t, which
people seldom do in moments of extreme mental suffering. It was only her
countenance that fell. Her brightening, beaming, hopeful face grew
blank in a moment, her eyes grew utterly dim, a kind of mist running
over them: a sound--half a sob, half a sigh, came from her breast. She
put up her hand trembling to support her head, which shook too with the
quiver that went over her. It took her at least a minute to get over the
shock of the disappointment. Then commanding herself painfully, but
without looking at him, which, indeed, she dared not do, she said again,
"Yes, Tom?" with a piteous quiver of her lip.

It did not make Sir Tom any the less kind, and full of tender impulses,
that he was wounding his wife in the profoundest sensibilities of her
heart. In this point the greater does not include the lesser. He was
cruel in the more important matter, without intending it indeed, and
from what he considered a fatality, a painful combination of
circumstances out of which he could not escape; but in the lesser
particulars he was as kind as ever. He could not bear to see her
suffering. The quiver in her lip, the failure of the colour in her
cheeks affected him so that he could scarcely contain himself.

"My dear love," he cried, "my little Lucy! you are not afraid of what I
am going to say to you?" These words came to his lips naturally, by the
affectionate impulse of his kind nature. But when he had said them, an
impulse, which was perhaps more crafty than loving, followed. Quick as
thought he changed his intention, his purpose altogether. He could not
resist the appeal of Lucy's face; but he slipped instinctively from the
more serious question that lay between them, and resolved to sacrifice
the other, which was indeed very important, yet could be treated in an
easier way and without involving anything more painful. Sir Tom was at
an age when money has a great value, and the mere sense of possession is
pleasant; and there was a principle involved which he had determined a
few weeks ago not to relinquish. But the position in which he found
himself placed was one out of which some way of escape had to be
invented at once. "Lucy," he said, "you are frightened; you think I am
going to cross you in the matter that lies so near your heart. But you
mistake me, my dear. I think I ought to be your chief adviser in that as
in all matters. It is my duty: but I hope you never thought that I would
exercise any force upon you to