d not perfectly understood that little
explanation which he had given respecting his income. "It's nothing
for a lord." And now again she murmured to herself, "It's my money
he's after. He'll find out that I know how to keep what I've got in
my own hands." Now that Lady Fawn had been cold to her, she thought
still less of the proposed marriage. But there was this inducement
for her to go on with it. If they, the Fawn women, thought that they
could break it off, she would let them know that they had no such
power.

"Well, mamma, you've seen her?" said Mrs. Hittaway.

"Yes, my dear; I've seen her. I had seen her two or three times
before, you know."

"And you are still in love with her?"

"I never said that I was in love with her, Clara."

"And what has been fixed?"

"She is to come down to Fawn Court next week, and stay a fortnight
with us. Then we shall find out what she is."

"That will be best, mamma," said Augusta.

"Mind, mamma; you understand me. I shall tell Frederic plainly just
what I think. Of course he will be offended, and if the marriage goes
on, the offence will remain,--till he finds out the truth."

"I hope he'll find out no such truth," said Lady Fawn. She was,
however, quite unable to say a word in behalf of her future
daughter-in-law. She said nothing as to that little scene with the
Bible, but she never forgot it.

CHAPTER X

Lizzie and Her Lover

During the remainder of that Monday and all the Tuesday, Lizzie's
mind was, upon the whole, averse to matrimony. She had told Miss
Macnulty of her prospects, with some amount of exultation; and the
poor dependant, though she knew that she must be turned out into the
street, had congratulated her patroness. "The Vulturess will take
you in again, when she knows you've nowhere else to go," Lizzie had
said,--displaying, indeed, some accurate discernment of her aunt's
character. But after Lady Fawn's visit she spoke of the marriage in a
different tone. "Of course, my dear, I shall have to look very close
after the settlement."

"I suppose the lawyers will do that," said Miss Macnulty.

"Yes;--lawyers! That's all very well. I know what lawyers are. I'm
not going to trust any lawyer to give away my property. Of course we
shall live at Portray, because his place is in Ireland;--and nothing
shall take me to Ireland. I told him that from the very first. But I
don't mean to give up my own income. I don't suppose he'll venture to
suggest such