riends, making known to them her engagement. Hitherto
she had told no one but Miss Macnulty,--and, in her doubts, had gone
so far as to desire Miss Macnulty not to mention it. Now she was
resolved to blazon forth her engagement before all the world.

The first "friend" to whom she wrote was Lady Linlithgow. The reader
shall see two or three of her letters, and that to the countess shall
be the first.

MY DEAR AUNT,

When you came to see me the other day, I cannot say that
you were very kind to me, and I don't suppose you care
very much what becomes of me. But I think it right to
let you know that I am going to be married. I am engaged
to Lord Fawn, who, as you know, is a peer, and a member
of Her Majesty's Government, and a nobleman of great
influence. I do not suppose that even you can say anything
against such an alliance.

I am, your affectionate niece,

ELI. EUSTACE.

Then she wrote to Mrs. Eustace, the wife of the Bishop of
Bobsborough. Mrs. Eustace had been very kind to her in the first
days of her widowhood, and had fully recognised her as the widow
of the head of her husband's family. Lizzie had liked none of
the Bobsborough people. They were, according to her ideas, slow,
respectable, and dull. But they had not found much open fault with
her, and she was aware that it was for her interest to remain on good
terms with them. Her letter, therefore, to Mrs. Eustace was somewhat
less acrid than that written to her aunt Linlithgow.

MY DEAR MRS. EUSTACE,

I hope you will be glad to hear from me, and will not be
sorry to hear my news. I am going to be married again. Of
course I am not about to take a step which is in every way
so very important without thinking about it a great deal.
But I am sure it will be better for my darling little
Florian in every way; and as for myself, I have felt for
the last two years how unfitted I have been to manage
everything myself. I have therefore accepted an offer
made to me by Lord Fawn, who is, as you know, a peer
of Parliament, and a most distinguished member of Her
Majesty's Government; and he is, too, a nobleman of very
great influence in every respect, and has a property in
Ireland, extending over ever so many miles, and running up
into the mountains. His mansion there is called Killmage,
but I am not sure that I remember the name quite rightly.
I hope I may see you there som