her husband's dying wish. So this is
the alternative set before you! Has it been set before your father
likewise?"

"Almost certainly she will have threatened to dismiss him if he do not
consent. It was that which made my sister decide on sending me here, or
what would become of him and Eugene? But I should think my Lady knew my
father better than to seem to offer any kind of price, as you call it,
for me."

"Precisely. You have heard from this maternal sister of yours? Does he
then give his consent?"

"They say they will not have my inclinations forced, and that they had
rather undergo anything than that I should be driven to--to--"

"To be as much a sacrifice as Iphigenia," he concluded the sentence.

"Indeed, sir," said Aurelia, quite restored, "I cannot see why they
should imagine me to have such objections, or want me to be so cautious
and considerate. I shall write to my papa that it is not at all
repugnant to me, for that you are very, very good to me; and if I can
make your time pass ever so little more pleasantly, it is a delight to
me. I am sure I shall like you better than if---"

"Stay, stay, child," he said, half laughing; "remember, it is as a
father that I ask you to love and trust the old recluse."

She thought she had been forward, crimsoned in the dark, and retired
into her shell for the rest of the evening. She was glad when with his
usual tact, Mr. Belamour begged for the recitation he knew she could
make with the least effort of memory.

At the end, however, she ventured to ask--"Sir, shall I be permitted
ever to see my father and sister?"

"Certainly, my child. In due time I hope you will enjoy full liberty,
though you may have to wait for it."

Aurelia durst not ask what was in her mind, whether they would not
come to the wedding, but that one great hope began to outweigh all
the strange future. She began to say something about being too young,
ignorant, and foolish for him, but this was kindly set aside, she hardly
knew how. Mr. Belamour himself suggested the formula in which she might
send her consent to Lady Belamour, begging at the same time to retain
the company of the little Misses Wayland. To her father she wrote such
a letter as might satisfy all doubts as to the absence of all repugnance
to the match, and though the Major had sacrificed all to love and honour
himself, _mariages de convenance_ were still so much the rule, and
wives, bestowed in all passiveness with unawakened h