strong step of sending the lady of the house out of
her own drawing-room? Nora, beginning to understand this, put herself
into an attitude of defence. She had never told herself that she
would refuse Mr. Glascock. She had never acknowledged to herself
that there was another man whom she liked better than she liked Mr.
Glascock. But had she ever encouraged any wish for such an interview,
her feelings at this moment would have been very different from what
they were. As it was, she would have given much to postpone it, so
that she might have asked herself questions, and have discovered
whether she could reconcile herself to do that which, no doubt, all
her friends would commend her for doing. Of course, it was clear
enough to the mind of the girl that she had her fortune to make, and
that her beauty and youth were the capital on which she had to found
it. She had not lived so far from all taint of corruption as to feel
any actual horror at the idea of a girl giving herself to a man,--not
because the man had already, by his own capacities in that direction,
forced her heart from her,--but because he was one likely to be at
all points a good husband. Had all this affair concerned any other
girl, any friend of her own, and had she known all the circumstances
of the case, she would have had no hesitation in recommending that
other girl to marry Mr. Glascock. A girl thrown out upon the world
without a shilling must make her hay while the sun shines. But,
nevertheless, there was something within her bosom which made her
long for a better thing than this. She had dreamed, if she had not
thought, of being able to worship a man; but she could hardly worship
Mr. Glascock. She had dreamed, if she had not thought, of leaning
upon a man all through life with her whole weight, as though that
man had been specially made to be her staff, her prop, her support,
her wall of comfort and protection. She knew that if she were to
marry Mr. Glascock and become Lady Peterborough, in due course she
must stand a good deal by her own strength, and live without that
comfortable leaning. Nevertheless, when she found herself alone with
the man, she by no means knew whether she would refuse him or not.
But she knew that she must pluck up courage for an important moment,
and she collected herself, braced her muscles, as it were, for a
fight, and threw her mind into an attitude of contest.

Mr. Glascock, as soon as the door was shut behind Mrs. Trevelyan