; of that I am
certain," resumed she. "You wouldn't care for such an empty prize."

"And yet there is a title, Lady Augusta," said he, dropping his voice,
which now faltered in every word,--"there is a title to win which has
been the guiding spirit of my whole life. In the days of my poverty and
obscurity, as well as in the full noon of my success, it never ceased
to be the goal of all my hopes. If I tremble at the presumption of even
approaching this confession, I also feel the sort of desperate courage
that animates him who has but one throw for fortune. Yes, Lady Augusta,
such a moment as this may not again occur. I know you sufficiently well
to feel that when one, even humble as I am, dares to avow--"

A quick step in the walk adjoining startled both, and they looked up. It
was Sybella Eellett, who came up with a sealed packet in her hand.

"A despatch, Mr. Dunn," said she; "I have been in search of you all over
the garden." He took it with a muttered "Thanks," and placed it unread
in his pocket Miss Eellett quickly saw that her presence was not
desired, and with a hurried allusion to engagements, was moving away,
when Lady Augusta said,--

"Wait for me, Miss Kellett; Mr. Dunn must be given time for his letters,
or he will begin to rebel against his captivity." And with this she
moved away.

"Pray don't go, Lady Augusta," said he. "I 'm proof against business
appeals to-day." But she was already out of hearing.

[Illustration: 462]

Amongst the secrets which Davenport Dunn had never succeeded in
unravelling, the female heart was pre-eminently distinguished. The
veriest young lady fresh from her governess or the boarding-school would
have proved a greater puzzle to him than the most intricate statement
of a finance minister. Whether Lady Augusta had fully comprehended his
allusion, or whether, having understood it, she wished to evade the
subject, and spare both herself and him the pain of any mortifying
rejoinder, were now the difficult questions which he revolved over and
over in his mind. In his utter ignorance of the sex, he endeavored to
solve the problem by the ordinary guidance of his reason, taking no
account of womanly reserve and delicacy, still less of that "finesse" of
intelligence which, with all the certainty of an instinct, can divine at
once in what channel feelings will run, and how their course can be most
safely directed.

"She must have seen to what I pointed," said he; "I spoke out plai