as to justify me in trusting my daughter to your care. As my
mind on that matter is quite made up, as is that also of Lady Rowley,
I must ask you to give me your promise that your suit to my daughter
shall be discontinued."

"What does she say about it, Sir Marmaduke?"

"What she has said to me has been for my ears, and not for yours."

"What I say is for her ears and for yours, and for her mother's ears,
and for the ears of any who may choose to hear it. I will never give
up my suit to your daughter till I am forced to do so by a full
conviction that she has given me up. It is best to be plain, Sir
Marmaduke, of course."

"I do not understand this, Mr. Stanbury."

"I mean to be quite clear."

"I have always thought that when a gentleman was told by the head of
a family that he could not be made welcome in that family, it was
considered to be the duty of that gentleman,--as a gentleman,--to
abandon his vain pursuit. I have been brought up with that idea."

"And I, Sir Marmaduke, have been brought up in the idea that when
a man has won the affections of a woman, it is the duty of that
man,--as a man,--to stick to her through thick and thin; and I mean
to do my duty, according to my idea."

"Then, sir, I have nothing further to say, but to take my leave. I
must only caution you not to enter my doors." As the passages were
dark and intricate, it was necessary that Stanbury should shew Sir
Marmaduke out, and this he did in silence. When they parted each of
them lifted his hat, and not a word more was said.

That same night there was a note put into Nora's hands, as she was
following her mother out of one of the theatres. In the confusion she
did not even see the messenger who had handed it to her. Her sister
Lucy saw that she had taken the note, and questioned her about it
afterwards,--with discretion, however, and in privacy. This was the
note:--

DEAREST LOVE,

I have seen your father, who is stern,--after the manner
of fathers. What granite equals a parent's flinty bosom!
For myself, I do not prefer clandestine arrangements
and rope ladders; and you, dear, have nothing of the
Lydia about you. But I do like my own way, and like it
especially when you are at the end of the path. It is
quite out of the question that you should go back to those
islands. I think I am justified in already assuming enough
of the husband to declare that such going back must not be
held for a mo