the 1st. Come early,
at eleven, if you can."

On the day named and at the hour fixed he was in Belgrave Square. He
had known this house since he was a boy, and could well remember
how, when he first entered it, he had thought with some awe of the
grandeur of the Earl. The Earl had then not paid much attention to
him, but he had become very much taken by the grace and good-nature
of the girl who had owned him as a cousin. "You are my cousin Frank,"
she had said; "I am so glad to have a cousin." He could remember the
words now as though they had been spoken only yesterday. Then there
had quickly grown to be friendship between him and this, as he
thought, sweetest of all girls. At that time he had just gone to
Eton; but before he left Eton they had sworn to love each other. And
so it had been and the thing had grown, till at last, just when he
had taken his degree, two matters had been settled between them;
the first was that each loved the other irretrievably, irrevocably,
passionately; the second, that it was altogether out of the question
that they should ever marry each other.

It is but fair to Tregear to say that this last decision originated
with the lady. He had told her that he certainly would hold himself
engaged to marry her at some future time; but she had thrown this
aside at once. How was it possible, she said, that two such beings,
brought up in luxury, and taught to enjoy all the good things of the
world, should expect to live and be happy together without an income?
He offered to go to the bar;--but she asked him whether he thought it
well that such a one as she should wait say a dozen years for such a
process. "When the time comes, I should be an old woman and you would
be a wretched man." She released him,--declared her own purpose of
marrying well; and then, though there had been a moment in which her
own assurance of her own love had been passionate enough, she went
so far as to tell him that she was heart-whole. "We have been two
foolish children but we cannot be children any longer," she said.
"There must be an end of it."

What had hitherto been the result of this the reader knows,--and
Tregear knew also. He had taken the privilege given to him, and had
made so complete a use of it that he had in truth transferred his
heart as well as his allegiance. Where is the young man who cannot
do so;--how few are there who do not do so when their first fit of
passion has come on them at one-and-twenty? A