and outbursts of penitence, and with
such a capricious, yet passionate ring in every line, that they had
seemed less like letters than actual speech, and had almost forced him
to fancy that Dolly herself was at his side, all in the flush and glow
of one of her prettiest remorseful outbreaks.

And these letters from Brabazon Lodge were just as real, so they
at least helped him to bear his trials more patiently than he could
otherwise have done. She was far more comfortable than she had expected
to be, she told him. Her duties were light, and Miss MacDowlas not hard
to please, and altogether she was not dissatisfied.

"But that I am away from _you_," she wrote, "I should say Brabazon
Lodge was better than the Bilberrys'. There is no skirmishing with Lady
Augusta, at least; and, though skirmishing with Lady Augusta is not
without its mild excitement, it is not necessary to one's happiness,
and may be dispensed with. I wonder what Miss MacDowlas would say if she
knew why I wear this modest ring on my third finger. When I explained to
her casually that we were old friends, she succinctly remarked that you
were a reprobate, and, feeling it prudent not to proceed with further
disclosures, I bent my head demurely over my embroidery, and subsided
into silence. I cannot discover why she disapproves of you unless it
is that she has erratic notions about literary people. Perhaps she will
alter her opinion in time. As it is, it can scarcely matter whether she
knows of our engagement or not. When a fitting opportunity arrives
I shall tell her, and I don't say I shall not enjoy the spice of the
_denouement_. In the meantime I read aloud to her, talk, work wonders in
Berlin wool, and play or sing when she asks me, which is not often. In
the morning we drive out, in the afternoon she enjoys her nap, and
in the evening I sit decorously intent upon the Berlin wonders, but
thinking all the time of you and the parlor in Bloomsbury Place, where
Tod disports himself in triumphant indifference to consequences, and
where the girls discuss the lingering possibilities of their wardrobes.
You may-tell Mollie we are very grand,--we have an immense footman, who
accompanies us in our walks or drives, and condescends to open and shut
our carriage-door for us, with the air of a gentleman at leisure. I am
rather inclined to think that this gentleman has cast an approving eye
upon me, as I heard him observe to the housemaid the other day, that I
was 'a