don't think you know
him, Frank."

"Not in the least;--nor do I wish."

"It is something to have the sympathy of men high placed in the
world. And as to Lady Glencora, I do love her dearly. She just comes
up to my beau-ideal of what a woman should be,--disinterested, full
of spirit, affectionate, with a dash of romance about her."

"A great dash of romance, I fancy."

"And a determination to be something in the world. Lady Glencora
Palliser is something."

"She is awfully rich, Lizzie."

"I suppose so. At any rate, that is no disgrace. And then, Frank,
somebody else came."

"Lord Fawn was to have come."

"He did come."

"And how did it go between you?"

"Ah,--that will be so difficult to explain. I wish you had been
behind the curtain to hear it all. It is so necessary that you should
know, and yet it is so hard to tell. I spoke up to him, and was quite
high-spirited."

"I daresay you were."

"I told him out, bravely, of all the wrong he had done me. I did not
sit and whimper, I can assure you. Then he talked about you,--of your
attentions."

Frank Greystock, of course, remembered the scene among the rocks, and
Mr. Gowran's wagging head and watchful eyes. At the time he had felt
certain that some use would be made of Andy's vigilance, though he
had not traced the connexion between the man and Mrs. Hittaway. If
Lord Fawn had heard of the little scene, there might, doubtless, be
cause for him to talk of "attentions." "What did it matter to him?"
asked Frank. "He is an insolent ass,--as I have told him once, and
shall have to tell him again."

"I think it did matter, Frank."

"I don't see it a bit. He had resigned his rights,--whatever they
were."

"But I had not accepted his resignation,--as they say in the
newspapers;--nor have I now."

"You would still marry him?"

"I don't say that, Frank. This is an important business, and let us
go through it steadily. I would certainly like to have him again at
my feet. Whether I would deign to lift him up again is another thing.
Is not that natural, after what he has done to me?"

"Woman's nature."

"And I am a woman. Yes, Frank. I would have him again at my
disposal,--and he is so. He is to write me a long letter;--so like
a Government-man, isn't it? And he has told me already what he is
to put into the letter. They always do, you know. He is to say that
he'll marry me if I choose."

"He has promised to say that?"

"When he said that he would come