n me,' said Marie.

'If you're wrong about the money, and he shouldn't come round, where
should we be then?'

'Nothing venture, nothing have,' said the heiress.

'That's all very well; but one might venture everything and get
nothing after all.'

'You'd get me,' said Marie with a pout.

'Yes;--and I'm awfully fond of you. Of course I should get you! But--'

'Very well then;--if that's your love, said Marie turning back from him.

Sir Felix gave a great sigh, and then announced his resolution. 'I'll
venture it.'

'Oh, Felix, how grand it will be!'

'There's a great deal to do, you know. I don't know whether it can be
Thursday week.' He was putting in the coward's plea for a reprieve.

'I shall be afraid of Didon if it's delayed long.'

'There's the money to get, and all that.'

'I can get some money. Mamma has money in the house.'

'How much?' asked the baronet eagerly.

'A hundred pounds, perhaps;--perhaps two hundred.

'That would help certainly. I must go to your father for money. Won't
that be a sell? To get it from him, to take you away!'

It was decided that they were to go to New York on a Thursday,--on
Thursday week if possible, but as to that he was to let her know in a
day or two. Didon was to pack up the clothes and get them sent out of
the house. Didon was to have L50 before she went on board; and as one
of the men must know about it, and must assist in having the trunks
smuggled out of the house, he was to have L10. All had been settled
beforehand, so that Sir Felix really had no need to think about
anything. 'And now,' said Marie, 'there's Didon. Nobody's looking and
she can open that gate for you. When we're gone, do you creep out. The
gate can be left, you know. Then we'll get out on the other side.'
Marie Melmotte was certainly a clever girl.

CHAPTER XLII - 'CAN YOU BE READY IN TEN MINUTES?'

After leaving Melmotte's house, on Sunday morning Paul Montague, went
to Roger Carbury's hotel and found his friend just returning from
church. He was bound to go to Islington on that day, but had made up
his mind that he would defer his visit till the evening. He would dine
early and be with Mrs Hurtle about seven o'clock. But it was necessary
that Roger should hear the news about Ruby Ruggles. 'It's not so bad
as you thought,' said he, 'as she is living with her aunt.'

'I never heard of such an aunt.'

'She says her grandfather knows where she is, and that he doesn't want
her bac