. Until he was actually
married, a hope remained to him. He might postpone the fatal day; his
purse was not yet empty. Why should he be too strict in the report of
his election expenses to Constance? Every pound in his pocket meant a
prolongation of liberty, a new horizon of the possible--

Two days later he was back again at Eastbourne. He had taken a cheap
little lodging, and yielded himself to sea-side indolence. A week
passed, then Iris heard from Mrs. Toplady. She did not at once show
Lashmar the letter; she awaited a moment when he was lulled by physical
comfort into a facile and sanguine humour.

"Mrs. Toplady must have been in a hurry when she wrote this," was her
remark, as, with seeming carelessness, she produced the letter. "Of
course she has an enormous correspondence. I shall hear again from her,
no doubt, before long."

One side only of the note-paper was covered. In formal phrase, the
writer said that she was glad to hear of her friend's engagement, and
wished her all happiness. Not a word about their future meeting; not an
allusion to Lashmar's prospects. If Iris had announced her coming
marriage with some poor clerk, Mrs. Toplady could not have written
less effusively.

"There's an end of her interest in _me_," Dyce remarked, with a nervous
shrug.

Iris protested, and did her best to put another aspect on the matter,
but without success. For twenty-four hours, Lashmar kept away from her;
she, offended, tried to disregard his absence, but at length sped to
make inquiries, fearful lest he should be driven to despair. At the
murky end of a wet evening, they paced the esplanade together.

"You don't love me," said Iris, on a sob.

"It is because I love you," he replied, glooming, "that I can't bear to
think of you married to such a luckless fellow as I am."

"Dearest!" she whispered. "Am I ruining you? Do you wish to be free
again? Tell me the truth; I think I can bear it."

The next day saw them rambling in sunshine, Lashmar amorous and
resigned, Iris flutteringly hopeful. And with such alternations did the
holiday go by. When Leonard returned to school, their marriage was
fixed for ten days later.

Shortly before leaving Eastbourne, Iris had written to Mr. Wrybolt.
Already they had corresponded on the subject of her marriage; this last
letter, concerning a point of business which required immediate
attention, remained without reply. Puzzled by her trustee's silence,
Iris, soon after she reach