progress after all.

Chapter XIII.

The opportunity that Lord Arleigh looked for came at last. Philippa had
some reason to doubt the honesty of a man whom she had been employing as
agent. She was kind of heart, and did not wish to punish him, yet she
felt sure that he had not done his duty by her. To speak to her
solicitors about it would be, she felt, injurious to him, whether
innocent or guilty. If innocent, it would create a prejudice against
him; if guilty, they would wish to punish him. She resolved upon laying
the matter before Lord Arleigh, and seeing what he thought of it.

He listened very patiently, examined the affair, and then told her that
he believed she had been robbed.

"What shall I do?" she asked, looking at him earnestly.

"I know what you ought to do, Philippa. You ought to punish him."

"But he has a wife, Norman, and innocent little children; in exposing
him I shall punish them, and they are innocent."

"That is one of the strangest of universal laws to me," said Lord
Arleigh--"why the innocent always do, and always must, suffer for the
guilty; it is one of the mysteries I shall never understand. Common
sense tells me that you ought to expose this man--that he ought to be
punished for what he has done. Yet, if you do, his wife and children
will be dragged down into an abyss of misery. Suppose you make a
compromise of matters and lecture him well."

He was half smiling as he spoke, but she took every word in serious
earnest.

"Philippa," he continued, "why do you not marry? A husband would save
you all this trouble; he would attend to your affairs, and shield you
from annoyances of this kind."

"The answer to your question, 'Why do I not marry?' Would form a long
story," she replied, and then she turned the conversation.

But he was determined to keep his word, and pleaded with her for the
duke. Another opportunity came that evening. It was Lady Peters'
birthday, and Philippa had invited some of her most intimate friends;
not young people, but those with whom she thought her _chaperon_ would
enjoy herself best. The result was a very pleasant dinner-party,
followed by a very pleasant evening. Lord Arleigh could not be absent,
for it was, in some measure, a family _fete_.

The guests did not remain very late, and Lady Peters, professing herself
tired with the exertions she had made, lay down on a couch, and was soon
asleep. Philippa stood by the window with the rose-silk hangin