. I doubt, however, whether I have the
courage." All of which made the dean's wife uneasy.

The reader, who has read so far, will perhaps think that Frank
Greystock was in love with Lucy as Lucy was in love with him. But
such was not exactly the case. To be in love, as an absolute,
well-marked, acknowledged fact, is the condition of a woman more
frequently and more readily than of a man. Such is not the common
theory on the matter, as it is the man's business to speak, and the
woman's business to be reticent. And the woman is presumed to have
kept her heart free from any load of love, till she may accept the
burthen with an assurance that it shall become a joy and a comfort to
her. But such presumptions, though they may be very useful for the
regulation of conduct, may not be always true. It comes more within
the scope of a woman's mind, than that of a man's, to think closely
and decide sharply on such a matter. With a man it is often chance
that settles the question for him. He resolves to propose to a woman,
or proposes without resolving, because she is close to him. Frank
Greystock ridiculed the idea of Lady Fawn's interference in so high
a matter as his love,--or abstinence from love. Nevertheless, had
he been made a welcome guest at Fawn Court, he would undoubtedly
have told his love to Lucy Morris. He was not a welcome guest, but
had been banished; and, as a consequence of that banishment, he had
formed no resolution in regard to Lucy, and did not absolutely know
whether she was necessary to him or not. But Lucy Morris knew all
about it.

Moreover, it frequently happens with men that they fail to analyse
these things, and do not make out for themselves any clear definition
of what their feelings are or what they mean. We hear that a man has
behaved badly to a girl, when the behaviour of which he has been
guilty has resulted simply from want of thought. He has found a
certain companionship to be agreeable to him, and he has accepted
the pleasure without inquiry. Some vague idea has floated across
his brain that the world is wrong in supposing that such friendship
cannot exist without marriage, or question of marriage. It is simply
friendship. And yet were his friend to tell him that she intended to
give herself in marriage elsewhere, he would suffer all the pangs
of jealousy, and would imagine himself to be horribly ill-treated!
To have such a friend,--a friend whom he cannot or will not make
his wife,--is no in