r Fitzgerald when
your cousin married her. He knew that this had been the case. She
told him the whole truth. In a worldly point of view her marriage
with Mr Fitzgerald would probably have been very imprudent."

"It would have been utterly ruinous."

"Perhaps so; I say nothing about that. But as it turned out, she gave
up her own wishes and married your cousin."

"I don't know about her own wishes, Miss Vavasor."

"It is what she did. She would have married Mr Fitzgerald, had she
not been hindered by the advice of those around her. It cannot be
supposed that she has forgotten him in so short a time. There can be
no guilt in her remembrance."

"There is guilt in loving any other than her husband."

"Then, Miss Palliser, it was her marriage that was guilty, and not
her love. But all that is done and past. It should be your cousin's
object to teach her to forget Mr Fitzgerald, and he will not do that
by taking her to a house where that gentleman is staying."

"She has said so much to you herself?"

"I do not know that I need declare to you what she has said herself.
You have asked me a question, and I have answered it, and I am
thankful to you for having asked it. What object can either of us
have but to assist her in her position?"

"And to save him from dishonour. I had so hoped that this was simply
a childish dread on her part."

"It is not so. It is no childish dread. If you have the power to
prevent her going to Lady Monk's, I implore you to use it. Indeed, I
will ask you to promise me that you will do so."

"After what you have said, I have no alternative."

"Exactly. There is no alternative. Either for his sake or for hers,
there is none."

Thereupon Miss Palliser got up, and wishing her companion good
night, took her departure. Throughout the interview there had been
no cordiality of feeling between them. There was no pretence of
friendship, even as they were parting. They acknowledged that their
objects were different. That of Alice was to save Lady Glencora
from ruin. That of Miss Palliser was to save her cousin from
disgrace,--with perhaps some further honest desire to prevent sorrow
and sin. One loved Lady Glencora, and the other clearly did not love
her. But, nevertheless, Alice felt that Miss Palliser, in coming to
her, had acted well, and that to herself this coming had afforded
immense relief. Some step would now be taken to prevent that meeting
which she had so deprecated, and it would be