take no message. That he would not do. But he
did not object to give to the lover a bulletin of the health of his
sweetheart. In this way Daniel knew sooner than most others when the
change took place in the condition of his beloved one.

Lady Anna would be of age in May, and the plan of her betrothed was
as follows. He would do nothing till that time, and then he would
call upon her to allow their banns to be published in Bloomsbury
Church after the manner of the Church of England. He himself had
taken lodgings in Great Russell Street, thinking that his object
might be aided by living in the same parish. If, as was probable, he
would not be allowed to approach Lady Anna either in person, or by
letter, then he would have recourse to the law, and would allege that
the young lady was unduly kept a prisoner in custody. He was told
that such complaint would be as idle wind, coming from him,--that
no allegation of that kind could obtain any redress unless it came
from the young lady herself; but he flattered himself that he could
so make it that the young lady would at any rate obtain thereby the
privilege of speaking for herself. Let some one ask her what were her
wishes and he would be prepared to abide by her expression of them.

In the meantime Lord Lovel also had been anxious;--but his anxiety
had been met in a very different fashion. For many days the Countess
saw him daily, so that there grew up between them a close intimacy.
When it was believed that the girl would die,--believed with that
sad assurance which made those who were concerned speak of her death
almost as a certainty, the Countess, sitting alone with the young
Earl, had told him that all would be his if the girl left them. He
had muttered something as to there being no reason for that. "Who
else should have it?" said the Countess. "Where should it go? Your
people, Lovel, have not understood me. It is for the family that I
have been fighting, fighting, fighting,--and never ceasing. Though
you have been my adversary,--it has been all for the Lovels. If she
goes,--it shall be yours at once. There is no one knows how little
I care for wealth myself." Then the girl had become better, and the
Countess again began her plots, and her plans, and her strategy. She
would take the girl abroad in May, in April if it might be possible.
They would go,--not to Rome then, but to the south of France, and,
as the weather became too warm for them, on to Switzerland and the