nate to Frank Greystock; and what had she got from
him? To manage her business wisely, and put herself upon firm
ground;--that was her duty at present. Mrs. Carbuncle was right
there. The very name of Lady Fawn would be a rock to her,--and she
wanted a rock. She thought upon the whole that she could marry
him;--unless Patience Crabstick and the police should again interfere
with her prosperity.

CHAPTER LXVIII

The Major

Lady Eustace did not intend to take as much time in answering Lord
Fawn's letter as he had taken in writing it; but even she found
that the subject was one which demanded a good deal of thought. Mrs.
Carbuncle had very freely recommended her to take the man, supporting
her advice by arguments which Lizzie felt to be valid; but then Mrs.
Carbuncle did not know all the circumstances. Mrs. Carbuncle had not
actually seen his lordship's letter; and though the great part of
the letter, the formal repetition, namely, of the writer's offer of
marriage, had been truly told to her, still, as the reader will have
perceived, she had been kept in the dark as to some of the details.
Lizzie did sit at her desk with the object of putting a few words
together in order that she might see how they looked, and she found
that there was a difficulty. "My dear Lord Fawn. As we have been
engaged to marry each other, and as all our friends have been told, I
think that the thing had better go on." That, after various attempts,
was, she thought, the best letter that she could send,--if she should
make up her mind to be Lady Fawn. But, on the morning of the 30th
of March she had not sent her letter. She had told herself that
she would take two days to think of her reply,--and, on the Friday
morning the few words she had prepared were still lying in her desk.

What was she to get by marrying a man she absolutely disliked?
That he also absolutely disliked her was not a matter much in her
thoughts. The man would not ill-treat her because he disliked her;
or, it might perhaps be juster to say, that the ill-treatment which
she might fairly anticipate would not be of a nature which would much
affect her comfort grievously. He would not beat her, nor rob her,
nor lock her up, nor starve her. He would either neglect her, or
preach sermons to her. For the first she could console herself by the
attention of others; and should he preach, perhaps she could preach
too,--as sharply if not as lengthily as his lordship. At any rate