tion of her dear cousin, and an intimation of
the period when it might be deemed possible for a relative to call and
offer her sincere congratulations: a letter deserving a personal reply,
one would suppose. She received the following, in a succinct female hand
corresponding to its terseness; every 't' righteously crossed, every 'i'
punctiliously dotted, as she remarked to Constance Asper, to whom the
communication was transferred for perusal:

'DEAR LADY WATHIN,--Lady Dunstane is gaining strength. The measure
of her pulse indicates favourably. She shall be informed in good
time of your solicitude for her recovery. The day cannot yet be
named for visits of any kind. You will receive information as soon
as the house is open.

'I have undertaken the task of correspondence, and beg you to
believe me,

'Very truly yours,
'D. A. WARWICK.'

Miss Asper speculated on the handwriting of her rival. She obtained
permission to keep the letter, with the intention of transmitting it per
post to an advertising interpreter of character in caligraphy.

Such was the character of the fair young heiress, exhibited by her
performances much more patently than the run of a quill would reveal it.

She said, 'It is rather a pretty hand, I think.'

'Mrs. Warwick is a practised writer,' said Lady Wathin. 'Writing is her
profession, if she has any. She goes to nurse my cousin. Her husband says
she is an excellent nurse. He says what he can for her. But you must be
in the last extremity, or she is ice. His appeal to her has been totally
disregarded. Until he drops down in the street, as his doctor expects him
to do some day, she will continue her course; and even then . . .' An
adventuress desiring her freedom! Lady Wathin looked. She was too devout
a woman to say what she thought. But she knew the world to be very
wicked. Of Mrs. Warwick, her opinion was formed. She would not have
charged the individual creature with a criminal design; all she did was
to stuff the person her virtue abhorred with the wickedness of the world,
and that is a common process in antipathy.

She sympathized, moreover, with the beautiful devotedness of the wealthy
heiress to her ideal of man. It had led her to make the acquaintance of
old Lady Dacier, at the house in town, where Constance Asper had first
met Percy; Mrs. Grafton Winstanley's house, representing neutral
territory or debateable land for the occ