ong as they pertain to you; if law should at last declare
that we are only usurpers--" She tried to finish, but the words seemed
as if they would choke her, and after an effort almost convulsive she
burst into tears. Scarcely less moved, Beecher covered his face with his
hands and turned away.

"I will do whatever you advise me, Georgina," said he at length, as
he seated himself on the sofa at her side. "If you say I ought to go to
England, I 'll set off at once."

"Yes; you must be in London; you must be where you can have daily,
hourly access to your lawyers; but you must also determine that this
contest shall be decided by law, and law alone. I cannot, will not,
believe that your rights are invalid. I feel assured that the House of
Lords will maintain the cause of an acknowledged member of their order
against the claims of an obscure pretender. This sympathy, however,
will only be with you so long as you are true to yourself. Let the
word 'compromise' be but uttered, and the generous sentiment will be
withdrawn; therefore, Annesley,"--here she dropped her voice, and
spoke more impressively,--"therefore, I should say, go over to England
_alone_; be free to exercise untrammelled your own calm judgment,--keep
your residence a secret from all save your law advisers,--see none
else."

"You mean, then, that I should go without my wife?"

"Yes!" said she, coldly; "if she accompany you, her friends, her father,
with whom she will of course correspond, will know of your whereabouts,
and flock round you with their unsafe counsels; this is most to be
avoided."

"But how is it to be managed, Georgina; she cannot surely stop here, at
an hotel too, while I am away in England?"

"I can see nothing against such an arrangement; not having had the
pleasure of seeing and knowing Lady Lack-ington, I am unable to guess
any valid reasons against this plan. Is she young?"

"Not twenty."

"Handsome, of course?" said she, with a slight but supercilious curl of
the lip.

"Very handsome,--beautiful," answered he, but in a voice that denoted no
rapture.

Lady Lackington mused for a moment or two; it seemed as if she were
discussing within her own mind a problem, stating and answering
objections as they arose, for she muttered such broken words as,
"Dangerous, of course--in Rome especially--but impossible for her to go
to England--all her relations--anything better than that--must make
the best of it;" then turning to Beecher with