ly
ignorant concerning him she really was! And the rector of her church,
who was supposed to vouch for him, knew in reality as little as she.
How easily she might have been mistaken in him! And yet, and yet,
there was a still, small voice in her heart which confirmed her in
her resolve to believe in him until she had proof that such a belief
was ill founded.

"With his past I have nothing to do," she said to Lord Hurdly, with a
certain show of pride. "If it has been lower than my ideal of him, I
regret it; but I am entirely sure that since he has known me and had
my promise to be his wife he has been true to all that that promise
required of him."

"This being your conclusion," Lord Hurdly answered, "you force upon
me the necessity of showing you a letter which I have to-day received
from a friend in St. Petersburg, and which I would, without strong
reason to the contrary, have gladly spared you the pain of reading."
With these words, he handed Bettina a letter.

It was signed with a name unknown to her, but written evidently in
the tone and manner of an intimate friend. The first page or two
referred to matters wholly indifferent to her--public affairs and the
like--but toward the end were these words:

"Are you as set as ever in your determination not to marry?
Pity it is that such a noble name and fortune as yours
should not pass on to a son of your own, instead of to one
who, it is to be feared, will do little to honor it. I see
him here, at court and everywhere, accurately fulfilling
the rather unflattering predictions which I long ago made
concerning him. There is a story that he became engaged to
be married during his travels in America, and I hear that he
owns up to it and speaks of being joined by his _fiancee_
and married on this side. I hope it may not be so. Certainly
his present manner of living argues against the rumor,
unless--a supposition I am reluctant to believe--he proposes
to keep up, as a married man, the habits which are so
readily forgiven to a bachelor, though not to a husband."

There was more, but Bettina read no further. This was enough. She had
turned away to a window, that she might read this letter unobserved
by Lord Hurdly, who had considerately walked to the other end of the
room.

When at last she approached him and gave him back the letter, she was
very pale, but her manner was wholly without indecision and