or me," said
Violet. As soon as he heard from his father, he would do his father's
bidding. "You will go to Saulsby," said Violet; "you can hunt at
Saulsby, you know."

"I will go to Jericho if he asks me, only you will have to go with
me." "I thought we were to go to,--Belgium," said Violet.

"And so that is settled at last," said Violet to Laura that night.

"I hope you do not regret it."

"On the contrary, I am as happy as the moments are long."

"My fine girl!"

"I am happy because I love him. I have always loved him. You have
known that."

"Indeed, no."

"But I have, after my fashion. I am not tumultuous, as he calls
himself. Since he began to make eyes at me when he was nineteen--"

"Fancy Oswald making eyes!"

"Oh, he did, and mouths too. But from the beginning, when I was a
child, I have known that he was dangerous, and I have thought that
he would pass on and forget me after a while. And I could have lived
without him. Nay, there have been moments when I thought I could
learn to love some one else."

"Poor Phineas, for instance."

"We will mention no names. Mr. Appledom, perhaps, more likely. He
has been my most constant lover, and then he would be so safe! Your
brother, Laura, is dangerous. He is like the bad ice in the parks
where they stick up the poles. He has had a pole stuck upon him ever
since he was a boy."

"Yes;--give a dog a bad name and hang him."

"Remember that I do not love him a bit the less on that
account;--perhaps the better. A sense of danger does not make me
unhappy, though the threatened evil may be fatal. I have entered
myself for my forlorn hope, and I mean to stick to it. Now I must go
and write to his worship. Only think,--I never wrote a love-letter
yet!"

Nothing more shall be said about Miss Effingham's first love-letter,
which was, no doubt, creditable to her head and heart; but there were
two other letters sent by the same post from Loughlinter which shall
be submitted to the reader, as they will assist the telling of the
story. One was from Lady Laura Kennedy to her friend Phineas Finn,
and the other from Violet to her aunt, Lady Baldock. No letter was
written to Lord Brentford, as it was thought desirable that he should
receive the first intimation of what had been done from his son.

Respecting the letter to Phineas, which shall be first given, Lady
Laura thought it right to say a word to her husband. He had been of
course told of the engagement, and had