ivalry from him was mere folly; and that whatever success his handsome
face and figure might have elsewhere, Marguerite was not the girl to be
caught by such attractions, when coupled with an unruly temper and an
uneducated mind.

'And he was right. Great as his own repugnance was towards Van Halsdt,
hers was far greater. She not only avoided him on every occasion, but
took pleasure, as it seemed, in marking the cold distance of her manner
to him, and contrasting it with her behaviour to others. It is true
he appeared to care little for this; and only replied to it by a
half-impertinent style of familiarity--a kind of jocular intimacy most
insulting to a woman, and horribly tantalising for those to witness who
are attached to her.

'I don't wish to make my story a long one; nor could I without entering
into the details of everyday life, which now became so completely
altered. Marguerite and Nor-vins met only at rare intervals, and
then less to cultivate each other's esteem than expatiate on the many
demerits of him who had estranged them so utterly. All the reports to
his discredit that circulated in Frankfort were duly conned over;
and though they could lay little to his charge of their own actual
knowledge, they only imagined the more, and condemned him accordingly.

'To Norvins he became hourly more insupportable. There was in all
his bearing towards him the quiet, measured tone of a superior to an
inferior, the patronising protection of an elder to one younger and less
able to defend himself--and which, with the other's consciousness of his
many intellectual advantages over him, added double bitterness to the
insult. As he never appeared in the bureau of the mission, nor in any
way concerned himself with official duties, they rarely met save at
table; there, his appearance was the signal for constraint and reserve
--an awkwardness that made itself felt the more, as the author of it
seemed to exult in the dismay he created.

'Such, then, was the state of events when Norvins received his
nomination as secretary of legation at Stuttgart. The appointment was
a surprise to him; he had not even heard of the vacancy. The position,
however, and the emoluments were such as to admit of his marrying; and
he resolved to ask the baron for his daughter's hand, to which the
rank and influence of his own family permitted him to aspire without
presumption.

'The baron gave his willing consent; Marguerite accepted; and the only