. Milvain had gone over to the enemy. Whether
or not the young man understood how relentless the hostility was between
Yule and Fadge mattered little; the probability was that he knew
all about it. In any case intimate relations with him could not have
survived this alliance with Fadge, so that, after all, there had been
wisdom in letting the acquaintance lapse. To be sure, nothing could have
come of it. Milvain was the kind of man who weighed opportunities; every
step he took would be regulated by considerations of advantage; at all
events that was the impression his character had made upon Yule. Any
hopes that Marian might have been induced to form would assuredly have
ended in disappointment. It was kindness to interpose before things had
gone so far.

Henceforth, if Milvain's name was unavoidable, it should be mentioned
just like that of any other literary man. It seemed very unlikely indeed
that Marian would continue to think of him with any special and personal
interest. The fact of her having got into correspondence with his
sisters was unfortunate, but this kind of thing rarely went on for very
long.

Yule spoke of the matter with his wife that evening.

'By-the-bye, has Marian heard from those girls at Finden lately?'

'She had a letter one afternoon last week.'

'Do you see these letters?'

'No; she told me what was in them at first, but now she doesn't.'

'She hasn't spoken to you again of Milvain?'

'Not a word.'

'Well, I understood what I was about,' Yule remarked, with the confident
air of one who doesn't wish to remember that he had ever felt doubtful.
'There was no good in having the fellow here.

He has got in with a set that I don't at all care for. If she ever says
anything--you understand--you can just let me know.'

Marian had already procured a copy of The Current, and read it
privately. Of the cleverness of Milvain's contribution there could be
no two opinions; it drew the attention of the public, and all notices
of the new magazine made special reference to this article. With keen
interest Marian sought after comments of the press; when it was possible
she cut them out and put them carefully away.

January passed, and February. She saw nothing of Jasper. A letter from
Dora in the first week of March made announcement that the 'Child's
History of the English Parliament' would be published very shortly; it
told her, too, that Mrs Milvain had been very ill indeed, but that she
seemed