d," said Sir Griffin
to himself. "Of course she means it, and why the devil can't she
say so?" He had no idea of giving up the chase, but he thought that
perhaps he would take it out of her when she became Lady Tewett.

They were an hour at the inn before Mrs. Carbuncle and Lady Eustace
arrived, and during that hour Sir Griffin did not see Miss Roanoke.
For this there was, of course, ample reason. Under the custody of the
landlady, Miss Roanoke was being made dry and clean, and was by no
means in a condition to receive a lover's vows. The baronet sent up
half-a-dozen messages as he sauntered about the yard of the inn, but
he got no message in return. Lucinda, as she sat drinking her tea and
drying her clothes, did no doubt think about him,--but she thought
about him as little as she could. Of course, he would come again, and
she could make up her mind then. It was no doubt necessary that she
should do something. Her fortune, such as it was, would soon be spent
in the adventure of finding a husband. She also had her ideas about
love, and had enough of sincerity about her to love a man thoroughly;
but it had seemed to her that all the men who came near her were
men whom she could not fail to dislike. She was hurried here and
hurried there, and knew nothing of real social intimacies. As she
told her aunt in her wickedness, she would almost have preferred a
shoemaker,--if she could have become acquainted with a shoemaker in
a manner that should be unforced and genuine. There was a savageness
of antipathy in her to the mode of life which her circumstances had
produced for her. It was that very savageness which made her ride so
hard, and which forbade her to smile and be pleasant to people whom
she could not like. And yet she knew that something must be done. She
could not afford to wait as other girls might do. Why not Sir Griffin
as well as any other fool? It may be doubted whether she knew how
obstinate, how hard, how cruel to a woman a fool can be.

Her stockings had been washed and dried, and her boots and trousers
were nearly dry, when Mrs. Carbuncle, followed by Lizzie, rushed into
the room. "Oh, my darling, how are you?" said the aunt, seizing her
niece in her arms.

"I'm only dirty now," said Lucinda.

"We've got off the biggest of the muck, my lady," said the landlady.

"Oh, Miss Roanoke," said Lizzie, "I hope you don't think I behaved
badly in going on."

"Everybody always goes on, of course," said Lucinda.