ble. If he would come himself,--himself
of his own accord,--himself impelled once more by his great
tenderness of heart,--himself once more from his real, real love;
then there should be no more coyness. "If you will still have me,--oh
yes!"

But there was the letter to be written. She so wrote it that by far
the greater part of it,--the larger part at least,--had reference to
Nina and her wedding. "I will think of her on the 8th of April," she
said. "I shall then be at home at Kingsbury Crescent, and I shall
have nothing else to think of." In that was her first allusion to
her own condition with her lover. But on the last side of the sheet
it was necessary that she should say more than that. Something must
be said thoughtfully, carefully, and gratefully in reply to so much
thought, and care, and friendship, as had been shown to her. But it
must be so written that nothing of her secret should be read in it.
The task was so troublesome that she was compelled to recopy the
whole of her long letter, because the sentences as first written did
not please her. "I am so much obliged to you," she said, "by your
kindness about Colonel Stubbs. He did do me the honour of asking me
to be his wife. And I felt it so. You are not to suppose that I did
not understand that. It is all over now, and I cannot explain to
you why I felt that it would not do. It is all over, and therefore
writing about it is no good. Only I want you to be sure of two
things,--that there is no one else, and that I do love you so
much for all your kindness. And you may be sure of a third thing,
too,--that it is all over. I do hope that he will still let me be his
friend. As a friend I have always liked him so much." It was brave
and bold, she thought, in answer to such words as the Marchesa's; but
she did not know how to do it any better.

On Tuesday, the 25th of March, she was to return to Kingsbury
Crescent. Various little words were said at Stalham indicating an
intended break in the arrangement. "The Captain certainly won't come
now," said Lady Albury, alluding to the arrangement as though it had
been made solely with the view of saving Ayala from an encounter with
her objectionable lover. "Croppy has come back," said Sir Harry one
day;--Croppy being the pony which Ayala had ridden. "Miss Dormer can
have him now for what little there is left of the hunting." This was
said on the Saturday before she was to go. How could she ride Croppy
for the rest of the