or nearly six months. Had he intended
to marry her, would he not have found a home for her at the deanery?
Did he in any respect treat her as he would treat the girl whom
he intended to marry? Putting all these things together, Lady
Fawn thought that she saw that Lucy's case was hopeless;--and, so
thinking, wrote to her the following letter:--

Fawn Court, 3rd March, 18--.

DEAREST LUCY,

I have so much to say to you that I did think of getting
Lady Linlithgow to let you come to us here for a day, but
I believe it will perhaps be better that I should write.
I think you leave Lady Linlithgow after the first week in
April, and it is quite necessary that you should come to
some fixed arrangement as to the future. If that were all,
there need not be any trouble, as you will come here, of
course. Indeed, this is your natural home, as we all feel;
and I must say that we have missed you most terribly since
you went,--not only for Cecilia and Nina, but for all of
us. And I don't know that I should write at all if it
wasn't for something else, that must be said sooner or
later;--because, as to your coming here in April, that is
so much a matter of course. The only mistake was, that you
should ever have gone away. So we shall expect you here on
whatever day you may arrange with Lady Linlithgow as to
leaving her.

The poor, dear lady went on repeating her affectionate invitation,
because of the difficulty she encountered in finding words with which
to give the cruel counsel which she thought that it was her duty to
offer.

And now, dearest Lucy, I must say what I believe to be the
truth about Mr. Greystock. I think that you should teach
yourself to forget him,--or, at any rate, that you should
teach yourself to forget the offer which he made to you
last autumn. Whether he was or was not in earnest then,
I think that he has now determined to forget it. I fear
there is no doubt that he has been making love to his
cousin, Lady Eustace. You well know that I should not
mention such a thing, if I had not the strongest possible
grounds to convince me that I ought to do so. But,
independent of this, his conduct to you during the last
six months has been such as to make us all feel sure that
the engagement is distasteful to him. He has probably
found himself so placed that he cannot marry without
money, and has wanted the