous sentence, and one which had greatly
excited the brother's wrath;--but it had shown how very strong was
his sister's opinion against the lady to whom he had unfortunately
offered his hand. Then there came to him a letter from Mr. Greystock,
in which he was asked for his "written explanation." If there be a
proceeding which an official man dislikes worse than another, it is a
demand for a writt