ello; but after some hesitation he said that he
would be there. He had promised the trip to a friend, and would like
to keep his promise. But, nevertheless, he almost thought that he
ought to avoid Portray. He intended to support his cousin as far as
he might do so honestly; but he was not quite minded to stand by
her through good report and evil report. He did not desire to be
specially known as her champion, and yet he felt that that position
would be almost forced upon him. He foresaw danger,--and consequently
he was doubting about his journey to Scotland.

"I hardly know whether I am or not," said Frank,--and he almost felt
that he was blushing.

"I hope you are," said Lucy. "When a man has to work all day and
nearly all night he should go where he may get fresh air."

"There's very good air without going to Scotland for it," said Lady
Fawn, who kept up an excellent house at Richmond, but who, with all
her daughters, could not afford autumn trips. The Fawns lived at Fawn
Court all the year round, and consequently Lady Fawn thought that
air was to be found in England sufficiently good for all purposes of
vitality and recreation.

"It's not quite the same thing," said Lucy;--"at least, not for a
man."

After that she was allowed to escape into the grounds with her lover,
and was made happy with half-an-hour of unalloyed bliss. To be alone
with the girl to whom he is not engaged is a man's delight;--to be
alone with the man to whom she is engaged is the woman's. When the
thing is settled there is always present to the man something of a
feeling of clipped wings; whereas the woman is conscious of a new
power of expanding her pinions. The certainty of the thing is to him
repressive. He has done his work, and gained his victory,--and by
conquering has become a slave. To her the certainty of the thing is
the removal of a restraint which has hitherto always been on her.
She can tell him everything, and be told everything,--whereas her
previous confidences, made with those of her own sex, have been
tame, and by comparison valueless. He has no new confidence to
make,--unless when he comes to tell her he likes his meat well done,
and wants his breakfast to be punctual. Lucy now not only promised
herself, but did actually realise a great joy. He seemed to her all
that her heart desired. He was a man whose manner was naturally
caressing and demonstrative, and she was to him, of all women, the
sweetest, the dearest, the mo