be annoyed in that he was not there to meet them. They
had not given him the opportunity. But it did appear to them that,
circumstanced as they were, considering the acknowledged engagement
between them, he was wrong to leave the country without letting
them have a word to say whither he was going or for how long. It
was nearly a fortnight since he had written to Caroline, and, for
anything they knew, it might be months before she again heard from
him.

It was then that they sent for Harcourt, and at this period that they
became so intimate with him. Bertram had told him of this foreign
trip, but only a day or two before he had taken his departure. It was
just at this time that there had been the noise about the "Romance
of Scripture." Bertram had defended himself in one or two newspapers,
had written his defiant letter to his friend at Oxford, and then
started to meet his father at Paris. He was going no further, and
might be back in a week. This however must be uncertain, as his
return would depend on that of Sir Lionel. Sir Lionel intended to
come to London with him.

Mr. Harcourt was very attentive to them--in spite of his being at
that time so useful a public man. He was very attentive to both,
being almost as civil to the elder lady as he was to the younger,
which, for an Englishman, showed very good breeding. By degrees they
both began to regard him with confidence--with sufficient confidence
to talk to him of Bertram; with sufficient confidence even to tell
him of all their fears. By degrees Caroline would talk to him alone,
and when once she permitted herself to do so, she concealed nothing.

Harcourt said not a word against his friend. That friend himself
might perhaps have thought that his friend, speaking of him behind
his back, might have spoken more warmly in his praise. But it was
hard at present to say much that should be true in Bertram's praise.
He was not living in a wise or prudent manner; not preparing himself
in any way to live as a man should live by the sweat of his brow.
Harcourt could not say much in his favour. That Bertram was clever,
honest, true, and high-spirited, that Miss Waddington knew; that Miss
Baker knew: what they wanted to learn was, that he was making prudent
use of these high qualities. Harcourt could not say that he was doing
so.

"That he will fall on his legs at last," said Harcourt once when
he was alone with Caroline, "I do not doubt; with his talent, and
his high, ho