ombined with the necessary diminution of that
attachment which I presume Miss Wyndham once felt for you--necessary,
inasmuch as it was, as far as I understand, never of a sufficiently
ardent nature to outlive the slights--indeed, my lord, I don't wish to
offend you, or hurt your feelings--but, I must say, the slights which
it encountered--." Here the earl felt that his sentence was a little
confused, but the viscount looked more so; and, therefore, not at
all abashed by the want of a finish to his original proposition, he
continued glibly enough:

"In short, in considering all the features of the case, I thought
the proposed marriage a most imprudent one; and, on questioning Miss
Wyndham as to her feelings, I was, I must own, gratified to learn that
she agreed with me; indeed, she conceived that your conduct gave ample
proof, my lord, of your readiness to be absolved from your engagement;
pardon me a moment, my lord--as I said before, I still deemed it
incumbent on me, and on my ward, that I, as her guardian, should give
you an absolute and written explanation of her feelings:--that would
have been done yesterday, and this most unpleasant meeting would have
been spared to both of us, but for the unexpected--Did you hear of the
occurrence which has happened in Miss Wyndham's family, my lord?"

"Occurrence? No, Lord Cashel; I did not hear of any especial
occurrence."

There had been a peculiarly solemn air about Lord Cashel during the
whole of the interview, which deepened into quite funereal gloom as he
asked the last question; but he was so uniformly solemn, that this had
not struck Lord Ballindine. Besides, an appearance of solemnity agreed
so well with Lord Cashel's cast of features and tone of voice, that a
visage more lengthened, and a speech somewhat slower than usual, served
only to show him off as so much the more clearly identified by his own
characteristics. Thus a man who always wears a green coat does not
become remarkable by a new green coat; he is only so much the more than
ever, the man in the green coat.

Lord Ballindine, therefore, answered the question without the
appearance of that surprise which Lord Cashel expected he would feel,
if he had really not yet heard of the occurrence about to be related to
him. The earl, therefore, made up his mind, as indeed he had nearly
done before, that Frank knew well what was going to be told him, though
it suited his purpose to conceal his knowledge. He could no